There are so many acronyms nowadays its tough to know which ones not to use. IYKYK
Thankfully, an organization I have belonged to for over 20 years, the National Speakers Association, has put together a new designation that is yet another acronym worth knowing:
CEP – Certified Emcee Professional
I am pleased to be recognized in the CEP Charter Group along with some of my outstanding Emcee peers:
To earn this designation I documented:
• 100+ events over five years, with client names, dates and fees
• 10 client evaluations, scored by the people who hired me
• Video from real stages, not a sizzle reel
• Verified income from emcee work across multiple years
Emceeing and hosting events is a discipline, and shouldn’t ever really be left to someone on your team (unless they’re incredible at it, which is ridiculously rare). Executives need to have their moment to shine, and not be seen so much handling hosting duties that it becomes a “no longer special moment” to the audience every time the Executive takes the stage. The more you give them their spots, as an emcee fills the role instead, allows Executives to shine that much brighter with less stage time.
Its best to leave emceeing to the professionals, especially those with the CEP moving forward.
In other words, don’t make the CEO, CMO, COO, or CFO be the emcee, let the CEP do it!
It is a hard concept for many event planners to grasp, but its legitimate and true of every event you’ll attend.
The NSA and I have a long history of adding acronyms as credentials to the end of my name.
Maybe you’ve wondered what they are, if you’ve seen my old contact info, it looked like this:
Jason Hewlett, CSP, CPAE
What is CSP? Certified Speaking Professional (2014)
- This is a designation that very few speakers earn, it is just that tough to have enough events to make it happen, and the paperwork is astoundingly difficult to get together. I earned this the same year as my friends Mark Eaton and Ty Bennett, awarded in San Diego, and I’ll always cherish those memories.
What is CPAE? Council of Peers Award of Excellence (Hall of Fame) (2016)
- This is recognition the NSA gives to up to 5 people on the planet once a year whom it is determined by other CPAE’s deserves to be in the Hall of Fame of Speaking. It is both a lifetime achievement award and helpful to be at the height of your career when they come calling. Very grateful and shocked to have received this as one of the youngest ever to be so honored.
2016 CPAE
2016 CPAE Class
Home Page of NSA-Mountain West Chapter in 2016
So what on earth is the CEP all about?
Well, thank you for asking. LOL
The unsung hero of a great event is generally the emcee and host, especially the one who is the glue in between speakers, entertainment, panels, breaks, raffles, awards, and all else that happens in either a one day event or multi-day marathon conference.
At most events, the name of the emcee (unless Ryan Seacrest is there) will not be highlighted on the agenda, posters, or listed with Keynote Speakers and breakouts. The Emcee is thus a fairly unheralded, unrecognized, and yet highly skilled individual who can pull off the nearly impossible: keeping an event agenda on time, adjusting to all that happens in live event settings, managing facilitation, and keeping composure when all heck breaks loose.
The greatest training I’ve had on stage and how to handle anything did not come from being an entertainer or a keynote speaker, it came from the literal superhero job of being a great emcee.
The secret to being a great emcee is to make sure it’s about The Event, The Attendees, The Speakers, and honoring all of them, while still standing out and being amazing. Never overshadowing. Simply lifting and supporting.
The Emcee essentially fades into the background, while being the face of all that happens throughout a convention, and holds the attention of all for every aspect of what happens on stage.
What you don’t see is the amount of time an emcee spends meeting with the client, crafting and curating content to be great at each portion and moment, backup plans for when things don’t turn out, and being the ultimate team player backstage.
I have spent more time as emcee backstage with nervous CEO’s helping adjust their ties, lav mics, and talking them down from the proverbial cliff, to calming a celebrity who doesn’t want to speak and negotiating that we would do a Q&A instead, to hugging the employee who just heard their dad passed away and they need to go on stage to present an award.
Emmy Award-Winning Actress Patricia Heaton backstage
Emmy Award-Winning Actress Patricia Heaton on stage with Jason Hewlett
One time Chuck Norris was late for his keynote, and I found this out while I was introducing him to stage. I looked off stage, they motioned to stall. As emcee I quickly adjusted into a 45-minute keynote speech before looking over and seeing Chuck with his arms folded, ready to roundhouse me to the ground. And then I introduced him and all was well, no one knew what had happened, but that client has praised my name ever since.
I did an event recently, as emcee, where Jay Leno did his show, and the following award-winners didn’t give long enough acceptance speeches, making a gap in the time that wasn’t contracted for Magic Johnson to take the stage that early. The client, panicking, said, “We can’t give them a 30 minute break! What do we do?” I confidently said, “Do you trust me to entertain your audience until you need me to wrap it up? Just put the end time on the clock and I’ll keep going until Magic’s ready.”
The client was stunned, scared of what I’d do (as I was filling in for their usual emcee who had come down with an ER-level illness), and I went out on stage in Hollywood at the Beverly Hilton (home of the Golden Globes) and crushed it for a stunned audience who didn’t realize their emcee was more entertaining than anything else they’d had on their stage before. And then I introduced Magic Johnson, who was paid 10x my fee.
I share this because that is a usual night’s work for an emcee. There’s never been many kudos for this level of superhero, but there should have been. And it’s about time this profession is recognized.
And so now my name looks like this:
Jason Hewlett, CSP, CEP, CPAE
FWIW and BTW…
I have LOVED being an emcee, and still do many events as such each year. Whereas between my transition from solely being The Entertainer performing a 9 PM Show, to being the Keynote Speaker at 9 AM, my years making that happen were my Emcee heyday.
It was fun showing up to Emcee & Host an event, with a skeptical client, who by the end of Day 3 was asking what my availability would be for next year so they could schedule their conference around my open dates. True story. This happened with some of the biggest companies in the world. Good times!
That’s the CEP story and I’m sticking to it! Many thanks to the awesome clients who have trusted me as emcee with your events and audiences, it has been the joy of my career being on stage.
Hoping for many years to come as well! If you want me as emcee at your event you may not know we have an entire section of my web site dedicated to this, visit HERE.
I’m grateful to be considered as one of the good ones in the emcee category by the NSA and my peers, and to think it’s no longer just IMO.
