Blast

This summer Sejal Sharma from the Spinney Hill area in Leicester will be reporting on some of the best gigs and events across the county as part of BBC Leicester's Blast project.

Here are the ins and outs of what Sejal's been up to so far...

I have always been passionate about the arts and have been performing in theatres and dancing since a very young age. Whenever I saw reporters, I always thought... wouldn't it be great to interview people and to be a presenter?.

This curiosity led me to dig deep into the BBC and uncover the golden opportunity of BLAST! And this is how my journey began...

My first days

Up until now, what I knew about BBC Radio Leicester was limited to what I had heard on the radio, opening the doors to St Nicholas place (home of the BBC in Leicester) was certainly an experience!

It was amazing, to see all the personalities in real life and to see the amount of work that goes into preparing and presenting a show.

Trying not to scare me, Sonia (my mentor), gave me a brief of the challenge that lay ahead, and my role of being a Blast reporter officially began!

Sejal's Blast experience at the BBC studios, Leic

My training begins

On the day, even though I had to wake up at five in the morning to catch a train, (sigh) my energy was back on track the minute Sonia and I arrived at the BBC in Bristol.

I thought to myself WOW! Am I really here? (shocked face) To me it was very surreal.

I then met all the rest of the BBC Blast reporters from around the country and it was such a privilege to be amongst so much talent. After coming down from the clouds, it was then down to doing some hard work.

The introduction to BBC Blast was when I got to find out about all the things we were going to be doing in our role and our training.

The workshops at the SONAR centre comprised of interviewing skills, health and safety procedures, photography skills, CMS (content management system) workshop, and writing and camera skills.

After a hard day at the office my group had the privilege to be taken to the BBC News studios. I was so amazed to see everything that was involved in bringing a live news broadcast to air. I then realised how lucky I was be a part of this project.

Unfortunately, it was a sad ending. I became very ill the next morning and it was very upsetting for me that I came all this way for the two day training weekend and I had no energy to attend the second part (sobs). So really, I missed out on the CMS training and had to prepare for the next part of the voyage.

Blast Teepee

The Irony Of Boogie Woogie

Back in Leicester, I hit the ground running as the BBC Leicester Blast reporter for 2007.

The irony of it all was that my first report was going to be about the Boogie Woogie talent show - with 'ME' interviewing participants this time.

PANIC PANIC! I didn't know which way to turn. When I contacted the organisers they wanted to meet me the same day! I spoke to Pravin Mistry (the organiser) on the phone and we discussed what I wanted to cover.

After getting more advice from Sonia and after picking up the digital recorder and my BBC notebook I was all set for the Saturday auditions. It made me feel just like Louis Lane (without Clark Kent though!).

I interviewed the organiser Pravin Mistry and the judge Bally Kaur. Their answers gave me a good insight into Boogie Woogie from their perspective.

Later I started to see a very steady flow of nervous, anxious and excited contestants arriving at the centre. All eyes were on me... It was really daunting as I was holding the microphone and the audio recorder in my hand. I felt good representing myself as the BBC Leicester Blast reporter for the arts. (smiles)

I really had a 'BLAST' on reporting and the journey now continues back to the BBC Leicester office...

Week One: 23 July

In my first week I put together my whole article into CMS and yes believe me it was hard, as I missed training workshop in Bristol. Evenually, I got the hang of it.

It was fun choosing the images and editing the interviews that I had recorded of the organiser, judge and the contestant.

When it was published on the BBC Leicester website I was really happy and proud of my work.