A couple years ago, I was invited to give a talk a pretty prominent conference. I wanted it to be a well received, so I checked in with the organizer to understand who was going to be there, their level of technical prowess, and what topic would resonate with them. I also spent a fair amount of time rehearsing, and designing my slides to match the quality of the conference.
On the day of the conference, I felt pretty good.
Then the butterflies start bouncing in my belly…
When I arrived at the venue, I didn’t realize that I was going to be on such a HUGE stage. Normally, I’m used to speaking to pretty large audiences and on stage. But this wasn’t just any normal stage. It was a really long stage, wide open, bright, and modern. It was a beautiful stage, but I wasn’t used to it. I was used to a stage with a black background, and curtains on both sides. The black background and curtains fill the space in well, so I don’t feel like the petite person I am.
After seeing the stage, I started to get a little nervous. So I went backstage, and for the 30 minutes prior to my talk: took deep breaths to calm myself down, drank some chamomile tea, and practiced the power pose!
Then right before I went up, my handler explained that the clicker I was using needed to be pressed for awhile. Oh boy…
At that point I was pretty calm, the clicker didn’t phase me.
As I walked on to the large stage, I felt OK. I was ready to go. I usually don’t feel ecstatic walking on to a stage. I’m already a pretty high energy person. If I try to be ecstatic then my mind will end up being a runaway freight train, and I’ll try to speak as fast as that train. I want people to hear and understand my words. Hence, I aim for calm, because once I’m on stage my adrenaline kicks in, and the audience thinks I’m ecstatic. But deep inside I’m doing my damnedest to be calm and collected.
I went through my talk and again felt OK about it. Once I was done, I told folks I’d be in the lobby to take questions.
Handling criticism amongst a crowd
I got swarmed by a tiny crowd. A few folks initially said they enjoyed my talk. But then a moment later said, “I thought it was OK, I would give it a 6.” They meant a 6 out of 10.
My heart sank for a moment. And no my tendency isn’t to be like, “What they hell?” So again I took a deep breath and asked them, “What did you feel was missing or was it my presentation style?”
“Oh I thought you presented well. I would have liked it if you had presented more advanced security methods. The talk seemed really basic. So not a whole lot for me to learn.”
Interesting.
I thanked them for expressing their opinion, and left it at that.
I didn’t protest, because they were expressing a preference, which they were entitled to. They had come in with an expectation for what I was going to present, and I hadn’t met that expectation.
However, it wouldn’t have made sense for me to present what they had wanted, because the talk was meant to be for a beginner to intermediate audience, which I had gauged from talking to the conference organized. I also had limited time to present all the basic information with enough depth to get my point across.
Had I talked about advanced security methods I would have lost more than half the crowd.
Despite the initial sting of them saying it was a 6, I realized that it was fine. I also took a little time to talk about some of the advanced security methods, so they didn’t feel like I was being dismissive.
How to handle a diverse audience
When you’re dealing with large groups, you might be tempted to please everyone. But you’re only one person, and you have limited time. You don’t want to drown out the concerns of the minority. If I have time, which usually I do, I listen to their concerns. Sometimes their points are valid and I should have incorporated them, so it’s valuable feedback. Other times the feedback will completely change the focus, so I point them to additional resources to meet their individual needs.
Finally, it’s important to understand if someone is criticizing quality or just expressing a preference with a critical tone in their voice. Too often we think they are one and the same, and then flog ourselves. This is the reason I took the time to ask the question, “What did you feel was missing or was it my presentation style?”
I won’t let myself give a low quality presentation, but I am OK with not overwhelming the audience.
Now I want to know, when was the last time you gave a presentation? Did you receive any feedback on it, and how did you handle the feedback? Let me know in the comments below!
