Start of my work year as we usher in the year of the Rabbit

Happy New Year everyone! Its already Feb and this event is my start work event for the year of the Rabbit. Happy to host the business clients of M1 and Asiapac at their CNY business lunch with an apt theme : Tradition meets Metaverse.

Tradition meets Metaverse

Apt theme because we CNY is tradition and so we had traditional items like Lion Dance and Lohei! But because M1 and Asiapac is all about offering digital solutions to help their business clients succeed, we worked in an AR, VR digital bunny race in the metaverse as well. Good fun! HUAT ah!

One Full Circle

I say this because my last event before the crazy pandemic took over all our lives was this event. 3 years ago, Zebra Tech had their APAC SKO 2020 in Jeju, Korea. When I landed back in Spore after this event, COVID 19 came along and the rest as you know is history.

Wonderful to see friends from all over APAC coming together here in Bali

Just heart warming and happy to be able to do what I do and entertain delegates and friends of Zebra Tech from all over APAC once again. The way an event should be. Face to face, with smiles, laughter, tears, applause through interactive audience participation.

First Dinner and Dance for 2023

A brand new year and what a way to kick off the year with a rousing DnD to start. Staff of Baxtor Singapore all dressed up looking glamorous ready to party

And danced they did till 1am

Yup, you read correctly. They rocked and partied and danced till 1am. What a night! This is what I call a real Dinner and DANCE!

Retro Fever

An ever popular theme for DnDs is Retro night. Deutsche Bank had their version of this with Disco Fever. Its easy to see why this theme is evergreen.. easy to dress up and who doesn't like disco? Hahaha!

Beautiful Ballroom, Beautiful People, Beautiful night

As you can see from this picture, it was a gorgeous ballroom. Coupled with glamorous people dressed to the theme, it was a beautiful night!

Disco Disco Disco

As I said earlier.. who doesn't like Disco? I absolutely love it! oops.. am I revealing my age? The audience lapped up the music and danced all night long!! paaartay!

A GEO party in XS Nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas

It was literally 48 hours in Las Vegas. Flew in just to host the Cisco APJC Geo celebration held at the super swanky XS Nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

The things I have to do for work. Endured a 2 hour make up session to look the part as Beetlejuice! DJ Ephrem was rocking it as Freddie Mercury as well.

What a Party!

It was another awesome night with the partners of Cisco from all over APJC doing their best to outdo the other regions. I must say that Cisco always throws the best parties!

A night with glamorous people in a gorgeous ballroom

An incredibly beautiful evening with beautiful glamorous people in a gorgeous setting. With an audience like this, all it needed was a kindling, a catalyst.... ME!

Toast to 150 years of success

A grand evening that began with all the right notes. A toast to 150 years of success! To many more!

Lets get the PARTY started!

Always awesome when you are able to connect with the audience and get them to put on their dancing shoes to groove and party on the dance floor. It was that kind of night!

Best emcee for large scale events

Happy to be back on stage hosting a large scale event coz I daresay not many can command a giant stage and large audience of 1000 pax and more like I can.

A night with 2 top emcees

It was a night that was on another level. My first time co hosting with a top young emcee Kyle Ravin who has come into his own. Truly proud of this young man. What sucks is that I forgot to snap a pic of the 2 of us together.. Crap!

Mass audience interaction all nite long

An amazing audience that sang, danced, screamed and waved their light sticks. A proper party to thank the staff of Singtel Enterprise

A Singapore Shopping Institution!

Tangs is 90 years old. A Singapore shopping icon that has stood the test of time. A company that has always celebrated diversity and inclusiveness way before these words began trending. Proud to be back hosting this event year after year.

Allo... Cute or NOT??

Hahahaha! the theme was Netflix so I stole this idea from a fellow emcee (Lester). He had the Squid Game doll dress so I loaned it for him to ham up the night. It was a roaring success judging from the laughter once I stepped onto stage.

TANGS look after staff like family

Heartwarming to see how TANGS look after their staff. Only here do I get to present long service awards in excess of 50 years. They even invited 2 tables of ex-staff who have retired. Kudos to TANGS!

The early bird catches the worm

I make it a point to be early at my events so that I can prep in case there are last minute changes but mostly to let EOs and clients have one thing less to worry about. :)

A showcase of some inclusive community sporting activities

Engaging the audience at the foyer area with some interesting activities with the help of volunteers.

Thanking all grassroot leaders, partners and volunteers

Happy to be back once again to thank all the leaders, partners and volunteers that are the very core of all CSCs and CSNs.

With the team behind the event

Always happy to meet familiar faces at my events. They are the brains and core of every event. Thanks for having me.

The best of the best of HSBC Singapore for FY 2021

The Orion award is only presented to the creme de la creme of all staff in HSBC S'pore. So it was a tremendous honour to be tasked with hosting this prestigious event. Congratulations to all achievers!

A classy venue for a classy event..

Normally for this event, the deserving staff would be flown away to some exotic locale for an incentive trip. However with the current pandemic situation, it was safer to host this locally this year. Still, it was a fabulous classy affair!

5 days 4 nights in Amsterdam

What a trip! 5 days 4 nights in the city of Amsterdam. Had to host a series of events from the welcome dinner, a cheese farm carnival day and the main party 'Rave in Dam!'

Rave in Dam

We converted an old industrial steel building (formerly a sugar mill) to an exciting dinner venue and party nightspot. With superb sound and lights, a party live band with dance choreography, exotic dancers and top tier EDM DJs from the Netherlands... not forgeting THE TOP TOP emcee from Singapore.. HAHAHA! What a PARTEEEEE!

Rocking the NEON theme

Had to buy this outfit and had it altered just before the trip but I must say that it was all worth it. I mean don't you think the neon lime green suit I wore just ROCKED! Hell yeah!

The travelling emcee of choice

I have always been fortunate to have partners from around the region. So now that the borders have reopened and Covid restrictions are relaxed, my travelling days are back. Here I am across the border in KL Malaysia hosting Exness's Staff Party

The Greatest Showman

This theme suits me to the T! This is me, in full costume as The Greatest Showman energising and engaging the crowd with my antics, jokes and dance moves! What an event! They even had a carousel set up in the ballroom for the kids.

The awesome team behind this event

This is a photo with possibly the entire team behind this successful event. Proud to be their partner always as this is one of the best EOs across the border.

Back hosting LCICON yet again

This to me in my humble opinion is my biggest and grandest event I get to be a part of. It is totally an american production and I am privileged to be a part of it. It's back as a live event after 2 years of the pandemic and this year its at the Montreal Bell Centre (Home of the ice hockey team The Montreal Canadiens)

Backstage with the STARS

Every year, I am astounded by the talent on show at this event but this year, I was just blown away when I found out that Motown legend THE SMOKEY Robinson was performing. Here is just a photo to show that my dressing room was just next door to him. Hahahahah!

Lions Clubs doing good all around the world

If you don't know what the Lions Organisation is, go find out. They have 1.4 million members from all over who are just dedicated to serving their communities... and the world. Proud to be their emcee of choice for yet another Lions Clubs International Convention.

AC is Advisers Clique

Possibly the largest group in the life insurance/ financial advisors industry. A night where they celebrated their humble beginnings.

A ballroom full of noisy happy people

I hope it stays this way. A ballroom full of people with minimal social distancing. An packed programme with a live band as well.

With me as emcee, it's never a dull moment

When all the formalities are done, its always fun to spice up the evening with some wholesome entertainment.

Complimentary photo with the bosses

It isn't everyday that I get to take photos with the GOH as I am always busy working at my events but today was my lucky day.. Here is my wefie with NTUC Sec Gen and the chairman of the organising committee

A night to celebrate the stars of the labour movement

Because of the pandemic, this awards event was rather muted for the past 2 years. So it was simply wonderful to be able to see the stars of the labour movement out in force celebrating their achievements.

Another night another stage

Did I mention that I love being on stage? Any stage for that matter but I really prefer a huge actual stage with a nice backdrop. Thank you NTUC for having me!

Early morning conference

Just like that, live events are back. An early morning call time for Citrix Day business conference. This is the first in a series of conferences that will travel around cities in Asia to showcase Citrix's solutions to support hybrid work.

Possibly the most stunning ballroom in S'pore

A truly stunning ballroom for any event. Citrix chose this very ballroom to kick start their first of many events to engage their partners and customers. They also chose me to do what I do best.

Hybrid work is here to stay

Covid 19 just accelerated what we know now. That the employees of today prefer to have the flexibility of working at the office, at home or remotely. Citrix is showing the way where business organisations can manage hybrid work seamlessly and securely without compromise.

First F2F event with actual audience interaction

Would you believe that a seasoned old pro like me was nervous before this event. Why? Because I haven't hosted a live F2F event with games and activities in years (2 years to be exact). Even holding a wireless handheld mic seemed foreign. Read my blog - Live events are back. Are you READY? to find out what I am talking about.

Lively, noisy, fun audience as it should be...

So awesome to be able to see the faces of people in my audience with their smiles, laughter and facial expressions without a mask on. Loud, raucous and unbridled cheers and jeers alike... I LOVE IT! Truly wonderful that Live Events are BACK!

It was a wonderful night

By the end of the night, I was feeling a buzz.. high on adrenaline from the live interaction and the energy of the crowd. It was really like riding a bike and it felt familiar once again hosting live on stage. What a night!

Hosting with Amira from NTUC

Awesome to have the opportunity to host NTUC MayDay Rally for the second year running. Tremendous to feel the energy from the crowd which consists of workers, unionists, organisations and tripartite partners.

PM Lee delivering his MayDay address

What a difference a year makes. Last year after the Rally, S'pore went into the P2H stage which was like a partial lockdown. One year later, we have relaxed measures where we could have an 800 pax live audience with masks on but no need for social distancing!! YEAH!

Every Worker Matters!

Truly a Majulah Singapura moment because only in Singapore can we have the unique Tripartite system where the government, the union and the business organisations come together to raise the wages, welfare and work prospects of workers in S'pore!

Toasting 1600 AIA Achievers

2 awesome nights at the Grand Ballroom of Marina Bay Sands to toast the achievements of 1600 AIA financial consultants. My first mass in person physical event after the relaxation of Covid SMM measures.

A sight to behold.. A sight for sore eyes!

This isn't the largest physical audience I have hosted by any means but after a 2 year hiatus of any physical F2F event, truly a sight to behold... a sight for sore eyes!

Singapore's Top emcee for live F2F events

With physical F2F events slowly coming back, Emcee Cyril is often the emcee of choice for many clients and event producers alike. Especially events that require audience interaction. Here I am in this photo with a satisfied event producer and friend, Silas Rabi.

Hosted the semi-finals of RE:ACTIVATE - DJ Competition

Wonderful initiative by IMC Live Global to revitalise the industry by organising specially curated events with live audiences, one of which is this DJ competition to which I had the pleasure of hosting.

DJ demo on an awesome stage @ SCAPE

Really wonderful to experience a proper full stage set up with LED screens, intelligent stage lighting, monitor speakers, etc. Have I told you that green screens are so passe! Hahaha!

Real live audience with real live djs

An invigorating experience not to say the least is to be able to interact with a physical live audience, speak with the judges on site in the venue and to interview the contestants live. Damn.. this is what living with a pandemic as done to us.

Back in a green screen studio for another Red Hat SKO

It is always fabulous to host an event I have hosted annually for close to 15 years. Truly hope next year I will be able to meet all the fantastic Red Hatters face to face at a physical SKO.

Studio setup for a virtual event

This is our view when we are hosting a virtual event. I am now in my element looking into a camera whilst checking the screens/monitors as a guide. However, I can't wait enough for the day when I can have unlimited physical interaction with the audience.. What about you?

Interviewing Red Hat APAC GM

Another aspect of any good emcee is the ability to connect with a guest and interview them. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing the new Red Hat APAC GM for this event.

Energising the Tokio Marine team for the new year!

When you need a high energy emcee to lift the spirits and motivate your team for the challenges of the new year, Emcee Cyril is always the obvious choice!

Physical event with a live audience

Damn! It sure felt good having a physical audience with a proper backdrop behind me. Awesome to hear actual applause and see individual faces in my audience.

Online element still important

It is still equally important to engage the online audience as we had hundreds of financial advisers tuning in. Important for them to know that they are equally vital and kept in the loop.

Celebrating SCB's top performers in Asia

A virtual celebration of the achievements of SCB's best in class performers from 13 countries all over Asia. A cracking event with performances, a virtual tour to Moscow's Red Square and even some fun interactive games.

It takes a village to execute a virtual event

I don't say this enough but it truly takes an entire team to execute a virtual or hybrid event well. A lot more factors come into play that can make or break your event so its always best to have professionals who are at the top of their game helming your event.... someone like ME!!! Hahaha!

Green has never been so fashionable till now

Its amazing what technology can do these days with a simple green backdrop. I can be on land, underwater, in space, beamed to another country all with the touch of a button. But all this still can't hold a candle to a live F2F physical event. Just saying...

Hybrid event yet again

For the 2nd year running, this ceremony has gone hybrid because of the pandemic situation.

Board of governors attend event on site

OTCi's board of governors preside over event with their presence on stage to celebrate the achievements of the graduates.

Graduands attend online

A giant screen to capture OTCi's graduands and partners as they attend the ceremony virtually.

Hard@work engaging the virtual audience

Solid 2 hour virtual celebration filled with interactive games throughout. I must say I had a blast hosting this but by the end of the event, I was sweating buckets!!

Recording a dance tutorial video

One of the interactive elements of the virtual engagement was a mass dance contest between 3 teams. So I choreographed some simple dance steps to a funky song, recorded a tutorial and sent it to Avnet's staff prior to the virtual event.

Avnet 's staff rocks!

This is a screen capture of a sample of one of the teams dancing away with me leading and roaring them on! I must say the staff of Avnet were simply awesome as they were very sporting and spontaneous throughout.

45th Anniversary of our Community Sports Clubs

Celebrating the 45th anniversary since the formation of our CSCs. 45 years of engaging residents young and old through community sports. Kudos to all our volunteers and participants through the years!

Another virtual event, another studio setup

The new norm where this is my view instead of a live audience. I have learnt to pivot by connecting with the virtual audience by looking at these monitors. Engaging them with my high energy levels whilst responding to their chats...

Hosting a segment with Minister Tong

Finally had the pleasure of meeting Minister Edwin Tong who is an old joe like me. Minister is clearly passionate about sports and how it bonds communities as he elaborated on the exciting new initiatives planned.

An iconic emcee for a Singapore icon

Back again to host Tangs Founders Day to celebrate annually the hardworking staff of our favourite department store.

Video Recording of event

Because of Covid-19, the event was recorded to be played back to the staff.

Only at Tangs

A testament of how well Tangs look after their employees when you celebrate service awards of 40 years and above! Almost unheard of these days!

Hosting yet another virtual celebration

A rare screen shot of me with lower thirds hosting the Terumo Stride Ahead 100 virtual celebration. Normally I am too busy rehearsing or working to remember to take pic of this.

Yet another green screen studio

This really seems to be the norm these days for all virtual events. This must be the 8th studio I have been to in as many months. Nice to be able to work with a actual teleprompter this time around.

Terumo Asia Pacific sets a Guinness World Record

As part of their centennial virtual event celebration, Terumo Asia Pacific receives official confirmation of setting a Guinness World Record for the largest online video chain of people passing and using a thermometer. Well done Terumo!

Hard at work rehearsing my lines.

The difference with hybrid or virtual events these days is that having a rehearsal the day before is almost certain. But this photo is a dry run on actual day... ;)

Hosting with a small live audience

So happy to be able to talk to a live audience finally. Let us all continue to take baby steps forward.

Epson SEA HQ and Solution Centres

Epson continues to lead the industry with their innovative solutions and sustainable technology on show at their SEA HQ and centre. A company that walks the talk when it comes to sustainabilty goals.

This is how an emcee WFH!

Only in a pandemic situation we find ourselves in am I able to actually host a virtual training camp to over 450 participants across many countries from the confines of my home.

My humble home set up.

Equipment which I bought more than a year ago when I had no choice but to pivot to online hosting finally put to good use!

Organising virtual events are no easier than physical events.

It literally takes a village and different skillsets to organise an engaging virtual event. Always choose to hire the right professionals so that your event will run smoothly like this one!

Happy National Day folks!

Happy to host NTUC NDOC virtually and meet the hardworking staff of NTUC. I am thankful for the work they did the past year to help all workers even freelancers like us. #everyworkermatters

#EveryWorkerMatters

Extremely heartened to see our labour movement continue to grow strength to strength following the steps of their predecessors as we celebrate Singapore's National Day through unprecedented times of a pandemic.

My solid young co host teaching an old dog new tricks.

Had a blast working with my young co host Zoe who showed me how fun and dynamic the staff of NTUC are.. Was it weird that I had fun though I was the one that got TEKAN-DED? Hahaha!

Hosting a hybrid event.

Awesome to be back on a physical stage hosting a hybrid event. Hybrid because there were attendees physically in the hall and virtual attendees joining digitally from home. So I had to engage the audience that were there physically as well as look into camera to engage the virtual participants!

Stealing a wefie with physical audience.

This is the physical audience I had that day. Can you spot any of the ministers? They were all in their zones and were ushered in and out at different timings.

Met my MP who was my former cadet.

Truly happy to see this guy doing well. He is now MP of my ward in Marine Parade. My joke with him is that "once you had to call me SIR... but now i have to call you SIR!"

Obligatory photo with the EO boss.

Much thanks to Picasso Tan the owner of PIP for the event. Pic is a dear friend and one of my huge supporters.

Hosting on stage with Minister and OTCi board of directors.

Hosting this hybrid event with VIPs on stage and all the graduates logging in online from home.

Virtual audience on zoom.

Engaging with the virtual audience at the end of event with a group screenshot of everyone.

Engaging the audience during pre-event.

Together with Tower Transit Singapore MD.

Showing appreciation to public transport workers in TTS for their hard work with relevant awards.

Energetic and dynamic virtual emcee.

Hosting live from Singapore with main production team in Hong Kong. An opportunity that is only possible because of the current pandemic situation coupled with broadcast streaming technology of today. It helps when your dynamic skill sets as an emcee are valued internationally.

Hosting online from FWD Singapore's office lobby.

FWD Singapore's office lobby transformed into a 'pop up' studio by local AV professionals to facilitate and support FWD Virtual Summit produced by an outstanding team based out of Hong Kong.

The show must go on...

To engage the online audience of over 2000 FWD advisers, I need to rely on several TV monitors so that I can refer to my script as well as see what the virtual audience sees to engage and interact with them.