How to Deal with Difficult People in Your Audience

How to Deal with Difficult People in Your Audience
When giving a presentation or speech, there is nothing more
distracting than an unresponsive audience, a restless
audience or an angry audience. But by remaining calm, you
can speak to these types of audiences and still get your
message across. Keep in mind that it's probably not you -
it may be the subject matter, the issues you're trying to
inform others about or it might be something unrelated like
uncomfortable seating or a bad meal.

Dealing with an Unresponsive Audience

If you notice the audience is not responding the way you
expected them to respond after telling a story or a joke,
the best way to handle the situation is to continue
speaking. Common reasons why audience members may be
unresponsive include the following:

1. The Speaker is speaking too fast and the audience is
missing vital pieces of the speech;

2. The audience has sat through more than one speech
already;

3. The topic is a serious one and the audience is trying to
understand it;

4.Speech is too long;

5.Many times, slowing the speech down can cause a response
in the audience.

If you notice that people in the first few rows are leaning
forward, you may need to speak louder or slow down the
speech so everyone will be able to hear you. If the
audience remains unresponsive, you should continue with
your speech and ask people in the audience you trust for
their opinion. Feedback is important if you want to improve
your public speaking skills.

Dealing with a Restless Audience

It is inevitable that during a presentation or speech,
people will show up late or leave early. Not only is this
disrespectful to the speaker, it's also disrespectful to
the audience. When giving a presentation to your audience,
ask the person organizing it before you begin if they
anticipate more people to show up. This will reduce the
stress of having to pause and resume the presentation after
they've found a place to sit. If you're interrupted during
a presentation, pause and take a deep breath. Resume the
presentation so those who arrived on time can benefit from
the entire speech.

Dealing with an Angry Audience

Depending on the topic of your speech, you may have to deal
with angry audience members who have a different opinion on
the topic than you do. While debate is necessary for the
formation of new ideas, you should try your best to get
through the speech before answering questions or engaging
in a debate. If this is not possible, you may have to alter
the format and turn your speech into a question and answer
session. While you may not have time to cover all of the
points within your speech, you may be able to turn a
potentially bad situation into an educational one for those
attending. For most public speakers, audience disturbances
like these are minimal. Unless you're running for public
office or you work in academia, you won't find much
hostility in the audiences you speak to.

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