Be yourself – 3 things every Event Host must know

When you are presenting to a crowd or hosting an event, be yourself, but take the time to be the best version of yourself.

Last week at our annual conference, LiNC’16, I experienced my first emcee role for both the conference itself, and the evening awards ceremony.

Overall, the event was a great success for our company, my marketing team and me personally.  My team came together to deliver an amazing experience for more than 1,000 customers and attendees. They deserve all the plaudits because they truly nailed it and I couldn’t be prouder.

On a personal front, this was one of my first big stage emcee experiences, and absolutely my first experience hosting an awards ceremony. So it is safe to say that I still have a lot to learn. But as a whole it was an exhilarating and terrifying experience all at the same time.

If you happen to face the same challenge, here are a few pointers from my both exhilarating and terrifying experience: 

• Commit and Cut – Think about the situation. Think about what you want to say and write it down. Then cut it by half and start practicing with that trimmed down version. Keep practicing, and cutting, until all you have are key words written on the cards as a reference. If you don’t have the experience yet, it’s OK to have reference cards, you don’t need to know everything off heart. It’s OK to refer to cards to prompt you. Of course – please don’t read sentences from the card (we all know the audience doesn’t like that!)
• Be Yourself - This is something I learned a long time ago, but remind myself of this over and over again; don’t try too Don’t try too hard to be funny, smart, charming or anything that feels like you are emphasizing it too much. Plus, anything that’s too far out of your comfort zone will cause you to focus more on that and not being the best host you can be. Don’t ham it up, but show who you are and if you are excited, show it. The audience wants to feel it too!  They are on your side but remember its your job to move the event along smoothly, not be the center of attention.
• Listen and Learn – It may sound obvious, but talk to people that know what it’s like and have been there before. You aren’t the first to do this emcee role. I had guidance from many people, and I listened to it all. In particular Ben Decker of Decker Communications; he definitely put me on the right track. I also talked to other people in roles like mine, people that have done this a dozen times, and people that have just started hosting. Take it all in because they all have good advice for you. 

The entire experience was thrilling and scary all rolled into one, but I had a blast.  If I had a fourth point, it would definitely be to try and enjoy it. It’s over very quick so take it all in.

This situation reminded me of many years ago when I gave my first and last speech as a best man. Let’s just say I wish I knew then, what I know now.  But to some extent, going through that got me to where I am today. So maybe I’d go through it all again if it got me back to here. Maybe.