7 April 2022
The School of Communication (SCOM) was pleased to organise SCOM Talk Series 44 through online live broadcast on 7 April 2022. Ms Wendy Cheung Man-tsoi was invited as the guest speaker. She shared with over 260 SCOM teachers and students her journey and experiences of transforming from a traditional full-time news anchor to a slasher. Her interesting sharing was met enthusiastically by the audience.
Ms Cheung had worked in the broadcast media industry for more than 14 years, of which 10 years were spent in Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), where she worked as a news anchor. Before leaving TVB, she was a Principal Anchor of the company. Ms Cheung said that becoming a slasher allowed her to try different roles such as Master of Ceremony (MC), Key Opinion Leader (KOL) and educator. She gained a lot of inspirations and achieved a sense of accomplishment from these diversified types of work.
Ms Cheung mentioned that during the early days of being a slasher, as she had little knowledge of other industries, she often had to seek advice from others in order to master the skills required of different kinds of work. She encouraged students, by relating her own experience, to seek advice whenever they were in doubt, regardless of what positions they were in. There was no reason to feel shy or embarrassed. Only then would they be able to continuously improve themselves to cope with new environments and changes.
After started the slasher career, Ms Cheung realised how the training she had received when working as a news anchor gave her an advantage in her new role. For example, the experience of handling ad hoc tasks gained from working as a media practitioner greatly facilitated her in hosting shows and events as an MC. She particularly highlighted that in live broadcast events, the MC often had to stay responsive and improvise according to unexpected circumstances. Besides, a good MC had to make thorough preparation, such as conducting research and memorising information relevant to the event in advance, which was essentially what she did as a news anchor. Her past training as an anchor therefore proved to be very useful. Ms Cheung smiled and remarked that being an MC often brought back her memories of being a news anchor.
During the Q&A session, students raised questions enthusiastically. When responding to students’ questions, Ms Cheung mentioned that during her 10 years with TVB, she was given opportunities to be exposed to a wide variety of work in the industry. It was therefore time for her to jump out of her comfort zone, explore new opportunities, and take up new challenges. Despite the similarities between some of her current work and that of a news anchor, she disapproved of mechanically applying her previous experience to new situations, as that could lead to problems. Instead, she advised students to get rid of old mindsets and tactfully apply their past experience to their new jobs in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Despite the relative instability of the job as a slasher, Ms Cheung was still of the view that students should try out different things according to their interests while they are young, as this would bring them more opportunities for development in the future.
