The Media Coach

Hi John,

As you know, I often volunteer at sporting events, so I follow a lot of sports people.

One I most admire is Sophie Christiansen CBE, a Paralympian who has won thirteen gold medals at World Championships and Paralympics.

Despite her cerebral palsy, she and her horses have succeeded at a sport that requires perfect co-ordination and control - dressage.

So I was shocked to learn this week that Sophie has very little funding for her training and stable fees in the run-up to the Paris Paralympics this year.

She's put out an appeal to help her raise the £3,500 a month to cover her costs until the Paralympics. The appeal can be found here.

I urge you to donate if you can, to help a brilliant sports woman and her horse achieve success again this summer. Thank you.

I mentioned last week that I'd be on GB news talking about TikTok. It went well, as you can see below...

My guest in the radio show this week is an expert speaker coach and trainer who helps people with a number of issues - not least multitasking.

Jennifer de St Georgesmoved from London to San Francisco, via a year in NYC where she worked for JWT, then the largest advertising company in the world.

She ran public seminars across the USA, focusing in particular in the dental industry. Her huge success led to her company being bought, but she later bought it back, and is still providing sell-out events. She is one of the nicest people I know, and was a pleasure to speak with again.

Hear our chat in the in the radio show.

Go to the MediaCoach Show

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And there's a beautiful track from MediaMaestro Paul Brett, who we sadly lost this week, playing with the still lively Gordon Giltrap.

The MediaMug of the week is music streaming service Spotify.

The streaming service often shows a song's original lyrics, which can include racial slurs and swear words, on screen when the clean 'radio friendly' version is played.

The BBC found the issue occurring with dozens of big songs by artists like Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Drake and Lil Nas X.

So even if you've set up a content filter to prevent your children (or you) from hearing explicit lyrics, you will still see the words appear on screen.

Though artists have the option of uploading "radio friendly" lyrics, most don't bother.

Apparently Spotify are working on the issue, but haven't spoken publicly about it.

I'm not suggesting for a moment that you'd go on stage without being "aware", but it is possible to become so involved in your speech that you fail to spot signs coming back at you from the audience. The feedback that you receive during your speech is really important. It's invaluable to know what elements of your content work well, and which need more detailed explanation, or should be removed altogether. But that's for post-speech analysis. You also need to be able to change your delivery or content as you speak.

In order to be aware of the audience reaction, you need to watch them. It's tough to do that if you're working from a script, whether on cards or autocue. You need to look into their eyes and see whether they understand what you are saying. If you see puzzled expressions, pick an individual and ask if they would like you to explain things differently. Do not use the words "more simply", since that implies they aren't clever enough. Don't ask a general question of the audience either such as "Does that make sense?" since people will be reluctant to speak out.

It's your job as a speaker to deliver the message in a way that the audience understands. You need to be alert and aware all the time, and have the ability to change things that aren't working. That may mean you can't cover all the material you had prepared. That's fine, since you will know what is crucial, and what can be dropped. If you use slides, you may need to skip some. If so, don't flick through them, but learn how to move straight to a numbered slide in PowerPoint (slide number plus enter) or Keynote (slide number).

One word of warning; it is possible to become so distracted by an audience intervention that you lose both the flow and timing of your speech. You need to stay aware of your ultimate objective too.

I'm often asked this question, or a variant of it: "I've been asked to do a media interview. What should I say?" Since the request has probably arisen because you are an expert on the topic the reporter is interested in, the answer is "just tell them what you know". Of course, there's a bit more to it than that. You need to plan your message in advance.

Here's a checklist to run through before you decide the message you are going to deliver. You should be able to answer "yes" to every point:



If you're not sure, or if the answer to any point is "no", then you need to re-think before the interview. Discuss the message with trusted colleagues, and look back at what was said in previous interviews. The answer may be to stick with a previous statement. If you lack confidence in any of the above areas, you risk embarrassment. Conversely, if you know your stuff and your message works, your confidence will increase.

My daughter and I talk a lot about films, and watch some together too. I thought I'd pick five films and see if they can offer lessons for using social media (OK, this is a bit contrived, but just go with me here).

1) The Shawshank Redemption - Persistence. It took Andy Dufresne two decades to tunnel out of his cell. You don't need to wait that long for results on social media, but don't expect overnight success.

2) One Life- Helpfulness. Young Nicholas Winton decides to evacuate Jewish children from Czechoslovakia without any expectation of reward. Take the same approach.

3) Toy Story - Loyalty. The film demonstrates the importance of loyalty between unlikely friends Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Don't keep connecting and disconnecting.

4) Field of Dreams - Belief. Ray Kinsella believes that "if you build it, he will come". I think there's a bit more to it than that (you have to tell people), but if you don't believe in what you're doing, people won't come.

5) Friends - Friendliness. OK, it's not a film, it's a TV series, but these are my rules. On social media, treat people as friends, and you will thrive. Treat them simply as customers, and you'll end up on your own.

I love Wikipedia, but sometimes their volunteer editors can be a bit picky.....

A reminder to look no further. Just get in touch. 07986 852621

The information in this ezine may be freely re-used in any online or offline publication, provided it is accompanied by the following credit line - "This information was written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in "The MediaCoach", his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk."