In today’s corporate world, conferences are an essential part of your marketing efforts, bringing people together in a dynamic exchange of ideas and setting your brand apart from the competition.
However, let’s face it: staying focused and attentive during three full-day conferences is challenging, even for the most enthusiastic participants. In our years of attending conferences, seminars, and other corporate events, we often feel sorry for the organisers when their attendees start yawning, lose interest, and yes, even fall asleep.
Fret not. That’s when a conference emcee comes in.
A skilled emcee can turn a long-drawn, tedious conference that seems to drag on forever into a lively, animated event that attendees will remember for years to come.
If you’re thinking about hiring an emcee for your conference, this blog post is for you! We’ll share all the reasons how an emcee can transform your conference into a success so you can make the best decision for your business.
Opening Address
You have only one chance to make a first impression, so make it a good one! The opening address can be a powerful statement that emphasizes your brand message and sets the tone, building anticipation and enthusiasm for the day/s ahead.
Energy is contagious, and if the opening address is someone merely reading the upcoming schedule from a script, you’re unlikely to drum up any excitement right from the get-go.
Maintain Event Flow
Emcees should be extremely organised people who subtly control the flow of the entire event without being seemingly obvious. For example, an awards ceremony emcee ensures every moment shines while keeping the program on track. They are expert timekeepers who will precisely time each segment and make sure it stays on schedule.
A slight delay in a segment might not seem like a big deal, but if you’ve got ten segments running over by five minutes each, you’ve got yourself an event that is running almost an hour late.
Transitions between segments are often choppy and disjointed, making the event seem badly planned and executed. Awkward pauses or confusion can be an event’s downfall, and the audience can start to quickly lose interest and trust.
An effective emcee will smoothly transition between each speaker or segment with finesse, bringing polish and style to your conference.
Interaction
Conferences are often lecture-style events where speakers take the stage and might not interact with the crowd. Since the speaker’s content is often out of your control, the responsibility lies on the emcee to get the attendees involved and shake things up a little.
Your emcee can plan interactive Q&A sessions, short quizzes with prizes, and all kinds of fun stuff to break the monotony up. They can also use tasteful humour and light banter to engage with the audience and maintain attention.
Troubleshooting
Events are a time when many things can go wrong, regardless of how meticulous you are in planning. Experienced, skilled emcees know how to roll with the punches and quickly direct the audience’s attention elsewhere, glossing over slight imperfections and keeping them engaged despite any hiccups.
Great emcees will even take the opportunity to turn a potentially negative situation into a positive one by cracking a well-timed joke, or throwing in a game or activity to fill any delays, for example, a late speaker, or a technical glitch.
Highlight your VIPs and Speakers
Emcees are the facilitators of events, not the stars of the shows. A good one will know how to respectfully and professionally introduce your VIPs and speakers, handing over the microphone at the perfect time.
They’ll also know how to read the room and come to the rescue should they be needed at any time as back up.
Inject Energy
Conferences, especially long, full-day affairs, can be exhausting. Audience and speakers alike can start to get tired, especially after eating a full belly during lunch or towards the end of the day.
A skilled emcee will know how to read the room and deliver a timely joke, quip, or tell a funny, relevant story to liven things up and inject some energy into the audience. They can also draw on their arsenal of prepared activities to mix things up a little and reengage the audience.
Powerful Closing
The closing is almost as important as the opening, as it will be a significant part of what your audience remembers about your event. Your emcee should deliver a powerful closing with a strong message or call to action, reiterating the key points of the event and making a lasting impression.
A closing statement that falls flat on its face lessens the impact the event has on the audience, potentially doing more harm than good.
Can we help with your conference? Give us a shout!
Otherwise, we wish you all the very best and hope your event is a roaring success.
