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Tick Tock…Let Your Passion Make You Rock!

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What makes you tick? Besides my family and Crossfit, I get excited about helping people improve during my media training sessions.  Last week, I had the honor of media training several extremely intelligent executives with one of the leading companies in the Silicon Valley. We talked a lot about how to find passion in the message you deliver. How can you get enthusiastic about something that you do all day long?

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First, figure out what makes you tick. Why are you at your job today? What is really exciting about your launch/product/app? What part of your job do you talk about most outside of work? Yep, think of 3 things that excite you about it, and if you can’t, well…don’t talk to the media then! Write down those 3 things when you are psyched about them – keep them on a notepad.

It starts with…

  • “I am most excited about…”
  • “This APP is so cool because it…”
  • “Other people are going to love this because…”

When (IF) you get there, share your knowledge and passion with the press.

Lastly, don’t forget to try it out during a practice interview session.

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Make sure you are being genuine so you feel confident delivering the message, repeatedly. Remember media trainers have their own techniques and you should find the right one for you and your company. My goal is to make sure that spokespeople are confident with the message and delivery so they can share their knowledge, passion and enthusiasm with the public and the press.

Ok…3-2-1. GO!

Thank you, Marco!

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Thank you Marco Rubio for providing me fuel for my media training sessions today! There are lots of bloopers, but this very well tops it. During my media training sessions, I often train people on the non-verbal and the verbal communication – how the two meet…I recently added to the presentation: “55-80 percent of communication is non-verbal.” I have no idea where to credit the source, but, now, I’m so much more secure about that fact. What did Marco Rubio say? Does anyone know?

Thanks, Marco!

Thanks, Marco!

When I started writing this post YouTube had the video without a commercial; 10 minutes later a Maybelline advertising came up at the beginning.  Here it is, if you are the only person in the world who hasn’t seen it! Next time you are in a media training lesson, remember, go back to the basics – that’s what can make or break your 15 minutes of fame.  The question is: did he make it or break it?

The end of an Era for PR?

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I have had many mentors throughout my career, but the people that really shaped my career were my supervisors* at Edelman Public Relations. Daniel J. Edelman, the Founder of Edelman Public Relations,  passed away Tuesday. Is this the end of an era?

Dan made so many valuable contributions to PR, including media tours with the Toni Twins, Morris the 9-Lives Cat, KFC and others. I remember calling the press for the Butterball Turkey Talk Line, touring with Eddie, the dog from “Mad About You,” and traveling with Morris, the 9-Lives  Cat. Imagine media training a cat. Not easy.

Morris

Back in the early 90’s, PR with Morris the Cat

But, what I really remember about Dan Edelman is how he always recognized his staff for doing great work. In a post I wrote a couple of days ago,  I indicated that sometimes a PR firm’s results don’t sync with a client’s expectations, thus a frustrating outcome. However, Dan seemed to always recognize hard work and wrote ‘Edel-grams’ in handwriting when an account person/team deserved the praise.  Twenty years later, I dug out those notes, as seen here:

Daniel Edelman Memo

Thank you Dan, for always appreciating the hard work that goes into Public Relations. Thank you for establishing the amazing firm that helped launch my career in public relations and media training, and for running a respected family business that continues to thrive today. Your memory will live on.

Edelman Memo 2

* Thanks to Nancy Ruscheinski (who credits my work with her addition to Dan’s hand-written note, showed me how to work hard and have fun, and always supported my work) and Alix Salyers (who probably is cringing at the typOS made in this post), but  taught me about being tenacious, yet respectful, with the press, clients and peers.