Recently, I listened to a morning show host do the News. I’m not a big fan of this, but in this case it’s necessary; a budget issue.
The stories were okay, but because News is so “left brain” informational, it came out in almost a dead monotone. Here’s what I said in our next session:
I know things get busy, and it’s easy to get focused on story count, pronunciations, and time. But you should avoid letting anything keep you from sounding as conversational as possible. If you sound interested in what you’re saying, chances are the listener will be, too.
Obviously, it’s not just reading a News story that can freeze you up. Commercial copy, badly written “liners” (eww) or “announcements” that are written in “print language” instead of how we would actually say it to another human, can easily lead to sounding robotic. That’s not likely to connect with the listener.
I say this all the time: Just TALK to me like you would to your best friend over lunch.
