A few days ago, I was honored to co-host the #Whaleshares Discord Promote Your Post Live Show with @freedomexists. It was all very exciting. @freedomexists ran the first half of the show effortlessly. Then, he handed the reins over to me and fortunately stayed to help.

There are two distinct roles as a co-host... taking the lead or supporting your partner.

This first post is going to focus on taking the lead...

Being the guy holding the scissors and coffee

Giphy.com

~Helpful tips when you take the lead~

Put stickies in front of me

I wrote stickies to put on the wall in front of me to prompt me. The stickies said things like...

Link to share? (___, do you have a link you would like to share with us? If so, go ahead and share it now.

Tell us (So ____, tell us about your post.)

Any last comments? Get voting. (___, any last comments? Or does anyone have any questions for ___? Everyone get voting!)

Repost 3x... Get voting (Okay, I'm going to repost it, so everyone get voting! Throw some love on ___'s post.)

Thank you (Thank you, ___ for sharing!)

Moving on (Okay, since we have a lot more people waiting to present, let's move on!)

Set a timer

Time management is crucial for this event since we always have more post presenters than time to present. The way this show works is that the author gets about 3 minutes to present their post. Then we get into a group discussion for about 3 minutes. I set my timer for 6 minutes at the beginning of each post.

This was especially helpful since we had so many potential presenters that without the timer, my instinct is to rush the discussion, potentially missing out on key points the author wanted to convey.

Ask meaningful questions

By asking meaningful questions and making meaningful comments, we can draw out a discussion about the post in a way that properly highlights the important points of the post. @freedomexists is a pro. He's able to make every person feel like they are the only ones that matter during their time.

As I got further along in co-hosting, the discussions portion became much easier. I was able to get to a point where I could stay present with the current post instead of worrying about the next person.

Keeping an ongoing list

It really helped me to be able to keep a list of those that @freedomexists and I called on.

Manage tone

As @freedomexists mentioned, we can move from a fun, lighthearted post to a tragic, heartbreaking post within seconds. It is so important, as the host, to manage our tone appropriately. Personally, I have the tendency to be more serious. So, for me, was important to hear this so I could remind myself during the show to lighten up and have fun.

Vote and comment after the show

At first, I thought as a host, I could keep up with voting and commenting during the show. Boy, was I wrong again! So much is happening during the show, it helps me to make my votes and comments after the show ends.

~Hiccups~

I had a few hiccups along the way. I had three stumbling blocks on my first go at co-hosting this event.

Transitions

Transitioning from one presenter to another seamless is not always easy to do. @freedomexists makes it look easy. If I saw that we were coming up on 6 minutes, I would start looking for a way to transition without cutting someone off. For the couple of people that I interrupted, please don't take it personally, I will do better next time.

Direct messages

Because so much is going on, I noticed that it was not easy for me to jump over to direct messages quickly.

Reposting links

@freedomexists reposts the presenter's link at least 3 or 4 times during their turn so that the post is always front and center on discord at the time of their post discussion. He also repeatedly encourages participants to upvote the post.

I found that reposting links was the hardest part of co-hosting since I was so busy managing time, reading posts, and asking questions. Fortunately, @freedomexists never left the channel and every time I asked him to repost the link, he would.

~Final thoughts~

Because I have experience hosting a weekly business networking event in my hometown, I thought to myself, how hard can co-hosting with @freedomexists be? In our in-person events, each person has an opportunity to share a minute elevator pitch with an additional 2 minutes of weekly objectives they wanted to accomplish. As a group, we spend an additional 5 minutes helping that person with ideas and contacts for them to reach their objectives.

Well, it is hard. I have a newfound respect for how @freedomexists is able to juggle time, questions, reposting links, direct messages, etc all by himself. I depended on @freedomexists in the background helping when I would get stuck. He told me that when he first started, he was even shocked at how many moving parts there were.

We are all so fortunate to have access to a mentor like @freedomexists.

This Post is Steemified... pertaining to Steem!

Whereas Steem is the galaxy... Discord is the family room of a home (with a welcome mat).

If you have an interest in hosting your own show someday or co-hosting with @freedomexists, we welcome you to join us!

I'm co-hosting again tonight with @freedomexists Promote Your Post Live Show on the Whaleshares Discord Channel at 7 pm Eastern. We'll be in The Curation Lounge.

Again, thanks to @officalfuzzy and @akrid, those who present earn free Whaleshares!

Hope to see you tonight!

~Previous Steemified Series~

• Steemified Series: 5 Reasons Why You Will WANT to Give a Warm Welcome to New Steemians

~Recent posts~

• Steemified Series: Insights from Co-hosting a Promote Your Post Live Show on Discord (Part 2)
• My godchicken, Peter Parker, and his mom, @lyndsaybowes
• The Ooooohs, Aaaaaahs and OMGs of Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake