People often see the stage.
They don’t always see what happened before it.
Being recognised by Prestige Africa as Master of Ceremonies of the Year 2026 is an achievement I’m incredibly proud of.
But when I think about the award, I don’t immediately think about polished stages, large corporate events or moments under the lights.
I think about Pick n Pay and Builders Warehouse.
Seriously.
Because the beginnings of this journey go back around 15 years, to a time when I was deliberately looking for every opportunity I could find to become more comfortable behind a microphone.
Learning how to use a microphone
Corporate roles began putting me in front of people.
Presentations had to be delivered.
Messages had to be communicated.
Sometimes somebody simply had to stand up and speak.
I quickly realised that if I wanted to become comfortable speaking in front of an audience, there was only one real solution.
I had to speak in front of audiences.
Again.
And again.
And again.
So I practised.
On weekends, I would do in-store announcements for retailers including Pick n Pay and Builders Warehouse.
It wasn’t glamorous.
There was no spotlight.
No impressive stage.
And definitely no award waiting at the end of the announcement.
But it gave me something much more useful.
Experience.
I learnt how my voice carried.
I learnt how to communicate information clearly.
I learnt how to sound confident even when I wasn’t necessarily feeling confident.
I learnt to adjust my delivery.
I learnt how people reacted.
Most importantly, I became comfortable holding a microphone.
Those small moments became part of the foundation for everything that followed.
Someone has to give you a first opportunity
There are people you remember because they believed in you before everybody else had a reason to.
For me, two of those people were Rick Alan and Jason Greer at ProduXion House.
They took me in.
They gave me a chance.
And those early opportunities mattered.
Because nobody starts as the finished product.
Behind every experienced Master of Ceremonies, presenter, facilitator or speaker are the awkward moments, the small jobs, the mistakes, the preparation, the nerves and the years spent learning the craft.
People normally meet you after all of that.
They see the result.
They don’t necessarily see what it took to get there.
What does a professional Master of Ceremonies actually do?
Over the years, my work as a Master of Ceremonies in South Africa has taken me into very different environments.
Corporate events.
Conferences.
Product launches.
Awards evenings.
Weddings.
Formal functions.
Panel discussions.
Outdoor events and special occasions.
And every audience is different.
That’s one of the things I love most about the work.
A professional MC isn’t simply somebody who stands on stage and introduces the next speaker.
The role is far more involved.
You need to understand why the event is happening in the first place.
You need to understand the client, the programme and the audience.
You need to keep things moving.
You need to manage transitions.
You need to know when the room needs energy and when the moment requires restraint.
You need to listen.
You need to adapt.
And when something unexpected happens — because eventually something always does — you need to deal with it without making the audience feel as though anything has gone wrong.
The job is often about making a great deal of preparation look effortless.
That only comes with experience.
Corporate MC, wedding MC, moderator and facilitator
One of the interesting parts of my career has been learning how differently the role changes from one event to another.
A corporate Master of Ceremonies may need to understand a brand, reinforce key messages and keep a conference programme running precisely to schedule.
A wedding MC is working with one of the most personal days in a couple’s life. The tone needs to be warm, natural and personal while still making sure every important part of the programme happens when it should.
A panel moderator needs to listen carefully, ask the right questions and create space for meaningful conversation.
A facilitator needs to understand the objective and help a group reach it.
The microphone might be the same.
The job isn’t.
Master of Ceremonies of the Year 2026
That is why receiving the Prestige Africa Master of Ceremonies of the Year 2026 recognition means so much to me.
It represents far more than one event or one year.
It represents the weekends spent practising announcements.
The first opportunities.
The people who took a chance on me.
The preparation nobody saw.
The events where everything went exactly according to plan.
And probably even more importantly, the events where something didn’t go according to plan and I learnt how to deal with it.
Recognition is wonderful.
But what makes it meaningful is knowing the work that came before it.
No one sees the small beginnings
We tend to celebrate people when something visible happens.
An award.
A successful business.
A major event.
A television appearance.
A milestone.
What we rarely see are all the ordinary days that came before it.
The discipline.
The repetition.
The preparation.
The disappointment.
The decision to carry on.
That’s why I have such an appreciation for small beginnings.
Those in-store announcements may not have looked like an important part of a career at the time.
But they were.
Those first opportunities may have felt small.
They weren’t.
They were teaching me skills I would use years later on much bigger stages.
Never underestimate where you start
If there is one thing this journey has taught me, it is this:
Never underestimate the small beginnings.
You don’t know which seemingly insignificant opportunity is quietly teaching you something you’re going to need five, ten or fifteen years later.
The stage I’m standing on today was built long before anybody was handing me an award.
One announcement.
One event.
One opportunity.
One microphone at a time.
And to Rick Alan and Jason Greer — thank you for giving me a chance when I was still figuring it all out.
To every client who has trusted me with their event, every audience I’ve had the privilege of speaking to and every person who has contributed to this journey:
Thank you.
Master of Ceremonies of the Year 2026.
This one means a lot.
And we’re not finished yet.
Looking for a professional Master of Ceremonies in South Africa?
Bennum is an award-winning Master of Ceremonies, corporate MC, wedding MC, moderator, presenter and facilitator, available for events throughout South Africa.
From corporate conferences and launches to weddings, awards evenings and special events, the goal remains the same: a professionally managed event, an engaged audience and a programme that flows seamlessly from beginning to end.