We recently returned from conducting a couple days of Media Interview Skills Training on the West Coast for one of our aerospace clients and wanted to share some insights that were discussed. One thing we've noticed during the past couple years is a tendency particularly among younger women to inflect up at the end of their sentences. They say powerful things but end them on the upswing. It makes every sentence sound like a question. It saps them of credibility and authority, making them appear eternally uncertain. I love meaningful voice inflection. As a young broadcaster, I loved watching Bill Kurtis on the local CBS affiliate in Chicago. He was a master of using pacing and inflection to build drama and pull a viewer into a story. But if your inflection goes up? At the end of every phrase? It …
Barry Shlachter with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently reported on the story of the owner of a new brew pub who let his frustrations with his kitchen staff get the better of him. We've all heard the classic advice to count to 10 or go walk it off so you don't do or say something you will later regret. Apparently this guy didn't get that advice. As Shlachter describes in his story, "Fort Worth pub seeks to put profane posts in the past," which was picked up by other papers who use the Mclatchy-Tribune News Service, Carlo Galotto ranted publicly via Facebook about what he called, "spoiled Obama kids" then engaged in some name calling when people posted responses to his unfortunate tirade. Not exactly a great way to ingratiate yourself or your brand new business to your community. …
Earlier this week, I attended the Houston Business Journal's Fast Tech 50 Technology Conference. It was a little work and pleasure mix, since DPK Public Relations had three clients among the 50 companies being recognized (congratulations to Alert Logic, DiCentral and Schipul - the Web Marketing Company). The best part of the day was the opening session, which featured notable CEOs and former CEOs who had built companies that have experienced rapid growth. Our client Alert Logic was represented by CEO Gray Hall. They've been among the fastest growing tech companies in Houston for six straight years, which is an amazing accomplishment. Others on panel included CEOs from Blinds.com, The Planet, Rackspace and SmartVault. Russ Capper served as moderator. Great stuff. The first part of the session is posted below: While I wish the lighting was better, the content here …
Holidays offer great opportunities for your organization to work with the media to get your messages out. First, the news business doesn't rest on a holiday. It might be a sleepy, peaceful day, but that news hole still needs to be filled. That's why there are certain holiday stories that were being done the day I was born and I suspect will be done until the day I die, such as the New Year's resolution story, the Memorial Day boating safety story, the July 4th fireworks safety story and (as illustrated in the video below) the Labor Day story about the American workplace. If you can find a good angle related to the holiday, you have a good shot of attracting attention. Second, nobody else is pitching stories. Your competitors are all enjoying the holiday! Every major holiday we have …
Note: This article was published in the April 2011 issue of Public Relations Tactics. It is posted here with permission. Assessing the impact of social technologies on the winter uprisings is complicated. In the midst of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and other Middle Eastern autocracies, pundits attributed the spreading demands for democracy to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This seriously over-simplified the highly complex web of economic, cultural and political factors that contributed to the demands for change. Revolutionaries are using text messages, blogs and social networks to communicate and collaborate with each other and the rest of the world. However, social technologies weren’t necessary for the U.S. Civil Rights movement, the People Power Revolution in the Philippines or the fall of the Iron Curtain. It is tempting to suggest that social technologies are causing revolutionary change, but that …
I just completed two days of presentation skills training with a large government agency and wanted to briefly share some thoughts about body language and nonverbal communications that came up repeatedly. First, it is essential that presenters think about and prepare for what they want to do with their body during a presentation. We tend to spend most of our time planning for WHAT we are going to say, but completely neglect HOW we are going to say it. The way you stand, your facial expression, your ability to make eye contact and what you do with your hands can each amplify or distract from the potential impact of your presentation. The way you stand. The most powerful way to stand is feet about should width apart, shoulders square and hands at your sides. Try standing that way. Do you …
I am not sure how I missed this story when it first happened, but it is worth recapping even if the event happened a couple weeks ago. Those Chilean miners who once were trapped underground and now are hobnobbing with the rich and famous? They were media trained while awaiting rescue. Okay, that definitely deserves an LOL. There are a lot of jokes that come to mind, but the reality is that sometimes I think the people who trudge into a media training session would prefer to be trapped underground for a month rather than participate in training to prepare them to handle media scrutiny. Their perspective changes once we get rolling, because what we do is fun and interactive, but I haven’t found too many people who get excited about spending a day in a media training session. They …
No single speech during the 20th Century shaped the lives of 21st Century Americans as did the "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. It is great to be able to share it with you -- both the video of the speech and the text below. In our Presentation Skills Training session, we often examine aspects of this speech and extract lessons for all presenters. Two very simple things that every speaker can do include: Using repetition. Dr. King repeats key phrases such as “100 years later…” This can help to establish a theme, making clear to the audience those elements of the presentation that are important. Later, repetition is used with the phrases, “I have a dream,” and “Let freedom ring,” both of which are central to the story being told. Creating pictures with words. By using opposites, as he’s …
I am a big fan of Warren Buffett (my Aunt Margie -- maiden name Margie Lee Canaday -- was his classmate in Omaha and was even mentioned in his autobiography, Snowball), so I carved out some time this week to watch his town hall event with Bill Gates at Columbia Business School students on CNBC. Now, it is one thing for me to try to explain to executives the value of our Media Interview Skills Training and Presentation Skills Training services, but to have Warren Buffett put it into dollars and cents -- that takes it to another level! So when Mr. Buffett explained that improving communications skills can increase the future earnings potential of executives by 50 percent -- which conservatively translates into about a half million dollars for the average college graduate -- it was music to my ears! You could improve on that (he's referring to …
At DPK Public Relations we have gradually been adding more tools to our arsenal and wanted to share some of the results with you. When I started in public relations with Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, we often advised clients of the benefits of a corporate video. It game them something to loop on the video displays in their tradeshow booths and was a nice leave-behind or follow-up for meetings with prospective customers. But they were complicated and could be pretty expensive. I remember one we did for an energy company cost upwards of $17,000 for shooting, producing and editing -- not even counting the time for the account team to script it, coach the client and supervising the shoot. Now that same video can be done far more efficiently and quickly -- and …