Phyo Phyo Khine made the difficult transition from radio into TV and event presenting. Presenters need to be stylish, quick witted and unfazed when things go wrong, which is often. Pic: Christopher Davy

“OH! What a stupid presenter! He doesn’t even understand the program; he called out the wrong name from the list!” shouts an audience member during an event presentation.

TV, radio and event presenters are often derided when they make a mistake, however small, and receive only mild praise for doing their job successfully. Yet in Myanmar’s rapidly growing presenting market there is more to the job than just turning up, looking pretty and cracking a few jokes.
Ma Tin Moe Lwin, 38, is a professional presenter and managing director of the Talents & Models Agency.

“My mother says that I’ve wanted to speak non-stop since I was two or three years old. This habit made me become a presenter; I love to speak to people,” she said.

“Another reason for becoming a presenter is the nature of my job. When a commercial company wanted to promote their product with my models, I used to present [their events] because I understood their company and their product well… Over time other companies invited me to present their events. I have been presenting for over 10 years,” she added.

Ma Tin Moe Lwin has become so successful that in 2006 she started giving lectures on presenting. In 2007 she created two courses for aspiring presenters, which can be taken in Yangon and Mandalay.

Ma Tin Moe Lwin is widely acknowledged as one of Myanmar’s pioneer event presenters, having created a route into the presenting industry that is now being followed by many others since 2002. Many of the aspiring presenters have migrated from radio where their ability to speak clearly and think on their feet are highly regarded skills.

Of all the radio stations, FM Radio is the most famous for having presenters migrate to event and TV presenting.

Phyo Phyo Khine, the presenter of “Searching Beauty in the Beautiful World’, broadcast on Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) entered the TV industry having first worked in radio.

“In 2001, I was working at Yangon Directory when my boss started to establish FM Radio. He chose some presenters from among his Yangon Directory staff. I passed the vocal tests and was chosen to be a presenter as part of the first batch. I presented on three programs — Yangon Top 20, Myanmar Video in a Week and Popular Choice — for five years.

Even for radio presenters, the work can often be very difficult. Ko Zaya Linn, who has presented shows on FM radio for three years, says that providing voiceover for advertising programs can be very challenging.

“Some clients write down their own text and let me speak it but some words are not familiar to me, which makes it difficult. I write my two programs myself. Yet sometimes, although I am satisfied with my speech the client will not like it so I have to do several recordings until they’re happy. Sometime I have to speak a single word such as ‘Yes’ or ‘Ok’ in four or five different styles. If you are not really interested in this job, you can not work as a presenter for a long time”.

The live nature of event presenting can create even more difficulties. For Ma Tin Moe Lwin, to be a good presenter: “You should have a good commanding voice and a pleasant personality, should be neat and tidy in the way you dress and be good at what you do, such as stepping on to the stage and walking in style. How you present yourself to the audience is important and every manner and gesture should be attractive. You must also be witty,” she said.

Whilst the stylistic elements of presenting are necessary, it’s also important to have a good background knowledge and understanding of what the event is about.

“You have to read books as much as you can, you have to know general information about the thing you have to present, even if it is basic knowledge it can boost your confidence when you are presenting. These are the basics of radio presenting but for an event presenter there are many unexpected obstacles we have to face… presenters are like the mask of events, behind us there may be many problems that need resolving for an event to finish successfully,” said Ko Zaya Linn.

While Phyo Phyo Khine found that the transition from radio to TV required learning many new skills, it has since been possible to apply the skills she learnt in radio and TV to event presenting.

“I had some difficulties in front of the cameras at first but I was already used to [TV] presenting. The difference between the two types of presenting is that I have to learn all the speeches by heart, maybe at least three pages, and must practice them so they’re natural. Now I also accept other events such as product launches, company promotions, wedding ceremonies and Lucky Draw programs,” she said.

Although experience in different types of presenting can help, preparation before the event is still key to success as Phyo Phyo Khine discovered to her embarrassment.

“At a lucky draw event the stage was too narrow and there was a space between the planks, unfortunately my high heel shoe slipped into it and I suddenly lost control of myself and my speech. My partner had to fill in for me. Since then I always check the stage condition before the event,” she said.

Ma Tin Moe Lwin also takes event preparation very seriously.
“Presenters should work as a team; they have to know everything about the event including the stage decoration, lighting and information about the other participants,” she said. But sometimes even this is not enough.

“I am really into programming. I used to arrange the program with different ideas for different events. To create new ideas I have to travel a lot, to read books and to attend events at my own expense. I then partition the information and store it in my brain for recall and use when there is a suitable situation,” she added.

Still, it's impossible to know everything so companies often choose event presenters based on their specific knowledge.

“Every presenter has their talents, some of the presenters know a lot about cosmetics and some are good at information technology, medical products, electrical products and so on. So the companies choose the presenter according to their requirements,” said Ma Tin Moe Lwin.

And what advice does she give to aspiring presenters?

“The new generation have got more opportunities than us; they can easily learn whatever they want about presenting from the internet and they can ask their seniors [for advice] … But to be a success and to control your success you should share advice with others and hope they will do the same. I am sure the presenting industry will boom in the future.”