How I Handle My Hecklers.
Heckling-
1) transitive verb 2) to harass & try to disconcert with questions, challenges, or jibes: badger
Last year, I was giving a presentation to a room full of entrepreneurs. My slides were in order, the handouts were pre-set and I was prepared, fortunately, for what happened.
Maybe 3-4 minutes in, and a woman interrupts me with a question while I’m in the middle of making a point about…audiences, of all things. I pause, answer her question, and move on. She interrupts me again. This time I expand on my first answer and get back to my talk. She waits about 5 seconds before suddenly veering into dangerous territory, the Nazis and being Jewish in New York City…completely out of the blue as I’m talking about how to give a speech.
This woman was also my invited guest (I’d met her at a networking event) as well as cognitively impaired. My guess is that she’s used to interrupting and getting away with it, and I could also see that she was craving the attention. Do I take it easy on her? Let her enjoy a few minutes of the limelight?
Absolutely not. I stopped her, kept my gaze intently on her, and interrupted her every time she opened her mouth. It finally boiled down to a staring contest, with the rest of the room ping-ponging their heads between the two of us. Then I picked up my speech again, and that was the end of it.
Earlier in my speaking career, I might have gone along with being interrupted, but I’ve learned that there can only be one presenter. If some else tries to steal the focus from you, stand firm no matter what. You’re doing the audience a favor, as well as yourself.