Railbirds, Spectators, busted players

[Georg]

Do you allow spectators in the tournament area (not sitting at the table, not talking to the players, and only if the players don't mind).

Georg

[Stuart Murray]

absolutely I allow them, it's good for transparency and advertising.  One thing I do need though is to buy barriers with the seat belt type pull outs for each venues final table because I can have problems with spectators getting far too close to the final table, which although mostly harmless could cause problems at some time.


Regards
Stuart

[LeScribe]

No, I don't allow, because it could quickly turn into a "big mess" if every player has his own spectator 

But every time I build the room layout, I think about spectators to make a rail as widest and closest as possible for the "show", without annoyance for the players.
And when a player bust, I allow him some minutes between tables (sometime to tell a friend he has bust or...) before asking him gently to leave the tournament area.
Firm in the rules and the room management, but allways kind and nice in my words