On the 7th of October 2015, Cidos Inspiring Learning Awards or is widely known as e-DOLA 2015 was held at Hotel Equatorial, Melaka. This event was held to celebrate the online educational practices and rewards those practitioners who have succeeded and able to create quality e-CONTENT materials to be used by Malaysian Polytechnics. We managed to take part in the event as the organizer. During the event, we are divided into certain bureaus and the bureaus we are going to highlight in this article is the usher.
There were many memorable experiences during the event that we can highlight. Usher plays a really big role in this kind of event. Usher needs to know everything related to the event as the guests present will need assistance and the usher will be the one who assisting. As the usher of that night, we could see how important an usher for an event.
An usher is a person who helps visitors in large buildings and responsible of the public reception usually in theater and cinema. In this case, it would be during an event. Ushers assist visitors by formally showing the way in a large building or to their appropriate seats. The usher is responsible for the seating and the safety of event attendees.
For a formal event, an usher is a very crucial role during the event. They play a big part of the event because they were on duty before, during and even after the event ended. This basically means, if ushers did something wrong and make many mistakes, it will affect not only the event, but also the organizers’ reputation. Being an usher, there are many do’s and don’ts that should be taken seriously. For instance, if you are given a task, it is not supposed to be taken for granted, because every task, even small tasks are indeed, important.
Making mistakes are part of being human but we can try to minimize the mistakes as much as we can. Since being an usher is so crucial, these are type of responsibilities of an usher and the dos and the don’ts you need to remember if you’re destined to be an usher for future event.
Responsibility
• Politely directing and escorting attendees to their seats
• Providing attendees with programs and other relevant materials.
• Checking assigned section for cleanliness
• Be aware of and enforce appropriate house rules.
• Remain at assigned post throughout the event unless taking an assigned break
• Must be aware of, and follow, the proper procedures for assisting patrons with disabilities
• Understand evacuation procedures form all points within each venue
• Ability to repeatedly climb stairs – up and down – to provide effective staff coverage in all areas during an event
• Ability to stand for long periods, sometimes for the duration of an event
• Work all assigned shifts and arrive at posted call time (or obtain replacement.)
• Adhere to dress code
• Ushers may watch the event, seating available, but should always be aware of patron movement and needs
DO’S AND DON’TS ON USHERING
1. DO’S
• You need to dress well and look good in front of the guest (grooming)
• Good communication skill
• Be friendly
• Smile all the time
• Walk, talk and act properly
• Be extremely courteous and respect everyone present
• Need to know how to differentiate between VIP’s and other guests
• Know and recognize all the VIP’s
• Know and understand well about everything related to the event (tentative/flow)
• Know the layout of the venue and aware of every facilities such as toilet
• Be diplomatic when referring to guests and use the terms, "Sir," "Madam" or "Child."
• Assist guests in every way possible. Be especially courteous to ladies, children and elderly people. Crippled people should be extended every possible courtesy
• You must keep your hands off the guests
• Never leave your post unless given permission by the man in charge
• When referring to one of an organization always uses title and name of his position
• You are warned not to carry on conversation unless it is in the line of duty. In cases of necessity, be brief.
• In answering questions, take time enough to look directly at your guests and reply in a manner that is direct to the question asked
• Friends and former employees are to be treated by you as a guest. Excuse yourself from them and see them after working hours
• Mothers with crying children should be treated with the utmost courtesy and care. If the child continues to cry after you have spoken to the mother, say, "I am very sorry, Ma'am, but I must ask you to take the little one to the rest room."
2. DON’TS
• Not following the dress code
• Not well groomed
• Show bad attitude
• Disrespect everyone present
• Make noises and disturb the event
• Doesn’t understand the flow of the event
• Doesn’t recognize the VIP’s/VVIP
• Doesn’t know the layout of the venue
• Improper walking and talking style
• Be over-friendly/extremely talkative
• Never give guests any orders. Communicate your desires in the form of a request. Accompany the acceptance of your request by, "I thank you, sir."
• Do not say "shush" to anyone. If a guest is creating unnecessary noise, say, "Excuse me sir, you are disturbing other guests," and then leave immediately. If the guest persists in making noise, call an executive at once.
• When wishing to attract a guest's attention, never summon but step directly up to the guest and say, "I beg your pardon, sir."
A GOOD USHER
Ushers are often used to ensure the event runs smoothly. Being an usher is not everyone’s job but everyone can be a good usher. Event can be ruined if the usher doesn’t do their job properly. For instance, if a guest asked questions regarding the event and ushers could not answer properly or even worse answer wrongly, it could give bad implications towards the event/organizers. Being an usher, there are few things that need to be remembered.
First of all, you need to be extremely good in communication skill. Communication skill is the first requirement in being an usher. If you couldn’t communicate well with other people, how could you possibly going to be a good usher?
Secondly, you need to have confidence. Not everyone has high level of confidence and those who possess such confidence should be proud of themselves. Confidence is something that wouldn’t appear within a day.
Good usher possess good grooming skill and would look good all the time. Since they are basically the face of the event, they need to appeal to everyone present. They do not have to put so much make-up or wear 10 inches heels. Minimal make-up would be just nice since you don’t want to look like an opera singer who got lost.
Besides that, a good usher talks/speaks, acts and walks properly. You need to give a really good impression about yourselves to others. Good first impression would give you a lot of benefits. You don’t want to go around and hearing negative things about yourselves.
Other than that, being an usher you need to be good in many things. This is because the guests might ask you to do things you are not supposed to do.. You need to be prepared mentally and physically since it will be quite challenging if you are not used to it.
In conclusion, usher plays a really big and important role in an event. If the usher gives full commitment towards the task given, it will give a great impact and if the usher doesn’t do well, it will affect the reputation of the event.
If you are given a task to be an usher in the future, below are the characteristics of a good usher that you need to know:
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD USHER
• Good communication skills
• High level of confidence
• Manage their time well
• Good in multitasking
• High level of patience
• Neat and tidy (well groomed)
• Use proper language
• Act and walk properly
• Manage to understand everything fast
Credit to : Amni Khalida and Izaz Emyra
