Patience Is Key In This Business

In this exclusive series, Aditya Malik talks to Everything Experiential as he delves into the vibrant world of events and entertainment. Having shared the stage with Bill Gates, Malik provides a candid look into his craft as he shares insights into his unconventional entry into the world of hosting, overcoming challenges in a competitive field and the art of engaging diverse audiences.

Excerpts:

Can you share how your journey as an emcee began and what inspired you to pursue this career path?

Honestly, I always wanted to talk in whatever medium I could. In class eight, I studied in a boarding school in Nainital and I left an exam paper blank. To punish me, my principal put me on a debate team. To go for debates, you had to miss your sports period which was sacred to us in a boarding school. So, from Sherwood, I was the only inexperienced person on the team. After ten days when we had the competition, I was one of the best speakers in the class. God was kind that eventually I won the competition. Then in class 12, I won the same acting award from Sherwood which was Amitabh Bachchan's first official acting award.

When I thought I would talk for a living, my parents being a middle-class family got very scared and they told me to complete my master’s in journalism because they thought that I could be a TV anchor. After my degree, I told my dad to give me six months to try my hand at commercial anchoring. Within those six months, I started to work with Sanjoy Roy. He allowed me to host for Bill Gates, so my first show was with Bill Gates when he came to India in 2019 to sign an MOU. I am now officially the youngest emcee in the world to host Bill Gates.

I had created my profile and I went to many event offices in Mumbai, eventually, in one of those offices I found Roshan Abbas. He told me that in the generation of WhatsApp if you're carrying a paper, there must be something of note in you. That's how my career started to get more organised.

What were some of the initial challenges you faced when you started hosting events, and how did you overcome them?

I think the first and foremost was patience because this is not an everyday job like when I started. One of my very first gigs was hosting 30 cities in 28 days with Mahindra. That's a lot of work for a young emcee, but after those 28 days, I had no work. Patience is one thing that you've got to take care of in this business.

Secondly, because this is not a job where people are hiring 1000 people for one profile, there’s only one emcee. Every company and every client has a comfort factor, they want to choose someone whom they have worked with. Not everybody wants to try someone new. It’s very difficult to get your first show and I feel, the sixth show is even more difficult because till then you've already been typecasted.

That's the next challenge that you face as an artist. You can't go on the stage and show your craft. So, you end up going to their offices and performing mini sets for the event managers to show them the different things you are capable of. That’s how I overcame it.

Thirdly, I feel that setting your price in the market as an artist is another challenge. You must work on your talent, be street-smart and analyse the market to see what is being offered at that price. If you don’t possess those qualities or skills, then you must price yourself accordingly.

With experience hosting various types of events, which ones do you find the most challenging, and how do you adapt your style accordingly?

The toughest is the kind of shows I have to host, whether it's a government show, a wedding or a corporate show, it's when the audience is 50 years of age or over. They have seen whatever I'm going to do, there have been more emcees before me who have done similar things. There are only seven original scripts in the world, the rest are all bits and pieces stitched together.

To overcome this, you must bring in your individual factors. For me, because I come from theatre, I use references from that, from Bollywood or I use humour. I pick up humour which exists in everybody's life. For example, in India, you can't have marine pollution because our mothers keep the maximum number of plastic bags safely behind a kitchen door in a big bag.

What techniques or strategies do you employ to effectively engage diverse audiences during different types of events?

First and foremost is content. For example, a lot of emcees use very heavy English or very heavy Hindi to portray their craft. I use very simple language in my shows where people can connect with it.

The second way of engaging for me is when I make my audience do physical movements. Physical movements capture more of their attention and if you use music along with it then there’s nothing like it. You also do not need to make them do something very extraordinary.

What has worked for me is that I always told the audience that the show will start with 'me', but it will end with 'we'. You will all be co-hosts with me just as you guys are very important for this company or this country. Making them feel important is key.

I like coming up with humour or little shayaris on the spot. So, I might take in the first line from an audience member and then try and create something on the spot for them. Those are things that have worked for me.

How do you stay updated with the latest trends and changes in the events industry, and how does this influence your approach to hosting events?

Firstly, you have to watch what other emcees are doing. More than that, for me, I watch what the audience is reacting to. The more that you watch, the more you will see. You will observe certain things that you will later be able to incorporate into your sets.

Secondly, read and keep yourself updated. I keep an eye on Twitter, particularly on any new technology announcements. For example, how can you use AI with your art? I can virtually interact with anybody on screen, Amitabh Bachchan for example.

Thirdly, what works well in weddings is to look up social media trends because those are fun. Now you have a whole lot of tried and tested content in your arsenal that you can employ in case of emergencies and with technology, you become a little comfortable.

What advice would you give to aspiring emcees who are looking to establish themselves in the events industry?

First and foremost, please note that this is not an everyday job. You’ll find artists struggling a lot with mental health problems like anxiety or depression because one day we’ll have a lot of money, attention, and audience and the next day we’ll be sitting at home with nothing to do. There’s a lot of uncertainty.

Secondly, you've got to refresh, re-ideate and re-establish your image, your craft and yourself every day. It's like a never-ending job. There are no holidays and no Sundays. Also, what I have realised is that an emcee’s format is very different from the usual world. When the world is on vacation, we are the busiest because that is the time when the audience needs to be entertained. We are against the time clock of the world.

Thirdly, you can't have 10,000 emcees do the same gig. There’s a lot of competition, but my only humble request to anybody is to just be consistent. More competition will be walking in, but more and more people also get lazy after a point. If you're consistent in your craft, you will already win because you are doing the most obvious thing and that is waking up every day and going out to work.

Very few people are blessed with the craft of speaking well, others cope by either reading and keeping themselves updated in terms of knowledge or building a good vocabulary or they work on their physique to look presentable. You can also use these elements to better your craft. I won't say that they will help you sail through because eventually, your talent is what will take you forward. These factors however pit you ahead of many other people.

Basics need to be strong. No one wants to listen to a very Oxford type of English. The simpler you keep it, the better it is.