Chris Thompson

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Bear in mind that if you don’t take the following advice, Todd and Lavonda will want a mandatory all-hands in the C-Suite Ideation space to rebaseline expectations…… I’ve noticed a few friends, colleagues and journalists I admire writing about buzzwords recently. I thought it might be useful, as a collector of these things, to set out the seven main reasons why we use buzzwords (and why we shouldn’t): 1. To clothe the ordinary. If you sell stickers, isn’t it better to describe yourself as a global leader in adhesive labelling solutions? (Clue: it isn’t) 2. To appeal to (probably) the wrong people. Senior management are often jockeying for position, so an audience that matters to them is made up of colleagues. If everyone in the senior management team calls windows ‘outdoor awareness panels’, that’s the phrase you’re conditioned to use. (Clue: this is a bad idea). 3. For political cover. Same story - it’s all about internal dynamics. If you use obscure language that’s favoured by your company, you minimise your risk, but also your opportunities. (Clue: another bad idea). 4. Because your organisation has too many cooks. If your company has more than two or three people involved in signing off an announcement, it will be terrible. It will be the most expensive and worthless document your company owns. External advisors (the people with weathervane heads), won’t guide you. They’ll be guided by the gusts of hot air in the room. (Clue: Give a professional communicator the final say.) 5. Because you’re afraid of standing out. Sadly, most organisations favour compliance over dissent. Hence: jargon. 6. To sound more expensive. A basic service dunalf sound pricier with a few choice buzzwords attached. 7. Because you’re more interested in reducing your task list than making things work. Jargon is lazy, but it’s also cloudy. Stop optimising and start improving. Don’t disambiguate, simplify. You, and your business, will be better off. #jargon #buzzwords #communication

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Congratulations to all the nominees at this year's British Podcast Awards. There are undoubtedly some interesting shows in the mix, and I hope that they use the nomination as a big professional springboard. But... By my - back of a fag packet, admittedly - calculations, 30% of this year’s nominees at the British Podcast Awards were produced or distributed by the BBC (48 of 162 show nominations). A single publisher representing almost a third of nominations is monolithic, and this is without most of its radio shows which are repackaged as podcasts. That's a massive bloc for most creators to compete with, and that's before even thinking about what Global, Sony, Amazon etc are doing in the marketplace (spoiler alert: taking up a lot of the remaining 114 nominations). The awards are under no obligation to recognise creative diversity. I wouldn't want them to patronise smaller podcasters or networks. And it's hard to know whether the homogeneity of the list is a product of jurors lack of omnivorous consumption, or the fact that independent publishers are not submitting to the awards (possibly a function of the very steep increase in the costs). There are some omissions from this list that are so glaring that I have to assume that the shows/companies didn't submit for consideration. Maybe I'm being too jaded. Full disclosure: Podot only submitted one show this year, and it wasn't nominated (we submitted into the Wellbeing category, which is a bad fit anyway). But inevitably the British Podcast Awards will come to represent a Best in Class list of UK podcasting, especially for those outside the narrow industry walls. I have to say, I look at some of those categories and I struggle – as a critic and consumer, rather than creator – to believe that these shows really represent the best of the business.

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I'm really saddened to hear the news that ONCA Arts is closing down. It feels like every week, another vital arts organisation is announcing their closure, and this latest loss is a huge blow for the sector 😢 The sad reality is that funding for the arts sector in the current climate is desperately limited. In a sector in which we should be singing each other's praises, championing the work of our peers, and working collectively to create a thriving industry, the lack of opportunity and financial backing is driving a culture of comparison and competition. The arts sector is often reduced to this archaic idea of a cold, white wall gallery space and there is a prevailing narrative that it is only for the elite but we offer SO much more. It's the artist exhibiting in their first solo show telling you this is the 'best day of their life', the families and groups who rely on the consistent delivery of our participatory activities as a vital link to community and connection, the artists chasing ambitious dreams with the help of a mentorship or small bursary, and the team behind these organisations whose genuine love and commitment to the sector outweighs the low pay, stretched capacity and uncertainty of their roles. Art is our vehicle for driving conversation, fostering meaningful connections and activating change. If only others could feel the value we arts workers feel about our industry. https://lnkd.in/eAVrUyHa

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The UK public doesn't know much about connected places/smart cities, and from what it does know it doesn't trust the technology involved, according to the results of a survey commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It could be taken as a bad sign, given that plenty of local authorities are flagging up smart city initiatives. But I would say the lack of awareness is the key point, and that as more people become aware of what the technology does, and that generally it doesn't use personal data, they will become more relaxed with the outlook. https://lnkd.in/euWjABuX #localgovernment #smartcities #connectedplaces

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We are a few weeks into the WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers AI Catalyst Programme, and to say my mind has been blown is an understatement! I thought I’d learned a fair bit about AI over the past few months, but I hadn’t even scratched the surface. One of the biggest eye-openers? Prompt engineering—a skill that’s so much more than just asking the AI questions. Prompt engineering tests patience, resilience, and attention to detail. It challenges you to think outside the box while staying methodical and logical. Sometimes it feels like one step forward, three steps back, and it’s easy to get lost in tiny adjustments and wonder if you’re moving forward at all. That's why it is so important to remember to take a step back and realise how far we’ve come in this process. I’m lucky to work with an awesome team (Victoria Wallace Ross Brady Marc O'Neill) that keep me motivated! We’ve made huge strides already, learning new skills daily, and I’m excited to keep experimenting and pushing this project forward. Thanks to our coach David Caswell for all your support and feedback so far! If anyone else has insights on mastering prompt engineering, we’d greatly appreciate your advice! #AI #promptengineering #experiments #collaboration #projectmanagement

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As the dust settles on the UN Climate Conference, COP29, I’ve been reflecting again on the role of storytellers at this moment in time. Those of us in the broadcasting world are privileged to make decisions and “push the button” on what ends being watched and listened to by millions of people across the UK and wider, to paraphrase Chris Packham at Climate Creatives 24. How we use that power, what stories we tell, whose stories we tell and who is in the room when decisions are made – these are just some of the topics which came up at this year’s Climate Creatives conference.  Themes that seem more pertinent now than ever. One of my main hopes when planning the conference was to help producers and suppliers in the broadcast industry find inspiration about how they can tell more climate and nature related stories which inspire and entertain audiences. So, if you’ve been wondering what role you can play and missed Climate Creatives this year but want to: 💡 Get better ideas ♻️ Develop more sustainable production 📺 And pitch better content… ❗ Then you can watch all of the sessions from the main stage as well as the discussions in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast here, now: https://lnkd.in/edM-fGQK Climate Creatives is part of the BBC's People Positive commitment to supporting more and better climate storytelling, complementing our strategy to be Net Zero and Nature Positive. #ClimateCreatives #Broadcasting #Nature #Climate #Storytelling 

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As this article makes clear, the carbon footprint of Film & TV production can be very large. The emissions can be viewed as two distinct types, those required by the creative team to put their vision on screen, and those generated burning fossil fuel for moving people and equipment from place to place and for providing power on set and at base. That second category accounts for the bulk of our emissions, and we have solutions that can significantly reduce these emissions once emissions reduction is given the priority it deserves by senior decision makers at the earliest stages of the pre-production process. When a senior person says "I want this to happen", the rest is easy.

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Very interesting history attached to this property https://lnkd.in/ehrhSp-G

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🚨Journalist Dylan Jones says the UK government is about to enable “artistic vandalism” by allowing AI developers to train their generative models on copyrighted content. While rights holders would be able to opt out “there is no workable method of doing that” the Standard editor-at-large points out. Just six weeks remain before the government’s snap consultation on AI and copyright closes. Also in this week’s Charting Gen AI, the global newsletter that keeps you informed on generative AI’s impacts on creators and human-made media, the ethics and behaviour of the AI companies, the future of copyright in the era of generative AI, and the evolving AI policy landscape: ◾️Meta’s Zuckerberg allegedly approved AI training on pirated books ◾️Apple to update its problematic AI, but journalists want it withdrawn ◾️Altman is ‘confident’ he can build AGI; not so fast, says rival LeCun ◾️Meta deletes AI chatbot accounts amid backlash over their answers PLUS: 💥OpenAI accuses Musk of ‘lawfare’ 💥’My voice was deepfaked by far-right’ 💥Benchmark cheat sheets revealed 💥NUJ seeks AI assurances from Getty 💬There’s our QUOTES OF THE WEEK which include this gem: “We’re jumping feet first into unreliable, unproven tech with devastating environmental costs and a dense thicket of ethical problems. It’s a bad idea. And — because I enjoy shouting into the void — we really ought to stop.”  — Nancy Kaffer, editorial page director, Detroit Free Press ✨AND FINALLY … a word of warning before rushing to illustrate your story with AI stock, it might come back to haunt you! ALL THAT AND MORE in this week’s Charting (now read in 100 countries!) here: https://lnkd.in/ec3ph2rz Photo credit: Mark Harrison Bernard Hay Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre News Media Association Alan Rusbridger Dr Natasha Hirst FRSA National Union of Journalists Dave Lee Yann LeCun Gary Marcus Karen Attiah Scott Rosenberg Georgina Findlay Louis Hunt Dirk Roeckmann Yoan Sallami, PhD Rand Fishkin Nancy Kaffer Paul Maker Adam Gaffin

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Viking weight with monstrous beast decoration for use in a set of balances. Found in the boat grave at Kiloran Bay on the Scottish island of Colonsay, this weight has a lead (Pb.) base to which has been attached a largely copper-alloy decoration, likely cut from a piece of jewellery, or even from the cover of a raided religious book like a Bible! This type of weight was probably used to weigh cut up pieces of silver in the Viking bullion or metal-weight economy where this 'hacksilver' was used as a form of cash. One of several such weights from Kiloran Bay, it was found with a set of balances. These bimetallic weights, often with hacked pieces of gilded copper-alloy decoration from Insular (i.e. British and Irish) sources on their tops, seem to have been developed in Viking army camps in Ireland (longphuirts) and Britain (winter-camps) in the third quarter of the 9th century. You can read about them and their role in economic transactions in my Routledge book, A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain. Find this weight in National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh. #Viking #Vikings #economics #Archaeology #History #metrology

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And if you enjoyed the video-message for #WorldGorillaDay, you might also enjoy my blog https://lnkd.in/gCnT4KEZ

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I try not to be too reactive when it comes to the news, but I do think the situation with Twitter/X is basically irredeemable. It's clear that Mr Musk has a very specific vision for the platform – and that's fair enough, given he spent $44bn to buy it. But the approach now is basically anathema to the imperatives of good journalism. On top of that, it's clear that Musk sees Twitter as competitive with (rather than ancillary to) legacy media. So whatever your thoughts on the content, its role in dis- and mis-information, the curation and privileging of specific points of view...etc, the media needs to wise up to the fact that success, for Twitter, involves cannibalising the media industry. It's also just *dreadful* from a business strategy perspective that the media industry has allowed itself to become so financially indentured to third-party social media platforms. There is nothing to stop Elon Musk from, tomorrow, totally cauterising all external linking on his platform. The impact of that on "traffic" – the sacred metric of digital media – would be catastrophic. That's too much power over your business outsourced to an exogenous body. It's all madness, and the weaning needs to start now.

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This really has been the year that the access to AI for a significant proportion of people really did start to change the world. I'm a huge fan of media organisations who bring together the digital and human experience in incredible ways.... As we wrap up 2024 I'm planning to share a few of the examples that have inspired me through this year, given the last 24 hours I have to start with #Sora ! Simply mindblowing! https://lnkd.in/eDVBr4R4

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Following a number of inquisitive emails, It's time to announce my departure from the podcast I co-founded with the PRCA. Fuse from the PRCA was conceived to present audio content in bite-sized chunks, allowing listeners to consume it conveniently at their leisure. Sir Martin Sorrell was our inaugural guest, and even then, the demand for longer video was apparent. As a result, after a single episode, we broadened the production to encompass multiple formats. I am deeply indebted to the late Francis Ingham for his acceptance of my proposal and for facilitating the formal collaboration that brought Fuse to life. To Michael Collins, Koray Camgöz, Farzana Baduel, David Olajide MPRCA, Richard Fernandez, and Ayesha Haniff, your commitment has been instrumental in constructing a storytelling platform that authentically conveys the realities of our industry, celebrates achievements, and most importantly, underscores the human beings behind campaigns. I wish Curzon PR and PRCA continued success with Fuse. With newfound space in my schedule and, for the first time since 1997, no media content production to oversee, there are new stories to be told. Part-time, moving forward what is next? Talk radio, books, podcasts – who knows? Ultimately, everyone has a story to share and I want to help them to connect with audiences and communities. #mediaproducer #storytelling #buildrelationships

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What’s Autumn about? Well, here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth. This is part of an overall interview with Nikki Clarke, which you can watch in full at: https://lnkd.in/ggdA7AbS

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How do you make the news when you're not actually that important? Ask Ed Davey. The Lib Dems could have easily been lost in this election campaign. No poll suggests that the party has a real shot of being anywhere near Government, Brexit has receded as an issue, and there are plenty of "small party fireworks" going on with Reform and the Greens. But they haven't been lost at all - and have actually gained some vote share. Here's how the strategy has worked. 🥉 Situational awareness. Lib Dem strategists know this is not an election like 2010 where they could decide the Government. They know that the media could easily squeeze them out of stories as a consequence. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will always get some airtime simply by being the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition - the leader of the fourth largest party simply doesn't have that same right to coverage. 🏄‍♂️ Be good TV. The best way to counter getting squeezed out is to create media moments so intrinsically visually interesting that any editor won't be able to resist including them in a story - whether as a photo or as a clip. See Ed Davey bungee jumping today, or kayaking, or doing an interview on a fairground ride. Most politics imagery is fairly boring - men in suits talking - so the media are always on the lookout for something fresh, and Davey has delivered it. 🧡 Don't lose your heart. There is a risk to overdoing step two - becoming a clown, someone who will nakedly do anything for attention. Some may argue Davey has crossed that line, but I think he's stayed just shy of it. Part of that has been integrating messaging within the stunts: Today he asked voters to 'try something they haven't tried before' and vote Lib Dem before bungee jumping. More important has been a less flashy video the party released of Davey caring for his disabled son and talking about how this drives him. The big stunts hook viewers in; the personal narrative gives them something real to connect with. It might not win you an election, but it will certainly keep you from irrelevance.

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My brand new book Plants with Superpowers published by Quarto Books US and Quarto Books UK is available for pre-order today - https://geni.us/75Plants. In my brand-new book, I wanted to share with you an incredible array of plants that you can grow at home and have extraordinary capabilities. In my brand-new book, I wanted to share with you an incredible array of plants that you can grow at home that have extraordinary capabilities. All the plants in this book are real. The natural world has gifted plants with superpowers. The 75 featured plants each have unique abilities that are wondrous to adults and children alike. Meet a sample of the plants that are not from another world, these are plants that are amongst us. They possess a dazzling array of powers you never thought could be real, and yet the varieties included in this very book, you can grow and enjoy in your garden or home. Learn the mysteries of these plants and you too will be able to appreciate these true wonders. #plants #preorder #plantswithsuperpowers

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It has been less than a year and I am so very grateful for the stellar cast and production team behind Ajaka: Lost In Rome. It is the more recent example of proving to myself that I can keep a vision steady & moving, in the face of vagaries of familiar inconsistencies and unfamiliar solutions. That with Global Best Practices at play, the successful coordination of human resources (in-person & remote) can lead to something one can not just be proud of, but can point at and say, "Here is our new standard!" There is a note of caution which I exercise personally. Creativity is the path, and styles are just landmarks, not destinations. For creativity to come alive, one cannot lock yourself into a particular 'style'. It is rigor mortis waiting for an opportunity to claim your best before it happens. I am not just speaking of 2D or 3D animation, or 'Experiential media'... Everyone involved has their favourite stories & it has less to do with what the story is about, but mostly to do with how they were told. This is where the creative discipline of a voice director proves present or absent to creativity's roll call. Low-hanging fruit is the feast to the unimaginative. I don't play Russian roulette as voice director, & insist that they must bend into personally unrelatable shapes and work in what is comfortable for me, for 'my familiar style of storytelling.' I asked them about their favourite stories, about how their imagination works with their talents. They did not disappoint me. This is why I am grateful to them. They trusted me as I trusted the animation team. Looking back with the understanding of my neurodiversity, I can now confidently say it is a reflection of how I responded with my best to those who did the same for me. That is a long list that could have been longer, if not for human fallibility (between my memory and those who did make the effort to listen). Every win in a shared win for this team. I wish us all success in the endeavours we have gone on to since then.

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