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FOR MEETING PLANNERS
ROOM SET UP
Tips and Tricks to the Enhance Audience Experience
Ann has compiled a "bag of tricks" to help you
achieve maximum audience response. Please use them for whatever
value they may add to your event.
THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE
1. Avoid a center aisle. The best seats in the
house-directly in front of the speaker- are often wasted in a
large empty aisle. The speaker is forced to run stage left,
stage right, to address a "divided" audience. Use two
smaller side aisles on either side of center.
2. Keep the audience responding as a group.
Keep the front row as close to the stage as is comfortable.
Reduce the distance between the speaker and participants in the
last row.
If the room is rectangular, set the stage in the center of the
long wall.
Cut single-chair access lanes into long rows every sixth chair.
3. Rope off the back 10 rows until ten minutes into
the presentation. Have a door hostess direct participants to
take the seats up front.
4. Curve or angle your seating.
Straight
rows do not max a room. Curved seating exceeds straight row
capacity by 26%.
Audience response to humor increases when individuals can see
each other.
Straight row seating requires additional concentration to
absorb the message. (Turning the neck 15 degrees restricts
blood flow to the brain, limiting learning. End-row
participants must turn their necks 80 degrees or more!)
5. Stagger the chairs. Eliminate audiences twisting,
bobbing and craning to see around the head in front of them.
6. Do not overset the room. If you are planning on 200
people, set the room for 180 not 250. Stack extra chairs at the
back of the room. Otherwise, the front rows will be empty.
Better to have every seat taken than large empty spots
throughout the audience.
7. If you know some attendees will be in wheelchairs, you
might remove a few chairs at the ends of the rows near the
front, to provide space for them to wheel their chairs to the
ends of these aisles. This allows for easy entry/exit, and it?s
nice change for those often relegated to the back row in an
audience. (If they are placed in the front row, it may be
difficult for others to see over them.)
8. If side or back doors close loudly, please have a door
stop handy or tape the lock to avoid noisy distractions.
AUDIO VISUAL
9. The most overlooked (and damaging) glitch ? ceiling lights
which shine directly on the screen and wash out the visuals. After
5 minutes of eye strain, the audience gives up even trying to
follow along. The solution is not to dim all the lights,
which will throw your speaker in the shadows. Have the hotel
remove the offending lights that shine directly above the screen.
10. Use an additional light source on the presenter. Studies
have proven that when an audience cannot see the presenter
clearly, they also believe they cannot hear him or her clearly!
11. The eye follows movement, not sound. If photos are to be
taken, avoid doing so during the first fifteen minutes of the
presentation. It will be too much of distraction for both your
audience and speaker. Try and take a posed "action" shot
during the break.
Have you ever suffered along with a speaker through microphone
feedback or competing with a Dixieland band in the room next door?
Where was your attention focused, and what do you remember of the
speaker's message?
12. Use your own speaker system, rather than the speakers
in the room ceiling. You will get much higher quality sound.
If you are in a divided ballroom, make sure that whoever is
recording next door is not patched into your system.
13. If your group is large, use speakers in the front,
middle and rear of the audience.
14. If recording, put microphones in the audience to pick
up audience response.
15. When video taping, use BetaSP format rather than VHS.
Other Tips for Making Your
Meeting a Success
If you are a meeting planner or an
existing client, you may call 800/370-4010 for the User ID and
Password to enter this area for:
- Contract
- Fee Schedule
-
Audience Handouts
Enter the Meeting
Planner area
To print this form, highlight the
room set-up information and select print in your browser. Select
the option "print selection only".
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ANN
MAHONY
San Francisco -- P.O. Box 475166 . San Francisco, CA 94147
Phone: 415/441-0273 . Fax: 415/441-0233
Toll Free: 800/370-4010
e-mail: ann@annmahony.com
? 2000-2004 Ann Mahony
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