Remind Me

Remind Me

Picture this…. you’ve attended your best friend’s milestone birthday celebration that just happens to fall on 31 December and you’ve been asked to make a birthday and New Year’s Resolution speech all in one. Your first thought is how the guests might despise being reminded of their age!

Besides your attempt at humour and diplomacy it occurs to you that perhaps it’s time you returned to the GP for a once-over and perhaps a right kick in the pants. When you receive the embarrassing reminder call that you’ve missed your appointment you realise this is something that really must be addressed!

Your GP tells you it’s just a matter of old age, as your mind flashes back to the New Year’s Eve fireworks and that birthday speech but you contemplate how you can change the ‘thereafter’ stigma, where you can’t remember what you went there for and what you were after!

So, your best and honest birthday friend reminds you to write a checklist. “Check it and check it again!”, she says.  She tells you that surely as a speaker and radio presenter you need checklists and you agree that yes, there have been times when things fall apart.  As you recall some of those moments you remember that live audiences tend to be more forgiving but for those unseen audiences, a few seconds of silence can seem like an eternity. You search through your PC files and find an old mic checklist:

• Is the power on?
• Is it plugged into the correct socket?
• Remember not to turn your head away when speaking
• Keep your mouth a closed hand-span away from the mic
• Breathe but keep your sighs and your lip-smacking sounds off mic
• If you’re going to burp either turn the mic off or move well away
• A mic can be tell-tale for nerves
• Got a cold?  Keep the mic virus free
• Avoid bumping the microphone or banging the desk as noise carries
• Keep your hands off the mic – it’s not a crutch
• Shyness shows, particularly if you don’t know where to stand
• Turn off your mobile phone
• Keep other sound equipment, speakers and other mics well away
• Test it before going live
• Aim the mic correctly

So what are your techniques? As you age gracefully, what could you post on your fridge door as a reminder of not how old you are, but how young your mind can be?

Tags: Articles, audio, Audio