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7 Great Tips For Handling Hecklers
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Link to the source article: 7 Great Tips For Handling Hecklers
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
It can happen to the very best speakers. Many speakers dread it happening to them. Rest assured that if you speak or present at some time or other it will happen to you. I am talking about hecklers. People who heckle are those glorious and incredibly lovable souls who, unwittingly, ignorantly or downright maliciously, interrupt your speech or presentation in mid-flow. They can wreak havoc with your session. You cannot predict or prevent them doing it until it happens to you but you can choose how to react and how you handle the situation. Here are 7 tips that should help you out.
Although one could generalise, in my opinion every situation and every heckler is unique and you have to make a rapid judgement call at the time. I suggest having a toolkit of rehearsed and practised responses and you will not be caught out when the time comes. If one fails just try another.
Tip 1 - Do not lose your temper under any circumstances. If you are, or want to be, a professional you should act like one. When you don't react badly then the heckler is clearly in the wrong; the rest of the audience will side with you and you keep the moral high ground.
Tip 2 - Unless you are a professional comedian, I recommend that you do not use disparaging humour or put-downs. Again, you risk looking unprofessional and you trying to make them look bad will quickly backfire on you.
Tip 3 - Simply ignore the heckler. Don't make eye contact and simply blank them. This can work well as you remain professional and they get bored. The audience local to them will also get on their case.
Tip 4 - Stopping your speech and looking directly at them in complete silence can also work well. The audience will likely turn and look at them too. If the heckler was just trying to be funny this general feeling of disapproval from everyone will serve to discourage them from further hilarity.
Tip 5 - For a heckler using the pointedly rhetorical question or barbed comment style of attack, you can immediately look across to them as if you didn't catch the remark. Now you ask them for their name and also to repeat the question for the benefit of the rest of the audience. You maintain your professionalism and they look foolish.
Tip 6 - For a genuinely funny heckle just laugh with everyone else and treat the heckler as if they were part of your production team. Thank them as if they were your scriptwriter. I have laughed it off by mentioning the problems with bringing your mother or father to the gig. The possibilities are endless but don't put the heckler down; just make it part of the session.
Tip 7 - If all else fails just get rid of them. Some people just don't take a hint. They will ruin it for the whole audience and the organisers. Ask them to leave. If it is a big event use a pre-arranged phrase to alert security or have a bouncer placed nearby after a break. You are in control of the situation and are entitled to professional respect.
I hope some or all of the above tips are of use and interest and would love to hear your own successful tips for dealing with hecklers as well as feedback on these ones.
