When Audience Members Distract the Speaker

Recently I presented to 130 people at an event at the beautiful Algonquin Resort in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. I followed my usual preparation routine of arriving at the venue very early, checking out the sound system and talking with the sound guys, walking the room and walking the stage, in this case during their coffee break, and chatting with some of the attendees. I was prepared, comfortable, acclimatized and ready.

I started my presentation by acknowledging those in the audience with French as their first language using my limited French language skills, and then proceeded with my 45-minute presentation. 

The room was arranged in a series of round tables, and I was presenting from a raised stage. I wore a clip-on lavaliere microphone.  The presentation was rolling along well, however, after about 15-minutes I noticed a gentleman at the table directly in front of me chatting with a table mate and making a blah-blah gesture with his right hand. 

I was slightly taken aback. This was new ground for me.  Was the gesture about me? I couldn’t be sure, but in order to finish my work for the day, I quickly decided the gesture had nothing to do with me. He was likely involved in a side conversation about something else. I controlled my reaction, and the remainder of the presentation went very well. 

Managing Your Reactions

In this situation, I was presenting to a room of 130 people. One of the attendees, only one, made a gesture that may have been a negative reaction to how I was presenting. I needed to control my reaction. Speakers need to control their reactions and deliver for the larger audience. 

Tips Regarding Distracting Audience Members

1. Audience Member Distracting the Speaker

A speaker’s obligation is to the larger group.  If an audience member is distracting the speaker *only*, the speaker needs to work to manage his or her reaction. In my recent example, the audience member may have been physically making a derogatory comment about me to his seat mate. I will never know, and it doesn’t matter now. 

What is important in such a situation is to control your reaction as a speaker. In a similar situation in the future, I will again choose to quickly decide that such a gesture is absolutely not about me, and to continue on unfazed. That might be a trick I play on my emotions, but it worked once, and should work again.

2. Audience Member Distracting Other Audience Members

I’ve encountered this a few times. Usually, it’s because a couple of audience members are having a side conversation, and the volume or the activity is distracting to others.  Sometimes it’s distracting because of the cross talk, sometimes others are simply annoyed by the rude behavior. 

I have a couple of approaches for this;

a) Prolonged Silence and Eye Contact 

To use this approach simply stop talking, look in a friendly manner to the parties engaged in the side conversation, and enjoy the uncomfortable silence.  I’ll usually let the silence linger for what feels like too long, then act like I need to check some notes before I proceed. This is a little aggressive, but it works.

If the distracting behavior continues, you may have to use this approach again, and then acknowledge their conversation indicating that it is distracting for those around them.  Invite them to complete their conversation outside the room and once they’re complete to please return to the room. 

b) Physical Presence  

This approach is still aggressive, but less so and only works is a smallish room.  This would have worked in my room of 130 people. 

In this approach, I would continue speaking but walk to the table or area where the side conversation was taking place, and simply assert a physical presence. In the past, I have gently touched the table, made eye contact, and continued speaking my material.  This is a little uncomfortable, but has helped me manage side conversations, for the benefit of the larger audience. 

Conclusion 

If you’re presenting, your obligation is to your entire audience. In such a leadership position, you need to manage the room professionally so the audience can enjoy and absorb your material. 

In other situations, you may need to take a brief pause to allow wait staff to clear the room, as this can be noisy and distracting. You may have to take a moment with those managing a sound system to ensure that they’re making available an acceptable audio environment.  You may need to professionally manage some audience members that are distracting other audience members. 

Finally, you always need to manage your reactions. In the example I provided, I remain curious why my one audience member was making a blah-blah gesture with his hand. Ultimately, it didn’t and doesn’t matter. I had to deliver my presentation for the entire audience and manage my reaction, and curiosity, so that I could deliver on my commitment to the larger group. 

Adapting to Audience Needs

Earlier this year, I was invited to speak on the topic of public speaking to some newcomers to Saint John. The event was scheduled to last two hours, and the topic would be public speaking and communication. Therefore, I drafted a rough plan based on what I thought the event might entail.

I assumed that with a two-hour event, there would be some networking time allocated, allowing people to come and go as they pleased. My plan was to deliver a 10-15 minute speech, covering various tips, techniques, and the three essential elements needed to become an effective public speaker. Then, I intended to facilitate a Q&A session.

However, upon arriving at the event, I discovered that the newcomers were from diverse countries and cultures, each with varying levels of understanding of Canadian culture, as evident from our brief conversations. I realized that I needed to adjust my plan to make the session more engaging and meaningful.

My Adaptation

I’ve performed enough of these types of speeches that I enjoy some last-minute changes and adapting to the audience and organizer needs.

To begin, I invited comments from the attendees on how they hoped to benefit from the session, why they had decided to attend on a Thursday evening. There weren’t really any surprises, but there is benefit to having some of the attendees express their goals. For most people, speaking up at a long table is indeed public speaking and is indeed a little nerve racking. 

As they spoke, I made notes about what they offered.  The two most popular were managing nervousness, and managing interview questions. I had planned to speak to these items regardless, but varied my plan to get to them quickly.

Managing Nerves

To manage nerves, I asked the audience if they’ve ever seen a speaker struggling badly.  Everyone had. I then asked them how they felt as the speaker fumbled, and they responded that they felt awful and were rooting for the speaker to get things together. So, I reminded them that virtually every audience wants you to do well.  It’s not often that an audience wants you to do badly. To understand that an audience wants you to do well, to learn something, or be entertained, should be an empowering thought for any speaker.

Further to manage nerves I encourage them to know precisely what they plan to talk about, and not to worry about precisely what they will say.  With this approach, speakers will avoid memorizing stories and sentences, and simply talk about each element in their plan.

And finally, to manage nerves, I encouraged them when speaking to arrive early, check out any stage and microphone setup, chat with some attendees, find some friendly faces, so they’re not suddenly thrust upon a stage as a speaker in front of absolute strangers.

Managing Interview Questions

To assist in managing interview questions I took them through my fall-back method of past-present-future.  I wrote about that structure here https://gycz.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-helpful-structure-for-difficult.html

 

Conclusion

Speakers need to be adaptable. If you thought your audience was very unfamiliar with your topic but you learn that’s not the case, you need to pivot. If there are specific expectations or desires, it’s best to work to accommodate those.  

Audiences appreciate when you understand their needs and when you can deliver on those needs, although sometimes that’s not possible as sometimes the expectations are unrealistic.

Speakers need to be adaptable.