23. LET THE PLAN GO *
You have a SEMINAR PLAN and you try to stick to it. This can create a kind of inflexibility. At sometime during the sessions, the need will arise, to do something unplanned because a participant asks a question that is not really part of your plan. You have enough BUFFERS, so there is no temporary constraints.
Therefore, let the plan go. Diverge from the plan and improvise the parts that are necessary to cover the unplanned topic. This is a good way to ADAPT TO PARTICIPANTS BACKGROUND. It is important to have a SEMINAR PLAN, to be able to return to that plan after you have finished the unplanned topic. Thus, the insertion of an unplanned topic will not result in chaos.
You could either insert the topic "in-line" and answer it immediately. Then it is good to choose another presentation medium, e.g. the flipchart if you use transparencies for the planned topics.
You could also postpone the unplanned topic until you have finished with a reasonable section of the plan. To make sure that the topic is not forgotten, it might make sense to add the unplanned topic to the overview or to the RESULTS AND PROBLEMS.