Seinfeld and Churchill agree on this. Do you?

Earlier this summer, a C-SPAN clip was going viral. Move over Hulu, Netflix and HBO Max...

C-SPAN, which stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, was having their 15 minutes of fame on "social."

Was it over a modern day Henry Clay delivering a speech for the ages?

Was it a live feed from the House floor of an historic vote to pass a landmark piece of legislation?

Or was it an OUTSTANDING example of someone behaving a certain way in a room...that challenged how we are trained to behave in said room.

Thank you to Guy Rose (6 year old son of Congressman John Rose), who adeptly reinforces that, for better or for worse...

Venues come with scripts. (a takeaway from Priya Parker's wonderful book The Art of Gathering)

In Chapter Two of her book, Parker covers "the Who" and "the Where" of gatherings. Today's SIP will focus on "the Where," with the help of two guys that know a thing or two about getting their point across.

Parker spends some time quoting Jerry Seinfeld, who once told an interviewer this about comedic success:

"The room is doing 80% of the job."

The guy famous for a long-running show about nothing, has some pretty clear insights about room setup and dynamics.

• He talks about the challenge of "some rich guy" seeing him do a stand-up routine in a club and wants to hire him for his wife's birthday party.

• He shows up in a living room with 30 guests milling around and does the same routine, and he crashes and burns.

Seinfeld explained to the interviewer why...

"The reason is the context of the room does eighty percent of the work, in terms of giving you a position of advantage over the audience."

Think about those words for a second..."position of advantage over the audience." He is a comedian and comedians basically have one metric for success: laughs. And to get a laugh, Seinfeld has a real commitment to writing, but on the day of a show he needs to know that he can...

• be seen,
• be heard and
• have undivided attention.

As you plot your next speaking engagement or course lecture, make sure the room is working for you.

• I prefer to arrange tables in a U-format, to walk around and to not be tied to being behind a podium.
• What is your preferred set up?

Parker's second "phone-a-friend" when it comes to room setup is Winston Churchill.

She reminds us of Churchill's speech to the House of Lords in October 1943...requesting that the House of Commons bombed out in May 1941 be rebuilt exactly as before.

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”

Parker borrows Churchill's insight and flexes it a bit: "first you determine your venue, and then your venue determines which you gets to show up." So often we stress over the guest list. But don't underestimate the venue...

"Figuring out your venue is about deciding how you want those chosen few to be the fullest versions of themselves..."

So I leave you with a few venues...consider how you or your invited guests would tend to act in these disparate locations.

• And look to shape your future spaces in way that allows your guests to fully show up and be their best selves...

Grade: B+

Left field bleachers at an MLB game - lots of chatter and easy to move around and grab a second funnel cake

Grade: C-

I'm waiting for my car to be fixed and the guy next to me in the customer lounge decides to call his wife on speakerphone...

Grade: D

Flying coach class to Europe and the 4 foot 11 inch lady next to me wins the war of the armrest

Grade: A

Neat little cove in an art studio in Barcelona...something tells me that the unmatched furniture has played home to many spirited conversations.

In closing, you are interesting. Your content is interesting.

Make sure your venue is working in your favor to maximize your gathering.