Sometime ago, I got this in my email:
It seemed like an interesting opportunity, so I asked my office friends if they wanted to give it a go. They did, so I emailed my RSVP.
There were six guests but we chose to attend the session with Monisha Kaltenborn, the current CEO of the Sauber Formula One team. We headed to NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and after registering, we were asked to wait for call time while having snacks in the lounge area.
All the chairs were occupied in the lounge, so we brought our nibbles to the cafe outside. It was the first time for us to be in this school and to be part of a studio audience of a talk show, or any TV show, for that matter.
Also, she had quite an interesting and inspiring life story that had us riveted.At 12:30, the guest arrived, and the audience was soon asked to go inside the studio. There were three rows of chairs arranged in ascending order like bleachers, overlooking a talk show stage with a cheerful yellow background. We ended up sitting at the back.
After the audience was seated, a guy who introduced himself as the floor manager explained what was about to happen and what they expected from us, which was mostly to clap and watch the interview and try not to look so stiff while doing so.
He introduced the show’s executive producer and the host as well, both women who had really lovely British accents. The EP explained that the final product was mostly going to flow as we witness it, but that they would do some edits back in London before showing it to the world sometime in November.
They then asked if we had questions for the guest and when some people volunteered theirs, they planned the order of how the questions would be asked.
Finally, the guest walked into the studio, and she and the host sat down in front and the interview began.
It was quite an interesting interview. Mishal had a lovely modulated voice that is typical of a talk show host or a newscaster, and Monisha was very simple, humble, and honest, even generating a good real laugh from the audience on several moments like when she said that she didn’t want her children to race and that she had told them that if they tried, it would be useless because she would make sure they didn’t get any contracts. How many CEOs would actually admit that?
The interview went on smoothly without any cuts or blunders on the part of both host and guest, but the EP wanted to reshoot some parts like the ending and some audience questions. They let Monisha off first, then it was our turn.
We left the show feeling happy about the experience, which admittedly wasn’t something we did everyday.
Next time we’ll be part of a TV show audience would be when the Philippine’s variety show ASAP comes to Singapore this October.
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