Module 1: Web Seminar 1 - What is a professional?

Our first web seminar brought up a very interesting topic of conversation. What really defines a professional? 

We discussed various ideas as to what we personally thought made a professional. Something that resonates with me when it comes to professionalism is qualifications. I personally believe that just because you hold a qualification in a certain field, it doesn't necessarily mean you are good at it. I'm sure we can all agree that at some point in our lives we have been taught by a teacher that we didn't find particuarly helpful or beneficial to our learning. However, that teacher will hold all the necessary qualifications to be classed as a 'professional'. Then there are people like me, who have had varied experience and have so far been very successful within their role as a teacher, that do not hold the relevant qualifications to go any further. As a performer, it certainly became apparent once I had graduated that my qualification was irrelevant when attending auditions. This topic is something I would enjoy investigating over the period of the course, to see if I can shed some light on how important these qualifications are. 

Other points that were made during the seminar were to do with behaviour, etiquette and codes of conduct. We expect from a professional a certain level of skill as well as a certain behaviour. After training for three years at performing arts college, discipline and respect is drilled into students so that they act 'professional' in the workplace. There was a general consensus that amateurs would not have that same amount of discipline nor would they conduct themselves in the same manner. For example, professionals would not talk during rehearsal time. Amateurs would be more likely to see a rehearsal as a social opportunity and not take the time as seriously. 

My initial reaction to the question 'what is a professional?' would have been someone who is paid for what they do. But when thinking about it in more detail, that is not necessarily the case. During the seminar, it was mentioned that not all professional performers work for money. In some cases, performing can be done for charity or purely for the experience and extra credit to go on the CV. This doesn't mean they aren't a professional. 

It just goes to show that a word we use on a regular basis can have huge amounts of debate behind it. Please comments below as I would enjoy hearing more thoughts on this subject.