Bare-ass Room Set-up Strategies
Do you choose to make your programs more effective for everyone attending?
And would you like better interaction between you and your audiences every time?
Sources of these strategies
The strategies I share here come from hard experience, real-world programs, hundreds of engagements at which I spoke.
Did you ever have part of your audience unable to hear you because some of the ceiling speakers were turned off, left off for a different room configuration yesterday’s audience required? I have! (Many times in North America)
Has a wireless mike ever stopped working in the middle of your speech—and then found yourself without a hard-wired reserve mike waiting and ready? I have. (In Washington D.C. when I spoke for the NSA Chapter.)
What about the straight seating arrangement most venues love to offer you . . . because it’s easiest for them? As you know, this inhibits interaction and messes up sight lines. Have you seen the difference between this military arrangement and the warmth and connectedness curved seating allows?
I could regale you with preventable flubs and catastrophes I had to endure . . . instead let me share some strategies with you.
How to start
Start with this wisdom: Your room set-up is the setting for your jewels. Your jewels are your programs.
So create a setting that allows you to be seen at your best . . . to showcase you, your spirit, your concepts and your ideas.
Use savvy room arrangements to more deeply impact your audience with your insights and your wisdom . . . to reach into the consciousness of those present and plant your seeds.
These ideas yield better programs
1. Double-check early AM that all ceiling speakers are operating and the volume is right in every part of your room. (I’ve seen front-of-the-room speakers off—and audience members moving to the back of the room to hear me.)
2. Have a hard-wired reserve mike in place and ready to use.
3. Reset the room yourself if you must. Create curved seating, from a crescent to a half-circle. Why: You want your audience members to see reactions of others to whatever you say or do.
4. Eliminate the center aisle. Instead, have 2 aisles on each side of a center section. Most fire codes allow for 13-15 seats in a center section. This Bare-ass strategy adds energy to the room—instead of letting it dissipate down a center aisle. Test this and see the difference at once.
5. Locate the riser or stage at the center of the longest wall— and as far as possible from the entrance door. Do not place yourself at one end of a long room. This creates more intimacy between you and your audience. More people see you better.
6. Double-check all audio/visual equipment for placement, functioning, spare bulbs, even a spare projector. Anything that can possibly go wrong, will! (Murphy is alive and well.)
7. Use checklists. See your room the evening before your event. Then check it thoroughly again early in the morning. Terrible things can happen overnight. Be eagle eyed as you seek opportunities to get things right well ahead of your program.
