Hu-mor(e) and Do-more: Emcee, Socials, Icebreakers

Gunnison Trails has relied on Anthony's emcee skills at most every event. Whether its announcing for our Original Growler mountain bike race, with over 700 racers or our annual winter fundraiser/silent auction, Anthony keeps the crowds entertained and the shagged racers and spectators laughing. He makes our hectic events a lot less stressful, keeping things professional, but damn fun.

Our non-profit organized our first annual fundraiser film festival, the Rio Reels, this year. Anthony provided valuable help as we planned the event, providing advice on how to make it the best it could be. He took the time to get to know our organization and our goals for the event, which he incorporated in to his emceeing throughout the night. Not only did he add energy to the event, he kept the audience engaged and ensured that we met our fundraising goals! He made the whole process of event organizing and fundraising a lot of fun :)

As an emcee, Anthony takes the time to research the content of our event presenters and it shows. He runs a cohesive event that is meaningful for the audience - from start to finish. He is also very easy to work with in the planning stages - both flexible and thoughtful. We even use him as a pitch trainer for our Accelerator program.

Each year our financial firm hosts a large Christmas celebration as gesture of gratitude for our clients. Typically we have about 100 attendees and it is a challenge to find entertainment options for a group of that size. As the Operations Manager for the firm, it is especially hard for me to enjoy myself at the party when I am constantly running around and setting up for dinner, activities and games. This year, I had a new strategy. I hoped to find an entertainer who could completely control the crowd as to take the stress off me and the financial advisors from our office. Having worked with Anthony in the past, I knew he was the man for the job but there was a slight problem – he had moved his company to Colorado and we were a thousand miles away in Honolulu. Luckily, Anthony heard our proposition and agreed to fly in for the gig. In the months leading up to our Christmas party, Anthony and I arranged all of the details via email. He came up with countless activities & games to keep our clients entertained which would be interspersed with humorous monologues and festive holiday music. We ensured that every second was accounted for so our guests wouldn’t be bored. Every so often, Anthony and I also would set up a conference call just to make sure we were on the same page. As the date of our event drew near, Anthony early so he had plenty of time to gather any additional supplies and to assess our set up. Throughout the entire process, he was very professional but also added a touch of humor with his usual comedic anecdotes and observations. To put it simply, he was a joy to work with especially during a normally stressful time of year! On the night of the Christmas party, we encountered unexpected delays thanks to some unfortunate weather and traffic. Though I began to worry that it would throw off the entire schedule, Anthony remained optimistic and flexible. He was quick to adjust the games and activities and relied on the mood of the crowd to gauge interest and encourage interaction. What I enjoyed most about working with Anthony was that I didn’t have to control every detail of the night as I had done in the past. Instead I was able to relax, talk story and laugh with our guests. And laugh we did!! Anthony had our client in hysterics throughout the night. In the days and weeks following our event, many of the guests who attended expressed what a blast they had at the party. The only downside is how high he set the bar for our future events! We could not be more grateful to Anthony for making our annual Christmas party a night to remember. I highly recommend him for your next celebration. Many mahalos from Hawaii!

Anthony announced various events throughout the winter season for uswith humor for all ages, fun music and FLAIR that is hard to come by! Events ranged from ski races to big mountain competitions and the annual pond skim- three totally different demographics. He was professional in an upbeat sort of casual way that fit our needs, on-time and helped gather all of our thoughts to make sure everything was announced that needed to be. It was one less thing for me to think about and one less thing for me to do because he had it covered! Thank you!!!

Anthony has emceed two Business After Hours for CB/Mt CB Chamber of Commerce members, and both have been met with rave reviews. His services have led to more interest in both hosting and attending Business After Hours events. The only constructive criticism has been a desire for fewer tangential jokes and a shorter speaking time.

Recently I attended an hour and a half Improv Class by Garrison Garcia. I had no real idea what to expect, and I almost backed out because I was tired from my day at work. I'm so glad I went, because I left feeling energized and my face hurt from all the smiling! This fast paced class makes you think on your feet and out of the box. There was a good variety of fun "acting" exercises and when it was over I couldn't believe that it had already been 90 minutes. I would definitely attend this again, and next time I'm bringing more friends!

Anthony facilitates a rich learning experience for my university students each semester. Through a cleverly-designed problem-based learning experience, as well as diverse examples, he provides students insight into triple-bottom line sustainability through a food system lens. He brings us out of the classroom and to the grocery store, employing the Better World Shopping Guide app and their brains as tools. Through humor, humility, and keen insight, Anthony easily engages his audience. I highly recommend him for your next learning journey!

This was our 4th Winter Blast! fundraiser but the first with an emcee. Having Anthony take this on raised the bar on our event significantly and made my life way easier and less stressful and our event was better for all of this. We'll be using him again in May at our Original Growler mountain bike races. Highly recommended!

Anthony's presentation was fun and informative. He commands the crowd even when its full of crazy kids! I would highly recommend Anthony for your event, as a matter of a fact we are planning another event with him very soon.

We hired Anthony for the World's Largest Santa Ski. It is a super fun event with 1000+ people dressed up as Santa, skiing and parting.

We needed a super fun MC to go with our super fun MC and Anthony totally delivered/.

Anthony emceed a Fondue Friday Fundraiser for the Gunnison Underdog Rescue (GUR). He managed to lighten the subject of homeless and needy animals with hilarious "cheesy" humor all while keeping GUR's message front and center. What can I say, Anthony helped our event shine!

Anthony gave great insight into Habits of a Happy Brain and everyone had fun! It was held in a cute little coffee shop which was the perfect atmosphere for a morning laugh among friends and community members! I would absolutely recommend Anthony to anyone!

Our community holds an annual "Night of Lights" celebration to kick off the holiday season each year. We asked Anthony to participate as the events Emcee because of his ability to induce smiles and laughter. The event was a huge success, and Anthony did an excellent job engaging the crowd and increasing participation. We would recommend Anthony for any community building event where participant engagement is a desired outcome.

Your humor, good nature and off the cuff Bingo remarks made our event a pleasure for everyone in attendance. You have a passionate and kind heart for the future of our students to further their education. Our gratitude to you Anthony Poponi will always be remembered.

Anthony has been a long-time supporter of our environmental non-profit so it was fitting that he also be our fundraiser emcee for three years in a row! Anthony is professional yet entertaining and takes time to study the event purpose & goals and delivers them to the attendees in a relateable and interactive way. Mahalo Anthony.

It was on stress and it was great as he brought a usually somber crowd to laughter and some tears. He was professional, entertaining and informative ( you usually get one or two but he got all three). I would definitely use him again not only for my corporate clients but as an emcee….(he can be funny but don't tell him). In fact when he comes to town , I may use him annually with my clients.

Anthony was perfect for our Rotary group! Totally comfortable working the room and telling funny jokes! We had lots of compliments on the program afterward.

I had Anthony organize and emcee two fundraising events during my campaign for County Commissioner. His organization and attention to detail were incredible not to mention his ability to connect with the crowd and create an atmosphere that was filled with laughter. He was able to blend humor with important information that I was trying to share to the audience and folks walked away from each event informed and happy, can't expect more than that! I can't recommend Anthony enough.

You just don't get any better than Anthony. He is truly the master of ceremonies. We had him Emcee our wedding in Estes Park, CO. Not only did he entertain the crowd, he added such a personal touch and got to know a lot of the people involved. He found out cool pieces of everyone's story and related them all together for a spectacular evening. First Class!

As president of the Rotary Club of Waikiki, I've had the opportunity to use Anthony's services on a number of occasions. The most notable was when he emcee'd our International FoodFest in 2015. Anthony provided exceptional skills in keeping the international audience of 300+ Highly entertained, while keeping the event transitioning smoothly.

Most recently, Anthony was a speaker at our club and shared with us the brain functions that generate different emotional response. There were lots of laughs as he gave examples of the how people reacte to different situations, as well as an in depth discussion on the more serious effects that our emotions have on us. By far one of the best speakers of the year. We look forward to booking him again soon.

I was extremely impressed with Anthony and his ability to keep the event running smooth and on time. He kept the crowd happy in between musical acts with funny personable humor that really hit home. His services were irreplaceable and I was so happy to have him involved with this amazing festival for our radio station. I'm sure to have him MC the event in the future.
Laura Silva
KBUT Events Manager

Anthony emceed our wedding and spent the entire night on his feet making sure everything ran smoothly and he did it all with a smile on his face. Not only did he keep the event organized and on time (keeping this bride completely stress-free), but he also had our guests laughing all night. I would highly recommend Anthony for any event.

Anthony helped us out on super short notice at a Farmers Market Community Dinner event. He provided just the right amount of funny and jokes to keep all the necessary information and thank-you's from getting boring. Great guy, great emcee!

Anthony hosted and emceed our annual summer concert. With record attendance (over 700 people), he did a great job of entertaining the crowd, highlighting our organization and the work we do, and keeping the energy level up during the two hours leading up to the main act.

Anthony did a great job keeping the event organized and fun for our clients; we were so pleased by the response from our clients. They really enjoyed his show.

We recently hired Anthony to emcee our grand daughters high school graduation celebration party. He did an amazing job, was funny and most pleasant to work with. He also went around to meet and talk to family members and guests which everyone found him to be very friendly. Thank you Anthony for a great memorable evening.

Anthony has a warm and friendly personality. He creates a relaxed atmosphere in which you are able to feel lighthearted and comfortable. The information he presents is interesting with lots of aha and oh yah that makes sense moments.

If you want some laugh therapy in your life I Highly Reccomend Anthony for your next gathering :)))))

Anthony gave an awesome talk on neurochemistry at a Nerd Nite Honolulu event recently. He was funny and informative, really engaged with the audience, and went the extra mile to have some handouts and games integrated in the presentation so people could be interactive! We're looking forward to his next appearance at Nerd Nite.

Anthony did an incredible job as emcee for our wedding reception. Prior to our wedding, Anthony was very professional to deal with and easy to communicate with. We met with him to go over the timeline of events for our reception, and he asked some good questions to ensure we and our guests had fun, were amused, and informed on any key details. The day of our wedding, Anthony's positive energy kicked off our reception in the best possible way. Our guests felt his high energy and were cracking up at his jokes. Throughout the night he was hilarious, both with interludes between speeches and witty impromptu jokes. My new wife and I were laughing along with our guests all night. Later, one of our guests (my boss in fact) commented, "That guy (Anthony) was bordering on comedic genius!" I even noticed our wedding coordinate laughing at his jokes. Anthony ensured that everything planned went smoothly and he even worked with our DJ to queue up several key song requests. We had an amazing time at our wedding and so did our guests, largely in part to the awesome job Anthony did as our emcee. Highly recommended!

I asked Anthony to speak at our Rotary Club. He was FANTASTIC! Our club was engaged and really enjoyed the humor. Unfortunately our projector blew a bulb but it didn't stop Anthony at all. Anthony had members conversing with him long after the meeting. I even had a member take the time to email me later saying what a great program he was. He will be welcome back to speak anytime!

As owner of an event planning company finding a good emcee is very important to us and we are so glad we found Anthony. He has now down several events for us and our clients have always been very impressed with his services. He is extremely knowledgeable, professional, helpful, and fun! He takes time to really get to know the details of the event, he prepares his talking points well in advance, and he knows how to work the crowd.
-Amanda Corby Noguchi
Owner & Creative Director, Under My Umbrella Inc.

Anthony was the emcee for our community center's "Trunk or Treat" event for Halloween. He was fun, energetic, flexible and even showed up in costume! He was able to adapt very easily to the changes in the agenda and even had some great ideas for games that we could play. He engaged the crowd, made people laugh, and really made it an exciting event for all of the participants and volunteers. Everyone had a great time because of his energy, effort and professionalism. Mahalo, Anthony!!

Anthony was a great host for our fundraiser at the Republik. His ability to keep the evening on time while promoting the opportunities for our organization to raise money was commendable. We exceeded our fundraising goals and Anthony was definitely one of the reasons we were so successful.

Anthony is great at engaging the audience and capturing their attention! Our event attendees loved him!

Anthony demonstrated professionalism, attention to detail, and hilarity throughout our entire event. We had a vintage circus themed wedding, which was pretty casual and light-hearted, and he was perfect for the job. His witty banter kept our guests entertained throughout the ceremony and reception. Thoughtfully, Anthony kept his humor kid friendly, as we had several friends and family members with youngsters. We couldn't have imagined a better experience - I highly recommend Anthony as an officiant, an emcee, and a host.

A board member recommended Anthony from his prior work and she was right: Anthony was the perfect emcee for our Sales and Marketing Executives of Honolulu cocktail event. He had an impeccable balance of high-level attention-to-detail combined with a casual laid-back attitude. He doesn’t get flustered, no matter what curveballs are sent his way. Not sure which impressed me more: his research and prep to customize for our event, complete follow-through, early arrival or professional hosting skills with the guests. They all served to make it easy to recommend him for future corporate events.

Anthony traveled to my home twice to see the layout for the party he would host and designed a perfect program to fit the theme. All attendees had a great time listening to his well timed humor and he had a wonderful idea so that all could donate to an important charity at the end.

Anthony does a fantastic job engaging the audience on many different levels. He is the perfect type of host for multi generational events as the whole crowd really enjoys his wit and lighthearted banter. I couldn't recommend him more for your special day!

In the last four years that I have chaired the annual gala for my son's school (which hosts approximately 250 people) and raises a substantial amount of money. We have always had the same entertainment, same layout, and same program. Bringing Anthony in was like breath of fresh air. He was entertaining, funny, prepared, and well equipped to engage our audience throughout the entire four-hour gala. This was an unfamiliar crowd, but Anthony rose to the occasion and everyone was left in laughter. As a last minute request, we also asked Anthony to be our auctioneer. He was very adaptable, a quick thinker, and attentive. I would highly recommend him for your next event.

Sheppard Wedding
October 11, 2014
Kailua, HI

I would like to take a moment to recognize our wonderful wedding MC. I have employed a few MC’s in my time but Anthony Poponi takes the cake.
We hired Anthony to be a standard MC for our wedding and from the first day we met him, we knew we had made the right decision. He went right to work. Anthony emailed us to learn about the families, guests, cultures, dynamics and many other aspects of the attendees. He wanted to get “a feel for the crowd”. This was amazing since we had two completely different cultures.

When the amazing day came I was surprised to see Anthony there at the event a few hours early to get a feel for the place and offer a helping hand. When the time came for me to get ready, I knew I was going to be so busy focusing on the wedding that I couldn't worry about the crowd. Thinking back, I can’t believe I was ever even worried about it. We were in such good hands.

He was such a hit with the guests!

Even though I was very busy during the wedding, there were a handful of things that stood out. Two of which were amazing and convinced me we had made the right decision to hire Anthony. The first was when a friend was so captivated with Anthony’s style of entertainment that he asked where I found him and if he could fly Anthony to the east coast for his own upcoming wedding. The second was during the dinner when Anthony kept the crowd laughing and entertained between ceremonial to-do’s. This was not an easy task but he really pulled through. There were two very different age groups as well as two significantly different cultures and languages. He has an amazing ability of reaching every demographic and get the crowd involved.

Anthony is very professional and such a fun person to have in front of a crowd. He is truly the life of the party. He is a wonderful public speaker and very charismatic.

I would like to summarize by recommending Anthony not only for a wedding MC but any position that would put him in front of a crowd.

Thank you again for your time Mr. Poponi.

Sincerely,
Jamie Sheppard

I have used Anthony Poponi to emcee everything from roasts of prominent community members to our annual chamber banquet and fundraiser. There are not very many emcees that will meet all of your requests to make the event a memorable experience the way Anthony does. At a “CSI” themed event he made several outfit changes going from opening the event in drag, standing in front of 350 business leaders in a pink fur trimmed skirt and matching wig….to a head to toe “Inspector Clouseau” look! It kept the audience in stitches and wondering what he was going to do next!

I have had the privilege (punishment?) of seeing Anthony Poponi hosting at several events in recent years. His dry sense of humor and comedic timing have literally made me crack up laughing. He has a quick wit and weaves in topical humor and self-deprecation with the event he is MC’ing. I thoroughly enjoy seeing him and feel like I’m almost at a live comedy show! He is a genuinely nice guy, and will be an asset to any event you have him at.

(Have seen Anthony multiple times prior for other non-profit fund-raisers and Chamber of Commerce annual events.)

Anthony Poponi has emceed a handful of Zoo Society events in the past 2 years including the kids costume contest at "Boo in the Zoo" and most recently our Volunteer Christmas party. Being able to punt this responsibility to someone with his great energy, improvisational skill & insider knowledge as our former Director of Development, has been a huge gift to me and a delightful enhancement for our event attendees, young & old alike.

Anthony has hosted two trivia nights in conjunction with Honolulu Nerd Nite, a monthly meeting of science-minded folks who like to drink beer and learn about some new topics in a relaxed atmosphere. On both occasions he was a great MC – well-prepared for the event and funny. As an organizer of Nerd Nite Honolulu, lots of attendees approached me after Anthony’s trivia events to say they had really enjoyed the evening and laughed the whole time. We’re looking forward to having him MC more events in the future!

I was also fortunate to work with Anthony when we organized the annual Donor Appreciation party for the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley. The summer event was so successful it is quickly becoming the shining star of things to do in the valley. ~Tina Brudzinski

Having Anthony as our MC at our event allowed staff to mingle with guest and not worry about the details. More importantly it made for a funny night, kept the program moving along and provided a great perspective on our organization. Anthony took the task very serious and was well prepared, if things didn’t flow as scheduled, we didn’t know because did such bang-up job.