If a coaching client were to tell me that they only had time for one recommendation from me, I’d say, “No problem. Learn how to breathe.” If you are any kind of performance professional — and doing the news on television is a performance profession — breathing is the foundation for everything else you need […]

Building trust…begins with talk about trust — talk combined with action, to be sure, but talk first of all. We are creatures who talk, and therefore we are thinking, reflective creatures. We don’t just avow our trust, we examine it, and we can thereby create and build it. Robert C. Solomon and Fernando Flores, building […]

“My producer keeps telling me that my pitch is too high.” “I don’t like the sound of my voice – I think it sounds too high.” “Will smoking and drinking whiskey help me get a deeper voice?” Elevated pitch, or a voice that is “too high”, is a common complaint for both male and female clients.  […]

When security put the United States Capitol Building on lockdown late one July afternoon, NBC Washington’s Scott McFarlane was on the Live Desk. Little about the situation was known, and the station had no reporters or photographers in the vicinity of the trouble. Calmly and steadily, the veteran reporter began with what he had — a […]

“What’s the secret to connecting with an audience?” When Harvard Business Review put this question to Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) a few years back, his answer was as profound and applicable to delivering the news as it was to doing his Vegas magic act. Here’s a part of what he said: If […]

Research is showing that viewers in all dayparts are listening more and watching less, so the way you use your voice may be more important than ever. Close your eyes and listen to this presentation on by CNN’s Tom Foreman — on the 2016 Amtrak crash. It’s as notable for the way he speaks as it is […]

Note: This is a repost of a blog entry featuring the legendary Jim Vance, one of the most respected and beloved anchors in the history of local television news. He left behind a body of work that is evergreen in its ability to teach all of us what authenticity in delivery really looks and sounds […]

When you’re committed to understanding what viewers value, there is no substitute for asking the viewers themselves. In this excerpt from a focus group of 25-54 year old women in a Top 10 market, they talk about the kind of performance and personality they prefer when they watch morning news. As you watch and listen, remember that […]