I attended at selling seminar last night and even though the presenter is well known in the small business area here, to my surprise, only three people showed up. But that’s okay because I knew from after being on both ends of a seminar, audience member as well as presenter, that one can really take advantage of a small audience turnup. In our case last night, as an audience member, I knew that the presenter was likely to cover his material a bit quicker than usual because there were less people in the audience to interrupt him with questions during his presentation (which he allowed). This will often result in more time near the end of the seminar for more questions and detailed discussions with the audience.
So this is exactly what happened last night as the three of us audience members (actually just two of us who really took advantage of this) asked a lot of questions. I know as a presenter, active participation and discussion with the audience in case of small turnouts are really good. It makes presenters forget about the fact that not many people showed up. Therefore, active participation has an effect of not dampening the presenter’s enthusiasm.
So next time you attend a seminar that results in a low turnout, take advantage of the situation by asking lots of questions that stimulate discussion with the presenter as well as other audience members. The end result will be a good seminar for all with more information value for the audience.
