The Media Coach

Hi John,

After the offer I made in the last couple of weeks, copies of my book are now winging their way to ten lucky winners and ten of their friends.

I thought I'd make another offer for the month of September.

If you're able to meet in London during the day, I'll invite you to my club at the top of Trafalgar Square for coffee and a chat.

You can have an hour of questions, speech coaching, media advice or even a chat about music. It's free, of course. And you may get a signed copy of my book too. You know how to get in touch. The first four drawn before next Friday get the prize.

My very good friend Niels Brabandt has a favour to ask.

He's on a MBA programme and is studying the impact of coaching on leadership performance.

As a concluding part of his study, he's conducting a survey which takes less than ten minutes to complete.

Bot Neils and I would be very grateful if you could spare a little time to complete it.

Thank you.



The survey is here.

I was on GB News again this week, discussing how and why people can be held to account for social media posts.

It's a simple rule - if you would be prosecuted for saying it in public, you can be prosecuted for saying it online. As some are finding out to their cost, being behind a keyboard is not a defence mechanism.

My guest in the radio show this week is Elaine Abery, who has made a career out of unravelling government red tape and helping people to advocate for change around the world.

She is an experienced public speaker, delivering simple presentations on subjects as complex and diverse as international tax law, best practice internal policy-making, International Women’s Day.

She is well-known for her ability to negotiate solutions that work for government and for her clients. She particularly enjoys finding innovative solutions to complex issues where others have tried and failed.

Hear our fascinating chat in the in the radio show

Go to the MediaCoach Show

Follow me on X (Twitter)

And there's another outing for one of my favourite bands of the moment, Mustangs of the West.

The MediaMug of the week goes to Donald Trump (again).

He is clearly put out by the large crowds that his opponent, Kamala Harris, is attracting.

On her arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, she was greeted by around fifteen thousand people. All of the major news outlets covered it, as did many press photographers.

Donald Trump said that it was a fake and there was “nobody” waiting for her.

Apparently his advisors have recommended focusing on policies rather than crowd sizes.

One of the most disheartening things for a speaker is to arrive in front of a noisy or disinterested audience. In fact the only thing worse is an audience which is both noisy and disinterested. Of course, the person who introduces you should make sure that the audience is settled and ready, but that doesn't always happen. If you are faced with calming down the audience yourself, here are seven ways that you might try (hopefully you will only need one of them)



In short, do anything which causes the audience to stop chatting for a moment. Then start your speech with a killer opening line.

We're all busy people, and reporters are often especially busy, with tight deadlines to meet. It can be very difficult to grab their attention when there are hundreds of other individuals and organisations trying to do the same thing. An editor will often ask "Where's the hook?" That's the element in the story that grabs the attention of the audience. But first it has to grab the attention of the reporter.

There are a number of "news hooks" that can work, such as:

If you don't have a news hook, your story has little chance of making it. The news hook should always be the first thing you mention. It should be in your headline, and your opening paragraph. If you use a statistic, make sure that you give a credible source. If you stir up controversy, be prepared to get into a debate (see above) with an opponent of your views, since the reporter will aim to balance the story. And if you make predictions, be aware that follow-up stories may happen months later, so be as sure as possible of what you're saying.

Finally, once you have a reporter's attention, make sure that you give them your attention in return.

Quentin Crisp, a flamboyant character, moved from his home in England to live in New York, where he felt more at home. Sting wrote a song about him - "An Englishman in New York." Mr Crisp said the difference between the two cities is like the difference between etiquette and manners. The English have etiquette and the Americans have manners.

What did he mean, and what does it have to do with social media?

He defined manners as a way of putting people at their ease, by being inclusive.

He defined etiquette as a way of determining people who were of a particular class, by being exclusive.

So here's the link to social media. When you are interacting with people, for example in a Facebook group, are you being inclusive or exclusive? Are you encouraging them to participate by being polite and well-mannered as they learn how the group works, or are you making them feel excluded by explaining how they have broken the rules of the group?

Good manners is all about your behaviour towards others. Etiquette is how you expect them to behave towards you. Manners makes people smile. Etiquette often annoys them.

Are you more concerned with online manners or etiquette?

News broadcasts are now so professional that hardly anything goes wrong...

You know I can help. 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."