Previously on Friendster..."General Technical Tips for Aspiring MC's"

I'm definitely not the best in the business. That probably goes to a person whom I dislike but respect very much, Aznil Nawawi (in the Malaysian scene at least). AF is finally gonna go down the drain. Yeah!

Now, someone asked me to give some lessons for those who want to be good MC's. Rather than teaching a person at a time, it's better that I make a blog post of the most important general technical rules/principles/tips on becoming a good MC/moderator/chairperson. Drum-roll please...

Rule No. 1: You are not the show. The show is not about you. Think of other rephrases yourself. Your job is simply to facilitate the event, from one part to another with seamless transition. You are never faulted with too little effort. You will be slammed for trying too much. In other words, keep it simple. The only exception is when you are forced to handle a TV program where mostly talentless, futureless singers and boring commentators try to take over a concert-cum-show. Then you have to take over, lest the ratings will fall, hard. Now you know why I respect that blonde-haired-wacky-maniac.

Rule No. 2: Keep it structured. Always have a set default scheme for your text, especially as a beginner. As you become more proficient, you may not need to always refer to the default text, changing the words according to your creativity without altering the flow of events.

Rule No. 3: Know the flow. As an MC, you should know everything about the event, every single part of it inside out. Who'll be there, who's talking, who's doing, who's performing, etc. What happens first all the way to the end of the event. Everything. Different types of functions have different flow of events. When you become more experienced, all you'll need is a piece of paper handwritten with only the names of guests, as everything else becomes natural to you. This rule complements rule no. 2.

Rule No. 4: Know the type of event. Is it formal? Semiformal? Informal? Knowing this affects your choice of vocabulary. Which type are you most comfortable with? With formal events, your choice of vocabulary should be precise and is very important; spontaneity is much less important. Audience engagement is almost nil. With informal events, your choice of available vocabulary is much wider; but openness, spontaneity and audience engagement become core. It's always best if you can master both, but being able to master 1 is already a success in itself.

Rule No. 5: Know your audience. Important aspects are age, sex and social background. Are there any dignitaries? Follow the binomial distribution in general when addressing the audience. Depending on type of event, those dignitaries should be addressed, properly. Don't handle children/elderly like adults, and vice versa. This goes hand in hand with rule no. 4.

Rule No. 6: Expect changes. They might happen in the last minute. Do they affect your text? There have been times when I simply threw away my prepared text notes as they became useless due to last minute changes. Be flexible.

As I said in the beginning, these rules are regarding the technical aspects of being an MC. I'll try to address other issues such as confidence in another post.

Comments? Feel free to discuss.