The Media Coach

Hi John,

I won't be watching any of the Coronation of King Charles III this weekend.

It's not because I'm not interested. It's because I will be leading a team of volunteers around Bond Street and Oxford Street, who will be supplying information about and directions to the event.

I wish His Majesty well for the day. Most of all, I wish for dry weather for the thousands of spectators, staff and volunteers who will be there.

Whatever you think of the Royal Family, I suspect you'll agree that we do this kind of ceremonial event extremely well. The level of organisation is extraordinary.

For my part, I expect to be fielding questions like "Where are the big screens?", "Where can I get something to eat?" and most frequently of all "Where are the nearest toilets?"

I don't think any of those will be bothering The King.

I won't be watching the Coronation concert on Sunday either. I'll be in Cardiff for the finals of the Euro 23 Wheelchair Rugby championships to watch the Great Britain team, which includes Aaron Phipps, who I've been working with this year.

No - I've not taken up wheelchair rugby coaching - Aaron is a great speaker too.

It's an incredible sport, and if you've never seen it, you can see the semi-finals and final on Channel 4 this weekend. I'll give you a wave from the stands.

Julian Treasure is a top-rated international speaker on sound and communication skills.

Collectively, Julian’s five TED Talks have been viewed over 100 million times. How to speak so that people want to listenis in the top 10 TED talks of all time.

Julian delivers engaging, entertaining and transformational content, and is equally potent and effective with live or virtual delivery.

I spoke to him a year or two ago about a brilliant service to reassure people working in noisy offices, and he offered some wonderful advice as you can hear in the Media Coach Radio Show.

And of there's a great song from Roseanne Reid too

The MediaMug this week is not Boris Johnson. It's someone pretending to be him.

Dutch police who arrested a man on suspicion of drink driving discovered he had a driving licence naming him as "Boris Johnson".

The fake Ukrainian document featured a picture of the former Prime Minister as well as his correct birthdate of 19 June 1964.

However, the police were not fooled by the fake licence, especially as it had an expiration date of December 3000.

A former Russia correspondent working for the Dutch public broadcaster NOS said such fake licences could be bought in tourist shops in Ukraine.

"I have seen them from Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others," Kysia Hekster tweeted.

Oops,

The sap is rising, the sun is shining (sometimes), and the time is right to review your speeches and give them a thorough cleaning.

How long is it since you have changed a speech, your slides or your stories? It may be that they still work well, so you stick with what you know. Or it may be that you are still honing them to deliver the best possible value, and continually make small changes. However, I change significant amounts of my speeches on a regular basis. There are a number of reasons for making changes :

Whatever the reason, a spring-clean of your speech can pay huge dividends. I've dropped many stories as I realised that audiences no longer "got" them. For example, I used to tell a story about expertise which featured meetings I had with a footballer called George Best and a cricketer called Geoffrey Boycott. One day, as I was telling the tale, I realised that the even thirty-somethings in the audience had no idea who I was talking about. I might as well have been a history teacher. Much as I loved telling the story, it had to go, and I've never told it since that day.

Take a good look at your speeches. Think about the stories, look at your slides and consider the factual content. Keep the good stuff, revise the outdated stuff, and replace the rest.

The news media seem to have an insatiable appetite for speculation, comment and analysis. Before a report is due out, its possible contents are discussed by experts. On its release, there is an on-the-scene report from outside a building where the announcement was made. After the event, another panel of experts gathers around the studio desk to dissect, discuss and digest the results. That's the way it works.

So how do you react if you are caught up in this news maelstrom? One thing is certain. You won't have a great deal of time to prepare yourself, particularly if it isn't a report, but a breaking news story. Here are a few tips if you find yourself in front of a camera as the first expert to comment:

In summary, keep it brief, honest and sincere. That's it.

The British writer Edward Morgan Forster (known as "E M" Forster to most) coined a phrase in the epigraph to his superb novel, Howard's End. The oft-quoted phrase was "Only connect".

Alas, many people in in social networks appear to have taken him literally. Every day, I receive around half a dozen connection requests from people I don't know and have never met. They may be on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. I don't have a problem with that if there is a genuine common interest, and they have contacted me to explain it. However, that is rarely the case, and it leaves me puzzled as to whether to accept.

Of course, it may be that I have met my potential connection, and simply forgotten. It may be that they are a friend of a friend. it may be that they heard me speak or read one of my books. Unfortunately, if they don't make the basis of the connection request obvious, and I don't recognise them, I just don't connect.

I'm aware that some people accept every request, on the basis that a bigger network is a better network. There are LIONs on LinkedIn, for example (Linked In Open Networkers) who always say "yes". But not me. I prefer to know something about a person before a virtual handshake.

Actually, I suspect that E M Forster may have been equally circumspect, though we will never know. His books are a wonderful read regardless.

Checking in for a flight soon? Not here I hope...

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