Posts tagged as:

hostile audience

5 strategies to defuse the audience

October 9, 2008

Sometimes your audience needs defusing. You may know ahead of time that the audience is likely to be hostile to your ideas, or there may be a big issue looming over them which distracts them from listening to your presentation. Or they may simply not be that interested in listening to you. Whatever the issue, [...]

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Three steps to take before you answer the question

July 8, 2008

From the earliest age we’re trained to answer questions - and as quickly as possible. But in many presenting situations, it’s not the best thing. We work with many organisations who are involved in community consultation. They may be presenting proposals for new projects that the community don’t want (for example, a new road or windfarm) [...]

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How to handle a difficult audience #2

June 18, 2008

In my last post, I discussed what you could do to set yourself up as the leader at the beginning of a controversial presentation. There’s a second thing that you can do at the beginning of a presentation to reduce the likelihood of audience members getting upset and annoyed. Acknowledge the issue that people are [...]

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How to handle a difficult audience

June 16, 2008

We work with many public sector agencies who are often in the firing line in meetings with the public. Knowing how to handle concerned and angry people in the audience is an important skill. Remember back to your school days. You can probably remember a teacher who you and your fellow students respected. There was no [...]