Gala evenings are focused on announcing awards, but they can sometimes feel a bit flat. With Conventa celebrating its sweet 16, we wanted to inject some of that youthful vibe into the legendary Meeting Stars Awards gala ceremony.
We approached these awards, often hailed as the “Michelin guide to the events industry,” with a simple goal in mind: make it a night to remember for everyone.
Sure, we wanted to celebrate the winners, but with a crowd of over 400 attendees from across Europe, we also wanted to keep things fun and engaging for everyone.
Here are 10+ techniques I used to keep everyone engaged throughout the evening.
Waiting-time engagement
Five minutes before the official opening, I informally welcomed the gathering audience and gave them a small task. I asked them to vote on a poll, “Do we learn creativity or are we born with it?” and then prompted them to discuss their choice with their neighbours. Hundreds of small discussions broke out in the hall, setting an interactive mood from the outset.
Energy +3
Moderators are like orchestra conductors, setting the tone for the performance. To keep the mood upbeat, I exceeded the audience’s energy by three levels, reminiscent of the fervour of an MMA announcer.
Musicality
In theatre, there’s a rule of thumb that you need to change the tone of your voice every 7 seconds. I added depth and texture to my delivery by varying vocal tones and cadences. This ensured constant engagement by alternating between soft-spoken moments (“Why don’t we create a love letter for your country?”) and ecstatic expressions (“And the winner is…”).
Pausing
Pauses are the most powerful weapon for any public speaker, including moderators. I used pauses to add drama and to pace myself. In the past, I used to speak too fast to battle my anxiety. Not anymore. Pausing helped me slow down, making my moderation easier to understand for audience members with English as a second language.
Interaction for Each Category
To create a mental break, I introduced each award category with an intriguing poll question and got the audience to send their ideas. For example, for the best hotels category, I asked, “What did you take home from a hotel room?” Everyone started laughing as the word cloud with the answers such as ‘slippers’ or ‘lightbulb’ showed up on the screen.
Interaction with the Band
Throughout most of the evening, I was joined on stage by two members of an amazing Slovenian band – AKA Neomi. We built rapport backstage, and they helped me create dramatic drumrolls before I announced the winners. Additionally, their lead singer Neomi joined them at three different moments to sing their best hits.
Audience Drumroll
To keep people engaged, the moderator needs to constantly change things. For the final category, I invited the audience to actively participate by creating a drumroll with their hands and feet. This helped change the dynamic and fostered a sense of community and inclusion.
“Congratulations” in Many Languages
Acknowledging the international nature of the event and its winners, I learned how to say “congratulations” in the native language of the winners. For example, as Slovenian winners walked on stage, I shook their hands and said “Čestitke!” which means congratulations in Slovenian.
Short Interviews with Key Figures Onstage
It’s up to the moderator to create space for the team behind and the key figures. Throughout the evening, I conducted multiple mini-interviews (1-3 questions tops) with Gorazd Čad and Miha Kovačič who are the brains behind the whole concept. It’s important that the audience hears directly from them.
Raise Your Hand
Throughout the evening, I prompted audience participation by asking attendees to raise their hands to check on their energy levels (“Give me a thumbs up if your energy is still up”) and connect to the topics (“Raise your hand if you’ve ever stolen shampoo from your hotel room.”).
Short and Punchy Ending
It’s easy to let the main theme fizzle away. After Neomi played her last song, I invited everyone for dinner and a party and then circled back to the main theme: “Stay hungry, stay creative, stay innovative as if you were still 16 years old.”
A moderator always represents only a tiny fraction of the effort, time, and creativity put into the events.
The success of the Meeting Stars Awards in Ljubljana is the success of the organizing team of Gorazd Čad, Natalija Čad, Aljaž Čad, Miha Kovačič, and their unwavering energy.
For the past 16 years, they have been representing the region of New Europe and successfully put it on the global events map with the help of events like The Meetings Star Awards.
About the author
Juraj Holub is the co-founder of Remote People, former Chief Meeting Designer at Slido and event moderator. Juraj has been a driving force in the world of remote work, helping grow the Slido team from 8 to over 260 people in 26 countries. Together with his partner Andrej Krištúfek, he’s worked with 70% of Fortune 500 companies as well as high-level conferences like SXSW, Web Summit, and Adobe Summit.
