Public Speaking: How To Make A Great Living by Kafui Dey

Have you ever wondered whether you could make a great living from your skill in public speaking?  Here are 9 answers to that question.


1. Auctioneer

Are you persuasive speaker?  Are you comfortable with asking strangers to give you money for new books or CDs?  You could be an auctioneer at a book or album launch.  What do you need to do to be a success?  First of all, know what your fundraising target is.  Next, familiarize yourself with the product and be prepared to deliver a convincing monologue as you encourage the first person to give you money or make an offer.  Use humour to relax your audience.  If you do well, the word will spread and other authors and composers will look for you to auction their products.  Wondering how to look for auctioning jobs?  Scan the newspapers and contact publishing houses to find out what new books are about to hit the market.


2. Master of Ceremonies

Every event needs someone who is skilled at introducing speakers, announcing upcoming items on the programme and managing the flow of the function and that person could be you.  The sheer diversity of events makes the job of a master of ceremonies a very interesting one.  Take your pick from awards nights, beauty pageants and corporate events to dinner dances, launches, parties and wedding receptions:  can you imagine any of these events running well without an MC?  Apart from the ability to speak well, you need to be good at working with people and thinking on your feet when unexpected changes occur in the programme.  Develop excellent relations with event organizers so they can recommend you to their clients.


3. Moderator

At any forum, a moderator is required to be the link between the audience and the people on the dais who are speaking about a specific issue.  The moderator sets the agenda, conducts the conversation with the experts and then invites the audience to participate with their questions and contributions.  To be an effective moderator, know the issues and study the art of asking probing questions.  Be prepared to contribute the first two or so questions when the time comes for audience participation so there are no awkward silences during the event.  Looking for work as a moderator?  Monitor the press for announcements about conferences and develop good relations with venue managers.


4. Motivational Speaker

Everybody needs encouragement to spur them on to greater achievements.  If you are skilled in a particular field or have overcome great odds, you could have a career as a motivational speaker.  Companies need people like you to inspire their staff; young people need role models to encourage them to persevere.  Being a motivational speaker can be rewarding, not just for the audiences but for the speaker who potentially can impact the lives of many people.  To be effective, you must be a compelling storyteller and show your audience how your experience is relevant to their particular situation.


5. Radio Presenter

Do you love current affairs?  Do you have the ability to sound fresh and exciting five days a week from 6am to 10am?  Maybe you should consider being a morning show host on radio.  Are you raring to go when most people are turning in for the night?  Maybe you are suited for late night shows.  Love jazz and love talking about it?  You could host a show on it.  Radio offers vast opportunities to eloquent speakers, no matter their interests of personalities.  Another benefit of radio is that you can remain anonymous and even present your programme in your underwear!  A good way to land an on-air radio job is by starting out in less visible departments such as production or events.  Learn all you can to make yourself ready when the opportunity presents itself.


6. Sales Professional

Are you a positive, passionate and persuasive speaker?  Can you take rejection with a shrug and a smile?  Do you devise creative ways to solve problems?  If you said yes to all of these questions, you could be a success in the world of sales.  Every organization in the world is selling something – goods, services or ideas – and effective salespeople are rare.  To make it in sales, you’ve got to be enthusiastic.  Work for companies you admire, always be a student of human behavior and know the various ways to counter objections.


7. Television Presenter

What else do you need to be a TV presenter apart from the ability to speak well?  One thing you have to learn is how to speak to a camera especially during segments when you are addressing your audience directly.  It can be disconcerting at first but practice does make perfect.  A great TV host has excellent relations with the crew without whom the show would not get on air.  It helps if you are photogenic – there are some shows that derive their ratings mainly from a host who is easy on the eye.  A radio background is helpful if you want to break into TV but be prepared for lots and lots of auditions before someone decides to employ you.  Be prepared for the loss of your privacy if you end up hosting a popular show.


8. Tutor

If you are an experienced public speaker (a veteran of at least 100 speaking engagements) and you excel at encouraging learners to improve, then being a public speaking tutor could be an apt choice.  Apply to broadcasting schools for a teaching appointment or offer private lessons.  Advertise on Facebook to publicize what you do.


9. Voice-over Artist

Can you use your voice to inject life into a script in order to sell anything from tomato paste to retail banking?  You may want to consider a career in recording commercials for radio and TV.  Create a demo of your best work and contact advertising agencies for opportunities.  To succeed as a voice-over artist, polish your voice by reading poetry aloud and taking voice lessons (get them free online at YouTube).  You have to be ready to get to the studio at short notice and work quickly – studio time is expensive!


So there you have it – 9 ways to make a great living from public speaking.  Can you come up with one or two others?

Do You Have These Questions About Emceeing? by Kafui Dey

"How does one get to be a great MC?" the young man asked.  And I smiled.  I get this question at least once a week.  My answer is always the same - by emceeing.  Learning the art of emceeing is like learning how to swim or ride or dance.  No matter how many books you read, videos you watch or people you observe, you only make progress if you put all your knowledge into practice by doing.  Another word for it is on-the-job training.  Learning involves making mistakes, finding out what works and what doesn't.  When I gave this advice to the young man, he looked disappointed, almost as if he expected something much deeper than what I told him.  But look at it this way.  If a teacher teaches, a driver drives and a baker bakes, then a presenter presents and a speaker speaks.  You  gain experience by multiplying your opportunities to practise what you want to perfect.

"How do I acquire the experience? Nobody knows me!"  If you are new to the business of emceeing, don't despise small beginnings.  Get in shape for that all-important office event by volunteering to handle family functions like weddings and parties as well as social events like launches and fundraisers.  You'll learn how to introduce guests and create effective links between event segments, tools that can be used to manage corporate functions as well.

"So attending a course to become a better presenter is not necessary?" the young man wanted to know.  Far from it.  Get all the education you can.  Read all the books you can.  And after that, approach your MC duties by taking the advice of the renowned sports company Nike. Just do it.

Who Are You? by Kafui Dey

There are days when I'm convinced the letters MC stand for 'Major Chameleon'.  Let me tell you about one of those days

Last week Tuesday around 2pm, I get a call about a potential job. Master of ceremonies needed for fashion show.  Candidate must engage audience and veer towards standup comedy once in a while.  "No problem".  I tell the client "I’m available.  I can do it."

Fast forward 3 hours later and another call comes through.  Event organiser would like me to be the MC at a commemorative lecture in honour of a VVIP.  Qualities needed: gravitas, poise, calm.  "No worries at all", I assure the organiser, "I can do serious too."

As you may have noticed, an MC must have the ability, just like the chameleon, to take on the characteristics of the environment and blend in harmoniously.  He achieves this by what he says and how he says it.  That's the key to success in the profession.  Would you be happy with an MC who persisted in cracking dry jokes instead of concentrating on hosting a serious event in the appropriate mood? No.  And would you be excited about an MC who speaks with diplomatic formality at a fashion event where the ambience is bright and colourful?  Definitely not.

Remember if you are the Master of Ceremonies, you are also playing the role of the Major Chameleon.  Make sure you fit in.

How to Handle a Speaker who Turns Up Late by Kafui Dey

Just picture this.  You're the Master of Ceremonies for a high-level corporate function.  You've arrived at the venue an hour early.  You've introduced yourself to the event organizer, the venue manager and the caterer.  The hall is tastefully decorated and the DJ is filling the room with smooth jazz.  You glance at your watch.  Everything is going to plan.  The show starts in ten minutes.  Then the organizer comes rushing in to give you bad news.  The guest speaker was on his way but had to attend an urgent unscheduled meeting before coming here.  Looks like he definitely will be late.  The question is, when will he arrive?  Nobody knows for sure.

Such a scenario has the potential for sharply raising stress levels before the show even gets underway.  The client, the person paying for the event, wants to know what's going on.  The audience - guests and the media - want proceedings to start, they haven’t got all day you know.  The organizer just wants a faraway place to hide from all this unwanted pressure.  A launch or an awards ceremony that took weeks of meticulous planning and countless sleepless nights can be wrecked with a key person failing to turn up on time to play a critical role in the programme.  You’re the MC.  You’re in the middle of a potential storm.  What’s your decision?

Do you:

A. Offer no explanations to the audience.  Instead, wait till the special guest turns up before you start?
B.  Start the show on time, apologize profusely and let the audience know that the guest speaker will be late?

Starting later than scheduled is not advisable, especially if it is a corporate affair.  It shows a lack of professionalism as well as a lack of respect for guests who took pains to turn up early.  So Option A is out of the question.  How about Option B?  Making a speaker look bad by advertising their lateness is not a good idea either.  Why cause disaffection for him or her?  One important role of the MC is to bring out the best in everyone connected with the event: the audience, the client, and the speakers.  With that in mind, here's what to do if you're the MC and its show time but your special guest is nowhere to be found.

1. Rearrange it and then start on time.

Juggle the programme around.  Push the guest speaker's appearance further down the running order since they will be appearing later than scheduled.  Feel free to bring forward items that were originally scheduled to run after the guest of honour's speech.  I recently emceed a corporate event where I brought forward a musical performance and an awards segment to account for the lateness of the special guest.  After making these changes, start the show on time without referring to them.  No apologies are needed - just get on with it.  The audience will be happy that you're not wasting their time.  They will take a cue from you the MC and assume that the show was originally planned that way.

2.  Coordinate it.

The show is now underway.  You're up front on the stage.  How will you know when your special guest turns up?  Coordination is the key.  Make sure you have a representative of the organizers updating you regularly so you know when the speaker is around and when it's time to bring him or her into the picture.  Remember, nobody in the audience should know that there was a problem before the show kicked off.  Be diplomatic.  Don't make any mention of their lateness when you introduce the guest speaker.  You should be as natural as possible, as if it was planned all along that the guest of honour would address the audience at that particular time.  It has been my experience that unless you draw attention to a lapse or problem, most audiences are happily unaware of what challenges you may be facing to produce a successful event.  This may be one of the rare occasions where indeed ignorance is bliss.  Keep it that way!

As a Master of Ceremonies, how you handle a speaker who turns up late means being creative and working closely with team members.  Your success will mark you out as a professional and you’d like to be regarded in such a manner wouldn’t you?

Breakfast Meetings: The Excellent Master of Ceremonies' Guide by Kafui Dey

Breakfast meetings are corporate networking events that take place in the morning.  They are usually held in a hotel. Important speakers are invited to deliver presentations about relevant business topics.  A Master of Ceremonies is required to take control of the event.  As the MC, how do you host such an event successfully?

Welcome

If the meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30am, arrive at least an hour early.  Check out the meeting hall, test your microphone and meet the organizers.  When the guests start appearing, introduce yourself, welcome them to the event.  Some breakfast meetings require guests to register and give out their business cards for a raffle that will be held during the meeting.  One of your first tasks is to direct guests to the registration desk with a reminder that they may win big if their card is drawn.  Organizers use the registration exercise to harvest contacts of business executives so be enthusiastic about encouraging guests to register and hand over their cards.  Even during the meeting, you can continue to remind the audience to register.

The first part of a breakfast meeting deals with the food.  After guests have settled at their tables, announce that breakfast is ready.  They will approach the buffet tables to serve themselves but you won't join them.  Remember they are there to network but you are there to manage the event.  You are effectively on duty.   You may get engrossed in a conversation and forget that you were engaged to do a specific job - host the event.  You may be called upon to suddenly make an announcement and if your mouth is full of food, how professional will that be?  You may even accidentally spill coffee on your suit and have to take to the stage with a big brown stain in full view of the audience.  Hungry because you didn't grab a bite?  Tough.  There will be plenty of time after the event to sample the breakfast fare.

Announcements

Halfway through breakfast, you'll start the meeting by welcome guests once again.  Run through all the announcements that need to be made - fire exits, directions to washrooms, requests for cars blocking exits to be re-parked and registration reminders.  If the event is sponsored, acknowledge the sponsoring company's representative and invite them to make a presentation about their organization.  You can also remind guests to visit sponsor stands for more information about their products and services.

Introductions

You're now ready to bring the speakers onto the stage.  Even if the organizers gave you their profiles, it's a good idea to touch base with the speakers during breakfast to confirm those details.  To do an excellent job, you must have the speaker's name and its correct pronunciation, their title and professional achievements.  Introduce every speaker using this formula: Profession-Experience-Relevance to Audience-Speaker's Name.  It builds drama and gets the audience's attention because they will be curious about who that person is.  Here's an example of a brief but solid introduction:

"Our first speaker is a serial entrepreneur.  She has spent the best part of 2 decades building, running and selling successful companies.  We are privileged to have her speak to us about identifying opportunities in a challenging business environment.  Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together as we welcome...Dr. Rose Donkor."

Question Time

While the speaker is talking, it s likely that the audience will have all manner of questions to ask.  You can handle this at the end of the talk by asking guests to raise their hand if they want a question answered.  If nobody ventures, be prepared to ask the first one or two questions.  When the audience starts firing away, limit them to one per person plus a follow-up question so nobody dominates the interaction. Another way of getting a wide variety of queries is to pass around slips of paper to the audience.  Ask them to anonymously write down their questions while the speaker is presenting.  At question time, the filled paper slips will be retrieved and read.  The advantage of this system is that guests who are nervous about speaking in public can still have their concerns tackled.  Also there's no pressure on you to ask a question to get the ball rolling.

Raffle

Before you announce the business card draw, clarify the rules.  When I MC at a breakfast meeting, I usually bar the organizers, the media and myself from taking part in the raffle.  I also stress that if a winner is not in the room at the time of announcement, that person forfeits their claim to the prize.  A full house always adds excitement to the draw.  Put the business cards in a bowl and ask members of the audience to come up and pick winners.  Always leave the grand prize as the last one to be announced - it adds drama to the event!

The End

After introducing the person to present the vote of thanks, you can close the breakfast meeting by asking your audience to stop by the sponsor stands on their way out.  Wish them a productive rest of the day and you're done.  You can now have your own breakfast, you've earned it!

Awards: The Excellent Master of Ceremonies' Guide by Kafui Dey

An awards ceremony is a special corporate event designed to recognize and reward excellence within a particular industry. It brings together the top people who make things happen in that industry to network... in a relaxed setting. It provides a perfect excuse for guests to dress up in their finest to spend three or four hours wining, dining and sharing the in the joy of the winners. It can also be a source of abject boredom if the Master of Ceremonies doesn't bring it to life with an entertaining style of presentation. For how long would you tolerate the MC mechanically announcing "And the winner is...and the winner is...”?

Preparation

The secret to successfully emceeing an awards ceremony is the same as any other special event - the key is preparation. If you have been chosen to host your company's annual awards, pat yourself on the back. Someone thinks you can do a good job in handling the show. Now it's up to you not to disappoint them or yourself. Get to work immediately.

Request a meeting

Have a conversation with the event organizer. Make sure you take notes. What do you talk about? Here are eleven questions you should ask:
1. When is the awards ceremony?
2. Where is it taking place?
3. What time does it start?
4. Why these awards at this particular time of the organization's life? This sounds like an obvious question but you may get extra insights from the response that could be helpful to you.
5. Who hosted last year's event? (If it was recorded, ask for copies of the video)
6. Who is your sole contact person during the event?
7. Who are the speakers on the programme? You will need their profiles so you can introduce them well.
8. Who will provide entertainment? The deejay? A live band? A comedian?
9. How many awards will be presented?
10. Who is presenting the awards? Company executives? VIPs?
11. What is the highest award? You'll want to climax the event by announcing this one last.

Running Order

Next, ask the organizers for a draft running order or run sheet. This document shows what will happen at a specific time during the show. I have come across elaborate versions done in Microsoft Excel with precise timings for everything that happens on the stage including scripts for what the MC should be saying. The running order is your best friend if you are the MC. It is your road map that will help you get to Destination Successful Event in good time.

Always note that the running order is not set in stone like the Ten Commandments. For example, if it bunches thirty awards in one presentation segment you can take the liberty of splitting the awards up. You could for example present ten before dinner, ten during dinner and the remainder right after the final musical performance. Audiences attend events primarily to be entertained and you the MC are the facilitator of the entertainment. Bend the running order to suit the dictates of the event.

Rehearsal

As the MC, you've asked your questions and you've received the running order. Are you ready to host the event? You know the saying "Practice makes perfect." It's time to put the saying to the test. You should aim to have a full dress rehearsal of the event at least once.

Practice the key moments of the ceremony – the introduction, the award presentations. In what order will the awards be arranged and presented when the categories are announced? That will prevent you from announcing one category only for the winner to be presented with a plaque for a different award. Will the announcement of awards be synchronized with music? Then you and the deejay have to be well coordinated. It is only during the rehearsal session that you'll know how the different segments of the show fit and flow into each other.

Show time!

After this amount of preparation, you are ready for your awards ceremony. Get to the venue ahead of time, start on time and have a good time! Success is yours!

This Is Why The Master of Ceremonies Must Be Early by Kafui Dey

"I'm just around the corner."  These are the very words an event organizer doesn't want to hear from the MC especially when the show should have started 30 minutes ago.  Why is it important for a master of ceremonies to arrive at the venue at least an hour ahead of time?  Here are 6 reasons.

Professionalism

Arriving early immediately sets you apart from 80% of your competition.  Most emcees will turn up late and give a long list of excuses to justify their tardiness.  Don't be like them.  You want to be counted amongst the 20% who are early birds.  Your respect for time indicates that you take the organizer, the event and yourself seriously.

Peace of mind

An organizer is really buying peace of mind when she hires a professional MC. Making it to the venue ahead of schedule gives her one less item to worry about, freeing her to concentrate on other important elements of the event.

Partners

Imagine if you rushed into the function 20 minutes late.  What kind of rapport would you create?  Would it help or hurt the event?When you arrive early, you're likely to meet the various people you will be partnering to make the event a success.  As the master of ceremonies, you coordinate and direct the activities of the caterer, deejay, venue operator, audio-visual technician and ushers.  Introducing yourself to them and getting to know them on a friendly, first name basis is an advantage you gain when you make it a point to be early.

Positioning

If you arrive early, you'll be able, for example, to advise the deejay on where to set up his equipment to take advantage of power points or the acoustics of the venue.  If you're hosting an awards event, you could offer your opinion on how to arrange the plaques depending on how you'll announce the winners.  All this input is only possible if you arrive ahead of time.

Preparation

You are able to finalize your pre-event checks in a quiet, relaxed mood when you arrive early.  You can run through the program with the event coordinator, taking note of any last-minutes changes to the speakers or the program's running order.  You are able to conduct a microphone check without having to subject your guests to endless repetitions of "Testing mic, testing mic!  Try...two!"

Practice

If you are early, you'll have enough time to practice before the event begins.  How will you begin the event in a manner that will arrest the attention of the audience?  How will you introduce the speakers?  How will you wrap up at the end so guests leave the venue with a sense that their time was well spent?  With sufficient time in your hands, you can practice in peace and even visualize yourself doing an excellent job.

Conclusion

Being  early means getting to the venue at least an hour before the first guest is scheduled to arrive.  If an event is billed to start at 8pm with arrival of guests set between 7pm and 8pm, you need to be at the venue at the latest by 6pm.  Who will ever complain that you the master of ceremonies showed up too early?  And since 50% of success consists of just turning  up, why not increase your chances by turning up early?