| Ten Rules |
- Thou shalt be gracious above
all else, even if provoked.
- Thou shalt do thy homework
by learning something or use about the subject of your introduction,
and by pronouncing all names, titles, etc., correctly.
- Thou shalt practice
moderation, neither damning with faint nor fulsome praise.
- Thou shalt leave trumpeting
to Gabriel and not toot thine own horn, nor hawk thine own wares.
- Thou shalt never do a
routine, unless expressly asked to do so by the producer of the
event (and maybe not even then).
- Thou shalt gather the energy
in the room and direct it toward the Featured performer(s). Under no
circumstances shall ye gather than energy for thyself and devour it.
- Thou shalt give the
appearance of listening and enjoying the show, even while preparing
for the next introduction.
- Thou shalt not strive unduly
for eloquence (the better to gather admiration for oneself).
- Thou shalt not read aloud
from the program, nor consult thy clipboard, scrap of paper or palm,
except discreetly, when affecting en introduction.
- Thou shalt do thy job: get
on and off with alacrity. Warm up the audience, tell them what gives
and provide a pleasing wrap-up, which occasionally includes triage.
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| Things NOT to do |
- Being rude to the performer,
the audience or both.
- Neglecting the fundamentals:
that the sound works, the performers have a chance to check it, that
amenities (water, etc.) are present.
- Failing to find out what is
important to the performer, and finding a way to work it into the
introduction.
- Failing to inform the
performer of time restrictions. ALSO, allowing the performer to
exceed that limit by more than five minutes without talking turkey
afterward; AND allowing that performer to exceed by more than eight
minutes without interceding during the performance.
- Playing favorites In
introductions: rewarding your pals, and barely acknowledging those
who have not garnered your admiration.
- Making insider-only remarks;
OR dwelling upon ones own relationship with the performer, thus
making the audience feel that a terrific party went on, somewhere,
without them.
- Making apologies for
anything during the evening.
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| Important things |
- Get to the venue on time.
- Accept and understand that
the emcee decides the show order, and that everyone believes that
s/he has the best performance to end the show.
- Resist the temptation to
correct small errors In an introduction ("No, no I live on
Third Avenue, not Boulevard); avoid getting into a spat over the
emcee's choice of words to describe you. (A VERY useful tool is to
give the Emcee a easily read piece to help introduce you. See
"Introduction Sheet" section.)
- Tell the emcee what
you are going to do. It unnerves an audience for you to tell them
that you just can't decide what routines you're going to do for
them, and then to stand there thinking really hard before you choose
what to do and get started with the routine.
- Indulge the emcee's
obsessive nature, and stay within his/her sight during the show,
before you go on.
- Stay put while you're being
introduced, instead of walking up behind the emcee while s/he is
still introducing you.
- Refrain from making any
self-serving announcements ("In case you didn't know, my new
tape just won the Queen of the World Award and you can still get a
copy?')
- Never, ever exceed your
time. EVER!
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