| Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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I'm in Germany right now - Frankfurt to be precise, speaking at the annual convention of the German Speakers Association. I love to visit my peers at events around the world, to learn from them as well as to offer them advice based on my experience. On this occasion, I've been on a panel talking about international speaking, doing a "meet the experts" session on seven ways to get booked, and then having the honour of delivering the closing keynote on Saturday afternoon. One thing I always do at this type of event is to grab interviews with top speakers, which you will be able to hear in the next few weeks in the MediaCoach Radio Show.
Every year, I work with a handful of professional speakers to improve their speeches, their rates and their bookings. Because I offer this personally, I can only offer a few places. Some of my current clients wish to continue next year, so I have fewer places that ever. I am opening applications this week for my one day a month coaching programme. Details are here. If you wish to have a chat about it, drop me a line. But be quick! |
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I am not always a fan of interactivity from speakers. I can't stand it when someone says "Turn to your neighbour and share..." However, when interaction - or to put it more precisely, experiential speaking - is done well, it's absolute magic.
Someone who understands it inside out is Jackie Barrie. I read the draft of her new book and was honoured to be asked to write the foreword. I spoke to her a few days ago on the occasion of her book launch, as you can hear in the Media Coach Radio Show.
There's also a fabulous song from The Dustbowl Revival, who have announced a show in London, at Nell's Jazz and Blues on November 2nd. See you there? |
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The MediaMaestro is Mohammed Kareef Daniel Abdullah, formerly Daniel Taylor from Cheltenham, but more popularly known as "Mat Dan". You may not know him, but he is huge in Malaysia, where he has his own prime-time travel programme, hosts his breakfast radio show and appears on billboards advertising tours to Mecca.
After a backpacking trip, Dan wound up on the tiny island of Pulau Kapas on Malaysia's east coast. Rather than just spending his time travelling with Western backpackers, Dan decided to immerse himself among locals on the island. He a local dialect called Terengganu - spoken by about a million natives of Terengganu state.
A buzz had already started to build around Dan in Terengganu state as word spread of a young Englishman who had embraced the local language and way of life. But when a student from Kuala Lumpur secretly filmed Dan speaking Terengganu, the video clocked up hundreds of thousands of views across Malaysia on YouTube.
A TV crew from the capital came knocking and asked if he wanted to try his hand in front of the camera. After realising he had a knack for presenting, Dan was offered his own prime-time travel series: Haramain Backpackers - Trans Siberian.
He is now recognised everywhere he goes and has almost a million followers on Instagram. He has his own cooking show despite not being able to cook. He began hosting a radio show on Manis FM and is now a regular fixture on Malaysian chat shows. Not bad for a backpacker from the West Country. |
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The MediaMug is Amazon, which has perhaps unwittingly had an impact on babies' names. Two years ago, there were over 300 babies named Alexa. Last year, the number had fallen to 118. The reason being suggested is that people don't want to wake up their Amazon Echo smart speakers when they are talking to their children.
“The growth in the use of technology assistants in our homes may help to explain why the number of baby girls named Alexa has more than halved compared with 2017,” said Nick Stripe of the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS). “Communicating with young children can be hard enough at the best of times.”
Oliver and Olivia remained the most popular names for boys and girls, so let's hope no speakers respond to those.
I now realise that I have to be very careful when recording this story for my Radio Show. |
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| Speaking Tip - Review your stories |
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If you speak regularly, you will have a fund of stories that you use, examples that you quote, and people that you mention. It is a good idea to review these from time to time to make sure that they still resonate with your audience. You don't need to change that much (and may not need to change anything at all), but if you don't review your content, you could become less successful.
As speakers, we all know that engaging an audience is key, since if they aren't listening, it doesn't matter what you say. If you make references to popular culture, try to find more contemporary examples that make the same point. For example, I heard a speaker talk recently about how difficult it is to "set a timer on a VCR". Fewer and fewer of your audience will know what a VCR is (it was a video cassette recorder, by the way), let alone why it is difficult to set it.
Don't throw away all your good stories just because they are a few years old. However, make sure that you use vocabulary and examples that your audience understands. Otherwise, people will start telling stories about you, and "how good you used to be".
All good speakers continually hone their speeches, adding, subtracting and refining stories and anecdotes. However, there are dangers in changing a speech that works well, since you could ruin it for the audience (and you're not being paid to use them to experiment on).
So, if you want to make changes to a story, keep the rest of the speech the same. If you want to add a new story, put it between two stories that work really well. After your revised speech, note down what worked and what didn't.
Keep your speeches fresh by continually improving your material. But make sure you keep the good stuff in. |
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I've lost count of the number of times that I've been asked for a case study by a reporter. The media love case studies because people identify with them, they offer a solution (well usually) and they give people an idea how to handle a situation.
It is a good idea to have a few case studies up your sleeve, whatever your area of expertise. The classic structure of a good case study is -
An attention-grabbing title An intro, often mentioning the author's name Set the scene - facts, figures etc Describe the problem Why it went critical What was done to solve it What conclusions can be drawn for others in the same position A quote from someone involved
If it involves your company, or a client that you are working for, mention their name often in the case study. Make sure that you have the agreement of anyone quoted or mentioned. If you do all of the above, journalists will love you. |
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| Social Media Tip - Picture this |
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It's often said (probably because it's true) that social networking is about personal relationships. All social networking sites give you the opportunity to upload a picture to your profile, so I find it remarkable that many people don't bother. Personally, I rarely follow anyone on Twitter who doesn't have a photo. It's about honesty (so make sure it's a picture of you too).
Some people take the opportunity to upload a picture of their family pet, their children, or a snap of themselves on their wedding day. That's fine if you never expect to do business with anyone. But if you want to make a good impression, have a nice, smiley head and shoulders picture, and not the one in the Metallica T-Shirt (unless you're a tattoo artist).
Here are some other avatar images I advise avoiding:
A picture of you standing next to a celebrity (I've lost count of the people Richard Branson is snapped with) A company logo (social media is personal) You and someone who isn't famous A picture of you from 100 yards away A picture of you from 10 years ago A group of people (which one is you?) Anything which begins "Keep calm and" |
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| I have German friends that I am with right now. I have Irish friends I will see soon. I hope neither is offended by this (well maybe a little bit...) |
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Nervous about unexpected questions in a media interview? I can help.
Just click the link. |
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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." |
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