SABOTEURS

Some people just seem to want to throw you off track. They may be angry, argumentative, or just passive-aggressive. Someone may have an ax to grind about issues not related to you or the presentation. And some people may inadvertently keep interrupting or asking questions simply because they don’t know any better.

As a presenter, you are expected to be an expert in the subject matter and an expert in doing presentations. The audience expects you to be in control and to stay in control. In addition to the issues like being argumentative and angry, or someone who asks a lot of questions, you may run into some audience members who want to see the presentation thrown off track for other reasons.

I was asked to do a presentation on the qualifications of my company to a client. When I got there, I noticed some tension in the room of about a dozen people. Halfway through my presentation, I started to get questions about my company’s methods that seemed to be aimed at discrediting us. I felt myself being led into one trap after another—“but you just said . . . and now you are saying . . . ?”