A new gold standard has been set when it comes to defining what makes news.
Thanks to the World Cup anti-hero, Luis Suarez, the old adage of "Man Bites Dog" has suddenly become outdated. Traditionally in journalism classes we have taught that when a dog bites a man it probably isn't big news - because the situation is all too common...as postmen will attest. If someone famous owns the dog, or if the attack is particularly ferocious, then the news value goes up. But really big news is the unusual. Hence the rule that if a man bites a dog then it is indeed news. Now, as the striker from Uraguay has shown, "Man Bites Man" is worth even more in media terms. The Suarez taste for Italian has won a well-deserved four month ban and damning international headlines.
(You can be forgiven for not believing the Suarez excuse that he lost his balance and accidentally fell on the Italian defender.)
My latest mission in life is to extend the rules of journalism to help fight the curse of dull presentations. I spend the biggest chunk of my time in master classes these days seeking to enliven dull presentations - often with presenters who have sparkling personalities when away from the lectern!!! This has overtaken the number of people I help through boosting their media interview performances. The reason is that there are more under-performing presenters than there are people scared of interviewers (especially now that the human rotweiler Jeremy Paxman has retired from the BBC Newsnight programme). So here's how to learn from the Suarez Factor in your next speech... |
APPLY THE RULES OF JOURNALISM TO YOUR NEXT TALK
The problem with so many presentations is that they tell us too much about the bleeding obvious.
Your audience doesn't want to hear what it already knows.
Audience members want something new, exciting and unusual.
This is what makes a big media story.
And this is what will make your next presentation shine out.
It's particularly important to say something with bite at the very beginning.
I once did some television and radio reports on the Australian comedians who come over Britain to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe and London comedy clubs.
They told me they had ten seconds to get the audience to like them.
So they had to come up with something really powerful right at the start. You do too. So my campaign to save the universe from boring starts to boring presentations begins with your first ten seconds. If you find yourself saying: "As you all know..." then stop yourself. If you find yourself saying "It's a well-known fact that.." then stop yourself. If you find yourself saying "You've no doubt heard the old joke about..." then stop yourself. The best way to lose attention is to say something obvious at the beginning. This gives your audience permission to switch off. If you want to learn more about switching on your audience, details of my sessions on "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" are at: www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php |
STANDING WITH CONFIDENCE IN YOUR NEXT TALK
Once you've learned to apply the rules of journalism to your presentations, you can move onto football.
How you stand in front of the audience also plays a big part in their perception of you.
The World Cup has provided an opportunity to remind us how football defenders stand when there's a free kick close to the goal posts.
It's the same way nervous public speakers often stand. Like this...
Football defenders adopt this position to protect themselves from getting hurt somewhere painful.
When speakers stand like this it looks as if they fear the audience is about to attack them.
The way to look confident in front of your audience is to stand with your hands up and open.
Your open hands signal you have nothing to hide - or to fear.
When you get used to it, standing up and open helps you feel more confident too.
Together with my professional speaking colleague, Nicci Roscoe, we can demonstrate the rules good body language on stage at your next conference.
Your team will stand the right way in their presentations forever after - and project the confident image that you want!
Details of "Make Your Team Look Sound And Feel Great" are at:
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MAKING THE RIGHT IMPRESSION ON YOUR CUSTOMERS
The rules of good presentations can also be adapted to those less formal but all-important business conversations.
In my one-to-one sessions on "Become That Inspirational Business Communicator In A Day" we can focus on getting your message across to different personality types.
This enables you to communicate in a way that the person you are dealing with prefers - depending on his or her character.
A colleague of mine in the Professional Speaking Association is now working with me to take this concept a step further with your team.
Gerry Brown, pictured, is known as "The Customer Lifeguard"
He helps track down bad service and asks it to leave.
 These personas are identifiable fictional characters based on the different behaviours, attitudes and goals of the people that buy - or who might buy - your product or service. Gerry and I now run joint master classes on "Making The Right Impression On Your Customers - Every Time". We can help you define the typical types of people who your company interacts with and how to recognise them. For while all your customers naturally have their own unique personalities, you will find there are enough overlapping similarities to enable them to be grouped into different categories. Gerry and I can then guide you and your team on how to make an emotional connection with each type - in a way that makes them feel comfortable, relaxed and confident in your ability to serve them better. You can plan, prepare and practice in advance for the conversations you need to be ready for. So you and your team will be better equipped to deal with the actual people you deal with now - and the types of people you know you will have to deal with in the future. This result is a winning combination for your customers and your team. Email enquiries@michaeldoddcommunications.com if you would like to receive the flyer with more details about these sessions. |
LEARNING FROM THE VIRGIN TOILETS
Meanwhile back to the unusual...
Virgin Trains have the right idea when it comes to getting across a message by saying something unexpected.They're trying to combat the problem of miscreants putting the wrong stuff down their train toilets. The standard dull messages clearly weren't having enough impact. Hence this new message - so memorable that I photographed it on the way to doing presentation training with engineers and sales people in Yorkshire this month.  So please don't give chewing gum to your goldfish, put a nappy on it, wrap it in your ex's sweater and flush it down a Virgin toilet. And please find a better way to make a big impression on your competitors than biting them. Keep smiling, Michael |
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