This is the second part of a blog about The Visual Revolution Guidebook[i] by my friend Roz Morris. I published part one on my website on Saturday 10^th August 2024.[ii] In part one I set out to summarise Roz’s ideas, and the introduction plus the first five chapters of the book. In this part I wish to summarise the remaining six chapters of the book and then conclude with some thoughts of my own.

6. How to handle difficult questions.

Here Roz gives the techniques for looking and sounding confident and authoritative when coping with challenging hostile or unexpected questions whether you're giving a major interview, taking part in a conference discussion, or answering questions after a presentation or in a meeting. One method is based on the concept of the pivot as perfected by politicians who want to dodge questions.  Tony Blair would often use the word “Look” as a form of pivot so he would say in the middle of an interview something like “Look the real issue here is” or simply “Look” then he would carry on making the points he wanted to make.

But in such cases it is actually obvious to the audience that you're changing the subject. A more subtle technique is making a bridge. Here you don't ignore the question. You should always address it but briefly and then move to your own message. You might say “we haven't looked specifically at that but what I can tell you is… “or “Yes that is important but even more important is…” In some cases if the questions are incorrect or ill-informed you must rebut them. For example, you might say “No if I could correct you on that, the latest information we have shows the numbers are actually…” Such bridging requires preparation. It's not possible to foresee all the questions you might get so you have to accept that there will always be more questions than answers but if you concentrate on preparing and delivering what you want to say and then use bridging you can make your answers fit numerous questions.

One important technique is to train yourself never to repeat negatives in questions because if you do the audience will hear them twice so instead of diminishing them you have increased their power. Instead say something like “No, that's not the case. What's actually happening is …” And it's important if you're going to maintain your authority when handling difficult questions that you have prepared your messages so you always have somewhere to bridge to.

7. How to handle documentary interviews.

If you're interviewed for a news documentary you need to remember that you might be interviewed for an hour but just one quote of less than a minute ends up in the final cut. Before you take part, you should analyse what's in it for you, what's the main message you want to get across to the public and are there other ways in which you could do that by, for example, issuing a written statement.  If you decide to send a short written statement instead of appearing in a documentary interview the advantage is that the TV producers will probably have to use your statement in full because that's all they've got from you but you might be seen as trying to avoid the media and then the message is they wouldn't speak to us.

8 The power of podcasting.

Podcasts reinforce Ros’s statement that we're all broadcasters now.  They are increasingly watched very widely anytime, anywhere but also anyone can set up a podcast with basic equipment unlike broadcasting where the broadcasters control output. Podcasts first appeared in 2003 on audio only and was a form of online radio that could be played on an iPod. In 2005 George W Bush became the first president to deliver a weekly address in podcast form. They moved onto iTunes and YouTube and now YouTube is a top source for finding podcasts.

Podcast interviews are usually less confrontational than news interviews but you still need to take them seriously and prepare thoroughly and if you do slip up these days that may go viral and be picked up by tabloid media.

There is major money now in podcasts whether that be through using podcast advertising networks, brand sponsorships, affiliate marketing, merchandise sales, listener donations and crowdfunding, premium content, live shows and events, e-mail lists, syndicating your podcast book sales, offering consulting and coaching services and paid podcast subscriptions. Of this long list you need to work out the best ways for you to make money from your podcast.

9.  Building your profile online using free or inexpensive media.

Huge growth of social media means that there have never been more opportunities for you to build your reputation without spending a fortune. LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook all provide platforms which you can use but in every case Roz states that the visual economy dominates this. Roz demonstrates that everyone has a personal brand and if you don't build it, it'll be left behind. If you do have a personal Facebook account don't open it up to everyone but even if it is private that doesn't stop members of your group reposting it to a wider audience. Even in 2014 it was reported that one in ten job seekers between the ages of 16 and 34 had been rejected for a job because of something they posted online.

Roz goes into considerable detail on the development of influencers, one of the ultimate users of the visual economy. It's not for everyone she says but if done well it can be a vital part of building a business.  But it's not easy to make money as an influencer and there are no rules. If you do try it you need to understand it's a huge commitment in terms of time and being willing to share personal information to engage your followers

10. A glimpse into the metaverse.

Earlier this year Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview that he is committed to developing metaverse with Meta spending over $15 billion a year on this. He sees a future in which virtual worlds are generated by AI and filled with AI characters that accompany real people and can be used across Meta’s social apps Facebook, Instagram and Threads. He sees the metaverse as ‘building the future of connection’.

The word metaverse comes from the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It describes a place where physical, virtual and augmented realities converge to create 3D virtual reality spaces. These are interlinked, persistent and shared. The word ‘persistent’ is key. When you take your headset off and leave the metaverse it persists. It's continuous, and you miss out on events when you're not there. Zuckerberg has said that the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile Internet. But it's not joined up like the Internet. It consists of closed ecosystems where you have to register to enter.

The metaverse is already generating income and without perhaps understanding this was the case last year my wife and I saw ABBA’s fantastic show ABBA Voyage which uses digital avatars at the specially built ABBA arena in London, These shows use technology developed for the metaverse and allow the audience to view and enjoy the avatars without wearing headsets. We thoroughly enjoyed it but I must say we found it somewhat disconcerting that the majority of the audience was so excited that they were clapping and standing up and I thought what you are doing is applauding artificial puppets.

A market that might be transformed by this new concept could be tourism where the metaverse could provide detailed and realistic virtual travel experiences to inspire tourists before they book a holiday. Already there are many tourist attractions complaining of excess tourism, Venice, some of the Spanish islands and a number of other places have found themselves in a difficult situation of becoming dependent on tourist income but also finding excess tourism is damaging their way of life and potentially the physical aspects of the location. If the metaverse could provide alternative experiences which are not actually real but seemed so then perhaps that could be a positive development.

However, the metaverse requires a lot of bandwidth and expensive kit. Energy use is considerable and there's been a lot of criticism about this by climate change campaigners. This year Sony Chief Technology Officer Yoshinori Matsumoto said the metaverse could follow a similar path to the World Wide Web and eventually become essential for our lives as more people begin to use it. However, there's almost no regulation in the metaverse so there's no copyright protection, no legal redress for thefts or damage, there's currently no redress for crime in the metaverse including sexual assaults and rape. Because of the immersive nature of the experience victims have described these as being just as emotionally damaging as attacks in the real world.

The metaverse is limitless. Marketers will have the opportunity to collect unprecedentedly detailed data about consumers. Research by Nokia shows that the technology is already being successfully used for training, meetings and events, marketing, medical operations, health and safety, factory production and logistics. Two-thirds of the B2B companies surveyed by Nokia said they're currently educating themselves about its possibilities while 5% revealed themselves as early adopters already investing in metaverse technologies and expertise so it's clear that it's going to happen despite the problems it may cause.

11. The future of the visual economy.

Roz points out that if you want to succeed in the visual economy, it’s essential to recognise that you need to acquire and develop visual skills to enable you to look and sound professional. Keep on learning and keep up to date. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a game changer and it's too soon to see all the effects of how it will operate in a visual economy, but people are already creating deep fakes created without using AI so far. The technology that has been developed to try and combat deep fakes can itself be removed by malicious agents. The race is on to develop reliable AI detection tools.

Overall, I found this book extremely interesting, well researched and well written with numerous case studies showing real life examples of both success and failure in the visual economy. However, I do have some concerns not about the book but about what it is describing. Roz mentioned a couple of times in the book that the use of energy in this space is huge and the climate change activists have expressed concerns about it. For me we should all share these concerns, not just those who go out and protest on the streets. Visual data is about 10 times the density of text and so if it's true that people have moved much of their communication online from text to visual then that means that they're using 10 times the energy that they were using before. That seems to be growing exponentially at a time when we really need to find ways of reducing our energy usage, not increasing it so substantially. In fact, I doubt whether there is simply enough energy for all of these predictions to come through.

I also have some concerns about the psychological effect. People are going to change the way they live and make friends out of avatars. When I worked for Sony which is some time ago, they started demonstrating headsets for virtual reality. I asked them what testing had been done on the effect these had on the senses, particularly eyesight. They could not answer me so I refused to try it on. I suspect they would still not be able to answer me but of course it is now a huge business. I wish Roz every success with her book but I am glad that I no longer have to take these messages for my own career as I am fully retired from paid work, though I am still very busy in civic affairs, charity work and my writing.

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