Could your next emcee be the ultimate secret weapon to unlocking the untapped potential of your events? Imagine a captivating force that goes beyond mere introductions and announcements, delving deep into the layer of genuine connections and unforgettable moments from the moment your attendees walk through your event door. It's a game-changer that transforms ordinary events into extraordinary experiences.
Nathan Cassar challenges us to expect more from our emcees by peeling back the curtain on the cruise industry, revealing its commitment to a great guest experience and also its secret, quirky world - ever heard of a noodle black market on a ship?
Based in Sydney, Australia, Nathan's rich experience has included being a Cruise Director for Princess Cruises, emceeing wedding receptions and leading major awards evening galas. His own awards have included Best Wedding MC by the Wedding Industry Awards (Western Sydney) 2023 & 2022 and Most Entertaining MC (NSW) - Lux-Life Global Excellence Awards 2022.
Quotes from this episode:
"It's about showing people that guest connection is number one, and it's something that I see being lost in so many opportunities throughout the year".
"What really makes people's memories come to life in relation to a past event in their life is something that allowed them to feel really connected to the experience."
-Nathan Cassar
Nathan's website:
www.nathancassar.com.au
Connect with Nathan:
Email: mc@nathancassar.com.au
LinkedIn: nathan-cassar-master-of-ceremonies-sydney
FB: @nathancassar.mc
IG: @nathancassar_mc
Nathan's image credit: Puzzleman Productions
Connect with Adelaine:
Email: uponarrivalpodcast@gmail.com
Record interviews remotely with Riverside:
bit.ly/RecordWithRiverside
Get 15% off your subscription with code: Adelaine
Host your podcast on Buzzsprout:
bit.ly/BuzzsproutGet20Amazon
Get $20 Amazon gift card.
Edit interviews like a word document with Descript:
bit.ly/EditWithDescript
Adelaine's game-changing podcast production AI tool
Note: Some links on this page may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission that supports this podcast if you make a purchase through them. All recommendations are based on my personal experience and made in good faith to provide helpful resources.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adelaine Ng (00:00):
Nathan, welcome to the show.
Nathan Cassar (00:01):
Hi, Adelaine, it's great to be here.
Thank you.
Adelaine Ng (00:03):
Well, a show is where you're super comfortable.
You're a seasoned emcee with abroad experience.
You've done the cruises, theweddings, corporate events, but
your story is a littleinteresting in that you didn't
start out as someone who wasconfident on stage.
So you know, tell us a bitabout that.
Nathan Cassar (00:22):
Oh yeah, wow, that's so true.
I essentially began as a kid.
I was an extraordinaryintrovert and so if you were to
take a time machine and go backin time and meet me, you know,
before like around, say, the ageof 13, 12 and so forth you'd
see this very shy, like academickid, you know, bright-eyed,
wanting to understand the worldaround me, but certainly not
(00:44):
somebody who you could say, ohyeah, like he's going to have a
flair for the stage, he's goingto captivate audiences, he's
going to be able to use thewords and say them in a nice
loud, confident voice and, youknow, change people's feelings
and emotions around them.
But yeah, some very importantthings happened in my life that
are primarily going on my veryfirst cruise when I was 14, and
(01:05):
it opened a world, not only inthe sense of like my own
personal growth in terms ofunderstanding that I actually
really wanted to become like thebest cruise director.
At the time, I saw the cruisedirector there and I was just
like, oh my God, I got to dothis one day.
But what it really also showedme was that something that came
a lot later in my career, when Ijoined Princess back in 2015
and beyond, which is then I gotto start to learn how to
(01:26):
actually be amongst a immersiveenvironment and not just be sort
of a purveyor and an executor,but be a creator, and to see how
bringing people together to onelocation and saying, look, this
is your playground and we'regoing to make everything sit
around the guest experiencepossible for you was something
that, over the course of time,transformed my mindset when it
(01:48):
came to large-scale publicevents or even the small stuff
that the relatively small stuffthat I do today, such as like a
wedding or a small corporateevent, because it showed me that
what really makes people'smemories come to life in
relation to a past event intheir life is something that
allowed them to feel reallyconnected to the experience.
(02:10):
And so obviously, I was apurveyor of that for a long time
, both as a permanent crewmember on as an assistant cruise
director and then later as afleet supervisor for
entertainment experience and thecorporate entertainment
department, creating the gameshows that would help to impact
that immersive experience.
But combined with that, now inmy new role as my own business,
(02:32):
it's exciting to be able to sortof excite the senses amongst
people, to not only justchallenge the way that they
experience what they would maybeconsider before they come into
the event sort of arun-of-the-mill experience but
also really challenge them to beimmersed, to be involved, to be
(02:53):
engulfed by the entire emotionsof something so that they walk
away going.
That was amazing.
I want there to be part too.
Adelaine Ng (03:02):
Yeah, wow, so did I get that right?
A single event on a cruise shipjust changed the trajectory of
your life.
Nathan Cassar (03:10):
I would dare say so.
Yeah, I mean, look, it's a bitof a butterfly effect.
Imagine my parents didn't takeme on the cruise, right?
It was just one of those thingsthat it was seven days.
But yet seven days showed methat when you put somebody
consider myself to be the bestcase example, right, because you
consider this right.
(03:31):
I'm an individual at the timethat was very shy, very
introverted, and if you'd askedme to participate in game shows
where I was gonna be reallyexposed and I have to answer
questions and broadcast my voice, I hated hearing my own voice.
I was just telling somebodythis yesterday.
For some reason, I hatedhearing my own voice and
watching myself on camera as akid, and so can imagine Well, I
(03:51):
think most of us do, even asadults.
I've had to get used to it now.
Now I'm like, yes, now I wastalking to my videographer from
an event I just did and I'm like, oh yeah, tweak this, tweak
that I don't want this.
But it's such a change,obviously, but you're not wrong
Like it's genuine fear for a lotof people.
But I went from like a reallyextreme fear of that and then on
the cruise it just theenvironment is so immersive that
(04:12):
it just pulled every good partof me out to the surface because
of the way that the staffinteracted with you, the way
that everything is such athrough-thread experience from
the very start to the finish,because each of the little touch
points of gains and activitiesentice you and intrigue you and
excite you and they all connectwhen done right of course
there's not.
(04:32):
Every cruise is pretty cool.
Adelaine Ng (04:34):
Just quietly.
Nathan Cassar (04:35):
Yeah, but when they're done right and they've
got the right mix and the rightflavor, they really do create
those sort of nexus moments likeI had in my life, where I
discovered parts of me that Ididn't realize and then from
there it was just a matter ofholding a dream alive, to
keeping that flame ablaze untilI got older, to re-experience it
as a passenger Again when I was20, so six years after that and
(05:00):
that pretty much just confirmedthat that was where I wanted to
be.
And, of course, in betweentheir time I professionally
public spoke in school anddebating, and did everything I
was just so inspired to justwanna learn how to be a creative
performer.
And you're right, it wasdefinitely a chance experience
that I would never wanna removefrom my journey.
Adelaine Ng (05:20):
That is so pivotal, because I do know that you do
talk about being bullied as akid as well.
So going from that experienceto what you've just described,
that must have been so specialto you and a huge motivator for
why it is that you do want tocreate really good, immersive
experiences for other people,just for that chance opportunity
(05:43):
that there could be somebody inthe crowd that might need
something like that.
Nathan Cassar (05:47):
Very true and you know, what's really cool
actually is that I have had afew experiences, both from my
time when I was dealing with,like even specifically, bullying
I recounted on another podcastrecently of my journey with an
anti-bullying program that Icreated, sort of like when I was
in high school and I waspartnered with West Tigers and
the anti-violence movement andUffers and Naaf and this is sort
(06:10):
of like the beginnings of mebecoming an individual who is
capable of putting togetherthese live public events that
you know expose really criticalthematic elements and also, you
know, put me on a spotlight,because I, in this case, became
one of the feature speakers.
But you never know where you'regoing to inspire somebody.
(06:32):
I, apart from the few emailsthat I received, I remember as a
kid from the experience withthe anti-bullying program that I
did, where a number of mumsreach out to me and say thank
you so much, like it was sogreat to hear your story and
you've really inspired my child.
They really feel like they havea kindred spirit in this world
because of what you've broughtto the surface.
But even I was just I'm justthinking of going through even a
(06:54):
more happy note I guess youknow sort of more related to my
career.
I've seen recently some, somepassengers that were just like
me when I was a kid, back when Iwas 14, you know, when I was
asking the cruise director andthe cruise director staff, oh
you know, how do I get this job?
I had people come up to me whowas inspired enough to ask me
when I was working on ships, tosay, oh, how can I get this job?
(07:17):
And one such person justrecently posted that he's just
got a job, I think, working forNCL as part of their
entertainment team, as part oftheir feature new shows that are
going out, and I was just likethat's amazing, like he was so
determined to make that happenand but I was, you know, part of
that journey as well.
And so you never really knowwho you're going to inspire and
(07:40):
it's really important to be yourauthentic self but also to be a
proponent of, to remember whereyou're, also the environment
that you're contributing to,because nothing exists within a
vacuum and a myocross and youreally have to be contributed to
the whole experience.
God knows the amount of timesthat people have been to a bad
restaurant and said, look, we'renever going back to the
restaurant.
(08:00):
The food was terrible, thetoilets weren't clean, all this.
Look the waiter.
He was, you know, really nice,but unfortunately like we can't
go back because the overallexperience.
We'd love to see him again.
Hope he gets another jobsomewhere else so he can see him
, because we don't want to goback there.
And it's very much the samewhen it comes to events.
Adelaine Ng (08:18):
Yeah, very, very true.
You have a unique perspective,you know, having worked on
cruise ships.
So I'm sure a lot of listenersare just wondering what is it
like to live on a cruise?
You know a bunch of people arehappy to just get on it for a
couple of days and then get off,but you would have seen a lot,
you know, just being on cruiseships.
(08:39):
I don't know how long you didthis for.
Could it be yours?
Nathan Cassar (08:41):
Yeah, so I started back in 2015, january
3rd 2015, during the GrandPrincess never forget it it's a
starry eyed 22 year old as ajunior assistant cruise director
, joined in LA in San Pedro port, and that started a journey
that took me three and a halfyears as a junior and then an
assistant cruise director,promoted one year later and then
specifically chosen for a jobas a fleet supervised
(09:04):
entertainment experience whichlong wanky LinkedIn title for
basically the role of somebodywho was responsible for
performance review across allthe 100 plus crew staff and
cruise directors across theentire fleet of 17 ships at the
time, and then also creatingsome of the largest game shows
at sea, including my owncreation, the can you survive
(09:25):
game show, which is currentlybeing re-rolled out across the
Princess Cruises fleet at themoment.
So definitely leaving a biglegacy behind working with
budgets that I didn't even.
You know I barely had fivedigits in my bank account and
I'm working with multi six digitbudgets, you know, for game
shows and so forth is this.
Adelaine Ng (09:41):
That's the most money to play with he really was
, you know, and it's.
Nathan Cassar (09:45):
It was sort of that taste of like what can be
really done.
When you're given a brief,that's really exciting, you know
.
And also again going back tothis idea of it being immersed
within an environment, you'vegot a captive audience.
I guess the one not so parallelbetween, obviously, real life
and cruise ships is that we haveto in the event.
Well, you know, you have toobviously market, you have to
(10:06):
convince people, you have toadvertise.
You've already got a captiveaudience when you're on a ship.
So it is a bit easier sometimesto obviously expect that you're
going to get a crowd, as longas it's obviously promoted in
the rundown of the events forthe day and the little blurb,
you know, sounds enticing enoughand the cruise director says
enough times at the end of ashow or on the public
announcements that something'staking place.
(10:28):
But cruise ship life is adouble-edged sword.
It's something that peoplethink it's like going away to to
join the circus.
It's really not.
It definitely requires a lot ofhard work.
You work in seven days a week,13, 15 hour days, depending on
the call of the day.
It's not built for people whowant the glitz and glamour of
travel over anything else.
(10:48):
You really need to understandthat you are in the ultimate
service of people every step ofthe way, particularly in the
entertainment field, becauseyou're the face and the
celebrity of the ship.
You represent the essence ofthe vibe in the energy, and so
you have to be captivating,interesting.
You have to remember that youalways on like some of these
(11:08):
parallels obviously exist inreal world as well, but it's
it's sort of like a lot of thattimes one hundred.
You know the theater show.
You go to the Sydney theater orsomething and you watch a show
and you don't expect that thecast again and then just just
generally get up and Get out ofthe dressing room and just
getting another uniform and thenstart roaming around and start
(11:29):
chatting with people.
That's not an expectation.
You know you may be lucky tocatch the back door, something.
Where is On a ship?
Is she done that show?
You're like, okay, well, that'sthat.
You back out talking to thepeople again.
So the blurred line betweenstage and the audience, it's
just gone, it's completelydisappeared.
(11:50):
So if you're not comfortable assomebody who can Not have that
distinction, we can keep thatseparate.
It's probably not for somebodybut for the people who can
handle that and love that kindof immersion with the people
that they're entertaining andgiving those memories to it is
honestly one of the best thingsyou can ever choose to do and I
(12:10):
got countless memories of timesboth below deck in the crew bar
but also obviously on shore andit's a real community and you
got 40 plus nationalities onboard.
All love each other and I don'tsay that as a PR tactic like
that.
You know there's obviously someoutlying circumstances and
situations that happened butthey smashed pretty quickly and
(12:31):
often people you get shunnedvery rapidly by being an outlier
like that.
It's just not tolerated.
You know we're all there tomake money for families or we're
there to To extend our careersand depending on which part of
the world you come from, youhave different motivations but
at the end of the day you areone big, happy family and it
really does play out reallynicely as a connection and
(12:53):
collaboration between multipledifferent departments of the
entertainment field.
Adelaine Ng (12:57):
That's a really interesting insight and if
anyone's wondering now you know,how did you actually break into
the industry?
Though I mean you were inAustralia.
Did you just kind of take aplane to Los Angeles and then
rolled up at a ship and say, hey, how did that?
Nathan Cassar (13:16):
happen.
You know it's funny though youjoke, but that's actually how
people use this.
Like I'm talking, like well,before I was born people did
that.
That is, there are stories andthere are books written by Our
famous cruise directors andother people who used to work on
ships kept a famous captains ofcruise lines who literally did
that.
So if you imagine like theloveboat days from the TV show
(13:36):
which Princess was the featurecruise line for For some reason
still can't get over them youknow that people in those times
literally used to do that and infact the reason why I know this
also is because I remembertalking to one of our matriodes.
I think he may be retired now,but I had the privilege of
working with one particularmatriode who was celebrating his
(13:58):
forty fifth year at sea.
Wow, yeah, I was such such anincredible moment and I remember
speaking to him after we didthe bomb.
Alaska ceremony in the in thedining room is the last farewell
that it used to do the fire.
Now they don't, unfortunately.
I was just a little candle in athe battery operate candle
thing.
Times a change and I was a kidin fourteen big fires, lights
(14:20):
off, all great.
That's gone now, but when wedid this thing I said oh,
congratulations in the fortyfive years.
And he says yeah.
I said how did you ask him,like, how did you get into this?
And he said literally almostbasically what you described.
He said he was just needingmoney.
Heard of a friend who's been onthe ship thought I can do that,
packed two bags, walked up tothe gangway and said I want a
(14:43):
job.
And in those days people likethe hotel manager and the
captain would.
In the vision there was no likeHR department or crew managers
in an office or something.
Basically the ships were almosttheir own little mini kingdom
so they had full, almost fullrights to hire anybody.
So on the spot, it's just likethe pirate times, like okay, yes
, you're coming aboard.
Maybe there was literally howit worked and you would be at a
(15:06):
work like months upon months,upon months upon years if you
wanted to not supposed to.
Now it's only ten, ten monthsin a row.
But the international shippinglaws and maritime laws that
change a lot for the better.
But it's just an incrediblething for me, not so much of a
romantic story.
There's a recruitment agency inBrisbane who was hiring for
princess.
After attempting one time inAugust.
(15:28):
It was my last six months of myuni degree.
I was unsuccessful just due totiming.
They immediately said it allreplies, sorry, now, too soon,
okay, so I tried again inOctober and, funnily enough, I'd
accidentally swapped.
I think I did like a Facebookauthentication the first time
and I forgot that actually theemail that they had was the
(15:50):
wrong anyway.
So I on a win.
I'm like why have I heard forlike two weeks?
And I was like, oh crap,they've got the other email.
So I logged into this other oneI never look at and it's like
being you're the next level islike oh my god, this thing's
been here for like seven days,so like I get in there and from
there it was funny.
My mum will never forget it.
(16:10):
I got this email and it said wewould like to invite you to
apply and for some reason in myhead I just I was like I know
I've got this job.
I know that there's still aprocess, but I know, I know, I
know.
And I ran and I was like oh mygod, oh my god, oh my god, oh my
god, oh, my dream job, Becauselike what's your readjust?
you guys really they're justasking you to put an application
(16:32):
and I said I know, but that'ssomething right.
And then you know, eight stepslater, a psyche Val.
You know another two interviewsand then the visa process and
everything else.
Eventually you get a signed aship and then you get a letter
of offer and then it tells youwhen, when and where you're
going to do your visas andeverything.
And then you get on a plane andyou go.
(16:55):
Okay, well, I guess this is mynew home for six months.
Adelaine Ng (17:00):
Fantastic.
Well, I don't know if you hadto sign any privacy clauses,
like what happens on the shipstays on the ship.
But you know, I'm sure youwould have seen an experience
thing where you would havethought what you know if people
outside the ship could have justseen what I just saw.
It's just some of those reallystrange and sometimes wonderful
(17:21):
things that happen.
I mean, what are the?
You know some of the beststories you can tell from what
you've seen.
Nathan Cassar (17:26):
I can tell you this one thing.
So I mean, obviously I've seena lot.
Yeah, I mean people probablysay the New Year's Eve parties
are some of the best, probablythe best party you can ever do.
I would say, if anyone'sthinking of doing any kind of
event, go do New Year's Eve on acruise ship.
It is, without a doubt, likethe most amazing hyped thing of
(17:47):
all time.
Definitely saw some interestingthings walking through the
halls, on the eyes of securityCertainly get a little bit, as
we're all sort of having a goodtime and celebrating a new year.
We all sort of like went allfew things on the slip, but you
know nothing, nothing firing oranything like that.
But certainly you know we letpeople be people.
But one thing that is actuallyreally fascinating there's a
(18:09):
concept on ships, in the crewbelow deck, there's this concept
of the noodle man.
Now I want to explain what Imean by that, please.
Yeah, so on ships, as everyoneprobably knows, in the passenger
code of conduct, you're notallowed to bring cookers and
rice cookers and woks and thingslike that.
Now that's the same for crew aswell, like we've got our own
(18:29):
galleys.
And back in the day, though,like I'm talking back back back
in the day, they actually usedto be a big thing, people having
parties where they used to cookthings and all that kind of
stuff, and then a lot of fireshappened on ships.
And then regulations came in.
They stopped all that, for goodreason.
However, the noodle man is ablack market legend amongst crew
and still exists today, justlike you can also, on call, get
(18:51):
a massage man to also comedirectly to your cabin not for
the crew, just for the guests,sorry, not for the guests, just
for the crew.
And this noodle man is sort ofassociated with the how do I put
it?
The more the black market sideof the crew areas, given that
you got to go down to deck two,which is quite below sea level
(19:12):
and it's, you know, it's anothermicrozone down there, because
you've got a majority ofcultural populations down there.
From the princess, it wasFilipinos and Indians who
comprise the biggest majority ofthe crew on board, and so this
communal aspect means that youknow they can, they sometimes
they crack down on it, they getwrong.
Not condoning any of this, butthey certainly, you know, are
(19:34):
able to get away with some ofthis stuff.
So you would call there'd bethis number be very black market
number and you'd call and saythis particular cabin.
So I had two o'clock in themorning.
I want, I don't know rum orsomething, because they all know
all the people in the storerooms and stuff too.
They would send all theirfriends and paisanos, as we
would call them, on ships,fellow countrymen.
They would then get all of theequipment they would, all the
(19:54):
food they would need, and thenthey'd be cooking up storm and
then they'd have it and thending, knock, knock, knock.
Three o'clock in the morning.
Here's your noodles came over.
Yes, here's the 20 bucks, offyou go.
So I don't know if it stillhappens today.
I'm going to hazard a guess andsay it probably does.
I don't.
If any of you ask ownershipabout the noodle man, they'll
either deny it or they'll kindof like oh yeah, it's not
(20:17):
supposed to happen.
It probably doesn't happen here.
No one will like actually.
Adelaine Ng (20:21):
No such thing matter.
Nathan Cassar (20:23):
No, not actually give you the number for it, I
can assure you on that.
But it's definitely one ofthose interesting things that
sort of sit underneath the waterlevels, literally.
That is an interesting and lesshas talked about component of.
Look again, not right.
I understand that it breaks alot of codes and I, you know, if
(20:43):
I was in a position of power onthe ship to have had to crack
down on that, I certainly wouldhave followed that directive for
a good reason.
But I certainly think it's aninteresting quirk and something
people don't really know about.
Adelaine Ng (20:54):
That's probably something that exists in, you
know, just any kind of industrywhere you are together doing a
particular mission and for thelong term, and you just need,
you know, you just need one ofthose things that, just to make
life a little bit more bearable,I guess you know a little bit
more enjoyable, contributes tothe community feeling.
Even though that's probably notthe best idea.
(21:15):
I'm sometimes breaking a coupleof codes, so that was like your
brilliant life on sea.
What brought you back toAustralia?
Nathan Cassar (21:22):
Well, probably back to Australia, was an
interesting set of circumstances, kind of the personal in the
sense that so the beginning of21, I was living in LA all of
2020, which was wow, what asocial experiment that was.
You know, given a pandemic yearyeah.
COVID, covid, capital of theworld, particularly where I was,
and the future of our industrywas no where near inside at all.
(21:46):
And so, but to couple up withthat, I was married at the time
to an American and we wereliving in LA.
I like to say when people say,oh, what happened to the
marriage?
And I say, well, you know, itwas a victim of COVID, not the
death kind, but the statisticalkind, and so, unfortunately, we
called a quits the beginning of21.
And so that meant I had to comeback with choice timing though,
(22:09):
because my return flightcoincided with the first two
days post January 17th of thereduced caps for the flights,
and so I went from having a oneway economy ticket to a $10,000
business class ticket to ensurethat I got out of the country.
Yeah, you mean Wow.
So I'm already likesignificantly more down in the
(22:31):
red before I even started and,you know, say goodbye
permanently to my life there inthe States, in LA, and for a
period of time after you knowthe lockdowns and so forth.
One really interesting thing Ilearned was that I, australia,
doesn't like foreign employmentexperience.
Generally speaking, I learnedthis the hard way.
(22:52):
Oh, yeah, it was incrediblething.
I thought that and this appliedto the event world too who I
thought was really inclusive atthe time when it comes to hiring
somebody who's had professionalexperience abroad versus
someone here.
I struggled.
I didn't get a single interview.
I employed people to help me toget cover letters done and
(23:16):
resumes completed and to getevery transferable skill after
having worked for the FourthLargest Quizline Incorporate and
blah, blah, blah and nothing,nothing at all.
It was only really untilanother major nexus point in my
life, which was my brother'swedding, which I would never
have been able to attend if theafter effects of the ending of
(23:36):
my marriage had occurred.
It was there where I hosted thewedding and got encouraged by a
number of people to pursue mycurrent business as a
professional emcee full time.
It's an interesting set ofcircumstances that brought me
here today a bit of tragedy, abit of heartbreak and a bit of
happiness all in between, butwouldn't change it for the world
.
Adelaine Ng (23:56):
That is so sobering .
I mean, my experience coming toAustralia and looking for work
was a little bit different justbecause I was looking for work
in an international broadcastradio station, the International
Arm of the ABC.
That, I guess, was different,where international experience
was priced.
But I have noticed that in alot of situations or
(24:18):
circumstances in Australia somelocal experience does help
tremendously.
So even if you can work forfree for a short period of time
just to be able to say I didsomething local, that just
immediately opens the doors.
But you're right to the pointwhere there are a lot of
companies which will not evenlook beyond a resume that does
(24:39):
not have anything local on paper, even if you are very well
decorated overseas.
So it's quite interesting.
I guess it says something aboutI'm not sure if the right word
is mindset.
So it is an interesting pointthat you make and I guess that's
been part of this be under thebonnet for you, as you have been
(25:01):
all around the world and you'venow transitioned from cruise
ships to wedding emcee-ing andactually let's go to this point
as well.
I mean, because you also saythat you disrupted wedding
emcee-ing.
I mean, can you tell me whatyou actually mean by that?
Nathan Cassar (25:17):
What I mean by that is there is a how do I put
it?
I know, as soon as I arrivedinto the scene and I started
hosting the way I host to mystyle, applying genuine tactics
and performance methods from mycruise ship days that really
(25:38):
actually engage in excited crowd, I was met with some immediate
sort of shining by some fellowcompatriots in the industry,
because they, for a long timethere's been a conservatism
that's been enjoyed.
It's it's sort of like for, asan example, it's sort of a race
to this, to the bottom of thelowest hanging fruit, which is,
(26:00):
you know, like I say, a DJ emceewho literally just makes
announcements.
They literally just say, okay,here comes so and so food is
served.
First speech, second speech, noconsumer expectation and no
industry expectation for them tobe anything more than just
delivering Quoted information toa crowd, and so the vast
majority of people, even youknow, given that DJ emcee-ing,
(26:21):
celebrancy emcee-ing, people whoare, you know, speakers, emcees
, comedic emcees I find thatwhat I often my category, my
niche, is.
It's become like a bit of aslashee.
It's just this addendum thatsomeone says oh, why no, the
correct end of a microphone, andI know how to turn the
microphone on and I'm notdefinitely afraid of standing in
(26:44):
front of a crowd.
So I'm an emcee and it's like,no, no, you're not.
But unfortunately, that sort ofconcepts has really grounded my
gears only because of the factthat I know that there is such a
much more vibrant way toperform to people and it really
actually comes down to reallygoing back to the days of old.
(27:05):
The days of old MCs and hostsliterally would shake people's
hands from the moment that theywalked into the door.
So you would literally host theroom, you would work the room,
you remember names, and this isstuff that we do on cruise ships
daily.
The things that were requiredto do or encourage the best
cruise direction in the worldare able to.
You know, remember, playthrough different things about
(27:27):
multiple people saying councilon the way of a particular
voyage and that kind ofconnection between people with
paramount to making thoseexperiences great.
And then, similarly, in what Ido in my industry about how I
disrupt, it is simply byelevating that expectation which
is having like, for instance,getting there an hour early and
actually getting to the can ofpay section and having a drink
(27:49):
with people and immersingyourself with the audience and
the guests before you actuallyget to the main bridal entrance.
Or, for instance, like tomorrow, I've got another awards come
night coming up.
There's obviously anexpectation that at the
corporate awards nights, youknow the, the emcee will, you
know, have a green room.
He or she will come out, saythe things, maybe make a couple
of the same classic jokes andthen head back to the, to the
(28:13):
green room, or maybe go to theVIP table.
But yet this kind of blind oreffective I don't need to talk
to people, I've just got to geton stage as my lectin, that's my
microphone.
All that it lends to peoplethinking that we're an overpaid,
over celebrated, overlimelighted kind of.
You know the space and,realistically, the only people
(28:34):
were spending the money on arelike your TV personalities or
you're extremely out there.
Committee can see you actually,you know, have a way of doing
things differently, and so it'sa shame that that is the case.
But at the same time, I intendon showing people that I may not
be a celebrity MC who's been ona radio show or you know
moonlight on a TV show orsomething like that.
I'd love to do that one day.
(28:56):
I have an ability to be able toreally connect with people, and
a focus of what I do is allabout the guest connection first
.
So and that's really where youbind people together, because
you'd be surprised, the thingsyou talk about I was at a
wedding recently where I starteda conversation with a guy was a
whole bunch of cops whohappened to be associated with
(29:18):
one of the grooms and as we'retalking and I was like, okay, so
what was your rank?
Was your rank?
Was your rank?
And I'm retired?
So what was your rank?
And so, yeah, so who's the boss?
And he laughed and put one handup and he said him and they
said, oh, you know what I do now.
What do you do?
I'm a lawn Retired.
(29:43):
He said all about six months onour year or something.
I said, okay, how much, howbusy are you like?
Is he retired?
You do this a lot busy, likemost weekends, if it's in the
right season.
I said Well, but you retiredand then just immediately got
all this business.
Oh, no, man, you know I was,you know I was.
(30:04):
I had a guy you know did a bitof cash jobs, you know, before I
retired.
I said, hmm, did this the age?
And he goes oh, no, you know,and then I was.
Someone said this is the beautyof that, just having these kind
of conversations.
Someone said oh, imagine this,all from the age of it was here
and all of a sudden, literallythis lady goes home from the age
(30:24):
.
That is a moment and, like youknow, it's obviously relatively
benign, but it's more just funnybecause people, you know I
remember that experience andthat was their first impression
of me to that was literally thefirst conversation I had with
this particular group, so thatset the tone.
I was able to bring outsomething that we talked about
(30:48):
the guys, retirement lawn mowingbusiness and it became a really
funny thing that people arejust some why I say I'm a
disruptor that a lot of peoplejust afraid to have those
connecting conversations.
I think because maybe theythink that it's inorganic.
I disagree with that becauseit's plenty ways you can make it
natural.
Some people just don't have theability to communicate like
(31:11):
that because they're morefocused on capturing something
on their phone to put on tiktoklater on, to show how great they
are, to hide behind the digitalwall, and just some people just
just don't have the I guess,the X factor that this has to go
to somebody and engage past.
How are you?
Are you having a good day?
How's the weather?
Are you enjoying yourself?
(31:31):
You know they stand and I likeconversation topics that you
know kind of get a bit stale.
So there's this I like to bebold, I like to show people.
I'm not afraid to push theletter a bit, understand a crowd
and, you know, be a little bitcheeky and so forth, within
reason, but at the end of theday it's about showing people
that the guest connection isnumber one and it's something
(31:52):
that I see being lost so manyopportunities throughout the
year.
May be a wedding, may be acorporate event.
I can tell you tomorrow night'scorporate event, I'm there
before they even get there.
I don't care.
People the beginning go well,I'm not used to this.
Why is it not part of the game,whatever?
But at the end of the nightthey realize oh wow, you went
around all around the room andyou had a really good time
getting it clearly looks likeyou enjoyed yourself getting to
(32:14):
know us.
He took care of us and that'sreally, technically, is not like
as my event.
I was invited to say it, but itI'm adopting that and there's
just not enough of that anymoreand I really wish that.
Could you know.
I can foster that more withsome of my fellow emcees out
there.
Nathan, welcome to the show.
Nathan Cassar (00:01):
Hi, Adelaine, it's great to be here.
Thank you.
Adelaine Ng (00:03):
Well, a show is where you're super comfortable.
You're a seasoned emcee with abroad experience.
You've done the cruises, theweddings, corporate events, but
your story is a littleinteresting in that you didn't
start out as someone who wasconfident on stage.
So you know, tell us a bitabout that.
Nathan Cassar (00:22):
Oh yeah, wow, that's so true.
I essentially began as a kid.
I was an extraordinaryintrovert and so if you were to
take a time machine and go backin time and meet me, you know,
before like around, say, the ageof 13, 12 and so forth you'd
see this very shy, like academickid, you know, bright-eyed,
wanting to understand the worldaround me, but certainly not
(00:44):
somebody who you could say, ohyeah, like he's going to have a
flair for the stage, he's goingto captivate audiences, he's
going to be able to use thewords and say them in a nice
loud, confident voice and, youknow, change people's feelings
and emotions around them.
But yeah, some very importantthings happened in my life that
are primarily going on my veryfirst cruise when I was 14, and
(01:05):
it opened a world, not only inthe sense of like my own
personal growth in terms ofunderstanding that I actually
really wanted to become like thebest cruise director.
At the time, I saw the cruisedirector there and I was just
like, oh my God, I got to dothis one day.
But what it really also showedme was that something that came
a lot later in my career, when Ijoined Princess back in 2015
and beyond, which is then I gotto start to learn how to
(01:26):
actually be amongst a immersiveenvironment and not just be sort
of a purveyor and an executor,but be a creator, and to see how
bringing people together to onelocation and saying, look, this
is your playground and we'regoing to make everything sit
around the guest experiencepossible for you was something
that, over the course of time,transformed my mindset when it
(01:48):
came to large-scale publicevents or even the small stuff
that the relatively small stuffthat I do today, such as like a
wedding or a small corporateevent, because it showed me that
what really makes people'smemories come to life in
relation to a past event intheir life is something that
allowed them to feel reallyconnected to the experience.
(02:10):
And so obviously, I was apurveyor of that for a long time
, both as a permanent crewmember on as an assistant cruise
director and then later as afleet supervisor for
entertainment experience and thecorporate entertainment
department, creating the gameshows that would help to impact
that immersive experience.
But combined with that, now inmy new role as my own business,
(02:32):
it's exciting to be able to sortof excite the senses amongst
people, to not only justchallenge the way that they
experience what they would maybeconsider before they come into
the event sort of arun-of-the-mill experience but
also really challenge them to beimmersed, to be involved, to be
(02:53):
engulfed by the entire emotionsof something so that they walk
away going.
That was amazing.
I want there to be part too.
Adelaine Ng (03:02):
Yeah, wow, so did I get that right?
A single event on a cruise shipjust changed the trajectory of
your life.
Nathan Cassar (03:10):
I would dare say so.
Yeah, I mean, look, it's a bitof a butterfly effect.
Imagine my parents didn't takeme on the cruise, right?
It was just one of those thingsthat it was seven days.
But yet seven days showed methat when you put somebody
consider myself to be the bestcase example, right, because you
consider this right.
(03:31):
I'm an individual at the timethat was very shy, very
introverted, and if you'd askedme to participate in game shows
where I was gonna be reallyexposed and I have to answer
questions and broadcast my voice, I hated hearing my own voice.
I was just telling somebodythis yesterday.
For some reason, I hatedhearing my own voice and
watching myself on camera as akid, and so can imagine Well, I
(03:51):
think most of us do, even asadults.
I've had to get used to it now.
Now I'm like, yes, now I wastalking to my videographer from
an event I just did and I'm like, oh yeah, tweak this, tweak
that I don't want this.
But it's such a change,obviously, but you're not wrong
Like it's genuine fear for a lotof people.
But I went from like a reallyextreme fear of that and then on
the cruise it just theenvironment is so immersive that
(04:12):
it just pulled every good partof me out to the surface because
of the way that the staffinteracted with you, the way
that everything is such athrough-thread experience from
the very start to the finish,because each of the little touch
points of gains and activitiesentice you and intrigue you and
excite you and they all connectwhen done right of course
there's not.
(04:32):
Every cruise is pretty cool.
Adelaine Ng (04:34):
Just quietly.
Nathan Cassar (04:35):
Yeah, but when they're done right and they've
got the right mix and the rightflavor, they really do create
those sort of nexus moments likeI had in my life, where I
discovered parts of me that Ididn't realize and then from
there it was just a matter ofholding a dream alive, to
keeping that flame ablaze untilI got older, to re-experience it
as a passenger Again when I was20, so six years after that and
(05:00):
that pretty much just confirmedthat that was where I wanted to
be.
And, of course, in betweentheir time I professionally
public spoke in school anddebating, and did everything I
was just so inspired to justwanna learn how to be a creative
performer.
And you're right, it wasdefinitely a chance experience
that I would never wanna removefrom my journey.
Adelaine Ng (05:20):
That is so pivotal, because I do know that you do
talk about being bullied as akid as well.
So going from that experienceto what you've just described,
that must have been so specialto you and a huge motivator for
why it is that you do want tocreate really good, immersive
experiences for other people,just for that chance opportunity
(05:43):
that there could be somebody inthe crowd that might need
something like that.
Nathan Cassar (05:47):
Very true and you know, what's really cool
actually is that I have had afew experiences, both from my
time when I was dealing with,like even specifically, bullying
I recounted on another podcastrecently of my journey with an
anti-bullying program that Icreated, sort of like when I was
in high school and I waspartnered with West Tigers and
the anti-violence movement andUffers and Naaf and this is sort
(06:10):
of like the beginnings of mebecoming an individual who is
capable of putting togetherthese live public events that
you know expose really criticalthematic elements and also, you
know, put me on a spotlight,because I, in this case, became
one of the feature speakers.
But you never know where you'regoing to inspire somebody.
(06:32):
I, apart from the few emailsthat I received, I remember as a
kid from the experience withthe anti-bullying program that I
did, where a number of mumsreach out to me and say thank
you so much, like it was sogreat to hear your story and
you've really inspired my child.
They really feel like they havea kindred spirit in this world
because of what you've broughtto the surface.
But even I was just I'm justthinking of going through even a
(06:54):
more happy note I guess youknow sort of more related to my
career.
I've seen recently some, somepassengers that were just like
me when I was a kid, back when Iwas 14, you know, when I was
asking the cruise director andthe cruise director staff, oh
you know, how do I get this job?
I had people come up to me whowas inspired enough to ask me
when I was working on ships, tosay, oh, how can I get this job?
(07:17):
And one such person justrecently posted that he's just
got a job, I think, working forNCL as part of their
entertainment team, as part oftheir feature new shows that are
going out, and I was just likethat's amazing, like he was so
determined to make that happenand but I was, you know, part of
that journey as well.
And so you never really knowwho you're going to inspire and
(07:40):
it's really important to be yourauthentic self but also to be a
proponent of, to remember whereyou're, also the environment
that you're contributing to,because nothing exists within a
vacuum and a myocross and youreally have to be contributed to
the whole experience.
God knows the amount of timesthat people have been to a bad
restaurant and said, look, we'renever going back to the
restaurant.
(08:00):
The food was terrible, thetoilets weren't clean, all this.
Look the waiter.
He was, you know, really nice,but unfortunately like we can't
go back because the overallexperience.
We'd love to see him again.
Hope he gets another jobsomewhere else so he can see him
, because we don't want to goback there.
And it's very much the samewhen it comes to events.
Adelaine Ng (08:18):
Yeah, very, very true.
You have a unique perspective,you know, having worked on
cruise ships.
So I'm sure a lot of listenersare just wondering what is it
like to live on a cruise?
You know a bunch of people arehappy to just get on it for a
couple of days and then get off,but you would have seen a lot,
you know, just being on cruiseships.
(08:39):
I don't know how long you didthis for.
Could it be yours?
Nathan Cassar (08:41):
Yeah, so I started back in 2015, january
3rd 2015, during the GrandPrincess never forget it it's a
starry eyed 22 year old as ajunior assistant cruise director
, joined in LA in San Pedro port, and that started a journey
that took me three and a halfyears as a junior and then an
assistant cruise director,promoted one year later and then
specifically chosen for a jobas a fleet supervised
(09:04):
entertainment experience whichlong wanky LinkedIn title for
basically the role of somebodywho was responsible for
performance review across allthe 100 plus crew staff and
cruise directors across theentire fleet of 17 ships at the
time, and then also creatingsome of the largest game shows
at sea, including my owncreation, the can you survive
(09:25):
game show, which is currentlybeing re-rolled out across the
Princess Cruises fleet at themoment.
So definitely leaving a biglegacy behind working with
budgets that I didn't even.
You know I barely had fivedigits in my bank account and
I'm working with multi six digitbudgets, you know, for game
shows and so forth is this.
Adelaine Ng (09:41):
That's the most money to play with he really was
, you know, and it's.
Nathan Cassar (09:45):
It was sort of that taste of like what can be
really done.
When you're given a brief,that's really exciting, you know
.
And also again going back tothis idea of it being immersed
within an environment, you'vegot a captive audience.
I guess the one not so parallelbetween, obviously, real life
and cruise ships is that we haveto in the event.
Well, you know, you have toobviously market, you have to
(10:06):
convince people, you have toadvertise.
You've already got a captiveaudience when you're on a ship.
So it is a bit easier sometimesto obviously expect that you're
going to get a crowd, as longas it's obviously promoted in
the rundown of the events forthe day and the little blurb,
you know, sounds enticing enoughand the cruise director says
enough times at the end of ashow or on the public
announcements that something'staking place.
(10:28):
But cruise ship life is adouble-edged sword.
It's something that peoplethink it's like going away to to
join the circus.
It's really not.
It definitely requires a lot ofhard work.
You work in seven days a week,13, 15 hour days, depending on
the call of the day.
It's not built for people whowant the glitz and glamour of
travel over anything else.
(10:48):
You really need to understandthat you are in the ultimate
service of people every step ofthe way, particularly in the
entertainment field, becauseyou're the face and the
celebrity of the ship.
You represent the essence ofthe vibe in the energy, and so
you have to be captivating,interesting.
You have to remember that youalways on like some of these
(11:08):
parallels obviously exist inreal world as well, but it's
it's sort of like a lot of thattimes one hundred.
You know the theater show.
You go to the Sydney theater orsomething and you watch a show
and you don't expect that thecast again and then just just
generally get up and Get out ofthe dressing room and just
getting another uniform and thenstart roaming around and start
(11:29):
chatting with people.
That's not an expectation.
You know you may be lucky tocatch the back door, something.
Where is On a ship?
Is she done that show?
You're like, okay, well, that'sthat.
You back out talking to thepeople again.
So the blurred line betweenstage and the audience, it's
just gone, it's completelydisappeared.
(11:50):
So if you're not comfortable assomebody who can Not have that
distinction, we can keep thatseparate.
It's probably not for somebodybut for the people who can
handle that and love that kindof immersion with the people
that they're entertaining andgiving those memories to it is
honestly one of the best thingsyou can ever choose to do and I
(12:10):
got countless memories of timesboth below deck in the crew bar
but also obviously on shore andit's a real community and you
got 40 plus nationalities onboard.
All love each other and I don'tsay that as a PR tactic like
that.
You know there's obviously someoutlying circumstances and
situations that happened butthey smashed pretty quickly and
(12:31):
often people you get shunnedvery rapidly by being an outlier
like that.
It's just not tolerated.
You know we're all there tomake money for families or we're
there to To extend our careersand depending on which part of
the world you come from, youhave different motivations but
at the end of the day you areone big, happy family and it
really does play out reallynicely as a connection and
(12:53):
collaboration between multipledifferent departments of the
entertainment field.
Adelaine Ng (12:57):
That's a really interesting insight and if
anyone's wondering now you know,how did you actually break into
the industry?
Though I mean you were inAustralia.
Did you just kind of take aplane to Los Angeles and then
rolled up at a ship and say, hey, how did that?
Nathan Cassar (13:16):
happen.
You know it's funny though youjoke, but that's actually how
people use this.
Like I'm talking, like well,before I was born people did
that.
That is, there are stories andthere are books written by Our
famous cruise directors andother people who used to work on
ships kept a famous captains ofcruise lines who literally did
that.
So if you imagine like theloveboat days from the TV show
(13:36):
which Princess was the featurecruise line for For some reason
still can't get over them youknow that people in those times
literally used to do that and infact the reason why I know this
also is because I remembertalking to one of our matriodes.
I think he may be retired now,but I had the privilege of
working with one particularmatriode who was celebrating his
(13:58):
forty fifth year at sea.
Wow, yeah, I was such such anincredible moment and I remember
speaking to him after we didthe bomb.
Alaska ceremony in the in thedining room is the last farewell
that it used to do the fire.
Now they don't, unfortunately.
I was just a little candle in athe battery operate candle
thing.
Times a change and I was a kidin fourteen big fires, lights
(14:20):
off, all great.
That's gone now, but when wedid this thing I said oh,
congratulations in the fortyfive years.
And he says yeah.
I said how did you ask him,like, how did you get into this?
And he said literally almostbasically what you described.
He said he was just needingmoney.
Heard of a friend who's been onthe ship thought I can do that,
packed two bags, walked up tothe gangway and said I want a
(14:43):
job.
And in those days people likethe hotel manager and the
captain would.
In the vision there was no likeHR department or crew managers
in an office or something.
Basically the ships were almosttheir own little mini kingdom
so they had full, almost fullrights to hire anybody.
So on the spot, it's just likethe pirate times, like okay, yes
, you're coming aboard.
Maybe there was literally howit worked and you would be at a
(15:06):
work like months upon months,upon months upon years if you
wanted to not supposed to.
Now it's only ten, ten monthsin a row.
But the international shippinglaws and maritime laws that
change a lot for the better.
But it's just an incrediblething for me, not so much of a
romantic story.
There's a recruitment agency inBrisbane who was hiring for
princess.
After attempting one time inAugust.
(15:28):
It was my last six months of myuni degree.
I was unsuccessful just due totiming.
They immediately said it allreplies, sorry, now, too soon,
okay, so I tried again inOctober and, funnily enough, I'd
accidentally swapped.
I think I did like a Facebookauthentication the first time
and I forgot that actually theemail that they had was the
(15:50):
wrong anyway.
So I on a win.
I'm like why have I heard forlike two weeks?
And I was like, oh crap,they've got the other email.
So I logged into this other oneI never look at and it's like
being you're the next level islike oh my god, this thing's
been here for like seven days,so like I get in there and from
there it was funny.
My mum will never forget it.
(16:10):
I got this email and it said wewould like to invite you to
apply and for some reason in myhead I just I was like I know
I've got this job.
I know that there's still aprocess, but I know, I know, I
know.
And I ran and I was like oh mygod, oh my god, oh my god, oh my
god, oh, my dream job, Becauselike what's your readjust?
you guys really they're justasking you to put an application
(16:32):
and I said I know, but that'ssomething right.
And then you know, eight stepslater, a psyche Val.
You know another two interviewsand then the visa process and
everything else.
Eventually you get a signed aship and then you get a letter
of offer and then it tells youwhen, when and where you're
going to do your visas andeverything.
And then you get on a plane andyou go.
(16:55):
Okay, well, I guess this is mynew home for six months.
Adelaine Ng (17:00):
Fantastic.
Well, I don't know if you hadto sign any privacy clauses,
like what happens on the shipstays on the ship.
But you know, I'm sure youwould have seen an experience
thing where you would havethought what you know if people
outside the ship could have justseen what I just saw.
It's just some of those reallystrange and sometimes wonderful
(17:21):
things that happen.
I mean, what are the?
You know some of the beststories you can tell from what
you've seen.
Nathan Cassar (17:26):
I can tell you this one thing.
So I mean, obviously I've seena lot.
Yeah, I mean people probablysay the New Year's Eve parties
are some of the best, probablythe best party you can ever do.
I would say, if anyone'sthinking of doing any kind of
event, go do New Year's Eve on acruise ship.
It is, without a doubt, likethe most amazing hyped thing of
(17:47):
all time.
Definitely saw some interestingthings walking through the
halls, on the eyes of securityCertainly get a little bit, as
we're all sort of having a goodtime and celebrating a new year.
We all sort of like went allfew things on the slip, but you
know nothing, nothing firing oranything like that.
But certainly you know we letpeople be people.
But one thing that is actuallyreally fascinating there's a
(18:09):
concept on ships, in the crewbelow deck, there's this concept
of the noodle man.
Now I want to explain what Imean by that, please.
Yeah, so on ships, as everyoneprobably knows, in the passenger
code of conduct, you're notallowed to bring cookers and
rice cookers and woks and thingslike that.
Now that's the same for crew aswell, like we've got our own
(18:29):
galleys.
And back in the day, though,like I'm talking back back back
in the day, they actually usedto be a big thing, people having
parties where they used to cookthings and all that kind of
stuff, and then a lot of fireshappened on ships.
And then regulations came in.
They stopped all that, for goodreason.
However, the noodle man is ablack market legend amongst crew
and still exists today, justlike you can also, on call, get
(18:51):
a massage man to also comedirectly to your cabin not for
the crew, just for the guests,sorry, not for the guests, just
for the crew.
And this noodle man is sort ofassociated with the how do I put
it?
The more the black market sideof the crew areas, given that
you got to go down to deck two,which is quite below sea level
(19:12):
and it's, you know, it's anothermicrozone down there, because
you've got a majority ofcultural populations down there.
From the princess, it wasFilipinos and Indians who
comprise the biggest majority ofthe crew on board, and so this
communal aspect means that youknow they can, they sometimes
they crack down on it, they getwrong.
Not condoning any of this, butthey certainly, you know, are
(19:34):
able to get away with some ofthis stuff.
So you would call there'd bethis number be very black market
number and you'd call and saythis particular cabin.
So I had two o'clock in themorning.
I want, I don't know rum orsomething, because they all know
all the people in the storerooms and stuff too.
They would send all theirfriends and paisanos, as we
would call them, on ships,fellow countrymen.
They would then get all of theequipment they would, all the
(19:54):
food they would need, and thenthey'd be cooking up storm and
then they'd have it and thending, knock, knock, knock.
Three o'clock in the morning.
Here's your noodles came over.
Yes, here's the 20 bucks, offyou go.
So I don't know if it stillhappens today.
I'm going to hazard a guess andsay it probably does.
I don't.
If any of you ask ownershipabout the noodle man, they'll
either deny it or they'll kindof like oh yeah, it's not
(20:17):
supposed to happen.
It probably doesn't happen here.
No one will like actually.
Adelaine Ng (20:21):
No such thing matter.
Nathan Cassar (20:23):
No, not actually give you the number for it, I
can assure you on that.
But it's definitely one ofthose interesting things that
sort of sit underneath the waterlevels, literally.
That is an interesting and lesshas talked about component of.
Look again, not right.
I understand that it breaks alot of codes and I, you know, if
(20:43):
I was in a position of power onthe ship to have had to crack
down on that, I certainly wouldhave followed that directive for
a good reason.
But I certainly think it's aninteresting quirk and something
people don't really know about.
Adelaine Ng (20:54):
That's probably something that exists in, you
know, just any kind of industrywhere you are together doing a
particular mission and for thelong term, and you just need,
you know, you just need one ofthose things that, just to make
life a little bit more bearable,I guess you know a little bit
more enjoyable, contributes tothe community feeling.
Even though that's probably notthe best idea.
(21:15):
I'm sometimes breaking a coupleof codes, so that was like your
brilliant life on sea.
What brought you back toAustralia?
Nathan Cassar (21:22):
Well, probably back to Australia, was an
interesting set of circumstances, kind of the personal in the
sense that so the beginning of21, I was living in LA all of
2020, which was wow, what asocial experiment that was.
You know, given a pandemic yearyeah.
COVID, covid, capital of theworld, particularly where I was,
and the future of our industrywas no where near inside at all.
(21:46):
And so, but to couple up withthat, I was married at the time
to an American and we wereliving in LA.
I like to say when people say,oh, what happened to the
marriage?
And I say, well, you know, itwas a victim of COVID, not the
death kind, but the statisticalkind, and so, unfortunately, we
called a quits the beginning of21.
And so that meant I had to comeback with choice timing though,
(22:09):
because my return flightcoincided with the first two
days post January 17th of thereduced caps for the flights,
and so I went from having a oneway economy ticket to a $10,000
business class ticket to ensurethat I got out of the country.
Yeah, you mean Wow.
So I'm already likesignificantly more down in the
(22:31):
red before I even started and,you know, say goodbye
permanently to my life there inthe States, in LA, and for a
period of time after you knowthe lockdowns and so forth.
One really interesting thing Ilearned was that I, australia,
doesn't like foreign employmentexperience.
Generally speaking, I learnedthis the hard way.
(22:52):
Oh, yeah, it was incrediblething.
I thought that and this appliedto the event world too who I
thought was really inclusive atthe time when it comes to hiring
somebody who's had professionalexperience abroad versus
someone here.
I struggled.
I didn't get a single interview.
I employed people to help me toget cover letters done and
(23:16):
resumes completed and to getevery transferable skill after
having worked for the FourthLargest Quizline Incorporate and
blah, blah, blah and nothing,nothing at all.
It was only really untilanother major nexus point in my
life, which was my brother'swedding, which I would never
have been able to attend if theafter effects of the ending of
(23:36):
my marriage had occurred.
It was there where I hosted thewedding and got encouraged by a
number of people to pursue mycurrent business as a
professional emcee full time.
It's an interesting set ofcircumstances that brought me
here today a bit of tragedy, abit of heartbreak and a bit of
happiness all in between, butwouldn't change it for the world
.
Adelaine Ng (23:56):
That is so sobering .
I mean, my experience coming toAustralia and looking for work
was a little bit different justbecause I was looking for work
in an international broadcastradio station, the International
Arm of the ABC.
That, I guess, was different,where international experience
was priced.
But I have noticed that in alot of situations or
(24:18):
circumstances in Australia somelocal experience does help
tremendously.
So even if you can work forfree for a short period of time
just to be able to say I didsomething local, that just
immediately opens the doors.
But you're right to the pointwhere there are a lot of
companies which will not evenlook beyond a resume that does
(24:39):
not have anything local on paper, even if you are very well
decorated overseas.
So it's quite interesting.
I guess it says something aboutI'm not sure if the right word
is mindset.
So it is an interesting pointthat you make and I guess that's
been part of this be under thebonnet for you, as you have been
(25:01):
all around the world and you'venow transitioned from cruise
ships to wedding emcee-ing andactually let's go to this point
as well.
I mean, because you also saythat you disrupted wedding
emcee-ing.
I mean, can you tell me whatyou actually mean by that?
Nathan Cassar (25:17):
What I mean by that is there is a how do I put
it?
I know, as soon as I arrivedinto the scene and I started
hosting the way I host to mystyle, applying genuine tactics
and performance methods from mycruise ship days that really
(25:38):
actually engage in excited crowd, I was met with some immediate
sort of shining by some fellowcompatriots in the industry,
because they, for a long timethere's been a conservatism
that's been enjoyed.
It's it's sort of like for, asan example, it's sort of a race
to this, to the bottom of thelowest hanging fruit, which is,
(26:00):
you know, like I say, a DJ emceewho literally just makes
announcements.
They literally just say, okay,here comes so and so food is
served.
First speech, second speech, noconsumer expectation and no
industry expectation for them tobe anything more than just
delivering Quoted information toa crowd, and so the vast
majority of people, even youknow, given that DJ emcee-ing,
(26:21):
celebrancy emcee-ing, people whoare, you know, speakers, emcees
, comedic emcees I find thatwhat I often my category, my
niche, is.
It's become like a bit of aslashee.
It's just this addendum thatsomeone says oh, why no, the
correct end of a microphone, andI know how to turn the
microphone on and I'm notdefinitely afraid of standing in
(26:44):
front of a crowd.
So I'm an emcee and it's like,no, no, you're not.
But unfortunately, that sort ofconcepts has really grounded my
gears only because of the factthat I know that there is such a
much more vibrant way toperform to people and it really
actually comes down to reallygoing back to the days of old.
(27:05):
The days of old MCs and hostsliterally would shake people's
hands from the moment that theywalked into the door.
So you would literally host theroom, you would work the room,
you remember names, and this isstuff that we do on cruise ships
daily.
The things that were requiredto do or encourage the best
cruise direction in the worldare able to.
You know, remember, playthrough different things about
(27:27):
multiple people saying councilon the way of a particular
voyage and that kind ofconnection between people with
paramount to making thoseexperiences great.
And then, similarly, in what Ido in my industry about how I
disrupt, it is simply byelevating that expectation which
is having like, for instance,getting there an hour early and
actually getting to the can ofpay section and having a drink
(27:49):
with people and immersingyourself with the audience and
the guests before you actuallyget to the main bridal entrance.
Or, for instance, like tomorrow, I've got another awards come
night coming up.
There's obviously anexpectation that at the
corporate awards nights, youknow the, the emcee will, you
know, have a green room.
He or she will come out, saythe things, maybe make a couple
of the same classic jokes andthen head back to the, to the
(28:13):
green room, or maybe go to theVIP table.
But yet this kind of blind oreffective I don't need to talk
to people, I've just got to geton stage as my lectin, that's my
microphone.
All that it lends to peoplethinking that we're an overpaid,
over celebrated, overlimelighted kind of.
You know the space and,realistically, the only people
(28:34):
were spending the money on arelike your TV personalities or
you're extremely out there.
Committee can see you actually,you know, have a way of doing
things differently, and so it'sa shame that that is the case.
But at the same time, I intendon showing people that I may not
be a celebrity MC who's been ona radio show or you know
moonlight on a TV show orsomething like that.
I'd love to do that one day.
(28:56):
I have an ability to be able toreally connect with people, and
a focus of what I do is allabout the guest connection first
.
So and that's really where youbind people together, because
you'd be surprised, the thingsyou talk about I was at a
wedding recently where I starteda conversation with a guy was a
whole bunch of cops whohappened to be associated with
(29:18):
one of the grooms and as we'retalking and I was like, okay, so
what was your rank?
Was your rank?
Was your rank?
And I'm retired?
So what was your rank?
And so, yeah, so who's the boss?
And he laughed and put one handup and he said him and they
said, oh, you know what I do now.
What do you do?
I'm a lawn Retired.
(29:43):
He said all about six months onour year or something.
I said, okay, how much, howbusy are you like?
Is he retired?
You do this a lot busy, likemost weekends, if it's in the
right season.
I said Well, but you retiredand then just immediately got
all this business.
Oh, no, man, you know I was,you know I was.
(30:04):
I had a guy you know did a bitof cash jobs, you know, before I
retired.
I said, hmm, did this the age?
And he goes oh, no, you know,and then I was.
Someone said this is the beautyof that, just having these kind
of conversations.
Someone said oh, imagine this,all from the age of it was here
and all of a sudden, literallythis lady goes home from the age
(30:24):
.
That is a moment and, like youknow, it's obviously relatively
benign, but it's more just funnybecause people, you know I
remember that experience andthat was their first impression
of me to that was literally thefirst conversation I had with
this particular group, so thatset the tone.
I was able to bring outsomething that we talked about
(30:48):
the guys, retirement lawn mowingbusiness and it became a really
funny thing that people arejust some why I say I'm a
disruptor that a lot of peoplejust afraid to have those
connecting conversations.
I think because maybe theythink that it's inorganic.
I disagree with that becauseit's plenty ways you can make it
natural.
Some people just don't have theability to communicate like
(31:11):
that because they're morefocused on capturing something
on their phone to put on tiktoklater on, to show how great they
are, to hide behind the digitalwall, and just some people just
just don't have the I guess,the X factor that this has to go
to somebody and engage past.
How are you?
Are you having a good day?
How's the weather?
Are you enjoying yourself?
(31:31):
You know they stand and I likeconversation topics that you
know kind of get a bit stale.
So there's this I like to bebold, I like to show people.
I'm not afraid to push theletter a bit, understand a crowd
and, you know, be a little bitcheeky and so forth, within
reason, but at the end of theday it's about showing people
that the guest connection isnumber one and it's something
(31:52):
that I see being lost so manyopportunities throughout the
year.
May be a wedding, may be acorporate event.
I can tell you tomorrow night'scorporate event, I'm there
before they even get there.
I don't care.
People the beginning go well,I'm not used to this.
Why is it not part of the game,whatever?
But at the end of the nightthey realize oh wow, you went
around all around the room andyou had a really good time
getting it clearly looks likeyou enjoyed yourself getting to
(32:14):
know us.
He took care of us and that'sreally, technically, is not like
as my event.
I was invited to say it, but itI'm adopting that and there's
just not enough of that anymoreand I really wish that.
Could you know.
I can foster that more withsome of my fellow emcees out
there.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!