REPORTER’S DIARY: How Seminar Stimulates My Passion For Broadcasting by Ademola Toheeb

I’m so happy to be a member of Press club MAPOLY, and also excited to be at the Broadcast Journalism Master Class Seminar, as being a member of the club has availed me the opportunity because if not for press club, I don’t think I can ever participate in that seminar.

After all, the Seminar has been of great impact on my life being a broadcast journalist in training. I gained a lot of things I never knew before because I was opportune to meet a lot of veteran broadcasters from home and abroad who are already on the field, the likes of Mrs. Ify Onyeg, and Mr. Yemi Shodimu, and lots more.

I couldn’t contain my joy being an ND1 student and was privileged to sit among veteran broadcasters across the world, especially Mr. Yemi Shodimu who I have been listening to his programs right from my childhood days. That alone, spurred more interest and passion for broadcast journalism, and the way he addressed us at the seminar

During the seminar, I learned so many things about broadcast journalism and public speaking.

As a broadcast journalist, I realized that you need to learn, relearn and unlearn because broadcasting is a wide terrain that needs to be taken seriously.

Furthermore, I learned that being a journalist, you need to keep improving daily to keep up with the trend in the profession as it keeps changing every day.

I was also privileged to know the things that make up good programs and how to produce effective radio and television programs.

During the seminar, I learned that there are many procedures to broadcasting that a presenter should take cognizance of to produce effective programs. The procedures are:

Adequate preparation, that is you must get yourself prepared ahead of the program, and as the words say "proper planning prevents poor performance".

Do your research ahead of the topic you want to discuss in the program because a presentation isn’t just about talking, it covers a lot of things.

Writing a script, allows you to control the program content, structure, and flow.

Get familiar with social media.

Ability to persuade and captivate your listener’s attention matters.

Make Sure your arguments are persuasive enough.

Try to get your listeners emotionally triggered.

Make sure you have a good intro because the opening statement grabs interest and establishes your credibility.

Your conclusion also attracts the listeners.

Make sure you are sufficiently familiar with the topic you want to speak on

Make sure you include the 5ws and H in your presentation as it attracts listeners’ attention.

You should never neglect your strongest armor which is your reading culture(read a lot and broaden your understanding of several subjects).

Be yourself and don’t try to copy others try to be unique in your presentation.

Pay attention to the rhythm.

You must know your target; that is you must understand your listener’s reactions.

Learn how to pronounce names, places, persons, etc, especially those names that are not your language name.

By doing all this, you will produce a good program either on radio or television.

And in the aspects of public speaking, I learned that the quality of public speakers lies in their competency and in the ability to persuade and carry the audience along.

On this note, I will urge my fellow press club members to attend media seminars regularly as it helps in the area of their academics and also in the field of journalism.

Ademola Toheeb olawale is an ND1 student at Mass Communication.