Key Learnings for How to Emcee a Meeting, Introduce a Speaker, and Present Awards

Do:

• Consider yourself honored if you are asked to be a program chair. It's a showcase for you. It will do more for your stature and visibility in your company than six months of normal work.

• Use the TEAS formula when introducing a speaker. It's simple and it works. The introduction will be livelier and the speaker better launched.

• Make sure you get a good anecdote; it makes your introduction special. It also sets up the speaker, and the audience loves it.

• Hold the name for last when you introduce a speaker or present an award. It helps build anticipation. The audience will applaud more enthusiastically.

• Punch the name with gusto when you announce the speaker or the award winner's name.

Don't:

• Use the person's name ten or fifteen times in the course of the introduction. This strips all drama from the ending.

• Talk too long. You are the preface, not the book.

• Try to steal the show by being a comedian or by seeking undue attention. Not your job. There's a place in heaven for a good emcee. Most comedians never get there.