Questions from an audience

[Bill Mecca]

UGH! I don't have corporate meeting per se, my issue is when they decide to have a training seminar videotaped "for those that can't attend." I do my best to dissuade them from doing this, as I preach it is not an effective use of the medium and is a sure cure for insomnia. 3+ hours of people talking, nothing interesting to look at. Getting questions from the audience is the real PITA. I've tried having the presenter restate the question,:they usually do the first or second question and then its a free for all, I have had a mic in the audience: no one goes to it, the roaming mic: gets there too late.

I also try to tell them that just having the camera in the room has a "chilling effect" and can decrease the effectiveness of that live training session. Best to create a video training product that has some production value, will entertain as well as inform and be the same message every time it's played. But that usually falls on deaf ears. My last hope is the cost of closed captioning. A 4-5 hour ineffective program closed captioned is a lot more expensive than an effective and efficient 10-15 minute video training module.

But I'm just the sax player in the strip club, you wanna hear Night Train again? sure....;-)

Try it all, and do the best you can, it's all you can do. I do like the idea of a printed reminder for them to restate the question, but when people start going wireless, they aren't anchored to the lectern and, well, it's worth a shot.

sorry for the rant, but this issue has just raised it's ugly head again.

Oh and to underscore, I'm one man with one camera, a true one person video department.

[Nick Flowers]

So I get another corporate Q&A (just video crew, no PA and an audience of about 30), and try to remember the good advice I've had from this forum. I print out notices saying "Include Question in your Answer" and place them in view of the speakers: I also coach the speakers in how to do this: I tell the radio hand microphone person to be alert, athletic and ruthless: the audience is instructed at the beginning of the session to save their questions until the end, and then to wait until the mic reaches them; and I rig a couple of 816s to point back to the audience. And it's only the last tactic that works! As the session was about a change in the company pension, everyone was attentive and interested, unlike most of these affairs, and so lots of people had questions and didn't feel like complying with any requests from the sound man! It was like a pack of baying hounds hot on the scent. The hand mic was largely disregarded, and even when it reached a speaker in time it was more often than not waved around like a baton to add force to an argument. Bleedin' chaos! Fortunately the 816s picked up enough to make most of the questions audible, if not transmittable (if this had been broadcast) and the client, who was visibly shocked by what had gone on, was reasonable enough to have low expectations.

There's always somebody worse off than yourself, and yesterday, everybody, it was me!

[Gary Nattrass]

Best take a couple of FISHER booms next time!!!

[Shaun Roemich]

Or a paintball marker and "mark" anyone who doesn't follow directions! SPLAT! Much more gratifying. I've heard people referred to as sheep before but at least sheep can be shepherded!

[Nick Flowers]

..or combine the two suggestions above and fasten a paintbrush onto a Fisher, so you can do the comedy smek-smek (a la 3 stooges) and raddle the offenders at the same time.