Do Less For The ‘Reel Life’ & Do More For The Real Life: Ankit Piplani

Get ready to dive into the world of event hosting with Emcee Ankit Piplani, a seasoned professional who brings energy, enthusiasm and a genuine connection to every event he hosts. With years of experience, Piplani shares his insights on what it takes to be a successful anchor or emcee, offering valuable advice for aspiring hosts. From preparing for different types of events to balancing professionalism with building rapport, he provides a glimpse into the intricacies of the industry and much more.

Excerpts:

In your opinion, what qualities are essential for a successful anchor or emcee?

You need to have a conversation with the audience wherein you need to understand what the audience is looking forward to. You need to listen to the audience. When you stand on stage, while the client gives a brief, but you always get a pulse of what the audience is, the age group, the mannerisms, the energy levels, the moods. 

You need to radiate energy and it has to be greater than the collective role of the audience. You also need to work on your fitness, on being natural, on doing your prep properly, being on time and having the right language at the right place. If it is a college audience, then you can be a little more informal. If it is a senior delegate, you need to be formal. Having the right balance in terms of body language, mannerisms and the combination of everything is imperative.

How do you prepare for different types of events, such as corporate conferences, product launches or weddings?

It is very important to first understand what type of audience you're going to meet and what is the type of event you are walking into. If it is a concert, they’ll want the concert to begin on a high note and be able to engage the audience. Trivia around the performer is a good way of engaging an audience when it comes to a concert.

Whereas if it is a corporate event, you have people who are all from the same fraternity coming together, different age groups or different experiences. You need to do a little more homework on what is the corporate culture and what is the company's goal with the event. 

If it is a wedding, it is going to be more casual. The prep is all based on what the final goal is and therefore you would have different engagement activities lined up, curated, crafted and executed on that day for the audience because everything finally, is going to be defined by the audience.

As an anchor, how do you balance being professional and building a rapport with the audience?

I believe the first hello is where the connection is made with the audience. When you start bringing conversation, start connecting with them, engaging and energising them, that is where you start building that rapport which continues to get stronger and stronger. 

In corporate events, there are going to be new faces there, but when you stand on stage, you are representing the brand and the audience is also representing the same brand so there’s a joint purpose.

The moment you start talking and connecting with the audience, they’ll start to love you more. Because you bring in so many years of experience, it is always packaged and presented in a very professional way. You know what is going to go well with the audience and vice versa.

So that's where the professionalism comes in. With years of experience, you are bringing in your a game each time and creating an impact on the minds, on the hearts of the audience. 

What upcoming trends do you see in the event-hosting industry and how do you plan on adapting to them?

Recently, I’ve seen that a lot of individuals are doing events just so they can get a good post out for social media. There are two different parameters here. One, when you do a live event, you are doing it for the audience, you are not doing it to be able to create a reel on social media and tell the world how you did it.

My suggestion would be to do less for the reel life and do more for the real life. Create and curate better experiences for a live audience and your reels will automatically be taken care of. 

Do you have any tips for aspiring anchors or emcees who want to excel in this field?

I believe everyone sees anchoring as an easy job, come there, get a script or make one and then just speak. If you want to be the topmost anchor, if you want to be among the cream, then you should not be looking for comfort, you should be looking for crisis. More the crisis, more are the opportunities and more the mess, more are the chances to be able to showcase your abilities.

Anything that has not gone as per plan, if you are able to handle that situation, the audience then begins to worship you. They’ll respect you more because most of them know that there was something which did not go as per plan and you have been able to handle that.

Lastly, what legacy do you hope to leave in the event-hosting industry?

I have always believed that you are always learning. I would want to be known as a person who was very genuine in whatever I did, who brought smiles to audiences and created limitless energy. One of my clients had written for me that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, this is defied by Ankit because he can create limitless energy. I would want to be known as an energetic person, enthusiastic person who was able to connect with the audience and leave an impression, that’s what I thrive for.