Commentary on my observation

I attended a presenting course where I observed the other aspiring presenters who all wanted to transition from their various careers into the television industry. All of the people would have been using a different skill set for their current jobs so I mainly concentrated on observing how the skills they currently had (presumably from the current education, training or work) affected how they performed as a presenter. It was then easy to identify which skills were transferable to making an affective presenter and perhaps which of their skills or attributes may hinder their chances of success. From this I would like to conclude the vital skills necessary to be a good presenter no matter what career you are originally from.

PARTICIPANT A (Female):  A singer wanting to transition to a television presenter. She had previously trained as a singer and gone on to perform at various events and parties. She wanted to go into television to increase career opportunities and be known by the public! The skills which she acquired as a singer which came through as noticeably effective while she was presenting were:

·         Confidence

·         Good tone of voice with expression and use of light and shade

·         Ability to memorise scripts quickly

·         Knowledge of a specialist area (she did a specialist piece on technical singing and how not to injure your vocal chords during practice before a performance)

·         Professional singing training qualifies her as an expert and to show expertise

PARTICIPANT B (Female): A dancer wanting to transition to a television presenter. She wanted to go into television as she was struggling to find work as a dancer and felt her strong points may lie in using her personality. Skills gained as a dancer which shone through when presenting:

·         Good memory and ability to memorise scripts quickly

·         Confidence

·         Energy

·         Personal presentation

·         Focused (maybe slightly too serious for television?)

·         Good networking (constantly talking to the person running the course, cameraman etc)

PARTICIPANT C (Male): A historian and history teacher wanting to transition to a presenter. He wants to go into television due to a genuine desire to create a specific set of history programmes to make history fun and accessible for everyone. Skills gained which were useful for presenting:

·         SPECIALIST EXPERT KNOWLEDGE (clear ideas of a specific programme he would like to make and why that should be on TV)

·         Quick witted

·         Good memory

·         Intelligent

·         Eloquent

However, despite the advantage of the specialist expertise in one area he was lacking in confidence and spontaneity. Perhaps due to having a job which is so structured and always planned. He did not cope well when asked to complete tasks quickly or improvise in an interview situation.

PARTICIPANT D (Male): An accountant wanting to transition to a presenter. The reason for the transition is loss of passion for his current line of work and just wanting to do something completely different. Skills acquired as an accountant which helped him as a presenter:

·         Intelligence

·         Well presented and smart

·         Confident

·         Attention to detail

However, he lacked the ability to write his own scripts and to memorise lines. This could be due to working with numbers instead of words and made the filming process much slower which could be a hindrance when working with producers on tight time frames.