Linking speakers, keeping time, setting tone

By Alastair Greener, presenter of Present Yourself in a Minute · Updated 5 November 2026

An MC is the conductor of the event: your job is to make the speakers shine and keep the whole thing moving. If people leave remembering you more than the speakers, something has gone slightly wrong.

This page covers the three jobs that take up most of an MC's attention on the day: linking one speaker to the next, keeping time, and setting the tone. The questions to ask the organiser before you start are on the MC's checklist, so use that first and come back here for the doing.

The MC is not the star

Start with the right idea of the role. A conductor does not play an instrument, and the orchestra sounds better because of them. You hold the event together, set the pace and make the next person feel welcome on stage.

That changes small decisions. You keep your own stories short. You stay out of the speaker's subject. You do not steal a speaker's best line in your introduction. When in doubt, say less and get off the stage sooner.

Linking speakers

The gap between two speakers is where an event sags. The room has just finished listening to one person, the next person is walking on, and nobody knows where to look. Your link fills that gap and does it in a few seconds.

A good link has four parts:

1. Thank the speaker. Do it warmly and specifically, so the audience knows you were listening.
2. Bridge. One sentence that joins what they heard to what comes next. This is the segue.
3. Introduce the next speaker using the words you agreed with them.
4. Step back and let the applause land on the speaker.

A worked example. The first speaker has just talked about why customers leave, and the second talks about how a team keeps them.

Thank you, Priya, that figure on customers who leave quietly will stay with me. If that is why they go, the next question is what keeps them. Our next speaker spent three years running a support team that did exactly that. Please welcome Tom Ellis.

That is four short sentences and under twenty seconds. It names the first speaker, connects the two talks and introduces the second.

Agree every introduction in advance

Speak to each speaker before the event, even for two minutes, and agree three things: how to say their name, what you will say about them, and how you will cue them. Then stick to the script you agreed. Speakers plan their opening around your introduction. If you add a joke or change the order of their credentials, you can knock them off balance in the first ten seconds.

If you want to improvise, improvise in the bridge between speakers, which is yours. Leave the introduction itself alone.

Have filler ready

Things go wrong. A speaker is late, a video will not play, a microphone drops out. When that happens the room looks at you. Prepare two or three pieces of filler before you go on: a question for the audience, a short and relevant story, a brief look ahead at the next session. Keep them in your pocket and do not use them unless you need them.

Keeping time

Keeping time is the MC's biggest job. A programme that runs over costs the next speaker their slot, shortens the break and sends the day into a squeeze that nobody enjoys. You will not manage it by willpower on the day. You manage it by agreeing the system beforehand.

Build the system before the event

1. Get the run sheet. You need the start and end time of every item, including breaks, and any hard stops such as a live stream going off air or a venue closing.
2. Agree the reminder with the organiser. Decide who has the authority to cut a speaker, and at what point. Speakers are happier when the rule was set before they stepped on stage.
3. Agree the signal with the tech team. A countdown card held at the back of the room, a light on the lectern or a message in your earpiece all work. Choose one and make sure the speakers know what it means.
4. Brief the speakers. Tell each one how long they have, what the signal looks like and what you will do if they overrun.

Give the reminder gently

When a speaker runs long, a gentle reminder gets better results than a hard interruption. Walk to the edge of the stage so they can see you, hold up the agreed card or signal, and wait for them to find a safe place to finish. Most speakers take the hint and wrap up. Leave the hard cut for the rare occasion when the organiser has told you the schedule cannot move.

Know where you can recover time

Time lost in one place can be found in another. Before the event, mark which items can flex. A coffee break can shrink by five minutes. A panel can lose a question. A thank-you list can become one line. Knowing this in advance means you are not inventing a plan while a speaker is still talking.

An example. Four speakers each overrun by three minutes, so the afternoon is twelve minutes behind at the last break. If you know the break can lose five minutes and the final panel can run seven minutes short, you can bring it back to time without anyone feeling rushed.

If the event is also being streamed or filmed, the tech team will have its own cues and hard stops. A short conversation with whoever runs the vision mixer is worth having before doors. Granary's event AV production page covers live vision mixing and streaming on your site.

Setting the tone

The organiser decides the tone, and you deliver it. A formal awards dinner, a team away day and a community fundraiser all need different levels of formality. If you misjudge it, the event feels wrong even when everything else runs well.

Ask the organiser three things:

• How formal should this be, on a scale from relaxed to ceremonial?
• Are there topics, names or phrases you want me to avoid?
• What do you want people to feel when they leave?

Then carry the answer through everything you do: your wording, your pace, your dress, how you greet the room and how you handle a mistake. A relaxed event can laugh at a technical fault. A formal one needs a calm sentence and a quick move on.

Set the tone early. Your first thirty seconds tell the room what kind of day it will be, so plan them. A warm welcome, a clear sense of how the day runs and a note on where the exits and facilities are will do the job.

Staying calm

Calm on the day comes from preparation. Before the event, make sure you know four things:

• The schedule: every item, its length and who is on.
• The participants: names, pronunciation, titles and what each one is covering.
• The objectives: what the organiser wants the event to achieve.
• The rehearsal: the walk-through of your cues, your movement and your microphone.

If there is a rehearsal, use it. Walk on from where you will actually walk on, hold the microphone you will actually use, and say your introductions out loud. Our note on what the crew needs from you at a rehearsal explains how to get the most from the time.

Stay flexible on the day

Even a well-prepared programme changes. Keep cue cards with space for notes so you can write down a late change, a new title or a point a previous speaker made. Use a card per speaker, not one long script, so you can reorder them in seconds.

Listen all the time, on stage and off it. Hearing what a speaker says gives you the material for your bridge. Hearing what the tech team says in the wings tells you the timing has moved. Both help you adapt.

Carry a couple of icebreakers and a piece of filler, as described above. If a session ends early or a speaker has not arrived, you can fill the gap with a question for the room rather than a silence.

A short checklist for the morning of the event

• Run sheet and cue cards in your hand, in order.
• Every introduction agreed and the names checked.
• The time signal agreed with the tech team and shown to each speaker.
• The tone confirmed with the organiser.
• Filler ready: two or three short pieces.
• Microphone checked from where you will stand.

If you are also writing words for the person who will introduce you, see how to write the introduction the MC will read.

Related guides

• The MC's checklist: every question to ask the organiser
• All guides and tools

The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.