If you’re among the titans of British business – or even merely a Government Minister – your acolytes gather around and solemnly advise that you should hold sensitive meetings on your own “territory”. This, they say, gives you a psychological advantage and makes the others acknowledge your position.

Selecting the right venue can exercise a lot of people. In our new training course, Effective Public Meetings, we often have a heated debate about the best place to hold such events. We all agree about making the occasion as welcoming as possible (though we did recently have a highly experienced civil servant argue that one should on no account smile ….lest it give the “wrong impression”!) but can’t agree about using the most welcoming venues. A plush hotel may not be right for some public meetings; but then, some of our Community halls can be draughty and miserable, and may lack the facilities which disabled people and others with particular requirements may need.