Being an MC: my heart's desire!

[pakrat]

To every MC out there.
I am an MC in training. I am sophomore and i really would like to MC at a regional event sometime after college, mybe during. I am just wondering how you get to be in a position to MC for a regional/national division. On thing that i have put a lot of efffort into is to know as much as i can about every team at every event i have been to, and i want to know what will help my dream to become a reality.

Thanks in advance!!


-Rich Ross
team 830 Rat Pa

[Steve W]

MC is a position that is usually filled by FIRST or the Regional committee. This position is one that is very important, only 1 per regional and has a lot of experienced people doing it. There are few openings and you must be in the right place at the right time. It is also a skilled position. There are many who have tried it and many who have failed. You must realize that this position is the most visable of all. You also must realize that to be good at this position you must be self confident, self analysing and self less. Some of the people who do it do it because it puts them in the limelight. This is the wrong reason. The MC must remember that the position is about everyone else. You must try to boost others and instill excitement at the event without being the event. This is a very tough job to do. You must also be aware of all that is happening with the teams. You need to do tons of homework on the teams attending. You must have a lot of controlled energy. You must watch what you say and how you say it. You can't show any favoritism. It is a very rewarding job but one that is earned by respect. Look at those that are MCing now. Most are engineers or mentors with alot of time with FIRST. They have earned the right to be seen and noticed. Most have shown that they hold FIRST and the students ahead of themselves. They are the spirit of FIRST when on the field.

I am not trying to put you off of the position. I am just opening your eyes to what the position entitles. I have worked with quite a few MC's and almost all have been around for quite a while. The rookie MC's that I have worked with have been good and not so good (Paul C you are on the good). The MC must work well with the announcer (thats me). If the two people are not on the same page a lot can go wrong. Teamwork is very important as well as personality (Paul, I don't know how you did so well with no personality ....OOOPS). You need to be a fun person as well. The most important need to be an MC is..............................................





THE LOVE OF FIRST.

[dez250]

Check out this thread: Announcers Anyone?. This question was asked a month or so ago, there are many good comments in there.

[Don Knight]

Originally Posted by dez250

Check out this thread: Announcers Anyone?. This question was asked a month or so ago, there are many good comments in there.

dez250 thanks for pointing out that thread for announcers, but, Announcers are NOT Master of Ceremonies (MC's) These are two seperate positions.

The MC or Master of Ceremonies is the "Visual" as well as "Vocal" presence of FIRST at the competitions. To the many people in the audience "they are FIRST." ie Blair Hundertmark

The announcer on the other hand is the "Voice" of the competition, and is responsible to support the MC , make public address announcements and to call the "Play by Play" action. They are not to be "Visual", they use their vocal talents to support the game, not to become a part of the "Visual" show.

At least thats what it says in the training.......

[Joel J]

Work hard. Don't let anyone discourage or get to you. You'll end up where you need to be.

Another thing, don't be afraid to embarass yourself and make comments mocking the local sports team (like mock The Detroit Red Wings outside of Detroit at Ford Sweet Repeat )

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck

Another thing, don't be afraid to embarass yourself and make comments mocking the local sports team (like mock The Detroit Red Wings outside of Detroit at Ford Sweet Repeat )

Ha ha!! Andy Grady did the almost exact same thing when we were in NYC this year.
He was one of two Announcers at the NYC regional on Saturday, and made a comment like "Now as you may know I am from Massachusettes and am a big Red Sox Fan.." which brought a huge response from the crowd, and a outbreak of laughter by me, and then he continued, "But, since I am in NYC now, I want to hear everyone here who is a Yankee fan make some noise" in which a deafening roar was heard by the audience.

Sometimes, you have to put a personal touch on the event, and make fun of yourself to a certain extent.

[Andy Grady]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Ha ha!! Andy Grady did the almost exact same thing when we were in NYC this year.
He was one of two Announcers at the NYC regional on Saturday, and made a comment like "Now as you may know I am from Massachusettes and am a big Red Sox Fan.." which brought a huge response from the crowd, and a outbreak of laughter by me, and then he continued, "But, since I am in NYC now, I want to hear everyone here who is a Yankee fan make some noise" in which a deafening roar was heard by the audience.

Sometimes, you have to put a personal touch on the event, and make fun of yourself to a certain extent.

I actually think I mentioned how in Boston we think Yankees fans are loudmouths too. So, I asked to hear all the loudmouths! Sometimes, ya gotta sacrifice yourself to get a crowd going.

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck

Another thing, don't be afraid to embarass yourself and make comments mocking the local sports team (like mock The Detroit Red Wings outside of Detroit at Ford Sweet Repeat )

It's OK to mock the Red Wings anywhere including Detroit.

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Steve W

It's OK to mock the Red Wings anywhere including Detroit.

The Lions more so.

"How do you keep the Lions out of your yard?" "Put up some goal posts."

[pakrat]

If there are any MCs who could tell me about how they got to where they are, it would be more helpful!!

please help me know what i can to do put myself in a good position to be able to do this

[Jessica Boucher]

A wonderful person to contact is Ron Partridge (is that how you spell his name?). Along with not being able to spell his name, I have no idea of how to contact him, just that you should. He's a great guy and an excellent MC, full of great FIRST stories.