How to be a Presenter: A practical guide to getting your dream job in TV, radio or online.

By Vanessa Edwards

How to be a Presenter is a practical guide for anyone interested in a career as a TV or radio presenter, vlogger or podcaster.  It is packed with useful advice, exercises and resources to help everyone from an absolute beginner to the professional aiming to improve and develop their presenting skills.

The book includes chapters on:

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ecclexia
• Release date: Jun 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781999724139

Vanessa Edwards

Vanessa Edwards is a broadcaster and trainer with nearly thirty years' experience. She has been a radio and television presenter and worked as a producer with many well-known names. She is a qualified adult educator and has taught many aspiring radio, television and online presenters.

Book preview

How to be

a Presenter

Everything you need to start your dream career in TV, radio or online.

VANESSA EDWARDS

Copyright © 2020 Ecclexia Books

All rights reserved.

This edition 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9997241-3-9

About the Author

Improved Self Portrait

Hello there. My name is Vanessa Edwards and I’ve spent much of my career in radio and television in the UK, as a producer, presenter and journalist.

This photo shows me working as a presenter on the BBC News Interactive service, but I’ve also been a continuity announcer or presenter for Channel Four, Channel Five and British Forces Broadcasting.

I’ve read the news and presented on a variety of radio stations and been a producer at the BBC and ITV, working alongside some of the UK’s best-known TV and radio personalities.

Now I write about the media and still work as a content producer and education professional.

‘How to be a Presenter’ is my second book. My first book is ‘Research Skills for Journalists’, published by Routledge .

DEDICATION

For Patricia Edwards, who is always there to support me.

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

I have spent much of my career working with presenters or presenting on radio and television. From introducing my favourite TV shows as a continuity announcer, to playing a newsreader on a film drama, I’ve loved every minute of it. No wonder so many people dream of working in broadcasting, it is a brilliant career full of variety and challenge, and is incredibly rewarding.

I remember when I started out though, many people told me not to bother. Everyone, from teachers and careers advisors to friends and relatives, was keen to warn me it was far too hard. They advised me to find a ‘real’ career, which would be easier to get into and have long-term prospects.

I am so glad I ignored the lot of them. Instead, I decided to track down people who really knew about the media industry. I emptied my piggy bank and booked myself on a course run by the wonderful British radio presenter Dame Jenni Murray. (Although that was thirty years ago you can still hear her at the top of her game on BBC Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour)

Dame Jenni was a source of fantastic advice and spent time with each of the twenty or so young people on the course. She listened to each of us read a script and do a brief interview. She told me I had some natural talent, but left me in no doubt it would be a tough path to follow. Barely five years later I was presenting the evening news programme on local radio and went on to build a long-term career. It has not always been easy and I have followed quite a few different paths, some more successful than others, but it is been a fantastic life.

So do I think you should follow your dream of becoming a presenter? Of course! Thousands of talented people make a living out of presenting on radio and television and they started just like you and me. As long as you have realistic expectations and are prepared to work very hard, you have just as much chance of success as anyone else. In fact, with practice and preparation and some of the advice in this book you have a better chance than many. So massive good luck and let’s get going …

BEFORE WE START

There are a few things you need to know about this book. Ideally you should find time to work through the first three or four chapters in full. Then you can pick the others that are relevant to your career plans. Of course, you can just dip in and out too.

This is a practical book and there are lots of things for you to try, read and have fun with. You will need to keep a note of your thoughts and ideas, so now would be a good time to grab a small notepad or set-up a folder on your tablet or phone.

You will see some features appear regularly:

OVER TO YOU

You will be able to get involved with these sections, coming up with ideas, research or just honing your professional skills.

ON AIR

This is your chance to practise your practical skills. There will be things to read, watch and do. Some of them might feel a bit silly, but give them a go.

Remember you will soon be speaking to thousands of people, so it is best to get rid of those self-conscious nerves as soon as you can.

You will need to find somewhere private to work. An ordinary room will

be fine, as long as it is quiet. You will also want to start recording and reviewing your work. For most of this book a smartphone or tablet will

be fine to do this and if you want to buy specialist equipment, there

will be advice later on.

At the end of each chapter there are ideas for extra material you can access online. These are videos, podcasts and websites that reinforce and supplement the contents of that chapter. The links were available online and free of charge at the time of writing. I do apologise if things change or disappear.

There are also additional resources such as scripts and templates to download on my website www.vanessaedwards.co.uk. Many of them are free, or there is a small charge. Feel free to browse. You can also keep in touch via Twitter, I am @_vanessaedwards

Take the chance to practise as much as you can while you are reading this book and working your way through the sections. If you want to be a professional you will need to learn to think and talk like one and this is a great chance to begin that process.

SO WHAT MAKES A GREAT PRESENTER?

There are as many different answers to this question as there are presenting jobs. For news is might be authority, while for music radio it could be a unique voice or expert knowledge of a music genre.

Could you imagine vlogger Zoella presenting a news debate about economics? Or The Grand Tour’s Jeremy Clarkson selling make-up on QVC?

That variety is the very reason why YOU can become a presenter. Because whatever you look or sound like and whatever you care about, there is a spot for everyone. You just need to find what makes you different, work really hard, be very determined and have a little good luck.

Just like every creative art, people disagree over what is good and what is not so good, but there are some universal skills that make all presenters successful.

OVER TO YOU

Make a list of the voices and faces you hear/see in video and audio recordings every day. Think widely. Do not just concentrate on radio and TV stars.

Last time you phoned your mobile phone company, what was the automated welcome like? Does your elevator at work or college speak to you? Does your local station or train company have a male or female announcer?

Every one of these recordings has been made by a professional presenter or voice over artist.  There are dozens of presenting jobs that you have never even thought about and they are all great ways to build a career.

Later in this book we will discuss how you might access these jobs and even use them as stepping stones to find the presenting job of your dreams.

OVER TO YOU

Decide which of the presenters on your list you like. More importantly WHY do you like them? Be honest. Perhaps they have a sexy voice or look attractive on screen. Maybe they make you laugh or give you confidence they are knowledgeable.

Now think about which of these presenters you don’t like. Again be truthful. Is their voice, hair or make-up distracting? Do they make you laugh for the wrong reasons? Are they irritating? Are they the sort of person you would avoid at a party?

It may seem unfair, but all these things matter. Being a presenter is about communicating with a specific group of people. It is about sharing information and getting people to listen to what you have to say.

Great presenters understand their audience, they know their subject and they have the technical skills to communicate successfully. Whether it is explaining the physics of the universe on a film documentary or telling you to keep your feet off the seats on a train, the core skills are the same.

So let’s break it down a bit more and take a look at the skills that make a great presenter.

KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

Who are the two most different presenters you can think of? Think about television or radio personalities that your family or friends might enjoy. How do the presenters your parents or grandparents appreciate differ from those you love? Why do you think your family members like those presenters so much?

A good presenter always knows who they are speaking to and ideally they should be able to adapt their style to different audiences. Professional broadcasters often speak of a programme’s ‘target audience’. These are the people they are expecting to watch or listen to their work.

Of course, we know that a target audience may change or adapt. The UK TV hit The Great British Bake Off was created as a relatively small cookery show, but became one of the most successful programmes in the history of UK television. Most experts agree that a big reason why The Great British Bake Off was so successful was its unique combination of presenters and friendly style.

In whatever ways a programme changes or develops during its lifetime, it is always important for presenters to have a really clear idea of who they are expecting to watch or listen. A good production team, including the presenter, will start with some research and planning.

Where are your listeners or viewers?

The number of people who follow a programme or podcast is monitored by experts who measure audience figures. Advertising pays the salaries of the vast majority of people working in broadcasting and online production, so they understand the importance of audience figures and follow them carefully.

Audience measurements for radio, television and online generate pages of statistics and use a lot of complex jargon, to help producers understand who is watching or listening to their programmes. If you want to talk to other professionals in your industry, then it will help if you learn some of the most commonly used jargon and background information.

OVER TO YOU

Using Google, search for last week’s most popular radio or television programmes in your home country.

Pick two of the shows (with presenters rather than actors) and see how much you can find out about their audience. How old are the people who follow those shows? Where do they live?

Do they work and if so where?

Now think about the presenters of these shows. Do they look or sound similar to their audience? Do they speak in a way, which their audience can identify with? What sort of energy do they have? Does this reflect the content of the programme?

You do not need to know all the complex details of audience figures, but it is important to keep up to date with the most popular shows on radio, TV and online in your country (often known as a ‘market’). This will allow you to spot new trends, follow the most successful producers and make sure you send your job applications to the right people.

Here is a brief guide to audience information for radio, TV and online.

Television

Wherever you live in the world, two companies called Kantar and Nielsen are among your best sources of audience information. Between them, they measure TV and radio consumption in some of the world’s biggest markets and provide data on new media too: www.kantar.com and www.nielsen.com

Some countries also have their own organisations to collect ratings. These include BARB in the UK: www.barb.co.uk, BARC and aMap in India: www.barcindia.co.in And in Ireland it is TAM: www.tamireland.ie

If the source of your home country’s ratings is not listed here there is a pretty good summary of the relevant ratings organisations on Wikipedia.

When you start reading professional television publications or websites you will see a lot of mention of ‘ratings points’. A rating point is 1% of homes with a TV. So the more ratings points a programme has achieved, the more people are watching the show. This system is used in the US. In other countries, such as the UK, you will find figures are measured in thousands of viewers.

Radio

As with TV, in many countries Nielsen and Kantar provide the best data on radio listening.

In the UK audience figures are provided an organisation called RAJAR. www.rajar.co.uk

You will hear some slightly different terms used when discussing radio audiences. This is because the majority of radio broadcasting is music

programming. These programmes tend to be longer and people tune in and out over a period of time. The number of listeners can change dramatically throughout a single show, for example a breakfast programme’s biggest audience might be around 8.00am but could have dropped dramatically by around 8.45am when everyone is on their way to work. So the statistics will include a measure of average listening hours and also of something called ‘reach’. This is the number of individuals listening to a station for at least five consecutive minutes in an average week.

Online

The Internet has brought about a revolution in understanding audiences. There are a variety of ways to find out who is watching or listening to your work. Blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger provide instant information. YouTube shows real time views and of you can see immediately how many people have downloaded a podcast.

If you decide to launch your career online, then you will soon become an expert on your online audience. How you choose to measure who is watching and listening to your work will depend on your aims. If you are hoping for a job in mainstream TV and radio you may only want an audience of key industry professionals accessing your work. If you are hoping to monetize your content, you will be looking for large numbers of listeners and viewers and a variety of ways to generate revenue, such as advertising, click-through sales and affiliate marketing.

MANAGING YOUR CAREER

One of the key skills you are going to develop throughout this book is being able to understand your own strengths and weaknesses. It is important you have a clear idea where you are heading as a presenter and have the resilience to accept good and bad luck.

We all know presenting is a tough job, but things can go wrong, even for the most experienced presenter. They might do a great job technically, but the audience just doesn’t seem to like them.

In 2015 the BBC re-launched the international hit show Top Gear with a new onscreen line-up, including veteran presenter Chris Evans. If you don’t know the story take a look online. He is an incredibly experienced broadcaster who is passionate about cars and yet for this show his presenting style just didn’t seem to work. The audience didn’t warm to him and viewing figures dropped. Within two months of the first new show he quit.

The lesson to learn is that however much you plan, practise and prepare, some of a presenter’s career will be down to luck. Doing well in this career is as much about how you manage failure and rejection as the successes.

ON AIR

Here is your first practical exercise. Record yourself repeating your name five times, but in ways that would appeal to different audiences. You can do audio or video.

Think about the tone of your voice, speed of presentation and the expression on your face. Watch or listen to your recording back. (It is not always easy, but you will soon get used to it.) Can you tell the difference between your recordings?

You might find you don’t, but no worries. Have another go and experiment with different ways to change your delivery.

KNOWING YOUR SUBJECT

It seems almost too obvious to say that the best presenters are experts in their subject area or particular presenting style. When you start-out though, it can be easy to overlook the benefits of developing a style and specialism.

How many of us have gone for a job interview and been so keen we have said we can do ‘anything’? But what the employer was really looking for was skill and expertise in a particular area. Later on in this book there will be suggestions and ideas for subject areas which might be good starting points to build the expertise and gain enough presenting experience to secure your first formal job.

TECHNICAL SKILL

Being a presenter IS loads of fun, but you need a remarkable amount of technical knowledge too. Whether it is knowing how to write your own scripts, read an ‘autocue’ or stand on a