Visual PR LIVE!

you ready?

Good afternoon.

It's episode three of Visual PR Live.

Greetings.

I hope everybody is well.

It's Monday.

I know I come at you on a

difficult day of the week

to really get your enthusiasm,

but come on, it's in the afternoon.

So we're halfway through the

first day of the week.

I hope you're all well.

I'm quite relieved that I've got a voice.

I've just,

I got back late last night from

two days commentating at

Donington Park on some

incredibly exciting racing.

where people that know me

know that I almost

spontaneously combust with

excitement levels as I'm

commentating on that.

But thankfully, the voice is here.

I say thankfully, you may say otherwise,

but I am here.

Right, I'm delighted for episode three.

The title for this one is

Authentic Connections, The Right Message.

And it is about making sure

not just that we're

increasing our level of connections,

but they're real,

they're genuine connections

that people get what we're

about and we get what the

people that we're

connecting with are about.

And that also very much

involves making sure that

the message is correct.

It's all too easy to go off

in the direction you think

is right and it's wrong.

So I'm delighted to say I'm

going to be joined in about

a quarter of an hour or so

by a very special guest,

a lady that I know well

from all the business networking.

And he's an expert on brand

voicing amongst other things.

She's a copywriter, et cetera.

But we'll find out more from her.

But Joe Starr is going to be

joining to me.

And as everybody knows,

in these visual PR live shows,

a real passion for me as

part of this was doing a

charity spotlight section.

That's not just suddenly a

charity come on and go help

us raise money.

I realise that charities,

they have an objective and

there are multiple ways

that they can do that,

not just from giving,

but there's all sorts of

things that we need to do.

But we are hearing about all

sorts of charities and we

can sometimes lose the

message of why they exist,

why they're doing what they're doing.

how they're doing, what they're doing,

what the outcome is, etc.

And in actual fact,

the guest I've got on for

that charity spotlight

today is a person that

helped me sort of almost

piece that niggle in my

mind that I was getting

about it into one central piece.

And that would be Brian

Avery from Swim Taika,

a great example that I didn't get.

until he explained it to me and I realized,

wow,

I could have had written material and

missed that point altogether.

So he's gonna be our charity spotlight.

First things first though,

it is a visual PR section

and it's just something I

want to touch on.

So hopefully give you some

little nuggets to help with your PR,

with your marketing,

because that's what visual PR is about.

It sits in that gap between

PR and marketing and brings

all of it to life and joins it together

and adds a little bit more.

And I'll explain that

in the context of the

authentic connections,

right messages this time.

So the key thing that I

really understood to start

with that was the

motivation of this business

just a year ago.

I think I've probably

reached my one year anniversary now.

I've been so busy,

it's a whirlwind and the

team's about to grow again soon as well,

which is really exciting,

is everything has its place.

Those examples can include

quite simply written PR or

printed marketing.

corporate videos or adverts

or even where people do

these personal pieces to

cameras that still got

their place podcasts we're

all really into our

podcasts recording podcasts

listening to it's being

devoured at an incredible

rate of knots and webinars

or seminars we still do

them in person you know not

just all remote but uh yeah

webinars and seminars

they've all got their really big place.

However, what I realized for my businesses,

and this is where it came from originally,

was sort of, okay, if I did written alone,

and I do written PR,

I've got a PR lady that

does articles that go in, say,

the business exchange and

things like that.

And of course,

copy for entering

competitions and what have you.

But if I did just written,

would the article be read at all?

How much of that article

would they actually read?

And would it be read in the

tone and emotions that I intend it to be?

The answer is probably not.

And even more importantly,

I'll never have an idea.

I will never know the answer

to those questions because

they're picking up a

journal or whatever it might be.

And I won't know.

I will always do it.

It's vital to have that there,

in my opinion.

But it still leaves me with

a gap as a business.

The move was to corporate videos.

Brilliant.

Absolutely love corporate videos.

However, if it was corporate videos alone,

they're perfect.

They're polished.

They're scripted.

They're censored.

And that can sometimes make

people question the authenticity of it.

Normally unfairly,

but they will question that authenticity.

And let's be honest,

us trying to present a

script to camera is not

going to come out as the

authentic us either.

It just won't.

You'll have friends and

family watching going,

that's not the person I know.

The other one is quite often

is that I'm sure you're not

too dissimilar to me is

that you look at it and go,

I'm being sold to next.

You won't even give it

chance to give you the

message because you will

assume it's so perfect I'm

about to be sold to.

And it might have been

really useful to you,

but you won't ever find out.

If we did webinars or seminars alone,

they tend to be regimented.

You know,

it's very structured of what's happening.

It's more often not fairly one way.

It can be death by PowerPoint.

And even if it's not going to be,

our perception is, oh,

it's going to be another

death by PowerPoint,

which might be totally unfair.

And the person is presenting

rather than conversing.

I mean,

even now I'm hopefully trying to

actually converse with you all.

By the way,

if you're watching and you've

got questions, you've got comments,

wherever you're watching,

please put those comments

or questions because I can

put them on the screen.

The bad news for you is it

does actually include that

it will show you your

profile photo and your name.

Not sure what's happened to

my camera all of a sudden there.

It's changed the way it looks.

I have to have a look at that in a minute.

If it's given the illusion away now,

isn't it?

You can suddenly tell I've

got a green screen all of a

sudden behind me.

I'll just quickly show you.

There it is.

But for some reason,

it has changed a little bit.

There we go.

That's better.

As if by magic, I'm back in my studio.

You ain't seen me, right?

So if we've got webinars and seminars,

it's presenting rather than conversing,

which doesn't feel as

natural to the presenter,

doesn't feel as natural to

the people absorbing that information.

The final comment of that list that I did,

podcasts, they're brilliant.

I mean,

it's like this because you do get

to have that conversational

piece in those podcasts.

It's as natural as can be.

But the problem is when it's audio only,

how is it being found?

Lots of people are doing it

and then getting frustrated

because they're not getting

the downloads or the

listens that they were hoping for.

And they get frustrated with it.

Well, it's just a bit harder to find it.

still vital and again do it

and we have it with ours

that we strip out the audio

and you put it as a podcast

as well so you've got both

but it's about finding it

and that's where we try to

come in and again this was

because it was missing for

me I needed those authentic

connections and the right

connections with the right

people if we're doing it

via video like this youtube

Love it or hate it,

it is the world's second

largest search engine.

You can actually just go to

Google and search things.

I did it.

I needed to repair an oven.

Yes, I do DIY as well,

even though they're peachy hands, I do,

okay?

And I did a search and I

found this guy from Wolverhampton,

I think it was,

mending the same oven I've got.

And I was able to follow the instructions,

work out a piece that I

needed and then find out

where I could get it from.

And of course,

I then clicked follow that

guy because he was really helpful.

And that's the nature.

Of course,

let's not forget that you also

when you search Google,

what's the first thing that

comes up there is your YouTube videos.

You are now helping yourself

get found more with the videos.

We've got not just the content.

We've got tags.

We've got descriptions.

We always make sure that SEO in mind.

And so it's a perfect place to put it.

We also broadcast,

so this is going out on YouTube,

and it will also be on

Facebook and LinkedIn.

And that enables me to go and find my,

and I'm going to just say customers,

because it can be anything.

When we bring Brian out as a charity,

he's trying to find people

that are going to work with them,

support them, help them, whatever it is.

So I'm still kind of lumping

customers in inverted commas.

Our people, our targets,

we can find where they're hiding.

We can find where they're

living because that is the

nature of both of those platforms.

And we are able to bring the

content to them in a way

that they can watch it.

They can just listen to it

because I've had it in the

past where I've put my

device down and I'm just

listening to the content.

I don't actually need to watch it.

Plus,

we then afterwards create a full

post-production list of

assets to further enhance your PR,

your marketing,

the content that we've

created live or as live,

because it's always like this.

You can tell by that mistake earlier,

it is live.

But

We also make sure that the

message is out there in the

right place and that it

connects with all of our

post-production collateral as well.

That includes, as I say,

stripping the audio out.

So we put it as a podcast.

And of course, in your YouTube, you say,

click here to listen to the podcast.

On your platforms,

you click here to view on

YouTube or click here to view,

listen to the podcast.

Everything interlinks back

through to each other.

We create video clips from

the episode that go out so

that if people don't watch

your whole episode,

some of the key messages or

some of the human bits that were funny,

that were emotional, whatever it might be,

you're then able to be

putting them out over a

sequence of weeks or months.

And in fact, even in a year's time,

they're able to be regurgitated,

of course,

because you're creating an

evergreen resource here.

Those messages with those

clips will then link to all

of those things again.

We can create transcripts

from the conversation.

So this show can have a

whole transcript that can

either be used for SEO

purposes or it's your blog post.

You know that page that gets

updated once every two

years on your website at the moment?

Well,

suddenly you're guaranteed if you've

got an episode a month or more,

that's at least once a month

that it has been updated with content.

And I come back to Google

and things like that.

So we're suddenly not just

making connections with our people,

but we're helping people find us.

And that's a critical thing.

Heck,

we can even create branded QR codes

that can then be added to

go with your written PR or

your printed marketing

collateral that enables

people with their mobile

device to zap back to the

episode that discussed what

that written PR piece was

about or what that

marketing piece you want

them to go and have a look.

And if you use dynamic QR codes,

which we do for our clients,

You could even choose to change that.

So that billboard or

whatever it might be you've

got with a QR code, heck,

we'll now update that so

that it redirects to this month's episode,

to next month's episode, etc.

So we're linking everything up together.

Ironically,

as you've seen from what we've

done at the outset of this video, episode,

sorry,

is that I can play videos within it.

So suddenly we're able to

play those corporate videos.

Quite often I host them for my clients,

but it's not always the

case because there are a

number of my clients

already that have got

people internally that they

choose to use and I just

turn into producer.

And that's fine,

but it means that

everybody's comfortable using

a lot more natural one of

the key messages so again

coming back to this

authentic connections is

what I loved and fell in

really fell in love with

and got from about pr is

that the sales message is

not overtly out there it's

not in your face the sales

message is under the surface

it is you know a much more

authentic conversation

piece that even the written

stuff that you're putting

in is that joe uh joe smith

that would do my pr would

always come out and say no

you've gone into

advertorial mode because as

a business owner that's

where I'll always go I'll

inadvertently want to shout

and scream about my company

my products my services my

people and it's understandable

but it becomes an advertorial.

It's not suddenly a PR piece.

And that's where people like

Joe Starr that's coming on

in a moment as a copywriter,

drag people like me back

from that to get it to

conversational content,

connecting content that

people really buy into and appreciate.

And it means that they are

able to learn from that.

And so we do that in these,

that it is very much as

we're going to find out

when we get these guests

out is it's conversational piece.

And it could be,

internal people you know

meet the teams it could be

customers suppliers

partners experts special

guests special locations we

could be coming from uh

because we can do it remote

in person or hybrid a bit

of both of them with with

my whole virtual studio not

a problem we can do hybrid

and so it opens up what you

can bring to light what we

can enable people to get on

the inside I even do it

with sporting worlds that

people get to see behind the scenes

Business environments where

people get to see what's going out,

some of the magic really happening.

Magic, have I exaggerated that one?

That's fine, I'll go with it.

The point being is that

you've got content that's

going out there that the

viewers are suddenly gonna,

it's gonna resonate with them.

They're gonna go,

wow, do you know what?

I've experienced that and

I've not really thought

about it or I never

realized there was an alternative.

I just assumed that's what it was.

And you've now educated them that, hey,

we have experience of this.

We get involved in that.

We team up with certain

people to have the answers

and that's gonna start the conversations,

the meaningful

conversations that is not a cold call.

They come into you and say,

I saw the episode.

And I honestly,

I get so many of my clients

that tell me now that they

go yeah we had either

existing clients or people

that come to us to be

clients because they've

gone I saw that episode on

x y and z that was really

funny and that was really

helpful and I really need

to speak to you about that

so it gives that content

that resonates with them to

start the conversation and

I've already said it's more

natural for the presenter

it's more natural there for

the people it helps us get

to the real you

It helps you present the

real you and it helps people see that.

And I think that nicely

leads me on to my next, my first guest,

who is very much about that brand voice.

And I still know a smidge of

this because she's

educating me brilliantly.

And I think we're going to

delve a little bit deeper.

So I'm going to welcome out Jo Star.

Greetings, Joel.

Greetings, Chris.

Lovely to see you.

And, you know, hopefully,

and I think I could see you

in the green room back there,

sort of like jotting down

some bits and pieces of notes,

although I'm sure some of

that is for you and I to

speak about in general anyway.

I would imagine that there's

some chunks of that that is,

and I know it is from where we spoke,

is like really strings, you know,

strikes a chord with you

because it's the challenge

you face with your clients every day.

Yeah, absolutely.

I bang on to anyone who will

listen about the need to be authentic,

authentic in everything you

do in business.

And you need it for that connection.

And that's one of the words

that I wrote down from what

you were saying earlier.

It's all about making that

connection to your audience,

but not just any old audience.

It's making that connection

an authentic connection on

a level that will reach the

people it's meant to reach.

Because we're all in

business and we want to do

well in business.

We want to attract clients,

or in Brian's case,

attract people who are

going to support his charity.

But when we're in business,

isn't it much nicer if we

can attract the kind of

clients who we really get on with,

who really share our ethos,

who we can really be happy

about working with because

they get us and we get them.

And that's incredibly important.

And that's a key element for

me is that that authentic

you is very difficult to

get across on two levels.

One,

how many times do you think you know

someone because you've been

conversing with over email,

possibly by phone,

so you've at least spoken to them.

but you've never really met them.

And there's so much you

don't know about that

person that probably means

the relationship isn't even

as strong as it could be.

And secondly,

if you throw people either on

a stage or in a room,

I know we do networking

breakfast and people stand

up and do that thing.

And it's hard to be the

authentic you when you're nervous.

And in front of a camera,

even in front of a camera,

we're still not necessarily

seeing that authentic you

until you're relaxed into

this conversational style.

Yeah, exactly.

And it's what we were

talking about before we went live today.

It's feeling comfortable and

as if you're having a chat

with a mate down the pub.

And that's the point that I

get across to my clients

when I talk to them about

their brand voice.

Number one, they say,

what the hell is a brand voice?

And then I explain to them

that it's all of that

communication that you put

out to the outside world.

It's your brand's personality.

It's your core messaging.

It's everything that conveys your story,

your backstory, and your values.

When I'm working with my clients,

I say to them, why are you,

what are you worrying about

when you're putting your

message out online or on

social media or on your

website or your newsletters,

whatever it is?

Why are you being someone different?

Why are you trying to be

something you're not?

You know, if I met you down the pub,

would you talk in this weird,

stilted tone?

kind of way no of course you

wouldn't you'd be yourself

um so that's that's what

I'm really passionate about

getting across to my

clients is be you you know

genuinely be honest in a

world of ai fakery you know

people are getting more and

more you know we just crave uh honesty

Honest, authentic communication.

We don't want to be sold to.

We don't want to think that

the person is trying to get

our business by trying to

be someone they're not.

We want them to be honest

and upfront and we want

them to be themselves with us.

Yeah, I agree.

And I mean,

I like that the world of AI

fakery is so true.

And I think I've said it in

numerous places in an ever

more disconnected world as well.

I think that was accelerated

by the pandemic where we

were forced to suddenly

have to do everything

remotely and a lot is good that it stayed,

but you know, there are other bits that,

that kind of, we still need that, that,

that connection.

And it's very, I mean,

again as a business owner

you sit there and kind of

go well I've got I don't

know what's what's the

phrase for me to use

corporate responsibility

that I've got to give it in

a certain message I've got

to have a certain tone and

it's like other than yes

being you know having

decorum in the right places

and and things you

shouldn't do the rest of it

is that I i genuinely

believe in in being being you

absolutely find a way to do

that I mean we were talking

about the networking we

stand up and do the 60 120

seconds whatever it might

be but actually it's the

conversations either side

of that that an awful lot

more is gained of course

because because the

pressure is off then you

know people don't feel like

a performing monkey you

know they're able to revert

back to to their natural

state and and it's

again, you know,

I bang on about this whole

authenticity thing all the

time and have been doing so

for many years now.

And it's just a case of

getting over yourself, you know,

actually getting over the

fear of putting yourself out there,

putting yourself out there

on social media or, you know,

doing something like you do

with the visual PR or

writing on your website.

Don't just churn out something formulaic.

Don't

Don't churn out something

that your neighbor or your

competitor is churning out.

Don't compare yourself to anyone else.

Stay in your lane and be yourself.

You know, embrace your crazy.

Embrace your inner geek.

You know, if you're an educator,

if you're a, you know,

whatever it might be, embrace it.

Embrace it because you will

find your tribe out there

and they'll be waiting for you.

That's the other thing.

They will be waiting to hear

from you because they'll finally go.

Wow, someone who gets me,

someone who's speaking directly to me.

know the inner geek you know

they get me they maybe

don't even know what

they're thinking or feeling

and they they suddenly kind

of go oh my gosh yeah and

it's because they're

connecting to the person

first the message uh second

absolutely they get that

one I'm just going to put

up a couple oh good to hear

from you rob it's uh rob

furman from bespoke

guardians says totally

agree authenticity is

crucial definitely rob so

good to hear from you my friend

Absolutely.

Romulo, that obviously is in our group,

he says, Christian Joe, you're amazing.

Well done.

Bless you, Romulo.

Obligado.

And apparently he's going to

be amazing on the barbecue as well.

So we look forward to it.

Although I won't be there,

but I missed that one, sadly.

Well, I'll eat yours then.

I'll eat your two, basically.

You will, you will.

But I mean,

all that sort of that,

that authenticity being you, et cetera,

which as I say, totally, that is,

is one of the remits that I

really wanted to give an

outlet for people to be able to do that.

Yeah.

In many ways, you know, like this,

where I'm sort of like able

to interview experts, but we could have,

have a laugh.

We could do something exciting.

We could do something news related,

whatever it is,

but we're doing it in our style.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You can't.

Yeah, it was the rule, wasn't it?

Yeah.

It was the rule.

I'm being a very good girl.

I'm finding it very hard.

But so far...

don't tempt fake don't tempt

fake that's right but how

do you I mean I guess yours

must be even harder to try

and do that in written form

than for me because I get

to to welcome the real you

well and and sort of like

have fun if you will with

the real you on screen

whereas you've got to

somehow find a way to

portray that in writing for

people's websites or for

wherever else they're putting that

Yeah, and it's the same elements apply.

If you are naturally,

if I'm writing for someone

who's naturally funny,

I work intuitively.

So I really,

it's like I step into their

mind in a slightly schizophrenic way.

It's sort of, you know,

I get into their heads and I become them.

And so-

If they're jokey, you know,

you can use you can use different tones.

So it's not just a brand

voice is your overall personality.

But that can change and that

never changes.

You know, that's who you are.

That encompasses your values

and your ethos and your

mission and all of those lovely things.

But what can change is your

tone within that.

So your brand voice remains the same.

It's true to who you are.

It's how you speak.

It's it's all of that,

all of all of that stuff

that encompasses you as a

person and a business.

But then within that,

you can change the tone.

You can alter the tone.

So, for instance,

if you're speaking to your I don't know,

you're speaking to your mother in law.

You know,

you would use a different tone

and different words than

you would if you were with

some mates down the pub.

So it's.

it's just getting that

personality across in the

words that you choose, in the phrasing,

yeah, a little bit of humour,

or if it's somebody who's

studious or slightly geeky, you know,

it's getting across

cultural references that

can really form that

connection with the people

that they want to connect with,

their particular set of clients, right?

And they will understand it.

They will immediately go, ah, yeah,

there's a reference to

whatever it might be.

Oh, I get that.

They're on my wavelength.

So there are certain nuances

you can use when writing.

And also,

if clients of mine are writing

for themselves, I will always say to them,

write how you speak.

And if you find that

difficult to physically

write the things down on the screen,

Do a, you know, dictate it.

Yes.

Get one of those voice to

voice to type apps and then dictate it.

So just speak.

Imagine one person.

Imagine one client, one person.

Visualize them.

Speak to that one person and

then you get it down on on your screen.

which again comes back to

sort of backing up what

Visual PR attempts to do as

well is the fact that we

can transcribe the whole

episodes and things like

that is it does that,

it converts it to text

because I love how I do get

the authentic person.

Maybe not for the first

couple of minutes where

they might still be a little bit nervous,

but eventually the amount

of times people say,

I forgot the camera was

even on and it just flows

and it's natural.

And that's where I try to get people to.

Thanks for reminding me, by the way.

I know, I knew as I said it, yeah.

But how do you deal with,

and I touched on this already in my part,

is that us...

especially us business owners,

proud business owners with

our head full of ideas and

possibilities and targets.

And it never goes away.

I mean,

we heard from Rob Furman and I know

with Bespoke Guardians is

that he's helping so many

people and they're looking

to do more and branch out

to the rest of the world

and all sorts of things like this,

growing their premises.

And we're always full of ideas.

My team's growing and I'm

gonna offer additional

services and et cetera, et cetera.

You've got to take that

massive information.

And we've talked about it on

my website because I know

my content on my website is

just like me vomiting all

over it with my ideas, basically.

It is.

But that's usually, it is common,

isn't it?

And that's what we do.

How do you, A,

do you sort of pull that back?

And B,

how do you get people like me to

start pulling back

ourselves as well when

we're putting it out there?

Okay.

First of all,

remove the fear because quite often it's,

It's through a need to be, you know,

like me, like me, like me.

This is who I am, you know, like me,

like me and buy my stuff,

like me and buy my stuff.

You know,

that's the common... Including

trying to justify the

existence of the products or services.

Exactly.

It is that neediness in a way.

It's visual neediness.

It's this is who I am and then...

they usually list all their qualifications,

and why, why I'm amazing, and,

and actually people don't, yes, yes,

they kind of want to know that,

but when somebody,

especially on a website, you know,

you probably know this yourself,

you go to a website,

you've got an agenda on that website,

you know, you,

you want to know that the

person is who they say they are,

hopefully there's a lovely

photograph of the person, so you can go,

oh yeah, they look legitimate, they look

warm, friendly, you know, professional,

whatever it might be.

They want the information that they want,

and they want it in the, you know,

they don't want to have to

click very often to get that information.

And they want it in bite sized pieces,

because people have got

the the attention span of a

of a you know a squash

carrot they they they want

it they want the

information and they want

it immediately so you make

it easy for them less is

more less is definitely

more um and also you you

it's it needs to be less

about you and more about

them what are you doing for them

They're not that bothered

about where you grew up and

what qualifications to a

point that you have.

They want to know what you

can do for them.

How is it going to positively affect them?

How much is going to cost them?

Yes, you can do your job.

And how do I get in contact with you?

That's it, basically.

So this kind of vomiting

information onto the screen

is a little bit off-putting.

So it's educating.

It's educating my clients.

And then in many cases,

it's taking everything that

they've written, scrubbing it,

starting again in a format

that will appeal to their

audience and speak directly

to their audience.

Less is more.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I know that's a key one.

And it is an irony because...

And I know that it's a mistake.

Even I've edited mine since

I think we've spoken.

So I don't know if you've seen it,

but it's still going to be

too much because you feel

you've got to explain every bit,

justify every bit, et cetera.

And it's ironic because I

have another business

called Open Doors Training,

where I do public speaking

and media training and things.

And one of the things that

I've worked on with a

number of individuals and

organizations is where they

they over-explain something

and you can all think of this.

If you've been in a meeting

or if you've been in a

presentation where they'll

say the same thing four

different ways and it's

because they're trying to go,

just in case they don't understand that,

just in case they ask me this,

just in case they don't get that part,

we go and say it in all

these different ways to try

and stop them.

It's like, actually,

give enough to get the point over

And let them come and ask

the questions that they may have.

Don't second guess what

their question might be.

Let them come to you with it.

So that information is

enough to make them want to

come and ask you the questions.

Yeah.

And it is, again,

it boils down to that lovely word,

authenticity.

It's being authentically you.

It's giving them enough

information so they

understand that you are

capable and you will make a

difference to their life.

you know, in whatever way that is,

whether you're selling a service,

whether you're selling a product,

it's all about how you come

across as a person, whether they like you,

you know, because there is that whole,

you know,

no like trust element and people

want to feel safe with you.

They want to feel that you

can do what you say you're going to do.

You can solve their problems,

ease their pain,

and that you seem like a

really decent person who is

on their wavelength and

shares their values.

Or not and be okay with it.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

We're not able to sell to

absolutely everybody, are we?

No.

And again, I will say I deliver workshops.

I deliver brand voice workshops.

and also a workshop with a

fabulous business colleague of mine,

Victoria Marshall,

who she is an incredible

digital marketer.

And so we run a workshop

that is specifically

designed to help you find

your brand voice and then

know exactly where to place

it to get the best impact.

And one thing I will always say is,

you know, stay in your lane.

Why be influenced by anyone else?

Why try and be someone you're not?

Be yourself.

You will not appeal to everyone.

And you know what?

That's okay.

That's okay.

Just let's go back to the pub.

You know, you're walking to a pub.

Not everyone in that pub is

going to like you or be

drawn to want to come to talk to you.

So it's exactly the same in business.

Attract the people you are

meant to attract.

Don't worry about the others.

Don't worry about it.

We couldn't survive if we

were attracting everybody anyway to it.

You know,

you wouldn't be able to provide

your product or service to them.

I need to introduce you to

Rob Furman from Bespoke Gardens,

if you don't already know him,

because they're at the

forefront of working with

children with adverse

childhood experiences.

And they build bespoke

packages for local

authorities consisting of a

handpicked team.

and train them specifically

for that child's needs,

just as a brief synopsis.

And his question is,

is it possible to create a

brand voice in such a

controversial industry or

in any controversial industry?

Yes, absolutely.

I have a client who works, let's say,

she works in pelvic health,

both male and female pelvic health.

she no one is prepared to

give her a google review uh

because it's all very very

personal and the the things

that she talks about are

incredibly sensitive and

very personal and I worked

with her in order to to

help her create a voice

that um would connect with

the right people so yes

it's it's absolutely um

Yeah, it's... Yes, no doubt about it.

You can create a voice for anything.

And I'm thinking, you know,

even a couple of simple

parts on that that stand

out in my mind is the less

is more is going to be very

relevant there.

It will only become

controversial if you try

dumping all that information.

It means you're going to

start sending yourself down a rabbit war.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, Waze, for instance,

we worked around it and

then things that we talked about were,

you know, do you have...

Do you have a need to pee

immediately when your key

goes in the front door?

You know, is your bladder suddenly going,

I'm home, let me just, you know.

So we have ways of working around things.

We added a little bit of humour,

not too much because then that, you know,

people maybe are a little

sensitive to that,

but a little bit of humour.

and a little bit of sensitivity.

And there are ways of saying

things without actually saying things.

Absolutely.

I've actually added a third to these,

the things that stick out

to me as well is the other one is,

and I know you and I have touched on this,

try thinking more about the

benefits rather than the

features because it's also

easy to feature dump and

that can again take you

down the rabbit warren.

And the final one is that I

have a phrase in my public

speaking training as well,

dead cow or beefsteak,

both exactly the same thing,

but one sounds a damn sight

nicer than the other.

And I'm very mindful of

thinking about how you're

saying something can make a difference.

Yeah, very, very, very much so.

And it is thinking about your client,

your audience,

what are they getting out of it?

What is the benefit for them?

Always putting them first.

And then you can't go far wrong.

You can work it back from there.

What do they need to feel at

the end of it?

What do they need to feel?

What does your service provide?

What does your product do for them?

How does it enhance their life?

How is their well-being

after they've done business with you?

Well, I keep trying to remember,

because it was Mike Land

from Nickel Design was the

one that really said, speaking to you,

because I know you and he

have done bits and pieces together.

And he said that from his perspective,

but even he could make a

mistake from the actual brand,

the physical branding, et cetera,

and you with that brand voice.

is guided I'm trying to

remember the exact example

it was one of the um brands

of tools and that they had

this titanium titanium

tipped drill bit or

whatever it is and it's

like don't be selling that

it's a titanium tipped

drill bit sell the fact

that do you want to make

sure you're able to get

through whatever surface

you are trying to make that

hole in can you drill a hole

first time yeah you know

I've done that down but

that's the essence is rip

into that yeah it is

nobody's worried about the

the you know the titanium

diamond encrusted tip of

this amazing super duper

whatever it is does it

drill the hole I want it to

drill yeah will it will it

work yes exactly will it

survive yeah will it

survive will it work will

it drill the hole

If the answer to those things are yes,

great.

Then it's got added diamonds

and I don't know what else.

But can it do the job?

That did definitely stick with me.

Last couple of bits, picking your brains.

The first one was you heard

me talk about written, audio, video.

I know your... I was going

to say your focus is on the written,

but it's not.

It's on the word rather than

just being written.

I know you're a copywriter,

but... It's on the voice.

It's on the voice.

Correct.

But my key point being is

that those three things

complement each other, need to coexist,

and you can't just rely on

one over any of the other two.

No.

When you're communicating to

your audience...

You need to communicate,

especially in 2024,

you need to be able to

communicate across all platforms.

You don't necessarily need

to be on them all,

but you choose the ones

where you are likely to

find your audience.

So that comes back to

knowing your audience,

knowing who they are.

Really important in finding

your voice is knowing who

your audience are,

knowing where they hang out.

And so therefore,

you don't need to be on

every single platform.

But if you choose to be, then why not?

Why not do visual PR?

Why not be on YouTube?

Why not have a website?

Why not be on social media?

if you're getting your message out,

the only thing I would say

is make sure that you are

consistent across everything.

100%, yes.

Because authenticity and

consistency are key to

getting the right message

across and getting it

across to the right people.

If you don't have the consistency,

you're stuffed.

You're absolutely stuffed.

If you don't have the authenticity,

you're stuffed.

Initially, you might be okay,

but then people kind of get

wind of who you are or who you're not.

And then you'll lose that following.

So authenticity,

consistency are really key.

I like that.

I mean, that probably answers my next one,

unless you've got one up your sleeve.

I was going to say,

have you got a big tip or

two to leave our audience

with from your perspective?

Well, Chris, it just so happens I have.

From my sleeve.

Yeah, just up my, yeah, I've got five.

Five tips for you.

Five very short tips.

So you need to get clear on the following.

So number one is your ethos and values.

You need to know yourself.

First and foremost, know yourself.

Who are you?

What do you stand for?

What are your values?

What's your ethos?

Really important,

because how are you going

to get your message across

to the outside world if you

don't even know who you are?

And that falls into knowing

your business as well.

Why are you in business?

What is your point?

What is your why?

Number two, know your clients.

Really important.

Who are they?

They might fall into several

niches and that's okay.

Providing that you clearly

define each niche or you

might have one niche,

but you really need to know your clients.

You need to know their needs

and you need to know their wants.

Number three, get clear on your messaging.

What do you want to say?

You know,

don't just go onto a page or

social media and just go, oh, I know,

I'm just going to give it a

little bit of thought.

You know, get clear on your messaging,

what it is you want to say,

what purpose does it serve?

Really important.

Why am I doing this?

Why am I writing this?

Why am I communicating this message?

What is the point of it?

Four, be authentically you.

It's what we've been banging

on about for the last however long.

Be authentically you.

Don't get sidetracked by

what your competitors are doing,

what anybody else is doing.

Be you, and you will not go far wrong.

And the last one, five, is

All of the above, review,

update and adjust regularly.

So especially if things

change in your business, you know,

I know you're going through

a period of growth at the

moment and expansion.

So don't just, you know, go, oh,

that's great.

I've got a nice brand voice

and I know what I'm doing

and I know what my mission is.

And then just leave it for five years,

you know, regularly evaluate it.

Does it need adjusting?

What's changed in my business?

Maybe you've launched a new

product or a new service

that will appeal to a different audience.

Do I need to adjust the way I'm speaking?

Do I need to adjust the things I'm saying?

Do I need to adjust my web content?

Well,

and I think it's not just even just

new product, new service,

is that I've been finding

over this last 12 years is

that you're... It sounds weird,

but I've kind of learned this is the case,

is that you learn...

more about your own business

over time because that

messaging might need to change.

Things have happened in the

world that suddenly mean

that's now more important

or that's the way I should say it.

That's what's going to get

people's interest and whatever else.

And it has evolved even over

the first 12 months.

And I can see that it's

going to keep going.

Yeah, very much so.

And we evolve as people.

We're evolving all the time.

And we're growing up.

Our businesses are growing up.

I'll never grow up.

No, I know, me neither.

It's just something you have to say,

isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I can be an adult,

but I don't ever have to grow up.

No, exactly.

Yeah, so your business might change.

You might change.

So re-evaluate.

So always update, adjust,

re-evaluate on a regular basis.

So those are my tips.

Amazing, Jo.

Thank you so much.

I wasn't expecting as many tips as that.

So ladies and gentlemen watching,

you've been absolutely

spoilt there without

question to pick that up.

You saw that I put up as

well the way that I think

LinkedIn was the best way

to get hold of you, isn't it, Jo?

Yeah, absolutely.

Do you know, I don't have a website yet.

I've never needed one.

So all of my business has

been through word of mouth

and recommendation.

So maybe one of these days

I'll have a website and be grown up.

Yeah.

that you see on the screen

linkedin.com forward slash

I n forward slash joe j o

dash star s t a r r and you

can get hold of joe thank

you so much for that joe

I'm going to now bring out

our next guest who I have

to thank for being so

patient but I'm sure he

understands that it was

priceless information

We're now going to move on

to a part of this show that

is very close to my heart.

It is the, hang on, let me just quickly,

just to put this, Jo,

is that Rob Furman says, amazing, thanks,

Jo.

Oh, pleasure.

Pleasure, Rob.

I hope you recovered from

the ice hockey on Saturday.

I missed that game and it was amazing,

apparently.

But we're through to Coventry, get in.

So thanks for getting involved, Rob.

But yes, this charity spotlight is very,

very close to my heart.

And I'm absolutely delighted

that I've managed to get someone that,

not that he was aware he was doing this,

but he helped me formulate

what was going through my head.

Quite some time ago now,

I'm gonna bring out our

charity spotlight.

It's Swim Tiger.

Alone, we can do so little,

but together we can do so much.

Visual PR's charity

spotlight is about shining

a light on the amazing work

and objectives of charities,

as they do not do it for publicity,

but it is important that we

know about them, what they do,

and understand why.

Charity is not just about

making a donation,

it is about making a difference.

yeah I know I apologize it's

still my voice but I'm a

voiceover artist as well so

why wouldn't I let me

change it around brian

avery welcome to the show

my friend thank you so much

for coming on and your patience there

It's good to see you.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

It has indeed, Chris.

Yeah.

Nice to see you.

And thanks very much for all the tips.

That was really interesting.

It's nice to see when you

were talking about all the

different items and the

five things we've been

running as a charity for

seven years and we evolve

all the time in regards to doing things.

But the five key things

you're pointing out and the

things we try to do about

every three to four months,

just reevaluate going

through because things do change.

You're a good boy.

I suppose also the fact that

depending who your audience is,

and that changes with

regards to what you do and

how you do things.

And I'm sure Chris will go

through with regards to who

our audience is coming up.

Well, and that's the key one.

Let's start off with this.

First off, give us a synopsis, Brian.

You're obviously the founder

of this charity.

What is Swim Taika?

So what Simtaika essentially does,

it's all about drowning prevention,

reducing down the number of

drownings around the world.

And what we do is we help

organisation and we have

partnerships in different locations.

Imagine that you go on holiday somewhere,

you go to the Bahamas,

you go to the Indian Ocean,

you go to beautiful

locations and you go swimming.

And you enjoy the swimming,

you enjoy the snorkelling,

you enjoy the scuba diving.

If you ever ask the local

people with regards to

whether they can swim or not,

I can almost guarantee to

you they'll say no.

and it's just something we

as westerners we just don't

think about we just use

those services so what

swimtiker does is what we

partner up with local

organizations that are

already in those

communities and we have

drowning prevention

educations and swimming

lessons to encourage them

to go swimming and learn

the fact that swimming is a

life skill at the end of

the day they're living by

the water why aren't they

in it because they're

scared of the water because they

They're afraid to go in.

And we try to give them the

confidence to be able to

get in the water.

Because if they were to fall in the water,

they would surely drown or

get carried away by

currents or they wouldn't

know what to do.

And invariably,

these are countries that are,

I was going to say landlocked.

Is that the right?

Because that doesn't sound

right to me where it's got

sea all the way around.

You know,

they are surrounded by oceans or

rivers or both and everything else.

So it becomes vital.

A lot of them, even they're,

Lives and livelihood are based on water.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, so we have a program in Peru,

for example,

where all the local fishermen

go out on these tiny little canoes,

and they can't swim.

They just can't swim.

So if they're falling and

lose sight of their canoe, that's it.

It'll be over for them.

So we're trying to instill

it into the youngsters.

We start with young children

from the age of seven upwards,

all the way up to about 18, 19-year-olds.

Okay.

I mean,

I've got so many different

directions I want to take this.

The first one is an easy

question because I've heard

you answer this one.

What's the origin of the name Swim Taika?

So we actually started in Peru many,

many years ago,

about seven or eight or nine years ago,

we actually started forming

the charity in Peru.

I went there to just set

things up to see what was happening,

realized there was a need.

And as I was traveling through Peru,

you know, your mind's

wondering in regards to how

can we do this?

What can happen?

It wasn't until we got to

Lake Titicaca until we

eventually formed the charity.

And in Lake Titicaca,

there's an indigenous tribe

there that live on the water.

Wow.

The Imerian people.

And I'm trying to come up

with a name again.

It needs to be something

which people ask questions.

Why?

Like you said, why swim taika?

Well, swim's the obvious part.

Taika means mother in Imerian.

It's an old Peruvian language.

So the idea being is the

fact that we're mothering

the children to be able to swim.

Oh, wow.

That is really nice.

I knew you'd like that, Jo.

Play on the word.

Love that story, that story behind it.

That really gives it heart

and soul and I love that.

I want to take that deeper for a second,

Brian,

because there was obviously a

motivation before you even

got to that stage.

So what is that?

What was that motivation?

And so I've always been a swimmer.

I used to be a competitive

swimmer when I was younger.

And I suppose for me,

It's following your passion,

regardless of whatever your passion is.

When I was younger,

I used to be a competitive swimmer.

I used to do lots of swimming.

Then I got married, had kids.

That all stopped.

But I always had an ambition

to do something when I was a teenager.

And that was when I went to Dover.

And when I was down in Dover,

I saw somebody training to

swim the English Channel.

And I said, I can do that.

I can swim all the way across the France.

I can swim that 21 miles.

And it wasn't until I was in

my 40s that I decided to do it in 2013.

But what I realised,

doing something like that

is an immense feat.

It's like climbing Everest.

It's one of the hardest

swims in the world to do.

And it took 14 and a half

hours to complete.

But the biggest thing I

found from it was my...

excitement my enthusiasm for

swimming was actually

rubbing off with other

people without me realizing

it more people were getting

involved was because I had

such a passion for it

people were coming to the

lake people were going in

the water for the very

first time and just

swimming with me just

because I loved it um I

suppose my dog's the same

so I have a black labrador

and she comes into the water

whereas my most labs are

going to the water so about

pick a stick up come back

no she'll swim with me

three or four kilometers at

a time because I have the

confidence to take her with

me and that's that's what

happens with the swimming as well so

wow I love that and I don't

think I knew that full

story so that's that's

really quite incredible I

want to take you through to

a thought process that went

through my mind because as

I say you unintentionally

were a motivation for me

for this charity spotlight

to sort of shine the light

on the the whys and the

hows and everything else uh

in in a fog of information

about a lot of charities

that we can we can lose the

reason and it was like I

was there like you I used

to be a swimmer as well and

allegedly at least the way I

learned to swim is that my

dad threw me in the deep

end of swimming pool and I

with survival mode swam to

the edge and I then got to

a national level swimmer

standard uh and so I'm

there going well surely

there isn't a need to go

around the world teaching

people this because I was

thrown in and and did but

that's oversimplifying the

situation isn't it and

sometimes it's too late so so

one of the things we try to

do is try to work out

regards to what why

children are or why parents

aren't being taught to swim

and the biggest reason is

the parents put the fear

into children to keep them

away from water of course

so by keeping them away

from water means that

they'll be protected from

it that's like the barrier

they put up yeah but of

course if they fall in or

they do something due to

peer pressure what do they do then

Yeah, no,

and exactly that was what really

struck with me going,

I'd have never have thought of that,

is that we do, we have these, you know,

influenced fears, don't we,

I guess is the easiest way to do it.

And yet it's actually even

the more vulnerable.

So you therefore have

decided that you want to go

and try and help.

And it's not by you suddenly

this single man crusade is

that you are setting up

these centres around the world

that, yes,

you are the founder of the charity,

but to try and make them

self-sufficient around the world,

presumably.

Yeah, so what we do,

we partner up with other organisations,

other charities,

other non-profits who are

already in the location.

They're already supporting

the local community.

The children who are in

centres where they need the

support because they don't

have the financial support

to be able to do things,

the low resource environment,

the shanty towns,

all those type of areas.

So there are already

communities that have that.

And what we do is we come to them and say,

well,

Your communities buy water.

Do you have swimming lessons?

No, they don't.

Why don't you?

Because they don't have the

expertise to be able to do it.

So what we do is we go

through a lot of due

diligence with these organizations,

whether it be in Peru, Brazil, Uganda,

Bali, wherever it might be.

just to see with regards to

whether what they're doing

will work with us so we can

then support them.

And once we've got that

connection with them,

we then give them a

commitment for five years.

And the reason for the five

years is the fact that

we'll start off by sending

swimming instructors to

them to be able to help get

the program going.

to the point that local

people will then start

being taught how to be

swimming instructors.

So teach the teacher type thing.

So then there's local people running it.

Then we'll get local businesses involved,

local government,

local schools and expanding

out going to more and more

children and keep going to

the point that it will be

financially stable after five years.

They'll be able to run it themselves,

be able to promote it

themselves and be able to

grow themselves.

Fantastic.

I do love it.

I mean,

it comes back to the phrase and the

lyrics in the song and all

of that is that give a man a fish,

he'll eat for a day,

teach a man a fish and he'll eat forever.

Very, very similar.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's why we try to...

aim at children because

they're the next generation

that will come up and then

once once they get older

adults have their own

children then it will just

be a natural progression to

teach them to swim because

they live by the water

because they have a love

for it and go on sorry go

on Brian and funny enough

so most of the children

have a desire to go in the water

that they all do at a young

age and what we quite often

find is the children will

go in the water and they'll

bob in the water they'll

push from the bottom that

they'll jump over the waves

as they have a strong

confidence in the water

they've just never been

taught to swim and the

reason beings it's like it

like in in in the western

world to learn to swim

you've got to pay for it uh

most of these children

can't afford to pay for the

parents can't afford to pay

for it so they've never been taught

there are about three or

four countries in the world

that have it part of the curriculum.

And the UK happened.

We're very fortunate that we

have that as part of the

schooling that we do.

But these children don't do it.

So when we come along and

the swimming instructor gets inside,

sorts them all out,

tells them what's happening,

they get in the pool.

Within a couple of days, they swim five,

10 meters.

Wow.

They're just being taught how to float,

how to do their stroke.

Because they already have

the confidence in doing it.

And that gives them the ability

that if they do fall in the

water or it's too deep,

they're not gonna panic.

Yeah.

Does that mean that you're

also having to train the adults,

not just to swim,

so either parents I'm thinking here,

to stop having that fear of

their kids going in the water?

So one of the biggest issues

we have is in the Western world,

we have to get the parents permission.

We get them to sign a form to say, yes,

we're gonna take them to

swimming lessons.

However,

it's gonna be slightly dangerous

because it's water.

There's a danger involved in doing it.

In the Western world we

accept that because we

understand that the teacher

is responsible,

they know what they're doing.

Whereas across there they don't,

they've still got that fear.

And the issues we've had,

just to get the parents to

be able to trust us,

to be able to take us, it's huge,

enormous.

And that's why we work with

the local partners.

So they have that trust,

I'm pulling that trust.

Got you, yeah, that already exists then.

The trust is already there.

But do you have to do

non-practical education for any of them,

or is it purely swimming lessons?

No,

so drowning prevention isn't just about

swimming lessons.

It's about building up barriers,

resuscitation, first aid,

all those elements.

So we run those as well.

Other things which people

won't realise is the fact

that in Bangladesh, for example,

and Vietnam, there's deltas everywhere,

so every corner there's water.

But the parents have to go

out to work to be able to survive,

both of them do,

and quite often they'll

leave them with younger children.

So the children will be with

their siblings,

looking after them at home.

But of course,

there's water nearby and

quite often they'll drown

as a result of that.

So just having a kindergarten, for example,

a nursery for the children

to go to prevents drowning.

And it's been able to get

that across the local communities.

If you do this and set this up,

it will protect the

children from drowning

because the parents are off at work.

They can't look after them

and just have that sense of

security as well.

It must be incredibly rewarding for you,

Brian,

seeing this growing around the

world and knowing

it genuinely is helping and

it's not just the physical

what's happening now is

that you're I love I've not

heard the description where

you're trying to then

enable it to be not just

self-sufficient but

self-growing that you're

leaving that legacy swim

tiger are leaving that

legacy that's going to

become itself and bigger

and and and off it goes

because that's your

ultimate goal it is yeah I

think it's more to do with

because I have a passion for it.

I love doing it.

I just then love other local

people picking up on that passion.

In fact,

we have a number of what we call

ambassadors now

who go out to our program to

help run the program and

structure it in a way.

And I remember Robert,

one of our ambassadors,

went out to Mozambique to

one of our projects,

and he's been a swimming teacher for 30,

35 years.

He knows everything about

swimming teaching.

And he went out to the Mozambique project,

and he got out there, and after two weeks,

he phoned me up and says,

I love this.

This is this is what makes

me I can see why why you're doing this.

I can see why what this is about.

And it's that level of

passion that we're trying to instill,

not just in our volunteers,

but the local people as

well and make them realize

the fact that water gives you life.

We're all part of water.

And if you can appreciate and love it,

you can be part of it.

It makes sense.

Any questions that you

wanted to ask or have I

been covering them?

One thing we do try to

follow is the World Health

Organization and their guidance.

I think that's a very good

point to point with regards

to where to do things and

how to do things.

It's like, for example,

why do we teach seven-year-olds upwards?

Why not any younger?

uh and as a world health

organization did a study on

children generally

especially learning to swim

that if you teach children

below the age of seven

today come back in a year's

time you have to re-teach

them to be able to do it so

remember it so from seven

upwards um once you've

taught them once they will remember

Is that right?

They'll take that forwards

to do swimming anyway.

That's what the study was finding out.

It's not to say we won't

teach children under the age of seven.

It's just we try to aim it

at the age group from seven upwards.

Yeah,

which I think probably sticks with

even over here.

It was probably around that

sort of age that they start

taking them at the primary school,

which my daughter was ahead

of with my background.

We had a proficient and competing by then,

to be honest with you anyway.

But the schools all went off.

So, yeah,

I didn't know that was the reasons.

I just thought that was just when it was.

So that makes more sense.

But, Jo, anything from you, Jo?

It's just a fantastic thing you're doing.

It's an amazing initiative

because swimming is a life skill.

I think we take it for

granted over here that we

have access to that when we're at school.

Our kids all trundle off to

the swimming pool and learn how to swim.

And much like Chris,

I could swim before I could walk.

And I'm a real water baby

and scuba dived and all the rest of it.

And I've been to some of the

most incredible places on Earth.

And you're absolutely right.

You very rarely see

somewhere like the Maldives

or in the Caribbean,

you very rarely see local

children swimming in the sea.

So it really resonated with

me that you've spotted that

and kind of gone, okay,

let's do something about it.

Let's make sure that this isn't the case.

Let's make sure that also

those children have access

to an absolute joy, a joyous thing.

Going and swimming,

if you've got a beach as

beautiful as some of those

in some of the places you work in,

it's just,

it's such a shame that they

don't then get to enjoy it.

And I agree.

I think it's awesome.

I think it's absolutely

awesome what you're doing.

And I agree with that

because we like going

paddle boarding up at the,

obviously we're very

blessed with the lakes just

outside Swindon here in the

Cotswold Water Park and everything.

And we go out there paddle boarding,

which I find wonderful

exercise and escape and everything.

And my daughter will come

and we'll be family friends

and what have you.

And so the kids will be playing.

They spend more time in the water

by choice than on the

paddleboard and they're

jumping off their

paddleboard and in and

they're messing about in

this passage and I agree

with you joe is that it's

one of life's delights that

would be missing yeah um by

not being able to and

they're in better water

than we get so so it's so

it's too far you're not

only teaching them a

valuable life skill and

then educating also so so

they then pass that on to

their children and their

children's children but also you you are

you are injecting joy into their lives.

You're giving them access to

something that is truly wonderful.

So I think it's amazing what you're doing.

One thing we try to do also

is not just our volunteers

or regards to what they're

doing and teaching the children,

but everything we do with

regards to fundraising and

people raising money for us,

because that's the primary,

we've got to try and get

money into the charity to

be able to support these.

All our fundraising is to do with water,

whether it be an aquathon or swimming,

in the thames or swimming in

the lakes or or swimming

the english channel and of

course chris you're the

ideal person if you've been

a competitive swimmer

before this is just the

perfect place for you to be

able to support the charity

even more and come and join

us as on a relay teams

across the english channel

You're on the spot here, Chris.

I feel a stitch up taking place.

There is a bit.

I mean,

speak to us about that in all seriousness,

Brian.

I mean, this is,

so it's not that one person

swimming the whole channel.

You are putting together a

relay to achieve it for the team.

We do, yes, yes.

So swimming the English Channel,

you can do it solo, of course.

But we basically put teams

of six people and each

person swims for one hour at a time.

It takes anywhere from 12

hours to 18 hours.

two lots of two lots of one

hours or three lots all

together uh you basically

take it in turns you work

as a team to be able to do

it it's not about speed

definitely not about speed

because you're not going to

break any world records in

the english channel because

the only person you're

fighting against is mother

nature and mother nature

ships get out of the way

they do yes yes they do um

but um yeah so we put teams

together um swimming is

only 10 20 of swimming the

english channel uh the rest

is dealing with your fears

building your team up uh

but being able to um it's

the journey that people

take to get there uh the um

swimming you can train for

you can go to the pool you

can go to the lakes you can

go to the sea and you can

train for it the things

which are harder is

swimming at night swimming with jellyfish

swimming out in the English

Channel in the open so you

can't see the lane on the

bottom of the pool,

the thought of just being

out there by yourself,

the fears that you have and

the mammals you might come

across and the seasickness.

All these other things are

far greater than the actual

swimming part because, like I say,

the swimming you can train for,

the other bits and pieces

are things you've got to

overcome and they are your fears.

um so we hate the feeling of

achievement at the end huge

absolutely huge yeah yeah

just just the fact that um

there's so many things

going against you with

regards to your team mother

nature the boat uh the

smell smell of diesel

sometimes depending what

the weather's like um and

the boat going really

really slowly uh the white

cliffs of dover always

looking huge no matter how

many hours away you are

from it six hours later

they haven't got any smaller

There's mind games and

everything else that happens.

So it's a huge, huge thing.

And presumably swimtiker.org

that I've put on screen there,

that's how they can find

out more about that?

They can under events, yes.

But whether they want to

come and volunteer on our

programs or whether they

want to partake in swimming

the English Channel or

swimming Lake Geneva or the

Thames Marathon or doing an aquathon,

it's all on there.

Brilliant.

And that is the key way that

people can help.

Is there any other ways that

people can help Swimtiker?

So we're always looking for

trustees in different areas.

And that's the key that keeps it going.

So at the minute we're a strong five,

six stroke trustees,

but we're looking to grow

to about 12 altogether.

That's the optimum that we

want to be able to have.

And we meet every,

four months and it's all online.

But we want people from

different areas to be able

to compliment with regards to what we do.

We don't just want people

that are fascinated about swimming.

Yes,

we will try and get them to swim the

English Channel,

but to be able to help form

the charity and enable it

to be able to grow.

Okay.

So what's the best way for

people to find out more about that?

Go onto our website.

You'll see a little bot come up.

That bot will take you to WhatsApp.

Then you'll be talking

directly to us and you'll

get a human being

practically straight away.

Brilliant.

Okay.

Anything else that we

haven't covered in this conversation,

Brian?

could talk all day can't we

chris you know I know we

could I know I know we

could but I think you know

I hope that it's got the

message over of of like how

you're doing it we've got

the the feeling of why you

did it in the first place

and why it's growing how

it's going to go how people

can help and as I say I

think it was just such a

great example that that you

know and I've been honest

to you wasn't I that the

first time we met and you

said about it I was there going

Why is that necessary?

I don't get why that's even needed.

And it made me realize

there's a lot of charities

that we miss the point

because we might not read

the whole of the leaflet or

we might not go onto their

website and read everything.

But the conversation with

you and I'm pretty sure I

asked the question and you

then explained most of what

you've explained today.

And I went.

oh yeah, okay, I didn't understand that.

I'd never thought of it that way.

And you've given birth to

this section of the Visual PR Live show.

So I had to get you on to

promote Swim Tiger because

I wanted to anyway,

because it's swimming

obviously close to my heart,

but also because you were the inspiration,

Brian, for that.

Thank you very much.

Glad, glad.

Well, thank you so much for coming on.

Rob Furman from Bespoke Gardens says,

great charity.

Love it.

Glad to hear it.

If Rob's not with you, or you know anyone,

Rob, link up with Brian, definitely,

equally.

now bespoke gardens isn't a

charity it's run as an

organization but it's it's

an amazing cause and

everything and helping lots

of people so I know why it

will resonate with with the

likes of rob so thanks for

your comments rob and I'll

catch up with you soon I'm

sure brian avery thank you

so much for coming on and

talking everything swim

tiger keep up the great work my friend

thank you very much chris

thank you very much for

coming on it's been a

pleasure thank you for all

the tips that we got from

you as well it's been an

absolute treat don't

disappear when I put you to

the back to the green room

but from everyone watching

thank you so much uh for

joining on this show it's

been a pleasure you can

watch bits you've missed

back and if you've got any questions

either for Joe Starr from

the Brand Invoice,

from Brian Avery from the Swim Tiger,

or with myself with Visual

PR about how we may be able

to assist with your efforts

of connecting with people,

giving yourself that authentic connection,

then give us a call.

For me, I've put everyone else's up.

Let me just quickly, I haven't done that.

Get hold of me there at

chris.visual-pr.co.uk.

But it's been a pleasure.

Have a great rest of the

week and we'll see you all

next month for episode.

What will it be next month?

Episode four.

Four.

Yeah.

Thanks all.

Cheers.

Bye.