“You’re too good of a speaker.” I’ve heard those words and they depressed me. Now they put a smile on my face.
I realize now that my friends, all excellent technicians, were telling me that they preferred a complex presentation that was a little rough around the edges—just like the world they lived in
I had a difficult transition from technician to someone who also speaks
to audiences about technology. It took years to learn how to effectively communicate technical information.
My problem was I sought to have every single member in an audience like both me and my material. Negative feedback from any member of a 100 person audience would put me in a funk—no matter if it was just a single person. I now see that both my desire and reaction were ridiculous.
If every member of the audience is important, then no member of the audience is important. The most successful speakers strive to reach a target audience rather than everyone. And the feedback that counts is from the members of that target audience.
Coping with feedback congruently sometimes requires thick skin. For instance, negative feedback that I allow to depress me only makes me an ineffective speaker. Positive feedback that I allow to turn me into a babbling brook is just as bad.
Bottom line, if you want to be an effective speaker, know your target audience and cope with their feedback.
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