How to Deliver an Effective Announcement Coming from a Cabin Crew's Point of View

How to deliver an effective announcement coming from a cabin crew's point of view.

Imagine that you are 25,000 ft in the air and your aircraft is about to land. You walk up to the Public Announcement System microphone and clear your throat before you engage the passengers. In your mind you say "Hey I've done this a million times, so it should be a breeze!" then while you make your announcement, catastrophe happened. You mistakenly mentioned that the airport ahead is an international airport while for a fact it's only a small local airport. Damage has been done! You could feel the blood rushing to your head and images of confused locals and colleagues on board nod disapprovingly.

That happened to me during my early years of flying. I realised that it is something that I need to master and it was not an easy task. You bear the responsibility of giving a clear and concise announcement that will benefit the passengers and also set an example for the cabin crew on board. Being in an environment that is way off my comfort zone was something that I am not used to. I could still remember how I was so jittery doing my first announcement on an SNY flight with 144 passengers on board. The leading said that my announcement was done as though I was chased by an express locomotive!

I grew confident over the years and with the help of the MAS instructors, I was well on my way in making proper announcements. You will see yourself improving in no-time when you read a lot of books and looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary or on the world wide web. Another effortless attempt in perfecting your announcement is by watching the news, observing how intonation and pronunciation of words works for the broadcaster. With the newly found vocabulary, you need to practise with your passengers. You will appear well versed and would leave a great impression to the passengers.

In making an announcement, one should smile during the announcement, not because the passengers can see you but by smiling sets the tone of your voice in a cheerful and lively manner. It has to be lively and cheerful so that the passengers reach from point A to point B, either on business or holiday are on a pleasant note.

When we make an announcement, we have to read the announcement text wholeheartedly and not to take it lightly. When you are on the verge of making an announcement, take a deep breath and pace yourself. Your voice should project well and avoid swallowing your words or mumble. The main objective is to deliver effectively a message that people can understand. You may also need to avoid sounding fake for we have our own Malaysian-English accent not of British, or American accent.

Even if someone is in-tuned with their mother tongue (i.e Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perak etc), the person can emulate the proper methods of announcing