| Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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And through it all, she offers me protection, a little love and affection..
You probably know the rest.
I was there while Robbie Williams was at Soccer Aid in the London Stadium on Sunday, an event he set up fifteen years ago that has raised millions of pounds for UNICEF.
It was a fantastic day, with a full stadium, some world-class players, and some not so world-class. Robbie was the half-time show. As they built the stage, we were encouraged to sing "Angels". After 20 minutes, the stage was ready, and Robbie stepped out to sing - "Angels". That was it. The next 15 minutes were required to dismantle the stage.
But I'm not complaining. Robbie is a hero. An Angel really. |
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I've been on a few podcasts recently, and I'll post links to them next week.
So I thought I'd put a call out for my own podcast (or web radio show as I prefer to call it).
If you have something to share, or a story to tell, drop me a line by responding to this email, and I'll put you in front of my web radio audience (tens of thousands of people around the world).
I look forward to hearing from you. |
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Apparently there's going to be a mini heatwave today in the UK.
Back in the day when we had newspapers, the sub-editors had a great time with headlines, the most popular being:
"Phew what a scorcher! Man fries egg on pavement!"
For better or worse, those days are long gone.
(Health warning: eating an egg fried on a pavement is not advised) |
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| Heather Wright has made it her mission to learn as much as she can about the psychology of influence and how to use it to everyone’s advantage and then convert it to usable, teachable material to change the lives of others.
I spoke to her a couple of years ago, and it's time to hear her again.
Hear our chat in the Media Coach Radio Show. |
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| MediaMaestro, MediaMug of the Week |
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The MediaMaestro is the owner of a chip shop - Binley Mega Chippy in Coventry. It's become the most famous chip shop in the world.
For years it was like any other English chippy: serving pies for £2.40, fish and of course chips from its haunt on the outskirts of the UK's ninth-largest city.
Owner Kamal Gandhi, 70, now has a huge number of customers, some of whom have apparently travelled from France, America and even Australia.
The viral hysteria over the fast food outlet was not sparked until early 2022, when it was featured in a slideshow of multiple UK chippies on TikTok on 26 April.
In one month the video received around 82,000 views and 11,000 likes, Know Your Meme reports.
Well done Kamal!
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The MediaMug is the Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian "newspaper".
They contacted actress Rebel Wilson (on the right in the picture) and threatened to reveal that she was in a relationship with a woman and giving her two days to comment.
Ms Wilson decided to make her relationship public the next day.
What did the Sydney Morning Herald do? They complained that she ruined their "exclusive story".
I'm not sure what year it is in the offices of the Sydney Morning Herald. Around 1955, I suspect.
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| Speaking Tip of the week - What is important? |
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In your speech, which is the important element? Is it the delivery, the message, the visuals or the reaction of the audience? It's everything. Your speech will be remembered for one of two things. It may be the takeaway message, which resonates with the audience and calls them to action, or it may be the thing that didn't quite work.
Alas, it is often the one element that fails which becomes the memorable feature of a speech. It may be poor acoustics, poor sight-lines from some parts of the room, or failing to deal properly with a question. That's why a professional speaker checks and re-checks everything. That's why they arrive early and test every piece of technology. That' why they have a backup device or procedure for every foreseeable failure. That's why they rehearse.
Murphy's Law (whatever can go wrong will go wrong) doesn't always apply. However, Stevens' amendment to Murphy's Law (the thing that you didn't test will fail) often does. Leaving any element of your presentation to chance is opening yourself up to potential disaster. The trouble is, you may be too close to your speech to spot the errors. It's a good idea to ask someone else to check things out with you. A fellow speaker is a good sounding board (sometimes literally), and then you can help them in the same fashion.
The important thing is everything. |
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| Media Tip of the week - Listen, Note, Respond |
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Questions, whether from a journalist or member of a live studio audience, can cause you stress and lead to a flustered response. Here are some techniques to help you respond with confidence and clarity.
1) Listen carefully, right to the end of the question. There is often a temptation to formulate a response while the questioner is still speaking. This often stems from a desire to appear to be very knowledgeable, by not even having to pause for thought before answering.
2) Make notes If you are taking part in a debate in front of a studio audience, and you are answering a question which is preceded by a story, or it is clear that the questioner has several points to make, it is quite acceptable to take notes. You will thus ensure that you cover all of their points. Don't just write down the question, but also jot down a few key words to use in your reply.
3) Go for the easy response A questioner may include several points, effectively asking several different questions. Pause for a moment, and then offer an answer to the easiest one. Of course, you don't tell the questioner that. Instead, you say "Let me take your second question first."
Deliver a full response, and then say "Remind me of your other points". More often than not, they will ask you to move on, or will have forgotten what else they asked. |
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| Social Media Tip of the week - Make it easy to share your content. |
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Social networking is all about sharing. You will build and maintain a following if you share great content, and also if you produce great content that others enjoy reading. Here are a few tips to make your content ready-to-share:
Address a common need : "How to win more business" Keep it simple; "One-minute website fixes" Use lists : "Seven tips for a better Facebook business page" Mention a celebrity : "Five presentation tips from Steve Jobs" Appeal to emotions: "How to feel good about cold-calling" Be controversial "Why your marketing is useless, and how to fix it" Offer value - is it content you would share? Include a call to action in the content - "Why not share this?" Give it a tweetable title Post it on several social networks
The easier your content is to share, the faster your reputation will grow. |
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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." https://em-ui.constantcontact.com/em-ui/em/page/em-ui/email# |
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