September Newsletter 2017
SKILL UP THIS AUTUMN
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” Remember that famous line from Cool Hand Luke? We think about it all the time at Clear Europe because so often we see organisations failing to communicate clearly and concisely. So this autumn we are offering 10 media and communication masterclasses that are open to everyone, affordably priced and taught by our experienced comms pros. We still have some places for our October courses, so book a place now:
October 5 How to Write Clearly
October 10 Effective Public Speaking
October 19 Mastering Media Interviews
October 25 Social Media Campaigning
HOW TO WRITE A CV – 15 DOS AND DON’TS
CVs and cover letters are often full of extravagant claims written in vague, pompous and pretentious language. In case you missed it while sunning yourself this summer, here are our Managing Director Gareth Harding’s 15 tips on how to write a cracking CV.
WELCOME STEFFEN!
We’d like to welcome Steffen Thejll-Moller on board as one of our social media trainers. A dual Danish and Italian citizen, for the past decade Steffen has advised organisations across Europe on how best to use digital and social media in corporate, internal, and political communications, public affairs and campaigning.
You can find more about Steffen here or by coming to his Mastering Social Media course on December 5.
CLEAN POWER, CLEAR MESSAGE
We love this Greenpeace ad about how clean and cheap wind power is. Why? Because it ticks almost every clear communication box:
- It’s personal and emotional
- It’s about effects not process
- The messaging is strong and clear
- The language is simple
Many thanks to Kelly Agathos for an entertaining and enlightening News and Booze session on how to use improvisation skills to communicate better. Among Kelly’s tips: get comfortable with the idea of failure, tell stories to better connect with audiences and use improv skills to get out of sticky situations.
News & Booze is co-hosted by Jo Sullivan (Conscience Consulting) and Julia Ravenscroft (Eurodad). Find out more on Facebook.
SPEAKERHUB’S SPEAKER CLUB
Our good friends at Speakerhub are launching a brand new podcast series called World of Speakers, hosted by master communicator Ryan Foland. The podcasts deal with issues such as creating content that sticks and how to engage global audiences. World of Speakers is launching on 21 September and you can listen to the podcast here.
THINGS WE’VE LIKED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
- “Give us this day our daily Brett”: a 5-minute podcast by Brett Kobie from Fleishman-Hillard on communications across Europe. Updated (almost) daily.
- *This* is how to communicate what the EU does, and why. Margrethe Vestager interviewed in the Guardian.
- Are press releases dead or dormant? An article by Katie Owens. Our take? Please, less PR guff.
- Fake news (probably) won’t affect Germany’s upcoming federal election the way they did in the US – as pointed out by Poynter.
- Cutting jargon has always been our motto: here is how to break the curse of knowledge.
- A story is different from a topic. It includes a point of view, characters who are multi-dimensional and a twist in the tale.
- The verbal tick of denouncing something “in the strongest possible terms” has been around for a while. Here is how to avoid using meaningless and vague sentences on sensitive issues.
- The media have learned the hard way how the information revolution is a double-edged sword: ethical journalism in the news.
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