Michelle Stepney, the Public Relations Director for Global Content Development at Disney, prides herself on being a stylista. A quick look at her Pinterest boards or her Twitter handle (@2the9z–as in dressed and accessorized to the nines!) instantly reveals her passion for hip styles, cool elegance and the grace of presenting your best self at all times. Michelle also writes her weekly Disney Style Snapshots column on the Disney Parks Blog to give people a taste of some adorable Disney ensembles. It was this passion for fashion that helped to fuel Michelle’s presentation at the Disney Social Media Moms on the Road event in New York City last Wednesday.
In “Get Ready for Your Close-Up,” Michelle revealed some brilliant strategies for remaining calm, cool and articulate when interacting with the media. As a blogger who is relatively new on the social media scene, I haven’t had a ton of media exposure (yet!), however, the tools Michelle presented can be easily translated and applied to my everyday dealings with clients and are sure to be helpful to anyone interacting with other human beings on a professional basis!
Using the concept of Key Messages as a springboard for her talk, Michelle outlined a series of points to keep in mind when conveying information to others.
So, what should your Key Messages look like?
- Few in number–about two or three
- Short and Concise–no more than a sentence or two
- Serve as Building Blocks–starting point for other information you want to convey
- Should be Written Down–and revisited periodically
This is information that I can definitely use when working with my travel clients. I find that one of the main issues that I need to be aware of when helping someone to plan their Disney vacations is to be wary of giving them too much information too quickly. I love Disney travel and have extensively researched the various magical possibilities that exist within a Disney vacation. However, when talking to a client, I need to curb my enthusiasm a bit–people who are new to Disney travel can become quickly overwhelmed by these myriad options. Michelle’s concept of creating key messages is a fantastic way for me to organize my thinking and my talking points when meeting with a new client for the first time or going forward in the planning process with clients who are ready to move ahead with their vacation details.
Another important piece of information Michelle shared was the idea of knowing when to stop talking. Not only should you have a clear idea of what your key messages are, you need to know that the best thing you can do is to stop speaking once your message has been delivered. Too often we hear an interview with someone who repeats the same information several times just using different phraseology. Your listener needs the space to absorb what you’ve said, and in my case, continuing to ramble on is another way to overwhelm, and potentially dissuade, a novice Disney traveler.
The final piece of Michelle’s wisdom that truly resonated was the notion that it’s not just how you deliver your messages but what you say as well that is crucial. “If you don’t want it repeated, don’t say it,” was probably one of the most powerful takeaways from her talk. The fact that, “there’s no such thing as off the record” is something we all need to consider before opening our mouths. There are several ways I could put my foot into my mouth when dealing with a client–and while speaking too soon may come from something as innocent as enthusiasm, I never want to be held at my word for sharing information until or unless it is appropriate to do so.
Michelle truly practiced what she preached today at the Disney Social Media Moms on the Road conference. She was incredibly articulate and shared some truly fabulous, to-the-point content that should help all of us to improve in our daily interactions–both professionally and personally. Because, really, who couldn’t use some advice on putting our best selves out front?
Thank you, Michelle, for the amazing lessons!
You can follow Michelle Stepney on Twitter @2the9z and on Pinterest.
Speak Your Mind