Presenting Tips

30 Jun 08

Questions from the audience at the RTS Futures event to the How to be a presenter panel.

Do you ever get star-struck?

Steve Jones: “If there’s comedy in being a little bit star-struck … that’s great, but I think it’s important to be fearless as a presenter — nobody wants to watch a blubbering wreck … But you need to know your place when you’re interviewing an ‘A list’ superstar. People want to hear what they’re saying.”

How do you project your personality to an agent?

Francis Ridley: “Often people spend a lot of time constructing a beautifully edited show reel … whereas all you want to see is that person walk and talk and learn something about them … Make sure it’s simply about you. Everyone’s got attention deficit disorder these days — you’ve got about 20 seconds to get somebody’s attention … So, if you waste those seconds cutting a montage like a pop video, you’re screwed … go straight for the jugular — what are you about.”

Is slumming it on a shopping channel ever a good idea?

Steve Jones: “What will be detrimental to your presenting is not presenting … Flexibility is all about being flexible but still being you, not putting on a wig and pretending to be Tom Cruise selling shitty bracelets.”

Do you have to be an expert if you want to present travel or property shows?

Francis Ridley: “You need to have some understanding of what you’re talking about. Certainly in the last five years a lot of broadcasters have come from a specialist background …  Viewers these days know when somebody’s cheating them.”
Andy Auerbach: “If you look at Kevin McCloud on [C4’s] Grand Designs, you wouldn’t say he fits the conventional presenter stereotype. He just happens to know a lot about the subject and is passionate … that’s why he makes a fantastic presenter.”

Do you rate TV presenting courses?

Francis Ridley: “I think they are an absolute waste of time.”

Is getting a break hard work or luck?

Fearne Cotton: “Anyone who’s a presenter will never deny that we’re all lucky buggers … but you can’t just wait for a break. You’ve got to be prepared for when you get that big gig.”
Steve Jones: “There’s no substitute for hard work. You can’t just lock yourself in your bedroom and say, ‘They’ll find me’.”

Do presenters have a sell-by date?

Francis Ridley: “There’s no sell-by date in terms of age — look at Dr David Starkey. Where there is a sell-by date is where someone has been going for years and years and not broken through.”
Paul Jackson: “Michael Parkinson had a very quiet patch in the middle of his career and went out at the top. Noel Edmonds had a period in the wilderness. You can go down but you can also come back up again … When opportunity knocked again they were ready — they’d never given up.”

Is it harder for women to make it in presenting?

Fearne Cotton: “As a general presenter you stand just as much chance as a bloke — it’s about you as an individual and whether you’re passionate about the job … It’s probably easier because you can glam yourself up and trot on down looking hot.”

Top Tips from the panel

Steve Jones: “Be nice.”
Fearne Cotton: “As soon as you go into presenter mode, it goes tits up … you have to be you.”
Francis Ridley: “Don’t be a tourist … most people who really want something get something. Do the homework — know what you’re talking about.”
Andy Auerbach: “There are so many channels … and everybody’s obsessed with finding the next big thing, so you’re pushing at an open door. Stick with it.”