We are going to cover these three points in 15-minute increments. If you don’t get your points in at that time, you can follow up with e-mails to me.Anyone who’s given a presentation knows the sting of having disruptive employees in the audience. They have different reasons for their responses, and like most workplace issues, it’s important not to take them personally. The tricky part, of course, is that the dynamic with groups is entirely different from one-on-one meetings. You can’t very well stop the whole presentation to get to the root of the problem. Or whip out an agreement about job responsibilities and so on to make sure the disruptive employee stays on track. Instead, you need to balance the energy in the room so that everyone stays focused while addressing the wild card who sits in the corner.
Participants can disrupt your presentation in countless ways—and each one requires a different solution. We’ll look at the classics—with phrases that squelch each one. But first, the basics.
We are going to cover these three points in 15-minute increments. If you don’t get your points in at that time, you can follow up with e-mails to me.
We have only one hour to discuss these points. So I’m going to ask you to limit your comments so everyone can contribute to the discussion.
I want to cover these four issues … so that we can determine …
Our goal is to create …
Here’s what we’re going to accomplish today: …
Quick tip: Watch for body language—in this case, yours. Are you expressing fear? Anger? How are you using the props around you? Are you sitting at the head of the table, giving the impression of power? Or are you sitting across the table, giving the impression of equality? Are you meeting in a conference room, which is neutral space, or your office? These details can affect how an employee perceives and retains your message.
As Kathryn said a few minutes ago …
Let’s discuss Luke’s concern again. It does raise some interesting points.
Peter, what do you think?
I remember that this group thought …; isn’t that correct, Julie?
I’d like you to give us some input, Sam.
What is your name? Eric? Thank you. What do you think, Eric?
What would you do in that situation … Excuse me, what is your name? Sandra? What would you do, Sandra?
Good insight, Marcus.
Excellent point, Larry. Do you have anything to add, Nina?
I came in from New York today.
This reminds me of what one of my kids would say: …
I’m from the Midwest, so I see everything as …
As they say in New York City where I’m from, …
Now here are some pointers for addressing the classic types of disrupters.
Thank you for bringing that up. I’m going to address that point in a few minutes.
That’s an interesting point. Here’s what you should consider …
Thank you for raising that concern. We’ll return to it throughout this discussion.
That’s a good point—and others have raised it. Here’s what current thinking tells us.
I’m glad you raised that point—many people have mentioned it before.
Yes, many people feel that way. The truth is that …
Thank you for bringing that point up. It’s a common misconception, and I’d like to address it.
That’s an interesting point, but the facts don’t support it. For example, …
If you look at the studies though, you find that isn’t what occurs. For example, …
How do you think we can avoid those problems?
Let me write these objections down. Why don’t you come prepared to discuss solutions next week?
What do you think we should do then?
What are some alternatives that could get us the same results?
Actually studies indicate that that won’t occur.
Our experience shows that’s not the case. Here are two examples.
That might be true, but if so, let’s look at other possibilities.
Let’s write those thoughts on the flip chart. Then let’s write a list of corresponding suggestions about how to deal with them.
Let’s talk about that at the break. For now, we need to stay focused.
This is an interesting concern. Would anyone like to address it?
Lots of people in other organizations feel this way. Here is what they’ve done.
It’s critical that we focus on getting an outcome from this meeting. So I expect that everyone will listen when someone is speaking and wait until breaks to leave the room.
We are a professional organization, and I want everyone to act that way, in this and every other meeting. If you want to know more precisely what I mean by certain statements I am making, please schedule a meeting in my office.
I notice that some of you are commenting on other people in this room. This must stop immediately because such comments are unprofessional.
If you have a comment, please address it to everyone in the room, and wait until it is your turn to speak.
Since we have a strong agenda, we need to focus closely. If you have additional thoughts or comments, please make an appointment to see me later or e-mail me your concerns.
The best way to deal with unresponsive groups is to get them actively engaged. You can do this by asking questions. Use any of the five "W’s" —who, what, when, where, and why—and of course, how. Here are a few examples:
What would you do in that situation?
What kind of problems do you think this model will help you resolve?
Where do you think the problem lies?
Who do you think was correct in this example?
When would you take steps to resolve this problem?
When have you experienced similar situations at work?
Why do you think situations like these occur?
Why would you use this concept at work?
How can you apply this concept to your work?
How many times a day do you think you encounter this?
Can anyone give me an example of a problem you could solve using this system?
Should this matter be considered important? Why or why not?
Could you have found a better solution?
Under what circumstances would you apply this formula?
Would you approach this differently, and if so, why?
Address one person in the room who will probably answer because he or she is on the spot, and others may open up as a result. Remember to keep the tone open and friendly:
Why don’t you tell me about a few situations particular to your workplace, Julie?
I’d like this fellow in the front row to look for any peculiarities in this outline. Don’t worry about making a mistake. You can’t be wrong here.
Just for the fun of it, I’d like to ask you, as the department manager, …
So clue us into your thoughts, Mr. Riley.
Any thoughts you’d like to share, Ms. Harrelson? I’m really interested in what you think.
Quick tip: Give them an exercise that will create interaction. Say you’re using a case study in the presentation. Divide the participants into groups and have them present alternatives or likely outcomes. Or have individuals write down three ideas and ask them to read each aloud.
Write down at least three solutions that would help solve the problem.
Go from the most to the least important.
What are the top five?
What is the most obvious … ? Now what are the least obvious? You may need to search here.
Moving from the left to the right, what do you think are …
How many …
Of all the possibilities, write down the most likely to occur … Good, now write down the least likely.
Have the participants read their solutions, and you, and others in the group, can comment on them.
These participants dart in and out of the room. Sure, it’s tempting to ignore these interruptions, but don’t. You must keep the group focused. Besides, when participants are coming and going, they are sending a clear "other things are more important"message. Here are some perfect phrases to help.
First, announce that you’ll be taking a break or ending the presentation shortly when the disruptive participant person starts to leave the room:
We’ll be taking a break in …
As I announced at the beginning of the talk, we’ll take a break every hour on the hour.
We’re breaking in about …
We’re going to finish up in …
This session will end in about …
We have only … left in this session.
We’ll be done in …
We have a lot to cover in the remaining …
Then request that everyone stay seated unless there’s an emergency so that you can cover everything on the agenda without interruption:
Please remain seated until the break.
So that everyone can participate without interruption, please stay seated until the break.
Unless it’s an emergency, please remain seated until 12:15.
We’ll break at 1:00. Until then, please stay in the room.
So that you don’t disturb everyone else, please leave at the break.
We need to work in break-out groups, so it’s critical that you remain in the room until the break.
If you’ve finished your exercise, please remain seated, as we’ll begin again shortly.
It’s really important that you remain seated during this presentation.
If you need to come and go, I can let you know when we’ll be breaking so that you can plan around that.
If you need to leave for a specific purpose, let me know, and I can modify the break schedule, if possible.
Could you please stay until the break?
If you need to come and go, it’s probably better if you don’t attend the session, although I’d like to have you. You’re missing too much content and disrupting everyone else’s focus.
Quick tip: Nonverbal communication is often optimum. Each time employees get up to leave the room, stop talking. Wait until they have left the room to begin again. When they return—same thing. The uncomfortable silence as they walk to and from their seats will keep them from too many exits. If the group is hostile or unusually difficult, save the discussion until the break.
Thanks, we’ll get to that point later.
Good point—I’ll write it down and we’ll return to it later.
Thanks for that perspective. For now though, hold off and we’ll get your perspective later.
I appreciate those points. Now I’d like to hear from others in the group.
All those points are really interesting, but we need to move on or we’ll never make our goals for this meeting.
We need to stick to the agenda. If you have other points, let’s see if we can fit them into another meeting.
If we’re going to meet our goals, we need to stay on track.
You may want to discuss those points after the meeting and e-mail your thoughts to the rest of us.
We only have 15 minutes left. I’d like to discuss those points further, but we don’t have enough time.
Unfortunately, we have a lot to cover and not a lot of time.
That’s great, but we need to focus on other topics for this meeting.
Quick tip: Slide shows such as those used with PowerPoint, although they are standard in most presentations, rarely help employees grasp and retain your message, particularly when emotionally charged. The word use is usually stilted, the meaning compacted in every slide, and the visuals are usually a distraction rather than a support. So if you must, use slides sparingly. Instead, keep a white board or flip chart nearby so you can address concerns as they come up.