A Positive Speaking Environment By Chris Joscelyne Several years ago I was the guest speaker at a franchising industry breakfast at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. It was a typical Sydney winter's morning … fine and clear with a spectacular sunrise. The room had been prepared with the speaker's lectern on the eastern side of the room in front of huge ceiling-to-floor windows overlooking the city. Yes, you guessed it. I had to stand in front of that spectacular view and compete with it for the attention of the audience. It was a tough task. Ever since, I have paid very careful attention to room set-up. My goal is to create the most positive environment for the audience. Sometimes this requires rearrangement of the room, so I always discuss this with meeting organisers well before the event. If you are organising a meeting, seminar or conference, you can apply some simple and logical ideas that will create a positive environment for your speakers and your audience. Here are my suggestions: Place seats for least external distractions - visual and noise Locate the presentation area as close as you can to the audience For a small audience, use a semi-circular seating layout Avoid long narrow rooms - rear rows will feel isolated from the speaker Guide attendees towards front rows by placing "Reserved" signs on rear rows - these signs can be removed as the room fills Ensure sufficient isles so that audience members do not have to cross more than five others to get to a seat For a large audience, set isles wider closer to the exits. Keep room lights bright unless data projection or slides are to be used If room lights are dimmed for a slideshow, put a soft light on the presenter - don't leave the presenter in the dark. Ensure that windows can be covered if natural light must be reduced for screen presentations Test and ensure that the sound and audio-visual equipment is reliable Have backup equipment and a backup plan in case of equipment failure Provide cool water and a fresh drinking glass for each speaker - this is often forgotten Check room temperature for comfort - a hot or cold room kills concentration Ensure that food and beverage arrangements are appropriate Locate toilets - if they are some distance from the room post a direction sign Be aware of emergency exit locations Make sure there are signs displayed to direct attendees to your room. By following this checklist you can create a positive environment for speaking, listening and learning. It works for me and I hope it works for you too. About the author: Chris Joscelyne trained as a clinical hypnotherapist under the tutorage of Margaret Tomko. He was taught grief counselling by Mal McKissock, and he learned meditation in a course sponsored by the Department of Health. He developed his personal awareness knowledge with mentors Barbara and Terry Tebo of Lifespring.  For ten years Chris was a visiting lecturer at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where he taught personal development, meditation and stress management skills. Now he shares his knowledge with a wider community as a speaker, trainer and coach, teaching people how to live "Life by choice - not by chance". Print this article Recommend this article An error occurred on the server when processing the URL. Please contact the system administrator. If you are the system administrator please click here to find out more about this error.