The Media Coach

Hi John,

OK, it's officially fine to play Christmas music now.

But beware of Whamageddon.

The game started on December 1st and the rules are simple. You stay in the game until you hear Last Christmas by Wham!.

As the nice people at Whamageddon.com say - Stay safe, Stay vigilant!

Are you buying tickets to a music gig for Christmas? Don't max out your credit card on Springsteen or Coldplay.

Get tickets from one of the fantastic venues where a great night of great music costs a couple of pints and you can see both rising stars and established acts like Chris Difford, Sad Cafe, Eddie Reader, John Otway and Paul Young.

Try out The Green Note. https://www.greennote.co.uk/

The Half Moon. https://www.halfmoon.co.uk/

The Sound Lounge https://www.thesoundlounge.org.uk/

See you there!

Whether you're delivering a TED talk, or any other type of speech, I can help

If you're thinking of working with me as your speaking coach, there are still a few places on my programme for 2023.

If you'd like to speak at the highest level, get more gigs and earn higher fees, let's have a chat.

And yes I realise that times are tough for some people, so if you sign up before the end of the year, not only will I keep the price at this year's level.

My coaching programme

Iain Matthews is a musical legend.

He's been playing for over fifty years, both as a solo performer and member of some brilliant bands, and he's produced a huge catalogue of great music.

Back in 1972 he was in a band called Plainsong with Andy Roberts, Bob Ronga and Dave Richards. They made one remarkable album - In search of Amelia Earhart.

Along with Andy, Iain is performing a few gigs in the UK featuring music from the the album and from their extensive solo careers. I'm off to their London gig next week which will be a cracker.

Listen to my chat with Iain in the Media Coach Radio Show.

And there's a wonderful song from Plainsong too.

The MediaMug is Heston Blumenthal.

He's known for his unusual food pairings, but he may just have gone a bit over the top this Christmas.

A description of the pies on the Waitrose website reads: "These irresistibly moreish mince pies were inspired by one of Heston as own favourite recipes, Eccles cakes with potted Stilton a very Heston combination, with sweet and savoury bringing out the best in each other"

"Like the original recipe, they bring together the flavours of a festive cheese board: the buttery puff pastry is laced with Cheddar, Emmental and Italian hard cheese and the mincemeat inside captures the taste of a Christmas chutney, with plump vine fruits, figs, Bramley apple, a splash of Ruby port, candied pears, nutmeg and ginger. Delicious served warm with Heston's Tipsy Potted Stilton."

Ah right. I may be giving those a body swerve.

If you make a promise to your audience, you had better deliver. No, you had better over-deliver. That way you will send them home happy.

Alas, some speakers promise something at the start of their speech, and then forget to mention it later on. The reason is often that they have become distracted, maybe by a question from the audience, or (and I have seen this much more frequently), they have distracted themselves by rambling on about a topic they hadn't planned to include.

Here I have to hold up my hand and admit that I have done it myself. Sometimes I used to get so involved in a story that I forgot to return to my main point. These days, I rarely make that mistake. I prepare more thoroughly, and stick to the topic more tightly. That doesn't mean you can never go off on a tangent, but you must return to where you started. It's a technique used by comedians, and just when you think they are lost, they say "Oh yes - back to the story".

Lastly, finally and in conclusion, never promise to end your speech and then keep going for several minutes. That will annoy your audience more than anything else. As Orson Welles used to say "If you want a happy ending, it matters when you stop."

Unless a crisis has occurred, it is unlikely that a reporter will call you out of the blue. It is more likely that you, or your PR company, will have issued a press release or statement, which has been deemed to be of interest. Whenever the first contact is made, you need to be ready.

Be prepared, by having any information that you sent out handy, as well as supporting material to back up your case. If you receive a direct call unexpectedly, you should always buy yourself a little time for thought. Most importantly, find out who the journalist is, and why they are calling. It may be that they have a very different view of the story, or may be contacting you as an expert to discuss another story altogether.

One of the most important things to find out is whether the journalist is staff or freelance, since they are subject to different pressures, and often require information presented in a different way. Staff journalists ("Staffers") work for one publication and will tend to be either young and keen reporters climbing the career ladder, or mature editors and sub-editors who like the security of a regular pay packet. They are more likely to have time to chat to you, attend press events and "do lunch".

For your part, you should know something about their publication before talking to them. Freelancers, on the other hand, write for a range of publications, and are more likely to be under pressure, since they are paid by the word. Always ask a freelancer where the article will appear, and if they are working on anything else that you can help them with. Once you become a valued contact for a freelance journalist, they will call you regularly.

Make a note of your first meeting, including the topics that the reporter covers. Make a brief note of every subsequent meeting. In years to come, your notes will prove invaluable.

For some reason, some people post the most extraordinarily abusive posts on Twitter. Often, their vitriol is directed against an individual that they have taken against. It may make the poster feel better to get their opinions out there, but it's a really bad idea for a number of reasons. The laws of libel apply online, just as they do offline. If you post a message that damages someone's reputation "in the estimation of right-thinking members of society by exposing them to hatred, ridicule or contempt", you could be prosecuted and fined heavily. The law also applies to re-tweets, so you could be in trouble simply for passing on someone else's words.

Here are some guidelines if you are tempted to post a potentially libellous tweet:



In addition, you should be aware of the impact of scheduled tweets. Though they may appear innocuous when you create them, circumstances may make them look tasteless. For example, if you'd planned tweets about (and some companies have done very similar things).

Some more tips:

Things never fail on comedy shows. Well, maybe sometimes...

If you're looking for a speaker, just get in touch.