I was once advised by my staff never to speak in public having had a drink. It was good advice. About the same time I was advised by a member of an audience who was forthright in his views to "get to the point and stop waffling". That was good advice too. We aren't usually trained in compering but we can learn a lot by listening to others. I once had to do a series of school assemblies with two other speakers. I soon decided to go third where possible. It left me with least amount of time (the others always ran over) and the opportunity to be off the wall (the other two had generally reduced everyone in the assembly to submission). More recently I have learned from watching some of the polished compères on the national performance poetry stages, the way they engage their audience, the way they make everyone treading that space feel important.

It's about attention to detail, planning ahead, good prepared "ad libs" and confidence (and not having a drink before!). If you have an event or presentation that needs compèring, whether it's formal or informal, I'd be happy to talk about it.