0499 – Off-The-Page and Off-The-Cuff

2022.05.14 – 0499 – Off-The-Page and Off-The-Cuff

Conversational

The best two-ways are a balance between what’s off-the-page and what’s off-the-cuff. ‘Structured improvisation’ if you like, working with the script but not word for word. Choreographed.

Reading every question and answer just as it was composed at a desk makes the flow, go … and unless you and the host are great actors, may sound stilted and artificial.

So usually, you can both reply in bullet points – key facts and figures. For a complicated or controversial topic (especially court cases) those can have a bit more detail in them.

Incorporate some of the tricks we have already seen:

·        Call each other by name, naturally

·        Use phrases such as “of course” and “y’know”

·        Verbally agree with each other as they talk “uh-huh”, “mmmm” and then as you start a sentence “yes, that’s right”.

In such a situation, the odd stumble (that’s a small mistake, and not many of them) makes the reporter seem more human, more authentic especially at a breaking news story for example in a typhoon or outside a court room.

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