How to Handle a Loaded Question
Lindsay Williams

Actor Ayo Edebiri Shows How to Handle a Loaded Question

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An exchange at the Venice Film Festival has been circulating online — and it’s an interesting case study for anyone preparing for media interviews.

During a press conference for After the Hunt, Italian journalist Federica Polidoro asked the panel about movements such as Black Lives Matter and MeToo. But she pointedly told actor Ayo Edebiri the question was “not for her.” Edebiri, who is black, gently but firmly challenged the exclusion, then went on to answer the question with poise and without rancour.

It’s worth noting this wasn’t a one-to-one interview. It was a press conference — recorded and streamed for journalists and festival attendees — and there were three actors on the panel. You can watch for yourself here.

As the video shows, the other actors were Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts.  Garfield threw his hands up in despair at the question and gestured to Roberts to answer it. Roberts, visibly ruffled, never-the-less took control by asking Polidoro to repeat the question.

Polidoro, who is clearly not a native English speaker, then rephrased the muddled question like this:

“The question (is) for Julia and Andrew. Now that the MeToo era and the Black Lives era are done, what do we have to expect in Hollywood and what (did we lose) if we lost something during the politically correct era?”

At this point, Edebiri jumped in and said that she wasn’t sure why she was excluded but she wanted to say that she did not feel ‘it was done’. She then went to expand on the point with support from Roberts.

You can read Newsweek’s write-up of the incident by clicking here.

So what are the lessons?

  1. Journalists sometimes ask bizarre questions.
    It may be accidental, careless, or a deliberate attempt to provoke. Either way, a trained spokesperson does not have to accept the question as asked. You can acknowledge, side-step, and reframe so that you give a thoughtful answer without being pulled somewhere you don’t want to go. In this case, Edebiri did not accept being excluded and jumped in to have her say.
  2. Questions are often framed to suit the news cycle.
    Polidoro has had a lot of online abuse about her question, and has not really explained why she tried to exclude Edebiri, so it’s difficult to know if it was a whim, a misphrasing or something more calculated. But reporters often frame questions in a way that tries to limit the response. For example, “What are your three top tips?” “Which moment defines you?” Or the classic loaded question: “Have you stopped beating your wife, yes or no?” These questions are traps if you treat them literally. You may not have ever considered three top tips, or you may have five, you may not think there is one moment that defines you. And any partner would certainly want to say, ‘Just to be clear, I have never physically harmed my wife or anyone else. ’ The skill of a trained spokesperson lies in recognising the framing — then answering on your own terms.
  3. Don’t pick a fight, however tempting.
    Edebiri’s response is a masterclass in tone. She didn’t let the exclusion slide, but nor did she escalate. She calmly challenged the assumption of the question and went on to explain that just because there was less use of the hashtags, there was still a lot of work being done. She did not attack the journalist or complain about being excluded.
  4. Presence matters as much as words.
    In moments like this, body language, facial expression and tone of voice do as much work as the content of the answer. Edebiri projected authority without aggression, and her body language was apologetic to her fellow panellists for interrupting, although she was clearly determined. That balance is what made the clip powerful and ensured she could not be criticised for being offensive to someone who may have just misphrased something in a foreign language.
  5. Prepare for the unexpected.
    You can’t rehearse every possible curveball, but you can rehearse techniques: pause before answering, ask the journalist to repeat the question if you need the thinking time, reframe the premise, and decide what message you want to leave behind. That preparation makes it much easier to keep your cool under pressure.

For spokespeople, the takeaway is simple: you can’t control the question, but you can always control the answer. This is exactly the sort of thing covered in media training. Something we know a bit about.

The Media Coach team have decades of experience helping people understand how to get the best out of media interviews.
Lindsay Williams

Zack Polanski: Communication and Disruption in UK Politics

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Zack Polanski hasn’t just taken the Green Party leadership — he’s rewritten the script on how they talk.

For years, the Green Party leaned on graphs, facts, and climate-first detail.  To some that made them sound like a pressure group, not a contender for power. Polanski is changing all that.  His approach: Less data, more story. Less briefing paper, more emotion — even anger.

And so far, it’s working. He took 84% of the members’ vote, and his leadership launch video (below) has already been watched more than a million times.

Since his victory on September 2nd, Polanski has reportedly given around 60 media interviews. He is making himself available — and very visible. And by the way, racking up a lot of interview practise during his honeymoon period.

For me, the choreographed anger and emotion are straight out of the Trump, Farage, and early Marine Le Pen playbook. To this, Polanski adds his own twist — regularly calling “bullshit.” Personally, I’m not a fan of swearing in public, but it’s deliberate. It’s part of the crafted authenticity.

What impresses me more is his clarity. His arguments are simple, sharp, and unambiguous. It’s a potent mix of clarity and populist energy. He openly says the Greens should study Nigel Farage — not for ideology, but for communication. I’ve said before: Farage speaks fluent pub. He mastered simple, memorable messaging that resonated with ordinary voters. Polanski wants that same cut-through, but grounded in left-leaning values. Less “wonky policy brief,” more “call to arms.”

Another key strength is how he handles tough questions. As a media trainer, I can see the prep behind it. It shines through, particularly when Polanski is faced with what I call “anticipated negatives.” Of course, I don’t actually know if it’s pure native wit or the result of analysis and rehearsal, but it looks to me like the latter. I would guess his team brainstorms likely hostile questions, then crafts neat responses that reframe while looping back to the core message.

Take this example:

Q: “Adrian Ramsey (another prominent Green politician and leadership contender) couldn’t bring himself to say he liked you, even after six or seven chances in one interview.”
A: “This is not what matters. People don’t care about this stuff. Adrian and I have worked together for three years. In that time, the Green Party has taken more seats and signed more members.”

He barely waits for the question to finish before delivering that crafted answer, and he is not fudging — he’s reframing.

Polanski is also deliberately combative. He’s not afraid to make enemies or call out falsehoods. That bluntness makes him seem more honest to those who feel ignored or angry. But it will alienate those who prefer their politicians measured and not foul-mouthed.

Still, in today’s politics, Polanski’s style feels like a left-wing answer to the right’s populist playbook. And while people are often cynical about messaging, we know that consistent, powerful messaging is an essential tool for all good communicators and Polanski uses these well. Here are a few of his crafted lines — or, in our lingo, key messages:

Zack Polanski Communication as Disruption in UK Politics

  • “The threat to our society is not arriving by dinghy or a small boat — they’re flying in a private jet.”
  • “The true menace isn’t migration, it’s billionaires and corrupt corporations.”
  • “The boats, the boats, the boats… I call bullshit.”
  • “Racist narratives about strangers destroying everything? Bullshit.”
  • “If you use the NHS, the person caring for you is far more likely to be a migrant than anyone in front of you in the queue.”

And as a Jewish man, he has not hesitated to call what is happening in Gaza “genocide,” saying: “Never again means never again for everyone. End the genocide.”

Time and again, we’ve seen how good communicators — the ones who simplify the messy complexity of modern life — influence debates and get elected. Polanski is betting on that formula. Whether you like it or not, it’s a masterclass in communication as disruption.

Here is an interesting Guardian article about Polanski’s approach to creating social media content.

The Media Coach team have decades of experience helping people understand how to get the best out of media interviews. If you have spokespeople that need media training, email enquiries@themediacoach.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 7099 2212

 

 

 

 

 

Handle Nerves Feature
Lindsay Williams

How to Handle Nerves for Media Interviews or Presentations

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At The Media Coach, we often meet leaders who are brilliant in their day-to-day work but feel a wave of dread when the camera switches on or they step up to a podium. It’s completely normal—almost everyone gets nervous before a media interview or presentation. The trick isn’t to banish nerves altogether but to manage them so they help you perform at your best. In this blog, I outline some strategies we know can work.

Handle Nerves

Reframe the Feeling

Nerves and excitement feel almost identical in the body—your heart beats faster, your breathing quickens, your palms might sweat. Instead of telling yourself “I’m terrified,” try saying, “I’m excited” or “I’m ready.” This simple reframing can trick your brain into associating the physical signs with positive energy rather than fear. Top athletes and performers use this technique before stepping into high-pressure situations.

Preparation Can Reduce Nerves (for some)

Some people fight nerves with preparation, others can choose to avoid preparing because it just increases anxiety. This is risky and almost guaranteed to lead to a weaker performance. What helps is having:

  • Clear key messages (no more than three main points you must land).
  • A practised narrative, so you know not just what you want to say but how you are going to say it.
  • Examples or short stories to bring those points to life.
  • Bridging phrases ready to help you steer back to your key points if you’re interrupted or side-tracked.
  • A clear idea of timing, there are huge benefits to rehearsing with a stopwatch or timer.

Think of this as packing your mental “go-bag.” If you know what’s in it, you won’t panic when the unexpected happens.

Practise Aloud, Not Just in Your Head

Reading your notes silently gives a false sense of security. The only way to build confidence is to practise aloud. Say your key messages standing up, as if you’re on camera. Record yourself on your phone and play it back—you’ll instantly hear where you rush, mumble, or overcomplicate. Each run-through reduces the unknown and makes the real event feel familiar.

Control Your Breathing

Nerves make us breathe shallowly, which fuels anxiety. A quick reset is to breathe in for a count of four, hold for four, and breathe out slowly for a count of six. Do this three or four times before you go on air or on stage. Slowing the out-breath calms your nervous system and steadies your voice. Similar breathing techniques are used by both the US Navy Seals and the SAS. If you need the science behind that, it’s here.

Manage Your Body

Simple physical tricks can counteract tension:

  • Plant your feet firmly on the ground for stability.
  • Remember BBC: If sitting, put your bottom in the back of the chair. Lean forward slightly to project energy.
  • Relax your shoulders and let them drop slightly.
  • Let your hands move —don’t clamp them to your sides or fidget.
  • Unclench your jaw; tension here makes it harder to speak clearly. (Speech therapists often teach exercises for this.)

The audience wants you to do well. Confident body language helps them trust you—and helps you trust yourself.

Control the Start

The most nerve-wracking moment is usually the first 30 seconds. Plan your opening line or first answer so you’re not improvising when adrenaline is highest. Once you’re underway, nerves tend to settle.

Focus Outward, Not Inward

Handle Nerves

Nerves make us turn inwards: “How do I look? Am I making sense? What if I go blank?” A useful shift is to focus outward: “What does this audience need? What will help them understand?” By putting attention on the listener rather than yourself, you take pressure off and come across as more engaging. This is a technique advocated by the Dalai Lama no less.

Accept Imperfection

At The Media Coach, we’ve seen again and again that once people get a few tools and do some practise, the fear shrinks, and the confidence grows. If you or your team would like to rehearse in a safe space and learn to manage nerves under pressure, get in touch—we’d be delighted to help.

 

Photo credits

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Dalai Lama photographed by Christopher Michel. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC BY 2.0)

Act Out Feature
Eric Dixon

Introducing the ‘Act Out’:

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For times when narration is simply not enough

I’ve made reference to stand-up comedy previously on this blog – because many of the skills required to be a decent comedian map perfectly onto those required for someone to be a good presenter.

Clearly, factors useful in both disciplines – such as charisma, rapport, impact, timing, structure and eye contact – all make a difference as to how you are perceived. And despite what you may have been told, these things don’t have to be innate; they can be learnt too (this sort of training is meat & drink to us; we do it every day).

But there’s one skill which is less frequently talked about – and that’s what is known as the ‘Act Out’ – the shift from simply narrating the topic in question, to actually performing it.

Let’s be clear from the start: you don’t have to be a trained actor to do this. Or an amateur one, for that matter. You needn’t even have risen to the dizzy heights of playing the third villager in the school play when you were aged seven. All it takes is the ability to recognise that anything you are talking about might be enhanced by performing it, instead.

This skill is brilliantly demonstrated by the comedian Jen Brister in a ‘Live from the Apollo’ performance several years ago. It’s worth watching before reading what follows, so that you can put the analysis below into context.

Seen it yet? Good.

You’ll notice that she has turned what could have been a simple comment on the difference between how daughters and sons are treated by their mothers (lasting a matter of seconds) into over a minute of impactive comedy.

Admittedly, this segment starts with narration. Her premise is stated in bald, simple, straightforward terms – even with a caveat that not everyone will have experienced what she is suggesting, so it might not apply universally. But then it morphs into a powerful demonstration of what she is trying to say.

You’ll have to watch it, to understand what I mean. Indeed, that’s the point. Nothing I write here will quite encapsulate what watching the ‘Act Out’ in progress involves. Having to explain it rather than getting you to witness it is the very definition of “you had to be there”…

And that’s precisely why the ‘Act Out’ is so powerful. It transforms what otherwise would be a reference to the past (i.e. something that had happened) into the present tense (i.e. something being re-enacted now).

It also makes excellent use of an example – which we’ve referred to on the blog before. The beauty of stories, anecdotes and examples is that they immediately provide the listener with a very real illustration of what is meant (more impactful and memorable than just saying it). But more importantly, this is done without the danger that anyone watching will believe that this is the only instance of what is being described taking place. It will immediately prompt memories of occasions where something similar (but different) might have happened. It’s counter-intuitive, but offering the audience something specific demonstrates the general point more powerfully than saying it more generally ever could.

Finally, it follows the advice (often given to authors) of ‘show, don’t tell’. As far as the audience is concerned, just being told something can be dull, dry and forgettable. Experiencing it in the moment is something which is likely to stay with them.

In Jen Brister’s set, the punchline – when it comes – is all the more effective because the acting out adapts accordingly: straight-faced as opposed to smiling, standing up rather than crouching down, and less than 2 seconds in duration compared with 28 for her previous example (allowing for the extended ‘kissing’ routine). Then there’s the dramatic FOUR SECOND pause between the two. Also notice how she switches the direction in which she is facing to enhance the contrast: to the right for the son, to the left for the daughter.

Of course, the ‘Act Out’ isn’t an element you should always include. Some things lend themselves to the technique more than others, so you will need to be selective. But there are often times when you can add extra dimension and impact by moving away from just talking about it to actually doing it.

So, you don’t have to be a comedian. What you say doesn’t even need to be funny. But including an ‘Act Out’ in your next presentation is highly likely to make it more engaging, impactful and memorable. And isn’t that precisely what you’re looking for?

For advice about ‘acting out’ – and a host of other presentation and media training techniques – contact The Media Coach here.

Politics as entertainment feature
Eric Dixon

Politics as Entertainment

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For weeks now, politicians of all colours have been appearing on the big TV debates, ready to be interrogated in depth by the serious news interviewers out there – such as Laura Kuenssberg, Nick Robinson, and Julie Etchingham.

These programmes are a regular part of the build-up to a General Election, and politicians prepare for them rigorously, knowing that every word is being examined, scrutinised and analysed by newsrooms around the country (and sometimes the world), eager for a headline.

But there’s one type of arena in which politicians have to perform which is arguably even more difficult for them – and that’s the ‘soft’ TV entertainment show like BBC1’s The One Show, ITV’s Loose Women and Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch.

Politics as entertainment

The reason it’s so tricky?

Because whilst professional politicians may feel at home in a challenging debate which feels similar to the environment of the House of Commons, they feel much less comfortable on a show where politics is rarely discussed. They know that in these appearances, the audience is used to a different diet of topics, and somehow they have to present their ‘real’ selves (whatever that may mean) in an authentic way.

This is a subject which came under discussion in a recent edition of the excellent podcast ‘The Rest Is Entertainment’, hosted by author and broadcaster Richard Osman and journalist Marina Hyde.

Politics as entertainment

The discussion starts at 2:04

As Marina Hyde puts it, politicians realise “that kind of soft exposure can be as helpful, if not, more helpful, than hard news exposure – particularly now that mainstream news has been abandoned by so many people”.

In other words, in some respects, entertainment TV has become even more important during an election because it has an audience of people who do not normally care about the news or politics suddenly wanting to know what various politicians are really like.

Richard Osman agrees, saying “Elections are for politics what Wimbledon is for tennis. Literally, 85% of the population doesn’t care at all about politics… not because they’re idiots or anything; it’s not the thing that rings their bell… in the same way that most people are not interested in tennis, until suddenly Sue Barker pops up”.

But the problem is, the experience of being on an entertainment talk show feels like a “bear trap” where they are suddenly the “amateurs” rather than the “professional politicians” in the room. This ‘softer’ choice of outlet has form: Margaret Thatcher on Radio 2’s ‘Jimmy Young Show’ in 1975; Bill Clinton on Arsenio Hall’s TV show in 1992.

It’s a tricky balancing act – showing yourself to be interesting enough (or at least not boring, which is not quite the same thing), to justify your appearance on the comfy sofa, but not to be seduced into saying something so odd it becomes a negative headline. Think of Teresa May’s ‘naughtiest’ memory being ‘running through fields of wheat’, when interviewed in 2017.

“If you’re a man and you go on Loose Women”, adds Marina Hyde, “you have to say: ‘this is my scariest interview’… It’s electoral law. You have to say: ‘I’m terrified of this one’”. And with good reason. The curveball question to Rishi Sunak “Why do you hate pensioners?” on that very same programme was clearly not something he was expecting.

As Richard Osman explains, unlike entertainment guests, “politicians have no freedom to do or say anything…  They’ve got their party lines. And that doesn’t work if you’re going up against Judi Love and Janet Street-Porter… It’s not the rhythm of the conversation that you need to have.”

All of this means that this type of interview can become the most difficult politicians are likely to encounter. Suddenly, they are fishes out of water and they no longer know the rules. “Everyone I know who would be good on The One Show would be a bad Prime Minister,” says Richard Osman. “I don’t think you can do both; you have to choose.”

It’s a bit like the ‘funny’ question which used to appear at the end of every edition of Question Time. During their preparation for the show, politicians would spend a surprising amount of their time obsessing about the nature of the enquiry, and what the correct response would be.

“The issue that these politicians have:” explains Richard Osman, “they’ve grown up in an environment where every single show they go on is pretty much the same – and also goes out to pretty much the same audience… You’ve got this ridiculous dance – of something where it’s not a real interview. They know their line of attack; he knows his line of defence – and everyone who’s watching has made their mind up already, anyway. And that is so much of political broadcasting over the last 20 or 30 years: it’s a dance that everyone knows the moves to.”

But away from this environment, in programmes where entertainment guests are usually booked, the steps have changed. The dance becomes much more free form. Policy gives way to personality; charisma and authenticity are suddenly what the judges are looking for.

It could be argued that as neither Sunak nor Starmer are ‘natural’ TV performers, the reaction of viewers to their respective appearances is ‘fair’ – even if, in real life, they are both much more personable.

What we can say for sure is that whoever wins in the polls on Thursday, you can guarantee that the victor will not only have coped with the serious TV debates, but – just as importantly – will also have managed to handle the ‘soft’ entertainment shows too.

 

 

Media Savvy Operators
Lindsay Williams

Media Savvy Operators Know How to Place a Quote

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An example of a carefully phrased quote came on Monday this week with the publication of the report of the 5-year inquiry into the infected blood scandal. The Chair of the inquiry Sir Brian Langstaff writes that the cover-up of the scandal by the NHS and the government was ‘subtle, pervasive and chilling’. Anyone watching the headlines will have seen that phrase pop-up repeatedly as the news broke. There are other good quotes too, but these four words dominated the early coverage of this 2,527-page report.

Media Savvy Operators

Another example of what I am sure was a crafted quote, came in a written submission from UK Water to the House of Commons environmental audit committee last week.

UK Water speaks for the water industry, and as the FT reported, Deputy Chief Executive Stuart Colville wrote:

(Ofwat has)  “a difficult job in assessing these [business] plans but, in my view, has made this more difficult for themselves by creating a labyrinthine framework of intense complexity”. The submission also says Ofwat’s regulatory processes were “slow and insufficiently flexible.”

Submissions to House of Commons audit committees do not often make headlines but given the huge crisis around the UK’s water management, this one was bound to be scrutinised. The language Mr Colville chose meant he was guaranteed to be quoted, and in this case he also got the headline he would have wanted.

Media Savvy Operators

Proactive media engagement is quite an expensive business. Organisations invest a great deal of time in crafting press releases, reaching out to journalists and preparing for and doing interviews. And yet so many of these organisations shy away from being quotable.

CIPD is the professional body for HR and Learning and Development. This month they spent money on a YouGov survey of the problems of the Apprenticeship Scheme and issued a press release to highlight the results.

However, the press release includes no quotable language. There are several attributable quotes but they are dull and worthy. This meant any journalist writing the story would have struggled to find a good phrase to sum up the problems.  And as we see in The Times’ coverage, they are likely to go elsewhere.

Media Savvy Operators

The Times headline quotes a ‘broken’ system. However, this quote did not come from the CIPD release, it is reused from an earlier story: and was originally said by John Roberts, CEO of AO World.  Reporter Isabella Fish uses all the data from CIPD research and she does use a quote from the press release, but it does not make the headline. Dear oh dear. Why as a press office would you let that happen? In this case there is no harm but CIPD did not control the language and let the journalist choose the headline for the research CIPD paid for and promoted.

The moral of these stories is carefully craft your quote and you will control the coverage. If these ideas are new to you, check out our previous blogs on the subject:

Making Message Meaningful, the Art of Getting Quoted

Talk of War: Worried Leaders Walk a Tightrope 

Learn to be Quotable and You. Will Control the Headlines

If you or your team would benefit from training in how to manage proactive or reactive media engagement, email us on enquiries@themediacoach.co.uk or call us on +44 (0)20 7099 2212,

 

The Magic of Performance
Lindsay Williams

The Magic of Performance

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One of our recent trainees sent us this funny and thought-provoking Ted Talk, that illustrates what you can do with your tone, your movements and your mannerisms to enhance your message. In this case, there is no message except perhaps that speakers have a wide range of communication tools that stretch way beyond the words they use.

While the video deals with a variety of techniques, for me this can all be summed up as performance.

As a coach, I find there is magic in switching from ’being you’, to ‘performing being you’. Sounds like nonsense but I see it regularly. I sometimes say ‘act being yourself, but with an extra 10%’.

And if I can persuade a speaker – be that someone appearing on camera, in a radio studio, or on stage – to see what they are doing as performing not just speaking, they so often come alive. Perhaps because I am not asking them to be authentic, I am asking them to act, it frees them up to try something different.

Of course, in the end, what you say should be authentic. But performing is an alien concept to many in business and yet for most, it is not that difficult. Often it starts with the question ‘Who would you like to sound like?’  Is a question that is urging the speaker to consciously take control of levers that they previously chose to ignore.

As with almost all our training, we video and playback these try outs and people are often stunned at the difference. I remember many years ago a banker, after a lot of work on the content of a particular speech, suddenly reluctantly forced himself to perform. When he saw the playback, he claimed to be suffering from shock ‘You have turned me into a professional presenter, I simply do not recognise that person’.

So, my challenge to you this week is don’t just give that presentation, perform it.  Your audience will thank you. And our thanks to Craig for sharing this video with us…you know who you are!

Lindsay Williams

Our Top Tips:

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Six Quick Reads on Principles You Won’t Easily Find Elsewhere

We have been blogging since 2014! That is ten years. There are over three hundred blogs on our website. Many of them are very time specific and the relevance is long gone but there are a few I come back to time and again. Even if the illustration is forgotten, the lessons remain

This week I thought it worth reminding more recent readers of some of the older but still highly pertinent points from our endless quest for a formula for better communication. Most of these points refer to both media interviews and giving a presentation or speaking in public.

Let’s start with the basics. Every session we do deals with the importance of avoiding jargon, technical language and formal language that might be right for a policy document but is wrong for any spoken communication.

Here is a piece from trainer Eric Dixon that highlights this basic point.

Speaking Human is a Must Have Skill by Eric Dixon

Our Top Tips

Trainer Eric Dixon has been a broadcaster and stage presenter for his entire career

Of course, speaking in public is not just about the words you use, it is also important to get the tone right. This is a little harder to teach but easy to spot when someone does it well, as Richard Ratcliffe did over and over again whilst his wife was held by the Iranian government.

Media Training; Getting the Tone Right

Using metaphors, analogies and similies will power up your communication. They will entertain your audience and they will make your argument more digestible, and often more memorable. In a media interview, they will help to get you quoted. Proving the power of metaphor to sceptics is very much part of the day job for us, and I wrote about it here in 2018.

Metaphors for Persuasion

Stories, anecdotes and examples bring to life your arguments. This is one of the most underused communication principles in formal communication, yet go down the pub and everyone is telling stories! I have no memory of the James Murdoch speech I wrote about in this blog in 2016, but all the takeaways are as valid today as they were then.

Note to Self: Remember the Power of Stories

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Lindsay Williams and Eric Dixon training together in 2016

When clients start to use stories and anecdotes they sometimes leave out all the little bits of information that create a picture and a connection for the listener or reader. It’s a difficult balance. Journalism teaches writers and broadcasters to use just one or two interesting nuggets to bring a narrative to life but it’s a technique that can be used by any speaker.

The Power of the Specific

Finally, one of my favourite and most successful early blogs: The sad story of Cecil the Lion in 2015, illustrated a key communications principle that I first learnt from my Mum. She was alive when I published this and highly entertained to have one of her ‘stories’ make it into my blog. This is all about the power of a name.

Lessons from the Death of Cecil the Lion

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Cecil the Lion

I hope one or two of these, provide food for thought.

 

Image of Cecil the Lion
By Daughter#3 – Cecil, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42030099

 

 

 

Talk of War
Lindsay Williams

Talk of War: Worried Leaders Walk a Tightrope

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Last week French President Emmanuel Macron gave a two-hour speech, warning that Europe must wake up to the risk of war. It was clear he wanted to make headlines across the continent.

At the Media Coach, we often suggest using metaphor to make an argument more powerful and more quotable. Often non-native speakers say ‘We cannot do that in English’. I suggest they choose relevant metaphors from their own language and see if they work. Many do, some don’t. President Macron picked a few that worked just fine.

 

 

If you prefer to read the speech in English it can be found here. https://geopolitique.eu/en/2024/04/26/macron-europe-it-can-die-a-new-paradigm-at-the-sorbonne/  (It seems to me that the written version is a more accurate translation than the simultaneous interpretation.)

In this speech, Macron used several elegant French metaphors that sounded slightly off in English, but nevertheless, the message was crystal clear. For example, the BBC translated one key passage in the following way.

“We need to be lucid, and recognise that our Europe is mortal. It can die. It all depends on the choices we make, and those choices need to be made now.” (timecode 15’ 34”).

Macron also spoke of a ‘change of paradigm’ facing the world. We might have called it a paradigm shift but we certainly understood what he meant. (timecode 24.21)

Another key quote from the speech is translated as: “The era when the EU bought its energy and fertiliser from Russia, outsourced its production to China and depended on the US for its security – that era is over.” (18:38)

For Media Coach trainees who have listened to Eric, Catherine and myself explain a number of ways to craft a quote: this is one of those often mentioned ‘tricolons’.  A tricolon is a rhetorical term for a series of three parallel words, phrases or clauses. It is much loved by speech writers.

Macron has not been the only European leader sounding the alarm.

At the end of March, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Europe was in a “pre-war era”.

Talk of War

Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland

He added: “We are living in the most critical moment since the end of the Second World War.”

In early April the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell (a veteran Spanish politician) warned a full-scale conflict on the continent was “no longer a fantasy”. Undiplomatic language from someone who, we might conclude, wanted to be heard.

And of course, the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has announced a big increase in defence spending. While speaking in Poland last week, he too claimed Europe was at a “turning point” in the face of the growing threats from Russia, Iran and China. He went on to warn: “An axis of autocratic states like Russia, Iran and China are increasingly working together to undermine democracies and reshape the world order”. There’s another tricolon with unmistakable overtones of George W. Bush’s ‘axis of evil’. )

As a keen observer of the work of speech writers and spin doctors, I can see experienced professionals at work behind all these warnings. I cannot but note that these people normally weigh their words. They are not politicians of the Boris Johnson, Silvio Berlusconi and Donald Trump chaotic school of rhetoric.

These speakers, and their speech writers, are walking a tightrope. They want to sound the alarm without creating panic, be robust without warmongering.

We should conclude they are seriously worried.

Like most of my readers, war is an alien concept from history, not something we expect to see in our lifetime. It is easy to be blasé and believe this too will pass.

I hope for the best but fear the worst.

 

Images:
Emmanuel Macron, YouTube
Donald Tusk, flickr Creative Commons license CC-BY-4.0 Credited CC-BY-4.0 © European Union 2019 – Source EP

 

All Presenters Need a Critical friend Feature
Eric Dixon

All Presenters Need a Critical Friend

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Continually evaluating your PowerPoint presentations is important.  Unfortunately, you may not be the best person to do it.

One of the things that every presentation trainer will tell you is that you should constantly evaluate your presentations, to make sure that you update and adapt them as necessary.

The theory states that after each time you have stood up in front of an audience, you should note what worked and what didn’t; what went well and what could do with a tweak; what should be re-ordered and what needs leaving out altogether.

All Presenters Need a Critical friend

The only trouble is – presenters themselves may not always be best placed to make that judgement call.

This is because those of us doing the presenting are often so close to the performance, that we lack the objectivity of an independent perspective.

I’m reminded of some excellent advice from legendary BBC Radio 2 presenter Ray Moore decades ago, when I was part of a group of local radio presenters he was training in Guildford.

Correctly sensing some soaring egos in the room, he warned us, “Remember – your best programme was never as good as you thought it was”.

We all nodded sagely, each of us having been taken down a peg or two.

“But,” he added, a twinkle in his eye, “your worst programme was never as bad!”

All Presenters Need a Critical friend

Ray Moore had a career in broadcasting but is best known for his Radio 2 Show in the 1980’s

Ray had hit the nail precisely on the head: our personal investment in what we were doing meant we were much closer to the content than any member of the audience. In other words, we were not only unable to see the wood for the trees, but sometimes were not even able to spot the trees were there either!

This is why it’s so useful to have someone on hand to help you evaluate each presentation. They provide another set of eyes and ears across what you are doing. Importantly, they should be a ‘critical friend’ – someone you trust, who you know has your best interests at heart, but who is also not going to shy away from telling you the truth, as they see it.

All Presenters Need a Critical friend

Eric being ‘produced’ by David and Lindsay in one of our video shoots. We do take our own advice occasionally!

This is not to say that presenters should play absolutely no part in how their presentation is tweaked for its next airing. After all, their input is useful too. That’s why stand-up comedians host ‘work-in-progress’ shows around the country, to judge the reaction of different audiences, and make changes accordingly.

Indeed, many of them ‘write’ sections of the show on stage – improvising an element which, if it works, they decide to keep in.

This happens to PowerPoint presenters as well. It might simply be an off-hand comment in the room at the time; a line you inserted which just occurred to you in the moment. But phrases like this can end up being the ones you resort to again and again, precisely because you have discovered the impact they have in real time.

I’m told that what appeared to be some of Eric Morecambe’s best ad-libs were not actually ad-libs at all. They had unexpectedly emerged during rehearsal, judged to be worthwhile, and then written into the script.

The same was true on the set of ‘Friends’ – the hit American sitcom which was filmed in front of a live audience. If a cast member (often the sadly departed Matthew Perry, apparently, playing the part of Chandler Bing) said something unscripted which went down well, the writers kept it in, sometimes ditching their own work to allow for its inclusion.

Critical friends will also help you worry less about what you leave out. It’s very tempting, after your presentation has finished, to regret something you didn’t say, or an anecdote you didn’t include.

Clearly, if this element was essential to the ‘take-home’ messages of the presentation, then this is a concern which is justified.

But very often such missed sections are merely ‘nice-to-haves’. They are incidental non-essentials, the exclusion of which may have allowed you time to say something more important instead.

Novelists call this “the unwritten book”: there’s no point worrying about bits of a story they planned to include but ended up leaving out, because no reader was aware of what they were hoping to cover anyway!

After I wrote something similar on a LinkedIn post recently, Charles Nove, veteran Radio 2 newsreader and now the presenter of the Scala Radio Breakfast Show, commented “One of the most valuable bits of advice I was given, when starting out, was along similar lines:  Remember, the listener has no idea what you were planning.”

It’s that independent perspective; one step removed from the action. That’s why producers and directors are worth their hefty pay cheques, why a critical friend may be a PowerPoint presenter’s best pal, and why we’re here if you need us.

If you would like help from Eric, Lindsay, David or Catherine give us a call on 020 7099 2212 or email enquiries@themediacoach.co.uk