A point made above seems to me vital ~~ always start on time. When I ran the Sawston, Cambs, Folk Club, long years ago now, I was both resident singer & my own MC. I always started singing sharp at 8.00, even if there was nobody in the room but me and the girl waiting to take the money on the door. I reckoned that, if anyone came along, they could hear that something was happening and they would come in. If anyone had come at 8, or 10 past, and been met by a wall of silence, then more than likely they would just have gone away again, rather than taken on trust that something might happen eventually.

~Michael~