(1888PressRelease)
January 16, 2007 - I treat a group of people as just that! A group of people. A group of people is comprised of any number of people that form or are formed into a group. A group is singular not a plural. When I am speaking to two people in a board room or fifty thousand people in a stadium I am speaking to a group as in singular. I am speaking to 'the group'!
While speaking to a group I do not comment on things that are done or said by individuals in the group. If I am speaking to eleven hundred anesthesiologists, in Boston, and someone yells out, "You're full of condensed milk", I have no obligation to defend against being 'Full of condensed milk'. Nor do I have a need to argue that I am not 'Full of condensed milk'! I am disciplined to ignore anything the does not behoove me to notice.
If I am speaking to a group of lady bartenders, in Amarillo, TX and one of them says: I'd like to buy you a drink", I might stray from my planned course and announce: Ambassador Hotel, suite 1420. Then, after the girls chuckle a bit, I would immediately return to my game plan. As far as hecklers are concerned, I use the following 'Rule of Three: I ignore the first time someone tries to disrupt my presentation. I ignore the second time this person interrupts the show .
If I jump on someone the first time they heckle me, the group perceives it as me bullying the heckler. That is also true for the second time that person tries to interrupt me. By his or her third attempt to cause a disturbance the group is thoroughly fed up with these interruptions and whatever I say to the person is received with a big laugh and a round of applause. So, hecklers are to be ignored twice and then on the third time they make an attempt I pounce!
These things are important because many a presentation has been ruined because the speaker let the group or someone in the group take control of the proceedings!
