Look at that bling on that four-poster

So, The National Trust are looking for a new agency to help them reconnect with urban youth.

It's the kind of task I'd relish, I have to say. Once you set yourself the task of communicating outside a traditional audience, it demands a creative response.

What I hope is that they manage it without dumbing down, and that they recognise that they need to engage young people with what they do - not pretend to young people that they do something else. And if they do want to be known for more than "crusty old houses", then they should perhaps stop using "Protects and opens to the public many historic houses and gardens" as the first sentence of their description.

And I'm not sure lavender-infused watercolour scheme would be my first choice for connecting with urban youth.

It'll be interesting to see how things develop. And who wins.

Bitchin' Pitches

Today at SCA2 we had an all-day session on presentation techniques and public speaking. I've always regarded myself as fairly confident and a good speaker, but with a less-than-engaging voice - it's distressing how often I answer the phone in a perfect state of health to someone who immediately says "oh my, that's a shocking cold you've got".

In fact, it turned out to be the other way round. My voice was praised (apparently I use my "resonators", which although I've sung in the odd choir I've certainly never been trained to do), but I was picked up on for moving around, not gesturing enough, not making eye contact enough, saying "erm", looking at the floor, etc.

So I now have to just remember to GESTURE, to speak LOUDER, to speak SLOWER, to EMPHASISE each word, and remember to PAUSE.

Apologies for capitals, but I think they're semi-appropriate there. Anyway, I made a whole lot of progress today, and with the help of a Don Draper clip and a viewing orgy of Obama speeches under my belt this evening, I think I'm just about ready to pitch our agency name to Steve Henry tomorrow.