Professional MC John Bell offers some words of advice to those who may be organising an event, conference or meeting, and are considering the use of a Master of Ceremony (MC) to manage proceedings.

The MC of an event is the host or compère who has a variety of responsibilities that may include the making of the formal opening announcements, introduction of speakers, performers and the like, and any other interaction or communication that is required to be made with an audience to effectively manage proceedings at the conference, event or meeting.

By choosing a top MC, you can turn ‘just another event’ into something that is considered very special by those attending and will be recalled, with affection, for many years to come. How would you like to be remembered?

With masterful ability, a good MC can give your whole event a feel of quality. When evaluation score sheets are issued after the MC’s performance, event organisers often discover a feel-good factor prevails amongst the audience resulting in the whole event being scored substantially higher than was expected. A good MC has the ability to help everyone participating at a meeting to somehow exceed expectations. This is a powerful and useful skill practised by few and mastered by even fewer.

With regard to the fee required by an MC, hire the best available within your budget. The poise, presence, and a professional ability of an MC are often linked to how much you are prepared to pay. You get what you pay for! Attempt to save money by engaging a cheap, inexperienced, part-time MC and it could cost you dearly. How important is the event you are holding and how precious is your reputation as the organiser?

Engage the best MC available for your event and you can sit back and watch synergy in action with all of the positives that that phenomena produces.

A top MC is usually considered a ‘professional’ when he or she works full-time earning a living as an MC, and has a specialist and expert knowledge and understanding of what material content audiences like, and, how it must be related and relevant to the requirements and expectations of the event organiser.

A good MC meets everyone’s needs as a minimum. The best MCs continuously exceed expectations. That is why they reach the top and are considered the best.

A quality MC will have high ethics and respect any confidential information you share as part of the event briefings. Explain exactly what it is you would like to achieve by the end of your event, meeting or conference and an experienced MC will suggest how he or she might go about achieving the desired results.

When choosing your MC, it is worth considering what type of MC it is you require. For example would you prefer a formal MC, someone well versed in the protocol of formal events or someone who is part entertainer, compère, motivator or comedian? Type in your exact requirement into a search engine and you will quickly establish what is on offer.

Of course, your personal preference is a subjective test. Try to consider what type of MC your audience would prefer. Ideally, watch short show-reel videos of the MC in action, paying particular attention to the audience’s reaction to the performer.

The types of questions you should be asking yourself are ‘Has he or she an ability to quickly build a rapport with the audience?’ Considering the type of person you anticipate will make up the bulk of your audience you might ask ‘Is the MC’s material and style of delivery of a quality and standard the audience would appreciate at my event?’

Having identified the best potential MC for your event, my final recommendation is that you reserve their services as quickly as possible. There are lots of event organisers out there and relatively few professional MCs of quality to go around.

A top MC will understand the difficulties you, as an event organiser, are facing and provide a non-committal way in which you can hold their services, at least for a short period of time, whilst the final decisions etc are made.

I wish you every success with your event, conference or meeting.