May newsletter
SUMMER COCKTAIL PARTY
Mojito or Margarita? Whether your cocktail of choice is minty fresh or salty citrus, we’d be delighted if you’d join us for a drink or three to celebrate the start of summer on June 15. Please reply here if you can make it.
AUTUMN OPEN COURSES
Due to strong demand, we have decided to offer group workshops in the autumn. These courses are open to all and significantly cheaper than our tailor-made training sessions. We’ll offer 12 courses and post the list next month. But if there’s one you’d particularly like to join, mail us and we’ll see if we can include it.
CUT THROUGH THE CLUTTER
Thanks to Craig Winneker, veteran journalist and PR pro for his News & Booze talk on how to make messages matter in a world of mush. Among his tips:
- The shorter texts are the better. “The more words you have, the less clear it is.”
- Make press releases more like news articles and less like publicity.
- Top load your messages and skip the backstory.
- Speak for people/causes not organisations.
- Avoid jargon, clichés, acronyms.
Our storytelling coach Danny Scheinmann’s latest novel, The Half Life of Joshua Jones, is a striking blend of psychological drama and romantic fairy tale, full of dark humour, mystery and wonder that will grip you from first page to last.
The paperback will be released on June 1 and you can order your copy here.
THINGS WE’VE LIKED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
- What Marty McFly never expected: a TEDxAUBG talk by Andras Baneth on the social impact of tech innovation.
- Make your story relatable: use language, settings, characters, characterisations that people can resonate with.
- Do not take yourself too seriously, a lesson learned from scientific communicator Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize in physics.
- Pro-tip: straighten your back and shoulders when being interviewed – unlike EU commissioner Julian King caught slouching here.
- Hubspot teaches you how you can craft your message for each social network.
TRAINER PROFILE: MEG STRINGER
Writing in circles? Lost in translation? Can’t find the right word? Sounds like you need to call Meg Stringer, our resident wordsmith, writing coach and content strategist who can help make your texts clearer, shorter and punchier.
INFLUENCING THE EU MEDIA
There are still a few places left for our breakfast briefing on how to build better relationships with Brussels-based journalists on June 6 from 9-11am. Drawing on original research and over 20 years experience writing about the EU, our Managing Director Gareth Harding will offer tips and tricks on how to pitch stories to the 1000 correspondents based in Brussels. Details and sign-up here.
Add your comment