The Media Coach 18th July 2023

Speaking Tip of the week - Start me up

I've heard speakers begin their speeches like this (name changed to protect the guilty);

"Good Morning, my name is Tom Smith, and I'm delighted to be here in Birmingham. Let me say what a pleasure it is to see you all here. It will take just a moment to connect up the laptop, so I'll just let you know that even though I have a lot of slides, I'll skip some of them, and explain the ones that are hard to read. Can you hear me at the back, by the way?"

OK, put your hand up if you spotted anything wrong there. Fine, put it down.

You'd never start like that, would you? The first twenty seconds of your speech is "golden time". It is the only time that all of your audience will be listening to you. You must ensure that you don't waste a second of it.

So, here's what to do to ensure that you don't start like Tom.

• Do a technical rehearsal so you know you can be heard
• Arrange for your presentation to be pre-loaded, and rehearse the change-over
• Tailor your slides (both number and format) to each audience
• Preferably, don't use slides at all
• Don't introduce yourself, someone will already have done that
• It's safe to assume you are happy to be there
• Have a well-rehearsed opening line
• Take a deep breath
• Silently count to three while surveying the audience
• Go for it!

Media Tip of the week - I can't explain

Sometimes in a media interview, you'll find yourself being asked a question that you can't answer. There could be one of several reasons for this:

• It would mean breaching a confidence
• It's part of a legal case
• It's outside your area of expertise
• It could be embarrassing for you or someone else
• You're not sure of the facts
• You simply don't want to discuss it

In most of these cases, you can simply tell the truth. If it's confidential, or sub judice, you can simply say so. If it's outside your area of expertise, it's OK to say that too.

There are two tricky situations though. Firstly, when you should know the answer but you don't, and secondly when you do know the answer but don't want to reveal it.

Let's take these in order. If a question comes up that you should have anticipated, and should be able to answer, the best approach is to offer a partial answer and say that you want to be absolutely accurate in your response, so you'd like time to check and provide the answer as soon as possible.

If it's a question that you simply don't want to answer, you can either say "That's not the most important issue...." and deliver your core message, or you can offer a long answer to a related issue that prompts another question, such as "A good question, but what people are really looking for is what they can do if they have a similar problem, which is..."

But of course, all of these are trumped by good preparation.

Social Media Tip of the week - Go your own way

There are many ways to use social media.

For some people, it's a way to show how wonderful their life is. That's not what you do.

For others, it's a way to build a massive following so that a fraction of them will buy whatever they are selling. That's not what you do either.

For most of us, it's a way to keep in touch with friends and business colleagues, to remind people what we do, and to say nice things about other people's posts.

The common element here is that we all like to be able to stand out in some way. We're all unique, and it's good to be able to show that when we post online. The thing is, if you do what most other people are doing, you won't stand out.

I suggest you go your own way. Post about things that others don't mention. Don't follow the herd. If there's a news story that everyone is commenting on, post about something different. For example:

• Post a "top ten" list - books music, film and ask people to share theirs
• Take pictures and ask people to caption them
• Ask for suggestions about what to watch or read
• Use your family history to start a debate on an issue
• Write a short story

In other words, go your own way.