Talking

the conversation can often lead to awkwardness or simply dry upand neither is desirable. Instead, focus on open questions. If youintend to use closed questions (and they can be very powerful usedright) then ensure you have the right comeback stored.For example, a good closed question would be “Happy with the wayyou played?” – Answer is “yes” and you immediately respond with“Why?” which will in turn open up the discussion without promptingthem. I’ve often heard questions like “How do you feel” asked ofwinners when it’s obvious they feel great. Instead, reframe thequestion to be “You must be feeling great, but tell us what winningthat match means to you”.There is also a trick on the panel if you are a panellist which is if youare given a bad question, simply use the phrase “Well, I think thereal question is…” and then pose your own question to yourself!That should get you out of any trouble.INTRODUCTIONS AND FUNNELINGWhen you start broadcasting at large events and on TV shows, you’lllikely have a host take care of most of what I call ‘the fluff’. Thatincludes things like welcomes and introductions, but that said youstill need to know how to do them and do them properly. If youhave a host, they will often introduce you and therefore when itcomes to you, you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) reintroduce yourselfor your co-commentators. It’s important to work with the host,too, and by ignoring what they just handed off to you with, youaren’t working as part of a team.62