Zug Sports Night 2025 – Challenges of co-hosting

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Another Zug Sports Night that I had the honor and pleasure of co-hosting with Remo Hegglin – what a privilege and a joy!

Before I dive into my personal highlights, the challenges of co-hosting, and a few tips and tricks regarding performance competence, I would first like to warmly congratulate all the nominated athletes. Your achievements over the past year are simply impressive!

A very special congratulations goes to Nina Brunner, who was well-deservedly named Zug Athlete of the Year 2024.

My personal highlights

• • Hosting an event centered around sports – an area that has given me so many wonderful emotions myself

• • Being allowed to host the Sports Night in my hometown of Zug – what an honor

• Co-hosting with a good friend – what more could you want?

I am just incredibly grateful for this experience. That’s why I set myself a very simple but essential goal: to enjoy the evening from A to Z and soak up every second. Of course, that’s easier said than done – because there they are again, those well-known “colleagues”: nervousness, pressure, expectations, perfectionism… And that brings me exactly to the next point:

Co-hosting – a completely different world

Co-hosting is a completely different challenge than standing on stage alone. Suddenly, it’s not just about your own performance, but also about harmonizing perfectly with your partner. Double the joy, double the fun, double the security – but also double the demands and double the responsibility.

Challenges of co-hosting

• Demands & Responsibility: You don’t just want to deliver for yourself; you also don’t want to let the other person down. We all know these thoughts: “Am I doing well enough? Is the timing right? What if I make a mistake?”

• Loss of control – the topic for perfectionists: Alone on stage, I have full control. I know exactly what comes next and how I want to phrase it. In a co-hosting setup, however, you have to let go, improvise, and trust that the other person will “catch” the ball correctly and/or pass it back “correctly.”

• Moderation cards – a blessing and a curse: I love speaking freely and interacting with the audience. But in a co-hosting situation, agreed-upon transitions are essential. My partner expects a specific cue to continue – this requires even more structure and discipline than a solo moderation.

• Transitions & Timing: While you determine the timing yourself in a solo moderation, transitions in a co-hosting setup must be fluid. An unclear transition can lead to awkward pauses, overlapping, or confusion.

• Different hosting styles: Every host has their own style – some are spontaneous and relaxed, others prefer to be structured and precise. Some bring a lot of humor, others remain more factual. It is important to be aware of your own strengths and focus specifically on them.

• Making compromises: Fortunately, this was hardly an issue for Remo and me, as we have a very similar work ethic and attitude. Nevertheless, questions can arise in a co-hosting situation such as: – Who takes which part? – How do you balance different styles? – How do you ensure a harmonious dynamic? – Who speaks how much and where?

My strategy: Visualization

How do I deal with these challenges? With a technique that already helped me as an athlete: visualization.

As soon as we had jointly defined the sequence and created the framework, I played through the entire evening repeatedly in my head, before my mind’s eye:

• • Who comes onto the stage when?

• • Where do the transitions take place?

• • Who stands where?

• Who presents which award?

This mental preparation ensures that my body internalizes the process – so much so that on the evening itself, I can improvise and act spontaneously much better. I no longer have to think about who is getting the flowers or who is handing over the trophy – it happens automatically.

The result? More security, more freedom, more ease. And when both hosts use this technique, a perfect mix of structure, spontaneity, humor, and lightness is created.

Something that can also help you, whether in preparation for presentations, important talks/meetings, or indeed moderations as well as keynote speeches/lectures, etc.

An unforgettable evening

Once again, it was an incredibly great and wonderful experience – a fantastic evening that I was able to enjoy to the fullest.

A huge thank you to Remo Hegglin for the inspiring collaboration and the many laughs; it just makes work so much more fun. An equally big thank you to the Office for Sports and Health Promotion for the trust and the opportunity to host this event.

And for anyone interested: Yes, you can also book us (Remo and me) as a duo! We bring, among other things: fun, humor, and of course a large portion of professionalism!