Opening Speech - An Emcee Guide to writing a great opening

do you need to write the perfect opening speech for an event where you are the MC I've written hundreds of them over the years for events all over the world and in the short video I'm going to take you step by step and show you the exact way I do it [Music] hi it's timothy Hyde here from expert mc.com the channel dedicated to helping you become a better emcee both onstage and offstage and in this quick video I'm going to take you through the three phase process that I use every time I write an opening speech but before I do a big welcome to the new people here on the channel please subscribe so you don't miss out on any videos coming up in the future we tend to publish on a Monday or a Sunday night and if you want to hit the bell notification up the top and you'll be informed exactly when we do so let's go you know writing a great opening speech for an emcee is a little bit like cooking a great meal I love to cook when I'm at home if you ask my wife she would probably say I don't cook enough but once I get into it I really enjoy it and there's three phases to cooking a great meal number one you've got to be aware of what you're trying to achieve are you just doing a picnic are you doing finger food for a stand-up cocktail party is it a buffet situation where people will help themselves to whatever elements they like or is it a sit-down dinner perhaps a casual sit-down or more formal five-course sit-down meal once you've decided and sure of your aims for the event second part is to decide what ingredients are going in what are the spices what is the feature flavor that you're going to have do you need to substitute anything what needs to go in and the third phase of course is how are you going to cook those ingredients together what order are you going to cook them in and then how are you going to plate it up at the end so that it's presentable and manageable and of course delicious so phase one in writing a great opening speech is to be aware of what you are trying to achieve but more importantly what your client is are trying to achieve what is the reason for the event is it networking is it a product information night is it as celebration as the party does you want them to relax or does he want them hyped up does he want them to pull their credit cards out and and spend money these are the things you need to ask your client now your client might be the CEO the organizer of the event of the president of an association it might be a business owner might be the Hedden your headmaster at your school who has asked you to run a particular event you need to find out from them exactly what they are trying to achieve what is the reason for the meeting I also like to ask them how they would like the people to think and act differently the next day or the next week that gives you a nice little subtle question to ask as well I also find out what is the theme of the event does the event have a theme does it have a slogan that goes with it this can really help in choosing some nice juicy words to include in your opening the slogan might be dodging ahead in 2013 or water it might be working together or together we win etc find out what that slogan is that they are going to use you know it might seem like quite a lot of work just finding out about the big picture but it really does lay a good foundation a story I sometimes tell I'm Stein was often asked how you solve problems and he said if I had 20 days to solve a problem I would spend the first 19 working out what the problem actually was and the 20th day to come up with the solution kind of sums up the amount of effort you need to find out the reason and then work backwards from there hey that quote is in the x-bow DMC toolkit and resource manual find out about that up on the website now we understand the big picture what we are trying to achieve we move on to the ingredients the details now there are five things that I like to find out from client early on five things number one is the time how long do you have scheduled or allocated for you to make this opening address and the sooner you find that help the better number two of the protocols what are the protocols that really must be followed now different cultures different countries different associations different groups have different protocols you need to establish what they are for instance some groups will start with a prayer at the start of the event or to sing the national anthem here in Australia we often start with a acknowledgement of country an acknowledgement of the original owners of the land on which we meet so you need to establish what those protocols are number three is the inclusions what needs to be included and by this I mean which a VIPs need to be mentioned by name by title and in what order and also are you going to mention the sponsors at that point or anything else that the client really wants to be included so that's inclusions number four is the housekeeping what housekeeping things need to be mentioned now by this I mean where are the toilets what's the Wi-Fi code what time does the bus leave after dinner and the important please turn your phone's off now I'd like to do those little nitty-gritty housekeeping things slightly later if at all possible but I always mentioned the phone so I would do them perhaps after the first presentation or first speaker if I can so it all stays fairly cohesive but you need to find out what details they want communicated to the audience and the last thing number five is to find out what happens next it's important to know what happens next so that you know the appropriate energy level for instance if they're moving into a say a networking event or a team-building event or some sort of activity you probably want to hype the energy up you want it make it big but if it's a serious presentation you want to probably calm them down get them focused so those are the five things I think you need to find out five ingredients to go in your opening address so now we know exactly what you're trying to achieve with the event and you know the ingredients that you need to include it's time to mesh it all together and in Phase three I I break it down into five steps and this is the structure of the opening that I use I change it from from time to time but basically this is the structure number one is the grabber I think the first thirty Seconds to a minute you really need to grab hold of the audience's attention I don't think it's a time to be introducing yourself talking about the weather and asking them how they're feeling just get straight into it I like to start with a bold statement or a bold question or a very quick story if you've been on to the website and read the article that goes with this video it explains exactly the story that I tell quite a lot of my business meetings in the last video I in the news video we talked about the voice of God introduction that's an also a good grabber because it introduces you before your you come onstage it gets their attention and then you can segue straight into your opening thirty seconds or a minute so your grabber must be strong now if you're telling a joke or a story or using a quote or anything like that make it relate to the big picture the big picture is important so the story must relate to that big picture now you have their attention with your bold opening grabber it's time to move on to step number two and this is where you welcome the guests you go through any protocol that you need to follow and you include any of the things that must be said at that point which is the the VIPs and the sponsors so the the welcome to the to the actual event any protocols and mentioned the VIPs the sponsors etc now the easy part here is you've already discussed that with your client so that part should actually be quite easy to put together in step number three I like to look at the big picture so we try and frame the event in the audience's my and to do this I look at the theme of the event and why are they there and say a few words that incorporate both of those things the reason for the event and the actual slogan of the event I would also it in this step try and pick out a couple of highlights about what is coming up later on either later in that evening or later in the day or later at the convention and that might be a particular speaker that I'm interested in hearing or particular activity or something that's going to be going on so something about a who or a watt of what's coming up in step number four I like to move from the big picture down to the small picture or start saying things that relate directly to the individuals in the audience and by this I mean I'd say a couple of things about the benefit of being at the event and this might be what they're going to learn who they're going to meet the opportunities that will be presented to them solutions to some problems that they have etc and I like to obviously tie this to the reason that they're at the vet at the event and what I'm trying to do here is to motivate and enthuse them to make the most of the event and also to take some action and obviously those two relate directly back to what your client is after he wants them to think and do something differently and so I then put it to the audience to do exactly that I'd also take this opportunity to plant what I call a seed of cooperation now in the article on the website about this topic I go into a little bit more detail about this but I plant a seed of cooperation so that the individuals help me run the event smoothly so make sure you check that out as well and step number five is to close it up tie the loose ends together and move on to your first activity or your first speaker now this is an appropriate moment to slip in another quote a joke a phrases saying a tiny story that relates directly to the big picture so you've gone big picture down to the individual person and then back to the big picture head and it's also an appropriate time to slip in any housekeeping that you really have to do I would say something like before I bring on our first speaker to discuss such and such just a reminder please would you turn off your phones or the bus tonight was leaving it had etc so there we are that's it that's the structure I use on on every opening that I that I put together find out exactly what the client wants find out exactly what has to be included and then tie it all together using those five steps that I've outlined hey it's all explained in full detail on the website in the article of the same name and I've also included some extra bits in there some pro tips so make sure you check that out hey in a week's time the next video is about the six things that I do each and every day to let me do more and earn more so I hope you're going to check that one out if you haven't already done so you can subscribe it to the channel below the notification bell is up there just click that and you'll be notified as soon as this next video is out so you do not miss out some more videos coming up in a moment otherwise I will see you in a week's time

Channel: Timothy Hyde

Views: 86,102

Rating: 4.8509688 out of 5

Keywords: MC, emcee, master of ceremony, script, opening speech, event host, convention, conference, Timothy Hyde, Emcee training, tutorial, wedding MC, expert MC, expertmc, expertmcvideo1, mc tutorial, emcee script, emcee introduction speech, master of ceremonies, public speaking, master of ceremony training, master of ceremony opening speech, opening speech - an emcee guide to writing a great opening, event hosting tutorial for beginners, event hosting videos, event hosting tips

Id: wbl7TgacF04

Length: 12min 21sec (741 seconds)

Published: Sat May 26 2018