First published 23 August 2021 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
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Nigel said "taekwondo" just before we hit record, and I had no idea where he was going with it. The Olympics had just finished and after about a week of watching he was, in his words, now an expert. Three times he'd seen a GB fighter ahead with a second or two left, then lose to one last kick. Years of training, gone in a second.
That took him back to one of the first things I ever heard him say on stage. Be in the room. Stay in it until the whistle goes, or until you've actually left the client's office. He reckons every quick cup of tea costs about 15 minutes, because we leave in our heads before we get up and take ages to get back. Then he called us out. We record four episodes of around 15 minutes and it still takes two hours, once one of us has been to the loo and the other's gone for bananas.
I said being in the Zoom is even harder than being in the room. If I'm speaking online I ask people to put their cameras on, because they pay more attention when they know you can see them. And social media has no end to it. Sit down for a TV programme and you know roughly when it finishes. Twenty of those two-minute videos is another hour gone. I'd been to see Black Widow a few days before, and like most Avengers films there's more after the credits. Most of the cinema still got up and left.
The one that got us both was leaving football early. On away games with a long drive home we'd sometimes give up around 85 minutes to beat the crowds, then hear the roar from outside. Nigel pointed out you always walk to the car facing the stadium, like you'll see the ball go up.
I also had a moan about events where the content drops off once the sales pitch is done. I go out of my way not to run them like that. And Nigel admitted he tells clients he's not in the room for about ten minutes after he comes off stage. His face gives it away anyway.
My notes from this one
- Play the ball until the whistle goes, even when you think it's won.
- Nipping out for a cup of tea costs more than the minute it takes. Nigel reckons about 15.
- Get cameras on for team calls on Zoom. People pay more attention when they can be seen.
- If you've decided to leave, accept you've left. Stop walking backwards to the car.
- At events, keep the quality up after you've asked people for money.
If you've decided to be in the room, be in the room. If you've decided to leave, accept the fact you've left.
Neil Martin
Play the ball until the whistle goes. Be in the room until you've done your job.
Nigel Risner
