Unfiltered Thoughts

2022.04.20 – 0475 – The Geller Principle Radio presentation trainer Valerie Geller[1] says “there are no boring stories, only boring storytellers” and she’s right: it’s how you tell the story the images you create and the words you use… but also your voice. She says “be interested and you will be interesting”, in other words if you know what you are talking about, believe in and care about it, and want to share that knowledge, then you will become more engaging. 
[1] https://www.gellermedia.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.19 – 0474 – The Information Equation
Information + Presentation = Communication Successful communication is largely a matter of presentation, and that depends on how it’s written and how it’s read. A good presenter will remember that they are not reeling off information or reading from a script, but telling someone a story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.18 – 0473 - The Listener's B-S Detector If you do not care, don’t know the audience, or do not understand the content - and let it show - the listener is very likely not to bother either. Their natural B-S detector will be triggered at a hundred paces. If you sound as though you are ‘reading aloud’, you’re doing it wrong. If you sound like you are talking to someone about something interesting, and ‘telling them the story’, or better still explaining something to them, you are doing it correctly. So never hesitate to query something which is uncertain. If you don’t, the chances are high that the listener, who cannot ask questions of anyone, will be left completely in the dark. Concentrate on the story, not the voice you are using to tell it. Think and care about the information you give, understand why it is important to people, why it deserves to be on air. If it was not worth reporting or reading – why are you doing it? If the story or the service is worth telling people about, it is worth telling with some interest and sense of significance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.17 – 0472 - 6 – Understand The Story Or The Message 6 – Understand The Story Or The MessageOnce you know who you are talking to you need to understand the message that you are giving them. Putting them together is part of a ___ step process to engaging naturally with your voice (the tone, words, rhythm, pace, pauses etc etc). What do I mean by ‘understanding’? You have got to actually be interested in the material, and understand why others might be too. In a news situation, ask yourself: why are we running this item? What is the significance of it to the ‘target audience’? In commercial copy, you may ask: why would the listener be interested in this product or service? What si their problem that this can help solve? How will it save them time or money? How will it improve their lives? Answers to those kinds of questions will help shape how you put over the content to connect with them, with engaging, authentic audio.  The clear and present danger is that some reporters, out of deadline pressure or laziness, may put something down on paper which they don’t really understand in the hope that those who hear it will. They won’t. Some of the ability to understand the story and understand its significance, comes perhaps with a bit of life-experience: “I do think that it’s all about trust… and it’s not just age, it’s also about experience. If you’re looking at someone on television who you know has been out and perhaps seen a bit of the word and understands the horrors that man can do to man, but also can share in its triumphs as well and has seen that first hand.”Simon McCoy, news presenter/journalist, “You’re On The Air” podcast November 2020
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2022.04.16 – 0471 - 5 – Know Who *You* Are 5 – Know Who You AreYou need to know your role in this script-reading, what perspective you are speaking from, what gives you the ‘right’ to pass on this information or advice:·        Voice Of God – a disembodied, unnamed voice that makes announcements and pronouncements without any emotion.·        Representative – perhaps seemingly an employee or brand ambassador, talking to potential clients: look for phrases such as “call us” or “we’d like to help” and so on. (Incidentally I personally think there’s a bit of a brand disconnect when commercials feature famous voices in the role as brand ambassador. Hearing a famous actor talk as though they are a member of staff of a supermarket, bank or whatever (“Here at SuperStore ABC we have created the finest Indian cuisine…”, “call us at ABC bank where we have experts who can advise you on your pension plan…”  sounds unrealistic, disingenuous and plain daft. I know the actor is only paid to front the ad, so don’t give me the impression they work there full time…·        A friend or neighbour of the listener – “Want a new sofa in time for Christmas…?” ·        A reassuring expert such as a doctor or dentist – “I know just how painful receding gums can be…”·        And so on … If you haven’t been given a ‘character brief’ as part of your direction notes on the script, you could go one step further yourself, and think for a few seconds about your character:·        Who they are and how they know the listener – close friend and confident or passing acquaintance?·        Their name and age – to add a bit of detailWhere they are talking to them – over a garden fence, at the school gate, in an office… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.15 – 0470 – NPR Advice “So many of us listen to audio stories through earbuds. It becomes really intimate. One person standing really close and telling a story right to someone's ear. And this is the other key thing to remember about effective audio storytelling. This is really a one-to-one medium. It isn't about you orating to a big audience. You're not performing for a crowd when you tell an audio story, you're talking directly to one person. And that's the experience the listener has. It's you talking to them. So, talk directly to one person. Think about a friend or a mentor or someone you respect and care about. As you craft your story and think about telling the story to them and think about the language you would use to best communicate to that one person.”Tamar Charney, NPR“The Power of Digital Audio Storytelling: From Podcasts to Voice Assistants” webinar series,The Knight Centre. 
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2022.04.14 – 0469 - Keep yourself single  Keep yourself singleIt will be easier to talk conversationally, as though to one person, if your script reflects that hypothesis.  Radio people often talk in terms of ‘the listener’ rather than ‘the listeners’, because we speak to them on an individual basis. So it’s never ‘all our listeners’, it’s ‘you’; it’s never ‘all of you’, it’s ‘you’; it’s never ‘some of you’, it’s ‘you’; it’s never ‘everybody’, it’s ‘you’, etc. Don’t talk about ‘our listeners’, or ask if ‘anybody heard what happened . . .’ (especially not, ‘anybody out there . . .’) or refer to ‘you all’.  Like a confirmed bachelor, keep yourself single. Speaking in the plural breaks the personal connection you have with each listener. Ok there are many of them, but they are all listening alone, and saying “everyone” breaks that illusion and reminds them they are not alone. Always keep in mind the first eight letters of the word ‘personality’.  Each listener should feel as though you’re having a personal conversation with them. Include them, don’t exclude them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.13 – 0468 – Intimate Audio To sound credibly intimate, and less like ‘an announcer’, you need to convince yourself that you are talking to one single person. That way each listener will fantasise that that person is them. Direct your comments to this person, and in doing so you’ll become more ‘real’; communicating on a one-to-one basis with someone that you know and with whom you feel at ease. You will feel freer to express real emotions, and so become more relatable and believable.  Radio is intimate and personal in a way that television is not. People often listen to the radio alone – in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen or in the car and it is the skill of talking to people singly while actually speaking to an audience of thousands that the presenter has to master. ‘TV at its best is an amazing medium of pizzazz and excitement. But radio is fantastically intimate: one person a microphone and a relationship.’[1] Talking to everyone, one at a time, is something that many newcomers to radio have trouble grasping – especially those who have previously been television presenters where the style is different. You’re still broadcasting, so you would think it natural to refer to listeners as a group, a crowd. But where most TV viewers tend to watch in a group, most radio listening is done alone.  ‘In broadcasting your audience is conjectural, but it is an audience of one. Millions may be listening, but each is listening alone, or as a member of a small group, and each has (or ought to have) the feeling that you are speaking to him individually’[2] So, part of being conversational is imagining you are having a conversation with someone you know, who is interested in what you are talking with them about.
[1] Roger Mosey, Head of BBC Sport, ex-Controller BBC Radio Five Live, Radio Academy event, November 2005 [2] George Orwell, author, March 1945 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.12 – 0467 – Talk To TeddyWhen I’m podcasting I… talk and feel like I am having a conversation with somebody, as do other people.When I started off I actually got my old teddy bear out and I sat him in front of my computer and I talked to him. It gave me a focus for my conversation, I was explaining to him. And I did find to start off with that helped me, particularly for solo episodes to come across more naturally, rather less robotically than when I was starting!Podcaster John Colley on “The Podcraft” podcast, S4/E4John had a great analogy in this podcast. He said that your voice projection and ‘attitude’ for a podcast should be the same as though you were on the phone to friend: talking one-to-one and straight in their ear (though not shouting as though hands-free in a car!). You’re just changing a tele-phone, for a micro-phone… And by using the teddy bear in the studio, John created eye contact – another useful trick to sound natural. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.04.11 – 0466 – Where Are They Listening  The next step is, in your mind’s eye, place ‘your listener’ in an appropriate location to hear your message. It’s what we do naturally when we call someone on the phone, whether it’s a colleague or a call-centre, mum or a mate: we ‘see’ them and where they are in our mind’s eye.·        The room in which they’re watching the YouTube video·        The kitchen as they listen to your radio programme·        Where they are as they do the exercising or dog-walking while hearing you on the podcast.Now you’ll be talking to one person and pitching the content conversationally, as you would a friend or neighbour, to someone who wants to engage. You’ll be better able to imagine their reaction if you see them ‘on location’, that is where they are as they consume your content. And if you put the photo the other side of the mic, at the distance at which that person would normally be standing, you will also be ‘throwing your voice’ naturally to them, which will help you with the volume on air too. Only you and the (imaginary) person you are talking to are in the studio. Not ‘the audience’, not the producer or the director or the pop filter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.