Tue, 30 January 2007 ![]() Comments? Send us an email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or leave us a comment on the Inside PR show blog. 01:15 Terry wants to point listeners to an interview he did with Paull Young for the Forward Podcast. 03:12 Terry talks about his venture into the world of audio book podcasting with his novel The Best Laid Plans, this week with an offer to have his book listed on Podiobooks. 04:10 David talks about a possible new feature on Inside PR: phonecasting, which allows listeners to download podcasts to their cell phones. 05:15 David talks about a podcast interview he did with Eric Bergman about the MRP system he helped pioneer. 6:55 Terry kicks off this week's batch of comments with an email from Michael Keliher. He talks about a promotional giveaway that listeners can enter here. 09:12 David introduces an audio comment from Andrew Findlater of National PR, who is in search of a social media savvy PR professional. 14:10 Terry introduces an audio comment from Paull Young on Canada's social media scene. 15:20 David introduces an audio comment from Colin Douma. Colin wonders what the future of PR, marketing, and social media are going to look like. 21:30 Terry and David use Colin's question as this week's main topic for discussion. Terry has a sense that there will be some change in communications as everyone tries to put a stake in social media. David thinks that the focus needs to be on the conversation and on the fact that we need not go through the media anymore. David asks the question: will marketing and PR change because of social media? 29:05 Terry adds that PR isn't about selling, and that's why he thinks we're best suited to own social media. 31:58 Terry introduces Chris Clarke's commentary this week. 35:28 Inside PRoper English: in terms of 37:50 Terry closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site. Comments[0] |
Tue, 23 January 2007 ![]() Comments? Send us an email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or leave us a comment on the Inside PR show blog. 01:15 Terry and David talk about Third Tuesday Toronto from last week. 03:12 Terry introduces an audio comment from Bob Ledrew,
a PR practitioner and blogger from Ottawa, who talks about effective
presentation skills. This leads to a short discussion about Powerpoint
and leads into the main topic for the week. 07:30 David introduces the main topic of the week: effective presentation skills. 08:07 Terry's first point is
that when presenting, you must be yourself. You shouldn't stand in
front of an audience and perform, although you should dial it up a
little bit. David thinks your presentation self is different than your
normal self. He says the most important thing is to project your voice,
talk more measuredly, and be energetic. 10:45 Terry uses the example
of going to the theatre. The actors on stage are not speaking in their
normal voice, as they need to understood by those in the far reaches of
the theatre. 11:25 Terry offers his
second point: the need to involve the audience. Terry likes to say
something about the people he knows in the audience. He finds that
asking questions is also effective. David recommends writing down
people's names so he can refer to people by name. 14:10 Terry's third point:
Read the room. Pick up on the communication you're getting back from
different parts of the room. If you see people looking restless,
perhaps you're not reaching them. 15:20 Terry has four more
technical things you can do to increase engagement. The first is your
voice: you can speak faster or slower, louder or softer. The second is
eye contact: the audience won't believe you if you're looking
elsewhere. Terry discourages the machine-gun technique of turning your
head from left to right, back and forth, in order to make eye contact.
David's tip on eye contact: stare at their forehead. They won't be able
to tell that you're not looking them in the eyes. 20:30 As for gestures, Terry
believes that hand talkers should not try to stifle what comes
naturally. David thinks speakers need their hands to project themselves
effectively. When David finds something very important, he will reach
out and touch it on the screen. The last technical aspect from Terry is
movement. A truly great speaker can get away from the podium and walk
around. He recommends getting away from the podium if possible. David
thinks a handy tool is the slide advancer. 27:00 Terry adds a point
about the Q&A: when someone asks a question not relating to the
presentation, respect the audience by telling the questioner that
you'll answer it afterwards. With regard to the Q&A, the question
may belong to the questioner, but the answer belongs to the audience.
As you answer the question, make eye contact with the questioner, but
move along to make contact with the entire audience. The Q&A is the
last thing the audience will remember. David thinks that presenters
anchored down by a lecturne can move away from it doing the Q&A and
closer to the audience. 29:45 David ends by saying
that this business is where presentations cannot be avoided. He started
his career feeling uneasy before presentations, and now he's at a point
where he enjoys them. 33:20 Terry introduces Chris Clarke's commentary this week. 35:38 Inside PRoper English: better/best, faster/fastest, older/oldest. 37:20 David closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site. Comments[1] |
Tue, 16 January 2007 ![]() Comments? Send us an email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or leave us a comment on the Inside PR show blog. 01:15 Terry and David talk about why this is the second take of Inside PR #42. 02:19 David introduces Terry's novel, The Best Laid Plans. Terry explains that listeners of Inside PR will be glad to know that he is podcasting the book, or turning it into an audiobook if you will. You can find the podcast blog at www.terryfallis.com or on iTunes. 05:37 Terry talks about the upcoming Third Tuesday gathering in Toronto. He mentions that Paull Young will be making an appearance and Mark Evans will be the guest speaker. 07:30 David introduces a comment from Michael O'Connor Clarke. 10:40 Terry talks about a comment Bryan Person left on the blogpage about Inside PRoper English. 12:11 David introduces a comment from Mitch Joel on presentation skills. 14:30 Terry thanks Mitch for his comment because it leads into this week's topic of discussion: presentation skills. 15:00 Terry starts off this week's topic of conversation on presentation skills. In tribute to Mitch, this week Terry and David will talk about six preparation for presentations tips. 17:07 Terry says to build your presentation around your key messages. He thinks the wrong way to develop a presentation is to do it chronologically. Terry likes to talk about the key messages at the beginning and bring the audience back to them at the end. David adds that presenters should know what they want to accomplish, perhaps that they came off as intelligent and articulate. 19:33 Terry says: Slides are there to support you, not supplant you. One of the principal characteristics of bad presentations is bad slides. Some presenters will read the slides, which makes for a terrible presentation. David says that some people use the slide as the script, the leave-behind, and presentation support. He says that it can't possibly be all three. 23:30 Terry adds that presenters shouldn't break eye contact with the audience for an extended period of time. Turning one's back to the audience is a no-no. 24:15 Terry thinks it's best to use illustrative examples to bring the presentation to life and put a human face on it. David thinks that using examples that the audience can relate to will make the information stick with the audience. 26:44 Prepare for the question and answer period. Few presentations come without questions afterwards, so try to anticipate what questions the audience may ask and prepare potential answers. David says to always save time for the Q&A budgeted into the presentation time. 29:05 Terry's final point: anxiety is your friend. If you find yourself going into a presentation totally relaxed, you probably won't be as engaging as if you were somewhat excited. David has found that over his many years in PR, he has gone from arriving at his presentation not wanting to do it to arriving at his presentation wanting to do a great job. 30:51 Terry sums up his six points of presentations. David adds one more tip for presentations: he tries to anticipate what his competition might present in a new business presentation and out-do the competition. 33:20 David introduces Chris Clarke's commentary this week. 36:27 Inside PRoper English: at this point in time. 37:38 Terry closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site. Comments[0] |
Wed, 10 January 2007 ![]() Comments? Send us an email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or leave us a comment on the Inside PR show blog. 03:15 Terry introduces a comment from Colin McKay on the topic of government relations. 04:51 A listener in a journalism program named Eliza is searching for a PR professional to be interviewed. 05:48 Terry introduces this week's main topic for discussion: the new business presentation. 07:15 David starts by naming
his four key objectives when going into a new business presentation:
demonstrate creativity, show knowledge, deliver the information
passionately, and try to make the team and client fit. 08:10 Terry says that he
usually brings the whole team into a new business presentation. He
seldom brings in the junior people, but he will usually bring the
mid-to-senior level people to the presentation. When David worked on
the client side, he only wanted to see the people who worked on the
account at the new business presentation. 10:30 David doesn't see any
reason to bring the president of the firm to the new business pitch if
they won't be involved in the account. Terry, as a president himself,
feels it's important to be there, as he's usually involved in the
creation of the program. He makes it clear if he won't be involved
day-to-day, and advises that the entire team make their roles clear to
the potential client. 13:45 Terry dispels the myth
that the evaluation begins once the first slide goes up. From the
moment you walk in the door to the moment you walk out, your team is
being evaluated. 17:30 Terry thinks it's
important to go over some strategies with the client that you
considered but rejected instead of simply going over the ideas you
selected. David thinks it shows that you possess a knowledge of the
business. He thinks that the best way to show knowledge is to ask the
right questions because you should never try to sound more
knowledgeable than the client. 25:00 David wraps up by re-emphasizing creativity, knowledge, passion, and fit. 26:55 Inside PRoper English for the week: discrete and discreet 28:45 David closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site. Comments[0] |
Wed, 3 January 2007 ![]() Comments? Send us an email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or leave us a comment on the Inside PR show blog. 01:45 David explains Terry's absence and introduces Michael O'Connor Clarke, VP of Thornley Fallis. Michael spends some time introducing himself to the Inside PR listenership. 04:20 David and Michael launch into the New Year's show. They take a look back on 2006 and a look ahead for 2007. 05:21 David talks about the adoption of social media among PR practitioners and thinks we're still ahead of the game as we enter 2007. Michael talks about the companies taking leadership in the social media space. 07:35 David talks about the opportunities available in the social media space. He wonders if there's a way to monetize social media, to which Michael responds that there is money to be made, but it's going to be made the same way PR practitioners have always made their money: through the councel we provide our clients. 09:44 David brings up Crayon as an example of monetizing social media. He thinks that 2007 is going to be a big year of social media. Michael believes that firms will continue to be contacted by companies who already have agency representation in search of social media expertise because not everyone understands the space yet. He also anticipates more character blogs, fake blogs, and other programs that lack transparency. 15:25 Michael brings up an ongoing bet he knows of between a New York Times editor and Dave Winer: by 2007, which will be more relevant to Google searches, the New York Times or the blogosphere? 19:10 David brings up the topic of who he plans to hire in 2007. What are they reading? How web-savvy are they? During interviews, Michael is always interested in finding out what people read. One answer he found particularly interesting was "Google News", to the question "Where do you get your news?" 21:25 David thinks it's important that PR practitioners have interests outside of PR. He enjoys hearing about people's interests during interviews because every piece of their personal makeup has something to do with their ability to work in communications. 25:33 Terry contributes a few thoughts this week. He talks about his cruise, responds to Joe Thornley's comment about government relations, congratulates Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson on their 200th episode of For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report, and discusses what he believes to be an outstanding example of presentation skills in the movie An Inconvenient Truth. In true Terry fashion, he has a few stories to tell along the way, and hopes to be back next week for Inside PR #41. 41:10 David introduces Chris Clarke's commentary for the week. 44:15 David closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site. Comments[0] |

