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Legal Marketing & PR

Speak to Lead

Lou Hampton is President and CEO of The Hampton Group, Inc., a Washington, DC-based firm specializing in media training, message development, and executive presentations and speech coaching.

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Last Entry: March 16, 2011 at 18:17:46

Media training: Storming out of a '60 Minutes' interview

Posted on March 16, 2011
Ragan's PR Daily post Watch interview subjects storm out of '60 Minute' interviews by Kevin Allen contains a video (also included below) featuring some of the walk-off highlights from '60 Minutes' history. If you or one of your clients is...

Persuasion: Preparing Spokespersons to Handle Sensitive Questions

Posted on February 16, 2011
In the previous post, Interview Prep: Was spokesman being honest or just nervous?, you saw what can happen when the spokesperson is not properly prepared to handle sensitive questions. Mr. Hallor appears to me to be a likeable and competent...

Interview prep: WMDs in U.S.? Was spokesman being honest or just nervous? You Decide.

Posted on February 15, 2011
A posting today on TheBlaze alerted me to this interview from ABC affiliate KGTV in San Diego. In the interview the assistant port director, Al Hallor, indicates that weapons of mass "effect" have been found, although not at the port....

Persuasion: Overcoming 'we just don't have the money' objections

Posted on February 07, 2011
A webinar participant recently asked the following question: How can we eliminate the objection of 'we just don't have the money.' This seems to be common when seeking a job with a small company or funding for a project. Often...

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Speech coaching: 'The King's Speech' nominated for 12 Academy Awards

Posted on January 25, 2011
It's not every day, year decade that the work of a speech coach is the main focus of a movie. That The King's Speech leads in the number of Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, is a result not only...

Resonate: present visual stories that transform audiences is a "Must Read"

Posted on January 13, 2011
Transforming audiences. That's been my profession for over 30 years. I transform audiences by transforming the speakers who present to them. In that time I have tried to stay current on books relating to public speaking and presenting. In the...

Acronyms, memory devices, and terrorist attacks

Posted on November 08, 2010
Acronyms have long been used by speakers, authors and trainers to help audiences more easily remember such things as lists, processes, concepts, and the names of federal bureaucracies. From one of the latter comes an especially interesting, memorable, and might...

Survey reveals how journalists rate public relations practitioners and what they want from them

Posted on August 27, 2010
Thanks to publication coach Daphne Gray-Grant for alerting me (via Twitter) to the Bulldog Reporter/Cision 2010 Journalist Survey on Media Relations Practices. If you are dealing with the media, the survey provides useful information about productive relationships between journalists and...

Public Speaking: Churchill & FDR Staffs on Speechwriting

Posted on August 24, 2010
Yesterday was, as I was reminded by Max Atkinson, the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. He has included on his blog two anecdotes, one from Winston Churchill's staff, one from Franklin D. Roosevelt's staff, related to the preparation...

Smile to Connect & Succeed

Posted on February 18, 2010
One of the best "tools" for connecting with people is a genuine smile. Note, however, the word "genuine." In a 30-year study, researchers began by going through 141 photos in a Mills College (Oakland, California) yearbook, and marking those with...

Humor Trivializes Evil - NPR Treats ACORN Child Prostitution as a Joke

Posted on September 24, 2009
First of all, now that I have your attention, I want to make clear this is not an attack on National Public Radio. But it was an NPR broadcast that sparked my thoughts about the power humor has to trivialize...

Public Speaking: Mnemonic Devices-Barfing Your Way to Success

Posted on September 17, 2009
Mnemonic devices for public speaking have been used for thousands of years. The initial application was to help speakers remember what they were going to say as they delivered the speech. (For an overview and history of mnemonic devices used...

Persuasive Messages: Story Power, Greek Tragedies & Post Traumatic Stress Treatment

Posted on September 01, 2009
As those of you who read this regularly know, I'm a strong advocate of the power of stories, the use of narrative, to engage audiences and open them to your messages. Today's edition of USA Today contains an interesting article...

Presidential oratory, discourse & disagreement - A look back at a kinder time?

Posted on August 25, 2009
Congress has gone home. The president and his family are vacationing in Martha's Vineyard. And most of the political structure (except the ones who can't afford private schools; public schools are already back in session) including the news media, are...

Persuasion: Dangerous Message - Joe Friday vs Clarence Darrow at Political Bloggers Conventions

Posted on August 19, 2009
"Just the facts, ma'am."* The phrase made famous by Dragnet's Sgt. Joe Friday, raised its deceptive head last week at the Netroots Nation and RightOn (conservative) political bloggers annual conventions in Pittsburgh. Toward the end of a Q&A session a...

Webinars: Aceing Interviews, Crafting Messages, Coaching Your Client - A Quick Survey

Posted on August 03, 2009
Several of you have been asking me when I would be doing any webinars or teleseminars for PR and Communication professionals on topics related to media and speaking skills, messaging, attracting new clients, etc. Well the time has come! And...

Message Development: Making Numbers Come Alive - How much is a trillion?

Posted on July 12, 2009
The great challenge of using numbers in presentations and interviews is breathing life into them so listeners take note, comprehend, and remember. Since the currency here in Washington DC these days is expressed in trillions, I wanted to pass along...

Create a Marketing Habit in 21 Days: A Guide for Professionals

Posted on June 16, 2009
This is for those of you who lead small or solo practitioner professional services firms, and suffer the frustration of not having time to market when you're busy.The solution lies in Paula Black's new book, The Little Black Book -...

Media training/Reputation Protection: Reporter's Words You Don't Want to Read

Posted on June 08, 2009
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 (WWDC 2009) opened today in San Francisco. It's described by Apple as "the premier technical event for developers and IT professionals innovating with Apple platforms." One thousand Apple engineers; 5,000 developers...

Media Messages: Sound Bites Gone Wild - Over 30 Sound Bites in 1 Statement

Posted on May 26, 2009
One form of sound bite is the use of vivid words - words that evoke the five senses and emotions or are different (often made up). This is one of the most frequently used sound bite forms and generally involves...

Persuasive Sound Bites: Word Pictures that Change Behavior

Posted on May 23, 2009
Steve Farnsworth (twitter user TheRealPRMan) has written a super blog entry titled Let's Shoot the CEO: Is Pay for Placement PR a Brilliant Idea or Acutely Ignorant. Steve makes a powerful case against pay for placement. But that's not the...

Leadership Under Fire: Answering Tough Personal Questions Positively

Posted on May 20, 2009
Unprepared interviewees. They seem to be ubiquitous in the news these days. Every election, at almost any level of politics, seems to have at least one candidate who stumbles when asked a question about embarrassing personal or professional conduct. And...

Persuasive Speaking: Reputation Protection Part 3 - Five "Quick Fixes" to Safeguard Your Client

Posted on April 08, 2009
In Part 1 (Do Speakers Need a Reputation Czar?) I pointed out that many high-profile speakers end up looking bad because their personal staff and public relation advisers fail to make sure the speaker is ready for "prime time." In...

Persuasive Speaking: Reputation Protection Part 2 - Why Staff & PR Pros Fail to Protect the Speaker

Posted on March 11, 2009

Persuasive Speaking: Reputation Protection Part 1 - Do Speakers Need a Reputation Czar?

Posted on March 07, 2009

Media Interviews: Why Canceling Is a Bad Idea - Jon Stewart Rips CNBC Financial Analysts

Posted on March 05, 2009

Voice & Word Power: Paul Harvey - The Curtain Pulled Back

Posted on March 03, 2009

Washington Wimps Go to School; Obamas Stay Home: Sound Bites Have Anniversaries

Posted on March 02, 2009

Persuasive Messages: Advice from Confucius on communicating in troubled times

Posted on February 23, 2009
Given the uncertainty of the times, it would be good if more of our political and business leaders followed this advice from Confucius:If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said...

Persuasive Speaking: Sound Bite Rescue - moving your speech from obscurity to front page, a lesson from Eric Holder

Posted on February 19, 2009
In the previous post, I noted how the wrong sound bite can destroy your intended message. Here is a prime example of the sound bite saving the speech. Yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke to Justice Department employees as...