|
Public speaking ranks as one of the
highest fears, right up there with going to the dentist. To make matters worse,
when doing a presentation with 200 pairs of eyes fixated, we’re sometimes caught
in an awkward or embarrassing situation. Getting cold feet and the shivers yet?
Read on to see what you can do to salvage your reputation when forced into a
tight spot, and still look cool and undefeated!
Hostility KILLS!
We have all encountered the devil’s
advocate who likes to pose awkward and difficult questions to speakers during
presentations, sometimes with unmasked hostility. As the speaker, wouldn’t you
like to give as good as you get? But first, calm down. While the instinctive
reaction is to strike back, you need to remind yourself not to take the remarks
personally. Remember the remarks are not targeted specifically at you, but at
issues raised during your presentation. Stay calm and remain friendly, no matter
how antagonizing the remarks/questions may be. It helps to have a good sense of
humour. Making a witty remark may help lighten the atmosphere when the tension
is at its highest and make the presentation memorable instead of unfriendly.
More importantly, see the hostile question posed as an expression of interest,
and respond to the question, not the person posing it.
Rock-a-bye-baby - The Sleeping Contingent
For some reason, presentation settings
tend to bring out the most extreme behaviours in people. Besides the hostile
firing squad, we also have some people who automatically fall asleep at
presentations as if they have popped sleeping pills.
The problem with having sleepers amongst
your audience is that they become a form of distraction to others. Instead of
focusing on you, the attention is turned to the sleeper as people wonder whether
the sleeper will start snoring or fall off his chair. Should you, the speaker,
attempt to wake the sleeper up? Yes and no. If it’s a small audience and the
sleeper is obviously disrupting the class, just move closer to him and raise
your volume slightly. A sudden change in the surroundings will usually wake the
sleeper up. However, to avoid causing more disruption, try not to spur the
audience into a laughing fit. Maintain a straight face and let things settle
down. On the other hand, if your audience size is large, the level of
distraction becomes lower and it may be preferable to leave things as they are.
Equipment Woes
As Murphy’s Law states, whatever can go
wrong, will go wrong. And usually at the most inopportune times. This is
especially so with equipment problems as they tend to break down inexplicably.
Projectors suddenly go blank, presentation slides become corrupted, microphones
stop working, speaker systems break down. When technology fails, what do you do?
The strategy is to always have a backup plan. For instance, always keep backup
copies of presentation slides in a separate thumb disk, to safeguard against
possible corruption in the originals. Print out a physical copy of your
presentation slides, so that you can present your ideas on a board or flipchart
should the projector decide to fail you too. If sound systems break down, get
creative and start walking around among the audience, and continue with your
presentation off-stage. Your audience will probably admire you for your
quick-thinking skills, and you will leave an impression instead of a smudge on
people’s minds. Be flexible, get creative!
|
