Confessions of a Public Speaker (21 page)
Read Confessions of a Public Speaker Online
Authors: Scott Berkun
Tags: #BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Skills
Since all public speaking is a kind of performance, things can and
will go wrong, no matter how good you are. This list comes from my own
experiences, as well as conversations with other veteran speakers. It’s a
handy reference for minimizing fears you might have, or for diagnosing how
you could’ve done something differently after it happened.
Hecklers are rare. When it happens, the
audience is usually as frustrated with him you are. Use
this to your advantage. If you engage a heckler, you often look mean,
but if you get the audience on your side, things end quickly.
Hecklers are people who wish they were on stage, are drunk, or
think they are helping you by contributing.
How to prevent
:
Set the
rules for how the audience can interact with you. If
you want questions held until the end, say so; or, if you’re OK with
them at any time, let the audience know. Also set boundaries for
Twitter and event chat rooms. I always give out my email address so
everyone in the room has an outlet to say things they’re not sure
are appropriate during the lecture.
How to respond
:
Always remember you have more
power than any heckler. If you have the microphone,
you are amplified; he is not. You can interrupt or talk over him,
and he can do nothing to stop you. It’s really not a fair fight in
any sense. As soon as a heckler realizes this, he will silence
himself.Address whoever spoke and ask him to hold his comments or
questions until the end. Done politely and calmly, this nearly
always works. It shows you won’t be rattled and that you’ll stop the
problem before it gets out
of hand. Even if someone makes a joke at your expense,
don’t make it into an argument; politely ask him to wait until your
presentation is over.If you are confident, you can quickly dispatch a heckler with
a joke or funny comment—but be careful. If you’re not good at this,
you’re entering a battle you might lose. It’s easier to laugh at the
joke, even if it’s at your expense. Say, “That’s interesting, thank
you” but continue with your point. This gives him some respect, as
you’re acknowledging his voice, but keeps you in control.If someone is clearly out of line and upsetting other people,
ask the event host to help. If the crowd is hostile or behaving
inappropriately, the host should be willing to take action. You can
ask the heckler to leave if he can’t respect your rules, and the
host should help make this happen if it’s necessary.
Every audience has a culture, and in some cultures it’s common for
people to stare at something other than the speaker. This often takes
energy away from the speaker, so it’s usually to the speaker’s advantage
to have as much eye contact from the audience as possible. Sometimes
people are just taking notes or sharing what you say with other people,
which is good for you, but other times they’re playing Solitaire or
wandering the Web, which isn’t good. People in the audience should be
free to choose how they want to listen, but you are also free to
influence how they make that choice.
How to prevent
:
You can ask people to close their laptops. Don’t demand
it—respect their right to do
what they like, especially if they are paying to be in
the room. But you can tell them you think you’ll do a better job if
you have the room’s undivided attention.Sometimes I say the following: “Here’s a deal. I’d like you to
give me your undivided attention for five minutes. If after five
minutes you’re bored, you think I’m an idiot, or you’d rather browse
the Web than listen, you’re free to do so. In fact, I won’t mind if
you get up and leave after five minutes. But for the first 300
seconds, please give me your undivided attention.” Most people close
their laptops.Keep in mind that some people take notes on their laptops.
They might be live blogging or tweeting what you’re saying, vastly
increasing your audience beyond the room. An open laptop doesn’t
always mean you’re being ignored.
How to respond
:
There isn’t much you can do, but you should focus on the
people who are fully engaged.Go with the flow. Have Twitter open on your laptop, project it
on the screen, and take a moment midway through your talk to review
comments and questions.Ask the host to monitor Twitter or the event chat room as a
way to get the best questions and comments from the back channel
into your presentation. Let the audience know this is happening and
how they can send a question to the host.
Event schedules have mistakes, and speakers pay the price.
Cancellations, travel delays, or other logistical problems put event
organizers in difficult spots where they have no other choice but to
limit your time. If your slot is late in the day, you may be forced to
give a shorter presentation to make up the time.
How to prevent
:
Unless you’re the organizer, it’s not your job to keep others
on time. If you do notice the schedule getting behind and your talk
is late in the day, let the organizers know. Recommend they cut a
break short, or ask several speakers to make up a few minutes each
rather than force you to pick up the slack for the entire
day.
How to respond
:
If your talk needs to be cut short, ask the organizer to
introduce you and to tell the
audience it’s not your fault the schedule has fallen
behind. This will at least get you some additional sympathy from the
crowd.
There are days when the vibe in the room is all wrong, and it
feels like the audience either hates you or just wants you to shut up.
It can especially feel this way when speaking in foreign countries or in
corporations that have just announced major layoffs (but no one told you
this before). Or, maybe you actually did something stupid, and they
rightfully hate you for it.
How to prevent
:
Your host is your guide. He should tell you if there is
something you need to know, like recent layoffs or other bad news
that might be on people’s minds. If you’re paranoid, you can ask,
“Is there anything that happened recently I should know
about?”Get there early. If you are early, you can introduce yourself
and talk to people who will be in your audience. You’ll get a feel
for what they’re like; it may change how you approach the larger
group.
How to respond
:
On some days you just have to go into robotic mode, and give
your presentation as if you are speaking to a crowd who likes you.
Just do your thing and don’t worry about the audience. If they hate
you, they hate you, but don’t fall into the trap of trying to change
your presentation on the fly out of fear that they don’t like you.
It’s impossible to do. Go on with the show enthusiastically for the
sake of the handful of people who might hate you less than you
think.Cut material to get to your Q&A quickly. If you have
optional stories you sometimes tell, drop them. The sooner you get
to Q&A, the faster you can diagnose what’s going on. And at
worst, the sooner your talk will be over.
This is the polite variant of the heckler, and it’s much more
common. Some people don’t realize they are abusing their question-asking
privileges and fail to notice they are speaking almost as much as you
are. Just be glad you’re not married to someone like this—you’d never
get a chance to speak at all.
In some cases, these people answer questions addressed to you
because their drive to impress you, and others, is so strong.
How to prevent
:
The general
rule is that people raise their hands with questions,
and you pick who gets to speak. If you keep calling on the same
person, whose fault is it?If people are yelling out questions or comments, ask them to
first raise their hands.
How to respond
:
Realize the audience hates these people. They’re annoying and
often come off as teacher’s pets, which no one likes. The sooner you
quiet them down, the happier the audience will be with you.Just because a question is asked does not mean you are
obligated to answer. Ask the audience, “How
many people are interested in this question?” If only
a fraction of the audience raises their hands, tell the asker to
come up afterward and you’ll answer then.During a break, talk to the person in private. Thank him for
his contributions, but ask him to hold off on asking more questions
so others can have a chance to contribute. Give him your email as an
alternative way to ask questions.
minutes to ask
A good warning sign of this is a
question that has a 60-second preamble. Whoever is asking
a question this long hasn’t thought about it enough yet to even form a
question.
How to prevent
:
This is tough. Warning people to avoid
rambling
questions tends to intimidate them from asking
anything at all. It’s much better to respond when and if it
happens.
How to respond
:
Ask a clarifying question, “Do you mean X or Y?” Interrupt
people if necessary. If they seem lost, ask them to rethink their
question while you answer the next question. Then go back to them
later. This is pushy, but if you do it with charm, the audience
appreciates it.Realize the audience hates these people,
too. They didn’t come to the session to hear someone’s
rambling, poorly formed pseudo-question. If someone is 30 seconds
into a question, and you think he’s going nowhere, you’re the only
one in the room who can do anything about it.If you do cut him off, remind him of your email address and
mention that longer questions are fine—just not in real time.Sometimes people want to make a point of their own, which is
more than fine, provided it’s short. Same advice as above applies in
this case.
There is nothing wrong with a tough question you can’t answer.
There is no law that says you as the
speaker must know everything. If you are speaking on an
interesting topic, of course there will be questions you can’t answer.
There were plenty of questions Einstein couldn’t answer either. Even
omnipotent speakers can’t answer the question, “What is something you
can ask omnipotent speakers that they can’t answer?”
How to prevent
:
The only solution is to have a talk so boring, or so obscure,
that tough questions are impossible because the audience doesn’t
know what the hell your point was. Don’t do this.
How to respond
:
Learn to say three words: “I don’t know.” They are easy to
say. You will not die instantly if you say them.Write down the question or ask someone to email it to you, and
promise you’ll post an answer to your blog.Offer the question to the audience. Maybe you’re not the only
one who can’t answer the question. If no one in the audience knows,
they seem at least as dumb as you do. And if someone does know,
you’ve helped the person who asked the tough question get an answer,
even if it’s not from you.
Often microphones only partially break. They have feedback or
flitter in and out. This is incredibly distracting for an audience, and
they will blame you for it. If after a couple of minutes the problem
doesn’t resolve itself, assume the microphone is broken.
How to prevent
:
Pray to the gods of A/V equipment.
Demand a sound check before your talk.
Ask the A/V people where there are sound problems in the
room.
How to respond
:
Confirm with the audience they are hearing the same problems
you are. Sometimes the problems are only heard at the front of the
stage.Get the tech crew involved. This is why they are paid. As
embarrassing as it is for you, if you get them to help, the audience
will know it’s not entirely your fault.In moderately sized rooms (100 people or less), the acoustics
are often good enough for people to hear you without a mike if you
project well. Step forward, and you might be able to get started
while the tech crew fixes things.The best filler material is to ask people what they hope to
learn. Or ask people who have been in their current job for fewer
than five years to raise their hands. They will always be able to
answer, and it gives you some useful background data.If it’s a long session, take a break. People like breaks.
Rather than force them to watch you struggle with the equipment,
give the audience five minutes to get coffee or go to the
restroom.
