Event Host, Corporate Trainer & Emcee in India

Learn 5 steps managers can take to manages conflicts at work. A Blog by Gaston Dsouza - Corporate Trainer and Event Anchor in Mumbai.

This blog is about important areas of interpersonal skills for the overall growth of individuals. By Gaston Dsouza - a leading emcee in India.

The looming threat of COVID-19 has spread across the world and this has curtailed our travel and affected work in a huge way. Most organizations have asked their employees to work from home wherever possible. However, this is proving to be difficult to implement at all levels and this is becoming a challenge for leaders of organizations, big or small.

Your job profile could be that of a digital marketing expert, a sales professional or you could be a leading Emcee in India and the following tips can help you to manage your virtual teams with ease. Leaders have to be prepared and should support their respective teams to remain motivated and guide them through this difficult phase:

1. Connect at a personal level: 

Considering the challenging times everyone is going through, do not dive in directly towards work-related questions. See how your team is doing at a personal level by asking them how they are coping with the stress and anxiety associated with the present situation. When they know that you care about them, it equips them to deal with the change and opens up the doors to communication.

2. Explore modern technology: 

There isn’t a better time to explore and implement modern communication tools like video conferencing, conference calls and various digital platforms like Zoom, Teams, and Skype etc. to keep the communication going. Your team may be spread out across the city or the country, but the use of new communication tools can help bridge the gap and work can go on without any hiccups.

3. Encourage self-care: 

Just as your team is responsible for completing certain tasks during the working hours, they may also have responsibilities of their children or elders in the home. Since elders in the family are at an increased risk due to lower immunity levels, encourage your team members to pay special attention to them and keep them emotionally and physically healthy.

4. Use emotional intelligence during communication: 

These are times when sensitivities are heightened and words can be misconstrued. As a leader, when a team member approaches you with a problem, acknowledge it first while expressing empathy. The discussion that follows will be more logical and can reach a mutually-acceptable conclusion too. Your team needs support and they will look up to you to provide that and emotional intelligence will help you to do that.

5. Open communication lines: 

We see a plethora of events happening around us, corporate and personal, almost every weekend, if not every day. In the corporate scenario, these events are organized to celebrate achievements or business goals. Organizers prefer to hand over the reins to professional event organizers so they can focus on other important things.

The event manager has to manage and engage the right resources to ensure that the event is a zero-hiccups and successful one. He needs to engage the best Emcee in India, ensure all necessary stuff is delivered on time and make sure things work in clockwork precision. So what do they do so the event goes on smoothly? Here are a few things that are bound to show up on an event manager’s list to make sure the event is a memorable one:

1. What is the purpose of the event?

Why is the event being hosted? The event manager has to know and understand the goal of the event. Is the event being done to create awareness about the brand or is it to promote sales of their products? If the event is designed for networking, the design of the event has to be done accordingly and the event manager takes the necessary steps to keep it focused in that direction.

2. What is the audience profile?

Who are the participants for the event and what is the purpose of their participation? The schedule, the event assets and the event ambience will be designed according to the profile of the participating audience. The target audience should like the same to make the event a grand success.

3. What should the budget be?

Every professional event manager discusses the event budget in the primary stages of discussion so that the next steps can be managed accordingly. A fixed budget helps in keeping things in check without having to stretch at the last moment. All expected costs and unforeseen ones should be factored in to keep the estimates in check.

4. Has the venue been booked?

There are hundreds of event being planned and organized every day and therefore event venues are always short or overbooked. One of the first things that need to be done once the dates are finalized is to choose and select an apt venue that meets all the requirements of the event.

5. Allocation of Resources

It takes a lot of effort to plan and organize a corporate party but it is fun and exciting too. Though it is not as easy as it seems, planning a corporate event can be a breeze if the right steps are followed. However, if you think this is as simple as organizing as a house party or one for friends, then you are wrong.

The preparations include selecting the right venue, choosing the food and hiring a competent event anchor in Mumbai. Want to know how to plan a corporate event and take it to the next level? Then read ahead:

 Decide on a budget:

It is important to fix a budget for the event before you look out for a venue or make a guest list. The costs of venue, catering, entertainment, guest speakers, decorations have to be taken into consideration to know the ballpark figure as event costs. The costs of banners, electrical fittings, signage, electronic equipment, and promotional costs for the event should also be included in the budget.

 Decide on a date:

The next step is to schedule a date for the corporate event. Make sure you browse through the corporate calendar before finalizing the date since there could be another event scheduled around the dates you prefer. Religious holidays, national events, long weekends should be generally avoided to ensure full attendance for the event.

 Decide on the right venue:

Once the date is finalized, it is now time to finalize the venue. This should be done after a lot of deliberation since the venue should be in a centralized location so all participants can reach easily. The venue should meet your requirements in terms of seating capacity.

 Send invitations:

You would now like to draw up your guest list now at this stage. While sending out invitations, you should consider the fact that 20–30% guests may not turn up. Send the invitation at least a couple of weeks in advance, but not too early since the guests could forget it later. You should integrate all the guest information, RSVP and event schedules together to ensure your guests received everything in a single mail or envelopes.

Being an emcee isn’t easy, nor is the journey to becoming a successful one. It can often be a long, arduous and frustrating process for most aspiring emcees but even the best event anchor in Mumbai would have to go through the same. There is a lot of hard work and effort that goes into the making of a successful emcee so if you are dreaming of exotic locations, fancy hotels and the good life, which will not happen instantly.

Gaston Dsouza is one of the most popular emcees our city and has been enthralling an regaling audiences for many years. In this article, we share a few of his strategies to help you achieve success:

Get up on to the stage

Every bit of knowledge and experience that you will gain as a budding emcee will be on the stage and that’s where you would want to get up as soon as possible. The earlier you get up there, the soon will you learn your craft. As a beginner, you can join the local clubs and volunteer for jobs within the committee or their leadership team. Sooner or later you will get noticed for your talent and then it is time to showcase them. If any emceeing opportunities you can spot, put your hand up and before you know, you could be getting your first opportunity of performing on stage.

Keep the research on

Research about your profession as much as possible and you will keep discovering newer and relevant things about emceeing. Remember emceeing is an ongoing process so keep reading and gather as much information as possible. It is also a good idea to look up the competition and get an idea about the kind of work they are doing. See the profile of clients they are working with and how they have positioned themselves.

Select a niche for yourself

The competition out there is huge for any Emcee in India and there are a lot of talented individuals who are aspiring to do the exact same job as yours. If you spread yourself too thin and do every bit of work that comes your way, you will not have any expertise to showcase. The sooner you develop a niche, the better it will be for you. You could focus only on weddings, birthdays and engagement parties or specialize yourself for corporate events or product launches.

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