When I was due to appear on TV for the first time I needed some advice from my late father who’d worked in television from behind the cameras nearly all his working life. His advice: make sure you have tidy, clean fingernails. I knew also he was very big on keeping shoes clean and polished so I was already ahead of the game there.

However the fingernails comment didn’t seem to be the comprehensive advice I was looking for. But you see for my dad the first impression was everything. And I’ve come to realise that in TV or when you’re meeting someone for the first time, you are judged on that first impression so you have to make it count

The little things do matter. Your hair, your smile, the way you walk, shake hands, what you wear are all so important.

There’s a warmth you can create and a professional look you can show without even opening your mouth.

So I went on telly later that week and I looked the part. I’d done my fingernails by the way! And I ended up doing 13 years as a presenter and reporter on TV.

But I always remember that lesson whatever I have done in business and in my broadcast training of current presenters and reporters.

Don’t create distractions, be yourself, but look the part and you’re on the road to communicating effectively with your audience.

Training is something we all have to do at some stage in our careers. For some of us it’s an ongoing process and often makes the heart sink because that training is not stimulating enough.

As a trainer myself I’m conscious of how people might start glazing over in my workshops, particularly now a lot of my Sports Broadcasting and Broadcast Journalism training is with 18-21-year-olds.

The way I combat that is twofold. PowerPoint or Keynote presentations are a good way of me keeping on track and covering the ground but I don’t write what I say. One word or a phrase allied to an image is the way I stimulate learning. Pictures are far more memorable than words. Video embedded into the slides works even more effectively.

Secondly it’s not the training that’s important, it’s that the students learn. So lots of practical exercises and topical examples of people doing things well or not so well are key to my strategy. Everyone gets a say – I encourage discussion and debate and very often the students’ feedback gives me a new perspective on how to teach more effectively.

So for your training sessions, think: 1) Use images and video – not words – to get your message across. 2) Get people doing something so they learn more effectively. Make it a workshop not a seminar!

I never had a great CV after leaving school with some ordinary O and A-Level grades but I’m now old enough to realise that it is not those grades that actually get you noticed when you hand in your CV.

My Employability Workshops focus on how you can stand out from the crowd when you are going for a job among hundreds of others. And what employers actually look at is your profile, which should reveal a little about your personality, things you do away from work, your values, your family.

Is it not ironic that when employers assess who is best suited to the job they are  deciding who fits into their team, someone they want to be around, someone who adds “colour” and personality to their organisation… not necessarily anything to do with qualifications?

The CV should create enough interest to get you that first interview, and then you would need to back up the things you put in your profile. Then it becomes about body language, tone – and if you pass those subliminal tests with the interview panel and you make a good first impression, you have earned the right to be heard, and it is about your message, what you say, and your qualifications for the job will then become a factor.

Bear in mind that those potential employers see through flannel, they will know if you are winging it, so concentrate on YOUR story, and be ready to tell that story when you are in front of them.

Never just go through the motions in your CV profile. It can be a passport to getting that first interview and ensuring you stand out from the crowd.

One of the big let-downs in this explosion of video being used by businesses on their website is around the language they use.

So often people quote from their website copy and it just doesn’t work. Of course this is understandable. We read newspapers, magazines, website copy all the time, making a mental note of the english language.

But I wanted to make the short-sharp point that writing for broadcast is different to writing for print, and requires a more “chatty” colloquial style. This also goes for when you write a speech or do a presentation from notes.

To highlight the contrast let’s examine two typical lines of copy for a video:

1. “I believe that this company is going to dominate the estate agency market in the coming years.”
2. “I think we’ll soon be leading the way in the estate agency market.”

Example 1 is absolutely fine if you were reading it. But it’s clunky to read, while Example 2 rolls off the tongue and is easier to deliver. It’s why website copy doesn’t transfer to video scripts for the same business. A different kind of writing is required – writing for broadcast.

My advice when you write copy for your video is READ THE SCRIPT OUT LOUD. This way you’ll feel where the stresses and strains in that sentence come and you can fine tune.

It’s something I will be telling all my students at Wembley Stadium this coming term on our Sports Broadcasting degree course. Write as you talk, make it conversational and your script will have a much better chance of connecting with viewer.

The lesson for business owners desperate to have video on their website is exactly the same.

As I prepare for a forthcoming golf day with some of my business pals, I try to pick up some tips from the maestros currently playing the Open Championship at Royal Troon. I have been writing and voicing highlights commentary for the R & A, golf’s governing body, but so I have had to watch closely.
The weather- as expected – closed in for round 2 and then you see the character of the players. The ones who can tough it out in the driving wind and rain are the ones I would hang my hat on. People like world number one Jason Day and, I am delightedly say, a young Englishman by the name of Andrew Johnston, who I have media trained. A lovely lad he bounced back from a triple bogey 7 at the treacherous 11th hole with 3 birdies afterwards. It took considerable skill but also guts, determination and a lot of self belief.

And don’t we all have setbacks in business. Bills that were not paid, the job where you made a mistake, a meeting you failed to turn up for, a sales vacuum caused by unforeseen circumstances and out of your control. Someone once told me that the important thing is how you deal with adversity. How you bounce back from disappointment. Keeping positive when negativity resounds around you.

Golf taught me that as a junior player. Managing expectations – being kind to colleagues, team members or rivals – dressing smartly – the etiquette of the game reflects the way we all do business.

Mark Twain famously said golf was a good walk spoiled. Ahh, he was so missing the point!

Whether it be media training a golfer from the European Tour, helping with a future mayor’s public speaking, or coaching BBC producers and presenters, feedback is a valued part of my service. How many training sessions see us enjoying it at the time, but within hours a lot of the lessons are lost, forgotten. Too much training is non-experiential – it is not about actual learning. And so what’s the point of doing any training of any kind just to get the certificate. Attendees need to truly understand what they are being trained in and then practice in the session and beyond. I have found that written feedback on performance in the workshops and a summary of “things to work on” and messaging is essential to extending this learning experience. I have to assume that my one training workshop with a businessman, a sportsman, a presenter will be my one and only chance to make an impact. Often they come back for more, but I need to assume they won’t. So my feedback is the way to make it a lasting, valuable experience for my clients.

We all need feedback to keep us motivated, engaged, focussed and if you remember how YOU like to be told at work, school, after a game of football that you did well, this is no different. Feedback is part of the fabric of any respectable training. It also works both ways, so if you’ve found this useful, let me know.

I’m still reflecting on the growing success of the Digital Awards, most recently held in Surrey, Essex and Kent, with the Hertfordshire event approaching in September.

The value of good photographs and video on websites is becoming so important, as I said in my first blog on this subject, but there is another key factor… getting right the amount of text on your website. Subject matter is obviously important – to tell viewers about your experience, your background, what the business does and how. But there are two important elements that always get high marks from the Digital Awards judges. The first is letting people know the benefits of what your company does. It is all very well explaining what you do in detail, but ultimately all people are interested in is how you can help them. Extol the benefits of what you can do for them and how their lives will change, their business will be more efficient, their image will be enhanced.

And the second element of value is this simple phrase: “less is more”. It was once said to be about my TV presenting style by a much respected editor who is now running one of the main BBC Radio channels. His point when reviewing my performance at a Football Forum discussion on location was that I was ad-libbing too much, departing from the brief too much, not focussed. In saying too much, you actually end up making less impact. But I now use this technique in my training of others in broadcasting, in media training for sport and business, in advice on speech-making. “Less is more” is equally relevant when you are writing website copy. Too many words are a turn-off for the judges – they like the photos and videos, but huge blocks of text are a disincentive to read any of it. Again saying less has MORE impact. Think of it from their point of view. Get your point across quickly in text because attention spans are more challenged now than ever before and if you don’t make an impact with the viewer in the first 30 seconds you may well have lost them.

So when you are giving your website a spring clean, or creating a site that reflects your company, tell your viewers what they need to hear, what will benefit them. And remember the principle of “less is more”. Cutting out those blocks of text will make your website so much easier on the eye, and it will carry so much more impact.

Along with a recruiter pal of mine I have just delivered a Success at Interviews workshop to students at Redbridge College in east London. While there was lots of practical advice with tips and tricks on CV writing, how to research the company you want to work for and how to present yourself, there were two common themes which litter my media training, my presentation training and public speaking workshops Those two things are: the Smile, and Eye Contact. They should never be undervalued when it comes to good communication. That warm, welcoming smile draws in an audience, whether it be one person or a room of 200. It says you are friendly, kind, enjoying your role whatever that may be. It is also encouraging, and can be inspiring when it’s a smile from the likes of Richard Branson. You know that when you go into a local shop and the spotty teenager from behind the counter looks at you deadpan saying: “You alright there?”. Well, I’d be more “alright” if he or she flashed a smile that made me feel better about buying from their shop. So the smile works for retail, it works when you are going for that job, it works when you are inspiring your team of people to perform to their best to get work done. Think of people you admire who can inspire with a smile and realise how powerful it is.
Now eye contact should go hand in hand with the smile and they are normally both missing. But the eye contact is also key to great communication. When you meet someone’s eyes it can portray you as honest, trustworthy, kind, friendly, welcoming, encouraging, easy to deal with, any number of good things. So let’s look at the flip side – if you are reluctant to meet the other person’s gaze how will they see you? It will put doubt in their mind. If you go to a job interview and don’t look at the interviewers, they may think: Too timid for us, not confident, easily intimidated, couldn’t hold their own in a conversation, not cut out for management. And when the next person comes in and does look them in the eye, you know who those interviewers are going to favour, whatever your CV looks like, wherever you went to public school, whichever university you attended.
Wherever you are in the chain of life – student, making your way in your job, senior manager – think Smile and Eye Contact – but if you don’t, then frankly your communication is undermining your potential.

It’s a perennial question that foxes us all when we are looking for a job. First let me tell you that a fabulous CV won’t be enough. There are times however when a bad CV won’t get you to first base. My best example was when I was conducting some mock interviews for 15 and 16 year olds at my children’s old school. One of the CVs mentioned a number of certificates achieved in various areas . It might have been impressive had certificates not been spelt “stifokots” throughout. I suspect that lad would struggle to get to first base with most jobs. But it is the face to face interview in which you can really stand out from the crowd, where you can differentiate yourself from the opposition. It is the little things that matter and you’ll get to the next base by making a good first impression. As I will be telling students at Redbridge College in Essex in May at my Employability Training Workshop, the image is paramount. Make sure it fits with the people you want to work with. Clean shoes, suit and tie, tidy hair and neat fingernails for men and women can ensure there will be no distractions. Don’t give the employer any chance to concentrate on anything except you and what you are saying. That done, you have a chance. I work with students on telling their story, having several meaningful things to say and making their body language fit their attitude. If you would like to attend one of our Employability Training Workshops at your school, college or university get in touch via email here (link to contacts) and send the name of the careers contact who organises lectures. We take up to 20 people in each half day session. I look forward to seeing you.