Suggested Techniques For Dealing With A Difficult Audience

You can't please all the people all the time, the saying warns, and it's no less so in the public speaking arena. If your worst fear about public speaking is dealing with a difficult audience or audience member, then you might as well face it now, because it's extremely likely to happen sooner or later.

Custom Publishing
Custom Publishing - a key component in the marketing mix

This is a key step in handling fear of public speaking.

Fortunately, you don't have to let the fear of dealing with a difficult audience stop you. And you certainly don't have to let a disruptive and otherwise disrespectful audience member stop you. With the following methods and reminders, you can take charge of your speech from the beginning and maintain control and authority over your presentation through to the finish by handling fear of public speaking.

The first thing to remember is that you are not the only one disturbed by a disruptive presence in the audience. The audience is disturbed too. The vast majority of people you speak to sincerely want to hear what you have to say. Even if they're present not completely of their own volition (as in a mandatory meeting for school or work), they've still made the tacit agreement in being there to at least allow you the courtesy and common decency of listening to and consider what you have to say.

A disruptive presence, therefore, is going to agitate them as much as it does you. That implicit sense of camaraderie with your audience should help you greatly in facing the disruptive presence.

If one or more people in an audience start to heckle you, interrupt you, or in any other way disrupt your speech, there are a number of practical measures you can take to deal with the situation, most notably the following:

* Begin your speech by asking people to raise their hand if they have a comment or question or inform them that ample opportunity will be designated at the end of the speech for same. If someone interrupts anyway, calmly remind them of your opening request.

* If someone gets confrontational or antagonistic with your point of view, you can either try and refute their arguments yourself, or - even better - you can open it up to the audience for debate. Typically, members of the audience will speak up to defend your point for you. Whether you convince everyone in the room of your position or not, your role as public speaker is simply to present your ideas clearly and coherently. Don't let yourself be drawn into an argument with any one member of the audience and risk turning off the rest of the group as a result.

* If asked a question or presented with an unfamiliar argument to which you have no ready reply, humbly admit that you don't know the answer to the question or haven't fully considered the point presented enough to give an informed reply. If appropriate, promise to look into it and get back to the individual (or the entire group) at a later date. The audience will appreciate the humility and honesty, and will be more likely to trust the information that you do present knowing that you avoid pretending to know things that you don't.

* Request the individual(s) come see you after the speech is done to discuss the issue further, as right now you have a lot of material to discuss and not enough time to adequately devote to their concerns in this forum.

* If appropriate, ask them to leave.

When dealing with a difficult audience, remember that the audience has a duty to you and each other every bit as much as you, the public speaker, has to them. Your responsibility only extends so far, and you cannot control another person's behavior. People can be disruptive during speeches. Don't take it as an indication of your failure as a presenter. Simply take it in stride, and forge ahead, armed with the suggestions in this article, confidence in your material, and belief in yourself.