The Hero Is The Performance: Anchoring Events Through Short Attention Spans

Technology can be an enabler or a distractor, the choice is for each one to make – and anchoring through these short attention spans of audiences can be quite a challenging task. In quite an all-female eventful panel, emcees such as Ashwarya Singh, Master of Ceremonies and Voice Communication Specialist; Ritika Jhanjhi, TV Presenter, Anchor & Public Speaker; Bhavana Bhatia, Curator, Influencer, Host & Public Speaker; Krishna Verma, Anchor, Singer, Tarot Card Reader, Director KV Entertainment and Ridhansha Arora, Anchor, Master of Ceremonies & Voice-over Artist spoke to Ojasvi Kapoor, Correspondent, Loudest.in, the moderator about the type of fresh ideas emcees and anchors of events need to have in mind to keep the audience hooked.

Engaging & Impactful

Singh mentioned that with attention spans truly becoming very short she had strict instructions from one of the event organisers to not exhaust the audience and keep it very short. “Engaging, impactful, but at the same time keeping in mind that the performance is the hero, is significant.

Also, my mantra is connection before content and empathy before expertise. If you truly want your audience to resonate with you, you have to attempt to connect with them. So before diving in to start a show, I begin to focus on a shared interest with the audience. It could be through storytelling, it could be through a relatable story, through acknowledging the energy in the room, or just a very authentic and positive smile that sets you up in the beginning.”

Specifying fleeting attention spans is real but it's particularly a new problem for an anchor, Jhanji said. “Your job is as good as how much of an attention you've been able to hold through the show. And in the day and age of social media it has become even more difficult because by swiping up through 15-second videos, we just seem to have completely damaged our attention spans. 

Also, predictability is a killer of attention span. You could do that by just asking a simple question and doing a show of hands. The trick is how to you keep your audience connected, by first grabbing their attention and then connecting them to the purpose of the show.” 

Maintaining Eye Contact & Energy Levels

Varma as a multi-talented artist - an anchor, singer and a tarot card reader, talked about focusing on the pace of the event, the type of event that she is hosting and the need of the hour. “Keeping the audience involved and interested, looking into their eyes while conversing with them and taking care of the moments when there are delays or goof-ups of any type – that’s what I abide by.”

Bhatia outlined that understanding where the audience is and understanding their energy level is significant. Being for 14 plus years in this industry, and saying no to a job at Google, it’s the art of talking that fascinated me a lot. Even though I might be in the spotlight the actual stars are always my speakers and my audience – so always understanding my audience, understanding my speakers and doing enough and more research till the event day, is the solution.”

Arora mentioned that it is about activating the senses of the audience, “Something that touches your heart and soul. You can look at me, your senses are active. You can listen to my voice. I believe it’s about making the audience feel the way you do.”

Talking at the exchange4media Red Carpet Experiential Marketing Summit 2024 which took place on 27 December, 2024 at the Eros Hotel in the capital, from keeping your personal thoughts and feelings aside while professionally hosting a show/event, and learning from their social media peers, to having a strong and impactful opening line and other strategies, much was discussed and dabbled about as a part of this panel. 

Neha Kalra

BW Reporters She is the Senior Editorial Lead at Businessworld and majorly covers pieces on advertising, marketing, branding and experiential marketing. She writes closely for BW Marketing World and Everything Experiential.