You Are Not The Hero Of The Show, The Client & Their Messaging Is

In this ongoing interview series, Everything Experiential speaks to Riaz Basha in an exclusive interaction. Basha shares his professional journey into the world of hosting, tracing his roots back to a spontaneous stage moment two decades ago. His inspiration? The captivating allure of the stage itself. Basha shares insights on mastering diverse event types, handling challenges, the essential qualities for a successful anchor and much more.

Excerpts:

What inspired you to become an emcee? 

I've always been a stage fanatic right from my childhood and when it came to hosting my school plays, I always leapt at that chance. I just love to be in front of the audience. Nobody in particular inspired me to be on stage, but I just love the attraction that the stage gave me. The stage inspires me more than anybody else. 

I remember one fine day when I was passing by Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bangalore and there was a consumer fair. A lot of these people were sitting outside of the stadium at a pre-function area where there was a stage set up to entertain the audience, but nobody was on the stage. Families were seated, tired after having run through many stalls and the event manager was just there on the side, waiting for something to happen. I went and asked him if I could take the stage and entertain the audience and he said yes and gave me the mic. That was Mr. Arun Samuel more than 20 years ago and the rest is history.

How do you prepare for different types of events? 

Every event is different so, whether it's a corporate event, a conference, a product launch or even a wedding, everything has its own requirement. You need to first understand, where the client is coming from, why they are doing this event and why the client or the agency is spending money to get you to be there. If they've chosen you, it means you've been chosen for a reason, that you have some core competency that you can add value with. 

You've got to ensure that you think for the client and then do it basis that particular event. In a product launch, for example, the brand teams work extremely hard to find the right product mix for the right market fit and then they do the launch. You as the host can either bring them accolades at that particular launch or you can kill that product launch with your stupidity. You've got to make sure that you are prepared enough to make sure that there is a difference that you are bringing to the table for that event. 

What are some of the challenges that you have faced while hosting events and how did you overcome these?

There are multiple challenges one goes through when one initially starts off, there's not enough attention paid to you as an anchor. They would just bring an emcee because they have a certain budget and you fit in that budget. You know these languages and that's all. 

Nobody takes care of you as an anchor. They make you wait for three or four hours sometimes at the event, nobody asks you whether you had enough food for example. The initial few years are going to be a bit of a struggle for you to command attention within your own industry.

Other challenges that you can probably face while you're hosting are something that may not be in your control. For example, the mic isn't working last minute for some reason, the whole sound goes off, there's a power failure or there is an AV failure. That time, what you do immediately is what will make you a good host or a bad host.

For instance, I was the official host of the A. R. Rahman 3D dimension tour. The show was supposed to begin at 07:00 PM, but then it started raining. There were about 20,000 screaming fans, the whole show was on pause and people didn't want to leave, they took up the chairs and held them like umbrellas on top of their heads. For about 2 hours, it was my duty as an anchor to keep the audience motivated enough to stay there for a little more. 

Years later, when I became a radio jockey, I had to interview A R. Rahman once and he asked me if I got a fever the next day of the show. You've got to give your best as an anchor, no matter what challenges you go through. 

In your opinion, what are some of the qualities that are essential for a successful anchor? 

There are multiple qualities one needs to be a successful anchor. One is, that you need to know when to speak, what to speak, how much to speak and when to shut up as well. Another very critical thing that you need to understand if you want to be a successful host is that you are not the hero of the show, the client and their critical messaging is. You need to prepare for every show like it's your most important show. You need to perform every show at every event like it's your last event because you are only as good as your last event. 

How do you strike a balance between being professional and building a rapport with the audience?

Every event has its own requirements. For instance, if it is a government event, you need to understand who the people attending are and who is gracing the stage with their presence. These are top dignitaries. You need to know if you're going to crack a joke that you would crack at a wedding there, it can maybe get you a few people to chuckle, but it can put off a lot of people, including the critical messaging or the decorum that the client has set for that particular event.

You need to be dignified enough to build a strong rapport with the audience. Like say, let's say you make them feel comfortable saying that there is the who's who of the country is under one roof. So, it's going to be a beautiful event today. Build enough rapport to tell them that you're making them feel special, but at the same time, you need to know not to get too friendly with the audience and just let yourself loose. You can't let yourself loose at these kinds of events.

If it's a corporate event, there's a different set of requirements. You need to change your colours a bit. You've got to bring in seriousness, but at the same time, you could be smiling. You could be doing soft announcements in a very classy way. That's what I believe will make you a successful host and will make differentiate between being a professional host and a very personal host with the audience.

What trends do you see shaping up right now and how do you plan to adapt them? 

The event industry is evolving. There is a lot of technology being used at events. They have 3D holographic projections, AI is being used and the latest in technology is being used for check-in experiences. When everything is being tech-enabled and there are a lot of changes that are being brought into the industry, a host cannot be left behind. The trend that I see currently is a lot of hosts these days are using AI to their advantage.

I believe one needs to go with the times and adapt to such situations where you can use technology as long as you can add your own touch to whatever content you generate using AI, which will make you special. You can't just ask Chat GPT for something and read it verbatim. You've got to make sure that you don't forget your style. 

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

Prepare, practice and perform. These three words.

What legacy do you hope to leave behind in the industry?

For me, early inspirations are people who made an impact, Oprah Winfrey, Abdul Kalam and so many more. Simple people who could command attention from whatever they spoke from their heart. 

As a legacy, as a professional host for the industry, there's one thing that I would want to do. It is not just to make somebody a host, but to create at least 100 impactful speakers. Now, these could be somebody who wants to master the art of public speaking, hosting events for professional reasons, or maybe a corporate CEO themselves. For this, I do my one-on-one coaching with some Ivy League students, corporate CXOs, CEOs and even some of the people who want to take up professional hosting as a career.