Blog
Can I be the first to wish you: A Very Happy New Year
As I write, the November events ‘rush’ is in full swing. On the telly the big retailers have unveiled their seasonal commercials to encourage us all to spend even more this year, and frankly I’m sick of Christmas already. So I’m looking past it to the first couple of months of 2024, and...
Reading Allowed
This week I've voiced a couple of awards shows (and one football match - but that's a different story), for the second of which I turned up very early due to train times. I'd much rather be early than late anyway, and it came in useful that day* because when I got the script it was, shall we say,...
Voice Of God? or Voice Presenter? What’s the difference?
When I’m asked what I do for a living, I usually say I’m an announcer for live events and most people sort of know what that means - even if they’re probably thinking of something slightly different. If I say ‘Voice Of God’ it usually gets a smile with a slight tinge of disbelief that there could...
Random Memory #6 – I’m not going to tell them…
Another random memory from my (much) younger days on radio stations around the UK.I saw a post the other day with a recent picture in a radio studio featuring someone I worked with at a different radio station - gulp - forty years ago. So I went searching, and found this picture* of Phil White...
Ordinary words, in an odd order
Greys Court is a National Trust stately home near Henley, it's very old and has oodles of history but it's not that big and was lived in till 2003 so it's quite 'human' as stately homes go.It has the usual quota of portraits and landscapes on the walls and all very appropriate. But then, in a...
Make the most of your voice presenter
How do you make sure the person you've booked to do the talking at your event says the things you want them to?(This list is in ascending order - feel free to imagine chart rundown-type music if you want to)4. Write the words for them.Seems like a no-brainer, but if your event needs a human feel -...
Jonathan, but more so
A thought inspired by voiceover artist Kathryn Vinclaire* talking about 'personality' in doing voiceovers.'Personality' is something we know when we encounter it but it's impossible to measure.In my particular line of live events, making it clear (without ever actually saying it!) that I'm there...
You should do that for a living!
Quote of the week: "You should do that for a living!" - event producer upon hearing me do a VOG as a one-off (I was there to do something else).Well, what does one say - apart from "I do!".They called me 'Voice Of The Coronation' after that, I had to keep denying that it was at all glamorous...
Expanding the options for the on-stage host
Why you need me on your event, part umpty-seven: Expanding the options for the on-stage host. So: you're looking for an exciting, attractive, funny person to be the 'face' of your event, and you've found several possibles who tick all those boxes and well within budget. Excellent - but there's...
Event organisers, I feel your pain…
What's the hardest part for an organiser of a glitzy awards event or large corporate conference?The moment it starts.Till now you've had hands-on every detail, you've known exactly what's being organised at every stage and you've got on very very intimate terms with your master spreadsheet.But now...
A very exclusive club
Well, that was a week.I spent the previous week teasing my social media about a couple of high-profile jobs in the offing, and TBH I'm still restricted in the info I can give.So, being careful what I say: Friday I spent working on the AGM of one of the major high street banks as the 'Voice Of The...
Random Memory #5 – Hello Possum!
I wouldn't normally do another Random Memory so soon after the last one, but this has been prompted by the weekend's sad news, it's another from my radio days (best part of forty years ago 🤔 ).The place: Broadcasting House, LeedsThe time: a weekday morning.The station: BBC Radio Leeds - in the...
Random Memory #4 – Warhorse
*Now! Listen as I revisit my past* Another in the random series of random memories from a lifetime of radio, TV and live events: today’s is of a very memorable moment at the Savoy in November 2014. I can be precise about the date because this awards had a theme of “Wartime”, the same...
Sleeve tattoos, the Yamaha Fizzy and The New Conformity.
I've just read a comment that now more people have tattoos than don't - I don't know whether that's true but certainly it's less of a sharp-intake-of-breath to see an entire arm covered in some intricate design. You want to express yourself? Go for it. You want to be trendy and like people you...
Random Memory #3 – when I nod my head…
*Now! Listen as I revisit my past* Another in my erratic series of random memories from a lifetime of talking while pressing buttons 😎 Commenting on someone's post today about nerves when going on stage, has brought to mind the most nervous I've ever been when working. In my...
Behind the scenes at the Awards – who let that video camera in?
Here's the first ever video of me doing my job - the only qualification for which is to be able to read out loud, right? Look a little more closely: 1. Reading a complicated...
Random memory #2 – Tonight I’m going to be: a haggis
*Now! Listen as I revisit my past* Today's memory is from almost forty years ago when I was a lot younger and not quite so wise. I was working on a radio station that did live cookery every Monday afternoon with a visiting expert (whose name I seem to remember was Miranda). The...
Random Memory #1 – Taking dictation from Sting
*Now! Listen as I revisit my past* A random memory of one of the weirdest things to happen in my many years in events. I was booked to showcall and announce a star-studded event called 'Peace One Day', a 20-year celebration. We'd done a yearly event previously but then it had gone...
Why have a Voiceologist?
What's the advantage to you, as an event organiser, of having The Voiceologist in the shadows with a microphone at your conference/SKO/AGM/Awards? Let me count the ways...* Timing. If I'm reading a list of nominees for an award and one gets an especially loud cheer and applause, I can ride the...
VOG musings
(September 2022) I’m writing this offstage left at the Aylesbury Waterside theatre, which will fill with people in about an hour for the 2022 Buckinghamshire Business Awards. Tonight’s format is pretty standard - for each award the on-stage presenter introduces a sponsor who reads a list of...