0730 – Skilling Up To Be Godlike

2022.12.31 – 0730 – Skilling Up To Be Godlike

Additional skills

·        You need to be able to ask questions, use initiative and take direction when presenting in this situation. You need to be diplomatic: who are you taking direction from? The sound engineer, the stage manager, the MD of the company, the hotel manager…?

·        You need to work well under pressure, being script-accurate, possibly while hearing in-ear directions from a stage director.

·        You must be able to recover after a stumble and able to adlib, perhaps when a ‘golden envelope’ goes missing or when you are asked to make an announcement and there’s no time to write it down and you have to compose it in your head and say it fluently. Maybe someone has pulled out from attending. You can rehearse a few ‘skeleton scripts’ (the kind of thing you would say, obviously not every single scenario) in your mind for emergencies such as an evacuation, a sudden death of a guest and so on.

·        Concentration is a key skill: being ‘in the moment’ and ‘on page’, not just watching what is happening on stage and off, but taking it in and being ready in case you are ‘thrown to’.

·        You need to have the patience to read a script for several hours and maintain energy.

You may be live at the event or you may be asked to pre-record the announcements. With ‘live’ you can be more involved, play to the energy of the audience and react to anything that happens. With recorded there’s the reassurance of correct pronunciations, fewer nerves and an edited and so faultless presentation, and the sound engineer at the event can press ‘play’ exactly when the next announcement is required. 

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