• Ask for one volunteer to do your keyboarding (you may have to choose, in which case take someone from the back row). This will mean that the rest of the group's attention is engaged (in probably waiting for their colleague to fail!). Your demands on the volunteer should not be onerous. It is a good idea to write out the words that you would like entered on a flip chart or whiteboard in case your volunteer is dyslexic.

• Break up the group. There are fewer places to hide in smaller groups and you can then circulate to prompt input.

• Have an activity that you can inject into the session. Physical movement, even if it is just to rearrange the chairs or move into groups, will help energize people.

• Do not make comments about the lack of response – this will almost certainly be seen as a sign of weakness and reinforce their behaviour.

• Do not be sarcastic or cutting if you direct a question to an unresponsive party, especially to an individual. The group may laugh but they will be waiting for your scorn to fall on them and this will not encourage further participation.

• Use a range of active learning techniques to ensure learners are engaged – they are less likely to be unresponsive if you have put some thought into making your session interesting and interactive.

• any group that may include unresponsive participants.

• Liaise with others who teach, or are otherwise engaged with, the group to find out if the relevant individuals usually behave like this. If not, then this may signal that your teaching is part of the problem.