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5 Ways to be a Better Emcee at Youth Group - Youth Ministry Tips! · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The MC energy the person who's leading from the front and getting everyone engaged is a very different energy than speaker energy.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's hard to have the energy to do both.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Someone who MCs it's definitely a different gear than who you are just one-on-one.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: It's different than who you are as a speaker or a teacher.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: That energy is different and you wanna capture the MC energy.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Today we're talking about five ways that you can improve your skills as an MC in youth ministry.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, the coach for the coachless in youth ministry.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: My name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen Laskola, and today we're going to talk all about emceeing and leading up front.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Well, and I can't believe we've never talked about this, because emceeing, leading up front, catching the room and running with it, is a really big part of youth ministry.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this actually came from a suggestion from a viewer on YouTube, so thank you so much.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: What's their name?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, I knew you were going to ask that too.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say Will.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you, will.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: That was a great suggestion, and if it's not sorry, not Will.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Whoever, you are very smart.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So I have let's see one, two, three, four, five tips for you today on how to lead an MC really well.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: So, number one it's helpful to have the MC and the speaker be two different people.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Now I get, some of us have a very skeleton crew and we don't have a lot of people to choose from.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So do your best.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: If you can enlist other people to MC with you or for you, that is a great idea.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: The reason is because if you're doing it all your own I don't even have to explain this to you it's hard to have the energy to do both, and also it's a very different energy.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So the MC energy, the person who's leading from the front and getting everyone engaged, is a very different energy than speaker energy.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I almost feel like I like am taking off my costume and putting on a new outfit, like when I do it, because it's like who I am as a speaker is very different than who I am, as like a hype person.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: And that's kind of what we want.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: It's a funny story.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: So our friend Kirk, he has an interesting personality.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: He's an Enneagram five, which those are very rare and someone had been telling our lead pastor, oh, kirk is amazing, up front Kirk is great and he's like.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: I met the guy and I was like him Because you know he's very introverted and reserved and can be serious in just a regular social setting and he's like and then I saw that guy on stage and he had a fifth gear I never knew about.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: One of the funniest people I know.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: He's hilarious and to the point where, if you've watched any of our episodes on the battle or you're going through our course, we talk about how to do the battle.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: It's this big outreach event, the even when kirk wasn't in youth ministry anymore, they would book him to mc uh the battle they call it tournament series.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Mc the battle they call it tournament series because he was so good at capturing a room.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: He was funny, he was energetic, he was engaging.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: He is so quick on his feet and witty and just captures the audience.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: But it was like this different gear, all that to say someone who emcees.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: It's a definitely a different gear than who you are just one on one.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: It's different than who you are just one-on-one.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: It's different than who you are as a speaker or a teacher.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: That energy is different and you want to capture the MC energy, like Kirk.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: So that fifth gear.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: You got to find your inner MC and we're going to talk a little bit about how to do that.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: But I just want you to know right off the bat that if you can divide up that role meaning you are the emcee like tomorrow night we have youth group, I'm emceeing with one of my interns and my guy's director is teaching I never do both.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: On the weekend I emceed and he spoke, and then next week it'll be reversed He'll MC and I'll speak.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: And we divide that up for own sake because it's a lot of energy to do both and it's a different energy.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: But also you want to give other people an opportunity to learn how to lead from the stage if they aren't teachers or speakers.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: So people are going to see you all the time if you're the primary teacher or speaker and that might not be in everyone's gift set.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: It's really hard to raise up a teacher of the gospel like a Bible teacher, a speaker, a preacher, a pastor whatever you call it at your church.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: That's a hard job to fill.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: However, if you want people to get more face time and have your group see someone else up on stage, emceeing is a great role that you can give them and teach them.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: That's a lot easier than teaching someone how to teach and also the audience likes it.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: The audience likes, oh, this person and that person, instead of just one face, one voice, one style.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: The entire time it's like oh, here's the emcee that person leaves, here's a worship leader, wow, then here's the speaker.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And they're engaging with each person in a different way because each person brings something different to the table and so it keeps the audience, the crowd, the church, the congregation, the youth group more engaged when the face is different.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: So if you have the option to do that, have one more than one person leading the show, take advantage of that and do that.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: How often do you do a single emcee versus two emcees at the same time?
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Great question.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: On the weekends I do a single emcee because it's smaller.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: It's one classroom, like there's no big light show and sound system.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: I mean we have a sound system, it's just not big.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: So one person cuts it.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: It's great.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: So this week actually, arden did, I did one service, arden did the other.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: She's my admin girls director intern role.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: On Tuesdays.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: We're on the big stage, we're in the main auditorium with the big sound system and all the lights and all the bells and whistles and that stage is huge and it's really fun to have two.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: I like having a guy and a girl.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So I have me and Arden.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: We're the two girls on our team and then I have Trevor and Johnny and those are my boy interns and then Caleb is my guys director.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: So when I schedule a Tuesday I send out the notes to my team.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: We have a channel called Tuesday night prep and I say it's either me and a guy I'm seeing or Arden and a guy I'm seeing and then the speaker.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think it's cool to have like a mix up there so that kids are seeing guys and girls leading and changing it up.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: So yeah, depending on the size of your stage, you might only need one.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: If you can do two, do two If you.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: If you have a bigger room or stage for it, all right.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Number two involve the audience.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: So I think a really good MC acknowledges the audience often and is not trying to do a one man show stand up comedy routine and make it all about them.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: But the point is you're trying to.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: You're usually the first one to go up on the stage.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: You're usually starting the night before anything else has happened.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: So you're the person welcoming everyone and you're setting the tone for engagement for the rest of the night.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So I feel like the MC needs to constantly be bridging the gap between the stage and the audience, over and over and over again, and getting them and keeping them engaged.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: So here's some ways that I like to do that.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: If you hate them, come up with your own.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I'll just tell you what I like to do.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: So when I call the kids in so we have our countdown clock for Tuesday night youth group, it starts at six 30, at six 30.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: We start our five minute countdown clock till six 35.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: That's when I start and I'll be like hey, if you guys can hear me, come on in.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: You know we're going to get started and I'm not on the stage at this point.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I go down on the floor and, as kids are coming in, I ask them survey questions and I get them engaged and on the mic.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cause they love talking in the microphone.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Hello, can I say something?
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Sure, hello, hi, good one, never heard it before.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: So I'll come up to them and I'll say what's your favorite part of chaos?
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: That's our youth group name and there'll be like oh, some of them are like nervous.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: And then they'll finally say, like the game or worship, or small groups.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: And then I run over to another person what's your favorite part of chaos?
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: If a holiday is coming up?
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I'll be like what's your favorite Christmas movie?
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: What's your favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving?
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: You could ask a holiday related question.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: It's summer right now, so we could say where are you going on vacation this year, or are you?
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: You know, bring your summer camp and do it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Are you going to whitewater with us?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Are you excited for a whitewater on a scale of one to 10?
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: How excited are you for whitewater?
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Have you started packing?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Raise your hand.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: If you've started packing and you're just working the crowd and you're getting them engaged, you're down on the floor with them and you see kids kind of like eagerly waiting, like hope she comes to me I hope she comes to me or the introverts, slithering into a corner like a cockroach, oh my gosh, do not come this way.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: That'd be me.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I have most.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I must have mostly extroverted kids, because I feel like they are like get me on that microphone I am ready.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: So I like to do that right off the bat.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Another option, another thing I do to get the audience engaged is we kind of do like an icebreaker Ours is the impossible shot.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: So it's like I got this from like Doug Fields when I first started youth ministry.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: They still do it.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's different than how you do it.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: There's is different than how you do yours.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, is different.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: So I went to josh griffin's youth room and he has his like up on the um.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: His is like I forget what they shoot through it.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Is it a nerf gun?
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: it's like a nerf bow and arrow nerf bow and arrow.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I just put a rinky dink little basketball hoop on a pvc pipe and we hold it with a pole and a kid has to make it in from a certain point.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: But before, before they make the shot, they have to come up on stage and answer the impossible question, and it's something ridiculous.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: That's multiple choice, and here's a great way to bridge your audience is use their name in the question.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: So we have a girl named Sawyer and it'd be like if Sawyer drank four monsters and then spun around in eight circles.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: What would the moon say to her on her 18th birthday if she was driving a jeep to disneyland?
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: are you using the question like when you say use this person's name.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: That's the person you're bringing up.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: No, it could be just a student.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: A student you know.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: So you're adding in students names and they might see themselves up there and you are bringing a student up on stage to answer it, but obviously I can't write the.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: I guess I could be like I hope Sawyer's here tonight and write her name into the question, but it's just a way to get kids up on stage talking in the mic again answering question.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: No matter what they answer, they're correct.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: And then we send them down and they try to make the shot and then we bring up someone else.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: But during that time you know I'll go into the energy part of that in a little bit but the point is you want to get them on stage, you want to get their name out there, you want this to be.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: We're we're bridging the gap.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: It's not like, well, we're up here and you're down there.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: It's like you're a part of this, from the time you walk in to the time you leave, and we're expecting you to engage the entire time.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to make that very clear because I'm going to engage you.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: You know here's.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Can I just pause?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Psa this for a second.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Never, ever ever ever get up on stage and do this.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning everyone.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I can't hear you.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I said good morning.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Fill in any phrase there, like are you guys excited to be here?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Huh, I don't hear you.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Here's what you're asking the audience to do.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: You're asking them without even like you haven't given them anything to be excited about yet.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: You haven't given them any like good morning.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I just got here with a clown horn and suspenders.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I just feel like you're trying to be very artificially friendly.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: It's like when someone just says good job, and.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: And you're like good job on what I don't know, you're just doing great, you're like that means nothing.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: So, um, I just feel like that's a very artificial.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: We're connected, right, because I said good morning and you guys said good morning too, but then I shamed you for not saying it good enough, and then you had to say it again, just like just don't stop, just engage them well, and they will engage.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: So your job is to create real engagement with them, not like guilt them into, like come on, you guys.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: You're just so like where is everyone?
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: It's crickets in here.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Like never point out their lack of energy?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's your job to draw it out, all right, as the mc.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: yeah, yeah, we were looking at all the cringy moments.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I feel like I've heard over you're making me feel like I'm cringing right now, but only some of those.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: I was thinking of were from you so just kidding, it's easy.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Huh, it's so easy.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Why don't you do it?
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: no thanks all right.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: um, something else I like to do with kids is ask for feedback and questions, you know.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: So, like say, I'm announcing um, all right, guys, we're leaving for camp on thursday.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: You got to be here at 7 am.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: What time?
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: 7 am, all right, good, I'm glad you guys are like.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: You got it, so I'll see you there.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Blah, blah, blah.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I'll be like this is probably cringy Speaking of cringy MCs.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Here we go, use this against me.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: I'll say look at the person next to you and say get here at 7 or else.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: So cringy.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Get here at 7 or else.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: You put a square sign If you're not here you're a square.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: What a nerd.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I just had an out-of-body experience.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Delete, delete it All right.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: One thing I do with kids too.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I say give me two thumbs up if you had a great day, one thumb if it was okay, two thumbs down, like then.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: It's like you don't have to say anything.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: You just go like this um, it's kind of cringy when I'm there.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: This list is spiraling when I'm there it's great when I'm here with you, you're cringe shaming others.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: When I'm here with you, getting judgy eyes.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Anyways, I'm gonna move on to number three, because this is just tanking real quick.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Here's one more tips here.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: I'll give you some good welcome to the ministry cringe podcast the ministry quench podcast.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Um, you want to have a lot of energy, positivity and humor again, so you're the one driving the energy of the night or the morning or whatever.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: So I try to have a lot of energy.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Our stage is big so I try to take up the stage with my body.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I just lay down, roll around, do some cartwheels make sure I touch every square inch of it.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: No, but like when we do the impossible shot, I'll like look at Johnny, I'll be like Johnny, what time is it?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: That's right, it's time for thee.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: And then we'll look at each other and say impossible shot.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: And then tech brings in the music and it's house of pain.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Jump around and Johnny and I start jumping and the kids start dancing and if they want to do it, I said I'm not going to pick you unless you're dancing.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I'm doing fortnight cringy dances up there and making a fool of myself, but I love it and they get into it.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: They match our energy.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: So just know that that.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, some of the things I said are cringey, but hear me when I say they will match your energy.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: You cringe, they cringe, we all cringe together.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: But no, when I'm like jumping around and dancing and I see them, they'll like put each other on their shoulders and they're like pick me.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: They're like flossing as fast as they can, like cause they want me to pick them to do the impossible shot.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: So just have that fun and that energy.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: And then I'll often demonstrate the game Like I'll walk out into the audience or a leader and I will demonstrate it.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Like I'll throw a ball at their face and I'll be like do headshots count?
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, no, crying, Johnny, you know.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: So like make sure you're just having fun with it being physical and and not just standing in one spot and being very serious and any of that how much do you like read the room, though?
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: because I feel like the level of awkwardness goes up when you're like going out of your mind and everyone just like what is happening, right now I saw.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I say that because I saw a and super, super old video of uh, rage against the machine.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: It was on, it was on instagram or something I can't remember where, and it was like this was their first show and they were on a level 10 energy, but it was at a college campus and at least the people I saw in the video were just watching, whereas it's like well, fast forward, five, 10 years or whatever it was.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: They're playing in front of stadiums and people are going nuts and all that, but it just looked awkward so the tips I'm giving would be for, not for church on Sunday.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, this is for like youth group.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: This is for camp, where they're awake and the energy is up there.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: An event this is for your youth group.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: This is for camp.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: This is for an event.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: This is for your midweek program.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I would not do this stuff on Sunday morning at church.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: You're right, it would be a total mismatch.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: You would be.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Are you ready to rock Springfield?
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: There's like 12 kids.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I guess I just woke up, I haven't even eaten breakfast.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I think at night, like I even noticed that at camp the morning Devo and morning worship is very different.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: So, like in the morning at camp we do acoustic, someone does a Devo, unmic'd, we send the kids to solo time and then at night we're playing Kajabi, can can and kids are flying through the sand and like music is turned up.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: It's competitive, people are dancing, people are wearing weird costumes, like that's camp at night.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: So I guess you can liken that to morning.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Camp is kind of like weekend services at church and youth group is kind of like nighttime at camp, you know, and so this, everything I'm describing.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad you brought that up because that would be so awkward.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: If you like running around the room, the kazoo shaving cream pies and people's face.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Good morning everyone.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Everyone welcome to church.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, this is for a youth group.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: When you're trying to hype up a group, okay, we should have clarified that in the beginning in a smaller group.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's a little harder too it is.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm thinking back, though, because I was a volunteer when your youth ministry was like it wasn't 11 kids.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: You were probably up to like 13 at that point but you were still pretty insane.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Like doing the announcements.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Like you, brought the energy even with a smaller group.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Some of us have the gift.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: And it translated, but.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I think the kids loved it.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, I, like you said you read the room I abandoned myself a lot.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: I don't get up there and I'm like oh no, what is everyone thinking of me?
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I'm like I'm just here and I'm ready to have a good time.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Join me, or don't you know?
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: And I want to get people engaged.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: But, um, I think that's part of a great MC too is confidence, and that's what Kirk really has.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: You know he succeeds usually in any one of those settings because he's confident and he just owns the room.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And I think I have a measure of that confidence too, where I get up and I'm like, let's do this.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: And I think on a Tuesday night that that definitely carries me.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: So number four that definitely carries me.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: So number four kind of the segue it's to keep control and attention.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: So the MC needs to stay ahead of the crowd, like you're supposed to keep them engaged, keep their attention, um, and keep control.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: And here's some ways that you can hopefully be successful at that.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Um, you got to keep moving.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: So don't try to say too many words.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Like, if you guys do announcements, you need to keep them simple and keep them short.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Just give them the facts.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: You don't need to go on and on and on.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: You're going to lose them.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: So don't spend too much time speaking about, like and then we're going to do this and this and this.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: It's like, just move on, give them what they need to know.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: We're going to be at the beach on Thursday 11 to two.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I hope you guys join us.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Bring some money.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: We'll probably go get ice cream.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: What's next?
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Next week?
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: We're leaving for camp, be here at 7am.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: So just keep moving.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: And then pairing your announcements so they're not all just like rapid fire PowerPoint or pro presenter slides.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I like to pair recap videos with certain announcements.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: So when we announced camp, it wasn't just like sign up for camp.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: We would show a recap video to let camp announce itself and then we would have different versions of that so that it wasn't like, yeah, we've seen this 800 times, even though they did see it 800 times, caleb came up with a different one that was slightly different or slightly shorter, or show different footage or had a different song to keep them reengaged with it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: So if you're going to announce your all over nighter or your Glover nighter or whatever, show footage from the previous year and turn that into a little marketing blurb, because that will reengage their attention.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: It's a lot more interesting to say look at what we did last year, put to some fun music and all the kids having a great time, than you going, you guys are going to have so much fun.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Well, show me, and I think that keeps control and attention where it's supposed to be.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Which is also a friendly reminder to make sure you're filming all your events and things that you want to promote down the road.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the truth is you don't need a whole lot of footage.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: You just, I mean, a promo video should be 20 seconds or less.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: They're very short.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: It could just be a few scenes, highlights, music, and then sign sign up, start August 6th, you know whatever.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: And then my last tip is partner with your tech team.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: If you do have a tech team, if not, you know whoever is running tech for you, even if that's just a student pushing a button back there.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Just make sure they know their cues and know what your expectations are.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: So the MC and the tech booth working together are, for us, very, very, very important.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: So our Tuesday night prep thread that goes like to my interns and me and the directors and stuff, it will also go to the tech team and he'll look through it and he'll say hey, I noticed you're playing.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: We played a really fun game called Andy's Coming.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I'll teach you guys sometime how to play.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: We played a really fun game called Andy's Coming.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I'll teach you guys sometime how to play.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: That was a hit.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: He said, okay, andy's Coming, that's a new game.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: What do you want for that?
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I said, well, it's kind of like Toy Story themed and so we're going to need like the Toy Story theme song, probably at the beginning, but then it's going to have a part where the kids have to do this.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: And he's like, okay, how about the mission impossible theme?
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: For that I said, yeah, great.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: And then he's like, okay, well then, when, like, andy comes back in the room, what do you want that to sound like?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, here's what he's going to be doing.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: And he's like, oh, I think I can find us a sound for that.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: And then he's like so what should the lights do during that?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: So it's, it's.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: He just made our game infinitely better because he knew how to play it.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: He had ideas of how to cue sound for it and how to cue lights for it, and he set up a little spotlight and everything.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Now he's a very rare find, so I understand that you might be thinking must be nice.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, took me 17 years to find him.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: So, he is a unicorn and he cares a whole lot about everything going perfectly.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: That is rare.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: So If you have someone that you feel like you could throw that kind of stuff to, or you input it yourself and tell the kid running it like, hey, during this part of the game, I want you to play this song during this part of the game, play this song.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: You could go with light cues to like sometimes we do like, if a kid gets the answer right, the lights turn green.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: If they get the answer wrong, it goes wah, wah and the lights turn red.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: So coordinate with tech to make your MC experience as engaging as possible.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: If they know what you're doing and they have the right gift set to make that stuff really pop, it makes this experience for your students so much better.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Like I can't even describe to you how much better our youth group has gotten in the last.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I think I've had him for like three or four years and I'm like you are what I've always wanted but didn't know existed, someone who actually cares, like what game we're playing.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: It's not like well, it's dodgeball, just turn on music it's like no, but they understand.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Like it's supposed to get quiet during this part, when we pause the game or when, whatever, and then when we restart the round and you have the right light sequence and he even has a playlist for our games and then it's just having someone who cares about that.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: So if you don't, maybe you can be that person and just ask someone to execute your vision, even if they don't quite have the vision.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: If you could get the vision for your games and how you want the tech to go for your youth group night, maybe you could just impart that on somebody else.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: A lot of people may not have the stage lights and things like that, but you probably have access to the soundboard to be able to do music.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: And that would be bare, you know, bare minimum, just to kind of bring that level up, make it more of an experience.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: And keep in mind, I don't do all that for my weekend services.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: They are much more stripped down and because we're in one room with only so many resources, and so I take the tips that I gave, but they're just dialed back Like I still try to engage the audience, like, for example, weekend service.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Some of these tips would translate like this hey guys, welcome.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: So happy you're here.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and check in, if you haven't already.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: While everyone's checking in, does your voice need to get like higher?
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: When you do it too, do you have to get more annoying?
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: yes um resounding yes, I will side note.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Every time kristen talks to somebody on the phone like customer service, um hi, yeah, I just wanted like who?
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Is this friendly kristen well, who do I get the rest of the time?
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Regular, kristen Regular.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, go ahead.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: So what I'll do is I'll have kids like, just hey, did anyone do anything fun this weekend?
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: And it's a smaller group, so we can actually share that.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: And they'll raise their hand and they'll be like I had a baseball game and we lost three to zero or something.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Oh man, that's a bummer.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: My family and I are going camping this weekend or they'll say my birthday's coming up, so I just let them share for a little bit.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: And then we do something called the lottery, where they put their name tag in a bucket instead of wearing it, and then I have them all stand up and I pick out a winner and then I do process of elimination.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: If you're a boy, sit down.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: If you're wearing vans, sit down.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: If you're wearing a hat, sit down.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Until there's one person standing, they get a piece of candy.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: That's some light engagement that they enjoy.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: We do a.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Would you rather you could stop and ask all right, we had a pretty like hard to answer.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Would you rather how many of you guys picked this one and then their hands go up?
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: How many of you guys picked that one?
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: And then you could even say all right, I'm going to interview one person from each side.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Tell me why you answered the way you did.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: It's just little ways to get them engaged and it's not too big, because you're just in a classroom with like 20 kids or something.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: It's the same idea scaled back differently for the setting.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I guess that kind of goes back to the read your audience Well and that's why I wanted to come back to it, because all the examples I was giving had to do with big youth group camps, like trying to own a big room and then take it and make it small and so stuff like that and I always love.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: A really important part of the MC's job is leading the game well, keeping control of the room.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Leading the game like making sure you understand how to play and that you can explain it very clearly.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: And a lot of times I notice that's when I'm teaching people how to MC that's where they fumble the most and they'll be like so we're playing human foosball but like okay, so there's four, no, okay, six people on a pole.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Kristen, could you come explain?
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: it.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: And they will usually ask me to come and do it.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: So make sure you're very clear in your mind so that they're not just sitting there going what.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Cause they will anyways, cause they don't listen, but make sure you can be as clear as possible and that you can run it very clearly.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: All right, I need everyone who's doing this on this side like just even practice or organize.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: It has to be organized in your mind If you're going to execute it in a way that people can follow, understand and be engaged as much as possible.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: So that's a big part of it as well.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: And then doing a great pass off to whoever's speaking.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: But yeah, just, you're the friendly face, you're the energy, you're the warmth, you're the bridge between the stage and the crowd and you're trying to get everyone's participation and excitement and engagement.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: That's the emcee's job.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: These are just my methods.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it works.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: You do a good job of it.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Do I.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: You do.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: We did an episode not too many weeks ago I think, about kind of getting control of maybe a little bit of the wild youth group.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: We talked a little bit about emceeing and stuff from Upstage.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: But Upstage, onstage, that might be helpful to you kind of how to just control the entire night, not just the emcee portion, but maybe it's something you want to check out.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: All right, now we're going to do our question of the day and then we're going to announce our first winner for our 200th episode giveaway.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Our 200th episode was last week, so this is 201 we already have a winner we do have a winner I don't even know who it is.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: We're giving.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I know we're giving away.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: This week we're giving away rhino skin.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: I love rhino skin dodgeball.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Are they this size?
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: yeah, this is a six inch coated foam inches.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Six inch ribbon curls honey um.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: This is the perfect size because you can grip it with one hand and rip it with the other oh, you can chuck this thing so hard yeah and they don't hurt too bad when they hit you in the face, that's why I say headshots count?
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: because if you're getting hit with a rubber playground ball, I understand things.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: I understand headshots not counting.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: If you're getting hit with a rubber playground ball, I understand things.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I understand headshots not counting If you're getting hit with a rhino skin and you're in junior high or high school headshots count and you probably deserve it.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: So we'll announce that in a second, and if you want to know all the details about how to enter and how to get extra entries, one of those is actually answering the question of the day, which we're about to do, but make sure you check out last week's episode, which was what was it?
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: about.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, whether you're working super hard or you're in the busy season, here we go take six, whether you're in a busy season or you are burning out, so make sure you check that out.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Look in the description below and you can find out all the details about how to enter and all that.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: So question of the day is what is a smell, a scent, an odor that you like that might be offensive or odd to other people?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: I hate the word odor um, but I know yours.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Yours is funnier than mine.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Let me go first and then we'll end with your weird one.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: I like the smell like when they're putting down asphalt, or like tar, like that I like, like redoing a parking lot, yeah, I like that scent.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna do two, and the other one is I.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: I don't like the smell of cigarettes, like at all, but I do like the smell of like stale hotel cigarette smell and I think it's like a trigger.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I was going to say it must be traveling from when I was a kid.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: We'd go stay at like just the dumpiest hotels, motels, when we go on vacation, but it was so fun that I feel like that smell is like now.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: So it triggers like good memories.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that I feel like that smell is like now associated with.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: It triggers like good memories.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just when you walk into that, just $13 a night hotel and you're like?
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: This place smells like stale cigarettes.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: I know what smell you're talking about.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: It does smell like childhood a little bit.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Smells like family vacations my favorite smell in the whole world and I try to get my whole family In the whole world.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, the weirdest favorite smell in the whole world the weirdest favorite smell guys, so many adjectives, jeff and I try to get my whole family to like it is the smell of a dachshund's ear.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: I love it it's different than other breeds of dogs.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Ears yes, dachshund ear is heavenly.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Would you wear it as a perfume?
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: I don't think I want to smell like it.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: I want to.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: Would you want me to like a cologne for me, that I should smell like?
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: it.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't mind if your ears smelled like it, Dachshund ear.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: They just love them especially when they're really hot, like they've been out in the sun, love them, especially when they're really hot, like they've been out in the sun.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Baked dachshund ear.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: And they come in.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Their ears are all hot.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: It intensifies the ear smell.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: All right, see if you can top that.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Put in the comment section below what is a weird smell that you like that maybe other people might find weird or disgusting.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: All right, the winner for the first week of our giveaway.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: We have four more weeks coming after this, but this is for the rhino skin set of rhino skin dodgeballs.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: The winner is julie chapman hooray for you, little known fact only known by me.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Now, you and anybody listening, and julie is this is actually the second time she's won in a giveaway she won.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: What's your secret?
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: it was the first giveaway we ever did when she went 50 she won the grand prize.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: What was?
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: It wasn't that much for back then, because we didn't have that much to give.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: But we're gonna step it up it was, I think, an Amazon gift card back then.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, maybe a shirt or something Yay.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Well, hey, it pays to play, stick around and give entries, because now that's her second win.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: I feel like we've had another girl that's won more than once too.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Katie, katie, the Viper Vipperman, the Vipper Vipperman.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Did you just come up with that?
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: No, I think everybody in the world probably came up with that before me.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: It.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Did you just come up with that?
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: No, I think everybody in the world probably came up with that before me.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: It's cute, I like her.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Well, yay, congratulations, julie.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you for entering listening and I hope you have a great time with your rhino skins.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, definitely All right.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you, guys, so much for watching and listening and we'll see you next time.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Are you looking for ways to improve yourself as an MC or leading up front?
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: That doesn't really make sense.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Are you looking Ha?
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: If you're looking for ways to improve, what?
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: If you're looking for ways to lead up front?