Karen emcees a National Speakers Association – North TX Chapter event
You are asked to emcee your corporate annual event. OR – you’re tapped to “run” the business holiday dinner. OR – you are chairing a Board of Directors retreat.
Here are 7 tips to emcee, “run”, or chair an event/retreat/holiday dinner/meeting/convention.
1. START STRONG & ON TIME
Begin by having someone introduce you. Not a long intro. It could even be the “Voice of God” – an omniscient voice that booms, “Here’s Karen Cortell Reisman, your emcee for our ‘Annual Grow Your Business Expo’!”. You should NOT have to get up on stage and say, “Shush….” or “Can I have your attention now?”
Begin when you say you will begin.
Introduce yourself. You might be well known in this room. However, you might have guests, significant others, new members of the team who do not have a clue as to why you’re at the lectern. Tell your audience who you are and what your connection is with this event.
2. ACKNOWLEDGE OTHERS
You are one spoke of the wheel. Thank the meeting organizers – the unsung heroes, the production crew (if there is one), and your audience – without them you would not have this great opportunity.
3. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE & EVENT BACKGROUND
Stealth bomb of all types of communication – NOT knowing your audience. It’s no different when emceeing an event. Do your homework and find out the pulse of your event and what the meeting organizers want as an outcome.
4. HAVE A SCRIPT
Scripts make you a bit stilted, but having a script in this role is OK.
Can you skip the script? Yes – IF you have speaking experience, and the group’s culture leans to informal. Otherwise, the script will be your best friend.
Do you read verbatim from this script? NO. Practice and make it conversational. It’s a crutch, not your life jacket. You may also use a teleprompter.
5. SHARE THE AGENDA
No matter how much the group likes you, your audience wants to know how long they have to sit there, when the breaks are, and what the expectations are for all.
5 1/2: CREATE A “RUN OF SHOW”
This is a behind-the-scenes minute by minute layout of the entire event that you create in tandem with your meeting organizers.
6. MAKE YOUR AUDIENCE FEEL SPECIAL
Don’t say, “I’m nervous. But this is just a routine meeting so we’ll just start with our clip from our CEO.”
AAGH! First – don’t share your nervousness status. We don’t care and if we do care, then we are now distracted by your emotional state. Second – “routine meeting” – NO! You want your audience to feel like this is an ecstatic use of their time. Do say, “Today you are in for a treat. We have a cutting edge program starting with a special and customized video from CEO Jordan Brooks.”
7. END ON TIME
While hard to control, your credibility and the event’s credibility are enhanced when the timing flows well. The other evening I was at an awards dinner (yawn, long winded, I’m already tired… you know the drill). The emcee said we’d be done at 8pm. My “shoulder skeptic” inner voice thought, “These events never end that early or on time.” It did! I was impressed.
The last impression becomes the lasting impression.
BONUS TIP
While not on your Emcee To Do List, you can suggest to the meeting organizer to have a stellar valet service, if attendees are transporting themselves to and from the hotel/convention venue. Once over, it’s over and people want to move on.
Source: Andy Saks, President of Spark Presentations – sparkpresentations.com
Karen’s after-lunch 1/2 day speaker training workshop
The group enters the seminar room to participate in my afternoon 4-hour (!) speaker training workshop after dining on a buffet lunch of salad, fried chicken fingers nestled on waffles with syrup, barbeque/honey meat loaf, mac ‘n cheese + brownies.
Did I mention it’s Friday afternoon and they’ve been at this association’s seminar for several days?
You might think, “THIS is NOT perfect timing!” And, you’d be correct.
Your speech timing options (if you get to make that call) include: beginning of the day, mid-morning, during lunch, after lunch, late in the day, or after dinner.
Each time slot has pros/cons.
You might get most to attend at the start of the day, but they will straggle in or be distracted by their flood of morning emails.
You’ll never compete with chocolate. (It will always win!) So speaking during a meal has its challenges.
You fight with post-food and/or happy hour fatigue if you speak after lunch or dinner.
Why the timing of your speech matters?
➜ You can anticipate your crowd’s energy level and plan accordingly.
Why the timing of your speech does NOT matter?
➜ You need to be “ON” no matter when you grab the mic.
➜ You may not have a choice of when you speak.
If you want to know more about how to strategize your presentation with regard to your audience’s energy/fatigue level, or how to be “ON” as a speaker – you can find out more in my two books on communication skills.
⏰ So, when is the best time of day/evening to give a presentation?
➜ Mid-morning. Your listeners’ caffeine injections have kicked in and there are no food distractions.
Speaking of food, in spite of the waffles/chicken fingers, meatloaf, mac ‘n cheese and brownies digested by my workshop attendees – I had them standing up and doing lots of activities. All good.
Hard to recall your second kiss, your third car, or your fourth trip.
But you DO remember your first … kiss, car, fill in the blank.
That’s because it happened first!
To give a compelling presentation – have a killer opening.
Do NOT begin with, “Good morning. My name is Karen Cortell Reisman and I’m pleased to be here.”
Why? It’s boring. It’s predictable. It’s an invitation to your listeners to continue tapping on their phones.
Killer opening ideas: Tell a story, ask a question, share a memorable quote, provide a stunning statistic or get the audience involved in an ice breaker activity.
Begin your presentation this way:
Walk to the lectern with confidence, energy, good posture, and a smile on your face.
Stand at the lectern for 2-3 seconds without talking. While doing this you ➜
Look at your listeners – varying your eye contact around the room.
Start speaking without looking at your notes.
Say something catchy like, “Do you remember your second kiss?”
What happens first gets remembered.
PS: Full disclosure regarding this pic: Our first kiss happened before our wedding!
“You’ve run a very popular and expensive restaurant – that has your name on the door – for over 16 years… and it’s a competitive market here in Dallas. What do you attribute your success to?” asks the Dallas Morning News food editor to Dean Fearing.
Dean replies, “There are 3 components. First, consistency. We serve great food every day. Second, personability. I decided that I’d greet our customers at every table on a daily basis. I’ve done this from day one. Third, a great wait staff. We have a wonderful team at Fearing’s Restaurant.”
The parallels between Fearing’s top rated restaurant and 5-star communication skills
Consistency. Just like the expectations you have for a fine meal when entering a fine dining establishment, your team/board/stake holders expect you to communicate compelling content with clarity and confidence on a consistent basis.
Personability. You do business with people you know, like and trust. Let’s drill down on the word “like”. Be likeable, like Dean Fearing. Communicate with respect, listen with genuine interest and create an atmosphere of good will.
Leadership. Whether you run a billion dollar organization or you’re a solopreneur, you and your company represent and communicate your brand.
Once a year my daughter and I have an all-day spa date and one year we went to the Ritz Carlton. We began our day having lunch at their restaurant, Fearing’s. As we ate our delicious lunch, guess who came over to chat? Chef Fearing.
And you don’t even have to do a squat, burpee or a jumping jack.
“A study in Cell Reports Medicine showed that just five minutes of breathwork each day for about a month could improve mood and reduce anxiety,” reports Richard Sima in The Washington Post.
This report further claims that breathwork benefits may be larger than mindfulness meditation using the same amount of time.
A Huge Assist for Speaker Anxiety
One of the most significant issues facing our Speak For Yourself® clients is getting over stage fright. The outcome of this study, helpful in any nerve wracking situation, can apply when you’re giving a speech, on a panel, recording a video …
The Study
Participants: 108 adults, randomly controlled. They did this breathwork at home following video directions.
Activity: Researches compared 3 different 5-minute breathwork exercises. Some were deliberate guided breathing in various ways. Some did mindfulness meditation where participants observed their breathing but did not try to control it.
Results: “After 28 days, participants in both the mindfulness meditation and breathwork groups reported having more positive feelings and fewer negative ones compared with before they began their respective practices.” Both groups reported reduced feelings of anxiety. (WAPO)
“That’s not bad for five min/day,” said David Spiegel, an author of the study. “It seems that practicing some control over your respiration is a kind of entry into one way of controlling your autonomic activity.”
The Accumulation Effect: These positive effects did take time to kick in. The more the participants spent doing this breathwork, the better they felt each successive day.
The ROI for you
When you get anxious you breathe faster. By doing this breathwork you can control and relax your physical state and slow down your breathing.
Can you take a few minutes to control your breathing, connect with your body and encourage it to deal with what you want to deal with… like your upcoming presentation?
Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds. Increase the number of seconds and repeat and repeat.
Are you busy “doing” vs “being”? (OK – rather zen-ish but think about it.)
Breathe.
Photo: by Karen Cortell Reisman @ Barcelona Park Guell
3. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE & EVENT BACKGROUND
3. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE & EVENT BACKGROUND
Once a year my daughter and I have an all-day spa date and one year we went to the Ritz Carlton. We began our day having lunch at their restaurant, 
“A study in Cell Reports Medicine showed that just five minutes of breathwork each day for about a month could improve mood and reduce anxiety,” 
