You’re presenting at a meeting and a colleague interrupts with passive aggressive, under the breathe commentary, and interjecting as you’re talking. How do you address this disruptive behavior professionally? Here are some ways to prepare and how to handle the interruption when it occurs. To further help, we’ve provided examples scripts as well.
Establish the Agenda of the meeting
Prior to your meeting, provide a clearly outlined agenda within your invitation. Be pre-emptive and prepare for the potential disruptions by informing attendees of how questions will be addressed during the meeting. Set the expectation that questions are only addressed at the end or post meeting with a follow up email or call. Here’s a sample script: “The meeting is 1.5 hours in length with the goal of having 1 hour for the presentation and 30 minutes for Q&A. Any questions not answered during the call will be addressed in a follow up email.”
At the start of the actual meeting, you remind everyone of the agenda and expectations. Here’s a sample script: “…to respect everyone’s time, there’s a lot to cover so we ask that you send all questions in the chat and they’ll be addressed if we’re on track with time, otherwise we’ll follow up by providing answers to your questions via email.” Doing this step offers you a way to refocus when interrupted and brings the meeting back on track. Here’s a sample script: “…that’s a great question, please put that in the chat. As promised, we’ll be sure to address all questions in the tail end of the meeting, or post meeting via email.”
How do I handle a disruption during a presentation?
If someone disrupts your presentation, it's important to remain professional. Here are a few strategies you can use to get back on track:
• Acknowledge the disruption: Address the disruption directly and calmly, without getting defensive.
• Ask for cooperation (professionally and calmly): If the person is constantly talking over you, then ask the person to stop interrupting and to allow you to continue with your presentation. As an example: “…I’d love to hear your feedback so let’s jump on a call after this meeting but for now, let’s keep to the agenda so we can respect everyone’s time. So,… as I was saying….”.
• Redirect the attention: Bring the focus back to your presentation by rephrasing your last point or by summarizing the key takeaways of your presentation. Here are some quick examples: (1) “…So, as I was saying”, (2) “Getting back to our focus…”, or (3) “…to my last point, I was talking about…”
• Take a break: If the disruption is severe and you are unable to regain control, consider taking a short break to regroup and refocus. When you do this, you can take the opportunity to address the offending individual privately or restart the meeting with another reminder about respecting everyone’s time and to keep comments and questions to the end. Here’s an example: “…You have some good ideas, please remember to put them in the chat since we were not going to have time for any further disruptions if we’re to get through everything on the agenda. Thanks…”.
• Document the disruption: If the disruption continues or becomes a pattern, document the incident(s) and report it. Interruptions are normal but typically, not with malicious intent. Although, there are times when you may encounter unprofessional and toxic work place behavior that requires intervention from managers and senior leadership.
It's always good to be prepared for disruptions and have a clear plan of action to handle them. It's also important to practice your presentation skills so you can remain calm and confident in difficult situations. Communicating professionally in a calm and respectfully assertive manner will help you stay focused. No one likes to be interrupted and this goes for the audience who were invested with mutual respect for everyone in the meeting. These attendees would applaud the way you’re able to control the room’s attention and get the most value out of the time that they’ve committed for the meeting.