The Top Ten reasons to use a great MC at your conference:
1.They anticipate the participant mindset and ‘frame’ the conference, establishing content relevance from the start.
2. They add a sense of occasion and professionalism.
3. They set the scene for the speakers: introducing them, supporting them as needed (e.g. if nervous) and thanking them.
4. They engage the power of the audience, drawing on their experience, provoking thinking and involvement through insightful and relevant questions.
5. They keep the conference ‘on message’ by highlighting key points.
6. They summarise, taking the pressure off the audience to remember everything.
7. They use their energy to keep a brisk pace and they know how to elegantly bring a speaker to a close if they are overrunning or going off-message.
8. They make connections and links between the content of different speakers’ talks, and draw the threads together in a meaningful way.
9. They can deal with anything that comes up and they know how to make everything flow smoothly even if there is a hitch (e.g. technical, or someone is late or doesn’t turn up).
10. They make sure all viewpoints are heard.
