Dealing with difficult questions and audiences

Dealing with difficult questions
Anyone who’s had the pleasure, honour and horror of teaching adolescents can face any audience! So first of all, here’s to our most honourable profession – our teachers.

In most instances when you’ve been hired or asked to make a presentation to a group, the group will behave in a civilised manner. Being realistic however, sometimes that can’t be the case. For example, you might be the messenger with the bad news that a program can no longer be offered through your University or school, or you might be the person who has to tell workers that they won’t have jobs next month.

Not pleasant and not easy.

In this short course, I can’t go into too much detail about how to deliver bad news to specific groups of people. However, if that’s something you’re dreading and you’d like advice please don’t hesitate to contact me. Just send me an e-mail on Jeannette@conquerpublicspeakingfears.com and I’ll reply within a day at no cost.

Even when you’re delivering bad news your understandably hostile audience will probably behave in a peaceful and civil fashion. It’s just that their questions might be difficult.

First piece of advice?

Please treat your audience with the respect you’d like to have shown to you. Answer their questions directly and honestly. Hedging around because– quite understandably – you feel uncomfortable will get none of you anywhere. You’ve heard the expression ‘death by a thousand cuts’. That’s what lying and telling half-truths in answer to difficult questions is.

As I make clear in my e-program Public Speaking Success e-Program, “I don’t know” is a very acceptable answer to some difficult questions. So relax. Never feel like you do have to know everything.

If you’re asked a question about details you feel you should have had, you can always say “that’s a very interesting question. I’d like to get back to you on that, after I’ve spoken to _________. I’ll get that data to Mr Smith by Monday, thanks again for raising that matter.”

I don’t think I have to say here that if you promise to get back on Monday with the information….I won’t say it. You know what you have to do.

In any presentation it’s always a good idea to set a time limit to the questions. If you’re a member of a panel of speakers the Chair will do that for you. If not, it’s a good idea to announce first up that you’ll take questions for X minutes at the end of your presentation.

Dealing with a difficult audience
During your presentation, if someone starts being disruptive then you won’t be the only one who’ll be annoyed or upset. There are a limited number of things you can do. These include:

Politely but firmly advise the disruptive person that s/he’ll have a chance to ask questions later.
Again in a polite but firm manner, remind the person that you’re presenting your point of view not being a member of a debating team.

You might put a question to the audience along the lines of: “this person or this group, is here today to deliver another point of view. Could I have a show of hands to indicate who thinks it would it be useful if I hand the microphone over to them for the next ten minutes?” In most instances, the audience will support you to continue and you can use that support to continue. If however the audience does want to hear the other person or group, you have nothing to lose by acceding to that. You will have come across as a reasonable person interested in the best for the audience.

In most situations, your role is to present your ideas and information in a compelling and engaging manner. It is not a good idea to get into arguments with one audience member or a small group.

Always remember that the audience has the responsibility to listen with polite respect. They’re not required to agree with you, but they are required to listen. To your public speaking success.