WHAT I PACK IN MY EMCEE KIT BAG

People are often surprised by how much goes into a bag that's meant to stay backstage and out of sight all night. After a decade of events, mine has been refined mostly through things going wrong once and never again.

The obvious essentials come first: a backup earpiece, spare batteries, and a second microphone capsule, because sound issues don't wait for a convenient moment. I've hosted full segments on a backup mic while the main one got sorted, and no one in the audience ever knew.

Then there's the practical layer, a sewing kit, safety pins, and double-sided tape for wardrobe emergencies, plus a portable phone charger, because a dead phone backstage during a live show is its own kind of disaster.

A spare pair of heels lives in there too, alongside blister plasters and a small stash of painkillers. Twelve-hour events don't leave room for discomfort to become distraction.

Beyond gear, I always carry the run sheet printed on paper, not just digitally, screens fail, printouts don't, along with a highlighter and pen for last-minute changes that inevitably show up an hour before doors open.

None of it is glamorous. But every item earned its place in that bag by being the thing I wished I had, once, when I didn't.