Cut off after 2 minutes
November 18, 2009
Public speaking is not always the standing presentation in front of a room full of people. Last week I conducted some presentations with 1 and 2 people in a room. For me, these presentations are often the most difficult. I prefer a larger room. More energy to connect to. More eyes.
In the smaller room there are a lot more distractions as well. If my audience of one decides to do something else besides listen…well, my presentation just got a lot more difficult — and energy depleting.
One presentation stood out. I was cut off after 2 minutes. The listener had his own agenda: a list of things that, as I discovered later, were on his mind well before I got there. This is why public speaking is a ‘here and now’ exercise. Difficult to prepare for being cut off after 2 minutes because of an agenda I was unaware of. Energy is everything.
The person I was speaking to (or trying to) had just come out of a high stress meeting an hour before I met him. He had a lot on his mind. Very distracted. One of the first points I raised was something similar to an issue he recently had. This set him off. Not in a bad way, just in a way that cut short what I was trying to put across. The presentation went way off track and didn’t return to its original point — the one that I had envisioned before I got there. The one that I prepared for.
A bad thing? Not really. In fact, it probably worked out better than I thought because I have another meeting scheduled with him and 2 of his colleagues. That is definitely something I didn’t prepare for! But, like the first meeting, the energy that shows up to our next session will be key to how the meeting unfolds. I can control the energy to a point — enthusiasm, inspiration, finding the eyes, sharing a story — but energy exchange is a 2-way street…there will be a lot of traffic coming my way.
If you’re cut off after 2 minutes think of it as a chance to evaluate the audience — even if that audience is just one person. Observe the mood, the energy and see where it can take the rest of the meeting. Lots of positive things can happen after 2 minutes.
Enjoy!
