The role of the master of ceremonies

1. Introduction to
Presentation Skills for Professionals
THE ROLE OF THE MASTER OF
CEREMONIES

2. Introduction
 Mum, Dad, Big Brother, captain,
mediator, entertainer, Stage Secretary,
Event organizer, policeman; the Master
of Ceremonies (MC) wears a great
many hats, some of them
simultaneously.
 A good MC can raise the standards of a
set of presentations enormously; a bad
one can scupper the entire enterprise.

3. So what is an MC for?
 Certainly they have a great many duties:
 Introducing presentation sessions
 Handling logistics
 Time keeping
 Introducing speakers
 Tying the different presentations together
 Recapping the messages
 Introducing and controlling the question-and-answer
session
 Winding up the whole performance
But over and above all these,
 the MC is there to keep the audience interested,
energized and comfortable.

4.  To do this the MC needs to know a great
many things: what the presentations hope to
achieve, the audience, the presenters and
their presentations, the venue and technology,
any politics involved, how to keep a cool
head, how to keep control and how to
energize an audience.
 This chapter looks at how to be an effective
MC.

5. The MC’s duties before the
presentations
 Hold a meeting with all the presenters and collect
their credibility statements and a synopsis of each
presentation.
 Work out with them how the presentations fit
together and the order in which they are going to
present.
 See if you can, as a group, come up with a theme
that will link them all together.
 Also discuss what they know about the audience
and any issues that they think will arise. Now you

6.  Start by making a running plan. This should
contain every presentation with its timings, when
and for how long the breaks will occur, plus
locations of coffee and food.
 Next is a running plan for a day-long conference
with an audience of 20 senior staff from an
international bank.

7.  You will see from this that
the MC has several
scripts to write and four
question-and-answer
sessions to run: the
opening welcome and
introduction, the closing
summary, thank you and
farewell, four
introductions with three
linking statements and
the coffee and lunch
break announcements.

8. The opening welcome and
introduction
 Welcome everyone in the audience. Mention any
special guests (for example, ‘Good evening, Your
Royal Highness, Prime Minister, Ladies and
Gentlemen ... ).
 Briefly introduce yourself
 Outline the agenda briefly.
 Cover any logistics briefly
 Then introduce the first speaker and the subject
of the first presentation.

9. Introduction……………..
 Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and
a warm welcome to this international
banking seminar. We are here to examine
the new and potentially very profitable
area of internet banking. I am Mary Profit,
chairperson of the Bankers’ Consortium
and author of Banking on the Future.
Today we have four speakers; Susan
Smith from the Think Tank Practicus, who
will talk about the latest technology in
internet banking, an area I know that Mark
and Julie and the IT department are

10. During Presentations
 After the general introduction the MC introduces the first
speaker and his subject in more detail and then leaves
the stage.
 While the speakers are performing, it is up to the MC to
keep an eye on the time and signal discreetly to the
speaker if it is time to stop.
 It is also up to the MC to deflect or defer unpleasant
questions.
 Because the chairperson is seen to be impartial and
authoritative, it is easier for him or her to do this than the
presenter.

11. Duties after the presentations
 Sending the audience on their way
– the MC winds up the entire
proceedings, thanking the speakers
and the audience and wishing
everyone bon voyage.

12. SUMMARY
 The MC glues a set of presentations
together by looking out for the
audience’s needs and responses and
linking the individual presentations
together.
 The MC is also in charge of the smooth
running of the conference and the follow
up debrief. A strong chairperson can
make an everyday conference

13. Thank You