encore
Quips, tips and parting shots
Before You Grab the Mic
When it comes to effec
tive microphone tech
nique, you’d think
we’d all be pros,
right? I mean, we’re
speakers, for cryin’
out loud! We use microphones all the
time, but here’s what typically happens:
1. The speaker, who we’ll call Bob (al
though his real name is Warren) ar
rives at the venue.
2. The A/V person (or, in some cases,
the hotel employee with the least
seniority) hands Bob a wireless lava
liere.
3. Bob clips the mic to his jacket.
4. Bob hopes for the best.
As powerful and foolproof as this
system is, we actually can improve upon
it. Here are five tips to get the most out
of your lavaliere mic:
• Insist (politely, of course) on new
batteries and watch them being put in
(otherwise, they’ll always tell you the
batteries are fresh).
The Original
Mr. Microphone
Professional speakers can thank
Emile Berliner for inventing the
microphone. In 1876, he saw the
newly invented telephone demonstrated at the U.S. Centennial Exposition and was inspired to find ways
to improve it. The Bell Telephone
Company was impressed with
Berliner’s invention and bought his
microphone patent for $50,000.
SoUrCE: www.wIkIanSwErS.Com
• Place the mic dead center. If your
wardrobe doesn’t accommodate this—
get a new performance wardrobe. (If
your brain surgeon told you, “My outfit
isn’t conducive to me holding a scal
pel,” you’d want her to rethink that
outfit, wouldn’t you?)
• Don’t wear silk. It’s generally too
flimsy to support the weight of the mic,
and it’s really scratchy when the mic
rubs against it.
• Always use the windscreen (the
little foam rubber ball that fits over
the top of the mic). It helps you in two
ways: 1) It reduces “popping” (that ex
plosive sound that can happen if you
get too enthusiastic with your p’s and
b’s), and 2) It reduces the aforemen
tioned scratchy sound if you ignored
my advice about silk.
The most important tip of all is: Nev
er simply turn the mic off when you use
the rest room (or finish your speech).
Always unplug the mic from the trans
mitter. Take it from a TV guy: On/off
switches can short out at the most inop
portune times. On the plus side, the au
dience will certainly remember you!
Bill Stainton, a 29-time Emmy
Award winner, has written for
HBO, Comedy Central, NPR,
and The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno. He can be reached
at bill@ovationconsulting.com
