| Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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Hi John,
I am just back from the Annual convention of the Professional Speakers Association of the UK and Ireland. I'm just about caught up on sleep. I had a weird dream that I was on stage dressed as a nun at one point. Probably ate too much cheese before bedtime.
Anyway it was a splendid event, with top-class speakers and superb entertainment (not the nun, obviously).
As the speeches from the event appear online, I will share them with you. |
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| While in London this week, I took a walk along The Strand, to have a chat with some of the protestors from Extinction Rebellion who have set up camp in Trafalgar Square. It seemed a good idea (and it was) to go and chat to them directly rather that relying on reports (and especially social media posts). The people I spoke to were on annual leave from their NHS jobs, were well-informed and determined. They were a long way from the image many people have of climate change protestors and they were by no means unique. I wished them well. |
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The MediaMaestro is Colleen "Miss Marple" Rooney - or as the Twitter hashtag has it "#WagathaChristie".
She claimed to have caught another footballer’s wife passing her private information to the Sun, after apparently running an elaborate sting operation that involved placing false stories on her Instagram feed and then seeing if they appeared in the tabloid newspaper.
Colleen said she was forced to act after a series of posts on her private social media account appeared in the media. She has publicly accused Rebekah Vardy, the wife of fellow England footballer Jamie Vardy, of owning the account which was leaking the private information.
Ms Vardy has hit back with the comment that other people have access to her social media, and she is not to blame.
This one will run and run.... |
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The MediaMug is Primark. Over the last few weeks, shoppers there have been noticing some very awkward design errors on different pieces of their clothing.
There was the Disney top with the Harry Potter logo, the I'd rather be watching Friends top that had a missing letter and of course the Winnie the Pooh one were Winnie was misspelled.
In fact, there have been so many issues of late that customers have begun calling on the company to "sack" their quality control. But it seems it's not just clothing that features blunders - there are a few mistakes being made over in the homeware department as well.
An eagle-eyed young woman named Mel recently realised there was a spelling mess up on a bedding set. The duvet cover is printed with a sweet design featuring a unicorn in the snow and comes with a matching pillowcase.
The pillow is meant to read "I believe in unicorns" in a swirly dark purple font.However there's very clearly a letter missing from the phrase, so it actually reads "I belive in Unicorns".
How very werd. |
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| Speaking Tip - Believe it, say it, do it |
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I used to work for a consumer magazine (Which?, since you ask). One day, a journalist who wrote some of the camera reports arrived in the office with a new, very odd-looking camera. We all admired it, and asked how well it did in the recent tests. "It was rubbish" he said "but the tests don't really mean that much - it's just what we put in the magazine" He continued: "Besides, look how cool it is - who cares about the picture quality?"
Don't ever put yourself in that position. If you say something on stage, you need to believe it. If you don't, then don't say it. There's an old line about sincerity, which goes "if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made". It isn't true. Sure, you can fake it for a while, but at some point, your guard will slip, and people will understand what you really believe.
You need to "walk your talk" too. If you speak on time management, there's no point arriving late. If your topic is work-life balance, don't tell a story about how much strain you have been under recently (I've heard people do this). You need to believe what you say, and live by your beliefs. In other words, you need to have authenticity. Anything else will lead to a very short speaking career. |
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| Media Tip - Trouble, trouble, trouble |
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As I've mentioned many times, delivering a media message is the reason for giving media interviews, If you're well trained and prepared, it should be easy to bridge from the question to the message you want to deliver in a calm and respectful manner. However, even the most skilled interviewees can get in trouble sometimes. Here are three tricky situations, and how to get yourself out of them.
1) The aggressive interviewer. Don't fall for this tactic. If an interviewer becomes aggressive or angry, never respond with anger. Stay calm and answer in your normal way. The more aggressive they become, the calmer you should be. The tactic is designed to irritate you, so simply ignore it, and remain in control. Repeat your message, calmly and confidently.
2) The long preamble Sometimes a reporter may deliver a long and complex statement before asking you a question. The statement may contain untruths or opinions. Listen carefully, but do not nod your head to show you are listening, since it may look as though you are agreeing. When you answer, deal first with any inaccuracies or opinions in the question. Do not repeat them, but simply say "I'd like to correct what you said" before making a positive statement.
3) The closing quip An interviewer may try to have the last word, making a statement that misrepresents your position, or is simply untrue. They will assume that you won't respond. However, you should respond, every time. Even if there are only two or three seconds left, you still have time for a comment such as "That's simply not the case, and you know it". Never leave a critical statement unchallenged at the end of an interview. |
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| Social Media Tip - Do I need video? |
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Do you need video on your website or social media? There are plenty of people (not me, I hasten to add) offering to provide you with video, in exchange for a tidy sum of money. Some of them are very good. But hold on a minute. Why do you need video? Think very carefully before you include video. Bad video is worse than no video. There's a lot of bad video around. If you're a speaker, like me, then video is essential if you want to get bookings. Even so, some rules apply.
Clients want to see you doing what they're going to pay you for - being on stage, engaging and entertaining people. People will decide within a minute whether they like you or not - so put your best stuff first, and don't have more than three minutes. Your video should show you in the sort of place you want to be booked. If you are looking for big-stage keynotes, don't have video showing you in a small room with a flipchart and ten people. "Talking heads" are OK in small doses, but allow people to select them - don't start a video automatically when they arrive on your site. Do not, under any circumstances, use clips of yourself on TV without the permission of the broadcaster (and broadcasters rarely give permission). It's a breach of copyright and therefore illegal. Keep it short. Did I say that already?
Video can be a great enhancement. It can also be an instant turn-off. Think what you need, plan how it should look, and do it properly, or not at all. |
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| Even if you aren't Colleen or Rebekah... |
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| 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." |
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