The MediaCoach

Hi John,

Some good friends of mine, Julie Holmes and Steve Clarke, have developed the world's first Bluetooth microphone and video app for smartphones. I've been trying it out, and I think it's brilliant. Here's a link to find out more about it. I'm going to be putting the mic through its paces next week when I'm hosting a stand-up comedy evening at the Professional Speakers Association annual convention - I will let you know how it goes.

It's political party conference season, when I have a tradition of analysing the leaders' speeches. This year, I'm looking at the set-piece speeches of Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May. The latter is next week, but I've already run my rule over the Labour leader's speech. In summary, I think it was one of his best speeches (I'm talking technically, not politically), but it did last 75 minutes - a bit too long for my liking. But the audience loved it. Let's see how Mrs May performs next week.

Hans de Graaf is a brain tweaker. He helps people make better decisions, which has to be a good thing. He explained how his ideas work in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also a terrific song from The Dustbowl Revival.
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The magnificent Mel Brooks takes the MediaMaster trophy this week. He's in the UK to promote the theatre musical version of "Young Frankenstein" and appeared on the One Show for an interview. He decided that the eclectic nature of the show was "nuts" and had no hesitation in saying so. Of course, being Mel Brooks, he can say whatever he likes. The man is a legend.

Sometimes it can be a mistake to make a request on social media. Nick Matthewman was enjoying his birthday at a Wetherspoon's pub in Sheffield when his MediaMug friend sent out a tweet asking for strangers to send free drinks to his table. "This is Nick, and it's his birthday. We're at the Bankers Draft Spoons in Sheffield, table 67, be generous and send him a Bev on the app xxx," Rory Mcarthur wrote, with the tweet soon racking up thousands of shares and likes. The Wetherspoons app allows you to get drinks brought to you directly, without having to queue up at the bar, all you need is the location of the pub and the table number. Within minutes, Nick received gifts, including milk, non-alcoholic beers, children's drinks and plates of peas. Well that's a birthday to remember.

GETTING FROM A TO B

One of the trickiest things to do in a speech is to move smoothly from one topic to another. Good transitions are important in any form of communication. In written pieces, or on the web, you can use bullet points or new headings, but you can't do that in a speech. There are several ways to make a transition. Here are some ideas:

Without smooth transitions, your speech can sound jarring or "choppy". A transition helps your audience to shift their thinking - like mentally changing gear, and the more smoothly you can do that, the better your speech will sound.

SEVEN THINGS NOT TO SAY TO A REPORTER

1) This is off the record A phrase which will make the reporter remember everything that you say, and reproduce it (unattributed) to your acute embarrassment.
2) I don't think you'll be able to understand this, so I'll try to say it as simply as possible Never ever talk down to a reporter. They know when they're being patronised.
3) I've never heard of your magazine/radio show/TV programme More often than not, this will be true, but local reporters grow up to be national reporters and if you treat them well, you'll remain a handy contact in their little black book.

4) We're the best in the business As soon as the reporter leaves, they'll check up on your rivals to see whether you're boasting
5) We've had fantastic press reviews in Ireland. Journalists prefer to make their own minds up. Being told that they should copy their overseas colleagues is not a good idea
6) The person who deals with this is away for two weeks - can you call back then? You'll receive a very short answer to this one
7) No comment A popular one this, which leads to one of two possible outcomes - "XYZ training declined to confirm or deny rumours that - " Or "XYZ training refused point-blank to talk to us about - " Neither of these is good news for you

But then, you'd never use any of those phrases, would you?

CUT IT OUT!

Online design guru Steve Krug says in his brilliant book "Don't Make Me Think", you should "get rid of half of the words on your pages, and then get rid of half of what is left".

Most company Facebook pages (and websites), argues Steve, have far too many words, and serve only to confuse the visitor. For example, I found this online recently - "Please send us your feedback about our services. This will give us information that will help us improve our services to you, our valued customers, and make it more relevant to your needs. This will take only a 5-8 minutes. Include your name and details so that we can respond to your points quickly and efficiently. We appreciate you giving the time it will take you to do this. If you have any queries please call or email our customer services department" (82 words)

Instead, they might have said this - "We thrive on feedback, so tell us what you think about our page, or anything else that comes to mind. Thanks." (21 words).

Which do you prefer?

If you found yourself suddenly somewhere else in the world, would you be able to figure out where you are? This game will show you if you are right....

On October 18th, I will be at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Will you be joining me for my story telling masterclass? It's £247 plus VAT for a full day with all refreshments.

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."