Many leaders and who present are often loath to prepare for unlikely events. World class presenters head off disaster before it happens. They anticipate what might go right or wrong and build in key concepts or frames to manage the possible fall out.
A word of caution goes with this idea. Often in anticipating a situation, we actually create the situation. If you are coming from a lack of confidence or even some flawed assumptions about your audience, you can make things worse using this idea. If I could repeat this paragraph several times through this idea I would. So every few paragraphs, read this one again.
Start with writing a list of what might go wrong when you speak. It's not negative thinking to prepare for all eventualities. This is the intellectual challenge that scenario planning has. People who are particularly superstitious don't like discussing the downside of any idea. It's as if for them, the considering of the idea makes it more likely to happen. It is something you have to think through as a speaker.
So what might go wrong?
Not logistically wrong, but conceptually or culturally wrong. Here are some examples:
- There may be cynicism to your key ideas. A negative undercurrent might be running through the audience that you have seemingly no control of
- A major disaster happens just before you go on stage. 9/11 is a good example
- The speaker before you may deliver some bad news that leaves a lot of unanswered questions in the minds of the audience members
- You might have an accent that the audience stereotypes to mean a certain mindset
So, what would you do in each situation?
Here are four approaches that help deal with situations like those listed above:
- Name the elephant
One of the quickest ways to shut down a problem is to name it plainly and accurately. You state what's on peoples minds and you have a better chance of getting onto something productive or possibly managing the issue. "I know what I might be thinking in your position, another (Insert appropriate context) telling (Insert appropriate context) how to do it better ... I just want to say from the outset, I have learned so much at this conference seeing the innovative ideas many of your local awards winners have used. My notebook is full and I can't wait to get back and try some of them in my office."
- Give up control to gain it
In tough situations I like to list the 7 points I planned to speak about and ask the audience if we only had time for 3, which 3 would they choose? Then go around the room asking them to vote. You then mix up your sequence so it serves the request of the room. Of course you need to know your presentation in idea chunks or modules to do this.
The audience feels like they designed their own speech. You of course are delivering what you planned to but doing so in a flexible way. I heard it said once that a person's degree of happiness is directly proportional to their degree of control. In this case you can turn tough crowds around as they get to exert a little more influence on the agenda. This is particularly useful when something has just been taken away from the audience or they are used to making decisions.
- Respond with a story
Developing a bank of stories you can draw on at a moments notice is definitely a skill of world class presenters. A perfectly placed story that responds artfully to what has just happened or the prevailing mood of the room is an antidote to negative situations.
- Plan to be spontaneous
Anticipate what might go wrong and prepare in advance for these situations with off the cuff one-liners. A waiter walks in front of you while you're speaking and you might say "don't worry it's just a stage you're going through", you fall off the stage onto the floor you might say "OK I will now take questions from the floor", a mobile phone goes off you might say "If that's my mum tell her I am working!". You may of course find better humour than these seemingly lame punch lines. It's not the size of the laugh that counts - it's the sense of cool you bring to a potentially tricky situation.
There is nothing wrong with focusing on the potentially hazardous stuff that could come up. So, grab your rabbits foot, cross your fingers and start to hope for the best while you prepare for the worst. You may never need it ... but if you do, you'll be glad you spent some time building in a plan for remedying it.