How to deal with the "Stump the Chump" dynamic in Public Speaking

“Stump the Chump” refers to an audience member who may be disruptive or hostile; often expressed through repeated questioning meant to challenge a speaker’s authority and possibly steal the spotlight.  Here are some tips on dealing with this demanding dynamic:

1) Keep a very warm, friendly "interface". This allows you to maintain control over your state of being and will keep the rest of the audience on your side.

2) Play the role of "helpful facilitator." 
"I am just trying to be as helpful as I can be."

3) Let the person trying to stump you be "the expert". 
"Wow, you really know a lot about this!"

4) Engage them with humor and have fun with them.  
"Maybe you should be up here delivering this presentation."
"Let's check with Bob.  He IS the expert, after all."

5) When the expert starts to take you down into the weeds, get the group to help you out.
"Gee, I'd love to talk more about this.  At the same time, I want to make sure that others in the group get what they need from our time together.  (To the group)  Do we want to dive deeper into this topic right now?"  Then the group can be the bad guy, saying no, while you remain the "helpful facilitator."
"Bob, I want to make sure that you get what you need.  How about you and I can take this offline?"

6) Operate from the assumption that there is no conflict.  My experience has been that conflict will not survive if not given oxygen.  By assuming there is conflict, we tend to get into a debate-based mode of communication and thought.  That tends to exacerbate the situation. 

7) Seek out areas of agreement.  Work with the group to outline key ways in which you all agree.  “What can we all agree on?”  Write down those areas of agreement.  At minimum, you will gain a clearer understanding of where your perspectives diverge.

8 ) Let go of the need to be right.  After all, do you want to be “right” or do you want to get what you want?

If you start to feel that you are being pulled into real or potential conflict, use the Dialog Model that we teach in our workshops. 

1) Practice Interchangable Empathy – paraphrasing what they say with empathy.  Try to capture the emotionality in your facial expression and voice.  Pay particular attention to the energy they express around the issue.
"Wow!  So, you really feel that we have dropped the ball on this last implementation!"

2) Check to see if you captured it.  
"Did I get that right?" 
"Have I captured your meaning?"

3) If you get anything besides an unqualified, "Yes" try again.
"It sounds like you have reservations.  Help me understand where I am off the mark?"

4) Validate whatever they have said that you can honestly agree with.
"I agree that we have been arrogant in how we deal with customers."
"I agree that our prices certainly appear to be high at first glance."

5) Ask a question or surface your assumptions.
"Help me – how did you arrive at that conclusion?"
"I have this assumption that the real issue here is …"  "What our other customers have found is that the total cost of ownership is much lower …"