Sport Presenter Pace

Working with Des Lynam gave [Steve Rider] a blueprint of how to present sport. "The lesson I learnt from Des was ‘the greater the tension, the slower the delivery."

A clip from a 2022 interview with a former English tv sport anchorman, now compiling an archive of motorsport media.

Des Lynam is widely considered these Isles' best ever studio sporting linkman.

Smooth, his watchword. In the chaos of live tv presenting, his head remained the coolest around.

What a wonderful takeaway this career-defining steer is.

It reminded me of the Michael Caine acting advice, emanating from the fact that the more important someone is, the deeper, the more deliberate, they speak.

Consider this next time you're in a big presentation. Making the key point in conversation with prospect. Describing something really important in the balance.

Practice this technique. Slow down your killer phrase. The one(s) you want to stick in the prospect mind. Perfect the delivery of it with a touch of precision, and purpose.

And finally, with apologies to Kipling, an opening couplet remix occurs;

If you can keep your head when all about you  
   Are spinning theirs and piling junk on you