The MediaCoach

Hi John,

You won't be surprised that the best, and highest-paid, speakers are superb storytellers. Storytelling is a superb way to:

We're not going to talk about that US election. Instead, permit me to share my sadness at news that broke too late for last week's ezine - the death of Leonard Cohen. He was a poet, a musician, and above all a person with an extraordinary understanding of the human condition. I remember playing his early albums many times when I was a student, occasionally when I was in a slightly "altered" state. But whatever condition you are in, his songs were extraordinary.

Sometimes you need the wisdom of a guy who knows. Such a character is Vinny Verelli. Hear his philosophy in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also a wonderful song from Ellie Rose.
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One of my favourite broadcasters, MediaMaster Danny Baker, has announced that he's giving up broadcasting. He's currently in Australia taking part in "I'm a Celebrity..", and taking a break from his superb Saturday morning radio show. He said: "Next summer I am even thinking about living in America. So when this came around, rather than disappearing quietly, I thought 'why not do one last big television programme?' I just don't want to do any more telly or radio or anything else after June, when I'm 60. But I may as well write, that's easy to do sitting on the edge of the ocean." What a shame. But he has had a fantastic career.

A light-hearted suggestion by MediaMug and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that Americano coffee should be renamed Russiano has sparked a comical response online. "A simple recipe for the Russiano coffee - 250g of vodka," reads one tweet. A cafe in Moscow took the idea and ran with it, offering a Caffe Russiano for 39 roubles, less than half the cost of an Americano, the Lenta news website says. Some ponder how US President-elect Donald Trump would react. "Make Americano Great Again!" one tweet reads alongside a photo of Mr Trump with a coffee. Nice one!

INSTEAD OF THE HANDOUT

If you've ever been asked to speak at a conference, the chances are that the organisers will request a copy of your presentation well in advance, so that it can be included in the delegate pack.

There are a number of options here. You could agree, and send a set of slides to the organiser. The problem now is that you are at risk of the "three slides ahead" syndrome, where audience members who have a copy of your slides will be anticipating your words, and not really paying attention as a result. You can try asking for the papers to be provided only after you have spoken, but that is a forlorn hope in most cases.

A second option is to use a service like slideshare, and provide the audience with a link to the slides so they can download them at their leisure. That may be more difficult to sell to the organiser, so you might try linking the slides to an online discussion (such as a closed Facebook group), giving the audience an opportunity to chat to you after the event.

Thirdly, of course, you can simply say that you don't use slides. Surprisingly, this is now often seen as an advantage, especially by audience members, who may well be somewhat bored with bullet points and incomprehensible graphs. You can still provide further material online, such as articles, discussions and links to other sources that will give the audience (and therefore the organiser) much more value.

In short, don't assume that your answer to the question "Can you send your slides?" has to be "Yes".

KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING

Lewis Carroll wrote, "If you don't know where you are going, every road leads you there." When you are on interviewed on TV or radio, you must have a clear aim in mind, or you cannot be satisfied with the outcome. For example, someone called the other day to tell me that she had a TV interview coming up. "What will you be talking about?", I asked. "I have no idea" she said, "but it's bound to be great for raising my profile".

Hmmmm. Of course, we had a chat, and decided exactly what she was going to be talking about. In the event, the interview went very well. However, if she had simply turned up at the studio, looking forward to "raising her profile", things could have been very different.

As I keep saying, media interviews are a chance for you to get your message across. That means you must have a message, and know how to deliver it. When you are called to do an interview, ask what the topic will be. Prepare a message related to that topic, and practice delivering it, regardless of the question being asked. You have to know where you are going, or how will you know when you've got there?

WHAT SHOULD I DO ON TWITTER?

I often hear that question asked. So I turn it round. "What would you like people to do for you on Twitter?" The answer is usually immediate: "Offer me help, and provide me with useful contacts". Exactly. So that's what you have to do on social networks. If you know what your friends and followers want, and you provide it to them, you have understood the strategy. In short, you should focus on providing value.

In other words, offer advice if you can, connect people, and upload useful information. The idea of keeping all your knowledge to yourself until someone pays you for it doesn't work on social media. However, the more you give away, the more people will value your advice, and some of them really will be prepared to pay for it.

Adopting a strategy of helping someone whenever you are on Twitter will not only make you a lot of friends, it will also make you feel good. See if you can make at least one helpful response every time you view a Twitter feed, and both you and your business will benefit.

There's a new Star Wars - with the original voices...

On that storytelling masterclass.

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."