How to Deal with Difficult People in Your Audience

When giving a presentation or speech, there is nothing more distracting than an unresponsive audience, a restless audience or an angry audience. But by remaining calm, you can speak to these types of audiences and still get your message across. Keep in mind that it’s probably not you – it may be the subject matter, the issues you’re trying to inform others about or it might be something unrelated like uncomfortable seating or a bad meal.

Dealing with an Unresponsive Audience

If you notice the audience is not responding the way you expected them to respond after telling a story or a joke, the best way to handle the situation is to continue speaking. Common reasons why audience members may be unresponsive include the following:·        

Speaker is speaking too fast and the audience is missing vital pieces of the speech·        

The audience has sat through more than one speech already·        

The topic is a serious one and the audience is trying to understand it ·        

Speech is too long

Many times, slowing the speech down can cause a response in the audience. If you notice that people in the first few rows are leaning forward, you may need to speak louder or slow down the speech so everyone will be able to hear you. If the audience remains unresponsive, you should continue with your speech and ask people in the audience you trust for their opinion. Feedback is important if you want to improve your public speaking skills.

Dealing with a Restless Audience

It is inevitable that during a presentation or speech, people will show up late or leave early. Not only is this disrespectful to the speaker, it’s also disrespectful to the audience. When giving a presentation, ask the person organizing it before you begin if they anticipate more people to show up. This will reduce the stress of having to pause and resume the presentation after they’ve found a place to sit. If you’re interrupted during a presentation, pause and take a deep breath. Resume the presentation so those who arrived on time can benefit from the entire speech.  

Dealing with an Angry Audience

Depending on the topic of your speech, you may have to deal with angry audience members who have a different opinion on the topic than you do. While debate is necessary for the formation of new ideas, you should try your best to get through the speech before answering questions or engaging in a debate. If this is not possible, you may have to alter the format and turn your speech into a question and answer session. While you may not have time to cover all of the points within your speech, you may be able to turn a potentially bad situation into an educational one for those attending. For most public speakers, audience disturbances like these are minimal. Unless you’re running for public office or you work in academia, you won’t find much hostility in the audiences you speak to.  

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