Archive for April, 2009

If you have ever considered engaging media as a way to communicate with your customers or the general public, you will want to check out Nancy Juetten’s blog this week. She has been featuring tips from some of the best media trainers around.

Today it’s my turn and I’ve given Nancy my top ten ideas on how to be effective when speaking to media. Click here to read more. And don’t forget to read the posts from Susan Harrow and Lynn Espinoza from earlier in the week.

And if you are in need of expert advice on do-it-yourself publicity, Nancy has a whole array of excellent tools kits and Publici-Tea sessions. Thanks, Nancy!!

It happened yesterday for the first time, at least the first time I was aware of it. Someone walked out of my presentation in protest and frustration. And it happened so quickly it has taken me a little while to understand how and why is happened. I was able to recover quickly during the presentation, however it was very awkward for about 30 seconds!

It’s not easy to think about what I did to create that reaction. Certainly the other person shares some responsibility, don’t they?

To a degree, yes, people are responsible for their own reactions and the action they take as a result. However every speaker has the responsibility to do as much as we can to not offend our audience.

In retrospect, I can see how it happened. I made some comments or posed a couple of questions with which this person disagreed. There was opposition to the premise in my statements and I did not clearly define the meaning of my words. And when I tried to explain, I may have been a tad defensive myself. So instead of having someone see another point of view, I ended up pushing someone further away.

Now I’m not saying you can please everyone, or that everyone will always like what you have to say. In fact, I’m often paid to give people bad news or tell them things no one else can say. However as a speaker, when someone else disagrees with me, it’s not my job to change their minds or convince them that I am right. It’s my job to share my observations and my reasoning in a neutral fashion that gives them an opportunity to see a new perspective and possibly consider it valid. That’s really all I can do.

To the person I offend, I apologize for not paying sufficient attention to what was happening and my own reaction that escalated the situation. And thank you for the lesson I have taken away from the experience. It gives me new insight on how to handle disagreements with my audience in the future.

When preparing people for media interviews, it’s key to help people find their own words and phrases to communicate their ideas to reporters. I don’t tell people what to say. I help them discover new ways to communicate using their own words, usually rearranged in a more compelling and economical format.

I did a media training yesterday for a group of savvy businesswomen. Two of them had previous media training experience which turned out not to be very helpful. In fact, they were not really looking forward to my session for fear it would be more of the same.

Evidently in the prior training, the instructor had listened to their key ideas and developed scripts for them that didn’t sound very authentic. The instructor was recommending words and phrases that were difficult to remember mainly because the wording didn’t ring true for these women.

How you play with words can make a big difference in your comfort level and how you are perceived by your audience. You don’t need a makeover to do great media interviews. You just need to identify your key ideas, stay true to yourself and your beliefs, and use language that is authentically you.

A good media trainer will bring out your best, not try to mold you into someone else.

If you are looking for more great trips from some of the best media trainers in the business, Media Savvy maven Nancy Juetten is posting great insights this week. Today’s post is from Susan Harrow. Yours truly will be highlighted on Friday. Click here to check it out.

I joined the social networking scene about a year ago with beefier profiles on LinkedIn and Biznik. My Facebook pages went up just a few weeks ago and already I’m feeling a little fatigued about it all. It’s been fun connecting with friends and colleagues I haven’t seen or heard from in a while. However, I’m learning that staying current with what everyone is doing can be a full time job! And now the current “must do” activity is Twitter. I’m not there yet folks and I’m not sure I’m going to get there, at least for a while.

As with everything else, integrating all of these wonderful new tools for staying connected requires some balance and discipline. I’m working on it. So be patient out there. I have a feeling I’m not alone in my “Facebook fatigue!”

Ahhhh! That’s the sound of a baseball fan beginning to breathe again. The season started yesterday. Griffey is back in an Mariners’ uniform and there he was hitting a homer in his first game! The stars are aligned and for today it feels good to be an M’s fan!