iLEAP Academia

Start with understanding the characteristics of your audience - age group, gender, education level, preferences. Understand what their expectations are. Armed with this data, you could start out with a warm and sincere greeting. Trust and genuineness are the  cornerstones  of any relationship, so just be  yourself. 

Don’t pretend to be what you aren’t. Stand straight, warm up to the  audience, break the ice, make conversation. Do anything that will help you connect with them. You are sure to feel their vibes, their nonverbal cues, and this will give you the signal to proceed confidently. Pay attention to your body language – convey positive vibes, show enthusiasm and energy. A bright smile goes a long way!

Handling difficult members in the audience

You are bound to find that one difficult person who waits to create trouble and ruin your good run. There are different kinds  of hecklers,  and one has  to handle them  differently. However, the base line is that as a speaker you have  to control the  audience and not give away that right, or else you will not only lose credibility but have to  control a chaotic  group that could well break into fisticuffs. Difficult members will try to break your composure and test your patience by asking difficult or inappropriate questions. Stay calm and in control, for remember that anger generates hostility.

One option is to ignore the person as you are not bound to entertain every question.  Another option is to limit the number of questions a person can ask. In this way, an individual doesn’t get the opportunity to repeatedly ask questions. Sometimes,  you  could ask  the  audience  to write  down their  questions  and have  one  among them  to pass it  to you. You could choose to answer them at the end of the presentation, perhaps even picking up in random order within permissible time limits.

The best  option is however to address the person directly and tell him that while  you appreciate his interest in the subject, you  would  prefer to  handle  questions at the end, and therefore request him  to save his questions  for later.

If someone in the audience, for whatever reason, disagrees with your point and expresses anger, show empathy.  Listen attentively and acknowledge their viewpoint using words like –‘well that is a fair point.’

Hecklers can take the form of:

Mr. Expert - such a person likes to show off his additional knowledge and interrupts with inputs. If the  information is new thank them  for  it, but if it isn’t then confront him  with asking  to  expand on what he/she said  or  invite him/her to trade places  with  you!

Mr. Funnyman - Such a person likes  to clown around, laugh if the joke is funny  but if it  gets repetitive then say we might have  to  extend the  presentation and  suggest  an  alternative  day, a non-working  day  perhaps  to  finish  it. This will effectively cause the person to shut up.

Mr. Attitude - Such people will exhibit closed body language, are negative and refuse to participate. Avoid them  if  you can,  for it  isn’t  worth wasting  your  energy, otherwise treat such  people with  dignity and let them be.

Mr. Loud mouth – Such  a person loves  to offer his  two penny  worth at  every stage and put  him in place  saying that you need  to be fair  and give  others a chance  to speak  too.

Mr. Aside - He talks continuously.  Momentarily pause. The pregnant silence will alert the person or physically walk across and stand next to them and continue the presentation. This will embarrass them enough to cut out the conversation.

Summary:

• A smile is the best credibility you can offer.
• Know the common types of hecklers who can interrupt your presentation - Mr. Expert, Mr. Funnyman, Mr. Attitude, Mr. Loud mouth, Mr. Aside

Reflection Time

While conducting a presentation you notice that two people in the audience have been whispering to each other. You notice that they are looking at their mobile phones and sharing covert smiles. You  find this a distraction, however knowing that pulling them up is  going  to cut  out  on  delivery  time, you  decide to opt  for an  alternate method to  get them  to refocus  on the  presentation. What would that step be?

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