| Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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I've had a great couple of weeks interviewing musicians for my web radio show. You'll hear the results if you take a few minutes to listen.
Obviously, I do it because I enjoy music and speaking with musicians, but there's a far more important reason. Many people have suffered through this pandemic, but performers have seen their incomes shrink to near zero, and are often not eligible for government support.
There are several ways we can help out. One is to watch their online shows and put a donation in their tip jar. Another is to buy their music and merchandise. And there's also a website called Patreon.com where for a small monthly donation, you get direct chats, exclusive content and behind-the-scenes access.
Musicians give us so much, and I hope we can all help them out. |
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Two years ago, Heather and I were in Cuba, somewhere we'd both always wanted to visit. I was reminded as the pictures popped up on Facebook this week.
It's almost hard to remember what travelling to another country was like. And what's an airport? Co-incidentally, an hour after the memory appeared, I received an email inviting me to renew my airport lounge pass for 25% off. I don't think I will. |
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I'm launching a brand-new coaching programme.
Starting on March 1st 2021, you can join a group of speakers for a six-month intensive development programme providing pro tips and shared learning on delivering exceptional speeches, and running a speaker business online and offline.
Every month, you will receive a one-hour one-to-one session, two 45-minute group sessions, each focused on a key speaking topic, an exclusive private Facebook group for discussions about speaking issues, along with email and phone advice. BONUS: A signed copy of the revised edition of "The Exceptional Speaker" published on March 22nd.
All group sessions will be recorded and shared. You can join from anywhere in the world. Limited to a maximum of ten participants. £197 plus VAT per month. Drop me a line if you're interested. |
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| Christine Collister is my guest in this week's Media Coach Radio Show.
She is a remarkable talent with a wonderful voice. She has released 24 albums … a DVD celebrating 20 years in the business and a single with the BBC : the theme tune for The Life and Loves of a She-Devil in 1987.
Her voice has been described as "One of the world's finest" by Q magazine. I'm not going to argue.
She was great fun to interview too, as you can hear in the show.
Naturally, I am also playing one of her songs, with the fellow members of a group called Daphne's Flight - in weeks to come I will be chatting to other members of the group too. |
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The MediaMaestrois shared between a group of presenters who are getting the message out about COVID-19 vaccinations, especially to the South Asian community.
Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal and Romesh Ranganathan are among the celebrities who feature in the video, which will be shown on all UK commercial TV channels.
Fake news about the vaccine has been a particular problem in the South Asian community, and is addressed in the #TakeTheVaccine video.
"There's no chip or tracker in the vaccine to keep watching where you go," says comedian Ranganathan in the film. "Your mobile phone actually does a much better job of that."
The video also rebuts claims that the vaccine contains animal products and is not halal, or that it causes infertility. |
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The MediaMug is Keith Hann,a director at the Iceland supermarket chain.
He's been sacked for comments he made about the Welsh language, which he referred to as "gibberish".
He also said that the Welsh language sounded “like someone with bad catarrh clearing his throat”.
He's not a huge fan of any of the home nations, it appears. In June 2019 he said that “I’d like to say that I have never left England, but regular attendance at an office about 800 yards inside Wales sadly precludes this. Still, I take pride in never visiting Scotland despite having a home within sight of the border.”
My grandmother was born in Wales. She probably would have called him "Twmffat" |
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| Speaking Tip - Hands across the world |
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Sometimes, when I'm watching a speaker present with slides, I see an image that looks familiar. Sometimes I see an image that's very familiar indeed. It's often one of these:
Two hands clasped in front of a globe (Teamwork) People passing a baton (Passing it on) People high-fiving each other (Success) A lightbulb over someone's head (Creativity) A small boy looking determined (Determination!) A picture of an empty road (The extra mile) And then of course, there's the arrow in the bullseye of a target. There are several things wrong with using cliche images. Firstly, they are so common that they lose their impact. Secondly, it looks lazy to use the first stock image you find. Thirdly, and even more importantly, the copyright may be owned by someone else. There are more and more cases of speakers being contacted by the copyright holder and being told not to use an image, or worse still, being sued for compensation.
There is no reason to use a well-known image, and plenty of reasons not to. So here are some alternatives:
Don't use images at all. If your talk isn't enhanced by an image, you don't need it. Use your own images. That ensures you are completely safe and unique too. Use images for which you have paid a licence fee. Make sure the terms and conditions allow public use. Use images with a Creative Commons licence. These may often be used for free with an acknowledgement, but also come with certain conditions that you need to be aware of.
Never assume that because an image is online, it's OK to use. It probably isn't. By the way, the same rules apply to video too. |
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| Media Tip - Practice is good practice |
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Going on radio or TV can be a frightening experience, especially if you aren't used to it. You will probably be nervous. So here's a tip - Nervousness is inversely related to time spent in preparation.
You must plan in advance, and rehearse, exactly what you want to say. You must practice techniques that will allow you to politely steer the answer back to your core message. You must plan for the worst questions that might be asked, and know how to deal with them. And you must practice them out loud too, not just in your head.
This doesn't mean weeks of preparation, because for one thing, you will only have a few hours' notice. Here is my preparation routine:
Take around fifteen minutes to prepare and write down your core message Repeat it out loud five times Write down three questions that you think will be asked. Write down an answer for each question - no more than two sentences each Read the questions and answers out loud three times Repeat your core message five times Do the interview
Of course, it's also useful if you have already been trained in media skills.
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Easy, Eh?
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| Social Media Tip - Jazz up your Twitter |
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Twitter is like jazz. I've been a Twitter user for nearly fourteen years now, and my experience has been like a musician moving from following all the notes on the score to having fun with the melody. Here's my take on why Twitter is the jazz club of the social media world:
1. You need to have a theme. It's no good just playing random notes. People need to know who you are, and what your expertise is. Having established that, you can start to play around a bit, but if you don't have a "core theme", people won't follow you.
2. You don't have to play the same notes as everyone else. If you simply follow the crowd, and re-tweet messages, or post only motivational quotes, others will lose interest. You should develop your own unique style, making your tweets unmissable.
3. Small groups develop their own style. Even though you may have thousands of followers, you will benefit from chatting to small groups regularly, since you will get to know each other, and build a close relationship that can lead to mutual benefit.
4. Some people don't get it. Twitter is not for everyone. But the people who love it, love it. That's fine. Some love classical music, some only listen to R&B.
5. It keeps evolving. I keep seeing innovative uses of Twitter, and unexpected ways to make it work for businesses. Keep experimenting, and see what you like. |
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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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