The Media Coach

Hi John,

Welcome to the final month in the 21-year history of this ezine.

There are just four issues to go.

As a reminder, you can still subscribe to my newsletter on LinkedIn It may be a bit less frequent, and a bit more quirky, but it will be there.

And my web radio show will not only continue, but expand from a 20-minute podcast to a 30-minute one, with more special guests. You can subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts You can also find it on Spotify.

And of course, I'm still in business. All enquiries welcome!

I don't often do film reviews, but here is one.

Francis Ford Coppola's latest film, Megalopolis, is terrible.

It's confusing, overlong and appears to lack any plot or point at all,

My daughter and I sat through two and half hours of it on Sunday. I'm sharing this opinion so you don't have to.

Below is a review from film critic Mark Kermode. He has the same opinion.

Although this ezine will be closing down soon I'm continuing to offer speaker coaching.

You can find out more on my website, or you can drop me a line.

If you want to deliver exceptional speeches, I'd be happy to help.

My guest in the radio show this week is Andy Cahan.

Andy is the one of the most entertaining storytellers in the world today, as well as a gifted professional musician. Andy was a member of the hit band, The Turtles, and has worked with Jimi Hendrix, Ringo Starr, The Monkees, Harry Nilsson and many others.

In his new book, The Most Famous Musician You’ve Never Heard Of, Andy gathers up six decades of his life in music, making for an entertaining read, with plenty of great images.

Hear our fascinating chat in the in the radio show

Go to the MediaCoach Show

Follow me on X (Twitter)

And there's a terrific song you may not know by the late Harry Nilsson. Yes, that Harry Nilsson.

The MediaMug of the week goes BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg - normally a very safe pair of hands.

Her scheduled interview with Boris Johnson has been cancelled, after she accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes.

Boris Johnson: The Laura Kuenssberg Interview was due to be broadcast this week on BBC One.

However, she said it was "not right for the interview to go ahead" after sharing notes with him which had been intended for her colleagues.

Kuenssberg described it as "embarrassing and disappointing", but that "red faces aside, honesty is the best policy".

Oops,

I was listening to a rather engaging speaker the other day, but something was bothering me about his delivery. Then I realised what it was. Almost all of his speech was second-hand. Hardly any of his content was original. It was all good stuff, but he was quoting stories and tips that he'd heard delivered by a number of other speakers.

It wasn't really plagiarism, since he gave full credit to his sources. The problem was, he rarely gave his own opinion on anything, but simply re-voiced the opinions of others.

When the speech ended, I felt cheated. It wasn't that I'd heard all of the stories before, since some of them were new to me, and they were both funny and informative. The problem was, I had no idea what the speaker I was listening to really thought about anything. I could have had a similar experience by watching YouTube or reading articles by the people he referenced.

It seems to me perfectly OK to mention other experts from time to time and report their findings. It can add authority to your arguments. However, using other people's material almost exclusively, even if you give them credit, seems pointless to me. If I hear you speak, I want to know what you think, not how much you admire something you've heard from another source.

Use your own material as much as you can. If you need to quote other wisdom, that's fine, but please don't be a second-hand speaker.

When you are interviewed on TV or radio, it's a good idea to say something that grabs the attention of a journalist. The chances are, it will also intrigue the viewers and listeners, especially if they see or hear a strong reaction from the interviewer. In short, you need to surprise them. On the other hand, if it's you that is surprised, then you simply didn't prepare properly.

Here are several ways you can introduce the element of surprise into an interview:

The best way to introduce the element of surprise is to practice on a colleague who knows the topic well. If they are amazed by your statement, you're on to a winner.

Here are three common ideas I hear from people when I talk to them about using social media in their businesses, and how I respond.

1) People will be able to see complaints about my business.

True. They will also be able to see how you resolve them. Every business receives complaints. Great businesses turn complainers into loyal customers by fixing the problem. Letting people see that process is good for you. And of course, you will receive great feedback on social networks too.

2) I need tens of thousands of followers to be successful.

That depends on your business model, but I suspect that most companies would rather have a thousand raving fans than a hundred thousand who couldn't care less about your company. If you have a group of passionate advocates for your business who chat about it on social networks, you don't need bazillions of followers.

3) I'm too old/busy/non-technical to use social media.

If you can type an email, or hold a conversation, you'll be fine on social media. Get someone to show you the basics (and they are basic) and off you go. A few minutes each day will make a difference. It's about being in the conversation.

Like Powerpoint? You'll love this.

You know I can help. 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."