Courts Clementi Chinese New Year Special Roadshow

Event: Courts Clementi Chinese New Year Special Roadshow

Date: January 2012

Venue: Courts Clementi

"Did you hear that? Courts has a brand new branch at Clementi central!"

As the Chinese New Year is around the corner, most Chinese families in Singapore starts preparing for the brand new year - Year of the Dragon. Spring cleaning is always the time to get rid of old stuff to make way for new items, from clothings to furnitures and electronic appliances.

Courts launched a 2 days Chinese New Year Special at their spanking new branch at Clementi central. I was arranged to be the emcee for the roadshow and had a great time interacting with the shoppers and enticed them with BIG discounts!!

Below are some photos of me "selling" in action...

Photos

Abbott Sales Kickoff cum X-Factor Talent Search 2012

Event: Abbott Laboratories Sales Kickoff cum X-Factor Talent Search 2012

Date: January 2012

Venue: Rasa Sentosa Resort

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDxUJwvE9QU

This is one of my all-time favourite hotels in Singapore! The swimming pool, the sea breeze, the outdoor dinner and the excellent view from the hotel – all these make it a great staycation getaway!

One of the key highlight of the 2-day Sales Kickoff is our very own Abbott X-factor Talent Search! All 5 participating teams spent hours choreographing and practising their performance, all ready for a showdown and walk away with the grand prize worth more than $2000!

Here's the line-up of all 5 teams:

1. The A Team
2. Fab 5
3. Sassy Six
4. Esprit de Corps
5. Prestique

Apart from judging criteria such as Entertainment and Creativity, all 5 teams had to showcase the company's values – Pioneering, Achieving, Caring and Enduring - through their performance. There were song and dance, skit, musicals, and Abbott's very own midget show! From their performances, dance routines, costumes, props and music arrangement, we could see all 5 teams contributed significant hours after work to put everything together, over and above their work and sales commitments! IMPRESSIVE!

Apart from the talent search performances, we had lots of good fun in the games segments. It was very heartwarming as an emcee to see everyone contributing in and giving suggestions and encouragement. Excellent teamwork and great spirit was displayed by every member of the company.

Another highlight of the event was the awards and prize presentation. The company recognized the hardwork and contribution by the awardees and presented awards and prizes to these deserving individuals.

"And this year 2012 X-Factor Talent Search champion goes to ... ... Prestique!"

Requests were made for the champion and first runner-up to perform once more and the crowd went wild! Well guess what happened after the 2 performances? We had our very own impromptu Indian Dance Superstar!

Finally to round up the event, we had a special guest whom were specially invited and all the staff participated in making a gift for this special guest! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A big thank you to everyone at Abbott! All the best for 2012 and looking forward to being part of your future events!

Char Yong (Dabu) Association 2012 Countdown Party

Event: Char Yong (Dabu) Association 2012 Countdown Party 新加坡茶阳(大埔)会馆迎新年晚会

Date: 31 December 2011

Time: 7.30pm - 1.00am

Venue: Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hWn0KxNx90

Style! Emcee:

Happy New Year Everyone!! 祝大家新年快乐，青春美丽，笑口常开！


In my opinion, this is certainly the best countdown party to be at this year. Why? For 2 good reasons:

• My dialect group is Hakka and the home town where my grandparents were from Dapu County
• The crowd was awesome, from 8 - 80 years old, they laughed together, played games on stage, and best of all? They were going around the ballroom with my countdown choo-choo train too!

The theme for the evening was "Movies Night". The decor was beautifully done up, with posters decorating the foyer, kacang putih (white sugar coated peanuts) seller and a olden days ticket booth. Best of all, the organizers replicated the old movie stubs. For those who were born 1980s and before, the old movie stubs were nothing more than a flimsy piece of paper and the seat numbers were scribbled using colored pencil. Ushers would use a torch and usher you to your seat. (If you recall, sitting at the last few rows, you could hear the projector and the reel rolling sound coming out of the projection room above!)

The event started with a spoof version of pre-event movie trailers. It was hilarious as many were dubbed in Hakka language. The audience had a good laughed (even I was chuckling away)! It was nostalgic, especially for many of the folks among the audience. The president of the association delivered the opening and dinner commenced. Oh gosh, we were all famished!

Moments later, Captain Jack Sparrow (which was the character I took on), jumped onto the stage and kick started our fun and entertainment with simple light-hearted ice-breakers to get everyone warmed up. It was so fun when everyone, of all ages, put their heads together, to solve the Hakka Challenge!!

As an entertainer, I would always use games to encourage participation, regardless of race, language, age, nationality, or corporate hierarchy. To me, games and entertainment bring people together and spice up our daily lives.

As the evening went on, we had more fun and entertainment. We had a lovely showcase of wonderful singers, from mandarin pop songs to hakka hits. And we even had our very own Hakka Rapper! The final game that we played before the countdown was to select couples (dressed to the theme) on stage and re-enact the movie scenes. It was simply hilarious!!

With fun and laughter, good company, food and drinks, time flew so quickly that it was time to start our countdown. Everyone was distributed party hats, poppers, confetti guns and various party props to get ready for 2012.

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1


Happy New Year!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The human choo choo train has started. C'mon, join in the train right now!


A BIG thank you to my audience. 谢谢大家！ 

Data Storage Institute (DSI) Annual Dinner 2011

Event: Data Storage Institute (DSI) Annual Dinner 2011

Date: December 2011

Venue: Chevrons Jurong Ballroom

The theme - Movies Night - was simply awesome. Guests came dressed up in costumes from all different movies such as Matrix, Men in Black, Shanghai Tan, Pirates (Swashbuckler, Jack Sparrow, etc) and Tinklebell in Peter Pan. But the show was stolen by this guy that came as Counter Strike. You won't believe it, but its true. He was absolutely fully geared, with helmet, goggles, gas mask, gloves, sleeveless jacket that looked like bullet proof kevlar jacket and his shotgun rifle. He came down the halfway, mimicking the moves of the characters in Counter Strike. It was both hilarious and absolutely life-like!!

There was another guest that came in the costume by the lead actor Johnny Depp in Pirates of The Caribbean. He even had his beard styled just like Jack Sparrow!! There were so many other movie characters. Yet surprisingly I didn't see Bruce Lee in his yellow overall, or Superman with his underwear worn outside. Hmmm, maybe the guests also move with the times.

We had great entertainment throughout the night. The show curtains were opened by percussion group Wicked Aura (http://www.wickedaura.com/) and they blown the audience away with their catchy drum beats and energetic rhythms. And then after the first ice-breaker game we had Alex the Magician (http://www.alexthemagician.com/index.php). It was great to see Alex doing what he is best at - illusion and magic. He never fails to entertain both adults and children in his shows!

The interesting part about emceeing is that no matter what's the outcome or after-effect of the performance segment, it's important to quickly take the level of energy in the audience and bring it to the next level. That's what I call - Riding The Momentum. Straight to the stage with a joke or punchline so as to condense the energy and focus back to the emcee before moving on to the next line item on the programme.

I continued with my games and as always try to interject my games with more jokes, punchline and turning what I observed into something of a good laugh. I love what I do. :)

After the grand lucky draw, with our winners smiling sweetly with their prizes, the event wrapped up with a final fire dance. It's fun and exciting to always watch the fire dance performance, as I know they risk getting burn by the scorching heat and flame to bring on a good show for everyone. 

Here are two photos that I took for the event. Didn't have time to take more. If you have taken some photos for the night, please send it to style.emcee.sg@gmail.com. Appreciate lotsa and I promise to post on my blog!

Event  Poster

I love the backdrop - My favourite Mission Impossible 4 Tom Cruise

Thanks everyone. I totally enjoyed myself tonight. Please add me on Facebook at (http://facebook.com/style.emcee.richard) or like my page "Style! Emcee Richard Siaw".

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~!

Richard

Aker Solutions 20th Anniversary Dinner and Dance 2011

Event: Aker Solutions 20th Anniversary Dinner and Dance 2011

Date: December 2011

Venue: Swissotel Atrium Ballroom

Hei og velkommen til Aker Solutions 20th Anniversary! 

(Norwegian: Hello and Welcome to Aker Solutions 20th Anniversary!)

Tonight is the first time seeing a number of Norwegians friends in my event. And oh my, they are really really tall and good looking. The guys certainly looked suave and the ladies made me turned my head 180 degrees as they walked into the ballroom!! (Asians certainly look like shorty beside them! Muahahaha... *Laughing at myself*)

We started the evening slow and relax, with some light-hearted jokes and humour. In my opinion, with a good mix of crowd is always a great thing for the emcee. Why? Isn't it easier to entertain guests from similar background/ culture/ language, etc?

To me, it doesn't matter. The more myriad the mix, the better it is. Well, you see, sometimes even I am fascinated by my own self-created "think on your feet" styled of humour. Especially, when you thought this was funny and no one crackled, but somewhere you hear some others laughing away. You will be amazed at what turns the laughter switch on for different people. And I think that is real fun!

The first game got everyone up on their feet and participated. Here's a little photo:

Aker, Are you ready!!??!!

As the event went on, the level of energy, noise, cheers, cat-calls, grew louder and bigger. These guys are MASSIVEly energetic! And it was followed by a nice show of illusion magic. The illusionist was Stefan Ebinger, from Germany (http://www.stefanebinger.com/en/index.php). He's acts and moves are clean and sharp. (Even the DJ and myself sitting beside the console enjoyed ourselves!)

The highlight of the evening, has to be the guests themselves. The guests were totally ready to party and rock and roll on the stage. Coupled with my humour and jokes of poking fun, as well as my crazy wacky dance moves, it was a SPECTACULAR moment of entertainment for everyone. Here's some of the highlights:

Once you ready, you need to run up to the stage!!... 

Shall we groove, baby? 

Michael Jackson-styled jam break and tip toe!

"I had the time of my life.... and I never felt this way before." - Time of my life

Thanks everyone for making the show wonderful and perfect!

See you all soon. :)

Love,

Style! Emcee Richard

Diethelm Keller Aviation Annual Dinner 2011

Event: Diethelm Keller Aviation Annual Dinner 2011

Date: December 2011

Venue: Concorde Hotel

"The rain cannot dampen our spirit! We shall and we will have a good time tonight!"

I love it when the crowd has a good mix of Chinese Nationals and Indian Nationals. They love to have fun and are always so spontaneous. Sometimes it makes me wonder - What is the difference in their environment where they grew up in versus ours in Singapore? Is it the pursuit of academic excellence or the iPhones and iPads? But wait! Before anyone starts to think that Singaporeans are not fun-loving people, you may have to think twice. See our Mr Brown Show, The Noose and many of the excellent comedians like Kumar, Phua Chu Kang, Dim Sum Dollies (and myself, maybe?), they are great examples of the fun-loving attitude of Singaporeans!

We all enjoy a good laugh, be it laughing at someone's disposition, jokes, singing or dance moves. I love to bring laughter and joy to my audience. Each time before I stand on the stage, I visualise and think of how best I can make them laugh or to lift their spirits. Does it come naturally to me? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. What is most important is my belief - EVERYONE NEEDS SOME GOOD FUN AND LAUGHTER.

And tonight is no different. The crowd came from diverse background - different nationalities, languages, races, corporate hierarchy. Who cares? I just want everyone to have a good good time. From ice-breakers to finale games, the level of energy in the crowd remains high. From stage jokes to taking the jokes to the floor among the audience, the crowd responded well. As the saying goes - An emcee makes the crowd, but the crowd makes the show.

Thank you everyone for being such wonderful audience. See you next year~!

Presenting to you...

Just before the show...

WPG Holdings (South Asia) Annual Dinner & Dance 2011

Event: WPG Holdings (South Asia) Annual Dinner and Dance 2011

Date: December 2011

Venue: Suntec Conventi0n Centre

Theme: A Night of Razzle Dazzle

For tonight's event, I decided to come in full black suit, and contrasted with white hat, white tie and white shoes. It was awesome! The white shoes was awesome in highlighting my dance moves and grooves. Dinner and Dance may have changed over the years to Dinner and Draw (lucky draw), but my favourite is still with dancing. Dancing unites people, makes people happy and best of all, doesn't require difficult or highly technical moves. The key here is to teach everyone how to do it.

The reason why I love dancing so much started since I was a little kid. I would only watch MTVs of singers dancing, and often imagine myself on stage dancing and entertaining everyone. I would find a full length mirror or reflective glass anywhere and dance as if though I was performing for all to see. Till today, this child-like imagination and fascination with dance remains.

Tonight was a spectacular night of song and dance. Guests, especially the ladies, kept coming up onto the stage to dance. They were brilliant, danced to their hearts' content and everyone gave rousing applause! It was so fun, even for myself, to just join in their dance. I even taught my dance moves and they performed!

The finale game was superbly exciting and we managed to see some guests acted and performed with music and props, just like real actors and actress in movies! The winning team swept the best dressed award not only because they looked awesome, but their acting was so fun that brought so much joy and laughter to the 400+ audience~!

Thank you everyone at WPG! I had a great night as much as you did. :)

SITEX 2011 @ Singapore Expo

Event: SITEX 2011

Date: 27 November 2011

Venue: Singapore Expo Hall 5

Style! Emcee:

"Five sets only! Original price $1299. Right now Special price! $999.. $999..."

Sounds familiar? Anyone who has been to any consumer electronics show would have heard this a thousand, if not a million times. It never fail to attract buyers and bargain hunters. They are smart and they know when good offers come their way.

"At the count of 3. If you want it, raise your hand after the count of 3. One... Two... Three...!!"

Among the crowd, these well-researched shoppers will never fail to be faster than the rest. More and more IT show visitors are getting very well-informed, with mobile devices surfing the internet forums for best deals within the IT show. Sounds like guerilla shopping? You bet.

In the past, it was going around collecting brochures, copying prices and freebies. Then, going home to deliberate and sniff out the best deals. Times have changed. Visitors see the prices and immediately share the info with everyone else via social media. Not only is this faster, but the visitor has also become the marketing advocate for the retailer.

Now you know, at the next IT show, you don't have to be there personally to collect the product offer brochures and copy prices (because you can get them all online). But one good reason you must still visit the next IT show....

Be the first to raise your hand when I count "1... 2... 3!"

Cheers and see you all soon,

Style! Emcee Richard

Venda Engineering Annual Dinner and Dance 2011

Event: Venda Engineering Annual Dinner and Dance 2011

Date: 26 November 2011

Venue: Ban Heng Pavilion

Style! Emcee:

You won't believe it. The crowd was exhilarated. Even I didn't believe it until it happened. Some people said this was better than last year. I hope I have brought everyone more joy and fun.

I devised 2 new games today. I am so happy. It just came to me when I was running this morning and I thought I would incorporate these 2 games into the game segments. It turned out brilliant and perfect.

First we had a matching sequence game where all the audience participated. Then we had the beer strategy game where participants had to outdo the other 2 opponent teams. And finally we had an exciting segment of dance competition where all three team leaders gave their best, along with the director of the company! (Yes, I am not joking, the director joined in!)

I like being an emcee because no 2 shows are the same. All things remaining equal, the crowd is still different.

**Please continue to support my work and passion by clicking like on the Facebook icon just below my photos on the right.**

Tuas Power Active Day 2011

Event: Tuas Power Active Day 2011

Date: 18 Nov 2011

Time: 2.30pm - 8.00pm

Venue: Jurong East Sports Hall

Style! Emcee:

The guests started streaming in at around 2pm, with many dressed up in sports attire, and the cheerful expressions on their face tell me they are all ready to have a good time this afternoon. More than 200 employees turned up for the event and were equally divided into 8 groups, each represented by a different colour. The team leaders were very spontaneous and very quickly the rest of the guests joined in to their respective teams.

We kicked off the event with Mr Lim Kong Puay, CEO, leading everyone in a interesting exercise - Conductorcise. Each guest was given a conductor baton and taught how to hold the right way. The instructor, Moses, gave very clear and simple instructions which encouraged all guests to join in and have a fun workout. (I had a good time learning it too!)

After the warm-up, we kicked off the event with all 8 teams having to visit and complete the various challenges and stations. There were a while myriad of activities to promote active living, coupled with a healthy cooking competition, where 7 teams pitted their culinary skills to whip out a feast of healthy, tasty and creative dishes.

As the emcee for the event, I called together teams that were waiting for their turn at the stations to join in a round of team challenge, competing against other teams through a test of strategy, communication and luck. The team challenge, conducted in a knock-out format, finally saw 2 teams - Green and Navy Blue, making to the final round to contest for the Tuas Power Masters of the Universe 2011. Everyone cheered on for the 2 teams.

.... And the winner is..... THE GREEN TEAM!!!

Later in the afternoon, the judges went around the gourmet teams to grade while I interviewed the team members whom prepared the sumptuous dishes. (I should have taken photos of the food. They look tantalisingly delicious~!)

With the results out for all the teams, euphoria started rising and everyone cheered and clapped, wanting their team to be the winning team.

The evening proceeded on with a steamboat buffet and everyone sat around, ate, drank and shared the day's activities.

Thank you Tuas Power. Looking forward to work with the team again. :)

100PLUS EDGE Roadshow - Special Guest Appearance by Wang Yue Gu 王越古

Dear readers,

Come down to AMK Hub NTUC Fairprice Xtra tomorrow (12 November 2011) and meet in person our Singapore table tennis gold-medalist Wang Yue Gu (王越古). She, along with Feng Tian Wei and Li Jia Wei became the nation's first Olympics medal winners since our independence in 1965. Get a chance to see her in action, as she showcase her skills, speed and finesse in a demo match 'live' before your very eyes!

Take part in 100PLUS games and contests and walk away with attractive prizes and memorabilia.

So hurry down now and make a date with us at AMK Hub Fairprice Xtra, Level B2 at 1200pm on 12 November 2011 (Saturday)!

Yeah! I took a photo with her in Beijing Olympics 2008 after the Women's Finals...

... and I am so excited that I will get to interview her tomorrow!

Style! Emcee In Cosplay

Event: Dinner and Dance

Date: 04 November 2011

Venue: Marriott Hotel

This was taken with a guest who complimented and said I was pretty!

Being a woman is fun but it ain't easy.

PS: Maybe I should use the name Rachel instead of Richard! 🤣