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4 Tips For Better On-Air Performance
June 11, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Average talent talk about a subject. Great talent share a thought. The difference is subtle but understanding this is a fundamental key to successful communication. A subject may be "a shooting in a neighboring town." When you choose to talk about that subject, there are no mental boundaries created; you can offer up any thought, idea, feeling or information about the "shooting in a neighboring town." If your words loosely relate to the subject you can share them. By not narrowing your focus, you have created a wide scope to explore and discuss
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Music isn't our competitive difference. What happens between the music is what separates us, and in particular our talent. We need talent who can communicate with emotion, who can tell vivid stories and show themselves to the audience. Here are 4 tips that will help your on air performance regardless of what format you're in:
- Talk for impact, not time. Being a personality is about authentically sharing your opinions, perspectives, thoughts and emotions with your audience. That alone is not enough; you need to share those thoughts in a way that has impact. Impact is about communicating with conviction. Starting with a strong, provocative position. Impact is achieved with clarity of thought and the right words and is often weakened by duration. If you want to be heard then opt for the fewest possible words needed to communicate your point of view. Impact matters. Duration doesn't.
- Share thoughts, not subjects. Average talent talk about a subject. Great talent share a thought. The difference is subtle but understanding this is a fundamental key to successful communication. A subject may be "a shooting in a neighboring town." When you choose to talk about that subject, there are no mental boundaries created; you can offer up any thought, idea, feeling or information about the "shooting in a neighboring town." If your words loosely relate to the subject you can share them. By not narrowing your focus, you have created a wide scope to explore and discuss. Choosing to share a thought about the subject may see a talent say something like, "There must be nothing more terrifying than starring down the barrel of a gun." The talent then spends the rest of the break sharing thoughts and examples to support or emphasize their point (the initial thought). It focuses the talk, making it more visual, compelling and easier to consume.
- Start with the end. You need to reverse engineer your breaks. Start with the end line and work backwards. Think about the final emotion you want people to experience. Then work out how you can get to that ending in the most efficient way. Too often breaks fail to entertain because there is no direction; talent simply believes they will make it work in the moment. That's foolish and often evident on the air. You need to know where you're heading or you won't get there. Stand-up comedians often write the punch line first, your break should be constructed in the same way.
- Hook upfront. Winston Churchill was a master of storytelling. He believed you needed to "Begin strongly and start with emotion." He is quoted as saying, "Move the audience. I don't care how, just move them." Ask yourself, 'What is my strongest reaction (thought/feeling) to this topic?" and "Why do I want to share this with the audience?" The answer will lead you to the hook. That is the part you should get into the first sentence of your break. Your audience will make a decision to listen or not based on how quickly you grab their attention and pique their interest. Do it quickly!
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