What if after all
Your Planning, There are Still Problems?
Years ago, I was a wedding coordinator for my church. “Wedding coordinator” sounded impressive,
however a more descriptive term would have been hired gorilla. I was responsible for looking after the
church. In preparation I would move the
pulpit and the pews. During the wedding
I would manage the sound system. After
the wedding I would put everything back in place and clean the church.
This experience gave me the opportunity to witness a lot of
weddings. What I soon learned was that
every wedding had at least one problem. It may have been the wedding party showing up
late. It may have been that the church was
too hot. It may have been that the best
man passed out while the register was being signed. It doesn’t really matter how big, elaborate
and well planned the wedding was, there was always at least one problem
(if not more).
That’s very similar to public speaking. I have never given a speech were there wasn’t
at least one problem. It was how I dealt with those problems
that made the difference to the audience’s experience.
As I have previously mentioned, I have given speeches where
the audience wasn’t interested in what I was saying. I have given speeches were the audience
didn’t get my humor. I have given
speeches were the audience didn’t get my message. I have even given speeches where the audience
didn’t show up (or at least only a few people showed up).
That doesn’t even start to describe the facility problems
I’ve encountered. For instance I’ve
spoken in many noisy environments – including once at an outdoor venue where I
had to compete with a river running over a set of rapids. I also competed in a contest that was right
next to a fire station. Halfway through
my speech I was drowned out while the firefighters left to deal with something
as trivial as a heart attack. On another
occasion, I showed up to speak at a software conference only to discover that a
scheduling mistake had been made – I was in fact scheduled to speak in two
different time slots.
The solution to this problem
was simple enough – speak twice.
The conference organizers and many of the audience members
were shocked that I was willing to do so – but it really wasn’t a big deal for
me. Let’s see, I had spent a week or so
preparing for the engagement. I had
flown several thousand miles to get there. Was I really going to worry about whether I spoke once or twice? In fact, speaking twice did have its
advantages – it meant that I had (approximately) twice the audience.
Now what would have happened if instead of responding with
flexibility I had allowed myself to get upset at the organizers? After all, I had done a lot to prepare and
get there; couldn’t I at least expect them to be somewhat competent?
Of course I could have, but as I have pointed out, problems
will always arise. It is how I, as the
speaker, deal with those problems that will
help the audience relate to me.
If I lose my cool and act emotionally to a situation, it’s
going to damage my rapport with the audience. They are going to be too busy thinking about the situation and the
uncomfortable emotion to really focus on my content.
If, however, I handle the problems
with flexibility, then the audience will most likely be endeared to me. They will experience a positive emotion about
how things were handled and subconsciously connect that with my message. They are much more likely to learn the content
that I am sharing with them.
In the end, it comes down to the golden rule – do unto
others as you would have done unto you. If you were an audience member, how would you want the speaker to deal
with a situation? If you can answer that
question and act accordingly, you will most likely connect with your audience
in a much stronger way then if you didn’t have the problem
in the first place.
You are granted permission to reproduce and distribute this article provided that all of it (including these notices) is included. Copyright © 2007 David Mudie All Rights Reserved Visit http://www.EffectivelySpeking.com to get your own free newsletter subscription and start overcoming your fear of public speaking. The author and publisher of the website have used their best efforts in preparing this material. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this website.
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