Latest / The Vocal Hack Podcast / #19 How to deal with distractions
Transcript
- Assumpta: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Vocal Hack Podcast. I'm Assumpta. Joana Lisboa: And I'm Joana and together we talk about all the things related to voice, communication, confidence, and how to make your voice work for you. Today we're talking about something that every presenter has experienced at some point. You're in the middle of a presentation and then suddenly something goes wrong. Assumpta: Maybe Joana Lisboa: Wait. Assumpta: the slides stop working, or someone walks into the room. There's construction noise outside, or someone's phone starts ringing, or one of the technical things as well, like your microphone stops working. It also happens sometimes that people interrupt you with a question that you were not prepared for, and suddenly you're no longer thinking about your presentation. You're thinking, my god. What do I do now? So today we're talking about how to stay focused and how to feel in control when things don't go according to plan. Joana Lisboa: And I think the first thing we need to say is something will probably go wrong. That is for sure, or almost for sure. We can prepare everything perfectly, rehearse our presentation 10 times, check the slides, check the microphone, and there will be something that we didn't anticipate. So perhaps the goal shouldn't be to create a presentation where nothing goes wrong, but instead the goal should be to become better at handling what happens when it does. Assumpta: Exactly. what's actually a really important mindset shift? When something unexpected happens, many people immediately think I've lost control. But you haven't necessarily lost control. Something unexpected happened. Those are two very different things. You can acknowledge what's happening, take a breath, decide what to do next, and continue. The audience doesn't necessarily expect perfection. What they want is to feel that they're safe while you're leading them through whatever you're presenting. Joana Lisboa: And this is where your breath becomes incredibly important. We've talked about this in the past, in other episodes, and this is another situation where it becomes your best friend. When something goes wrong, your nervous system can immediately go into a stress response. You might start speaking faster, your voice might become higher or tighter. And your thoughts can start racing. So before you react, take one breath. It can literally be one or two seconds. That tiny pause gives your brain time to catch up with the situation. Assumpta: And I want to emphasize that, Joana, because I think that's one of the most important things that people always get scared of, like taking a pause. Because in that moment that pause feels so long. But actually for the listener, it's not that long. And a pause doesn't make you look unprepared. It's actually quite the opposite. If you are able to just take a calm pause It can make you look way more composed than immediately filling the silence with like, so okay. sorry, sorry, my god, my god, how so I don't even know. It that doesn't make you look more prepared. We often feel the need to fill every second when something unexpected happens. But just acknowledging it and taking a break is often exactly what the audience needs from us. Joana Lisboa: Let's take a technical problem as an example. Imagine you're presenting and suddenly your slides disappear. The instinct might be to panic and say, no, the slides aren't working. I don't know what happened. I'm so sorry. And suddenly the audience is focusing on your panic instead of your message. instead you can simply stop, breathe, and say something like it looks like we're having a small technical issue. Let's give it a moment. Then we can decide do I wait? Do I continue with the slides? Or do I move to another part of the presentation? Assumpta: and this is why knowing your content is much more important than memorizing your presentation word for word. If you memorize every sentence on one slide and then it disappears You might suddenly feel completely lost. But if you know your key messages, your structure, and the journey you want to take your audience on, you can adapt at any time. You might even discover that the presentation works better without the slides because the people are actually focusing just on you and not what is standing on the screen behind you. Your slides should Always just be a supporter of your message rather than the one thing that is holding the whole entire presentation together. Joana Lisboa: Yes, and this brings us to something I really recommend. Mental map, not just a script. Know your beginning, your main points, and your ending. Know what you absolutely need your audience to remember. If you have those landmarks in your head, you can take a different road when something happens. It's like driving somewhere you've been before. You don't need to memorize every single meter of the the road to know where you're going. Assumpta: Now let's talk about interruptions. Because these can be particularly distracting, and there are so many different ways that this can happen. For example, someone suddenly raises their hand mid-presentation and asks a question, or challenges something you're saying, or simply starts talking while you're presenting. And again, the first thing is not to react emotionally. Listen. If it's a relevant question, you can acknowledge it and decide whether to answer it immediately or park it for later. You can also say, that's an interesting question. Let me finish this point and I'll come back to it. Or if it fits naturally, you can incorporate the question into your presentation. But no one is saying that you have to take the question in that moment. You can also just say, I'm gonna take questions after the presentation, thank you so much, and just move on. It's your choice. Joana Lisboa: And there's a really important distinction here between responding and reacting. Responding means you take a moment to decide what is useful. Reacting means the interruption controls you. And sometimes the interruption isn't even something you need to engage with. If someone is whispering in the audience, for example, you don't necessarily need to stop and address them. If there's noise outside you may simply pause until it passes and then you continue. Not every distraction deserves your attention. Assumpta: That's a very important point. You don't have to fight every distraction. Choose your battles wisely, as you say, because sometimes we make the distraction bigger by drawing everyone's attention to it rather than just letting it pass. Imagine there's a little bit of noise outside, and you say, my god, it's so noisy outside. Can everyone hear me? What's happening? Now everyone is thinking about the noise instead of you. And if you would have just simply paused and waited for the sound to pass, made eye contact with your audience and continued, you may barely interrupt the flow. Joana Lisboa: And that connects to another powerful strategy. Keep your attention on the audience, not on yourself. When something goes wrong, we often become very self-conscious. Do I look nervous? Did they notice? Did I make a mistake? What are they thinking about me? So all these destructive thoughts. But the more you focus on yourself. The more difficult it becomes to communicate. Instead, bring your attention back to the people you're speaking to and the message you want them to receive. This happens a lot also when we are singing in the beginning, and we are on the stage and we are thinking about other people, what they are feeling when they're listening to us. in my experience, every time I I focus on the experience of giving the the most interesting thing I can give, everything disappears. My fears, my thoughts, they disappear. Because I'm I'm focusing on the experience, on the interaction with other people, what about you? Assumpta: No, I agree. Especially I notice that that it's especially hard, for example, when you are a little bit sick or you don't feel as prepared as you maybe could be. And then you always think about, what is the text now? my God, can they hear that I'm stuffed, like my nose or something? And you're so focused you that you actually completely disconnect from your audience. They can feel it because then they start thinking about, did I put on the laundry when I was home? I actually need to still do my Joana Lisboa: Yeah. Assumpta: groceries. this is when that happens because they're not connected to you and to the story anymore. So I couldn't agree more with you, Joana, because I think it applies to anything we do. It doesn't matter if it's singing, if we're talking and presenting, or if we're actually in a one on one conversation The moment we start focusing on ourselves in that conversation and we're like, do I look confident enough? Does does the other person believe what I'm saying? Like the moment you have these thoughts and focus on that, you're actually not connecting anymore. And the other person can feel that. I think the most important thing is that you're talking to another human. They know that feeling. So your audience is usually much more forgiving than you imagine. We remember our mistakes because we were the ones experienced them from the inside. But the audience may simply think, microphone stopped working or someone had a question. And then they move on. It's not that big of a deal. You don't need to turn a small disruption into a story about your failure. Something happened, you handled it, move on, keep going. Joana Lisboa: Yes, completely. Let's also talk about the classic situation where you completely lose your train of thought when you go blank. You're speaking and suddenly nothing. This happens even to the very experienced speakers. And again, don't panic. Stop, breathe. You can even say, Let me go back to that thought for a second. Or repeat the last idea you were talking about. Sometimes hearing yourself saying those words gives your brain the time it needs to find the next point. Assumpta: Yeah, I I had that moment before and and it doesn't feel good in that moment, obviously. But also there's nothing wrong with admitting that you need a moment. In fact Pretending that everything is fine while you're completely panicking internally creates more tension in your voice and body. A calm, natural pause, again titi a pause like let me underline and highlight this is much more powerful. You can smile, breathe. Look at your audience and continue. And if you generally forgot something important, you can say there's one point I don't want to miss here, or one thing I want to highlight before we wrap this up, or something like that. And that's it, it's not a big deal. That's much better than trying to improvise something completely unrelated just because you're afraid of the silence. Joana Lisboa: Which brings us to the preparation. Ironically, the best way to handle distractions is to prepare for them. Before an important presentation, don't just rehearse your perfect version. Ask yourself: what if the microphone doesn't work? What if I can't use my slides? What if I have Five minutes less than expected. What if someone interrupts me? What if there is some noise? If you mentally rehearse these possibilities, they become less frightening when they actually happen. Assumpta: I love the idea Joana Lisboa: Mm. Assumpta: of having a plan B or even a plan C. maybe because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, so I want to already anticipate all the options that could happen, but not because you expect everything to go wrong, but because you're knowing you have alternatives and that can give you confidence. If you already Know your presentation so well in the sense of having the high key points and you know what you want to tell them, you can shorten a sentence. You can put two things together to shorten it. Or if you have an interruption in there, you can just continue because you know what is coming next. Have your presentation, for example, somewhere other than just on your computer. the three main important messages without your slides. so if the technology fails, you don't fail. And if you're presenting online, having a backup connection or a phone available, if possible, is also a way to prepare. The more prepared you are for these interruptions or these uncertain situations, the less this can control you in that moment. Joana Lisboa: And don't forget your body. When something goes wrong, many people freeze physically. Their shoulders go up, they stop breathing, they grip their hands, or they start pacing around. So one of the easiest things you can do is reconnect with your physical presence. Feel your feet on the floor. Release your shoulders. Take a breath. Look at the audience. These small physical adjustments can tell your nervous system, I'm okay, I can handle this. Assumpta: And your voice will follow your body. If you're tense and holding your breath, your voice may become tighter and less flexible. If you release some of that tension and breathe, you give yourself more vocal options. So this isn't just only about looking calm. It's about creating the physical conditions that allow you to actually communicate effectively. While you're dealing with the unexpected. Joana Lisboa: So if we had to create a little vocal hack emergency checklist, I would say Assumpta: I like that. Joana Lisboa: yeah. So if Assumpta: Ha ha ha. Joana Lisboa: I would say Stop, breathe, assess, choose, and continue. don't react immediately. Stop for a moment, breathe, assess what is actually happening. Choose the most useful response and then continue with your message. Assumpta: I think that's the perfect checklist that you should have in your head. And I would add one more thing. Don't apologize for everything. If something genuinely needs an apology, of course, apologize. But you don't need to say sorry every time there's a pause, a technical issue, or an unexpected moment. You are allowed to take up space. You are allowed to think. You are allowed to adapt. And sometimes the most confident thing you can do is simply say, let's try that again and move forward. Joana Lisboa: Yeah, so true. ultimately being a great presenter doesn't mean delivering a presentation where absolutely nothing goes wrong. It means being able to stay connected with your audience and your message, even when something unexpected happens. The people who seem incredibly confident aren't necessarily the people who never make mistakes. They often the people who know how to recover from them. Assumpta: So the next time something goes wrong during a presentation, remember, you don't have to be perfect. You're not a robot. We're all human, we all make mistakes. You just have to stay present. Take your breath, look at your audience, decide what has to happen next, and keep communicating. Sometimes those unexpected moments can actually make you appear more human, more relatable, and ironically more confident. I also think bringing in your own personality or being able to make a joke about it or sarcastic side comment. If it fits your personality and that's how you would react in a normal situation, bring it in because then people actually get to know you and feel like they can connect to you way more than if you are like trying to be the perfect version and then you're not really yourself. Joana Lisboa: Yeah, it's it's much more interesting when someone shows these kind of sites because you Assumpta: Yeah. Joana Lisboa: you get to know people better. So I think it could be a icebreaker for some reason. and perhaps that's the real vocal hack today. Don't aim for a perfect presentation. Aim for a presentation you can adapt. Assumpta: Exactly. Because you can control your preparation, your breathing, your attention and your response, but you can't control everything that happens around you. Joana Lisboa: Thank you for joining us for another episode of Vocal Hack Podcast. If you ever had something completely unexpected happen during a presentation, we would love to hear about it. So share with us in the comments or in social media. We're very open to it. Assumpta: Yes, and we would love to hear especially how you handled it. And Joana Lisboa: Yes. Assumpta: of course, like always, don't forget to follow, subscribe and share the podcast with someone who might need this little emergency toolkit before their next presentation. Joana Lisboa: We'll see you next time. Assumpta: See you, bye. Joana Lisboa: Bye.