Many people don’t have a clear grasp of what really goes on behind the scenes of the booming esports industry. In this series, TheGamer will peek behind the curtain and take a look at the biggest competitive gaming scenes. Today, we sit down with esports host Laure “Bulii” Valée.

Laure is an esports host and journalist that has traveled across the world and hosted several prestigious League of Legends events, one of her most recent accomplishments being Worlds 2019. Not only that, but Laure has also worked for Riot Games, beIN_eSports, OG, ES1, LeStream, and more. Additionally, she has interviewed professional players left and right and has grown to be one of the most famous League of Legends hosts out there.

Laure was kind enough to give TheGamer a refined perspective on what esports hosting is all about.

What brought you to the esports industry?

I think that’s a mix of things. I’ve always been the most passionate about games, but I didn’t quite think about esports as a career. I got interested in League of Legends esports around 2013 only as a fan […] I write articles about esports because I spent quite a lot of time watching esports already. So I might as well make use of it, and that’s how I got interested in the business side of it.

In 2015, it was the League of Legends World Championship in Paris, and after the two weeks of the group stage, I was like, “okay, I need to stay in this industry. I just love it so much.” I just skipped school for two weeks back then to work as a volunteer on the world championship. I got hooked straight into it, and [I just had] esports in my veins, and from a passion [point of view], I think it became just the way I thought I could only see my life. I got interested in it a bit more. I started to try harder. When you get to the point, that esports is so interesting that you need to make a living out of it. You start seeing things differently because it becomes your paycheck [which led] from small jobs to bigger jobs, and that’s how I got to the place where I am today.

How did you become an esports host?

Initially, I wanted to be a caster. But that didn’t work out because I didn’t have the talent and the skillset to do that. So after a few failures, necessary ones, someone suggested that I could host the 2015 League of Legends World Championship in France. They didn’t have [some particular broadcasts], and they wanted to implement [those] parts of broadcast in their broadcast like they were just casting games [at the time] and they needed desk segments and stuff like that and pre-shows and best shows. So I was like, “yeah, I can try and do it.” So all I could do it was take inspirations from what we could see on the LCS or the international events from Riot Games back then. I tried to mimic what they used to do, and that’s how I became a host. In France at first and then in 2017, they had the EU LCS Finals, and I wanted to do something. I couldn’t cast on site. We didn’t have the spots to have the analyst desks, so I suggested that I could do the interviews after the game. We pitched it a Riot Games. They agreed, and they liked the idea, and after the first day, they came back to me and said, “Hey, that was great. Do you want to do it again?” And that’s how I started to work with them.

What does it take to be a great esports host?

I don’t personally see myself as a great esports host. I mean, we have all of these amazing examples in the whole industry, like Sjoks, Smix, Machine on CS:GO, even Frankie, that has a few years, but looking up to these people, when I try to work, I’m trying to convey what the audience would like to ask and feel. I identify myself as a fan above all, and I’m just trying to bring on camera what I feel the audience would like to see, and in this position, you just try and have fun, be as prepared as you can. [It’s about] adapting to the moment and managing to get a good vision about what the audience would like to see.

[…Additionally, when it comes to interviews] I don’t have questions. I have bullet points and guidelines and depending on what the player wants to say. I can drop the cue card that I have and just focus on […] what he wants to talk about […], So it’s not questions per se. It’s more directions that you can take through the interview.

What is/are your most significant achievements in your career as an esports host?

Hands down, [it was] League of Legends Worlds 2019, when I got to cover the group stage in Berlin. I mean being a big fan of League of Legends esports and wanting to be a good professional [individual] within this scene, being called for Worlds 2019 is a big honor and getting called after my second year working with them. That meant a lot, especially since it was in my region, and the finals would be in Paris and everything. I think the fact that within two years I managed to cover the biggest League of Legends competition.

What is/are the challenges that you faced in your career as an esport host?

I think the biggest challenge has to be the most obvious one, the fact that I am not an English native and that it’s still hard sometimes. The fact that I have to relearn my job in another language and also relearn how to express myself in a language that I’m not fully comfortable with sometimes. I think it’s the biggest challenge. 

How do you feel when you host an event - what’s going through your mind?

I think the trickiest part about the event is the fact that you only realize what you’ve done when it’s over. Because you’re just on broadcasts, everything is happening so quickly and so fast that you don’t have time to think about it. All the thinking comes before and from what I’ve seen. Even when you plan something [things] rarely go as planned usually. And even if you anticipate things, it’s never going to go this way and broadcast it. All you have to do is just shut your mind down if that makes sense, and do the job.

What is one advice you can give someone that is starting as an esports host, and what are three tips you can give for someone that wants to get better at esports hosting?

I read a lot of content. In most esports, let’s say, structures, teams, outlets that are committed to the scene and who produce content daily. It’s really easy to have access to information right now. So just stay open and read a lot of news, read a lot of stuff about teams because when you host one thing that you will have to know is everything, and that that implies details and facts and stuff that people may not know about a team that will get you hired instead of someone else. I think that’s mostly the key. Just stay open and curious about stuff.

Watch your VODs. I think that’s the key. Most people don’t feel like it’s necessary to watch something they did on camera. But you get another glimpse, and I usually rewatch everything I do just because I get to learn from it.

Second would be to watch what other people do. Not necessarily to take inspiration. Just to see what style people can have because by seeing what other people do, it can help you define your style.

Thirdly, don’t be scared to try something new. If you have an idea of something that you think would look good on camera or benefit the show, just never be scared to give your opinion.

You can watch Laure on June 12, where she will be interviewing during the League European Championships. Outside of that, you can find her on LeStream, wherein she does weekly shows or through her Instagram and Twitter.

Special thanks to Laure for taking the time out of her schedule to make this happen. Stay tuned to TheGamer for more of the “Inside Esports” series.