Don't duck

Your spokespeople should be trusted not mollycoddled.

This is an extract from IMTW № 94.

Read on to learn why:

① Most public speaking appearances are sterile and boring.

② You should train then trust your spokespeople.

③ Being everything to everyone, everywhere is doomed to fail.

④ The money of the future will be tokenised and programmable.

⑤ In a digital age, analogue media have enduring appeal.

⑥ Shrinking public markets are a cause for concern for investors.

⑦ Customer service is getting worse and it will cost us all.

Whats new

I was at Innovate Finance’s Global Summit this week. As I waited for the next session to begin, I browsed the event’s hashtag on X. That’s when I came across this tweet from former editor of FT Alphaville, Izabella Kaminska.

In short:

• Kaminska has been due to moderate a panel during the event but was removed from the agenda at the last minute because she declined to pre-submit the exact questions she was going to ask the panelists.
• The cancellation happened despite Kaminska having done a prep call and agreed to stick to the talking points discussed, and having offered to talk through specifics or late developments in the green room ahead of time.
• According to Kaminska, pre-submission of journalists' questions is official IFGS policy for all their panels. She was only given this request for questions on Thursday before - when she told Innovate Finance that, had she known this was policy, she would have declined to do the panel, “since it defies the logic of asking journalists to moderate panels. My view is if you are an expert in your field you should be able to handle unscripted and dynamic interaction about your topic with a journalist. If you can't the whole panel is a ruse”.

Why it matters

Before I go on, it’s important to acknowledge that Innovate Finance may well have a very different version of this story to tell. I’m taking Kaminska’s tweet at face value and haven’t corroborated any of this. My lack of journalistic rigour aside though, this story matters for two reasons.

The first is that it brings to the fore the murky grey area in which so many industry conferences operate. They may hire journalists as moderators to imbue proceedings with credibility but that’s often undermined by the lineup of speakers themselves and the cosseted way those speakers are treated. Very often the panelists are chosen not because they’re the most authoritative on the subject matter but because they represent event sponsors. All too often, they’re there to regurgitate some pre-agreed soundbites rather than taking part in real debate. And real debate (or as SWIFT used to dub its Sibos conference ‘critical dialogue’) is surely what industry events should all aspire to.

① The second is as a reminder of how sterile and boring so many public speaking appearances have become - and it’s mostly the fault of marketing and comms people like me. We’re so intent on getting our carefully honed message across that we often veer too far in the direction of protecting our spokespeople - instead of trusting them and getting out of the way. We ask for questions in advance and demand rehearsals. We write talking points and session outlines. There is value in these things, of course, but it often comes at the expense of spontaneity, not to mention interest for the audience.

In the case of this particular IFGS session, relegated to sitting in the audience, Kaminska’s live commentary on X about the behind the scenes prep for the panel turned out to be far more interesting than the discussion on stage.

What to do about it

Take action

Kaminska said it best in her tweet: “If you don't trust the judgment or skill of the journalist you are inviting don't invite them in the first place!” The same goes for your own people.

② My recommendation to you this week is short and sweet: train then trust your spokespeople. Don’t shield them from journalistic interrogation. Arm them with the facts and arguments to stand up to it in their own words. It will make them more credible, more compelling and ultimately more trusted.

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For the rest of this issue, including points ③, ④, ⑤, ⑥ and ⑦, visit my Substack >

About

Written for senior leadership teams in finance and technology,?InMarketing This Week?is a showcase for news likely to impact you - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it. It’s published every Sunday to give you a head start on the week. Read extracts?here, or subscribe to?have each full issue delivered straight to your inbox at six, before it's available anywhere else.