In short: When someone interrupts, acknowledge them, thank them and redirect to your point in one sentence. Park off-topic questions for the Q&A. For the elephant in the room, the thing everyone is thinking about, name it briefly, once, then move on. Decide your two or three likely elephants before the talk.
Something will go off script. A heckle, a question about the thing nobody wants to discuss, a phone that rings in the front row. The speaker who handles it well notices, responds in a sentence, and returns to the talk. The speaker who handles it badly either ignores it so loudly that everyone thinks about it, or lets it take over the session.
Interruptions
Use three moves:
- Acknowledge the person. Look at them and use their name if you know it.
- Thank them. Say nothing about the merits of the point at this stage.
- Redirect. Give a one-sentence answer, or say you will come back to it, then pick up the point you were making.
If the question is off topic, park it. Say that you want to take it at the end, and write it on the list you keep for the Q&A. Parking keeps control of the talk without refusing the person.
The elephant in the room
An elephant is the thing the room is thinking about and nobody has said: a bad result, a missed deadline, a change of plan, a rival on the same agenda. Do not pretend it is not there. Name it once, in plain words, such as "I know many of you are wondering about the timetable." Then give the one thing you can say about it, and move on. Do not return to it unless someone asks again.
Plan ahead. Before the talk, list the two or three elephants most likely in this room. For each, write one sentence you can say calmly, and say it out loud a few times. The first time should not be in front of the room.
A worked example
Someone calls out that a figure on your slide is out of date. Acknowledge: "Thanks, that is a fair challenge. The figure is from March, and I will check it against the latest before anything is published." Redirect: "What I can show you now is how the figure was built, and that part has not changed." Then go to the slide. You have answered without arguing, and you have kept the talk moving.
Mistakes to avoid
- Arguing with the person who interrupted.
- Apologising several times, which makes the moment bigger than it was.
- Answering a question the room has not asked.
- Returning to the elephant every few minutes.
- Parking a question and then forgetting it. Keep the list visible.
The Q&A guide shows how to keep questions from pushing the close off the end of the session. To practise hard questions on camera, the media training day at the barn, run by Jawsmith, rehearses interviews with a voice in your ear, and the crisis simulation guide covers the harder version.
Related guides
- Mic technique: handheld, lectern and head mic
- Stay in your light
- Using the whole stage, moving with purpose
- Write the introduction the MC will read
- Q&A without losing the ending
- All guides and tools
The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.
Questions we get asked
How do I handle an interruption during a presentation?
Acknowledge the person, thank them, then redirect to your point in one sentence. If the question is off-topic, park it for the Q&A so the talk keeps its shape.
Should I address the elephant in the room in a talk?
Yes, if the room is already thinking about it. Name it briefly and plainly, then move on. Ignoring it tends to keep the room's attention fixed on it.
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