Subscribe to the NetworkPairing the Right Emcees on Stage
Finding the right people to put on stage as the host of your youth service or event is really, really important. If everything is the message, you’ve got to have the right personalities and presence on stage as you continue to thread the theme/series through the night. I spent some time thinking about it this weekend, and found that using an analogy from sports broadcasting works well. There’s a reason they do it this way:
Play-by-play
This is the driver of the on stage conversation. They are the personality, king of first impressions and will set the tone for the program. If they are warm, if they are genuine, if they are funny – it will all help ease the first moments of tension between the audience and the stage. Two of these people on stage is like having two drivers in one car – but not having this person creates an awkward chemistry of two people who don’t know how to drive the vehicle. This person would talk the majority of the time.Color commentator
This is the person who isn’t driving, but is still fully engaged and along for the ride. This person is responsible for tracking the length of the time on stage, and should make sure that the content is focused and hitting home. If the play-by-play person gets too far off track, the color commentator steers them back on course. Two of these people on stage creates some wandering stage moments that never really take the audience anywhere, and lacks the warmth and energy of the play-by-play. Not having this person though and you lose some of the depth and content that the emcee should provide.
JG
