Thursday 6 August 2009

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the best emcee of them all?

Last week, I was fortunate to go to an emcee course conducted by Ms Sharifah Shawati from Adamaya Consultant Sdn Bhd. For those of you who remembers her, she was one of TV3's newscaster, still active as a host for the reality show: Wanita Melayu, and now a certified image consultant, an entrepreneur and mother of two, Adam and Maya.

My first impression of her: she is much, much beautiful in person, is always immaculately dressed, with fine coiffured hair, very articulate and have a pleasing personality. In short, she is the most humble and easily approachable personality I've ever met. She's earnest with her advise, and not pretentious like most.

I must confess that I can be very awkward around celebrity, sometimes I don't know how to react: should we gush with admiration, or play it cool or be distant? It all depends on the celebrity, if they are open and friendly, then you can approach them easily. With Ms Shawati, it is quite effortless, maybe because she was our consultant and trainer and she approached us with that warm smile of hers.

Penyampaian sijil and Ms Shawati was kind enough to give us each a copy of her book:
Imej Diri Anda Aset Anda

Emcee extraordinaire, I hope;)
I was told by Ms Shawati that my voice got the "X-factor" that would be good for commercials and voiceovers.
Wah! Kembang mak!
Lepas ni aku pulak yang famous kalau dapat buat VOs *berangan*

Mr Zaini, the vocal projection coach who made us realized that almost everybody can be taught the technique to use their vocal effectively, and ultimately be an emcee or even sing!
But I still sucked at karaoke heh:p

Azah before the makeover

Azah after the makeover, done by Eddie the makeup artiste.
He used Crayoline (?) foundation, made her eyes smoky, super thick eyelashes, chopped and curled Azah's hair.
The result: Azah looked like a million bucks! Macam newscaster pulak!!

Our syllabus during the courses consists of image consultation with Ms Shawati, vocal projection with Mr Zaini, mock emcee for an event, script writing (buat sendiri with guidance from Ms Shawati) and finally makeover. It was fun and educational, and we learn what kind of an emcee we can be, is it just an announcer, or a witty emcee, a serious emcee, etc.

An emcee needs to think on her feet in case something unscripted happens. Ms Shawati used real life examples to test us during the mock emcee session, such as power trip so the emcee has to project her voice to the audience, or how to calm the crowd if its too noisy, changes in programme - how does the emcee adapts to it. It's not easy being an emcee, but it comes with experience and after years of doing it. Most important the emcee must arrive early to check her venue, expected crowd, test mike, and she will keep the ball rolling as the master of ceremony.

Gosh, it's not easy to reach the level of poise that Ms Shawati has exude together with her abundant charm. I aspire to be like her someday. Chaiyo! :)

9 comments:

la Signora said...

I love emceeing.Well, I only did two gigs but still better two than none!But ooh, I like Sh.Shawati.She's so beautiful (IMHO).Kalau tengok muka dia, mesti teringat those komik strip lukisan Tembakau (I think).The facial features of the female cartoon always resembles Shawati's huge eyes and big smile.

Eh, macam angau lak bunyi aku nih....

fantaghiro said...

you go girl!! kalau dpt banyak duit buat VOs jgn lupa belanja gua Chillis okeh!!

adianiez AIDA said...

chantek nyer ko wal oii...

kerabujantung said...

I think the gaspachos has run through your vein already!

kodok said...

Beb, camner ko bley join kursus ni, siap ajar grooming lagi, best nyer!

Zaidah Sikun said...

Sangat bagus! ~ Smoga impian jd kenyataan.. :)

Beautiful Life said...

La Signora: Its easily being smitten with Shawati, up close & personal.

Fantaghiro: Yeah, Chili's, Yellowcab, TGIF...u name it!!

Aida: Timo kacih la...ni sbb ko dh lama tak junmpa aku...

Kerabu Jantung: dah lama tak buat gazpachos. But i did made Nigella's Slime soup recipe dr green peas!

Kodok: Ni anjuran Tourism lah. Boss ckp lepas ni kami kena jadi emcee utk internal events.

Zaidah: Treima kasih...kalau ada apa2 gig atau VOs, gtau lah, mana tau kan....

Anonymous said...

memang best kan kursus tu. aku rasa voice projecting skill tu betul2 berkesan ... skrag cam leh ada special power ja ... hik...hik...hik...

Beautiful Life said...

Ha'ah dan aku rasa dalam kelas vocal projection kau lah pelajar paling berjaya melontarkan suara dgn berkesan. Syabas!