Why Media Training Matters More Than Ever
In addition to my duties as the Catching Flack blogger, I conduct media training sessions for corporate executives and PR professionals. I started blogging on my own blog mainly to promote myself and my services, but when I moved over to Catching Flack I’ve covered a wide range of topics and rarely touched on media [...]
How to Give Great Presentations (Part One)
I’ve heard a ton of people give advice about presentations, and most of it, in my humble opinion, is bad advice. Tips such as “gesture with your hands” are not bad tips, per se, but they aren’t geared to the needs of people who actually have to learn to give better presentations. If you’re at [...]
When Too Much Control of the Press Interview is a Bad Thing
Last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced Google Health, a new health information service at a press conference at the HIMSS health care information trade show. Afterward, he granted a one-on-one interview to CNET’s Elinor Mills, who, you may remember, pissed off Google and Schmidt a couple of years ago when she Googled Schmidt and [...]
Time to Add Gawker to Your RSS Feed
In my Best PR Blogs posts of a couple of weeks back, I included the PRWeek blog because it was everything — fresh, lively, snarky — that PRWeek the trade rag isn’t. One of the main reasons that blog is/was any good were the contributions of former staffer Hamilton Nolan. Shortly after my post, Nolan [...]
Want to Be Heard? Create Media-Friendly Messages
It always amazes me when business executives want to get the greatest possible publicity for the dullest pieces of information. I think I understand the paradox: executives are naturally risk-averse, so they want to say as little as possible, while the rest of us are interested in hearing about things that are rich in the [...]
Why Your Execs Need to be Media Trained
I’m off to do a media training today, and I thought it was a good opportunity to explain the strategy behind having executives and spokespeople go through formal media training. As the famous line from Alice in Wonderland goes (more or less), “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” [...]
Herb Greenberg Says “Talk to Me”
Herb Greenberg, the talented but often vilified business columnist for Marketwatch, has some advice for company executives: talk to me. Greenberg recently gave a lengthy interview to Talking Biz News, a blog about business journalism. Here’s his advice for corporate executives and spokespeople: Q: Do you find it difficult to write about companies and people [...]