Talking

THE KEYS TO SUCCESS ON ANY FORMATRegardless of whether you’re broadcasting on TV, video, audio orany other format past, present or future, there are several thingsthat you can do to ensure a successful cast each and every time. Infact, I have developed my own little mantra that I use every timeregardless of how big the job is. This has come to be known as “thefour Ps”.PREPARATIONAs I explained earlier, preparation is the first key to a great cast. Itdoesn’t make the cast great on its own, and in fact it usually won’thave any impact on the cast being great at all - it’s usually how excitingthe game itself is that decides how great it was. However, lackof preparation will almost certainly make a great game a bad cast,and a terrible game even worse.Remember the viewer or listener is relying on you, and will oftenput a lot of faith in you for information on the players, the teams,their backgrounds and the stories around them. They’re relying onyou to make these virtual characters come to life, and for you tohumanise what, to the outsider, looks like a very non-human sport.To do this, you will have to spend the time required researching thematch or tournament ahead. You also have to be 100% sure whatyou are about to say is 100% correct - again, your integrity will beheavily damaged if you say something that simply isn’t true. Sure,we all make mistakes, but without preparation, you will make moremistakes and be taken less seriously. Eventually you won’t be trustedat all, and that’s about as bad as it gets as a commentator.22