On cue with Kafui DEY: Do your homework, save the event

There are many ways to embarrass yourself as a master of ceremonies, but few are as effective and as avoidable as poor preparation. Mispronounce one important name and you will feel it immediately. Not just on stage, but in the room. The silence changes. Eyes lift. Someone coughs. You know you have entered trouble.

Across Africa’s conference halls and ballrooms, inadequate preparation remains a favourite trap for beginner MCs. It shows up in three predictable ways: names are butchered, the event objective is unclear, and the running order becomes a mystery even to the person holding the microphone.

Let’s start with names. Names matter. Titles matter. In many African cultures, names carry history, hierarchy and honour. When you turn “Dr Agyeman-Badu” into “Mr… er… Agy… something,” you are not being casual. You are being careless. And the audience notices. Instantly.

A professional MC does not guess names. They ask. They confirm. They write them down phonetically if necessary. If you can rehearse a joke, you can rehearse a name. Nothing builds confidence faster on stage than calling people correctly.

Then there is the issue of not understanding the event objective. This is the silent killer. The MC is energetic, well-dressed, even funny but completely misaligned. They hype a serious policy forum like a music awards night. Or they sound overly formal at a creative industry event meant to inspire collaboration.

When you do not understand why the event exists, everything you say floats without direction. The audience senses it. The organisers feel it. And the programme begins to drift.

An MC’s first assignment is not writing jokes or opening lines. It is understanding the purpose of the gathering. Is it to inform? To persuade? To celebrate? To raise funds? Once you know this, every transition, every tone shift, every comment has a job to do.

Now to the running order, the document beginner MCs often skim like terms and conditions. Big mistake. The running order is not a suggestion. It is the map. Ignore it, and you will get lost on stage in full view of everyone.

This is how we end up with MCs announcing speakers who are not in the room, skipping key segments, or calling for tea break while the keynote speaker is walking to the stage. It is painful to watch. Even more painful to recover from.

Preparation means more than reading the programme once. It means knowing what comes next, what can move, what cannot move, and who to look at when things change. It means knowing which speaker must leave early and which sponsor must be acknowledged twice, not once.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: preparation is invisible when done well, but painfully obvious when neglected. The audience may not know why the event feels smooth, but they always know when it feels messy.

Beginner MCs often say, “I work best under pressure.” That may be true for exams. It is not true for live events. On stage, pressure exposes preparation gaps mercilessly.

The good news is that preparation is free. It costs nothing but time and discipline. A short briefing call. A marked-up programme. A few confirmed pronunciations. Small efforts, massive returns.

A prepared MC sounds confident without shouting, calm without stiffness, and flexible without confusion. That is not talent. That is homework.

So before your next event, do not just show up. Show up ready. Ask questions. Read the room. Know the road ahead. That is how you protect the programme, honour the people on it, and grow from beginner to professional.

If you are serious about mastering this craft, take preparation personally.

And above all, stay on cue.

Kafui Dey is the author of How to MC Any Event. Contact him on 233 240 299 122 or [email protected]

 

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