Have you ever been to an engagement where there is a speaker, presentation or performance on stage? You might have a designated table number and when you go to sit down you know that the best seat at the round table is one that faces the stage without any adjustments needed. I know when I’ve attended these events and I am a guest of somebody who has purchased the table, I always try and take the worst seat out of consideration for my host. When the speaker or presenter takes the stage I always have the awkward decision to completely turn my chair around to face them or do some kind of half turn and crick my neck.
This is exactly the problem we can run into with performances at venues with round tables.Half of the guests at the table will have to turn their chair around and they cannot engage with other people at their table as easily. Dueling pianos is such a socially engaging form of entertainment that we want people to be able to watch us comfortably and still be able to enjoy the company of people at their table.
It’s for this reason that we find the most success with engagement and holding a crowd when we have rectangle tables. These allow for everybody to have the same view while usually only slightly angling their chairs. Placing the tables so that the short end of the table is parallel with the stage or performance area is the best way to accomplish a clear sightline (see the example image below).
As a bonus, rectangle tables are a more efficient way to utilize space and allow for more seating capacity. They can also work better for the overall flow of a room, especially if you’re having servers throughout the room.
A lot of times venues only have access to round tables and that is ok. More often than not, we are playing in a room with round tables. My goal here is to make you think of the possibility of having rectangle tables at your event, because that is usually the problem, nobody even thinks to ask a venue if rectangle tables are an option. Think outside the circle.