One of the more daunting tasks you will face as a speaker will be commanding respect from the platform. The plethora of distractions available at the press of a button (internet, text message, instant messaging, email, etc) don’t help. Combine that with a need for lightning fast answers and you have a recipe for disaster.
If you want to be an effective presenter then you have to circumvent this issue. New and experienced presenters struggle with it so you are not alone. There are three essential steps you must take to fight through the noise and be heard.
1. Be on Time
Question: Do you get to work on time? Why?
Answer: Of course you get to work time. You do it because you respect your work place as the provider of your financial resources. That respect compels you to wake up early, sit in traffic, and fight through thunderstorms. Have the same respect for your audience. If you roll in 10 minutes late with a bag full of excuses they will naturally assume the presentation means nothing to you. If the presentation isn’t important to you, it definitely won’t be important to your audience.
2. Eliminate Distractions
Question: Did you have any easy going teachers who allowed the children to do what they wanted in school? How was that environment?
Answer: My sixth grade English teacher was super nice. She hated to discipline, call out, or punish anyone. It didn’t take the clowns in the room long to figure out how to hijack the class and steer it off course. The class was literally dominated by 12 year old children. Things got bad in that class, really bad. So bad, that the teacher asked me what to do.
I could take this opportunity to paint myself as the perfect little angel but that would be a lie. I got myself in sticky situations and did some stupid things. I also maintained an A+ average so my idiotic blunders faded into the background.
When she asked for my opinion the answer was simple, “Put your foot down and the kids will respond. I’m in other classes with these same kids and they don’t act like this. They do it here because they can get away with it”. She grimaced at the thought of playing the enforcer. Her first few attempts to handle the class were painful to watch. Over time her skills grew, she set the standard, and my classmates began to respect her authority.
As a speaker you shouldn’t be afraid to crack the whip. For more information on how to do this read my article on How to Handle Hecklers and Distractions.
3. Present Useful Information
Question: If someone is talking to you and their information is useless do you listen? Why not?
Answer: There are many interesting ways to waste your time. You can listen to music, play video games, read a good book, fly a kite, or do anything that you find interesting or stimulating. People are not stimulated by long periods of useless information. Eventually, they all tune out.
If they tune out, you lose their attention and respect.
Conclusion
Commanding respect as a speaker is easy once you know how. Follow these 3 steps and your quest for respect at the platform should be painless:
- Be on Time
- Eliminate Distractions
- Present Useful Information
Simple, isn’t it?
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