How to Take Control Of a Meeting or a Presentation

When you run a meeting or a presentation, people expect you to take charge and lead.

If you don’t lead, your meetings will get out of control. Which means people will speak out whenever they want, they will come-in-and-out whenever they wish, and they will argue with you after every point you make.

Basically, your role as a speaker will be undermined and your audience will not receive your message.It’s a lose/lose situation.

I learned how to take control of my training rooms after doing one year of work teaching 3rd graders in an after school program. I wanted to help the kids, and as a result I learned a lot about myself.

From the first day the kids were loud, obnoxious, and out of control. I knew that if I did not establish order in the class, the kids were going to walk all-over me and not learn anything.

I also noticed that one of my colleagues was able to control the room and the kids. I decided to put aside my ego and learn from her. I started picking her brain for tips on classroom management and that helped me to improve my ability to direct and teach.

Here are some tips to help you take control of the room if it gets loud and out of control.

Take control of the stage
First impressions count when you take the stage. An experiment done by Jane Willis from Princeton University reveals that after looking at someones face, it only takes one tenth of a second for your brain to form an impression of that strangers character

The next time you stand in front of a group, make eye contact, smile, and demonstrate confidence before you even say a word. That will get you off to a good start.

Take control of the presentation
When you present, you have to be clear about your rules. In the Magnetic Blueprint boot camp, we teach participants to lay out their rules for the presentation in the introduction. If you don’t tell people your rules, then they will follow their own and that will lead to chaos.

Always say how you will run the show as part of your introduction. If you want your presentation to be interactive, then say something like this “I would like the presentation to be interactive. Any time you have a question please ask it.” If you want no participation in your presentation then say something like this: “ I have 30 minutes with you and a lot of information to cover, please hold your questions to the end because we have some time allocated to Q&A.”

This will set the boundaries for your presentation and give you the control you need to lead the group.

Take control of your mind
The moment things begin to go out of control, avoid thinking “oh, shoot, this is going to be a disaster.” Instead, redirect your internal dialog to a more productive conversation like “ok, this is interesting, I am a good speaker and will get this back on track in a minute.”

This keeps your mind under control and prevents your emotions from getting out of control.

Take control of the breaks
During breaks people start talking and socializing, checking email, working on other things. Your job is to bring people back to the presentation and back into control.

Here is my favorite method of doing it while being professional;

1. Clap your hands three times

2. Say “Can I have your attention.”

3. Repeat until you get most of your audience attention

4. Thank them for the attention: Say “Thank you for your attention.”

5. Tie back to the presentation: Say something like this “ Let’s get back to ______.”

This will get the presentation back into control after the breaks. It’s important to be nice and assertive when you do this.

Conclusion

When you run a meeting or a presentation, people expect you to take charge and lead so don’t disappoint them. If you don’t take charge, your audience will take control and no one will win.

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