#8: Know How to Shut Your Mouth

This one is simple. Don't get caught like a deer in headlights. Preparation is key, and while emphasis is often put on a Host's very first impression, I would argue its how you leave them that solidified that. It's one of the first bits of live broadcasting advice I ever received and it hold true to this day. Know how you will END a segment before you begin. 
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When doing any kind of side-line reporting, red carpets, interviews, or stand up, especially when you are LIVE, knowing how you will end a segment can save you from eternal embarrassment, or awkwardness. Just google news reporter gifs and you'll find plenty of bloopers. Of course some of these are unavoidable, like the man who had a fly enter his mouth (I feel you sir. I'd have spat too), button thing is for sure, these mistakes are memorable, if not immortalized on video forever. 

'Knowing how to end'  may sound like common sense, but like the role itself, Hosting always looks easier than it is.
But I digress. Your "landing" in a broadcast has VALUE. Sometimes it anchors your segment. Sometimes it leads into a deeper story. In a later post, I'll talk about how the executive at a major entertainment cable network recently told me to add all of my years of LIVE broadcasting skills to my resume. "But isn't that obvious?" I replied, having worked in a newsroom. "Doesn't matter- its a lost art, and people are too easily edited now."  In other words, live TV doesn't forgive, And no one wanted to end up on a YouTube blooper reel. 

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