Guest blog by Pegine Echevarria

This week I saw an audience being held hostage by a speaker who tortured the meeting planner as he went over his time, was merciless with his monotone presentation, and was vicious with more 100 power point slides for a one-hour speech. And he was paid.

It really bothered me that my planners and their committee had to suffer so much. It pained me to hear from audience members how disgusted and bored they were.  It was awful to sit in an audience of 1,000 influencers and hear the murmur, the disgust and anger, all of which could have been avoided.  I saw the committee and the planners in the hall. They knew that they had a big problem.

The speaker was a highly regarded senior researcher who had been a part of a very major organization. Putting on my social worker hat (and being invited into the discussion) I learned that there were other issues holding the meeting hostage. Some of the individual comments I heard from the committee and planners indicated that they didn’t want to embarrass the speaker and they hate confrontation. Nobody wanted offend the speaker.

I wish I could say this was a unique experience, but it’s not. Over the course of the last few months I’ve experienced this at least twice if not more. Conferences organizers are bringing in “celebrity” status senior officials from the government/corporate/nonprofit world (because they are respected and economical). Often they are paid a low five-figure or high four-figure honorarium. These speakers don’t work the “circuit” so they really don’t understand the business of professional speaking and often hold the audience hostage. These speakers come in believing that they are brought in because of all they know and the power they wield. They have no idea that they are brought in because they are a “celebrity” bargain.

Buyer beware. Have a plan in place so that you can educate your speakers and be prepared for action in case your audience is held hostage. This is the time to put on your Battle Rattle (among soldiers that is the helmets, protective gear and guns), take a warrior stance, and be a feisty, fearless leader for your audiences (and committees).

Here are some of my suggestions:

Before the event
– Tell all the speakers one month before, one hour before and just before they speak how much time they have. Let them know that they will receive a sign (timer) to know when time is up. With prestigious speakers, this detail is sometimes avoided. Don’t avoid the discussion; they will understand.
– Great leaders always share the rewards and the consequences with their teams before they start their missions. Make sure that all speakers know that if they go over time, there will be consequences. Share those consequences. Cut audio and music. Power down Powerpoint. If the Oscars can do it, so can you. It is your stage. An audience likes when there is structure. The audience, after all, is the valued guest, a point that is sometimes forgotten when dealing with individual, powerful egos.
– At minimum have a red, yellow and green sheet of paper and place someone in the front row with the papers to serve as a timer.
– Be confident in your leadership. You are in charge. You are the head honcho. You are the queen bee or king of the land. You are the one responsible for this meeting, including the good, the bad, the ugly and the phenomenal. You are in charge of making sure that you know what you want, your priorities and your timing.
– Have a plan of action for how to deal with speaker hijacking. Talk about it with your team. Practice it, just like a fire drill. Planning for speaker hijacking averts speaker hijacking.

During the event
– If you see a hijacking occur, implement the plan. You have talked about this scenario with your team and practiced the plan. Use it.
– Make sure that your AV team is on notice. Have your team ready.
– Internally remind yourself that this is for the audience, your “boss,” and to save the convention. Keep your Battle Rattle on internally.

After the event
– Be frank with the speaker. Sugar-coating by saying he or she was terrific does not stop the behavior. Sometime these hijackers don’t even realize that they hijacked the meeting.  Be frank, be clear and be a warrior.
– Make sure your bureaus also know how you feel. Most bureaus I know work really, really hard to ensure that you are happy. Please help them be effective. If you know someone has hijacked your meeting, let them know. They want to work with speakers who make them look good and make you look good.
– Applaud yourself. You took charge and wore your Battle Rattle.

The people in the audience (and their organizations) are extremely valuable. They paid to be there and it is costing their organizations to support them (wages, benefits and travel costs) and your sponsors are basing their dollars on outcomes. You can’t afford not to be a warrior and courageously take on the speaker hijacker. If you don’t, who will?

Pegine Echevarria, MSW, is one of 58 inductees into the Motivational Speakers Hall of Fame. The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) named her one of 100 Global Thought Leaders on Diversity and Inclusion. The author of ”Sometimes You Need to Kick Your Own Butt,” Echevarria has a new book, “Lighten Up And Lead – How to be a Fun, Feisty, Focused, Fearless Female Leader,” that comes to bookstores this year. Learn more about her on her website, on Facebook and on Twitter.