Let’s be serious for a moment: audiences should be seated facing the speaker.
Imagine a photographer going from round banquet table to round banquet table taking pictures of people without asking anyone to turn around and face the camera. To do so would be absurd. But it’s no more absurd than introducing a speaker or entertainer when much of the audience – by virtue of the fact that they’re sitting at round banquet tables – still have their backs squarely facing the podium or stage.
Before introducing an entertainer or speaker to the stage, take a page from the photographer playbook and request that those whose backs are to the stage to at least offer the presenter their profile.
This and a few other simple changes very often make the difference between an audience which is engaged and one that is not.
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Agree whole-heartedly about this: being positioned so that one’s back is to the stage/podium – as has often happened to me – is a real drag…Also, since your presentation/performance *is* dessert, too, don’t worry about coffee and sugar. That will up the energy level of your audience, right? 🙂