Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope you’ve been enjoying the things that make this season special for you. For me those things include decorations, a Christmas Eve worship service, and time with family. For many college students involved with Cru, it includes attending one of our 10 regional conferences. A key ingredient in a successful conference (or fall retreat, or weekly meeting on any of the hundreds of campuses with Cru movements, etc.) is a good emcee. That’s why Keynote offers Emcee Training every year after Thanksgiving.
I had the privilege of teaching a session on stage movement and coaching a group of seven trainees in their non-verbal communication skills. It was both fun and rewarding to watch each of the seven grow in their skills and gain new confidence in speaking to a group.
At the end of the final session this year, we asked the attendees which principles made the biggest impact on them during the weekend. Here are some of their answers.
“One of the most powerful illustrations that spoke to me was if the program is a theater production, then the emcee is the person in black moving the stage and setting the scene. I think that’s the biggest thing I’d like to take home and to give to my students.” – Armando, Cru staff member
“Having been a weekly meeting emcee for a couple years already, I guess I’m realizing that I haven’t necessarily been taking it as seriously as I could … it’s a much bigger and much more important role than I had really thought about before, the whole idea of shepherding a crowd and knowing your audience … ” – Nick, student weekly meeting emcee
“I had no idea so much preparation and practice went into emceeing something … what’s going to happen if [there’s an emergency]? You know, a good emcee thinks through all that … For me that was a surprise. – Katie, Cru staff member
“I got this sense in every session that it’s just about dying to self … shepherding [the audience] and caring for them and putting yourself last.” – Jenny, Cru staff member
I’m so encouraged that we helped equip these emcees to lead their audiences to a place where they can hear and respond to God’s voice! Thank you for your partnership, and may the Lord bless you in 2015!
