CHInoy TV Hosting and Personality Workshop: On

Standing Out, Learning Chinese and Living Life

Posted by Allan Ngo in Fortune Billboard

Last May 5, 2012, my friends at CHInoy TV together with John Robert Powers held the TV and

Personality Development Workshop at Ramada Central Manila.

It was a packed whole-day event for CHInoy TV host hopefuls to

learn valuable insights from the media world’s insiders on what it

takes to succeed in the industry.

It was a healthy mix of:

Amazement Pocholo Gonzales (CreatiVoices)

Wit Vince Golangco (Mellow 94.7/When in Manila)

and Valerie Tan (GMA 7)

Engagement John Robert Powers

Realization Cris Garcia (Confucius Institute)

Inspiration Chinkee Tan (Motivational Speaker)

I didn’t realize how much one could learn from a compilation of

speakers. I was under the impression that you’ll just get really tiny

bits and pieces of advice from a cast like this, but I was dead

wrong.

It was a meaty day of event from start to finish. Just read along if

you want to have a piece of the action and learn what made me turn to Alvin Tan, CHInoy TV head, and

say…

“These guys got in here for a bargain”

On Standing Out

There is a massive amount of people who wants to be on T.V. With so much competition, you can’t

simply just blend in with the crowd. You should definitely stand out!

CHInoy TV Workshop was packed!

Pocholo Gonzales (CreatiVoices) : Personal Branding

Heard of Coke? Colgate? Apple? Of course you have. These

are the top brands in their respective industries. People

associate certain qualities for each one and have specific

expectations on what they can deliver.

This is how you should see yourself. You must create a

personal brand for yourself in order for people to quickly

recognize you and pick you out from a crowd.

Pocholo, for example, branded himself as the Voicemaster.

This was eventually picked-up by different media outlets who

then perpetuated this image through various features and

interviews.

Think Bruce Willis (Action), Megan Fox (Sexy Bombshell) and

Adam Sandler (Comedy). Personal branding gives the people a

clear idea of your identity and what your skills are, thus carving

out that specific niche in their mind that belongs only to you.

Vince Golongco (Mellow 94.7 / When in Manila) – Fake it ‘til You make it

Question: Do you still get nervous when you’re on air?

Vince: I do, but I just fake it ‘til I make it (paraphrased)

I found this answer to be funny and insightful at the

same time.

Vince shared that when he gets asked if he was nervous

or not, he’d just brush it off and say he’s fine (despite

being a nervous wreck). He just kept pretending to be

confident and cool until little by little he actually is.

This is a testament to the power of mental fortitude and

how our actions externally could actually affect us internally. He kept positive reinforcements close by

through saying “I’m fine” that it eventually led him to actually believe it.

Of course pretending could only get you so far, would you go on an exam pretending you know the

answer? Of course not.

What is important here is the mental game. You need to believe that you can go through any obstacle you

may face. Granted, you can still be defeated regardless of your mental preparation, but without it you are

certainly doomed for failure.

Valerie Tan (GMA 7) – Success is when preparation meets opportunity

Valerie shared the famous quote above during her talk, which the participants readily ate up.

They learned that opportunity is objective. It comes and goes as it pleases regardless whether you are

ready for it or not. In short, you don’t have any control over it.

What you can control though, is your preparation. Constantly improve and develop your skills, talents and

packaging. And don’t wait for the opportunities to just come. Seek it out.

When that time comes, you’ll be more than ready to take advantage of it.

Having said that, I personally think that it is important to point out that you will never be 100% prepared

for anything.

Take the participants of this CHInoy TV workshop for

example, not all of them have been preparing to audition.

Some even just joined at the last minute. But by attending

and participating, they placed themselves in the best

position to succeed.

Oftentimes, half the battle is won just by simply…

showing up.

John Robert Powers – Putting your Best Foot Forward

We learn best by doing. And John Robert Powers sure delivered.

The participants learned about:

on-camera appearance,

calming relaxation techniques and

tons of acting exercises (with critiques) to help them in their audition later in the day.

It was the most engaging part of the workshop where the talents were given on-camera exercises to show

what they got and receive constructive critiques in return.

Talents were taught

Relaxation exercises c/o John Robert Powers the basics of oncamera appearance

On-camera exercises and critique Talents actively engaging in the Q&A

The highlight definitely was the “Tiger Balm” exercise where each talent was given a limited time to

create a commercial to sell this medical ointment. Doesn’t sound like the sexiest of products, right? Think

again.

You’ll be surprised what a few minutes of preparation and a deep desire to be on TV could do.

I was blown away by their creativity, the number of “RARR” reference (complete with the scratching

motion) and instant transformation from quietly sitting in a chair into a whole new person in front of a

camera.

It was a blast!

Of course, CHInoy TV hosts Jayson Kiong, Stephanie

Obiles, Lesley Tomas, Alice Lee, Jason Tomas,

Benedict Yujeco, Kendrick Chua and (workshop host)

Norman Ong didn’t back down and gamely joined the

exercises and put on funny and witty displays for all the

participants to enjoy and learn from.

They are pretty much ready for the audition.

Learning Chinese

After the whole day workshop, everyone was revved up and ready to go.

The director then gave them the lines they will use for the VTR and as an aside they will be in both

English and Chinese!

Nothing to be surprised about, this IS CHInoy TV right? But I noticed a collection of nervous laughter

and cold sweat all-around. The Mandarin Chinese part was absolutely dreaded.

But it shouldn’t be that way.

Cris Garcia (Confucius Institute): Opportunities and Second Chances

Cris Garcia could attest to that. Amazingly enough, Cris, who

himself is without any Chinese ancestry, is a Mandarin

Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Manila

University.

He shared the strength of China’s economy and the sheer

number of people speaking Mandarin Chinese. Being a fluent

Mandarin speaker opens a lot of doors to you in terms of

employment and business. Including being a host at CHInoy

TV

He shared that a lot of his students are Filipino-Chinese who

just memorized their way through out their formal Chinese

schooling. And are now studying Mandarin Chinese once

again to make up for the lost time.

Taking language classes at language institutions such as the

Confucius Institute is a great way to (re) learn the language

and take advantage of the worldwide trend towards Mandarin

Chinese.

It is a dynamic language that could be learned by ANYONE regardless of age or background.

There is a catch…

Learning from school could only take you so far. If you never use it outside of the classroom, it will

gradually disappear.

Use it or lose it.

You must actually find time in your day to actually use or be exposed to the language. It shouldn’t be

something you HAVE to do but something you actually WANT to do.

This is where Money in Mandarin can help. I know you all are busy and simply don’t have a lot of time to

dedicate solely to learning a language. I hear you, because so do I. Just make it as part of your life.

Things like changing your Facebook, Twitter and phone language settings to Mandarin, listening to

Chinese music and watching Kung-Fu movies are a good way to get exposed to the language without

going out of your way.

You’ll learn all these plus:

Get to know real life stories of people who succeeded with the language

Discover various strategies and techniques to learn Chinese on the side

Find out career/business opportunities with Mandarin Chinese

Join the Money in Mandarin E-mail club to get the latest updates plus a free report on “How Much Your

Mandarin Chinese is Worth” by signing-up.

Okay, so much for all the fuss about learning Chinese. We often take for granted how fortunate we are to

be able to speak and understand English.

Let’s take a look at someone who wasn’t as fortunate but was able to turn things around and…

FINISH STRONG

Living Life

Chinkee Tan (Motivational Speaker): It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish

Chinkee Tan had an amazing talk during the workshop. He is indeed an amazing and engaging speaker.

He shared a very personal story that stuck on my mind.

Chinkee had his struggles with school. It’s not that he

didn’t have enough of school, he actually had TOO

MUCH of it. He moved to several schools and

repeated a number of times. And he stinks at English

(He considers it his 4th language after Hokkien,

Filipino and Mandarin).

Then he overheard a relative tell his parents to prepare

themselves for him (Chinkee). Because it seems like

he will amount to nothing and you’ll need to support

him throughout your life.

Chinkee though “how could a paper (diploma) define

what he can and cannot do in life?”

That lit a fire in him.

From going house to house selling toilet paper as a kid, to become one of Randy Santiago’s Hawi Boys,

he went through life determined to make it on his own and with passion, determination, faith and yes,

continuous education. He is now a businessman, radio/tv host, wealth coach, power motivator and to top

it all of a BEST-SELLING AUTHOR (4th language you say?)

Not only that, but his book “Till Debt Do Us Part” which has sold more than 60,000 copies was lauded by

none other than Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for its vision of “making the country and the

people progressive and financially stable”

How’s that for a strong finish?

What a Bargain!

All that in a day! Words can’t really justify how rich and valuable that day was. My hats off to Alvin Tan,

Fil-Chi Media Productions President, for the amazing workshop! Special mention goes out to the hard-

working team of CHInoy TV especially Eca Ong and Kimo Cea.

Source: http://www.moneyinmandarin.com/chinoy-tv-hosting-and-personality-workshop-on-standing-

out-learning-chinese-and-living-life/