Powerful Communication Podcast

Colin Kelly from the powerful communication podcast from Comteria examines the significant lessons available following the disruptive Celtic Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting was closed after continuous protest and disruption, including shouting, booing, and showing red cards, preventing shareholders from asking questions in the open format.   The episode argues that Celtic PLC should have...

In this episode of the Powerful Communication Podcast, host Colin Kelly explores why it is vital for board members, owners, shareholders, and "silent partners" to cultivate some form of public profile and speak out.   The central argument is that silence creates risk: If the only time the public hears from governance leaders is when a crisis occurs, they have done nothing to build goodwill, rappor...

The Value Of Your Archive Welcome to another powerful communication podcast from Comsteria, hosted by Colin Kelly . Every business is, to some extent, in the content business, requiring written content, video, and audio to populate social media, bring internal communications to life, and drive specific business objectives. While many businesses are realizing that content holds real financial value...

Colin Kelly takes a long, deep dive sharing his personal reflections on the history of the internet from 1996 to the present day.

Colin Kelly discusses a report in The Times Scotland about unruly behaviour in our schools. A report from the Commission On School Reform says the education system is struggling to cope with a growing problem of indiscipline.  Read the full article  Colin explores the issue and looks at the SNP government record on school exclusions since it came to power in 2007.   

Welcome to Comsteria's powerful communication podcast. This is Colin Kelly, and this episode is for every academic . For years, we've watched the tension, maybe conflict, maybe just a lack of understanding between academic experts and the PR and marketing teams trying to amplify their impact. If you've ever felt misunderstood or like your brilliant work isn't getting the attention it deserves, thi...

We're going full on into a speculative vision of the future in this episode.  One where local businesses diversify into running radio stations and supermarkets employ journalists and produce local news. We also talk about the politics of Charles Dickens and how profit making enterprise can play a role in bringing communities and society back together.  Time will tell how accurate Colin Kelly's pre...

Straight talking advice for HR and comms professionals. In this episode, media trainer and strategic communications specialist Colin Kelly from Comsteria explores how businesses should respond to the current wave of protests around the UK government's immigraiton policy. If you need support with any aspect of your communications strategy, Comsteria is here to help.  Get in touch today by calling 0...

Comsteria is here to help every organisation communicate with power.  And we want public relations, marketing and communications professionals to achieve their full potential.  Subscribe our podcast for straight talking advice and insight to super charge your career. And visit our website for training and consultancy incouding media relations, presentation skills, crisis comms, video and podcast p...

We can't let the summer pass without celebrating this Powerful Communication hero of ours. You might not know Zoe Lister (although she's working very hard to change that!) but you'll certainly know her voice. And we think there's loads to learn from the way she has proactively seized opportunities presented by big changes in her industry instead of sitting around whining. Have a listen to find out...

Colin Kelly with reaction following the former Principal of Dundee University's appearance at the Scottish Parliament's Education Commitee.

It's perfectly natural to feel excited or a bit scared when you're about to speak in public.  Whether it's a big audience at a conference, a small group at work or that strange sensation that comes with Teams and Zoom, being in the spotlight can feel strange. Sometimes, this manifests in physical ways. You might perspire. Feel shaky. Or suddenly acquite a washing machine on the spin cycle in your...

The days of 'leaders' or any senior figure in an organisation 'flying under the radar' are over.  You need to let people in, give them the chance to get to know you, and above all, spend time listening to them. This cultivates goodwill and gives you the benefit of the doubt when the heat's on. I think some senior figures in organisations shy away from media engagement and speaking in public becaus...

When you give an interview to the media, you can get powerful results by using a key statistic as a 'hook'. Journalists are trained to look for these as they can make stories more engaging and give them a sense of urgency. There's a great example today in the story from Police Scotland about how easy it is for online paedophiles to make contact with childen 'within 30 seconds' of trying. The use o...

Here's a clip from a recent writing workshop delivered by Comsteria's Colin Kelly. We love to tackle corporate jargon whenever we encounter it. The trick is always to focus on your audience and challenge any words or phrases that they wouldn't use in every day speech. There are lots of redudndant, empty phrases uses on websites, social media and in interviews where the writer or speaker - for what...

I've seen a lot of business leaders end up overwhelmed because the comms colleague briefing them before their media interview gives them far too much information. This is often done with good intentions (better to include too much than risk missing out something important) but it can have negative consequences because the interviewee can't possibly remember everything. In this episode of Comsteria...

Comsteria's Colin Kelly outlines his QCARDS system for evaluating AI tools. If you are thinking of using a particular AI software within your marketing, comms or PR role, consider evaluating each tool against the following criteria: Q - Quality. Can the tool do the job to a higher standard than I can? C - Cost. How much does it cost? Explore the limits and potential savings by, perhaps paying annu...

We're often asked to give advice to clients interested in starting their own podcast. In this episode, Colin Kelly shares some thoughts around what it takes to find an audience for your podcast and how to make it stand out.  He also looks at the emerging trend for location or topic based email newsletters, such as the Edinbnurgh Minute on Substack.  Might it be possible that the publishers of thes...

Your sceptical friend, Colin Kelly, suggests remaining cautious when surveys seem to throw your current approach to digital marketing up in the air. What's really going on and who should you trust? What should you do? Help is at hand!

00:00:00:09 - 00:00:41:00 Speaker 1 Unlimited inventory is the scourge of powerful communication. Let me say that again. Unlimited inventory is the scourge of powerful communication. You know, it's not PowerPoint that causes death by PowerPoint. There's no problem with PowerPoint. The issue with PowerPoint is you can always add another slight. The problem with your website is we can always add ano...