In the media!

As you may know I met with Ian Lavery MP a couple of weeks ago to present him with a Giving Voice calendar as a thank you for his support of the campaign. Following this meeting I emailed the News Post Leader to inform them of the story.

I used the knowledge I gained at the media training in London in November to ensure I covered all the important points of the story and ensure the person reading my email wanted to run the story. I was delighted that they uploaded it online on Monday and printed it in this weeks edition of the Newspaper!

I'm always excited to see Giving Voice in print! Spreading the word one person at a time :-)

To read the story online click here.

If you haven't already got a calander it's not too late! They are half price now and available from the Giving Voice website.  Why not buy one and pass it on to your local MP, councillor or commissioner to remind (or inform) them that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Media Training

On Saturday 23rd November I was in London with the other members of the Giving Voice Innovation Group for Media training. I travelled to London on the Friday afternoon and met up with Sara and Ruth for a meal. We hadn't met before so this was a nice opportunity to get to know them the night before the media training :) we also had a little look round London after our meal, making the most of our time in the capital.

The training took place in the RCSLT offices and was an enjoyable (albeit challenging) day! The aim of the training was to enable us to be equipped with the skills needed to engage with the media to promote Giving Voice and Speech and Language Therapy.

The training was delivered by Derek Munn, Emma Barnes and Robin Matheou. We practised (via role play!) being ‘interviewed’ by a newspaper journalist, radio presenter and TV journalist (in front of a camera!) This was good practice but I found that I was more nervous in these situations than I was when being interviewed live on BBC Radio Newcastle earlier in the year!

We had opportunity to watch some of the videos that were recorded on the day and this was good experience to see how other SLTs respond to some challenging questions. We learned about what makes a good news story which I found useful and this will definitely be something I think of when contacting the media in the future. Once the training was finished we had a Giving Voice Innovation Group meeting to discuss future Giving Voice plans –particularly ideas around The International Communication Project 2014 (find out more at www.communication2014.com) and sign the pledge here recognising that the opportunity to communicate is a basic human right (I’m sure you’ll all agree with that!) I am excited about 2014 and the International Communication Project – are you getting involved?!



Giving Voice Innovation Group

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives