Here’s how to do it; I’m going to show you:

1. How to break the ice with an audience that doesn’t want to be there
2. Top three ways to get them to listen to you
3. The #1 reason an audience will trust you
4. How to inflect your voice to get buy-in
5. How to get your audience to believe in you
6. The top three things NEVER to do when introducing yourself

Imagine if I started a presentation by telling you I was going to teach you all of the things mentioned above. Would you be hooked? Most people like you in the audience would say, “Yeah right, I don’t believe it...let’s see him do that.” And the hook has begun…

So, how did I do it? I’m going to let you in on the first secret to getting your audience to listen to you: TELLING THEM WHAT YOU WANT TO TEACH THEM DOESN’T CAPTURE THEM. Instead, start by telling them WHY they would want to listen to you. It’s faster and gets them immediately excited about being there.

Sounds simple right? It is…but most presenters don’t know how to do it because most of them don’t know what the “WHY” really is. Think about it…why does anybody do anything?

The answer is that they must BELIEVE in what you are trying to say. They can’t just hear WHAT you are saying. They can’t even just hear HOW you say to do it. Audiences need to believe in your message - the reason for you talking…that’s what gets them to want to keep listening.

When I said to you, “I’m going to teach you how to get your audience to CRAVE your presentations and THANK you for them afterwards,” you probably realized two things. This article has the potential to make you more successful with your audience and be happier doing it. Those are compelling ‘whys’ that you believe in. (Who doesn’t want to be happier and more successful?)

Here’s how to KEEP your Audiences’ Attention

Even though the hook is enough to get them on the edge of their seat, the hook is not enough to KEEP them in their seats. Your audience wants “proof” that you can deliver what you got them to believe in.

Here’s secret #2:  That proof needs to be TANGIBLE.  It must be something they can actually USE. (Educational psychologists call this “Immediate Value” and all learners crave it.)

I call these the deliverables... they work because they satisfy the skeptics of my hook and let them know I can actually back it up. Here’s the key…the deliverables can’t be what YOU want to teach them. They have to be what THEY want to know.
If your audience sees those deliverables and want even part of what those deliverables offer, they will say to themselves, “I have to have this,” and they will begin absorbing everything that they can. (This is perfect because now, I not only have them believing in what I’m about to teach them, but wanting it as well.)

Once you get them to say, “OK. Prove it. Prove you can do what you say.” They will internally challenge you for what you just claimed to be able to do. And, when you say, “Here’s how I’m going to do it,” they stay hooked. They stay with you to get the cool takeaways you promised or to try to prove to themselves that you can’t do it. Either way…you’ve got 'em.

If you find yourself thinking, “I want to know more of these ideas so I can hook my audiences and capture their attention every time,” then you should go on a free tour of my Rule the Room CAPTIVATE program. It will show you how to find the “why” for YOUR audience. It’s packed full of techniques that I will personally model for you. It will show you how to hook your audience and keep them hooked the whole time. In addition to ALL 6 of the deliverables above, you’ll learn how to speak well,  answer questions like a pro, practice expert preparation techniques, use body language to overcome fear and nervousness, finish right on time EVERY time, and much more.

Everybody wants to know why I would write this article. “Seriously Jason. Are you really going to give away how you do it? I mean…if you tell everyone how to get good scores, won’t that make what you do seem ordinary? Won’t you start to make yourself obsolete?”

The answer is: “Of course not!” I LOVE to teach people how to teach. I love it. It’s my mission in life, and I actually find it exhilarating whenever I can help someone improve his or her evaluation scores.

Many people don’t know this, but I have spent the better part of the last 10 years observing trainers, teachers, and presenters perform. It is literally my job to give them feedback, and I do it almost entirely because I enjoy helping people become more fulfilled in the classroom.

What I have discovered is for most of those people their number one goal (and concern) is their EVALUATION SCORES. They want to get them up, and they want to make sure they keep them up.
I have GOOD NEWS for you - I will tell you in this article EXACTLY what it takes to get your evaluation scores up. However, you MUST keep in mind scores aren’t everything. My programs assert there are fundamental teaching techniques that must take place in every classroom to help students learn, and not all of them will enhance your scores. The educator in me feels compelled to tell you this.

With that said, if you do all the things I’m going to suggest in this article, (some of which intrinsically cause learning to occur) then you will get to have your cake and eat it too! The people in your room will be learning, AND you will receive amazing evaluation scores.

You’ll be glad to know ANYBODY can do this. Even if you have never been able to obtain the great evaluation scores some of your peers have been getting and you’ve started to think you’re not cut out for this, you really need to keep reading. Becoming a great presenter, teacher, or trainer is NOT limited to only those with natural talent. My experience has shown me GREAT PRESENTING CAN BE LEARNED. ANYONE CAN DO IT! I have seen it done, and I’ve helped people get there.

I’ve observed countless trainers, teachers, and presenters, and do you know what personality traits are common to all of the good ones? NONE! Any personality can do this! Anyone from any background can do it… you just need to know some KEY TRUTHS you can IMMEDIATELY APPLY in your room.

It may not seem logical to come right out and give this kind of advice up front, but with evaluations, I’m going to. Why would I do that? Because I want to see EVERY teacher, trainer, and presenter become successful. It’s that simple, and it’s THAT important for learners. You teach different students than I do. Those students NEED to learn, and if you are getting good evaluation scores there is a good chance your students are learning more.

Enough talk...let’s get to it.

How to Boost your Scores IMMEDIATELY

Read these elements with caution…they are powerful and amazing, yet simple. Once you’ve read them they may even seem obvious. Don’t overlook them, don’t ignore them, and whatever you do, don’t assume you do them all perfectly… Even the best can get better…so read these, and think about which ones YOU can improve on.
The first thing you need to do to get better evaluations is to PROVE how good you are by SHOWING THEM THEY ACTUALLY DID LEARN FROM YOU. To make that knowledge powerful, you have to know the 4 ways to do it. Here they are: Take a look at them, and try to write down one way YOU can think of to do this better in YOUR classroom.

• Show them they REMEMBER what you’ve taught them
• Show them they FOLLOWED ALONG with you as you taught them
• Show them they UNDERSTOOD what you’ve taught them
• Show them they CAN DO what you’ve taught them

Notice each one of these elements has “Show them” in front of it. You can’t just TEACH people, you need to prove to them you did it by SHOWING THEM. My Maverick program provides foolproof techniques with specifics on how to execute each one.

The second thing you need to do to get better evaluations is to SHOW THEM THEY ENJOYED LEARNING FROM YOU. Once again…it’s only powerful if you know the ways to do it. Here they are: Next to each one, try to write down one way YOU can do this better tomorrow in YOUR classroom.

• Show them they ENJOYED what you’ve taught them
• Show them they WANTED to learn what you taught them

It’s so simple yet so elusive. Are you REALLY DOING ALL THESE THINGS? Now that you know WHAT you need to do, how do you DO it? Wouldn’t it be great if you could see these things in action…actually watch somebody else do it first? That is something I show you in my Rule the Room MAVERICK Program.

There, you can see me unlock the secrets, and model them all for you. You will learn how to start to get “perfect 6’s” on your 1-6 evaluation scale. You’ll learn how to show them they understand, show them they are remembering, show them they enjoyed everything about your class, and much, much more.

The answer is that few people believe it...

I’ve interviewed, spoken with, and observed hundreds of presenters, teachers, trainers, and professors all over the world.  I’ve also been in each of these roles myself.  Do you know what the number ONE reason is that these professionals give for why the audience doesn’t NEED to like them?

It goes something like this, “I’m not here to entertain or get people to like me.  I’m here because I know my content, and they need to know this stuff.”  Hmm...I wonder how it would work for the owner of a restaurant if he took that mentality?  How about the manager of a resort in the Caribbean?

Whether you like it or not, you’re in the service industry.  You are on stage, and everyone in those chairs is your client.  Your job as a presenter, trainer, teacher, professor, or anyone in the business of speaking or teaching in front of other people is, in part, to get them to like you...to get them to

CRAVE YOUR restaurant, and not want to LEAVE YOUR resort.

If you don’t... THEY WON’T COME BACK.

Will you go back to a restaurant that had great food but you didn’t LIKE the waiter?  Not very often.  How about that resort with the beautiful views, and a fancy poolside bar, but with staff members that have lousy attitudes?  Even worse, the manager doesn’t attempt to improve your experience by motivating the staff to give good service.  When this happens, then you won’t want to go back.

Did you know that people are far more likely to spread the news about a BAD restaurant experience than a good one?  Why do you think the experience was bad?  Because they didn’t like it! And, IF YOUR AUDIENCE DOESN’T LIKE YOU, THEY WILL SPREAD THE WORD.  Like wildfire...

Discover Why They Must Like You to LEARN from You

But, why is it?  Why is it they must like us to learn from us?  Well that gets into educational psychology.  You see when you make people feel comfortable, and even get them laughing, their mouths open up, and you can fit more information in.  :)

Seriously though...when people are feeling good, they will learn more from you.  When they’re comfortable, their brains will function at a higher level.  Isn’t that interesting?  Think about it…have you ever learned something really well in a situation where you were extremely uncomfortable?  Not a chance.

I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say almost every time you learned something really, really well, you also felt very comfortable with the learning process.  It happens that way nearly every time.

Well then, if you need to get your audience to like you in order to really teach them effectively, then how do you do it?  The best way to get started is to check out my BULLSEYE Program. You’ll learn all sorts of practical tips and tricks that I personally model for you on how to get them to like you during a presentation, from opening well to closing with such gusto that your audience is actually “Wowed” by the experience.

Suppose you walk into a presentation, and the presenter asks a question. If it’s a GOOD QUESTION, it may generate a few verbal responses, but it will also compel two or three times as many of the other listeners to respond to themselves in their heads.

Stop for a moment and think about it. When I ask you a question, are you responding in your head? I’ll bet you just did, even if you didn’t say anything out loud. Your audience does the same thing!

Now suppose that you walk into a presentation with an audience of 100 or more. Imagine that about 75 of those 100 people are taking notes. These individuals are thinking, synthesizing, AND writing down IN THEIR OWN WORDS, what the presenter is saying. Is that audience interacting? You bet they are!

Next, consider a presentation with a group of a THOUSAND in the audience. Suppose the presenter asks the audience to take 30 seconds and talk with the person sitting next to them…the presenter introduces them to an idea that requires understanding, and asks them to agree on something about which they would likely feel compelled to get agreement and understanding on…Is that interaction? Absolutely.

I’ll bet you’ve had times where you’ve tried some of these techniques and your audience hasn’t responded like they were supposed to (i.e. they didn’t answer questions, take notes, talk to a neighbor, etc.) for whatever reason. You may even be reading this article partly because you just don’t know why
that is.

Let me give you three possibilities for why your audience isn’t interacting with you:

• Reason #1:

  They don’t know that they’re expected to interact.

• Reason #2:

  They don’t know the appropriate way to interact

• Reason #3:

  They don’t feel like putting any effort into interacting.

These are real world reasons for a lack of interaction that I observe every day in presentations, but none of them is a sufficient excuse, and you can use strategies to mitigate them. Here are some of them for you to try...

Discover How to Get Them to Interact With You

Have you ever tried to ask your audience to participate? I don’t mean HOPE they participate...I mean ASK THEM TO PARTICIPATE. Here’s a little trick I like to use when I have a large group of people that doesn’t respond to the VERY FIRST QUESTION I ask of them.

Right after you ask a question, and you get no response, say “This is the part where you all say something.” Then, “smile” with your eyes.

This works because it does two things for you: First, it lets them see your lighter side and usually even gets them to laugh a little. Second, it tells them that you mean business…that you actually want them to respond, and it puts the onus on YOU. Doing that will make them feel SAFE…something your audience
craves.

Here’s another thing to try: TELL YOUR AUDIENCE WHY THEY SHOULD PARTICIPATE. This pulls from a bit of adult learning theory. Adults learn best when they know why. Most audiences will only interact with you if they feel like there are compelling reasons WHY they should do so.

One of my favorites reasons to give for WHY they should interact is to tell them WHY THE INTERACTION WILL HELP THEM LEARN MORE EFFECTIVELY. Be careful though because this requires that you did a good job hooking them on your topic to begin with.

Finally, if you’ve tried all of the things that I mentioned above and nothing has worked, here’s your trump card. You can GIVE THEM A GROUP ASSIGNMENT.

The #1 NEED OF ANY LEARNER is to feel safe in their learning environment, and most people feel more safe interacting in a small group of 2 to 4 people than they do in a large presentation environment of 20 or more. There is a much better chance of getting them to interact in a large group if you can get interacting in small groups first.

In this article I have barley scratched the surface of the things you can do to compel your audience to interact with you. If you are reading this and thinking, “I want to know more of these ideas to use on my audience,” then you should check out my ADVANTAGE Program. You’ll learn techniques you can implement immediately that I personally model for you on how to get ANY audience to interact with you including how to: hook them immediately, speak well to maintain attention maximize media impact, use body language to engage and much, much more.

As soon as you set foot in front of your audience, they start to decide what they think about you. They immediately ask themselves: have we “got a good one?” You need to convince them they do. The first step is to SHOW CONFIDENCE.

I’m not talking about arrogance. Arrogance is a very low character trait that results from a fundamental misconception of who you really are as a presenter. Arrogance causes an exaggerated sense of your ability to communicate with your audience.

CONFIDENCE, on the other hand, is the ability to truly understand your unique abilities, your strengths, and your personality, and the ability to harness those attributes in a way that SHOWS you truly are the RIGHT PERSON TO TEACH YOUR AUDIENCE AT THAT POINT IN TIME.

Confident presenters KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THEY EXCEL. They get prepared, they bring enthusiasm, and they are NOT AFRAID because they KNOW the audience will come away feeling they gained something.

So, how do you do it? How do you show confidence in a real, genuine way without coming across as arrogant? The answer is to find your STYLE. You see, showing confidence is greatly influenced by your personality type.

Ask yourself this question: Are you a NATURALLY confident person? If I were to ask you to do an interview with a complete stranger, would you do it? If I were to ask you to approach a complete stranger and ask for a dance, would it be easy for you?

Are you still not sure? Then answer this question: Do you have a NATURAL “I CAN DO THIS” mentality? If you are a natural “Can do” person, then you are naturally confident.

If you have natural confidence, then your biggest concern should be TOO MUCH CONFIDENCE verging on arrogance. Too much confidence can cause you to be ill prepared…something I see time and time again with VERY CONFIDENT presenters. They become overconfident, and they begin to think they can deliver without much preparation. This can cause them to come across as unprofessional and even arrogant at times.

How can you avoid this? Prepare…even if you’re naturally confident…prepare anyway, and remember confidence without the means to back it up is arrogance…preparation will turn arrogance back into confidence.

How to SHOW Confidence If You Don’t Naturally Have It

What about you presenters out there who lack natural confidence? You are probably the ones who were drawn to this article in the first place. What can you do?

Here’s a key truth for you…YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE NATURALLY CONFIDENT IN ORDER TO SHOW CONFIDENCE. You can learn to SHOW more confidence by centering yourself -- PULLING IN CHARACTERISTICS THAT SHOW CONFIDENCE without changing fundamentally WHO YOU ARE.

Did you notice I didn’t say you have to BE naturally confident? All you have to do is SHOW confidence in front of the audience. Once you learn to show confidence (through your natural style), the audience becomes more comfortable.

There are three ways to show confidence: You can do it through body language, verbal tone, and the words you use. 93% of your communication comes from body language or tone. I wonder how that manifests itself in your presentations?

Ask yourself, which presenter shows more confidence. Is it the presenter who stands still or the presenter who paces back and forth? Is it the presenter who speaks with a rushed, high pitched voice or the presenter who speaks with a calm, articulate one? Is it the presenter who uses doubtful words like “I guess”, “Sort of”, “Like”, & “Um”, or the presenter who eliminates those from their vocabulary? Many presenters are unaware of the things they do that prevent them from showing confidence.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could actually learn all of the things you can do (or not do) to show confidence as a presenter? You can! And, you can harness each and every one in YOUR OWN style. You can also use them in ways that make your audience feel safe, secure and really crave you as the presenter. If you want to find out how to do this and actually SEE IT DONE, you should check out my Rule The Room PRESTO program. There, you’ll learn exactly where to stand, how to use your hands, manage your facial expressions, and master eye contact…even how to speak well to SHOW IMPRESSIVE CONFIDENCE each and every time you set foot in front of an audience.

Did you know more than half of presenters and instructors ARE UNAWARE of the mistakes they making in front of their audiences and classrooms?
How do I know this?

I observe presenters and instructors every week and give them feedback after their presentation. One phrase I very often hear during a post observation feedback session is: “I didn’t even know I DID that!”

What about you? Would you be interested in knowing some avoidable mistakes you could be making in YOUR CLASSROOM?

I’m going to give you the top three I hear on very nearly a daily basis. Next time you present, teach or train something, have somebody watch you to determine which of the following YOU are doing.

Even better, videotape yourself… You will be AMAZED at just how many times you’ll want to turn it off. Even if you do want to turn it off, DON’T DO IT…keep watching so you can learn which mistakes you need to fix.

I guarantee you IF THE MISTAKES BOTHER YOU, THEY’LL BOTHER YOUR AUDIENCE.

In a moment I’m going to tell you the top 3 mistakes that can send your audience packing… real examples of things I have observed over many years of coaching dozens of presenters, trainers and teachers.

Before I do that, you should know I’m all about positive reinforcement. I prefer to provide practical strategies that work and theory that encourages rather than discourages people.
I share these common “mistakes” with you in the hope you can learn from them and use them to improve your presentations.

My goal is the mistakes strike a chord with you so you can IDENTIFY YOUR PROBLEMATIC HABITS and take the first step to avoid making the mistakes to begin with.
IDENTIFYING THESE HABITS WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER PRESENTER.

Ok, here we go...

The Top 3 Mistakes that Can Send Your Audience Packing

• Mistake #1: USING WORDS THAT DETRACT FROM YOUR CREDIBILITY.
  See if you can pick out the problems with each statement below.
  Which ones are YOU guilty of?
  • “There may be times when I guess, you know more about the subject than I do...”
  • “In the first chapter, we’re gonna’ spend time and kinda’ go over our first phase.”
  • “Sometimes I find myself tripping over things up here…I’m just a little bit clumsy.”
  • “I probably should have done this before, but…”
  • “Since we have SO much information we’re going to throw at you….”
  • “Umm, I know this topic is a little boring, but I’ll try to keep it short.”
• Mistake #2: USING BODY LANGUAGE THAT SHOWS LACK OF CONFIDENCE
  Have you ever done any of the things below?
  • Moving hands around up front for no particular reason
  • Putting hands in pockets
  • Pacing back and forth while presenting/instructing
  • Walking backwards
  • Not giving eye contact to people as you talk to them
• Mistake #3: USING A TONE THAT CAUSES YOUR AUDIENCE TO CHECK OUT
  How about these?
  • Inflections go up at the end of each statement
  • Male voice quality is higher than normal
  • Female voice quality is too bubbly and/or too fast
  • Speaking pace is too slow for the audience
  • Monotone inflections throughout the sentence (Think Ferris Bueller’s teacher)
  • High volume that remains high throughout the presentation
  • Difficult to hear
  • Speaking pace is too fast to keep up with

If you’re reading this and you’re thinking, “I think I do a few of these during my presentations...how do I stop? What should I do instead?” you should go immediately to my Rule the Room FOUNDATION video program. In this video I will model for you exactly how to open well, be careful with language, present with your body, use effective tone, close well, and a whole lot more.

I’m going to tell you the top six ways to build rapport with any audience. But before I do...let’s define it. What is rapport? I mean, we hear this word all the time, but what is it…really? And, how does it relate to an audience or a classroom?

Rapport can be defined by one word: Relationships. BUILDING RAPPORT = BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS.

Most people know that building relationships is key when working with people close to them...their family, friends, etc... But an equal number of people fail to see how it applies, or how it is done in a classroom environment.

Still others find it next to impossible to apply rapport techniques to a large group of people (say a classroom of 30 or an audience of 100.) How do you build relationships with multiple people at the same time? This can be elusive…until now.
Below are the top 6 ways to build rapport with any audience and what these things mean for you. You should get out a pen, because you will want to write these down; they will come in handy in your next presentation.

• RAPPORT BUILDER #1: BE WELCOMING
  Seriously? Yes, I’m serious. What kind of relationship is established when you arrive at a party, knock at the front door, and NOBODY is there to welcome you? Compare that to a party where the host opens the door, greets you with a smile, and introduces themselves to you and anyone you brought along. If you want to build a relationship with someone, you need to start by welcoming him or her. You’ll be surprised by what happens. Always welcome the people in your audience…every last one of them.
• RAPPORT BUILDER #2: MEET THEIR NEEDS
  Meeting needs is a nurturing thing to do. If you are naturally nurturing, some of the rapport builders below will come quite naturally to you. If not, your goal is to become centered enough to be able meet the needs of your audience. This can allow you to springboard to a confident approach to attention and learning that all audiences crave.
• RAPPORT BUILDER #3: SHOW THAT YOU CARE
  This is a sister task to that of “Meeting Needs,” and you will find there is some overlap between these tasks. Ultimately, you can show that you care about the “group” as a whole, and the “individuals” in the group. When you can accomplish both of these, then you have mastered this task.
• RAPPORT BUILDER #4: GET THE AUDIENCE TO LIKE YOU
  Why does it really matter if people like you? First, people learn better when they like the person they are learning from. Second, when people like you, they will help you achieve goals, provide you with solutions instead of obstacles and make the classroom environment more effective through increased productivity.
• RAPPORT BUILDER #5: MAKE CLASS ENJOYABLE
  Have you ever heard of those teachers that everybody wants to have? You know...the teachers that seem to make class so enjoyable that their students actually leave with smiles on their faces? That’s what rapport is, and every GOOD presenter, trainer, and teacher knows how to achieve it.
• RAPPORT BUILDER #6: MAKE PEOPLE FEEL COMFORTABLE ASKING FOR HELP
  When you’re presenting or instructing, how comfortable is your audience with bringing their questions to you? People don’t ask others for help unless a good relationship has been established. You need to learn how to use your unique personality in a positive way, to avoid being intimidating, and to encourage accessibility. This will allow people to feel comfortable asking you for help.

OK – so you know what you need to accomplish, now how do you make it happen?

To get the basics, take a free tour of my Rule the Room PRESTO program. It’s packed full of practical strategies to build each and every type of Rapport that you checked off above. The best part? You will get to see me model everything that I suggest you do...

I’ve had numerous discussions with various trainers about this very topic. Here is one conversation in particular a trainer found so valuable I thought I would share it with you.

He said to me, "Jason, I heard you tell people not to answer every question that gets asked during class. Why? To me, answering all of the questions proves you are an expert and makes you look better in front of your audience. Plus, the class will get their needs met. I mean, if they ask the question, it means they want the answer right?" (I nodded.)

He went on to say, "How can you NOT give them the answer they want? It’s possible that person has traveled 3000 miles just to ask you that one question. That person might even feel like they won’t be able to do their job if they don’t get the answer. Are you really saying you would just not answer them?"

So, how do you think I responded? Do you think I told this trainer I wouldn’t answer the student? If so, what effect would that have on the student? How would that look to the class? I decided to answer with a story:

I said, "Consider the following: A waiter in a fancy 5 star restaurant had a table of 12 people to wait on. At this table was a group that had not eaten the whole day because they had been on a long city tour. This was their first chance since breakfast to sit down and eat. To make matters worse, the restaurant was unusually busy that evening and the waiter was challenged just to find enough time to take orders from each of his tables.

As he was taking their orders one of his 12 guests, a little girl named Sophie, left her seat at the table, quietly walked up to the waiter and said, ‘Mr. Waiter? I need to go to the bathroom...would you take me?’

The waiter was overcome with sympathy for the little girl. He wanted to help her and meet her needs so he stopped taking orders for the table and personally took the little girl to the bathroom. It turns out getting to the bathroom led the two of them on a long complicated maze through the restaurant. They went upstairs, through a hallway, across a separate dining area, and then back down a half flight of stairs to get to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, the table was getting restless. They were famished, starting to get upset because they still hadn’t had their order taken, and now they were waiting for the waiter to deal with Sophie.

When the waiter got Sophie to the bathroom he realized that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back to the table alone. So, he waited for her, and FIVE MINUTES LATER they finally returned.

He had not expected it to take this long, and when he returned he still had a whole table of guests to tend to. He quickly rushed the little girl back to her seat (a smile on her face) and she sat down. Then, he looked at the table of angry, resentful, hungry guests and said, 'OK, where were we?'

After I finished this story, we discussed how this could happen in the classroom when answering a question. I asked the trainer, "What if you have a 32 person class and the person asking the question is the only one that needs and wants to know the answer? Is it fair to the 31 other people? Are there times when answering a question to meet the needs of ONE individual, can sacrifice the needs of the rest of the class?"

"Possibly," he answered. I continued, "If you spend 1, 2 or even 3 minutes answering a question that only ONE person (just like Sophie) wants to know, then the rest of the class is NOT GETTING TAUGHT THE VERY THINGS THEY CAME FOR. THAT is not meeting needs."

He looked at me with the most sensitive and caring expression I'd seen up to that point. I could see how important it was for him to meet needs in his classroom, and his students probably loved him for that, but he was often burned out at the end of the day because of it. "So, what should I do instead?" he asked.

"Believe it or not" I answered, "I can show you how to handle these situations so that you can meet the needs of an individual AND make sure the rest of your audience doesn’t have to waste their time waiting for the things THEY need."

If you want to see how to do this, and you're going to be answering questions during your presentations, you should check out my Rule the Room BOOMERANG program. You'll learn how to answer questions like a Pro. I model exactly what to say and do, and how to say it so your audience wants to come back for more.

Take a look at the following two scenarios:

1. “I’m not going to bed! You’re the worst parent ever!” says your youngest child.
2. “I refuse to learn this, and you can’t make me! This class is terrible!” says your oldest, most respected trainee.

What do the individuals in these scenarios have in common? They are both trying to get YOU into a power struggle…but WHY? Why do they do this? Students and trainees of all ages often feel the need to be rude or insulting as an outlet for their emotions. You may just be in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”

A student inciting a power struggle with you may be trying to get revenge. This can be true even if that student has never met you. Sounds strange doesn’t it? How could they have a goal of getting revenge against someone they’ve never even met?

They may not be seeking revenge against YOU specifically. They may want revenge against anyone currently standing in front of them because of who they “represent.” They feel as if you represent the people or organization that has hurt them, caused them fear or frustration, or made them endure a major change in their life. You just happened to be the one standing up in front of a class that, in their mind, right or wrong, represents the source of their resentment.

In turn, this can elicit a number of distressing, uncomfortable, and frustrating feelings in you. It’s important you understand those feelings so you do not react negatively toward them, but rather handle them in an effective way.

The student will probably be rude or insulting as an outlet for their emotions, but you must be careful not to hurt them in return. You need to SIDE-STEP A POWER STRUGGLE. Here’s how you can do it...

How to Sidestep a Power Struggle…Works Every Time

Students and trainees will often say something to purposefully try to get a reaction from you or others. Sometimes, they are attempting to get you to argue or debate something with them. They want to get you involved in a power struggle.

Here are some examples:

• Ex: “This class is ridiculous.”
• Ex: “I am not happy to be here.”
• Ex: “You’re the worst trainer ever.”

Here’s some advice you should never forget: YOU WILL NEVER WIN THE POWER STRUGGLE ...don’t even try. Instead, SIDESTEP THE POWER STRUGGLE... offer a choice in order to give them something they can control, not something they can ‘chew on and spit back at you.’

Here’s how you do it: Remain neutral concerning what they say, so they have no ammunition to aim at you, and immediately follow by offering a choice. Take a look at the following examples:

Student: “This class is ridiculous.”

Instructor: “Could be.”

In this example, the instructor IS NOT AGREEING OR DISAGREEING, but instead, is REMAINING NEUTRAL with the response. There is nothing in that response for the student to latch onto or to argue or debate about.

Student: “I am not staying for this class.”

Instructor: “We offer the class again next week. Would you like to take the class today or next week?”

This example offers choices, either of which the instructor is willing to live with, but it also offers some control (albeit minimal) for the student. If the student persists, continue to give other neutral responses. See below:

Student: “You’re the worst trainer ever.”

Instructor: “Maybe so.”

Again, notice the trainer is not agreeing or disagreeing, and there is nothing in that response for the student to latch onto, debate about, or feed on. This is a way to sidestep the power struggle until more action can be taken.

There are a number of other ways to handle these kinds of students. If you want to learn more about handling situations like this and every other type of situation in the classroom, then you should start by checking out the risk free trial of my Rule the Room FOUNDATION program. You can actually watch me model dozens of PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS to handle an audience including how to: hook your class, reach every learner, answer questions, and much much more.

In his book, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey shows how powerful it can be to combine taking initiative with giving an effective presentation.

He writes:

"Taking initiative does not mean being pushy, obnoxious, or aggressive.  It does mean recognizing our responsibility to make things happen.

Over the years, I have frequently counseled people who want better jobs to show more initiative-to take interest and aptitude tests, to study the industry, even the specific problems the organizations they are interested in are facing, and then to develop an effective presentation showing how their abilities can help solve the organizations's problem.  It's called 'solution selling,' and is a key paradigm in business success.

The response is usually agreement-most people can see how powerfully such an approach would affect their opportunities for employment or advancement.  But many of them fail to take the necessary steps, the initiative, to make it happen."

One of my missions in life is to equip people with everything they need to give an effective presentation.  I love being a resource on the steps to make it happen.  The initiative is up to you.

Succeed where others don't.  Get more information about Rule The Room presentation training here:  Advantage Program

Talk to you again soon,

Jason Teteak

Excerpt of "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People" from Fireside, copyright 1989 by Stephen R. Covey