"I need to embarrass someone" (#160; Topic D)

In the midst of a 90-minute session on "Internet Marketing" I attended Thursday evening, 6/15/06, the presenter suddenly said "I need to embarrass someone. Please raise your hand if you don't mind being embarrassed." Earlier in the session, he talked about characteristics of an entrepreneur, so I gathered that he wanted to find out something from the attendees. He also talked about a 4-step action plan, so I thought I should apply it to the challenge at hand. (I did not have time to go back to what I jotted down, so I simply improvised.) One, knowledge (what do I know?) -- I know myself well, but I know nothing about the presenter until tonight. Two, assessment of the situation at hand -- I am too old to be embarassed; the presenter seems to be a nice fellow and not mischievous; whatever embarassment he dishes out would, in all likelihood, be manageable. Three, conclusion -- with cost almost zero and benefit positive, a quick cost-benefit analysis suggests raising my hand. Four, action -- raise my hand. But, before I raised my hand, a thought suddenly occurred to me: would I be viewed as being in cohort with the presenter? In attending a no-assigned-seat performance, I prefer sitting reasonably close. When I showed up for tonight's session, I took a front-row aisle seat -- over the objection of one of the presenter's associates serving as usher, who wanted my wife and me to sit elsewhere. Indeed, at the very moment when the presenter asked the question, he was standing next to me. Another thought occurred to me: Am I sitting at a seat reserved for the presenter's cohort? (This brings back a very amusing incident some years back; I hope to write it up someday.) So, I did not raise my hand after all. Interestingly, among 200+ attendees, only one hand was raised, one far back in a very big room. I did not see nor hear what embarrassment was administered, but I learned, from the presenter, when he returned to the front row, that that brave young man received a $10 bill for his action. Well done. And I certainly learned a good lesson.