When I was teaching college undergraduates Id purposely call on quiet and whispering students to see if they did their homework, to expand the zone of participation, and as a way of controlling counterproductive behavior.

Later, when I transitioned into adult education, I did the same thing, until I was instructed by some very sharp trainers that it can backfire, especially when it comes to receiving positive evaluations. Some people utterly hate being called on; they prefer to watch a seminar, somewhat like TV, without being forced to become one of the programs architects.

Also, there are more subtle ways of getting quiet, shy and even negative people to add value to discussions, and calling on them is somewhat primitive if you know these techniques.

Earlier this week I observed a seminar in which the leader purposely put people on the spot, made them respond to questions that were highly directive, and benefited from having done so.

Of course, he also paid for the privilege, because he bought them dinner; the event was sponsored by his financial services company.

His goal is to earn their business, and he does it by informing, and at times by shocking them. Then he feeds them, and he sets appointments to follow-up, at which time he closes the deal.

The seminar is carefully scripted to produce predictable outcomes, to predispose participants to buy. And of course, in any group, a certain percentage of them refuse to do this, no matter how theyre coddled, cajoled, or challenged.

Theyre there for the free meal, and there is an insiders term for them: theyre plate lickers.

But the vast majority take the next step with the leader, despite the fact, or perhaps because of the fact that he bosses them around.

So, should YOU call on seminar participants, putting them on the spot?

The answer is YES, if you want or need a commitment from some of them, if your purpose is commercial, you simply have to be willing to be as bold as it takes to get their attention, to aim it in a specific direction, and to tie down a commitment to move forward.

But if you want to be UNIVERSALLY LIKED, to harvest positive course evaluations, and to appear to, say a university administrator, as a good teacher, you might choose to avoid it.

If you do a little arithmetic, youll see that simply two people out of fifteen that give you very low scores can torpedo your overall teacher ratings.

Schools dont concern themselves with how high you take certain people, but rather with whether you seem to reach everyone. And, because theyre driven largely by politics, they dont want to offend anyone.

Choose your techniques carefully, based on your overall objectives, and make sure to measure what really counts in your arena!