As a speaker, I occasionally make mistakes in many speeches. Should we panic in the face of these mistakes? This is the most taboo for the speaker! So what should we do when our remarks are wrong? Might as well have a look. The following is for reference only!
Meet questions from the audience
It is not common for the audience to have fierce questioners, but when you encounter this situation, in fact, the rest of the audience are as disgusted with the questioners as you are, so you can take advantage of this advantage. When you meet a questioner, you tend to be very strict. But when you can get the support of other audiences, things become easier to solve. These fierce questioners are either drunk or think they are helping the speaker, just because they want to show themselves.
How to prevent it: make rules before the speech and explain the way the audience interacts. If you want to answer questions after the speech, you should tell them. If you can accept questions at any time, let the audience know. At the same time, you should also set the range of topics on Twitter and active chat rooms. I always give my email address to the audience. If they don't know whether it is appropriate to talk about something in the lecture hall, they can contact me by email.
How to deal with it: always remember that you are stronger than the questioner. When you hold a microphone, you are more powerful, but he doesn't. You can interrupt and persuade him, but he can't stop you. To some extent, this is not a fair competition. When the questioner realizes the problem, he will shut up. Tell those who speak that they can only express their opinions or ask you questions after the speech. Your attitude must be polite, which usually works. These behaviors show that you will not be disturbed by them and will solve the problem before the situation gets out of control. Even if someone laughs at you, don't argue with him. You can politely ask him to wait until the end of the speech. If you are confident, you can tell him a joke or gently shut him up, but be careful. If you are not good at telling jokes, don't take the risk. Even if you laugh at yourself sometimes, the audience will smile. Say "very interesting, thank you" to the questioner, and then continue your topic. This is respect for him, which means that you heard what he said, but it is up to you to control the situation. If these questioners obviously go to extremes and bring interference to others, then you can also ask the organizer for help. If the audience is hostile or misbehaves, the organizer will definitely take action. If the questioner refuses to obey your rules, you can ask him to leave, and the organizer will help you when necessary.
All the audience stared at their computers.
Every audience has their own cultural concept. In some cultures, most listeners don't stare at the speaker, which makes the speaker feel very discouraged. For the speaker, the more eye contact with the audience, the better. Sometimes, the audience is just taking notes or sharing your speech with others, which is good for you. But sometimes, the audience is playing games and surfing the Internet, which is not good for you. The audience naturally has the right to choose what they want, but you can also influence their choice.
How to prevent it: you can ask the audience to turn off their laptops, but don't force them. You should also respect their choices, especially when they pay for it. But you can tell them that if they concentrate on their speech, you will do better. Sometimes I say to them, "Now let's make a deal. If you listen attentively to my speech for five minutes, after that, you still think my speech is terrible, which is a waste of your time. You'd rather surf the internet, then I don't care. Actually, I don't mind you getting up and leaving in five minutes. However, in the next 300 seconds, please listen carefully. " At this time, most people will turn off their computers. You know, some people use computers to take notes. They may be writing a real-time blog or writing down what you say, which will also help you get more audiences outside the lecture hall. Just because the audience is on the computer doesn't always mean that they ignore your speech.
How to deal with it: there is nothing you can do, so pay more attention to the listeners who listen carefully. Push the boat with the current. Open Twitter on your computer. Show it on the big screen, and take time out after the speech to pay attention to the comments on the internet and their questions. Ask the organizer and audience to open Twitter and chat rooms of the event, so that you can get instant feedback and questions raised by the audience. Let the audience know that they can also communicate with you in this way.
Your speaking time has been reduced from 45 minutes to 10 minutes.
The activity schedule will also go wrong, and the speaker will become a scapegoat. Problems in the preparatory process, such as the cancellation of activities and blocked trips, will make the organizers embarrassed and have to shorten the speaking time. If your speech is scheduled at a very late time, you will have to streamline your speech and end it early.
How to prevent it: Unless you are the organizer, you have no right to ask others to attend on time. If you find that the schedule is delayed and your speech is arranged at the end, you must remind the organizer: suggest that the organizer shorten the interval or shorten the time of each speech, instead of letting you take all the responsibility.
How to deal with it: If your speech needs to be shortened, please ask the organizer to explain to the audience why it is not your fault. This will at least win the sympathy of the audience.
All the audiences don't like you.
Sometimes, the atmosphere in the lecture hall is not right. Your feeling is that the audience hates you and expects you to shut up. This feeling is especially obvious when I speak abroad or in a company that has just laid off employees (no one told you beforehand). Or you did something stupid to make the audience hate you.
How to prevent it: 1) The organizer is your guide. If you need to know anything, such as the recent layoffs of this enterprise or other worrying things, the organizer should tell you. If you are cautious, you can also take the initiative to ask the organizer: "Is there anything that needs my attention recently?" 2) Arrive at the site in advance. If you can get to the scene in advance, you can talk to some viewers and get a general understanding of their situation. In this way, you may make some adjustments to your speech.
How to deal with it: 1) Sometimes, you just need to go through the normal procedure. You can imagine these people in front of you as welcoming your audience. Play normally, don't worry too much. If they don't like you, don't mind. But don't change your prepared speech just because they don't like you. This will only make things worse, and you have no chance to turn things around. You must speak with passion. Maybe those audiences don't hate you as much as you think. 2) Shorten the speech time and quickly enter the question-and-answer session. If you have some superfluous stories, you can choose not to tell them. The sooner you enter the question-and-answer session, the sooner you can find the problem. Moreover, in the worst case, the sooner your speech can end.
Some viewers keep asking questions.
These people are relatively polite interrogators, more common than fierce interrogators. Some people don't realize that they have abused their right to ask questions. They even talk as much as you do. I'm glad you didn't marry such a person, otherwise you would never have a chance to speak. In some cases, these people want to impress you and others so much that they keep asking questions.
How to prevent it: 1) When the audience raises their hands to ask questions, you choose the questioner. If you keep choosing the same person to ask questions, who can blame? 2) If an audience directly calls out their own questions or comments, you can remind them to raise their hands first.
How to deal with it: 1) You know, other viewers don't like this kind of person either. They are as annoying as the teacher's minions. The sooner you shut him up, the happier the other audience will be. 2) Sometimes, you don't have to answer the questions raised by the audience. You can ask the audience, "How many people are interested in this topic?" If only a few people raise their hands, you can ask the questioner to ask you separately after the speech. 3) During the intermission, talk privately with the audience. You should thank him for his concern, but ask him to give other audience a chance to ask questions. Give him your email address, and if he has any questions, he can contact you by email.
Some viewers' questions are time-consuming but not to the point.
The omen of this situation is that the questioner can't get into the subject for 60 seconds. People who ask such questions have not seriously thought about how to ask them beforehand.
How to prevent it: This problem is difficult to prevent. If the audience is not allowed to ask these questions, it will reduce their enthusiasm for asking questions. It is best to find a way to solve this problem.
How to deal with it: The speaker can help the questioner find the main question to ask: "Are you going to ask X or Y?" Interrupt their rambling questions as much as possible. If they are still not sure what to ask, you can answer the next question first, leave him room to think, and then go back to the previous question after you answer this question. It seems too urgent, but if you behave properly, you can make a good impression on the audience. You know, other audiences hate such people as much as you do. They are not here to listen to such people. If the questioner can't get to the point within 30 seconds, then as the only one who has the right to decide, you should take measures. If you have to interrupt the questioner, you can give him your email address and tell him that he is allowed to ask long questions, but not during the speech. Sometimes, people like to express their ideas. If they are short, that's a good thing. The same is true for speeches.
Encounter questions that you can't answer.
It is normal that some questions cannot be answered. There is no law that requires a speaker to know all the knowledge about this subject. If your speech is attractive, there is no doubt that you will encounter unanswerable questions. Einstein also has many unsolved mysteries. Even an omniscient speaker sometimes encounters a difficult problem: "What question can't be answered by an omnipotent speaker?"
How to prevent it: The only way to prevent it is to make your speech boring. So the audience can't figure out what you want to say, let alone ask you questions. But I hope you don't do this.
How to deal with it: learn to say "I don't know." This is easy to say, and it doesn't matter if you say it. Write down these questions, or ask the questioner to write you an email and assure him that you will mark the answers on your blog. Ask the audience for help. Maybe you're not the only one who doesn't know the answer. If other viewers don't know the answer, at least they are as ignorant as you. If someone knows the answer, even if you don't answer, then you have helped the questioner find the answer.
The microphone is broken.
Sometimes the microphone is not completely broken, but it will echo or occasionally make a harsh sound. All these will bring troubles to the audience, and the audience will blame you for the problem. If the microphone can't be restored after a few minutes, then you can think that it is broken.
How to prevent it: ask God for help. It is required to check the voice equipment before the speech. Ask the equipment manager what the problem is.
How to deal with it: 1) Confirm with the audience whether they are also troubled by the microphone. Sometimes, only the people on the podium can feel the interference of the microphone. 2) Ask technicians for help, which is their job. If you face it alone, it will inevitably be a bit embarrassing, but if there are technicians involved, the audience will think that it is not your fault alone. 3) In a medium-sized lecture hall (about 100 people can be accommodated), even if a microphone is not needed, the audience can clearly hear your speech. Get closer to the audience, and the technicians can start talking when they repair the equipment. You can take this opportunity to ask the audience what they want to learn, or ask them how many people have worked in their current posts for more than five years. These questions can be used to kill this embarrassing time. The audience will generally respond to your questions, and you can also get some useful information from them. If your speech is long, it's a good time to give the audience a rest. Don't force the audience to look at you when you are repairing the equipment. It's best to give them a cup of coffee or time to go to the bathroom.
There is something wrong with this computer.
In all speech activities, some speakers will encounter computer problems. Some activities require speakers to use computer equipment on site to reduce these problems, but sometimes the effect will be worse because of the mismatch between video equipment and different fonts. Whether it is a Mac or a PC, all these computers will have problems of one kind or another, and even some technicians complain about some performances of these devices.
How to prevent it: use your own equipment. Personal laptops are more popular, and I think there is less mismatch between laptops and projectors. However, laptops are also computers, so there will be problems. Before the speech, it is required to check the equipment.
How to deal with it: You must decide when to give up using computers and other equipment. My time limit is 10 minutes. If I still can't solve the problem in 10 minutes, I'll use plan B instead of computer equipment. Plan B: Define your central idea. Summarize the main contents into a list, not too long and not too formal. Don't keep saying "If I could use the slides …" and "I would have …", the audience won't care about these possible situations. Print out the slides and take them with you. Even if any equipment can't be used, you can refer to the printed version.
Be late for a speech
If you are not familiar with your speech place, you will be late easily. To be fair, being late only happens when you don't intend to arrive early. If you arrive near the lecture site a few hours in advance, or one night in advance, you will not be late, whether it is a bus, a flight problem or getting lost.
How to prevent it: arrive early. Take the flight the day before the speech. Never expect the traffic to be on time, because it's not like that at all.
How to deal with it: 1) When you realize that you may be late, be sure to call the event organizer. 2) Maybe he can adjust the order of you and other speakers to buy you time. The sooner you inform them, the more choices they have, and the less angry they will be with you. 3) When you arrive at the speech site, no matter how late it is, you should take the time to adjust your status. If you are nervous and flustered, you will definitely not be able to play normally. Take 30 seconds to calm your mind and make sure you can play well in the rest of the time. 4) Before the end of the speech, take the initiative to stay and answer questions from the audience. This is a good habit, and at the same time, it can alleviate the complaints from the organizers.
Voice timeout
There is not enough time to speak from time to time. Relatively speaking, speakers rarely end early. Many speakers want to finish all the content within the specified time, leaving no room for buffering, so it is normal to work overtime.
How to prevent it: 1) If your speech content structure is reasonable, then your speech rhythm must be stable and harmonious, and you will design the time of each step. In this way, you won't find that when there is only one minute left, you haven't said half of the content. 2) Practice speaking in a shorter time than formal speaking. 3) Plan to allocate 20%-30% of the time for the Q&A session. 4) If the speech takes longer than expected, you can also reduce the time of the Q&A session as a buffer. 5) Use * * * and timer. 6) When there is still 15 minutes or13 time, please ask the event organizer to remind you.
How to handle it: 1) Don't panic. If you can't finish all the content, you can put aside the prepared materials and take the audience as the starting point. If you still have three parts to talk about and there is only enough time left to talk about one part, then you can ask the audience which part you want to hear. Quality is always more important than quantity. 2) Never make up for it. Be prepared to give up some materials, so that you can concentrate on speaking. 3) Upload the slides to your own website so that everyone can see all the contents. If there is still a chance, finish what you haven't said and answer questions for the audience.
Leave the slides at home.
You know, it happens all the time. You may have copied the slides to the wrong location, or left the USB flash drive in the airport lounge.
How to prevent it: copy your slides to three places: USB flash drive, notebook computer and web page that can be searched online. Caution is always good. For security reasons, you can also print out slides. Sometimes, these things are very useful-if the slide equipment is broken, you can continue your speech as long as you have a flashlight.
How to deal with it: If you are brave enough, you can tell the audience the truth, apologize to them and ask for forgiveness, and try to make them happy that you came by improvising. The easiest way is to ask the audience 10 questions at the beginning of the speech, and you can answer them on the spot. What do they want to learn? The questions asked by the audience are sometimes more valuable than the materials you prepared in advance.
The audience is too small.
Sometimes, the audience is too small. There is no group at all. If you still regard them as big audiences, you are wrong. This won't work at all. You can only do it in another way.
How to prevent it: refer to the signature form of the audience. Many activities don't have an audience signature form, but you must know how many people have signed up. The absenteeism rate is very high, about 50%. If 100 people sign up, the final number of participants will be around 50. Do some research. How many people attended the last lecture in the same lecture hall? What reason do you have to attract more audiences? Sell yourself. There are two ways to get a large number of participants: let people know that you are going to make a speech, and then give them the motivation to participate.
How to deal with it: use the density principle. If the lecture hall is large, try to get the audience closer. If there are really only a few people in the audience, you can make them form a semicircle, which will make communication more convenient. Don't use prepared slides. When the audience is small, the chances of success are small. Adjust to informal mode, as I introduced in the case of "leaving slides at home" before, let the audience ask some questions and you can answer them one by one.
Live game obstacle
My friend, in this case, there is only one insurance measure: you must pay close attention to what happened ―― then you can tell your friends about the experience. Later, you will find that if you are willing to share it with others, then your experience is a good story for others.
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