This Adele – “not known for my singing” she says – rose to fame as Ms Megabyte and had a 10 year-run explaining complex technologies in plain speak on television’s Today Show. Her trademark was a shock of flaming red hair. Prior to that, she worked in tech support for Microsoft Australia when she was one of only 27 employees.
In the days before STEM was a thing, she was a female nerd – quick thinking, agile and polished in front of a crowd – a skill she honed as a trainer on Microsoft’s business software.
Just last week, Adele had to drop everything with two days’ notice and fly to Queensland to MC a two-day conference for Bridgestone at Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast.
The scheduled host Shane Jacobson had to withdraw at the last minute with COVID and his management agency, Leading Voice, who also represent Yvonne Adele, suggested to the client that she would be a good fit to replace Jacobson.
”So I jumped on a video call with the client and asked my number one question: What do you want delegates to think, feel and do after the event?”
When she walked out on stage, the sight of a smaller, redder MC than their usual host might have come as a shock to some, but her opening line: “We’re a 35-tyre family…and I own a 2005 V8 Monaro” was a definite icebreaker. The truth is Adele is not only a computer nerd, but a car nut with a family that owns WRX race cars and a brace of dirt bikes chewing through the rubber.
The conference was attended by 300 members of Bridgestone’s staff and its franchised Bridgestone Select dealers plus Bridgestone Service Centre dealers and their families.
“They hold the event every two years, but this was the first time they had all been back together since before COVID and it was like a big family – a lot of dealers are husband a wife businesses and there were even 60 children,” said Adele.
She was happy to receive positive client feedback for “bringing something extra” to the event, but as MC colleagues, she expects Jacobson will return to a role he has fulfilled for Bridgestone for several years, and she remains grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate her versatility.
