1. To enhance websites

Video lifts text and static pages. A short 60 second to three minute video can convey a lively and dynamic overview of your brand more easily than pages of text.

We have a quick, energetic showreel (see video below) designed to encourage people to find out more and increase awareness of what we do.

2. To enhance pitches and presentations

We’ve all sat through dull PowerPoint based presentations. Video can enhance your delivery and capture the attention of an audience.

Keep videos short, around one to two minutes maximum. Make sure you check in advance that they will work on the day.

3. To drive website traffic

YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google and can help to drive traffic to your website. Pay attention to the headings and tags used on your YouTube videos.

Encouraging people to share, like and comment on your videos can also drive engagement and reach a new audience.

4. For internal communications

Here are a few quick ideas on how you could use video to enhance your internal communications:

• Training and e-learning
• Communicating values and standards
• Motivating employees
• Introducing staff members
• Highlighting success stories
• Saying ‘thank you’.

5. To live stream webinars, events and conferences

Live streaming is a popular way to engage with an online audience. A conference could be streamed live to an audience that may not have been able to attend in person.

Live streams can make use of forums and include real-time comments and questions.

By charging delegates a small fee to sign up, streaming could add another source of revenue.

6. To hold meetings and web conferencing

Online video based meeting platforms are simple and cheap to set up. Multiple users can login using crystal clear HD video footage. This approach can save a lot of the travel costs and logistical hassle associated with holding meetings in person.

7. To improve recruitment

Video helps to attract and recruit the best talent. Clips can showcase your company culture and prospective employees can watch interviews with existing team members and leaders.

Giving people a clearer insight into your company will help them to determine if the opportunity is right for them – and can save you time in your recruitment process.

So in summary – video is often an underutilised part of your communications strategy. I hope the ideas above will help you to strengthen your brands dynamism and appeal. If you would like to discuss any of your video projects, you can read more on our website or contact us via info@themediagroup.tv.

Follow TMG on Twitter - @TMGtv

Life at The Media Group can be glamorous at times. Don’t get us wrong - there are lots of long days, and even longer nights. But every now and again we get to experience some amazing moments. 

Whether it’s meeting HRH Prince William whilst putting on a glitzy ceremony for The Football Association’s Respect awards or working with Olympic gold medalist, Dame Kelly Holmes, on a promotional film for her charity, sometimes we wonder if this is actually work. 

This is especially true when it comes to the Waddington Airshow. The Airshow is the largest military Airshow in the UK with around 170,000 visitors over two days in Lincolnshire. This will be the fourth year that TMG has produced the official DVD. Our role basically involves rushing round the air base interviewing pilots or filming inside many of the wonderful aircraft that fly into Waddington over the weekend. Here’s a clip from last year’s DVD. 

You don’t really get to appreciate what you’ve done until afterwards however. The days are long and quite fraught. 

The pilots, ground crew and other RAF personnel we deal with are extremely accommodating and a lot friendlier than some Premier League football stars we’ve interviewed. But they have tight schedules to keep and we have to fit our filming around that. 

So pulling the DVD together can feel like a military operation all on its own. Sometimes - just getting from one side of the runway to the other takes timing, planning and quite a bit of luck. 

All in all it makes for a hectic four days as we also film on press day and arrivals day – both are just as frantic. But it’s all worth it when you get to take a peak inside a B-52 bomber or have a go on the E-3D Sentry simulator which is situated on the base. 

The highlight last year though had to be sheltering from the sun – under the nose of a Belgian F-16. It’s a hard life. 

If you’re feeling slightly jealous reading about our dream job, don’t despair. You can get almost as close as we do to those amazing aircraft by watching this year’s Official Waddington Airshow DVD. Available to pre-order from June 1st at http://shop.themediagroup.tv

Seems I have a new love in my life. The visual wonderland which is Pinterest.

For those of you who don’t know of its existence (and you can thank me later for introducing it to you), Pinterest is a social photo sharing site which allows users to create virtual pinboards covering just about anything from architecture to fitness as well as my personal favourites, design and events.

It serves as a great source of inspiration, you can browse other users’ pinboards and collate your favourite images – something which is extremely valuable when working on some of the design projects we do here at The Media Group.

Since its launch in 2010, Pinterest has grown to over 10 million users and it now drives more referral traffic to retailers than LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ combined.

It’s easy to see then why brands have fallen in love with it too. Pinterest is a quick and easy way to maximise the exposure of their product. Users can find images they like and click straight through to the website purchasing page.

So how have Pinterest managed to make their website so appealing? It’s an instant source of visual inspiration where the images speak louder than words. It’s a virtual department store of everything you could want or need. Which, of course, is why brands should get their products on there quickly!

Anyway, enough blogging. Time to get back to pinning… I mean work. Follow me on Pinterest and share some of your favourite images.

Now, to be fair, most of our group (in the short term at least) won’t have their words carried live in the States.  But there were similarities. 

I think the biggest was the engagement.  Kate looked great.  She had dressed appropriately (magnificently) and she appeared genuinely pleased to be there.  That’s a cracking start.  Working with our group, I wanted them to soften their faces and release a smile – to demonstrate their personality and passion.

There were nerves.  This came out in Kate’s voice a couple of times, but actually that was endearing.  The same for our group – I don’t mind nerves.   

Kate’s eyes worked the audience when she did look up, looking to all points in the room (though for me, that was too studied, perhaps because of the nerves). 

I’d get her to work on the hair flick (we once did a conference where most of the audience was more worried about the sweep that had begun over breakfast: the front bench minister in question had a habit of flicking her hair back rather too often.  We counted 48 flicks in a 15 minute speech), but it’s not a big problem. 

I did think there were two things, though, that would be easy to improve. 

The lectern was too low for her.  It meant she had to look down too far.  And, although we're told that she wrote it herself, it seemed that the speech had been written for her – some phrases ( well-rehearsed) didn’t  come out, to me at least, as her own.  If she could make the fit better, I think that would have made it easier for her to deliver. 

Which brings us back to our group.   

We had some youngsters who can go on to be chief executives or politicians.  They may never get the exposure Kate has, but they will – one day – contribute magnificently to the country in which she will be Queen!  I hope they’ll remember their presentation training with us!

If you are making your first public speech or would like to improve your presenting skills, get in touch and we can talk you through our presentation training courses.

The world’s favourite cricket ground (well we think so in Nottingham!) looks magnificent with cricket season soon to start.  And with the knowledge that the Ashes tests are heading this way, there are ambitions for further improvements. 

The dinner was partly to talk about how sport can be a catalyst for improvement – for people, for facilities, for the economy.  And partly about how we, locally, can attract bigger and better events to the city and county. 

But it was also a farewell to Derek Brewer, who is leaving as chief executive of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club to become chief executive at the MCC.  Around thirty people involved in local sport were at the dinner – from politicians to coaches. 

Everyone agreed that sport is a good thing.  More sport would be an even better thing.  And encouraging participation off the back of major events would be a really good thing.  Excellent. 

We’ve got the Ashes tests (and a lot of other cricket).  We need Forest back in the Premier League (and perhaps Europe).  We need to be bold and aspirational, imaginative and creative on how we can make other events be the best they can be. 

With the River Trent and the Embankment to the city centre and some outstanding venues Nottingham can be a true sporting capital staging pioneering events.  When I’m jogging by the river this weekend, I’m going to wear my thinking cap! 

Please get in touch if you have any ideas.

It was a wonderful occasion and a chance to reflect on how we have grown as a company from humble origins in our living room to now employing nearly 70 people. Our success over the last ten years is down to the hard work of our team and I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone at TMG as well, of course, as all those companies and individuals with whom we have worked.

Click the link below to view a selection of images from the day.

Now Ken is, officially, the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC, Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Minister for Justice and Lord Chancellor.  But it says something about the public perception of him that to most people I think he is simply: Ken. 

It’s actually a sign of affection.  

I read that Cliff Morgan, a great rugby player and then a leading broadcaster, told the legendary Desmond Lynam something similar.  In effect he said: if the public like you they’ll call you Des.

Now in a very small way we’ve gone on a similar journey as a company.  We started as The Media Group and I always wanted us referred to as that. 

But everyone else was abbreviating us to TMG.  I tried to fight it for a time, and then remembered the Des Lynam quote! 

So as we tidy up and prepare for Friday’s lunchtime reception, all our meetings and briefings are not about the visit of the Lord Chancellor, the Minister for Justice or even Mr Clarke.  

The meetings are about Ken. 

I’m not sure whether, when introducing myself on Friday, I’ll say, “Hello Ken.” 

I rather suspect I will revert to, “Hello Mr Clarke.”   

And even whilst he’s here I suspect that’s how it may stay.

But once he’s gone, I know what I’ll be telling people.  

I’ll simply say, “Ken was here today.”

Presentation training can provide you with the skills and techniques to improve your performance when speaking to an audience. Whether you are a seasoned public speaker or fearful at the thought of presenting, professional training can help you to build the skills and confidence needed to speak effectively and to give you or your company an advantage.  

Practice, practice, practice

“It’s a funny thing. The more I practice the luckier I get.” (Jack Nicklaus)

Understanding your key messages and rehearsing delivery is the starting point for an effective presentation. Preparing well will ensure you know the purpose of your presentation, who your audience is and what they are expecting. Delivering a presentation when you are fully prepared will help you to relax and present yourself or your company confidently and in the best possible light.  

Get your message across

It’s important to structure your presentation. Tell your audience what you are going to say, say it, and then tell them what you’ve said.  Content should be simple and tools such as PowerPoint should be used sparingly.

Make an impression

It’s important to get the basics right. Speak slowly and clearly, dress appropriately and be aware of your body language.  An experienced trainer will help you to identify any bad habits and give you tips and advice on how to improve your delivery.

Build your confidence

Good presentation training is about building your confidence and giving you the skills and ability  to enjoy speaking in front of an audience.

Some of our latest delegate feedback speaks for itself:

“The professionalism and constructive criticism from everyone at The Media Group helped make this an excellent day's training.”

“The course exceeded my expectations, I feel much more confident and able to stand up in front of an audience”.

Contact us to find out more about our presentation training courses.

We’re excited to have upgraded our post-production suite including a shiny new workstation.  The new machine has a 6 core cpu, 12gb of RAM and enables us to work in real-time with 10bit uncompressed 1080p footage!

Or, if you’re not familiar with tech speak, we can now edit quicker with better quality to give your videos a bit more oomph. 

Do you have a video project coming up? Get in touch, we’d love to discuss and show you around.

Last night I watched The Sun’s campaign to ensure in 2012 we make great, Britain (which however you punctuate is a tortuous phrase, but in the context of the ad worked), and BMW’s take on the Olympics. 

As someone who loves sport and applied for loads of tickets for the Olympics and ended up with none, I’m holding on to my enthusiasm despite wondering how some people I know have a shed full of tickets and I’ve got a place on the sofa to look forward to! 

But the media is embracing Olympic stories with gusto.

Over the New Year break ITV in the Midlands was pulling together some Olympic features and we were able to help two of our clients, Sport Nottinghamshire and Badminton England.  ITV’s feature was on: is sport ready to cope with the increased demand?  The answer here was yes.  Sport Nottinghamshire has been preparing clubs for a while, running special events to ensure preparation was in place.  And Badminton England has a scheme up and running to increase participation which they were able to showcase. 

Yet on the way in to the office this morning I heard a story about national targets for increasing participation being dropped and a London-centric reporting style which may take over through to the Games themselves - regeneration of bits of London, special routes for Olympic traffic and so on. 

I can’t help thinking The Sun and BMW are, at the moment, providing the most effective inspiration.

The whistle stop tour of sport-related topics was fascinating.  The passion and enthusiasm with which grassroots coaches approach their voluntary activity was inspiring.  Working at Wembley is, for me, always an honour and the list of guests and the topics something I have a personal interest in.

I must confess to knowing less about grass.  But the Institute of Groundsmanship conference and awards ceremony at Bolton gave me some insights.  My biggest eye opener was from the head groundsman at the Green Bay Packers from the NFL.  On the pitch front they only have eight regular season games, a couple of pre-season friendlies and may be a game or two post-season if they are lucky.  Ok, so it snows a lot, but it makes looking after Wembley and it’s multi-use function from pop concerts to rugby union seem a doddle.

The club can never be taken over (like Chelsea or Manchester City say) because of the way the shares are owned by ordinary fans.  And the town of Green Bay itself only has 100,000 residents!

Back at the start of the week the RFL World Cup countdown got underway.  After next year’s Olympics, the World Cup in 2013 is something I’m looking forward to – with a tremendous tour of European venues staging matches.

Our BBC Children in Need fundraising day raised the fantastic total of £153.64! 

The Media Group will round this up to £200 and a cheque for this amount is on its way to BBC Children in Need. 

Fundraising activities on the day included a Pudsey Bear poster competition, blind auctions and the infamous cake sale.

Thanks to all the team for their generous support.

It is great to watch people I have schooled in media work like, Freddie Flintoff, Paula Radcliffe and Martin Johnson appearing on TV, plus various MPs and captains of industry, who have attended my courses.

I am about to start work on a book – that is going to be very tongue in cheek - it is tentatively titled, ‘How to be a Sports Journalist’. Not really an instruction manual - more comedic than academic.

But I have now tutored and taught at around 15 universities. I have really enjoyed a return to academe, after the rather more ruthless world of journalism. It is now nearly three years since I retired from TV work. I was reminded of those days when I stopped for some petrol at a service station and the guy serving said, “didn’t you use to be Dennis Coath”.

Dennis Coath has spent over 40 years in the media industry and is one of the best known television faces in the midlands. He now conducts media training on behalf of The Media Group. To find out how the courses can benefit you and your company contact us on 0115 969 4600 or info@themediagroup.tv

"14 minutes for a response to my e-mail...what kept you???  In all seriousness, it confirms the professionalism and quality of service I have come to expect from my dealings with The Media Group.  Many thanks for confirming my order, I eagerly expect the arrival of my DVD."

Now I'm not saying we can respond to every enquiry within 14 minutes - but it did remind me of how important it is to always remember that the only reason we are in business is because people pay us to do work.

Does that sound stupid?  Perhaps. But I think at times it is easy to forget that business is only able to fuinction if it gets money in.  You can't go on borrowing forever (can you, Greece?).  But as businesses mature it is easy to take for granted clients and, perhaps, suppliers.

The same day on which we received the praise email I had to contact one of our suppliers after a second lapse in their service standards.

The MD responded exactly as I hope I would.  Within ten minutes I had a phone call apologising and saying thank you for letting me know.  "If I know," he said, "I can do something about it."

The moral of this?  Well I think it's simple. Take the praise when it comes and use it to reflect glory on your team.  But also build relationships with your suppliers so that when something does go wrong they don't just chuck you - but appreciate the constructive comments.

I remember my own early days and the people who spend time talking to me – so I think it’s the least I can do.  Especially in these tough financial times. 

So a few weeks ago I was with a very impressive young graduate who wants to be a journalist.  She’ll get there, but it did start us wondering whether there are aspects of ‘how to present yourself’ that we can help with. 

So we developed a course, exactly to meet those demands.  And I’m delighted to say it’s already working as evidenced by the thank you emails. 

So how do you present yourself? 

Well one simply tip is this: look the part.  It sounds daft to anyone within work, perhaps, because that box has already been ticked.

But for anyone coming for an interview let me say this: for goodness sake do yourself a favour and dress for it.  Take your lead from a national newscaster on ITV or BBC.  Fiona Bruce or Hugh Edwards might not be the raciest of television personalities, but their dress is appropriate.  Yes it’s an awful word, but it’s the correct word when you are looking at attending an interview.

Then we started talking about body language, eye contact, what to say, posture and PowerPoint.  But that’s for another day!