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[13 Sep 2016 | Comments Off on Finally, a media-training guide that addresses character and conduct | ]

TORONTO and NEW YORK (PRNewswire) September 13, 2016 — Game Face: Mastering the Media Interview, 19 Cautionary Tales, a new media-training guide, tells the story of nineteen celebrated verbal encounters, the players, the fallout and lessons learned.
Former national television reporter Bodine Williams deconstructs memorable interview moments, illustrating the skills needed to respond to questions masterfully. For the first time, media-training tactics and techniques are linked to behavior. “I wanted to write a book that forges a connection between character, conduct and interviewing,” she said.
“The rules of conduct anticipate the self-destructive …

Blog, Communications »

[12 Sep 2016 | Comments Off on When Mismanagement of an Issue Trends toward a Crisis | ]

What could be more grueling that running for President? Hillary Clinton has been running hard for months; years it seems if your think back on her  battle with Bernie Sanders before she began dueling Donald Trump.
Run-down, stressed-out candidates get sick all the time. Still, Clinton’s bout of pneumonia is a legitimate news story. But it’s a bigger and more worrisome story trending into a crisis communication challenge for her campaign team because they assumed she’d ride the illness out. That was a bad judgement call.
Clinton’s spokesperson should have announced the …

Blog, Communications »

[15 Aug 2016 | 2 Comments | ]

Is the GOP standard-bearer a crisis communicator’s dream client or an impossible nightmare? If you’ve read the New York Times report, on why Donald Trump is unlikely to change his toxic verbal style despite widespread condemnation and sagging polls, it’s the latter. Well-placed campaign sources tell the Times that Trump is “beyond coaching.”
The assessment suggests that Trump is an outlier, a man whose character is so flawed that he can’t be rehabilitated. But does this mean that there are no teachable moments for CEOs and other leaders who don’t tweet or …

Blog, Communications »

[12 Jul 2016 | Comments Off on Six Media Training Tips for Acing Questions From the Floor | ]

1. Media Trainers know that the more you say the less control you have over your message or what’s being heard. So don’t leave it to your audience to figure what’s most important. If you do, assume they will get it wrong. Determine the beginning, middle and end of your storyline or argument before you speak. As you lead, your audience will follow because there is power in speaking well.
2. Learn to hear yourself as others do. Use a recording device rather than a notebook at meetings and other interactive …

Blog, Communications »

[4 Jun 2016 | Comments Off on Remembering Alex Haley’s Interview With Muhammad Ali | ]

A show of vulnerability in an interview speaks to authenticity.
No one ever accused Muhammad Ali of being soft. Eight months after becoming the World Heavyweight Champion, Ali sat down with Alex Haley on assignment for Playboy magazine. The twenty-two-year-old boxer [born Cassius Clay] opened up. He dared to be himself, here we see the essence of the man being mourned today.
Playboy: There was another controversy about the honesty
of your failure to pass the three Army preinduction qualification
tests that you took shortly after the fight. Any comment?
Clay: The truth don’t hurt nobody. …