A friend told me he was invited to present a paper on Football Broadcasting in the 21st Century; The Platforms and Challenges. He asked for my thoughts and ideas to make his presentation rich. I did and he went ahead to do a good job of it. He told me the audience received his message well.
Read what I sent him. It can help you to a good job just in case you want to present a paper somewhere
- Key Statement: Football is the product…Soccer is the game…Clubs, players and competitions are the brands…Spectators are the fans/customers…Marketing is the muscle of the business…Broadcasting is the flight to greatest heights using storytelling.
- Broadcasting provide the wings for the football business to soar and sell as a brand, as a sport, as entertainment, as a business…connecting players, clubs, competitions, spectators, business partners, sponsorships, partners, regulators, and other stakeholders.
- Build your presentation along this route and tell stories to support your submissions.
- Jesus Christ tells us in the scriptures: Abide in me, so I abide in you. That’s the only way for real relationship that can last the test of time. When your customers, partners, spectators even critics abide in your brand, they transform from customers to fans. Customers are critics. They can abandon you anytime and run to your competitor. Fans not only support you, come rain, come shine, they cheer you. They can die for the brands they love and support.
- People, businesses, and organizations have a lot to learn from football, soccer, and broadcasting that provides the flight. The unique thing about this game is that the audience sees teamwork at play, brands (players, coaches, clubs, etc) on display. The message now is, if you want your business to grow in the 21st Century, look at football. This business is a game, it provides entertainment, generates big business, plenty of stories in the news media, and one-on-one oral storytelling during and after the match. The message is…Turn your business into a game that generates stories to stay ahead of competition. Broadcasting is a facilitator that will tell stories and make the business soar.
- This is the era of branding. Beyond products and services, anybody or thing can be a brand. A person is a brand, so is an organization, nation, and idea, anything that affects others and you can give it a personality and a name, and you can tell stories about it.
- Distil the uniqueness of broadcasting and the storytelling that goes with it. It is instant, offers live coverage for the audience is very interactive, offers a platform for conversation and stories. Every brand is a story, a conversation. One challenge for B-casting now is how to intensify the use of broadcasting to spark off conversations and stories about brands (not just adverts) that sponsor broadcast of football competitions. Any brand that wants to win in the marketplace now has to generate conversations and stories with customers or among customers. ‘Let us talk,’ consumers seem to be telling companies and their products in the 21st Century.
- When you step into the podium to speak, you have to sell two brands. (1) You, as a human brand-caster, and (2) Football and broadcasting. You have to speak with authority so the audience goes home with memories of your brand. Let the audience know who you are, where you are coming from, your experiences in sports marketing and broadcasting, and where you are going. The audience has to buy into your identity before they can buy into your message. Tell stories to show who you are.
- When you speak, do not lecture. You are not in an MBA class. Tell stories. Do not overload them with figures. Tell them stories about your experiences in broadcasting, your background,; your studies and training abroad, your passion for sports; as an employee.. as a journalist covering sporting competitions..Seoul Olympics, World Cup; as a manager who has managed a broadcast station. Talk about your challenges, frustrations, and achievements. Speakers use stories to connect with the audience quickly, and leave a memorable impression with them. Figures speak to the head, stories speak to the heart. If you want to make impact on any audience, touch their hearts with stories, not their heads with statistics. There is information overload and too much stress now.
- Barack Obama used the strategy of storytelling to floor his opponents during the last US Presidential elections. Others were churning out figures; Obama was telling stories about so many things, including his roots as a young man from a small village in Africa. His stories connected him easily with the American electorate. He won.
- Let’s go to the Bible. Why did Jesus Christ make such tremendous impact within just 3 years of His Ministry? He told stories. He was a Master Storyteller when He walked the face of this earth. Read the Gospels. He used stories to teach, using real life examples of what people those days saw and used. Jesus used examples of things like fish, mustard seed, vine. His stories are now branded Parables. So don’t lecture, tell stories, lace it with humour and keep the audience laughing. I trust you will do it excellently because you are good storyteller. Show your stuff at that Lecture. Remember don’t lecture, tell stories.
- Talk about sports broadcasting and take it from the global to continental, national to family levels in the home. Football support is passion…fans are fanatical. Nigerian fans of Manchester United football club will tell you, Man U for Life.. That is the extent they can go in their club support.
- The platforms of B-casting for the 21sup>st Century are clearly multi-media. Remember to talk about social media (Facebook and others), the darling platform for youths. Don’t forget about passion for the game and the business that goes with it. Football is one game that draws passion. That is why the game and business has fans, not customers. Please dwell on stories about passion, even for professionals who earn their living.
- Your audience will likely be youths. Be motivational. Tell them to discover who they are, locate their talent, follow their passion, and go their Promised Land (PL). Everybody has a Promised Land. It is not a place as in the Bible. Today, your PL is your vision, a state of being where you are doing what you love to do, no matter the odds, and you are happy…where your vocation is your vacation. Tell them talent is not enough…they have to work hard, face disappointments, fall, rise aand forge ahead and to be prepared to pay the price. You don’t become a millionaire overnight.
- Tell the youths that behind every fame there is pain, sacrifices, etc. Use real life stories illustrate this. Tell them that when they see Lionel Messi the diminutive Argentinean soccer star on the field of play, or celebrities like P- Square, the twin brothers musicians of Nigeria on stage, or Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji on screen, they see celebrity and fame, but they do not see the pain behind the fame because of their young minds. Re-orientating the mindset of youths from get-rich-quick to hard work and steady progress is also a challenge.
- Tell them that a, Man’s gift makes way for him. See this extract from my forth coming book…TruNaija.
- Tell them this key statement which I coined: When talent is in motion, only indiscipline can stop it. Give them the example of former Green Eagles of Nigeria soccer striker who blew his chances with indiscipline though he was a talented footballer.
What are you doing with your talents? Or are you sitting there, complaining and complaining that, times are hard? Complaints will not take you anywhere; your talent will take you to your Promised Land and make you stand before Kings. ikel Obi, the Nigerian midfield maestro of Chelsea Football Club did that with President Goodluck Jonathan, when he went to Aso Rock, Naija’s seat of power, to say, Thank You! tto Mr. President, for rescuing his father from the clutches of kidnappers. You see what your talent can do. It will give you presidential reception.
(19 October 2011)
Eric Okeke is a storyteller, editor, business writer, motivational speaker and author of the best selling book: I Want a Husband. He is one of Nigeria’s most experienced financial journalists. He has published several articles in local and foreign publications and in websites such as http://www.ezinearticles.com, www.ezinearticles.com and www.writingcareer.com. He is currently running Infomedia Company, a media consulting and information marketing company. Visit his blog at http://sallywantsahusband.blogspot.com
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