With general traffic problem that happened in large cities, it's possible to have late reason from your audiences in attending your presentation session. Then, what should we do if the audiences are still not fully attending while your presentation session should begin according to planned rundown? Let's review some recommendations below that you might use as base in making the best decision.
Know the Number of Latest Audiences
You will need to always update yourself about how many audiences that already on the spot (arrived). If they are exceeding half of the registered numbers (expected), then it's good to start the event based on your plan. This will also show your respect to those who already commit to come on-time . Therefore, it's good to have "re-registration" system so your committee/team can easily track the number of attended audiences.
Open with Casual Topic
If you have decide to start the session even though there are some audiences who are not arriving yet, you might want to open the session with casual topic first (or kind of ice-breaking topic to get you closer with audiences). This casual topic also will be "extra time" to wait those audiences to come hence your core topic won't need to be repeated again.
Use Handouts
It's better if you can provide sort of handouts/sheets of paper containing the presentation's outline that you will give to all audiences. It helps to direct the audience about what kind of sub-topics that are being discussed. Also, the late audiences will be helped with this handout without need you to repeat the same topic (they can catch up the previous topic by looking on handout).
You can also print handouts / sheets of paper containing an outline of the presentation content that is delivered according to the number of audiences. Its function is to give direction to the audience about what sub-topics are being discussed. This is very helpful especially for audiences who are late to attend (they can flash back about what has been discussed and still be able to follow the latest discussion).
Keep Waiting If Audience Has Not Fulfilled the 1/3 Quota
If attended audience has not reach 1/3 of the total audiences who registered before, then it's advisable to wait within 15 minutes. You can provide coffee break just like snacks and drinks yet inform formally to the audience about what's going on and when will you start the session. In parallel, you can ask your team to do a follow up session through phone for those who haven't arrived yet. This is to confirm their attendance and also help to give location direction just in case there are some audiences who face obstacle in reaching the venue.
Always Have Re-Registration Session 30 Minutes Before Session Begins
Re-registration session is very helpful. Set 30 minutes earlier from presentation session to have audience re-registered first. This session will push audiences to attend earlier and for sure you will need to provide kind of coffee break dishes and ask the audience to have sort of networking session so the time will worth spend.
Last but not least, those above considerations should aligned back with your company principles and the type of presentation session. If most of audiences are VVIP figures and the presentation is very important/essential, then it's better to stick within planned timeline because everybody will treat this presentation as important and time-sensitive event.
From the powerpoint side, don't forget to balance your audiences' expectation with stunning visualization. You can use DoctorSlide.com's professional service to ensure your presentation is well designed and easy to understand.
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Disclaimer: this article originated written in Bahasa and being translated using Google Translate hence please understand if there's any mistake of tenses and/or misunderstanding that occurred. Read the original version by switch this web to Bahasa version on upper right button. Thank you for reading!