Conference Presenting – Rule 5 – Stepping In

Some say award ceremonies are easy and fun to do.

The big difference between a normal congress or conference and an Awards Ceremony is that many in the audience could be as nervous as you the chosen Awards Host, or those individuals who have been selected to present the various awards.

Nervous maybe too strong a term for it but people will certainly be apprehensive. After all, they’ve worked hard, been recognised and have been short-listed to receive a gong, or possibly two.

OK, so let’s pretend you’ve been asked to host an Awards Ceremony. As with any other event, there are the fundamentals to consider. The most important are:

1. Do your homework. By this, I mean do your research on the award categories and whose been short-listed. If there are strange pronunciations of company or individual names – learn them.
2. Mingle with the guests, AV crew and the organiser as soon as you get to the venue.
3. The practice runs (plural!) – You will have rehearsed your timings and how you will work with assistants and photographers during the ceremony. This is key.

In my experience, the one area where a ceremony can run into difficulties is the acceptance speech of the winners. A quiet “would you like to say few words” in the ear from you the MC, can lead to minutes of embarrassment!

It’s at this point the host has to step in and mention that only a few words are required and not a “State of the Union “ address. You may have the opportunity to outline this before the ceremony starts.

So, be polite but firm.  It’s your responsibility to ensure that the ceremony runs on time.

Jeremy Jacobs – Awards Host

Tags: Award Ceremonies

Sorry Comments are Closed.