Don’t dumb down wise up

If you don’t watch recordings of your own media interviews and presentations after the event you’re living in a La La Land.

Why? Because it’s a really easy way of getting better. By seeing or hearing what you already do well and building on that. And by learning from what you do less well so you can be an even better interviewee, presenter or public speaker next time.

Nobody thinks it strange that professional footballers pore endlessly over videos of every angle of each game. Or that top athletes deconstruct every stride of even a 100m race which is over in a matter of seconds. But for some reason those of us who speak for a living or as a part of the job description rarely pay so much attention.

So what’s holding us back? Here’s what, says ACM Training's media and comms expert, Rich Uridge in "S is for the Sound of your own voice" another episode in the Z to A of Media Training.

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Eye contact is a really important component of communication. The words we're speaking matter, of course. But audiences judge us in all sorts of non-verbal ways too. By looking into our eyes, for example, to work out whether they can trust what we're saying.

So in this video, ACM Training's media trainer, Richard Uridge, channels his inner Kenny Craig (a rubbish hypnotist played by the Little Britain actor Matt Lucas) and shows how a Post-it note can help.

E is for Eye Contact: the latest how-to video in the Z to A of Media Training.

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Simon and Garfunkel weren't talking about media interviews and presentations when they sang the line "slow down you move too fast." But it's good advice all the same.

If you move too fast when speaking publicly, your audience will struggle to keep up. Give a point a chance to sink in before moving onto the next point.

Let it breathe.

And don't have too many points - it'll be hard to squeeze them all in without leaving your listeners and viewers by the wayside.

S is for Slowly - another episode from ACM Training's wise old owl, Rich Uridge, in the Z to A of Media Training.

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The important things you have to say in a media interview or presentation - your key messages - can be made more obvious and memorable to the audience by putting them at the beginning and the end.

In public speaking it's called primacy and recency and the two together give a message latency - that is it sticks in people's minds for longer, as Richard Uridge explains in this the latest episode of the Z to A of Media Training.

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The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals to the left. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci to the right. So who's the cavalier chap with the enigmatic face in the centre? And what's his story?

In this short video ACM Training's media and communication trainer, Rich Uridge, explains how choosing the right words is like a priceless oil painting when you're giving a media interview, presenting or public speaking.

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You may well know what you're trying to get across in a job or media interview or presentation. But does your audience? Probably not! Which is why it's important you don't leave your key messages to chance. So take a leaf out of Winston Churchill's public speaking playbook.

In this episode of the Z to A of Media Training, ACM's communication coach, Rich Uridge, delves into his toolbox to make a point and drive it home.

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You know what's important when you're giving an interview or presentation. But the audience doesn't - unless you them them! Tagging is promotional technique that allows you to make your key messages loud, clear and "sticky."

In other words stick in people's minds rather than go in one ear and out the other before you've barely even finished speaking.

T is for Tagging. You use them on Christmas presents and suitcases so why not in interviews and presentations?!

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Are you a nervous passenger? Do you pay proper attention to road signs? Do the whole mirror, signal, manoeuvre routine?

There are lessons everywhere if only we care to look. Even on the drive to work.

So here’s how to pass your interview driving test and get rid of the L plates. Because, as somebody famous found out, making a media U turn isn’t as easy as in a car.

D is for Driving: the Z to A of media training by Richard Uridge.

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When we were pitching for some new business recently the prospective client asked how our broadcast media training had evolved over the years to reflect the ubiquity of social media.

The question got us thinking because while everything appears to have changed with the advent of networks like Facebook and X, nothing has changed. Sound paradoxical? Watch on and ACM Training's broadcast media trainer, Rich Uridge, will explain...

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Knowing when enough is enough in a media interview or presentation is really important. After all you could be Gone in 60 Seconds. Or half that.

So here's some wise advice from ACM Training's old owl, Richard Uridge, on keeping it short in this the latest episode of the Z to A of Media Training.

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Saying you're being respectful to an interviewer or co-contributor in a media interview can come across as the exact opposite - disrespectful - as the UK's Minister of State for Illegal Migration demonstrates in this excruciating interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

ACM Training's head media trainer, Richard Uridge, deconstructs the interview for the benefit of anyone who finds it difficult to deal with interruptions in this the latest episode in the Z to A of Media Training.

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What happens when journalists focus all of their attention on one aspect of a story? Their readers, viewers and listeners - your audience as an interviewee - can lose sight of the bigger picture.

So Richard Uridge has recruited a very famous pair of hands to help him explain how you can avoid being driven solely by the questions you might be asked during a #mediainterview

He's used the controversy over #ULEZ and an interview given by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as a case study.

Look out for the enigmatic smile in this the latest episode in the Z to A of #mediatraining which, we should add, is equally applicable to the Q and A element of a #presentation

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