It's all about the thrill of it!

Every editor in broadcast news would have had one goal this year and that was to get an exclusive interivew with Obama - The race was on as soon as the results of the American elections were announced. So this time Sky won the day and there will be much hang ringing in newsrooms as to why they didnt get the main man of the moment - Such is the competition for ratings that I'm sure champagne corks were popping long into the night at the SKY HQ so if you're sitting there saying 'so what' its just an interivew - - the thrill is in the race thats what runs through a journalist veins from the minute they wake up to the moment they go to sleep!

FEDERER WOWS THE CROWD & THE MEDIA!

What a superstar Roger Federer is - not only is he the best tennis player in the world but also unlike many sports stars, he completely understands how to manage the media - he gives them what they want so they love him! He definitely knows how to play the game both on and off the court. He knows what makes the media tick and manipulates them so he not only raises his own profile but that of all his eager sponsors who so desperately want to get their logo broadcast to millions. Once again confidence, clarity and control are the key to a successful relationship with the press and boy does he have all three!

THAT VOICE!

Ok I have to admit having blogged on the wonders of Andy Murray's interivew technique - i now have to have a moan. Surely with all the money, coaching and advice that is available, could someone please make his voice sound just a bit more animated! Even after a gruelling 5 sets on Monday he still managed to describe his brilliant performance as if he were reading a shopping list! This is one of the key things we train people to do whenever they are doing interivews or presentations - is to show how passionate and enthusiastic they are so that the audience can connect with you!

MURRAY MEDIA MAGIC

One man who has definitely improved his interivew technique is the main man at Wimbledon this year - Andy Murray. At every press conference or interview - all attempts to be led off course into the dangerous territories of - do think you going to beat Federer, do you think its a given your going to be in the final - he calmy replies that hes taking each match at at time...all his competitors are playing at the top of their game . etc etc - a perfect example of confidence, clarity and control!

ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!

Yes, Wimbledon is here, exam time is nearly over and its raining at Glastonbury and so the nightmare of the silly season starts here. News editors around the UK are desperately seeking stories to fill acres of pages or airtime. So take heed all of you who have great postive news stories to tell - phone your favourite journalist now! He/she will greet you with open arms. So Carpe diem !

Its not just what you know its how you say it!

In these troubled times when we need the brightest brains to tell us how to work our way out of the worst recession for decades isnt it amazing that one of the reasons the electorate has lost faith in the system is that MPs just dont know how to communicate with us. Whether its the expenses scandal, or the collapse of the banks the lack of ability to engage with an audience and understand what the general pubic need to hear as to what is the way forward has been lost. Being able to get your message across in challenging times and demonstrate care and compassion is just as important as when there is a positive message to get out. So really its not just about knowing what needs to be said but how you said it!

VIRGIN DOES IT AGAIN!

Yet another piece of brilliant PR this morning on the radio by the chief executive of Virgin Trains. Despite the interivewer throwing every negative at him from late running trains, ,major disruption on the west coast, he still managed to turn every single response into a positive and ended up being a great 4 minute advert on travelling by train!

It could be you!

With all the headlines recently of ministers failing to cover up confidential documents - there was a brilliant example of seizing the moment by Rymans (the stationary company) on the radio. The Operations Director was on radio 4 outlining the types of folders they offer, costs and how they would even supply the whole cabinet with a range of folders for free. fantastic piece of advertising on national radio for free! Plus it wasnt the marketing director or the chief executive that did the interivew but the ops director which just shows even if the topic isnt your key responsibility you can still be called upon to push the message and be successful - so yes it could be you !

Fish tank - Feel good factor!

After my rant yesterday calm has now returned to the office as here at Media First we have decided to lighten the mood by having our TV in the reception area display not just any old image but the fish tank from 'Finding Nemo'. Smiles all round as delegates arrive and stand for a while taking in the soothing sights and sounds of the little tropical fish swimming gently by!Less stress with my team -so to lift the spirits .. go fish!

King or Queen - who cares?

I have to say I was amazed last week amidst all the economic turnmoil around the world,
the death of a policeman in Belfast and the continuing attacks on the British troops in Afghanistan, the editor of the Today programme decided in its peak slot of 08.10, to run a story about our the royal constitution and right to accession! How can the vague possibility that in the future Princess Anne might become queen before Prince Andrew be more news worthy than all of the above. Considering when the expert being interviewed said that it was unlikely for any decision to be made on this within the next decade im afraid I fail to see the newsworthyness of the item! ok rant over!

Who do you trust?

Interesting news item on the BBC last week following the amazing emergency landing of American Airlines flight into the Hudson river. The news at ten report was focused around how quickly the pictures of the aircraft appeared on social networking sites around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people saw these amazing photos before they were shown on the major news networks - but noone questioned whether they were for real or was it just a hoax? Every newsroom when they saw these pictures would have had to check and verify the facts before broadcasting these images. So who do you trust for you dose of breaking news?

My hopes were raised this morning as I drove to work listening to radio 4. despite the doom and gloom on the high street two seasoned professionals did a brilliant job of making it seem ,well not quite so bad! the Chairman of M & S and the Chief Executive of Next both did an excellent job of putting a positive spin on what was a negative story on a drop in sales figs and for M &S the added challenge of announcing redundancies. A great example of how to turn even this kind of negative news into a positive!