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.