I could tell that the presenter was about to lose it. There had been intermittent side conversations going on between audience members for most of the morning, and the presenter’s facial expression betrayed his increasing annoyance.

Finally, it happened.

 “Excuse me, can we have just one person talking in here at a time?!!” he said sharply and glared at the group.

A deathly, uncomfortable silence descended over the room and remained there for the duration of his presentation.

That’s the thing about adults. When confronted or embarrassed, they can easily shut down from that point forward. The key to handling side conversations (and other adult problem behaviors) are subtle, non-confrontational tactics.

So, what to do?

First, before you act to suppress a side conversation, make sure it would be in your best interest to do so. It has been my experience that many side conversations are actually topical. Perhaps you, the presenter, have just made an interesting or perplexing point and two people turn to each other to discuss it. If you have reason to believe this is the case, consider soliciting the side conversation. Use a question like: “Was there an additional issue?” or “Is there anything I can clarify?” Sometimes the whole room can benefit from a shared side conversation.

Also be aware that if you are teaching or presenting to persons who have your language as a second language or who are from different countries and cultures, they may need side conversations to clarify unfamiliar terminology. In that case, you should welcome this activity, because it means that your audience is interested enough to try to understand what you are saying.

Assuming, however, the side conversation is not contributing to your presentation, here are five strategies that may work:

Body positioning:

Dynamic presenters often move purposefully around the room rather than remaining stationary at the projector or lectern.  Therefore, in a casual, seemingly non-targeted way, approach the persons having the conversation. Not only does this position you in their immediate proximity, but also directs the attention of the room to the that location.

Questioning:

Good presenters aspire to frequent interaction with their audiences. Consider directing your next few questions to persons sitting in the vicinity of the conversationalists. They will get the message that the next question could easily be to one of them.

Silence:

To avoid “information overload”, good presenters often pause during their presentations to give audience members a chance to process and absorb important points. A well-timed silence might be just the thing to draw attention to the side conversation.

Table configuration:

Classic “theater style” or traditional classrooms feature multiple rows of tables, with some audience members sitting many tables away from the presenter… a very safe place to engage in conversation. Where possible, consider a u-shape table arrangement so that everyone is in the “front of the room.”

Engagement:

Side conversations sometimes occur because the audience is so bored or disinterested, they have
nothing better to do. Consider engaging your audience with stories, questions, compelling visuals, group activities, and similar. Make your presentation so interesting that a side conversation is a much less attractive alternative.

One last point. When you put adults in a confined space like a conference room or classroom, they do tend to talk to each other. It is a natural and spontaneous occurrence. Sometimes we presenters just need to take a deep breath and not over-react.