There is no more important decision for the success of your party than your choice of emcee. Let’s take a look at what you should expect from your emcee, and why is this decision so critical.

1 – Planning

You should expect your emcee to be fully vested in the success of your party. They should make themselves available to you for help with planning, guidance on your formalities, advice on your timeline, tips for preparedness, and things you may want to consider avoiding (and why).

Luxury event planner Danielle Couick of Magnolia Bluebird Design & Events says, “We love partnering with NYX for our MC’s because we know we are not only working with experienced, courteous and kind talent, we are working with a partner that is going to engage with us and the client throughout the planning process. NYX makes themselves available from day one by being uber responsive to our initial inquiries, scheduling and meeting with the client and onsite for logistics meetings, walk throughs and client meetings.”

While it is true that experienced planners typically craft robust timelines with built-in flexibility, having your emcee involved in that process reduces the need for your planner having to communicate later all of the nuances of your party that are most important to you. Once we have the game plan in place for the occasion of your dreams, you can relax and just focus on being a guest at your own party.

2 – Day of Event

On the day of the event, your emcee’s responsibility is to make sure everything related to entertainment is in place and ready to go. Once they are sure that’s the case, your emcee should focus on managing any last-minute changes that have been made to the schedule. When those changes are dealt with, the focus shifts to making sure your event stays on timeline.

According to Craig Leko, Production Director at NYX Entertainment & Events, “Great MC’s do not get lost in what’s happening on the dance floor. Our emcees multitask. While they rock the dance floor, they keep one eye on everything else going on around them to ensure the night is coordinated and orchestrated professionally. That includes things like making sure the caterer is prepared with champagne for toasts, dinner is ready to come out at the end of a dance set, and the photographer is in the room for your once-in-a-lifetime special activities.”

With all of the moving parts involved in the coordination of all the vendors in top-tier event production, problems and delays inevitably come up. Your emcee’s level of situational awareness gives them the foresight to prevent or smoothly handle those issues. Jodi Moraru, founder of luxury event planner Evoke Design & Creative, points out “The right MC knows how to make adjustments, how to work with the staff of professionals to ensure the evening is seamless and that all changes in timing are fluid.”

“We are advocates for you, our client. Our priority when adapting and coming up with the right solution to any problems on the day of your event is YOUR best interest. For most of our clients, that interest is making sure the guests are unaware of any problems or issues. So that is our goal.” –MC CRoME, NYX Entertainment & Events.

3 – Control the energy

Howie Teger, veteran emcee of over 30 years, says, “Every party has it’s ’10’. It’s our emcee’s job to make sure they understand what ‘The Perfect Party’ means to you and to ‘Elevate Your Experience’ to that level in a way that exceeds your expectations.”

For some parties, a ’10’ may not be a high-energy Las Vegas nightclub experience. Jeannette Tavares, President of Evoke Design & Creative, states that “In terms of picking the best emcee, we think about our client. For example, for a bar/bat mitzvah, if the kids don’t love dancing or are more quiet and not as outgoing, we take lots of time to think about who will be a good fit for them. Maybe a more mellow emcee that focuses more on games & communication with the kids. We think about appearance and energy.”

4 – Versatility

With the concept in mind that each of our clients has a different vision for the ideal affair, it is important for an entertainment company to feature a variety of personalities so that at least one emcee strikes you as “perfect” for your event. Danielle Couick goes on to point out that “NYX Entertainment & Events MC’s meet a variety of personality needs so we can be sure we are presenting the client with the best available fit all under the NYX brand.”

Whether the role of the emcee is to provide “Voice of God” service to escort your guests throughout the event experience, to headline a flash mob that delivers your message, or lead a dance team to nudge your guests out onto the dance floor, it is important to make sure your choice is experienced enough to recognize and deliver the right energy for the situation.

5 – Experience and Support Team

Having introduced the “New York Style” party to the Baltimore and Washington, DC area in the early 1990’s, completely reshaping the event entertainment industry, it is no surprise that almost all of the top emcees in the mid-Atlantic region have trained and mentored under NYX Entertainment’s MC Howie T. His focus in shaping the NYX talent roster is to only work with the very best.

He states, “It’s important for you to know that no matter which NYX emcee you choose for your event, they will have a great rapport with their team and they will be supported by the very best production quality in the industry. That means highly trained audio, video, and lighting technicians, expert professional dancers with engaging personalities, world-class DJs with decades of experience, decor designers specializing in multiple styles, and emcees trained to laser-focus all of that expertise into a next-level experience for you and your family, friends, and colleagues.”

Veteran event producer Craig Leko notes, “You should take the full capabilities of the team behind your emcee into account when deciding which emcee will represent your special day. When you dive deeply into why our reviews are all 5-stars, you will notice a pattern of our production team rescuing events from potentially catastrophic failures, even when (and especially when) those mistakes are not those of Team NYX.

“We’re not looking for kudos. But you should be aware of just how often problems arise, usually due to the fact that our business relies on people. And people sometimes make mistakes. As full-time event professionals, this is not a ‘weekend job’ for us. We spend countless hours on preparation for any potential problems so that we can mitigate them in real time.”

Danielle Couick adds, “We find NYX to be one of the most flexible talent agencies we work with. Above and beyond is simply status quo for them.”

6 – Now Versus Then

Planning for the future is part of the preparation for your event. Keep in mind that things may be very different at the time your event happens than they are right now when you’re choosing your emcee. Here are some things to consider once you’ve fallen in love with the perfect emcee for your big day…

• How strong is the entertainment company behind your favorite emcee? Will they still be in business with the same or better production infrastructure in the future when your event takes place?
• What is the track record of loyalty between your entertainment company and its emcees? How comfortable are you in whether the emcee will not only be still working in the industry and for the same company, but also whether they will honor their commitment to deliver 100% effort into giving you the night of your life?
• How available and attentive will your emcee be when you have questions about your party or need advice on what’s the best song for a special occasion?
• How focused is your entertainment company on innovating new, creative, and fun technologies and activities? When your event date arrives, will you have access to the latest and greatest activities and special effects for an incredibly fun party experience?

Danielle Couick speaks to this point. “NYX goes above and beyond to bring fresh ideas and thoughts to life to create new and elevated experiences for our clients. They are consistently keeping a pulse on the hottest trends in the industry in an effort to level up from one event to the next.”

We Are a Resource — Use Us!

We can’t overstate the importance of this decision. Jodi Moraru says, “Selecting the right MC for your event makes or breaks the event. With the right emcee, the evening opens with the energy needed to build the excitement for the celebration that not only should continue and keep building, but leave your guests wanting more at the very end. The right emcee takes the time to know the client and what their specific needs, tastes, likes, and dislikes are. The right emcee makes all the difference.”

Let our years of experience producing the best events in the region be a resource for you in your decision of which emcee is right for your party. We are happy to introduce you to the region’s best emcees, answer questions if you have them, and put your anxieties at ease. If you would like to bounce ideas off us, or inquire about the coolest new party experiences, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 301-984-0500.

Maya Angelou puts forth something that we have experienced time and again to be absolutely true… “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.