The MediaCoach

Hi John,

So they're off. Again.The MPs are packing their cases at Westminster and heading off around the country to ask for our votes once more. It seems only a couple of years since the last General Election. It was a bit of a surprise when Theresa May strode out of the front door of Number 10 Downing Street this week and announced an election, but now that it's unofficially under way, it seems like the norm. Maybe we should switch to having longer election campaigns and shorter parliamentary terms? On second thoughts, maybe not.

So I'll be keeping an eye on the oratorical skills of the various candidates, as well as their performance in interviews. As usual, I won't be making any political points, not because I don't have views, but because, dear reader, I would never wish to suggest that my political views are any better or worse than yours.

It was the thirtieth birthday yesterday of something many of us have used. Not many people use it well. A few use it brilliantly. It's PowerPoint, which was first sold as an Apple product on April 20th 1987. I wonder how people managed to make presentations before that? (Yes I know, overhead projectors and slides)

While in Macedonia, I met a number of inspiring people. One was Anna Pelova, who is travelling around the world interviewing inspiring people for her crowd-funded book. I turned the tables and interviewed her, as you can hear in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also a great song from Alex Lipinski
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The MediaMaster award goes to a French politician, for making use of some fairly old technology in a new way. There's an old theatrical illusion called "Pepper's ghost" which was used to make ethereal figures appear on stage. Jean-Luc Melenchon launched his campaign as a hologram, broadcast to seven different cities. I suppose that some politicians in the UK may do the same in the next few weeks. That may or may not be a good thing!

As a school governor, I was intrigued by the story of Launceston College which has excluded a boy from lessons after he appeared with an "extreme haircut". In fact, he'd had his head shaved for a cancer charity, raising £850. Principal and MediaMug Bryan Maywood said "Launceston College respects Taylor's impressive collection made for Cancer Research but unfortunately it was not planned with College expectations in mind." "Launceston College has the highest expectations possible for our students, judged outstanding by Ofsted at our last inspection. We will not lower those expectations but will increase the level of support available to help meet them. Taylor will be provided with individual specialist tuition from experienced qualified teachers for the four days he will not be in lessons with his peers. After this period his hair will no longer be considered an extreme hairstyle; he will return to normal lessons."
So that's it, is it? After only four days, his hair will be an "acceptable length". How very weird. I looked at the school website. A number of the teachers are bald. I wonder how that is "acceptable"? Schools have to have some rules on appearance, of course. But they have to be logical. In this case, logic has escaped Mr "MediaMug" Maywood.

SLIPPING AND SLIDING

I mentioned the 30th birthday of PowerPoint, so it makes sense to offer some tips. Some people use slides every time they present. Some people never use them. Some (like you and me) use them some of the time. We can all learn to be more effective, so here are a few nifty features that they don't teach you in PowerPoint school (or Keynote class if you're an Apple user).

1) Blanking out the screen. There are a number of ways to toggle the screen off, and return attention to you. In both PowerPoint and Keynote, The "B" key turns the screen black, the "W" key turns it white. Pressing the key again restores your slide. This is really important for bringing the attention of the audience back to you. You're the person they came to see.

2) Navigate to any slide. Sometimes you may wish to skip past several slides, or go back to a particular slide. Rather than displaying every slide in-between, there are short cuts. In PowerPoint, simply key in the number of the slide and hit enter (a good reason for also having a printed map of your presentation). In Keynote, just type the slide number and click "go" or hit enter. This is especially useful if you have more slides than time to show them.

3) Using the cursor pointer. Rather than using one of those laser pens, you may just wish to use the on-screen cursor to point out elements of a slide. In PowerPoint, the "A" key shows or hides the pointer. In Keynote, it's the "C" key.

Those three tips alone, particularly the first, can make a huge difference to the way your slide show is regarded. Remember that the aim is to engage and inform your audience, not to send them to sleep. Slides, and how you use them should only serve to make your presentation better. If they don't then it's better not to use them at all.

YOU VERSUS A JOURNALIST

Media interviews are not really unarmed combat, and most of the time, you will get an easy ride. Just now and again, you may face some tough tactics, so here's how to respond.

1) The repeated question Former Home Secretary Michael Howard was asked the same question twelve times by Jeremy Paxman. Mr Howard refused to give a direct answer, but became increasingly evasive. What should you do in a similar position? Relax. Smile. Stick to your core message. Better still, respond with a question of your own - "What would you do if..."

2) The sand-filled sock You may be hit with a sudden heavily-weighted question. For example, it could include an assumption or assertion that is untrue, leaving you only a few seconds to respond. You must make sure that you deny any untrue accusation, even by just using the words "That's untrue", before delivering your brief core message. If the accusation is true, you should have a well-rehearsed riposte. Boris Johnson clearly couldn't cope with this type of questioning from Eddie Mair.

3) The downright insult Ignore it or swiftly dismiss it. Jeremy Paxman's final question to Chloe Smith, Treasury Minister, in a really tough encounter, was "Do you ever think you are incompetent?" She replied: "I think it is valuable to help real people in this way and I do think that is valued by people who drive.". Her answer should have been one word. "No"

THE OLD VARIETY SHOW

It used to be said that TV killed theatre variety shows. Now it's being said that the web is killing TV. But variety never went away. In fact, it's variety that can help to keep people interested in your social media output. If you only ever post links to your own content, people will stop following you. On the other hand, if you only ever promote other people's postings, you may be regarded as less than an expert yourself. Similarly, if you upload only videos, or only audio clips, you may end up with an audience that switches off, or believes that is the only thing you can do

So it's a good idea to introduce variety into your social media output. It doesn't require a great deal of work, but it may help to do a little planning. Here's how you could organise your activity:

Those are just examples. None of them should take more than 30 minutes of your time. Look at other ways to mix up your social media, and watch your following grow.

Those professional news presenters don't get any better...

Last call for my StoryTelling Masterclass at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

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."