Updates

It's been 9 months since I last wrote a blog, so I thought that it was probably about time that I wrote another one. Time has flown by this year and it's been a really hectic one, hence why I forgot all about writing blogs!

Radio:

I've got to the point where I can now successfully present a show alone without freaking out about it, as mentioned in previous posts all the way back in 2011. Radio for me is one of those things that gets easier each time that you do it until eventually it becomes not such a big thing after all.

I've recently started training a new presenter, a girl I went to school and college with. Even though she would probably appear more confident than me if you met her in person, she reminds me of myself when I first started out in radio. The way that she reminds me of myself? She doesn't talk that much when on air. In person she's one of the most confident people I know, but put a microphone in front of her and like myself when I first started presenting, she is lost for words.

Instead of throwing her in the deep end and asking her to ask the band questions when I run out of questions (as happened to me when I first started radio presenting), I try to give her cues and things to say so that she doesn't feel on the spot and under pressure. This seems to be helping as she is getting more and more confident each time she helps to present a show and will more than likely soon be talking more than I do!

Speaking of microphones:

The new obstacle to get over for me is now going to be speaking on stage in front of an audience. I was recently asked why I can speak on the radio each week with who knows how many people listening in, but find it intimidating to speak on stage in front of an audience. The answer? In the comfort of a radio station studio I have little or no audience sat there watching me, but on a stage all eyes are on me, which at first can be a seriously daunting experience.

Now that I am running a schools music programme with social enterprise Young Music, it's just another one of those things I'm going to have to get used to every time that I have to go up on stage. Practice makes perfect right?

Here's a photo of me on stage at O2 Academy Sheffield, one of many future 'on stage speaking' pictures no doubt.