Being An Event Host – Tip No. 26 – Learn Stuff

London, UK

An event where a well know personality was speaking, in my opinion, was ruined right at the beginning by a very mediocre introduction by one of the organisers.
The lady concerned made the common mistake of not learning anything about the speaker who was about to take the stage. Instead, she donned on a pair of glasses, didn’t even say who she was and read out a biography which rambled on for at least 45 seconds – far too long. Worse still, these biographies are written for print and not intended to be read out word-for-word in front of an expectant audience. So her delivery was a bit stilted to say the least.

There are numerous reasons why one shouldn’t make this basic of MC/host gaffes.

1. Because you’re looking down at a piece of paper you’ll lose connection with your audience.
2. Energy levels between you and the audience will be low.
3. You wont see if there are any latecomers who may need to be guided to their seats, and…
4. the handover to the speaker could be awkward as you can’t see where they are!

By learning a 15-20 second introduction off by heart (and of course you will have spoken to the speaker a few days beforehand!) your hand-over will come across as slick, smooth and professional…just what a celebrity or well-known personality deserves.
In other words, you have to put the effort in and learn stuff about the speaker and mould it to your audience.

Tags: events

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