When asked to be a master of ceremonies you need to obtain all the information from the organizers needed to fulfill your obligations. This includes:
Details of announcements to be made.
The pronunciation of the names of people you’ll be introducing, their roles in the event and any other information about them the organizers want mentioned. (Write down the phonetical spelling of difficult ones.)
Timing of everything on the agenda, including breaks
Name and contact information of the person in charge at the venue.
Arrive at the venue well before the starting time and do a walk-around to ensure everything you need is there and in working order. If anything is amiss, inform the people who can solve the problem and monitor their progress.
Make sure all participants are present and chat with them for a moment or two to determine if any last minute changes are needed. Remind speakers of time limits and how you intend to enforce them.
Start on time and do your utmost to keep on schedule. You’ll sometimes have to deal with organizers who want to start late and be soft on speakers who run overtime. Do your best to convince the organizers it’s in everybody’s interest to stay on schedule, especially the audience’s. But if you have to bend things a bit, do so with grace and good humour; nobody benefits from the performance of a snitty emcee.
Don’t start the program until you have the full attention of most of the audience, and sometimes you may have to get the attention of the entire audience. If you have to take some tough measures to get their attention, do so good-naturedly but firmly. Once the event begins, though, you’re the boss, so take charge.
Introduce yourself with a clear, confident voice and explain your relationship to the event. If you’re just the master of ceremonies, that’s all you need to say; but if you’re also the vice-president of marketing of the organization sponsoring the event or the bride’s uncle at a wedding, make that’s known right away.
Your job is not to make speeches, tell jokes or make editorial comments; it’s to keep the event moving on schedule. However, if a spontaneous, short, relevant, comment comes to mind, by all means use it. Under no circumstances, though, should you upstage or embarrass anyone. Your responsibility, to both the audience and the organizers, is to be confident, upbeat, positive and enthusiastic.
Wedding receptions are different from other functions in many respects. For example, you may have to be the event manager as well as the master of ceremonies. In addition to the normal responsibilities of an emcee this would entail:
Making sure equipment (such as lighting, sound system, lectern, slide show) is available and working.
Getting everyone into the room and seated. (You should deputize some people to help with this.)
Appropriately balancing the participation of the two families.
Making sure you have all emails and other greetings to be read.
Getting the names, correct pronunciation, and home towns of all out-of-town guests.
Announcing when the formal portion of the event is over and the format and timing for the rest of the evening.
In a nutshell, your responsibility as master of ceremonies at a wedding is to help everyone have a good time.