The Media Coach

Hi John,

Here in the UK it's Remembrance Day tomorrow, when we pause for two minutes of silence to remember those who fell in wars.

As always, I remember in particular my two great uncles, both lost in the First World War, and neither of whom saw their twentieth birthday.

Jack died in the mud of the Somme, and Arthur drowned in icy waters off the Hebrides when HMS Jason was torpedoed.

There are millions of men and women who have lost their lives in conflict. Taking two minutes to remember.

This weekend, as well as honouring the fallen, I will be working at the Copper Box arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park supporting the GB v Sweden tennis match, which is a qualifying event for the Billie Jean King Cup.

The GB women's team, captained by Anne Keothavong, will play in front of a capacity crown of 11,000.

I'll be trying to make sure that the spectators behave themselves. Should be fun!

A few places remain on my popular one-to-one speaker coaching services for 2024. I offer 12-month and 6-month courses that over a hundred speakers have already benefited from.

I've been involved in the speaking profession for over 40 years, and I'm sharing my expertise.

If you'd like to have a chat about it, email me at alan@mediacoach.co.uk.

My guest in the radio show this week is Dan Raza.

His distinctive approach has won him a following across the UK and abroad as he has taken his songs on the road performing solo and opening for Joan Armatrading, Badly Drawn Boy, Alejandro Escovedo, Cara Dillon and The Sadies, amongst others.

He's a terrific live performer and we talked about music, songwriting and life on the road.

It was great to speak with him. Hear our chat in the in the radio show.

Go to the MediaCoach Show

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And of course there's a superb song from Dan Raza too.

The MediaMug of the week is social media site Omegle, which has closed down after fourteen years.

The service, which randomly placed users in online chats with strangers, grew in popularity with children and young people during the Covid pandemic.

But the site has been mentioned in more than 50 cases against paedophiles in the last couple of years.

Founder Leif Brooks said that operating the website was "no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically".

"There can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes," he added.

There are dozens of things you could do before you deliver a speech. Here are five that you must never miss.

1) Check the venue, timing and topic. When I say "check", I also mean "re-check". Always make a call a day or two before you travel to an event to make sure that the details you have are still valid. It can and does happen that an organiser may make some changes at the last minute, and forget to tell a most important person - you.

2) Have several copies of your presentation. If you're using slides, send a copy in advance, upload a copy to the cloud, take a copy on a memory stick, and have a hard copy too. If you're using notes, have hard copy and electronic copies too.

3) Rehearse out loud. Saying the words in your head is not the same as saying them out loud. You need to know how they feel as you say them. Ideally, record your rehearsal in audio and/or video and play it back to check how it looks and sounds.

4) Anticipate delays and plan to arrive early. There are lots of reasons for arriving early, maybe even the day before you speak. You have time to relax, meet the audience, get a feel for the venue and run a technical rehearsal.

5) Meet the introducer. How you are introduced sets the scene for the opening of your speech. Always make sure you speak to the person who will introduce you and hand them a short introduction. Don't let them make it up!

When you are being interviewed on TV, the camera will often be on you, showing your reaction, while the question is being posed. The viewer will make a judgment about whether you are really listening, whether you are irritated by the question, and whether you know what to say, just from the way that you look. It often tells much more about people than what they actually say.



Of course, you need to listen to the question so that you can answer it in a professional and competent manner. You should also make sure that you look as though you are listening, too. Here are a few tips:

Stillness and respect is what it's about.

Having video on your social networks is essential these days. Here are some tips to make your videos look and sound more professional.

1) De-clutter the background. Remember that any distraction confuses the message. A tidy bookshelf or a plain wall are fine.

2) Get a good microphone. It costs a little extra to get a plug-in or wireless mike for your video camera, but the results are well worth it.

3) Learn your words. Glancing off-camera at your script is very obvious,and looks as though you aren't sure what you are talking about. There's no need to learn word-for-word, but the essence of your message should be easy to remember.

4) Rehearse. People don't want to see your "ums" and "ers", they want to see a simple statement of value.

5) Be conversational. Imagine you are talking to just one person.

6) Use high-quality and landscape mode. Most cameras default to this format anyway, and it's become almost standard on YouTube.

7) Keep it short. Two minutes or less is fine. Make sure that the opening few seconds make an impact, too.

8) Bonus tip - If you make a small mistake, keep going. It's more real.

It's Christmas advert time. I've looked at quite a few, and one in particular caught my eye.

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."