Have you seen this on Zoom?

I'm calling it - I have a decent head of hair and if it hasn't vanished by now there's a good chance it won't (see above).

But I'm not convinced everyone else on a call wants to see it, at least not this close up. And this is relevant to media training and comms in general because if you don't make a conscious effort this is what a lot of people are going to see when you're on Zoom, Teams or whatever. I had it only today in a session - an excellent spokesperson being slightly offputting by not appearing to make eye contact.

It's inevitable unless you're made aware of it. Your natural inclination is going to be to look at people when they're talking to you, so you do precisely that only to find that their image on the screen isn't perfectly lined up with the camera. So when you're trying to be persuasive - say in an interview or presentation - you actually appear to be looking at their nose, or their neck or whatever.

There are two ways around it. I've tried with a little external camera with a sticker that fits onto the screen so you end up looking straight at the people you're talking to. That works up to a point, until there are multiple people on screen so you're still not looking dead ahead anyway - also the one I bought didn't have any software so there was no option to zoom in or out or add a blurred background or whatever.

The other way (and my preferred option) is to look straight at the camera. It takes a bit of getting used to as your inclination will be to look at people's eyes even if, on screen, they appear to be looking at your chin.

It's only a small thing once you're used to it. Like a lot of media training points, it's a side issue. Presentation techniques are never a substitute for excellent content. But it can lift a presentation or media interview - try it!

And if you want my help with your presentations or media interviews don't hesitate to get in touch.

Video tip: watch your timing

Last week a client said...

"...What we requested was a complex programme of media training sessions delivered across diverse teams, job functions and locations. What we received was a masterclass - the results of which were clear in the way people from all levels of the organisation walked away feeling enthused, prepared and confident."

Nick Henderson, communications manager, Encyclis, after eight sessions in which Paul and I trained around 25 people in his organisation.

Know your field and don't be afraid to correct others

A week and a bit ago I wrote this on LinkedIn:

As a media trainer but also a journalist I find it a bit embarrassing to see so much criticism of Microsoft in the headlines today. It really wasn’t their fault that someone else issued an update that identified Windows itself as a problem and hobbled it. It’s as if someone somewhere just wanted a clickbait-ish headline and realised “Crowdstrike” wouldn’t get the same amount of clicks as “Microsoft”. Not a great day for several news correspondents and headline-writing subs.

I've tested it in media training on tech companies a few times since then, asking "What can we learn from the Microsoft crash over the weekend?" They tend to respond as if I hadn't made the howling error, in fact a couple of them repeated "Microsoft" back to me rather than dare to comment that it wasn't a Microsoft issue at all.

Sometimes a journalist might just be checking to see that you know what you're talking about. Don't ever be afraid to correct, albeit politely, a misconception or misunderstanding in the question itself. If it's wrong, neither you nor the journalist want it to appear in the final copy.

Get in touch

Do your or your clients have concerns about being misrepresented in the press? We can help - drop [email protected] a line or get in touch with Guy direct on LinkedIn and we'll set an initial time to talk.