For many presenters, the greatest fear of firing up that PowerPoint and launching into 20 minutes of daredevil lecturing, is the terrifying thought of losing control over an audience. This feeling isn’t all bad. The truth is you should be in control of the audience. That is part of what a good presentation is all about. If loosing control has you freaked out a bit, perhaps you’ll be motivated to learn the skills that will keep you in charge.
You’ve come to the right place.
Here are a handful of techniques you can use to seize control of your next presentation and keep it. If you do lose it, these may also help you get it back!
The Tarantino
Remember that scene in Reservoir Dogs when the whole gang leaves the diner in slow motion? Not only is this one of the most compelling images in recent American cinema, its a great reminder of how you should take the stage when you are about to do your presentation. Not that you should strut super slow in a pair of dark glasses, but you should keep it cool and remember who is in charge right from the start.
Ignor-a-saurus
We all know what it’s like to be in presence of uncomfortable information that no one is addressing. At your presentation, the 500 pound gorilla might be an annoying, long-winded, distracting audience member. Nothing can defeat this threat like the mighty Ignorasaurus! If you made the mistake of calling on this blow-hard once, don’t do it again.
A Line in the Sand
Don’t forget, you’re in charge! A great way to maintain control of a room is to set a limit from the start: “So everyone gets a chance, we’ll keep a limit of one question per person.” This way you may solve problems before they start. If someone is asking good questions you can always break the rules and call on them again. What? You’re in charge!
Write On
A great technique is to request that audience members write their questions on the back of their business cards while you are speaking. At the end, you can cherry-pick the one’s you’d like to focus on. Not only will this keep you in control of the Q&A, but it may help your audience focus better while you are speaking.
Direct-a-Mundo
Once an audience member is dragging your presentation off the rails, the best way to address it is quickly and directly. Ask the person for their name, and call them by their name as you thank them for their questions and recommend that the detailed answers they are seeking will better be saved for after the presentation. Which brings us to another technique.
Back of the Line
The Back of the Line techniques is a general plan of action to move passed any audience member who is hogging your time and clogging your plans. Simply suggest that it will be better to talk after the presentation and immediately move on to the next question.
Time’s Up
Last but not least, this is the Smart Bomb of all control techniques. When worse comes to worse, and your presentation is plummeting towards the earth simply pull the plug, sum up, say your thank you’s and move on. With the right exit you may just keep your wings above the ground.
