How do you respond to negative feedback after a presentation?

Not all feedback is negative. The first thing to remember is that someone took the time to share this feedback with you. Think about why they decided to share and what their intentions were. In many cases, it could simply be them wanting to help. By being able to embrace the feedback and understand why it was shared, you create opportunity for more growth.

Being human means you are going to 'feel' negative feedback and, initially, likely take it personally. It is natural. In fact, it is a hallmark of a phenomenal speaker because they are combining their heart with their skill every time they take the stage. In my experience, I have found it beneficial to separate myself, as a person, from the negative feedback. From that perspective, I am able to evaluate the validity of the feedback, it's usefulness in my growth and find ways to learn from it. Additionally, negative feedback is an opportunity to make changes such that when I speak, it resonates with even more people. All feedback is positive - if you are willing to use it as a tool for growth!

Feedback is a gift that keeps on giving. It’s exciting to hear positive feedback and hard to stomach the negative views, yet BOTH help us grow personally and professionally. Listen to it all and then decide what makes sense for you knowing that the feedback is based on their unique experiences. It’s not right or wrong and so, knowing this fact helps to not get defensive but rather embrace the good and the bad. You are the best judge of what advice is meaningful. Try it out. See what happens. As I always say: TAAR: Test, Analyze, Adjust, Repeat.

Negative feedback is always for improvement. The best thing is to be prepared to deal with the situation right at that moment. Be humble and strong-minded. Listen, clarify, and educate.

Feedback of any kind is an opportunity for growth. Sometimes it's is best to remember that this is your opportunity to practice how to have a difficult conversation and handle it professionally.

In my experience, what works well is to begin with assuming positive intent. The person offering feedback wants to engage with you. Consider it the start of a conversation with a new connection. 2nd step, be curious. Ask open questions to learn more such as: What did you learn? How did you feel? What resonated with you? And so on. 3rd step, LISTEN. Don’t plan your defense. Put aside your feelings & focus on the content. Just listen. 4th step, ask more questions, keep listening, & absorb the information. Give yourself permission to pause before responding. The pause may be brief, or suggest a follow-up conversation at a later time. Last but not least, keep an open mind because every interaction is an opportunity to learn and grow.

If you are in situation where you don't have time to fully engage in the conversation or the person offering the feedback becomes assertive or aggressive, ask if you set aside a time with them at a later date to fully focus on hearing what they have to say. Then once you are in a place where you can mentally engage with them, without becoming defensive, call them and start the conversation with, "Thank you for caring enough to share with your observations, without valuable feedback, I cannot improve my presentation skills." Then listen and ask questions.

Ask questions for understanding. As a growing professional, I often request feedback as a useful metric to gauge my performance, successes, and areas of improvement. When I have received unexpected, yet useful feedback in the past, I take a moment to digest the information and restate a summary to ensure comprehension. From there, I will implement the information as needed, check-in to gauge improvement, and continue to ask for input to ensure I am on the right track.

To help you continue to improve what you do and how you deliver your presentations : ?? After every event, send out a feedback form to the event organiser. - Ask them to rate the content of your message and your delivery. - How you could have made the experience better. After you have overcome your emotional charges from any negative experience/ feedback : ?? Hop on a post-event briefing call. - Email only won’t cut it. - Hop on a call with the event organiser within 2 week of your delivery to discuss what they feel could have been done better and fully understand how you can improve next time.

“Monitor your progress” is key here. You can use an online survey tool to not only ask for feedback, but also organize responses into charts so you can identify themes and make make data-driven improvements to your presentation skills. Some sample survey questions: Rate my presentation overall on a scale of 1-10 (a rating system can help you identify progress over time) Tell me how I could have improved my presentation (a word cloud would come in handy here to help you identify themes and prioritize what needs improvement) Which part of my presentation really engaged you? (a checklist can help you identify what to include in and what can be weeded out of your next presentation)

Growing as a public speaker & presenter is an iterative experience. It's important to view feedback as an opportunity for growth. With each presentation, use feedback to enhance your content to better serve your audience. After a presentation, ask for feedback through surveys & open discussion. Ask questions like "What was your favorite part of the presentation?" and "What could have improved the presentation?" Remember to be authentic & receptive. Be willing to adjust your presentation. Identify one action item to implement, such as giving more time for small group discussions, slowing down when you speak, or improving the accuracy of your content. By continuously implementing feedback, you'll become a better & more effective presenter.

Regarding positive feedback and balancing it with negative feedback, I usually request it through an online survey to help encourage more honest feedback, compared to asking in-person; for example, I would create an online feedback form (either through survey monkey, Google Forms, or Microsoft Forms, etc.). To make sure that I incorporate positive feedback & being familiar with how the mind focuses on the negative, I'll do the Survey Form questions in more of a sandwich form: the positive feedback "what did you like about the presentation" slices are the bread, and the "what can be improved section/questions" are in the middle. This helps to make the feedback easier to consume.

At the end of the day, have fun and stay fully present when speaking. The best presentations are when the speaker is able to engage, feed off the audience, relax, and show their comfortable in their space. The exact same is true when receiving feedback.

Most importantly, prepare and know you material. When you are the expert on what you are presenting, you will feel confident you can handle any type of reaction, question, or comment. If you are nervous or find yourself not knowing how to respond, it may be that you thought you were prepared - but you haven't deeply internalized the material. Preparation is key to success.

I've been a speaker for a more than a few decades. I've never had that problem, and unless the speaker is a real dunderhead or is vulgar, insulting or talking down to the audience or even worse, is not prepared and has no idea what they are doing, and if they are confronted in front of the entire audience, then they are rude. Some people just are and if you believe in yourself and know you did a great job for the greater good of the audience, don't let it set you back. We can never please everyone.

Typical response: Goodness, thank you for your feedback. It is important to continue to improve and grow, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I see you are passionate, as am I. Agreeing with people often helps to disarm and open them up. You can always learn from people—even if it is presented in a negative way. Be open to it all.