I played on stage on Saturday night, to about 60 punters in a hall that could hold 250 people. It was extrememly hard to get any atmosphere going, especially with a 40 foot ceiling, hard walls and a wooden floor.

When setting up, the organiser had placed the tables around the edge of the room effectively creating a massive void as the dance floor - it must have been 60 feet long by about 30-40 feet wide. When I arrived I, naturally, started to set up on the stage. With hindsight, I wished I hadn't.

I wish I had set up on the dance floor, to be in close proximity with the audience and I wish I had encouraged the organiser to move the tables in a bit.

Do you agree, or would you have done the same?

I was in a similar situation a few weeks ago. Big long hall, but less than 50 people. They would have "rattled" in such a huge hall.

I set up (about*) halfway down the hall (after checking with the organiser). I ran about 8~10 tables wall-to-wall behind me to further enhance the halfway-stop (and ensure any kids running around, didnt start circling the disco and using the extention leads as skipping ropes etc.

*There were some fire exit doors at exactly the half way mark, and a set up slightly over halfway down the hall to ensure that I didn't restrict those doors.

I would have done the same as Gary. It's awful when gigs like this happen. I have had this problem before, all you can really do is your best!

Yep, forget the stage on gigs like this, you can then be performing 'with the crowd', far more intimate, and it works well. Only problem I see is if they were expecting 3 million guests int the first place and only 4 guests turn up.

I had the same problem as you a few months ago at a wedding reception. 37 people in a hall that would hold 300! Had set up earlier in the day on the stage so it was too late to change things when we returned in the evening. Same thing with the tables too. A vast expanse of floor intimidates people and makes them feel conspicuous ( as they are of course in those circumstances).

Had I had the opportunity I would have gone on the floor.

There are one or two halls locally which can be made so much better by not having the tables placed round the walls. When the opportunity arises we always advise clients using these venues to go for a more "intimate" layout. Surprisingly ( or is it? ) not everybody understands the need for the right atmosphere.

Sometimes there is nothing you can do with guests rattling about in a very large tin can. ! I've been in this situation with a massive hall and few guests.

My tricks to help the situation are to....

Draw any stage curtains making the room look smaller and absorb sound to make less echo

Set up in front of the stage or across a corner of the room leaving yourself loads of room.

If you can set the tables an chairs up around the dance floor quite close to it and for some strange reason the guest act like sheep and stay inside the pen.

Prevention is better than cure. When your client goes to book you sometimes it is worth mentioning...

It's better to hire a small venue for a more successful party
and
It's better if the bar is in the same room as the disco so you don't loose half of your guests to the bar.

I've had this problem in the past, too, as I expect most of you have.
Never even considered setting up on the floor rather than the stage - an excellent suggestion.

All you can do if put in this situation is hope the alcohol works, and a handful at least hit the floor on occasions. Difficult situation though, as you can't help feeling the customer might judge you on the degree to which the floor is (not) filled.

I agree also with the small hall bit. We have a smallish village hall which accomodates 100 people, and parties usually go down well here - bar is in the same room too.

Slightly off-topic, but related - not really a way of getting people to dance, but this is something I do to keep my own morale up in a large venue, small crowd situation.

Instead of looking at the number of people on the dance floor, I look at the number of people sitting down. The dance floor might be pretty empty, but if there's hardly anyone sitting down that means I'm doing my job well (because the few people who are in there are all on the dance floor). I'll also make a comment to the promoter, if appropriate, along the lines of "well, there aren't many people here but at least they're all dancing".

If I find the situation getting under my skin, I'll have a look around and see if members of the audience are tapping their feet or nodding their heads - this at least suggests they are enjoying the music.

On occasions some consolation can be got this way.