I had an absolute blast in Manchester last week when I hosted the Queer Student Awards at the O2 Victoria Warehouse. It was so much fun!
The theme of the evening was “Queer Joy” and it was a truly joyous occasion. It was an honour to be in the same room with all the finalists and winners. Being one of this year’s judges, I had read many of their inspirational entries. The standard was so high this year, which made our job of judging them so impossibly difficult.
Being a live, in-person event which was also being live-streamed, there was so much to think about, but I was really pleased with how it all went. While I had a script and a timeline to stick to, I had plenty of opportunities to ad-lib, so I made full use of those opportunities. In fact, got a bit naughty with my humour and the when the audience loved my naughtiness, that only encouraged me to do more. It’s all their fault – nothing to do with me! Honest guv!
After the event, the Founder & Event Director of The Queer Student Awards, Steve Keith wrote this glowing recommendation on LinkedIn for me…
Katie and I have recently worked together on The Queer Student Awards which she hosted this year. As Event Director I was looking for a host who could command the attention of a large room of people (150 guests) for 3 hours, whilst also bringing their own personality to the stage. In short Katie did not disappoint. In the weeks leading up to the event, we collaborated virtually to create a talk track for the evening, which Katie fully committed to. She provided comments and feedback on this and made suggestions on how to improve the flow of the evening. She was punctual on the evening itself and worked with me before the evening started to rehearse as well as supporting me with the award presenter briefing. I felt very safe in her hands, and very confident that she would deliver in her role as a result.
The feedback that Katie has received from guests who attended includes these comments:
- “Katie was a fantastic host, she created a fantastic atmosphere even from home“
- “High energy hosting with some humour to keep us all entertained“
- -“Katie’s timing was impeccable“
- “Incredible job of hosting“
- “Katie – brilliant host“
I can not thank her enough for the work that she did on the evening – her humour had the room in stitches at several points which really helped to keep the energy up throughout.
I would strongly recommend her for any hosting opportunities – just fabulous!”
Please contact me if you would like me to host an event for you. My checking sense of humour is a given and I promise to be gobby!
Main photos by Josh Cadogan.
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