C H A P T E R 1 0

Controlling Your Space

We cannot make it rain, but we can see to it that the rain falls on

prepared soil.

—HENRI NOUWEN

One of the key determinants of your success as a speaker is

the room in which you speak. You must inspect it carefully

and prepare it as much as possible.

There are three key physical considerations in speaking. They

are (1) sound; (2) light; and (3) temperature. These are the three

areas where things always go wrong in a speaking engagement.

You have heard of Murphy’s Law, which says that whatever can go

wrong, will go wrong. This law was probably discovered by people

who give talks and seminars in hotels and convention facilities.

Know the Lies People Tell

The first rule to know when holding any kind of public speaking

function is that hotels lie. I learned this when I first began speaking

and I have seen it proved over and again, 90 percent of the

time. Hotels lie.

It is almost as if the people who arrange facilities for conventions,

seminars, and speeches have taken a special course in the

various lies, distortions, and half-truths that they tell the meeting

planners and speakers, especially on the day and at the moment

of the presentation.

Fire Regulations

One of their favorites is ‘‘fire regulations.’’ They always say that

they cannot do or change something because of fire regulations.

The fact is that they do not want to change anything about the

room or the setup. Their claim of ‘‘fire regulations’’ is invariably

false, but it intimidates the inexperienced meeting planner into

acquiescence.

Whenever I hear this, I simply say, ‘‘My father is a fire inspector,

and I am quite familiar with the fire regulations. Please show

me where in the regulations it says you are not allowed to arrange

the room in this way.’’ This always stuns them. They immediately

drop the excuse and begin to cooperate. I’ve seen this happen over

and over again, in hundreds of facilities.

‘‘It’s Computer Controlled’’

Another excuse that they give you is that ‘‘The lighting is computer

controlled. There is nothing we can do about it until the engineer

arrives.’’

For some reason the engineer is never on the premises or immediately

available. He or she is at a meeting, away on vacation,

or dealing with another emergency.

How to Deal with the Lies People Tell

The key to succeeding in organizing the facilities is for you to be

friendly, polite, and charming but simultaneously gently insistent

with the staff. Your goal must be not to get them mad at you early

in the process. They are the only ones who can help you. But here

are some things you can do to get some results.

Threaten Them If Necessary

One day, I was doing a seminar in Tampa, Florida. The room temperature

was 80 degrees. People were perspiring, waving their

seminar materials as fans, and generally unhappy and dissatisfied.

They were starting to leave and ask for their money back on the

way out.

I asked the organizer to call the hotel and have them turn the

temperature down. She called them repeatedly, but to no avail.

They gave all the usual excuses. ‘‘The engineer is working on it; it

is computer controlled; we are doing everything we can.’’

Finally, at the break, I called the head office and told them that

if the temperature did not come down and the air conditioner was

not turned on within two minutes, we would cancel the seminar,

refuse to pay for the room, and sue them for lost revenues. It was

amazing. As I stood there, I could feel the air conditioning coming

on. After pleading with them for two hours and listening to every

excuse imaginable, as soon as we threatened not to pay, the air

conditioning roared on and stayed on for the rest of the function.

Refuse to Pay

I always encourage my clients to call someone in charge and tell

the person, ‘‘We will not pay for the room if the air conditioning

or temperature is not adjusted immediately.’’ In almost every

case, all the technical difficulties that had been holding them back

are suddenly resolved and the temperature is lowered or adjusted

to the proper comfort level.

Check the Lighting

Lighting is very important in a seminar presentation. The total attention

of the audience should be on your face, with only casual

side-glances to your props. Remember that 70 percent of the people

in your audience are ‘‘visuals.’’ They can only process information

if they can see it. The other 30 percent are ‘‘auditories.’’ These

are people who process information only when they can hear it

clearly. Your job is to cater to and satisfy both groups.

Fifty percent of the time, the lighting will be wrong in some

way when you arrive to do your presentation. For this reason, you

always want to arrive early enough so that you can check out the

lighting thoroughly before you go on stage. If something is wrong

with the lighting when you begin to speak, it is almost impossible

to make any changes afterward.

Where to Put the Lights

In stage or TV productions, people spend one or two days in advance

just setting up the lights. They arrange the lighting and

move it around so that there are no shadows on the stage or on

the actors. They make sure that every single person is absolutely

clear to every single participant in the audience, from every angle.

This is the ideal.

As the speaker, you must be fully lit, 100 percent of the time

from both sides so there are no shadows on your face. It is not

unusual for the facility to have lights that beam on you from the

top rather than from the front, shading out the bottom half of your

face. This causes a negative audience reaction.

The Phantom of the Opera

On one speaking occasion at a hotel, we asked for additional lighting

and the hotel told us (remember, hotels lie) that it could only

find one spotlight. The hotel staff brought it into the room and set

it up to one side at the rear of the audience. This spotlight shone

on one half of my face, giving me a ‘‘Phantom of the Opera’’ look

for my entire presentation.

The reaction from the audience was immediate and negative.

People actually became angry. They criticized the talk and demanded

their money back. They walked out. For some reason, the

half-faced lighting made me look sinister and evil and the people

reacted in a negative way. We never made the mistake of having

only one light again.

Your Face Is All-Important

When I organize lighting for a seminar, I tell the technicians that

a person in the back row should be able to see a zit on my face

from where she is sitting. I emphasize that the lighting on the

stage should be as bright as an operating theatre. They often nod

and pretend to agree but secretly think that you don’t know what

you’re talking about. You must therefore be insistent.

In many cases, the staff will set up your stage and podium for

the convenience of the screens rather than to illuminate the

speaker clearly. The staff members will say, ‘‘If we turn on all the

lights, it will wash out the screen.’’ Be alert to this because it happens

all the time. Insist that you don’t care how the screens look.

The light on your face is what counts.

Check in Ahead of Time

I was giving a seminar in Irvine, California, a couple of years ago.

My seminar was for the entire afternoon, and, as usual, I arrived in

the middle of the morning so I could watch the previous speakers.

When I walked into the room, a first-class Hyatt hotel facility,

it was only half lit. It was a form of semidarkness, almost like a

nightclub. The speaker was visible in a hazy, distant sort of way. I

was appalled.

I immediately brought one of the hotel staff members to the

room. I said, ‘‘Is there any way you can turn up the lighting in this

room?’’ He said, ‘‘Oh, did you want the lighting up full?’’

When I said yes, he immediately went to a wall panel, touched

a couple of buttons, and the whole room became fully lit, classroom

style. It was a shock to me and to everyone in the audience.

They had been straining to see and get the message of the speaker

for the last two hours.

It’s Not a Nightclub Performance

This has become a common refrain for me. Whenever I go to a

speaking engagement, I tell them that I want all the lights on full.

I tell them, ‘‘This is not a nightclub performance.’’

It is amazing to me how many professional lighting techni-

cians think that the speaker wants the audience to be darkened

while the speaker is so brightly lit that he or she cannot see people

in the audience because of the glaring light in his eyes. The other

problem with this is that the audience views the speaker more as

an entertainer. People sit quietly to watch the performance, not

wanting to make any noise. They do not respond or interact with

the speaker. The audience sits almost like a mole peering out of

its hole at the speaker lit up on the stage.

Remember, unless you are a professional entertainer in a

nightclub, you want what is called ‘‘one hundred candle power at

desk level.’’ This means that the entire room should be as bright

as a schoolroom. You want people to be able to see one another,

see you clearly, and take notes on the subject you are discussing.

This is essential for audience enjoyment and satisfaction.