Entries by Lindsay Williams

Ten Tips for Surviving Aggressive Interviews

The tricks journalists use in an aggressive interview are small in number and well known; and in reality, really aggressive interviews are rare. But if you think your spokesperson, or you, could be facing aggression, here is a checklist of things to do or think about. 1. Rehearse your messages  As with all interviews, there […]

The One Simple Thing Most Presenters Don’t Do and Why You Should

There is a simple, time efficient practise that will massively help you sound more professional, get your ideas across more efficiently, give better presentations or be more confident in that media interview: and yet most people simply will not do it. What is it? Rehearse aloud. I recently came across the golden nugget “Practise Analytically, Perform […]

Why are journalists so rude to PR people?

This weekend I read this on LinkedIn. “Working in PR is tough. I’ve received hefty abuse from some journalists, including death threats. I took a PR role because I struggled financially as a freelance journalist. …I always see tweets criticising PRs. Granted, there are some rogue PRs out there. But I think some people forget we’re […]

How to refuse to answer a question on air

What do you do in a media interview if you get a really uncomfortable question? The answer is remarkably simple: tell the journalist you are choosing not to answer. Daniel Radcliffe demonstrated this on GMB when asked about the Will Smith slapping incident at the Oscars ceremony. Radcliffe did not hesitate: he said he was […]

The Voice of a Woman

One of the best news stories of the year so far, was the return of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after 6 years imprisoned or held in Iran. She and her husband Richard Ratcliffe held a press conference in Westminster, and I was stunned at how composed and articulate she was after her ordeal. And also, how fearless […]

Stories Leaders Tell

Three things came together in my head this Monday morning: On BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, I heard a BBC reporter talking about ‘weaponising history’. He was referring to the story, or the narrative, President Putin has crafted around why Ukraine needs to be part of a greater Russia. This reminded me of a very […]

How Zelensky Rallies a Nation

Volodymyr Zelensky is the man of the moment and reams of video and comment are hitting the internet, analysing his chances of survival and his effect on history. As all readers of this blog know, we look for the communications lessons in current affairs and Zelensky is giving us all a text book illustration of […]

The most powerful element of any message….

When my parents married they were dirt poor.  My father had walked away from a life in the steel mill in South Wales and wanted to be a journalist.  Living in a rented flat with two young girls in the early sixties, every penny was counted. He taught himself Pitman’s shorthand – a skill now […]

How to Speak Human…

‘Things could go crazy quickly.’ ‘That’s a world war when Americans and Russians start shooting at each other.’ If you want people to listen and take note of what you say, keep it really, really simple. President Biden wants Americans to leave Ukraine, and leave now. So, he chooses very compelling language. The Guardian pulls […]