Donald Trump’s press conferences are always entertaining and newsworthy if not necessarily enlightening. Not only is Mr Trump one of the most powerful people in the world but he doesn’t appear to care what he says. What more could the media ask for? There is, however, another, less obvious reason why journalists enjoy these events. [...]
ITV’s This Morning programme managed a royal coup today as Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby interviewed the Duchess of Cambridge about a community project that she is promoting called Hold Still. The idea is that members of the public submit photographs that capture the mood of the nation during the current crisis. Kate is a [...]
I hate to mention the “C” word but it’s noticeable that since coronavirus struck the media has never been so keen to speak to experts. Doctors, virologists, epidemiologists, vaccinologists and others are constantly popping up on TV, radio, podcasts and in the print media to offer explanations and insights. Some have come across as interesting, [...]
Human interest. It’s the biggest cliché in journalism. Look at any newspaper, magazine or website or watch any TV report and almost every picture will be of a human being. Go on to read the first paragraph and again the focus will be on a person or a group of people - famous people, infamous [...]
As well as growing demand for our online media training courses, we’re getting a lot more requests from people looking for advice and training on how to run a virtual meeting. This is hardly surprising. The number of daily active users on Microsoft Teams soared by 12million to more than 44million last week. The company’s [...]
Last Saturday Trevor Cox, a professor of acoustic engineering at the University of Salford, popped up on that interesting little final interview slot on the Today programme. Presenter Justin Webb asked him about the effect of the sound quality of interviews conducted by Skype and Zoom on audiences. Professor Cox explained listening on a poor [...]
“He may have become a billionaire by the age of 23 but Mark Zuckerberg still used to get so nervous before public speeches that his PR team had to blow-dry his armpits before he went on stage,” The Times reported yesterday. Someone pointed it out in one of our presentation courses. Unlike the perspiration brought [...]
image credit: sutherland echo It’s not just politicians who can find themselves subjected to the “Empty chair” experience…. In media management terms one issue that this general election will be known for is the “empty chair” experience. Andrew Neil provoked great controversy when his frustration at not being able to interview Boris Johnson prompted [...]
image credit: fortune.com Controversial statement number one: Donald Trump is an effective communicator. Controversial statement number two: Organisations can learn from him. I should preface this comment by saying that I’m not a fan of the 45th president of the United States or his policies but, I would argue, he’s an effective – if slightly [...]
Essentially what we do as a company is to help our clients to communicate more effectively with the people they need to talk to. This is often with journalists in our media training courses and crisis communications courses but it could also be communication with internal audiences, clients, suppliers, investors, regulators and others through our [...]
