Successful Spokespersons Are Made, Not Born
Expanded Edition Has Teaching Guides
by
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This is the first book on spokesperson training that, to my knowledge, describes the techniques used to teach media interview and presentation skills. You will find that my techniques are simple, straightforward and easy to grasp. The foundations are the Pyramid Concept for media interviews and the Diamond Concept for presentations. They work whether you face a reporter from The Wall Street Journal or a local newspaper reporter, a crucial presentation at your annual corporate meeting or addressing the local PTA.
You make your points and deliver your message in a media interview by controlling the direction of the interview. You control the direction by knowing how to respond regardless of how the questions are phrased, or even when the “right questions” are not asked.
Substance, therefore, is the most important element for controlling the direction of a media interview. Presence is physical appearance, gestures, body language and dress. Style is your natural way of conversing. Mastering the substance techniques generates the confidence and control which lead to more natural facial expressions, gestures and body language.
Some spokesperson instructor, in my opinion, over-emphasize presence in their teaching methods. Presence is important, of course, whether in television interviews, print interviews or answering questions following a speech. Relying too much on presence, however, can result in a false sense of security. A “staged” look of confidence can be destroyed, along with your credibility, when you’re not sure how to answer a question.
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About the Book
Successful Spokesperson Are Made, Not Born is an expanded edition of the original book published in 2000, adding instructor teaching guides, sample speech openings and new anecdotes to the basic techniques from the first edition. The expanded edition has also been published in Chinese by Peking University Press,
ISBN: 978-1-4259-8648-3
Order, paperback, from: AuthorHouse, Amazon, Google or major book store chains.
Blog Posting – On Hal Hart's web site, www.Halhartcommunications. See Media Interview Check List (from“Successful Spokespersons…” ). Comments on football star Michael Vick's predicament.
About the Author
Hal Hart taught communications skills to Fortune 500 executives for fourteen years as vice president of Spokesperson Services for a New York-based public relations agency, and six years in his own consulting business, Hal Hart Communications.
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His clients included General Foods, NCR, Michelin Tire, Schlumberger, VISA, Heublein, Coopers and Lybrand, Weight Watchers International, Procter & Gamble, Georgia Pacific, AETNA Life, CIGNA, AT&T/GIS, SmithKline Beechman, Dow Chemical, American Water Company, The Plastic Bottle Institute, Hoffman-LaRoche, and The Upjohn Company.
The author made hundreds of speeches, wrote executive speeches, and conducted seminars. In 1972 he headed up an automotive industry public relations program to counter government efforts to legislate the industry. Automotive Information Council (AIC) included fifty-eight industry trade associations and 1,500 businesses -- auto and tire makers, oil companies, mass merchandisers, specialty franchisers, service businesses and parts suppliers. AIC became an international media communications center.