What are effective ways to handle disruptions in LGF sessions?

One thing I find helpful is to have a dry run, when possible, in the actual room and test drive the room set up, climate control, a.v. Etc and confirm there is someone available to handle room and tech glitches. I place strong emphasis on ground rules, sometimes charging someone to act as a sort of Sargent at arms, refocusing when someone goes off track, exceeds tine limits, and post the ground rules on a white board or flip chart. For large groups especially I sometimes negotiate speaking time limits and have a time keeper keep the time.

BIG fan of establishing ground rules, guiding principles, or shared agreements - especially if you anticipate disruptions. I solicit suggestions and write them on a flipchart, which remains visible during our session. If there is a disruption, it's easy to return to the list and remind the group of desired behaviors.

Leaning into the energy that a disruptive attendee is demonstrating can help you stay calm overall and neutralise that person. It’s possible to point to their willingness, out loud, and convey this sentiment to the rest of the group: “the energy and contributions that we just heard from <name> are what this workshop is about. I want to make sure everyone feels enabled to give their views and <name> has demonstrated that. Does anyone else have thoughts they’d like to share?”

And have a back up plan. E.g I was doing a power point presentation in Tanzania and was advised Wi-Fi was sketchy so I had a flip chart version with me just in case. I used it. One time I was speaking to a large audience and someone had a heart attack in front of me. I had the group take a break, but leave the room for twenty minutes giving the ill person some privacy and emergency responders, room to work. I then delegated someone else (not always possible) to finish the presentation while I accompanied the person to the hospital.

I like the suggestions offered. I would add, try to anticipate disruptions and prep a trusted few to speak up in defense. This goes back to the very first suggestion about pre planning. Ask yourself and a trusted few what could go wrong even anticipating who might disrupt and who best to respond.

I love to ask two questions, either of the whole group, or maybe a planning committee or trusted few. Question one is “what worked”. Question two is “what did not work”. A post presentation/meeting tool would be a survey monkey or similar app.

You heard of the saying “when you get lemons, make lemonade”. That applies to my earlier suggestion where I mentioned an audience member had a heart attack. The person who made the heart attack actually was the person who planned the meeting to ask his fellow members of a fraternal organization to raise $100,000 (in 1997) dollars to help cover renovations in an old house to become a group home for adults with disabilities. Even though this person was loved and respected we were skeptical about raising that much money. Our friend was pronounced dead at the hospital. The plan was soon recast in his memory as Dominic’s Dream and easily exceeded the $100,000 goal. Flexibility and making lemonade out if a tragedy, can work.