If you've been speaking for any length of time, you know what I'm about to tell you is true. It is a thousand times easier to speak to an audience of 220 people in a room that holds 200 people, than it is to speak to an audience of 80 people in a room that holds 200 people. The difference in the atmosphere is like day and night.

Good Vibs
Think about your own experience as an audience member. When you knew you were going to be attending a very popular event, you arrived early in order to get a good seat. (A good seat means different things to different people.) You also knew that you would have people sitting to your right, to your left, in front of you and behind you. You were much more likely to talk to these people and laugh out loud when the speaker said something funny. The atmosphere was alive with conversation.

Bad Vibs
On the other hand, think about the times you attended a meeting where the room was much larger than the size of the group. The atmosphere was very different. People sat as far away from each other as they could. They didn't talk to each other and they didn't feel as comfortable laughing out loud.

So, what can you do if you've been asked to speak to a small audience in a large room? Here are a few suggestions that I know work, because I use them all the time.

To start, it's always better to take care of this potential problem before it's too late, and I consider "too late" to be once the audience is seated. It is virtually impossible to get audience members to move once they've made themselves comfortable in their seat. Worse yet, the moment you ask them to move, they will see you or the person you've asked to do your dirty work, as the bad guy. And, as you well know, many of them won't move no matter how hard you beg them to do so.

Stack The Chairs
If the room you will be speaking in is set up for 100 people and you know there are only going to be 50 people attending, here's what I suggest you do. Get to the meeting early and remove 55 of the chairs. Don't stack them in the back of the room, but rather, stack the chairs in the front of the room. Here's why.

If you stack the chairs in the back of the room, people will feel very comfortable taking a chair from the stack and setting it up in a new back row they'll create. They will do this even if there are empty seats available in the room.

If, on the other hand, you stack the additional chairs in the front of the room, the participants who would normally take a chair from the back have a more difficult decision to make. Will they sit in one of the 45 available chairs, or will they interrupt you and the audience and walk to the front of the room to get a chair? Most people would rather take an open chair than cause a disturbance.

Once the room is about 95% filled, you can ask someone to help you by setting a few extra chairs up ... in the front of the room.

Every Speaker Should Own A Rope
If you're speaking in a room with chairs that are secured to the floor, like in an auditorium, bring a rope with you. Back in the day, my speaking toolbox included my written introduction, my handouts and four pieces of 100 foot length rope that I used to tie-off the back of the room. It also didn't hurt to hang a sign on the rope that read, "Wet Paint" or "Loose Snake." The goal was to keep the audience from spreading out and sitting in the back of the room.

If you do not have control over the seating and you find yourself speaking to a group of 200 people in a room that holds a thousand people, try this. You can explain to the audience (in a very, very soft voice) that you have laryngitis and that the only way they will be able to hear you is if they move to the front of the room. Once they move, you can show them that your laryngitis was miraculously cured. :-) Yahoo!

I Love This Technique
The other thing you can do is ask your audience to get involved in a little audience participation exercise you've planned. Start by asking them to gather everything they brought with them to the program, and hold it in both hands directly in front of them. Then, ask them to turn toward the center isle. Now that they're standing with their things in their hands, facing the center isle, ask them to move to the front three rows. This always gets a laugh and it always works.

I would love to hear your ideas about how to handle this situation. Please share your experience in the comment section below.

Attached Images

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	stacked_chairs.jpg (11.9 KB, 726 views)

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In a serious emergency, I've resorted to walking to them and giving the presentation from the auditorium, only a few rows in front of them... a made a joke (I'd asked them to move) about "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must come to the mountain".

S

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That's really funny Simon. Thank you. I'm going to keep this tip in my bag of speaking tricks.

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I just created a podcast on Room Management that I think you will enjoy. It covers many of my ideas on how to generate laughter and participation by taking control of the meeting room. Enjoy.

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Nice stuff. I love your point that Conference Managers don't take charge - but speakers think they do. The other people who aren't in charge but are often assumed to be are Sound Engineers. I've had 'discussions' with them many a time about turning microphones off (I don't need one and it's better not to use what you don't need)!

S

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Oh they're really good tips! It's so annoying when people automatically spread out towards the back of the room. Thanks for sharing!

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James
London Speaker Bureau