A profile needs to show what makes the individual tick as well as the larger newsworthy issue in question. Yet most profiles read like resumes, a dull lead identifying the subject, after which quote after quote roles out devoid of relevance. Proposing techniques from creative non-fiction. A good profile is like a personality portrait composed of carefully crafted evidence, so that at the end you know why this particular person ended up in this particular place, doing this particular thing.

Course outcomes:
•Interview in a way that encourages your subject to open up
•Use brainstorming and mind-mapping techniques to find your subject's theme
•Separate the wheat from the chaff, selecting anecdotes to achieve focus
•Sift material to produce a personality portrait
•Apply techniques of creative non-fiction to show rather than tell
•Choose quotes that are soundbites rather than talking heads
•Alternate between showing and telling, narrative and dialogue to create a tapestry
•Show what makes your subject tick in tandem with the larger issue s/he represents
•Edit and tighten so that your profile flows

Venue

Date: 04 September 2009 to 05 September 2008
Location: IAJ Parktown, Johannesburg
More info: 9 Jubilee Rd
Parktown
Johannesburg

Contact: Gugu Ndaba
Company name: Institute for the Advancement of Journalism
Telephone number: 27 11 484 1765
Email address cmtu@iaj.org.za