The Media Coach

Hi John,

The football season is upon us again. Yes. I know, it hardly seemed to have gone away.

I went to a pre-season game at my club, Fulham, on the banks of the river Thames. I had to keep reminding myself that it was summer. I got soaked, blown around and almost hit by the ball.

But we won, and I had a pie and a pint at half time, so all was well. If you're a follower of the game, I wish you and your team well, and may the hope never fade.

I'm delighted to announce that on November 7th, I will be partnering with my old friend Jonathan Low from Malaysia to present an Exceptional Speaker Masterclass in London.

Like me, Jonathan is a former global president of the speaking profession and we have over 70 years of experience on stage between us.

We'll release more details soon, but if you're interested, pop the date in your diary now.

A couple of places are still open for my speaker coaching.

Six-month or one-year packages are available, and I'd be more than happy to have a chat with you about options.

There's also an intensive package if you have an important speech looming.

Drop me a line on alan@mediacoach.co.uk or call me on 07986 852621.

My radio guest is Michael Armstrong.

In 2021 Michael hit the No.1 spot on the US NMW Indie Chart for 4 consecutive weeks with his self-penned song ‘Each Others Eyes’ (No.15 on the Top 40 Chart). As a direct result of the success in America, Michael was invited to perform at the London New Year’s Day Parade on 1st January 2022 – an event that was broadcast across the USA, Canada and beyond with an estimated viewing audience of some 500 million people!

He has just produced a brilliant five song collection (an EP in my terms) called Gender Neutral Volume 1 where he interprets songs associated with female singers.

It's stunningly good, as you'll hear in the radio show.

Go to the Apple Podcasts Archive of the MediaCoach Show

Follow me on Twitter

And there's a terrific song from Michael Armstrong too.

The MediaMug of the week is a website called Prosecraft.io, a site that used novels to help power a data-driven project to display word count, passive voice, and other much more subjective, writing-style markers such as "vividness"

It shut down this week after authors protested strongly about the project.

Prosecraft used the full text of over 25,000 books - entirely copyrighted material - in order to develop a library of data. Authors, once they caught wind of what was happening, immediately hated this.

The person who set up the site, Benji Smith, wrote “Since I was only publishing summary statistics, and small snippets from the text of those books, I believed I was honouring the spirit of the Fair Use doctrine, which doesn’t require the consent of the original author.”

However, Mr Smith admitted using the full text of books to create his data. That's not on.

Understanding classical rhetoric can enhance your speaking. Here are some rhetorical devices.

Procatalepsis Anticipating an objection to your case, and dealing with it in advance. For example "Some people argue that speakers should never speak for free, since it devalues their skill. However, there are a times when it make sense, as I shall now explain"

Anacoluthon A sudden break in the grammatical structure of a sentence. For example: "I drove up to my house, and noticed the lights were on, though I'd turned them off when I left -- are you still with me here?"

Paronomasia Punning wordplay, including homophonic or homographic puns, both of which are included in this example: "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass."

Auxesis Exaggeration, often with sequential enhancement. Here's an example:"You found my phone? You are a gent, a prince, a god!"

Here's my advice:

Be honest If you or your company has erred, come out with your hands up, and admit your error. Far better for you to be upfront than to be discovered "hiding the facts". Use the opportunity to explain what happened, show that you are dealing with the matter quickly and efficiently, and detail what steps you are taking to avoid a repeat occurrence. Most importantly, say how you will treat any of your customers who have suffered as a result. You should show both empathy and authority.

Be direct Don't beat around the bush or use jargon. Imagine that you are talking to a fairly bright 12 year-old. If you over-complicate things, your message will be lost.

Be fair Nobody likes to hear people rubbishing their competitors constantly. If you have a better product or service than your rivals, list its merits.

Be positive In any circumstance, it is possible to make a positive statement.

Be presentable Clearly, the way you look is going to be important for television interviews, and may even distract the viewer from hearing what you say. However, even on radio or in print, your appearance may affect the way in which a journalist treats you, and even whether they trust what you say.

Be aware There is no such thing as "off the record". Journalists hearing this phrase will immediately prick up their ears, and will often find a way of working your secret into their report.

Be prepared Make sure that everyone in your company knows how to handle a media enquiry, and that anyone who may be called on to talk directly to the media has been properly trained and briefed. And whatever you do, rehearse - otherwise you may end up like the senior executives at the press launch of a people carrier. As the gleaming vehicle was driven onto the stage in front of assembled motoring journalists, the executives within discovered that they didn't know how to operate the child-proof door locks. Of course, that sort of thing couldn't happen to you, could it?

"Liking" a Facebook post is one way of indicating that you've found it interesting, even though you may be appalled by the content. Facebook has a few other emoticons you can apply too. But what about simply posting the things that you like? Maybe it's me (and I'm guilty of it too), but the majority of posts that I see seem to be complaining about something. It's as though people are defining themselves by what they don't like (a point made often by the great comedian Tim Minchin).

There's the issue of how you are being perceived by your Facebook friends. If they only ever see you complaining, or sharing shocking videos in order to make a point, they may decide to unfriend you. That renders your posts invisible to them in future, of course.

So why not try posting content that you like? It doesn't have to be pictures of rainbows or kittens (though if that's what you really like, go ahead), but might be a piece of music you love, a bit of sporting imagery, a great speech, or maybe even a blog you've written about great customer service.



I'm not advocating the "everything is wonderful" approach to life. I'm just suggesting that you take a look at your social media postings and think "am I being a bit too negative?". If you're not, well done. If you are, well, maybe it's time to tell us what you really like.

It's getting a bit scary what can be done with AI. Poor old Johnny Cash must be spinning in his grave.

A reminder to look no further. Just get in touch. 07986 852621

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."