Handling Hostility During Speech Presentation

A presentation may occasionally give rise to strong feelings or violently opposed viewpoints among members of the audience. When faced with such a situation, you must be able to cope with both overt outbursts and silent reception.

RECOGNIZING DISRUPTERS

Learn to recognize the types of disruptive audience members you may face, and you will be able to deal with them more effectively. Attention-seekers may respond to a speech with sarcasm just to make themselves look clever, while others may respond unwittingly to a rhetorical question, for example, without intending you any malice. The most disruption is likely to be caused by hecklers in the audience, people who disagree with what you are saying, and who actively want to cause trouble.

DEALING WITH HECKLERS

Hecklers appear in all sorts of situations, harassing speakers with awkward comments and interruptions. To deal with hecklers you must be polite but firm. Your goal will be to get the rest of the audience on your side. Hecklers often have a genuine concern, which, if not addressed properly and quickly, may be taken up by other members of the audience. If someone denounces something that you have said, do not enter an argument with them. If you are stating facts rather than opinions, make this clear and present the evidence. Give hecklers the opportunity to speak afterward.

DEALING WITH CONFLICT WITHIN AN AUDIENCE

If a serious disagreement between members of an audience disrupts your presentation, remember that you will be assumed by the audience to be the mediator. Defuse the tension by reassuring everyone that they will get a chance to speak, and restore equilibrium as soon as possible. Get everyone back on the right path by reminding the audience of the presentation’s purpose. In all cases, aim to convey to your audience that you are in control. If the situation deteriorates any further, enlist some help from organizers, or bring the presentation to an end.

FACING AN UNRESPONSIVE AUDIENCE

Although an unresponsive audience is not necessarily a hostile audience, many people would prefer to deal with outright hostility than silence, In such a situation, it is easy to imagine that the audience has no questions because there is interest in your talk. This is unlikely to be the case. They are probably just unresponsive people. If a chairperson is present, you should have no worries. He or she will invite questions from the audience and, if there are none, start with questions of their own. If there is no chairperson, try asking the audience a few general, direct questions to encourage them to respond to you.

DEALING WITH HOSTILITY

An audience might be hostile for a number of reasons, including fundamental disagreement with the point of your presentation, anger at a previous speaker, or resentment at having to sit through your speech when they really came to hear someone else. One technique you can use to deal with hostility is to acknowledge it. Try to disarm a hostile audience by being open, then ask them to be fair and non-judgmental while you give your presentation. Another possibility is to plant a friend or colleague in the audience with a question with which to open the discussion. Your ”plant” can ask an apparently awkward question, to which you can respond with a strong, preplanned answer-winning over some audience members.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Sometimes a speaker can unwittingly generate hostility in an audience by making a cultural faux pas. When making a presentation, pointing with the index finger to emphasize a remark is considered acceptable by most westerners. However, many Asian cultures consider this rude and prefer gestures of indication to be made with the whole hand.

DERISIVE LAUGHTER BY THE AUDIENCE

What if an audience resorts to derisive laughter in an attempt to undermine your credibility? The best response in this situation is to employ humour, and never use sarcasm, which may only exacerbate the situation. If you know that your presentation is likely to provoke antagonism, for example, when making an unwelcome speech to shareholders or at a public meeting, try to anticipate the hostility. Practice field aggressive comments successfully by asking colleagues to fire difficult questions at you. The more experience you have, the better you will become at responding confidently.