Be a Star: 8 Tips to Make the Most of Your TV Appearance

Be a Star: 8 Tips to Make the Most of Your TV Appearance

Susan Harrow gives advice on making the most of TV appearances. This is a real life example of Mark Davis. He is an amazing young man and friend from San Francisco I met through Toastmasters.
“The Escape production crew interviewed me the afternoon of Friday June 8 at the Bay Club and shot some “B-roll” footage of me training clients. The actual race was on Sunday June 10 with an approximate start time of 8 am. I finished by 12 noon.

*SUSAN’S NOTE: “B-roll” means background shots to be used when the story is edited to illustrate the commentary and give “backstory” to bring the audience quickly up to speed to the present on-screen story.*

1. Make Sure Your Story Has “Human Interest”

To my shock and surprise, there were only two “human interest” stories, thus I had a better chance of getting more air time. Contrary to prior broadcasts, they followed me through the whole course with interview questions!!! (This is after spending 3 hours with them on Friday before the race).

*SUSAN’S NOTE: Any kind of dramatic visible change is ripe for TV coverage. Change that can be seen instantly (in this instance going from fat to fit) is easily understood visually. And it’s a success story anyone who has battled even a few pounds is interested in).*
2. Bring or Wear Your Props

Also, at the finish line they took an extreme close-up of the wording I had plastered all over my T-Shirt. I then said: ‘Let me explain what this website is all about,’ and told the signature story of my own weight loss.

*SUSAN’S NOTE: Very smart move. Wearing a curiosity provoking prop gives a natural segue to talking about the points you want to cover.*
3. Always Video and Audio Tape Your TV Appearances and Speaking Engagements

The day after the race, I got an urgent call from the New York TV producers. I had mentioned that I do motivational speaking during the interview. Did I have anything on tape? I did a 40 minute keynote pep talk to a rookie triathlon group the night before the Friday interviews and taped it anticipating such a request. However I did not feel it was my best effort as I was stressed and tired from all of the race/media/baby walking duties. I told the producer this and the exact reply was: ‘Don’t worry Mark; we will only make you look great!’

*SUSAN’S NOTE: Other producers want to see how you and your stories translate on TV. They are looking for raw talent, not someone slick and polished. In fact, they want someone just the opposite–someone who has verve and speaks spontaneously in a way that anyone can understand.

By the way, one of the complaints about the last group of contestants on the hit show “Survivor,” was that they were “too media savvy” which really meant too careful and guarded. That is not to say you shouldn’t practice your sound bites and know your message; it means that you need to preserve your own honest emotions and expressions. Be genuine.

An Aside: Another reason to tape all your appearances and speaking engagements is if your audio/video tapes are good enough you can later sell them as products on your website, and at your next speaking engagement.*
4. Act In A Heartfelt Way And You Will Be Automatically Compelling

As for the race itself, I got very sick throughout the course and struggled. This added to the drama: Will Mark be able to finish? I did finish strong and did a Lance Armstrong (The cyclist who recovered from cancer and competed in the 2000 Tour de France). When I was being interviewed by NBC at the finish line I ran over and kissed and hugged my wife and took Sterling (my daughter) and held her up and kissed her and said: ‘This is my real reward’ and ‘My dad was an Ironman for me and now I hope to be an Ironman for my daughter.’ Of course, I was operating on heartfelt emotion throughout the interviews. I would have done what I did camera or no camera. However, it made for a great scene and sound bite and I got to close out the show.

*SUSAN’S NOTE: Adversity creates tension and drama. In addition, the audience connected to Mark because they all understand what it’s like to do something for a loved one — especially a small child. A heartfelt message with strong emotion increases your chance of extra media coverage.*
5. Embrace the Opportunities That Present Themselves

A woman from Los Angeles who saw me on NBC is flying herself and her sister up to San Francisco to train with me. These sessions will pay for a good portion of the website. Other people from around the country are contacting me about e-training (which I may or may not do). A guy from a video production company saw me and we are talking about a video.

*SUSAN’S NOTE: All kinds of things can happen that you could never predict when you begin to do publicity. That’s part of the richness that makes PR so exciting E-training for working out? Who would have thought?*
6. Prepare to Make The Most Of The Results Of Publicity

Before the show I rushed to get a website up that offers a subscribe/unsubscribe to my “Weekly Enlightenment” e-zine and archives. I plan on using this to market my book and provide media information. My project manager tells me that 22% of visitors to my site opt to subscribe. A high benchmark “opt in” subscribe rate is 4%. No one has unsubscribed. As a matter of fact my e-zine encourages people to forward the e-zine and subscribe others. The word of mouth and the speed of the Internet will spread my message faster than the sound of a mouse-click. The best part is this site will be ready for when I do Hawaii Ironman, Oprah and Cristina (the Spanish language equivalent of Oprah. I am very fluent in Spanish and my Univision contact is working on this, after I provided the idea!).

*SUSAN’S NOTE: Make sure you’ve tested everything on your site thoroughly so it can handle a rush of visitors without crashing. You don’t want to lose all the connections you can make from your publicity because of some technical snafu.*
7. Do Anything You Can To Help The Producers Do A Great Show

All told, I ended up with a few seconds shy of 4 minutes of NBC national airtime, more than anybody on the show including the winners of the race and NFL quarterback Doug ‘I can’t swim’ Flutie (the media people told me he wasn’t being as cooperative as they would like; I probably looked like a saint compared to him and I am sure that helped). More people will continue to see the broadcast through videotape. And I now have a professionally produced, very compelling story about me that I can send to many other PR outlets. I have already contacted NBC about permission to use the video on my website.

*SUSAN’S NOTE: It goes without saying that you will be gracious and accommodating. Volunteer to do anything extra you can to help out and you will be remembered. Then send out that video tape ASAP to the shows you want to be on next — and remember to present a new and different angle. Every producer wants his show to be the first of its kind, not a copycat of a competitor’s.*
8. Work All the Angles

I am already anticipating my next steps: getting sponsors, leveraging the tape to get into Hawaii Ironman (even bigger TV audience) and of course Oprah. By that time I will have a book ready.

I am very confident this will all happen! It has taken me 5 years but all of the Toastmasters training (I co-founded a Bay Club chapter with Patricia Fripp), the classes such as yours, and the never say die attitude are paying off. It is like striking oil…long time drilling and then suddenly a gusher!

If you are a Toastmaster on not your can benefit from World Champions Edge. A speech coaching and public speaking training community. http://www.worldchampionsedge.com/
The coaching Champs are Ed Tate, Darren LaCroix, Mark Brown, Craig Valentine and their "plus one" Patricia Fripp. First month $1 to see the value. After that only $29.95 and many benefits.

*SUSAN’S NOTE: I couldn’t have said it better myself. Wishing you all a Yosemite sized gusher.*

*Thank you to Mark C. Davis, xBigman.com, for sharing his story that illustrates the use of my tips.*

Copyright (c) 2006 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.

Good media leads to speaking engagements. If you need to learn how to prepare or present a speech contact Patricia Fripp.

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Video Excerpt from Fripp’s Informative DVD for Professional Speakers

Enjoy this video excerpt from one of Patricia Fripp’s DVDs for professional speakers, The Speech as Product: Write It and They Will Pay…Not Necessarily. This DVD teaches professional speakers how to develop presentations that clients will actually pay for.

Do you want to enter the competive world of motivational speaking? If so, you need to take your public speaking to a new level. How can you position yourself and your expertise so you are the client’s obvious choice? Be honest, do you have a speech that is so interesting, versatile, and structured to adapt to various audiences and industries? One which showcases your expertise? That every time you deliver it you are guaranteed to receive more bookings? When was the last time you revisited your content to improve it?  Learn more: http://www.patriciafripp.com/publicspeakingresources/thespeech.html

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Marketing for Consultants: Sell-Yourself Tips for Consultants

Sell-Yourself Tips for Consultants

by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

As a consultant, you are continually selling yourself to a committee or Board of Directors. Present the best product you can.

Rehearse your opening. You have only thirty seconds to grab the interest of your audience. Don't waste it.

Wrong: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity…"

Right: "In the next ten minutes you will be convinced you that the best decision you can make is to invest in the services of Fripp Associates."

Focus on the bottom line. Stress the results you will get for them.

Don't offer backup information unless or until you are asked for it. It can interfere with the "big picture."

Be "up." Low energy and monotony will kill any presentation. Show genuine enthusiasm.

Be visual. People remember what they "see" in their imaginations. Paint a vivid picture in story form of how things will be when you have the job.

"…six months from now, when your business has increased 15%, your market share is 5% higher, and your sales teams are in harmony for the first time…".

Have a strong closing. For example, "Your next decision is not whether to hire me, but whether can you afford not to!"

More information on marketing yourself as a speaker, seminar leader or consultant is
https://fripp.com/sales_training.html

If you want help with your marketing why not check out The Odd Couple with Alan Weiss. This is our yearly seminar on marketing and strategy for consultants and speakers in Las Vegas. Check out our copy.

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Sales Generation: Prospecting Tips for a Slow Economy

Prospecting Tips for a Slow Economy
by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Frippicisim: It is not your clients’ and prospects’ job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t forget you.

1. Don’t overlook the obvious. Go through your address book, data base, Christmas card list and confirm everybody you know is familiar with your profession, what your specialty is, and who is the perfect prospect for you to best serve.

2. If you used to work in another industry, update your satisfied clients that you can still serve them in this different capacity.

3. Keep in touch with your present clients more frequently. Not just asking for referrals. The better your relationship with them the more they will want to send you new prospects.

4. One of my friends in the advertising specialty business had a very creative office decor. Anyone who had seen it raved about it. Going up in the elevator of his building of 22 floors I had a conversation with a fellow passenger. I asked, “Do you work in this building or are you visiting?” He mentioned he had worked there for 2 years. I inquired if he had ever heard of my friend Jonathan and his unique and memorable office. He said “No.” My recommendation to my friend and everyone else who works in a large building is to every few months go from floor to floor, office to office, and introduce yourself to your neighbors. You could well quadruple your business close to home.

5. Don’t forget to work on your sales presentation skills!

Why not learn sales presentation skills from Patricia Fripp and Negotiation Skills from David Palmer, PhD on CD and DVD?’
Need more help in sales, presentation skills, marketing, promoting yourself? Patricia Fripp has hundreds of articles for you. Yes, no charge. fripp.com/articleslist.html

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Sales Presentations: Power Pitching: Get the Personal Edge

Power Pitching: Get the Personal Edge
by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Whenever and whatever you're pitching, dozens of factors will figure in the final decision of your prospects. All else being equal, you have the edge if you can establish a personal connection. Connect emotionally and intellectually, so they like and trust you more than your competitors. How can you get your prospects to like you? Try these tips.

•Focus and be sincere. If you appear nervous or unsure, you may seem devious or incompetent. If your sales presentation does not respond to their concerns and you just grind on with a prepared pitch, they will decide you don't care about them and their problems. Look people right in the eyes and convince them that you stand 100% behind the ideas, products, or services that you want to sell them. Pick up on their concerns, and address them.

•"Divide and conquer." If you're doing a sales presentation, shake hands with everyone as they enter the room. Connect with them so you see them as individuals, and you become more memorable to them too. (People are usually more shy of groups of strangers than in one-on-one contacts.)

•Use technology to enhance your sales presentation, not drown it. PowerPoint can keep you on track, but it can't establish trust.

•Keep it simple and memorable! When your prospects have a debriefing afterwards, you want them to remember what you said more than anything your competitors pitched to them. Break your talking points into snappy sound bites that are easy to write down and remember. Make them interesting and repeatable.

•Steer clear of technical language and jargon. Rehearse your presentation in advance with your spouse or an intelligent 12-year-old across the dinner table. If there's anything they don't understand, it's too complicated.

•Tell great stories. People are trained to resist a sales pitch, but no one can resist a good story. Let's say you're trying to get money to fund your software company. Tell a story about how the prospective investor's life will change when you bring the product to market: "Imagine that a year from now you'll come to work and use this software to do in 5 minutes what now takes you 45 minutes. I don't know what that would do to your life, but in all our test markets or pilot programs, people tell us…" Then add more stories.

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Prospecting Tips for a Slow Economy: Sales Presentation Skills Increase Odds

At this weekend 's Speaking and Presentation Skills School we are focusing on how to improve your sales presentation skills.

Prospecting Tips for a Slow Economy
by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Frippicisim: It is not your clients' and prospects' job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don't forget you.

1. Don't overlook the obvious. Go through your address book, data base, Christmas card list and confirm everybody you know is familiar with your profession, what your specialty is, and who is the perfect prospect for you to best serve.

2. If you used to work in another industry, update your satisfied clients that you can still serve them in this different capacity.

3. Keep in touch with your present clients more frequently. Not just asking for referrals. The better your relationship with them the more they will want to send you new prospects.

4. One of my friends in the advertising specialty business had a very creative office decor. Anyone who had seen it raved about it. Going up in the elevator of his building of 22 floors I had a conversation with a fellow passenger. I asked, "Do you work in this building or are you visiting?" He mentioned he had worked there for 2 years. I inquired if he had ever heard of my friend Jonathan and his unique and memorable office. He said "No." My recommendation to my friend and everyone else who works in a large building is to every few months go from floor to floor, office to office, and introduce yourself to your neighbors. You could well quadruple your business close to home.

5. Don't forget to work on your sales presentation skills!

If you want to consider improving sales presentation skills why not give me a call?
We can discuss how improving your team's presentation skills  can close more business.

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4 Do’s in Selling Your Ideas to Senior Management:Business Communications

Four Do’s in Selling Your Ideas to Senior Management
By Patricia Fripp, Expert in Business Communications

Just getting ready for my Speaking School. Communicating to executives is one of the topics that we will discuss.

It’s no secret… the higher up the corporate ladder you go the more important your public speaking skills become. If you have your sites set on increased responsibility and the position and salary that go with them you will need to position yourself ahead of the crowd in advance. At all stages of your career you need to sell yourself, your ideas, your value, and your ability. To position yourself for promotion you need to learn what it takes to sell yourself and your ideas to senior management. That requires learning high level public speaking skills; learn from these public speaking tips

1. Open with your conclusions. Don’t make your senior level audience wait to find out why you are there.
2. Describe the benefits if your recommendation is adopted. Make these benefits seem vivid and obtainable.
3. Describe the costs, and frame them in a positive manner. If possible, show how not following your recommendation will cost even more…
4. List your specific recommendations, and keep it on target. Wandering generalities will lose their interest. You must focus on the bottom line. Report on the deals, not the details.

Want to learn more? Why not attend a Patricia Fripp Speaking School or invest in Help I Have to Give a Speech!

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MOVIES AREN’T NOVELS by Michael Hauge

MOVIES AREN'T NOVELS

I have learned a lot about compelling speech creation from screen writing classes. Michael Hauge is one of my teachers who has become a friend. Hope you find his article as interesting as I do.
Take it away Michael….

MOVIES AREN'T NOVELS
Many fiction writers, at one point or another, consider adapting their own work into film.
Because both novelists and screenwriters use characters to tell fictional
stories, and since both wish to reach the widest possible audience with their
work, it may seem logical to assume the transition is a natural one. But before
you begin such a difficult and often disappointing endeavor, stop to consider
the wide gulf that separates these two forms of fiction.

MOVIES AREN'T NOVELS

Many fiction writers, at one point or another, consider adapting their own work into film. Because both novelists and screenwriters use characters to tell fictional stories, and since both wish to reach the widest possible audience with their work, it may seem logical to assume the transition is a natural one. But before you begin such a difficult and often disappointing endeavor, stop to consider the wide gulf that separates these two forms of fiction.

The next time you’re in a book store, look over the section marked “Cinema” and you’ll see that almost every successful motion picture based on an original screenplay has been “novelized,” but only a small percentage of successful novels have been adapted into film.

This situation exists because screenwriters must conform to very narrowly defined rules and parameters, while novelists have much greater latitude in the ways they can tell their stories. Novels may follow the structure that movies do, so the film to fiction transition is fairly straightforward. But movies must conform to a number of rules that novels don’t have to, so the adaptation process becomes very difficult, and the result is often a film that pleases neither the audience nor those who loved the original work.

Before you can adapt a novel into screenplay form, you must accept the fact that, no matter how much you love the original work, YOU MUST ELIMINATE ALL THOSE ELEMENTS WHICH DO NOT CONFORM TO THE RULES OF SCREENWRITING. This can be painfully hard, but the process is essential to creating a movie that will reach a mass audience.

The principles I outline below hold true for at least nine out of ten movies coming out of Hollywood. And while you will undoubtedly think of exceptions, film adaptations that depart from these guidelines usually fail at the box office (The Lovely Bones), are made outside the Hollywood system (Precious), or are made by well-established writers, directors and/or stars who are given a good deal of freedom to push the boundaries of film structure (Julie and Julia). (And by the way, these rules are essential to consider before adapting a TRUE story to film as well.)

1.    Commerciality is the major concern of film financiers. Though publishers are obviously in business to turn a profit as well, there are hundreds of publishing houses turning out thousands of titles a year, while only about 150 movies a year are produced by the major studios, with an average production and distribution budget in excess of $100 million a picture. Such a huge cost creates a demand for movies that will reach the widest possible audience.

2.    Movies must conform to a budget. When the Mongol hordes come sweeping over the mountains in your novel, all you’ve added is excitement. When the same thing happens in your screenplay, you’ve added $13,000,000 to the budget of the film.

3.    Genre is critical. While novels can portray characters in just about any time or place, there is a strong prejudice in Hollywood that favors action movies, thrillers and comedies over musicals, period pieces, Westerns and dramas.

4.    Movies have a prescribed length. While novels can range from the almost-a-novelette size of Animal Farm to the epic sprawl of War and Peace, most movies last between ninety minutes and two hours, and their corresponding screenplays between 105 and 119 pages.

5.    Movies portray a condensed period of time. Most Hollywood movies take place over a period of hours, days or weeks – rarely months or years. The epic saga may work fine in fiction, where a reader can return to a book as often as necessary, but when an audience is there for a single sitting, they don’t want to watch characters grow old together.

6.    The hero of a screenplay must pursue a single, visible goal with a clearly implied endpoint. When an audience sits in a movie theater, they want to root for the main character of the film to accomplish some compelling desire. Whether it’s stopping the killer, escaping the volcano, winning the big game or capturing the heart of the hero’s true love, we must SEE this pursuit, and we must be able to imagine what success will look like on the screen.

The reason most Hollywood movies are easy to describe in a single sentence is because the plots are defined by the hero’s specific desire: “Fargo is about a pregnant policewoman from a small town in Minnesota who wants to catch a group of killers.” As we watch this film, we may not know if the hero will succeed, but we can imagine what success will look like.

Novels can involve a series of characters (Hawaii), can focus primarily on inner motivation and character arc (Ordinary People), or can present heroes who meander though a whole series of events, desires and conflicts (The Shipping News, The Kite Runner, etc.). But in a screenplay, the reader must know what specific finish line the hero is hoping to cross.

7.    The conflicts a movie hero faces must also be visible. While the hero of a screenplay may also grapple with inner conflicts and flaws, the primary obstacles she faces must come from other characters or forces of nature that prevent her from achieving what she wants.

8.    Screenplays may only reveal what the audience will hear and see on the screen. Manuscripts can include illustrations, footnotes, maps, fancy fonts and chapter headings. They can offer asides from the author, reveal the characters’ thoughts and feelings, and give the reader any historical or background information the author considers helpful or interesting. None of these things can be included in a script, unless it is revealed through action or dialogue.

9.    Movies follow a strict structure. Novels sometimes sprawl, meander and jump back and forth in time, but screenplays must conform to a rigid formula for plotting the story.

Among the many structural principles and devices a screenplay must employ are these basic rules: the hero must be introduced by page ten, where he will encounter some new opportunity; the hero must begin pursuing the specific desire that defines the story concept at the 25% mark; some major setback must be experienced at the three-quarter point, and the climax must clearly resolve the hero’s desire in the last ten minutes of the film.

10.  When it comes to writing style, a screenwriter’s goal must be to create a movie in the reader’s mind that is as fast, easy and enjoyable to read as possible. So the qualities of style in the best literary fiction – an extensive vocabulary, rich, textured description, and the unique use of the language – should be AVOIDED when writing a script.

11.  Finally, when you write a screenplay, your work is not your own. The publishing world still seems to offer some respect to the writer’s original vision. But if you’re a screenwriter, sooner or later your creation will be changed, sometimes mercilessly, as other artists attempt to transform it into film.

I know this last item isn’t about a difference in the writing itself. I just want you to be prepared for what awaits you if you decide to take the plunge into adaptation.

– Michael Hauge

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Watch Alfie G. Fripp On BBC “This Morning”

BBC “This Morning” video featuring my Uncle Bill “Alfie” Fripp, Britain’s oldest surviving and longest serving POW of WWII.

Alfie Fripp, a former squadron leader from Bournemouth, is is the oldest surviving and longest serving British POW. Held during World War II in the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III, Alfie Fripp is a Veteran of the Great Escape. He is “Uncle Bill” to Robert Fripp and Patricia Fripp.

Visit Patricia Fripp’s YouTube Channel for more videos of interviews with Alfie Fripp; view stories of his life, World War II, Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L22CgxkiWY

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