The communication conundrum of our focus today is hecklers so it's not uncommon
for you to be giving a talk or a speech and getting heckled disruption from the
audience so that can be anything from having you know late comers walk in to
your talk as you're already in the middle of things it can be people who
are on their phones and chatting they think quietly but still it's such a
distraction because as the speaker you are looking to see what's going on in
the room so it can be people who are causing disruptions as you're speaking
it can be people who get up and walk out and leave the room and not in a quiet
way because okay there are situations where we do need to take a bio break and
we excuse ourselves or we don't but there's a way to do that quietly but
sometimes it's not done that way and it causes a disruption for this speaker now
as the speaker that can completely throw you off guard and it can really impede
your thinking and what comes next in your speech so we don't want that to
happen instead we want to make sure that you are prepared in the event that
you'll get heckled and it happens it's not that you know the audience is doing
it out of malice they're not trying to sabotage your talk but it's more of a
matter of a disregard for the speaker and not really knowing what goes on with
a public speaking event they probably have never given a speech themselves
before or if they have and they've probably gotten heckled and they think
that's the way to go about things but the idea here is to deal with the
hecklers so we're gonna look at strategies that are going to help you
deal with this communication conundrum were it to arise so instead of placing
the blame on the audience saying that oh they were so bored they must have
been so tired they-they-they complaining about the
audience instead what do we do we first have to shift the responsibility onto us
so we assume responsibility for that communication conundrum the fact that it
didn't turn out the way we were hoping it to right because you got heckled now
we're absolutely not condoning their poor manners their lack of etiquette
when it comes to listening to a talk right but we have to remember that it's
our responsibility and it's within our control to excel in giving a talk if we
are doing everything to the best we know how then we don't have to worry about
the other people right so we're gonna look at ways of now assuming
responsibility and what those strategies mean the success of your communication
is within your control so as you see the simple mindset shift from blaming the
audience saying that they were unfocused bored not engaged blaming them for their
behavior and said you're saying okay how can I do better
maybe the delivery was subpar maybe the content wasn't their cup of tea maybe I
didn't research enough about their interests that is a very different
dialogue right a different conversation that you're going to have after the
communication conundrum so that you can prevent future communication conundrums
such as this from happening and that's what we're here to do right and shifting
the focus from them to you is a much more constructive way of taking the next
steps in your communication journey so that you can progress as a communicator
as a public speaker let's get right into it the first strategy get audience
feedback and figure out what went wrong you can do this by going out and asking
people in the audience their honest feedback you can ask the audience to
submit some anonymous written feedback or
perhaps you've planned in advance and you have some sort of printout or
worksheet that you can provide them and ask at the end of your talk to just
spend 3 minutes 5 minutes to anonymously fill out a survey or just
to write their thoughts about your speech right and by doing it anonymously
it takes the pressure off of them to pretend like they enjoyed it when you
know you got heckled and you could see they disengaged audience so that you
know that they actually were not engaged right so you can ask for written
feedback or oral feedback at the end so what does this feedback look like well
you should be asking questions about the content was the content of interest to
you you can also look into the delivery something about the space that you were
in thinking about the actual setting was there enough space for you to move
around or was it a static sort of situation was the a/c on it could be
even a little thing as the temperature in the room right but sometimes just
that little thing makes a world of difference not only for you as it's
bigger but also the audience perhaps there was no entertainment factor in
your speech and there was no levity and maybe the audience would have really
enjoyed some humor in that speech so by asking such questions you will gain so
much insight into what went wrong and how you can make it better for the
future for future talks feedback is very powerful in this way the constructive
criticism is welcomed we want to improve but we won't be able to do that if we
don't have the data points off of which we can base our starting point right and
it's a journey so don't be overwhelmed by perhaps getting a lot of feedback
ultimately we want the feedback but there's a way of approaching it that's
not going to be overwhelming so just take it easy look at the ones that are
maybe the most blaring to you so if it's something about the content
that's very important if if the message is not resonating with your audience
then what's the point right so we have to be mindful of prioritizing the types
of feedback we receive of course we can't focus on everything at once but
have some perspective and look at the ones that you can take action on now and
the ones that are really really important right so perhaps content
delivery style and then adding humor and then adding you know some sort of flair
maybe visual aids but first it comes down to the content the message okay so
be mindful of the perspective there strategy number two carving out more
time you probably have heard me say this before but practice is so important
right just with anything else you're learning how to play the piano
you bought a carve-out time to practice you want to learn how to do Taekwondo
you got to go to lessons you got to practice
it's the same with public speaking right so you might feel like just reading off
of your paper or knowing the subject of your talk is enough hate to break it to
you but it's not why is that because you haven't practiced your talk with the
proper expressions verbal and nonverbal with the body language with the pacing
with adding pause speaking to an audience is different from speaking to a
group of people in a coffee shop right we have to remember adding pause in our
speech so that the audience can grasp the concept so adding in the elements
that we'd like to use in public speaking the various techniques that we've
discussed in different videos is really important to practice altogether it's
not enough to look at a paper with your outline and just rehearse it in your
head we can't do that not if we want a really
good outcome in the talk not if we want the audience to find value in what we're
sharing with them because ultimately it's about them it's not about you it's
about being able to convey a topic or share an idea that really resonates with
them and gets them thinking and inspired and a call to action that's there okay
so it's about how you can add value in their lives
just remember public speaking is a live performance and as a performance there's
so many things that you have to consider when you want to be able to effectively
convey a message to the audience so practicing is one thing but it's not
enough to just read off the paper like I said when you're practicing your talk
you want to act as if you're giving the talk then in there imagine there being
an audience make eye contact with the invisible people in the room right and
it sounds silly and it sounds like oh I don't need to do that I'll remember day
of it doesn't work that way if we don't visualize the scenario and don't
practice it and treat it as a real performance when we're practicing you
cannot expect yourself then to be able to do it day of if you have not
practiced it up until then okay so I really encourage you carve out time and
your busy schedules and practice it the way you would perform it tip number
three gather as much information as you can on your audience it's really
important and it's something that gets overlooked but you know what if you
don't know who your audience is how are you supposed to connect with them right
so think about and learn do the research find out what their interests are find
out their age group find out their socio cultural backgrounds is this a group of
international business people is it a group of exchange students is it a group
of people from one specific country yeah to do the work right it's not enough to
just give a great speech what does that even mean I mean you have to add the
information you know about the audience so that you can give a powerful speech
that resonates with them okay so learning as much Intel as you can
about that audience this is easier if you are giving a talk to people in your
company or giving a talk to people in your group or Association or club or
even class because you already have some understanding as to who they are and
what makes them tick but if you're invited to speak somewhere then ask
figure out who these people are it'll make for a more powerful
connection and ultimately speech and by doing so your audience will be able to
identify with you and connect with your message tip number four getting some
professional feedback professional advice now we can all benefit from
getting another opinion you know when you go shopping and you really like a
dress that you've tried on it's always great to get another opinion from a
trusted source right because sometimes we might be biased towards the colors or
the cut but we don't know if it really suits us so it doesn't hurt to ask our
best friend or our mom or our spouse if they also like the dress right so it's
similar with public speaking with your talk let's say you've practiced it right
you've carved out the time you've practiced it in the way that you want to
present your talk and you've incorporated as many techniques as you
can think of sometimes it's really really helpful to get feedback on what
we've done and where the gaps are because they will have a professional
opinion about things that you can do even better or in a different way or
some ideas as to how to maybe bridge the gap
or maybe of figuring out what makes your audience tick and having your message
resonate with your audience corrective feedback is a marvelous way of getting
to the next level corrective feedback is the feedback that
we get that is constructive and that we have direction on right it's not just
saying oh it was good I liked it or I don't know what it was I wasn't crazy
about it you know that stuff that people are gonna tell you your friends your
family and that's fine that's valuable but if you really want to be serious
about your talk and get to the next level and in your public speaking then
it wouldn't hurt to seek out advice from a coach communications professor
somebody who has experience in the field and also the ability to give good
feedback that is how we grow right so when you take this quality feedback and
you apply it to your talk in a targeted and constructive way it can make a world
of difference and you'll actually see and feel the progress right so it's not
out of the question to seek out professional coaching advice let's
quickly recap before we go the communication conundrum that we're
discussing today in this video is getting heckled during a speech any type
of disruption from the audience or the venue primarily the audience that
interferes with your ability to give the speech this can be as simple and generic
as audience disengagement so you see that the audience is distracted
disengaged and thus leaving the room or on their phones or chatting with people
next to them and ultimately not listening so what do you do well the
solution is the strategies we discussed in this video so we have getting
audience feedback practicing your talk like you would perform it researching
your audience figuring out what makes them tick
and seeking out quality feedback alright Explearners that's it
for this video remember this is the first installment of the five-part
miniseries about strategies that we can use to deal with communication
conundrums I hope that you enjoyed this lesson if you did be sure to give us a
like it means so much to us if you're new around here we're thrilled that you
could join us for this video and be sure to subscribe so that you can join us for
all the videos to come to help you communicate with confidence authenticity
and poise I'll see you in the next video Happy Explearning