MC stands for Master of Ceremony. It refers to an individual who hosts or facilitates an event, serving as the official host and ensuring the smooth flow of the activity. The role of an MC is crucial at various events, such as weddings, conferences, concerts, and parties, as they help create a positive and engaging atmosphere.
Having MC skills is important not only for professional hosts but also for individuals in various fields, including business, where effective communication and presentation skills are highly valued. Whether it’s a corporate event, wedding, conference, or any other gathering, a proficient MC contributes to the overall success of the occasion. The role extends beyond simply reading a script; it involves understanding the tone of the event, gauging audience reactions, and adapting accordingly. In essence, MCs play an essential role in enhancing the overall experience for attendees, making their skill set an asset in diverse social and professional settings. Therefore, to help people have a better understanding of public speaking, especially in the field of MC, SAFEL provides its members with the program, namely the MC Club.
MC Club is an annual program of the Public Speaking Department (PS) at UKM Bahasa Asing “SAFEL” UNY. This year, MC Club was held fully offline with the theme “Unleash Your Potential, Surf Your Success.” Different from the previous year, this year MC Club had 5 meetings, consisting of 3 big meetings and 2 weekly meetings. This event lasted more than a month and was attended by approximately 40 people, all of whom are SAFEL members.
This year, we invited a speaker who is very experienced in this field. She became a trainer at every big meeting. The trainer was an alumnus of Yogyakarta State University. She was a very accomplished figure and had a million experiences in the MC field; her name is Rintan. All members of the MC Club were very pleased with her guidance. In addition to bringing in a trainer, the MC Club also had eight coaches, divided into four groups, each accompanied by two coaches. Their task was to assist in the practical sessions of the groups and teach materials at each weekly meeting.
We prepared a syllabus to give guidance at each meeting, both big meetings and weekly meetings. We always prepared different material and continued to develop it at every meeting. The big meeting was held in the first week of October. It was usually more focused on delivering essential material and practical sessions, accompanied directly by trainers. In this practical session, the trainer will directly give feedback to the participants. Apart from that, there was also a question-and-answer session. Meanwhile, the weekly meeting was usually more focused on group discussions, delivering add-on material by the trainer, and also directly practicing the material that had been delivered by the trainer at the big meeting. In more detail, we designed this weekly meeting with the aim of providing facilities to participants so that all of them are entitled to the opportunity to practice and strengthen bonds between each other.
At the end of this activity, we would like to see the abilities of all participants. We created a final project that all participants had to complete and upload to their own Instagram accounts. This final project will later be assessed by the trainer, and the best will be selected from each category (formal, semi-formal, and non-formal). In the final big meeting, we announced the best participants from each category. Besides that, we also had awarding sessions for the best participant, group, and best coach categories. The enthusiasm of the participants and the positive feedback we received indicate that this MC Club was successful in facilitating SAFEL members in learning about MC.
-Risqa Rahma Rasendria and Rokhwal ‘Iisy
