Posted by Freddie Daniells
Just got this note in from Christopher Hall, President of Broadgate Speakers and one of the main people organising the Toastmasters day out at London's Speakers Corner yesterday.
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Elizabeth Ladimeji and Nima Jaaheri in action starring as Toastmaster yesterday
Hosting a table topics session in Hyde Park Speakers Corner is not for the faint hearted or those easily offended!! We were joined by three determined hecklers who certainly added value in toughening the speakers up. Quotes included:
“Are you a boy or a girl?”
“Get down, you are not from this country.” (Nor was he by the way!)
“We want our money back!”
“That was not very exciting”
“He looks like Woody Allen”
“Off, off, off, off, off” (Ok, that was the crowd addressing one of the hecklers who got up and didn't seem to think 90 seconds was remotely long enough.)
and much, much more! Hopefully, you get the flavour of the day!
We also got some tips from the hecklers themselves, many of whom in fairness were regular speakers at Hyde Park:
- Hecklers look for attention - give them some, and then move on with your speech.
- Appealing to a heckler to be polite or to their better nature never works. A better approach is to answer them back with funny but disparaging answers designed to make the crowd laugh at them.
Easier said than done – but after being heckled once, you are soon thinking up better strategies and responses to deal with them next time – after all, they seem to have a limited repertoire. As with everything in toastmasters, the best way is to learn by doing.
“Was it a horrifying event?” you might ask. Certainly not. We attracted a large crowd, possibly the largest of any speaker, especially thanks to Nima’s appeals for claps and cheers. More importantly they also stayed, which is quite remarkable for Speakers Corner where even the best of speakers have difficultly keeping their crowd. Several members of the public also agreed to speak and were warmly encouraged by our applause and cheering. Almost everyone wanted to repeat the experience, some even wanting to go back to heckle some of the hecklers.
See you there next year. We are going again!
It sounds like everyone had a ball. Remember, if you would like to have your event publicised just get in touch and we will happily write about it here.
