The MediaCoach

Hi John,

I was in Birmingham this week, being interviewed for a role at the World Indoor Athletics Championships next March. On the way there, I put out a Facebook post to say that I'd be around for a couple of hours before and after the interview if anyone wanted to meet for coffee. I had a reply from another interviewee who was on the same time-slot, saying that they'd been reading my posts for a while and were interested in becoming a professional speaker. We had a great chat and I wished her well. I learned a lot about her business too, and it was time well spent for both of us. It was a reminder to me to always offer to help when I have some free time on a trip.

Last month, I mentioned that I had a few places on my one-to-one professional speaker coaching programme. They were all taken up, and my one-to-one programme for 2018 is now full. However, there were several other people who were interested, so I've decided to offer a group coaching programme via Zoom for up to six speakers, anywhere in the world, throughout 2018. I'm offering one monthly two-hour group call and one monthly one hour one-to-one chat. If you are interested, reply to this email for details.

Jackie Barrie talks about words on websites. Her advice is so valuable, here's a repeat of her interview from last year. Hear it in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also a fine tune from Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis
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It's a thankless task reading sporting results on TV and radio. However, some people elevate it to an art form. The MediaMaestro who passed away this week is Tim Gudgin, who read the football and racing results on BBC radio and TV for six decades. He had one of those voices that was reassuring and calming, even if your team or your bet had lost. He had the wonderful knack of reading the first team in such a way that you already knew whether the result would be a home win, away win or draw. What a broadcasting legend.

The MediaMug this week is YouTuber Zoella. She has millions of fans, and took a lot of criticism for her 12-day advent calendar which went on sale at Boots for the hefty price of fifty pounds. The criticism was not just for the price tag, but for the quality of the twelve items behind the doors, which included a number that are on sale elsewhere for less than a pound each. Zoella took to YouTube, of course, to apologise and say that the pricing decision was nothing to do with her and that she was not doing it to make money (honestly). Boots has now halved the price of the calendar. It's not yet clear whether sales have picked up.

HOW TO HAVE A LONG SPEAKING CAREER

A colleague of mine asked recently for some tips to prolong a speaking career. I've been on stage for quite a few years now, so I suggested a few things that I've found helpful. I thought I'd share them with you, right here.

1) Treat every audience as you would treat your most important client. When you speak, that's what they are. It''s really important to do your best speech, every time. It doesn't matter how many people are there, or how much you are being paid (if at all). That may be the only time those people hear you speak. You owe it to them to deliver the best possible value for their time sitting listening to you.

2) Throw away a third of your material every year, especially any references to things that happened more than five years ago. If you have a cracking personal story that stands the test of time, then keep it, but be ruthless otherwise. This one is tough. It's tempting to keep everything you've put in a speech, and simply to refine it. If you don't change, your speech will go stale, you'll get bored delivering it, and your audience will notice.

3) Outsource anything you're no good at. You're a speaker, not an accountant, diary manager, web designer, etc. Many speakers are one-person bands, and get bogged down doing stuff that will be done faster and better by someone else. If you're a speaker, concentrate on speaking.

4) Keep doing what you talk about, and be a shining example of it. Current experience trumps long-gone successes (see point 2). If your speech is about something that happened twenty years ago, no-one under thirty-five will remember it. That could be most of your audience.
5) (bonus tip) If speaking is no longer fun, give it up and do something else.

KEEP EGG OFF YOUR FACE

It's important to be confident in media interviews, and to make sure that you aren't embarrassed whatever question is asked of you. The unexpected question can throw you completely off your stride, making you look uninformed and ridiculous. You can prepare tor anything that is thrown at you if you get into the right frame of mind.

Here are a few things to remember:

As ever, it's about preparation. Have a run-through with a colleague, and ask them to deliver the toughest questions they can think of. Having gone through that, the real interview will be easy, and there will never be egg on your face.

HOW TO BE A SOCIAL MEDIA MAGNET

There's a lot of advice about how to use social media to attract business. Some say you need a gazillion followers. Some say you need to automate all your posts. Some say you need to post to every network. I say it's rather simple, so allow me to offer three strategies.

1) Deliver consistent, high-quality content There are two aspects to this (obviously) - consistency and quality. It's no use posting a large volume of material once every few weeks. Little and often is much better. It needs to stand out, so quality is vital. "How-to" lists work well (yes, I know....)

2) Engage in conversation It's social media, not broadcast media. I've seen many streams of tweets and Facebook posts that are simply links to articles, videos and webpages, with no attempt at dialogue. That's no way to build rapport. People want not only advice, but a chance to interact with you.

3) Promote others It's not all about you. If you see a good article, talk about it and link to it, even if it looks like a competitor. If people see you as a curator of valuable information, they will notice and remember you.

Blackadder was a much-loved comedy. The out-takes were even better.

If you need to make a speech, I'm happy to help.

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."