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, tricky to read.
Here’s exactly what it said (although I’ve anonymised it)
VOG:
Abbot & Costello will be celebrating this win amongst some seriously competitive peers in the market.
The judges have awarded this category to Abbot & Costello, for clearly and passionately ‘taking a stand’ on key topics, influencing and actively sharing knowledge within the industry. They felt within the current market, this is more crucial than ever. When it comes to human rights risks, Abbot & Costello demonstrate a strong symbol of importance on its topics and innovatively consider new solutions.
Additionally, Abbot & Costello stand out with proactive ABCD support and advice to clients, especially when it comes to easing concerns and ironing out misunderstandings.
ABCD is the main concern now for the European market, and human rights is the growing concern. Abbot & Costello are leading on both.
This was for the ‘Grab-And-Grin’, so I’m talking over music and applause and being very fast and enthusiastic because the winner has just been announced and they’re up on stage having their photos taken.
That’s not easy with sentences like “Additionally, Abbot & Costello stand out with proactive ABCD support…” and also the photos will finish with no warning and most likely when I’m halfway through.
No blame to the writers, they’re not scriptwriters and don’t know what’s needed. I do, though. So I did a re-write and it came out like this (again, anonymised):
VOG:
Abbot & Costello have been recognised for clearly and passionately ‘taking a stand’ on key topics.
They stand out with proactive ABCD support and advice to clients, easing concerns and ironing out misunderstandings.
ABCD is the main concern now for the European market, human rights is the growing concern. Abbot & Costello are leading on both.
This client, bless them, are all in favour of me polishing up the words because they know they can trust me to make it work while not losing any of the important points.
So now I’m telling some friends about it in the pub rather than reading out a statement at a press conference, and the result is more excitement in the room, more of a buzz, and a better event – it’s as simple as that.
The takeaway from this is that If you have a Voice Presenter you can trust to give added value by doing more than just talking into the microphone, then value them.
If you don’t – then contact me and acquire one!
*(Why was being early so useful? The editing I’ve described took maybe ten minutes, and it was one of twenty-six awards…)