[what a load]
when i signed up to be the emcee for kembangan-punggol's edusave scholarship and merit bursary, i did not expect to be reading out 800 names!! well, i eventually found out and nearly freaked out this morning...

a good thing is that, i had a co-host to share the burden...

i digress...

it is always good to have a co-host... one of the reasons is because you can have chemistry to make the event more spontaneous and the audiences can hear a variety of voices...

so the whole day was spent rehearsing, editing scripts and ironing out minor details on our already prepared script... so the co-host and i was backstage most of the time doing the groundwork for the ceremonies.... we even had our lunch there...

the first one that was held in the morning was pretty long... a total of 400 students gathered at damai secondary school for the awards ceremony... and towards the end, my legs were already close to giving way... the last i remember standing for so long was during my ns days...

during showtime, the emcees stood on stage under glaring spotlights (now we know how celebrities feel on stage with all the lights), trying to pronounce funny, long and wierd names (there was a guy called dick but he didn't turn up) and paying attention to the ongoing slew of activities unfolding before us... and always trying to be on the ball lest we make mistakes...

after the first ceremony, our eyes were almost blinded by the stong lights afte the one and a half hour ceremony... then during the second session, a few parents even took photos of us using flash... it was a first for me... although during the ioc, hoardes of press people used flash for their photos in front of me in the press briefing room, this experience was totally blinding... so i had to close my eyes for a split second and then continue reading out the names...

the second one was with north east cdc's mayor zainul abidin rasheed as the guest of honour... though the recipients were considerably lesser, the stress factor was up as the guest is a very important person (mayor okay... cannot make mistakes)... however, due to extreme stress, i paused halfway when reading out his name for the second time... but it was not too obvious i guess.... when i apologised to him for that error during the post-reception ceremony, he brushed it off lightly and smiled...

one thing i noticed was that the mayor actually congratulated each recepient personally on stage... i mean, as a mayor, he does not have to do that but he actually did that... it shows how such a gesture will make an impact on the student to spur the child on to succeed... i'm sure one would feel proud to receive an award from the mayor...

so back to the ceremony,... the second one was pretty fast and orderly... the parents were well behaved, students listened to instuctions and executed them on cue and i think it was because the committee listened to feedback from the first session... with several like minded people who work together to put things right, small details were looked at and ironed out which made the event successful...

the end result? a pat on the back for a job well done by the mayor himself...

and yes, i took photos but it's for private collection... i would not want to see those photos distributed everywhere you know....