
There is nothing more frightening than experiencing “cringe” in front of management at a New Year corporate party. It is an especially uncomfortable feeling for the HR specialist, who is ultimately responsible for the evening.
Quite often, an awkward situation is caused by the host’s lack of preparation, and the issue has little to do with their energy or entertainment program. The real problem lies in their inner substance.
Without understanding the level of the guests sitting in front of them — especially those seated at the first four tables — a “cringeworthy” host follows the notorious idea of “bringing the house down at any cost.” They start asking each side of the room about their mood before even giving the first official guest the floor.
Broad cultural awareness, intellectual preparation, a rich vocabulary, and a heightened sense of the atmosphere in the room are far from the complete list of qualities expected from a host. Here, we have selected those who win over an audience through their knowledge and perspective rather than through silly chants and shouting games.
Anuar Abdraimov
You may have already heard Anuar Abdraimov referred to as the king of the Kazakh toi, and this reputation is well deserved — he is genuinely in high demand in this field.
But it is worth remembering that Anuar did not achieve this status through formulaic games and scripted phrases. He earned it through the trust of his clients, and he begins gaining that trust from the very first meeting thanks to his extensive understanding of the psychology of celebrations.
Every event has its own protocol, etiquette, and hierarchy. It takes decades of experience at events to learn how to feel an evening with your whole being rather than simply listening to what is happening around you.
His strong education, broad reading, and unconventional way of thinking, developed through KVN, will help you leave only a dignified and positive impression on your team.
Nurlan and Olzhas Duo
Nurlan and Olzhas are a creative tandem of highly cultured and well-mannered hosts.
Their conceptual uniqueness lies in the chemistry they have built over many years. Although Nurlan and Olzhas work with two microphones, they follow completely different narrative lines without interrupting or duplicating one another.
Nurlan and Olzhas fully correspond to the status of any corporate evening because the script of such an event always has a clearly defined format: formal and entertaining.
Within the duo, Nurlan is responsible for the flawless official part of the program, while Olzhas handles an appropriate and tasteful entertainment format.
Three main factors make their work distinctive. The first is complete bilingualism — they can switch from Russian to Kazakh and back again in a matter of seconds.
The second is professional vocal performance. The duo has been singing for more than 15 years and has serious achievements in this field.
The third is life and professional experience. Nurlan Kunafin has had an extensive career as a specialist in the quasi-public sector and has worked for national companies. Therefore, there is no need to explain the essence of corporate culture or corporate etiquette to them. They will handle everything with dignity.
Rustam Karkoshev
Rustam Karkoshev is the host for a team that has already seen everything and everyone.
If you tell Rustam this during your first meeting, it will give him serious motivation to prepare for the event particularly thoroughly.
There will be songs, humor, monologues, toasts from the host, and sincere conversations with management.
Rustam is young but experienced. He began his career as a host at the age of 17 and trained under respected masters of the old school.
They instilled in him standards of ethics and a particular way of thinking, and he figured out how to properly integrate those principles into creativity and intelligent humor.
At the event, Rustam will be a host you can genuinely be proud of.

For Kazakhstan, this format is, of course, a great rarity, as the very concept of the “Games of the Future” project is based on something not yet familiar. The country has enormous organizational experience and, naturally, the Games were held successfully. A separate highlight of the program was the introduction of dance disciplines into the competition. Our website attended the final of the Phygital Dance 2026 tournament. Once again, it was proven that dance is truly an expression of the dancer’s inner state. After all, participation in Phygital Dance was open to people who are passionate about choreography, while there are generally not that many professionals among them. And so it turned out that the final was primarily made up of gamers who had danced offline but now competed in a digital format. The rules are simple: the participant’s dance must be as synchronized as possible with the movements projected onto huge screens. The final assignments were made available to the participants before the competition, at different times for each participant, according to the competitors themselves. For example, a representative of our country who took one of the prize-winning places noted that she received her assignment in her personal competition account 10 days in advance.
Last autumn, Ruslan launched a conversational interview series called “The Environment Around Me.” The guests of the series included well-known producers, prominent showmen, musicians, creatives and other cultural figures. This year, Ruslan returns with new guests, while the series has undergone conceptual changes and moved closer to the social genre. Each episode now features more dynamics, depth and expertise. The first guest of this season was former Vice Minister of Artificial Intelligence Dmitry Moon. In June this year, Dmitry stepped down from his position as Vice Minister and continued his professional work as CEO of Q.AI, a company focused on the development, implementation and analysis of artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan. The relevance of artificial intelligence in our country is growing every day. Its practical application has already reached almost every area of public administration and the private sector, and this trend continues to gain momentum. During an engaging and lively conversation, held in the form of a tour through the “Nur-Alem” sphere, Ruslan raised a wide range of topics that are both important and sensitive for society. Against the backdrop of the growing demand for AI, many people are undoubtedly interested in which specific professions artificial intelligence improves and which, on the contrary, it may displace from the labor market. How can we live with constantly evolving user experiences with AI, and what cybersecurity measures should every user know and apply?

This summer, Ruslan Vladimirovich Kenzikeyev, founder of the dancehub.kz portal, officially joined the ranks of experts of the Alliance of Creative Industries of Kazakhstan. The organization has been operating for several years. It was established at the initiative of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken” and operates throughout the country, with its coordination center in Astana. A key priority of the Alliance of Creative Industries is to support domestic entrepreneurs working in the creative industries. As part of this work, the Alliance regularly holds forums, conferences, master classes, and weekly meetings in the capital.

For example, in 2025, one of the December corporate parties we organized had a “Gala Dinner” theme. This is one of the most convenient concepts when you have 710 guests. To manage the flow of people inside the restaurant, we had to involve 20 crowd managers. The security team alone consisted of 60 people, and that was also a private company. With such a large number of guests, almost any theme will turn into a gala dinner within an hour anyway. And if you also consider that the bar was operating on an unlimited basis, it becomes clear that in a situation like this, what you really need is not a theme. What you need are hosts — experienced, well-known, and, naturally, expensive ones.

Every day, hundreds of people use our website. Thanks to the availability of our publications in three languages — Kazakh, English, and Russian — the website’s articles, profiles, and news continue to attract stable interest from users in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries, and sometimes even from more distant parts of the world. Website inquiries regularly come from Turkey, India, and Germany, while articles and creative profiles are also read in English. According to the results of the past summer, the article “The History of the Kamajai Dance” continues to hold the top position, with more than 10 views in English alone. The “Gulder” dance ensemble has maintained a strong interest among dancehub.kz visitors since the very beginning of its appearance on the website. The interview with Anvara Aripovna Sadykova is also among the top three most sought-after publications on the website. The dance community of Kazakhstan also closely follows our website’s special reports, in which we cover cultural events in the capital and beyond, particularly those related to various areas of dance. Our correspondents have attended the most notable concerts, performances, and competitions held in Astana.