Yesterday I enjoyed a lively conversation with a colleague on presentations that go bad quickly due to a lack of speaker training. By “bad,” I’m referring to a devolution into frustration and confusion for both the audience and the speaker. This can happen when you’re dealing with an audience with a shorter than average attention span. With all of the electronic distractions available these days, that seems to increasingly be the case. Others reasons may be that the presentation is mandatory for busy employees, or the reality of it’s content isn’t what was marketed to the public.
When the audience starts to get tired and disgruntled, you, the speaker, are in trouble. Many times when speakers find themselves in this situation, some form of disruption or “heckling” begins, and the speaker makes the fatal mistake of reacting defensively. Responding to uncooperative audience members with sarcastic or otherwise negative remarks that anger or humiliate them is a bad idea. Remember, the goal is always to maintain or repair a damaged rapport with your audience.
Prevention is the best solution, but if it’s too late for that, I recommend two strategies to speakers who have found themselves “down the rabbit hole” in this unpleasant place with their audience.
1) If you’re anywhere near the end of your presentation, get to your close fast. Pass out the assessment sheets and ask for additional comments on the sheet. Remind them that constructive feedback consists of clear and specific suggestions backed up with reasons why the suggestions are made.
2) Call a break as soon as possible, and leave the area during the break. Do not stay in the room or make any attempt to interact with the audience. This will give those who don’t want to be there any longer a chance to leave discreetly. When the break is over, acknowledge their frustration and confusion and announce a q&a session for a limited amount of time to clarify expectations or miscommunications. Once you’ve done that, press on with whatever portions of your presentation remain relevant to your audience.
Stay tuned for more on prevention….
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