The Media Coach

Hi John,

So there's been a bit of a todo about Prince Harry's book, "Spare", despite the fact that hardly anyone had read it at the time.

I haven't read it either, so I've tended to stay out of the debate. Also, it's not a debate that anyone can win, since people either seem to be for him or against him.

I was fortunate enough to encounter Harry and Meghan a few years ago when I was working as a volunteer at the London Stadium, for a baseball event.

I was impressed by the way they interacted with the players, and also with a number of service personnel who had taken part in the Invictus Games.

I will read the book and form a view, but I probably won't express it here or on social media - you'll have to ask me when we next meet!

Image of the week, without a doubt, is a wonderful picture of a grandfather and grandson standing alone on the terraces under an umbrella in a torrential downpour while watching their beloved football team, Workington Reds.

The man is William Baker with his grandson Dylan. William has supported the club for 57 years.

The original Twitter post currently has 1.3 million views and Workington AFC's reply currently has 960,000 views. The posts has comments flooding in from across the country, and from supporters of other clubs.

It's to the club's credit that they contacted William and Dylan and offered them some proper hospitality at future games. That's an album cover right there too.

Ella Hibbert is aiming to become the first person to solo circumnavigate the Arctic Circle, non-stop.

She is hoping to inspire people to get involved in the fight against climate change and to think about their daily consumption habits. She also wants yachtsmen and women to look at more sustainable equipment for their boats.

She has dedicated her sail to Polar Bears International and Ocean Conservancy - two charities who are doing important work to protect the future of the Arctic ecosystem in the face of the current climate crisis.

By setting a world record of completing a sail that's never been done before, she will not only be raising awareness for global warming and man-made climate change.

I spoke to her this week, and found her to be a remarkable woman - and you can help her on her journey

Find out how and listen to our chat in the Media Coach Radio Show.

And there's a great song from Rob Corcoran.

The MediaMug this week is MP Andrew Bridgen, who made a complete twit of himself on Twitter this week by posting conspiracy theories about the Covid vaccination.

He quoted a cardiologist who he quoted as saying that the delay in releasing safety data on Covid-19 vaccines was "the worst crime since the Holocaust."

Many of his Tory colleagues complained, and in no time at all he was no longer part of the Tory party, and now has to sit as an independent MP.

I suspect we haven't heard the last of him. but his Parliamentary career won't go beyond the next election, if it even reaches it.

As you know by now, I am not a huge fan of PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, or any other system that projects slides onto a screen. However, there are some occasions when a speech is enhanced by an image, so I accept that there are times when such technology is useful.

Even so, I still strongly advocate the use of the "B" and "W" keys. Each key acts a toggle switch in every version of PowerPoint (Windows) and Keynote (Mac), turning the screen black or white respectively. Sometimes a remote slide controller will include a "blank" button too.

I urge you to make liberal use of the keys or the button. I also suggest that you limit the amount of speaking you do while an image is being displayed. The reason is simple. Communication is best served when you and your audience are looking at each other. They can see your gestures, facial expressions and movement. Their attention is not divided between you and the screen (they may be drawn to their smartphone, but that's another matter).

When using slides, you can describe what the audience is about to see, tell them what to look for, and then display the image as you stay silent. You can then blank the screen and discuss what they saw, returning occasionally to the image if necessary to make further points.

Of course, you can't use this technique if you are using slides with loads of words on, treating them as your script. You'd never do that though, would you?

There tend to be two different ways that people look at media interviews, Some people feel that since they know their topic inside out, they barely need to prepare, since they will able to deal with any question. Other people are so terrified of being interrogated by a reporter that they spend days analysing the worst questions, and practicing avoidance tactics.

I advocate a different approach. Your five minutes of airtime is a golden opportunity to deliver a simple, effective, relevant message. When I'm preparing a client for a media encounter, we spend a lot of the time preparing the message, and then practicing ways to deliver it in an answer to any question. That doesn't mean avoiding the question altogether, but it does mean focusing on your message rather than trying to figure out what the journalist wants to know.

Preparing for a five-minute interview on national radio or TV, I generally split the time up roughly this way:



That may sound a lot of work for a five-minute interview. But the reputation of your company could hinge on it. How much is that worth?

Red, I hope. That's the colour people expect to see. There have been stories in the press in the last few days about shops with "sale" signs in green, blue and black all passing un-noticed by prospective customers. The problem is, if we don't see what we are used to, we aren't sure what it is.

So it is online. Your customers are used to things being presented in a certain way. For example, underlined text in a different colour indicates a link. You should be able to click on it. Conversely, a picture or logo is not an obvious link. Navigation buttons are clear and obvious, and visible on every screen. There should always be an obvious link to your basic information.



These online conventions serve a valuable purpose. They help people to navigate pages they have never visited before. If you make things difficult, then people will simply vote with their fingers and go elsewhere. So make things easy for your customers, and make sure that (among other conventions), your "sale" signs are always red.

Some people work very hard for their money...

If you're looking for a speaker this year, just get in touch. I now have all inclusive pricing.