Often I’m afraid to start writing an article or a presentation because I feel like I could encounter criticism. Or that I won’t be able to grasp the issue and all of its facets and perspectives fully. I mean, I could read nonstop for the next 25 years on some subjects and still never cover everything. This fear sometimes incapacitates me. I feel stuck. What if my audience brings up something I hadn’t considered? What if my words are misunderstood? What if I miss a huge, important point during my research somehow? As I begin to think of all of these questions, the doubts creep in and the work slows, if not stops altogether.
If you give presentations, you probably understand this pressure. If not, you’re a lucky and rare presenter. Anyone who stands up and presents himself or herself as an expert naturally invites some criticism. It’s part of the job description. And yet, the inevitability of criticism doesn’t have to immobilize us. In fact, it can become a driving factor for producing better work. It can lead us to rephrase the questions above to sound more like this. Is there a perspective I haven’t considered? How might others interpret my words? Have I done enough research to gain responsible knowledge?
While the first series of questions stop us, the second series of questions boosts our forward momentum. Today, we are going to discuss how to work criticism into our presentations. We’ll find that lending an ear to potential criticism can actually make us more effective. We’ll start by looking at some ways to think about criticism followed by some examples of how to weave it strategically into our presentations.
Communication Doesn’t Occur in A Vacuum
The first thing we must do as speakers is realize that our presentations don’t occur in a vacuum. They are part of the larger context of human communication. Writer and theorist Kenneth Burke would remind us that we all get a turn to converse and participate in what he calls the “parlor” of the “unending conversation.” Just as we respond to others’ ideas and words, sometimes favorably and sometimes not, we must expect that others will do the same when it comes to our ideas and words.
And one effective strategy is to work those premeditated responses into your presentation. While it might seem counterproductive to give up some of your presentation time to your critics, it’s a tactic Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein champion in their book, They Say/I Say. “The more you give voice to your critics’ objections, the more you tend to disarm those critics, especially if you go on to answer their objections in convincing ways. When you entertain a counterargument, you make a kind of preemptive strike, . . . you show respect for your [audience], . . . and you come across as a generous, broad-minded person who is confident enough to open himself or herself up to debate.” Graff and Birkenstein go on to suggest three steps to dealing with criticism.
1. Anticipate it.
When you come to recognize that criticism is a natural part of putting your ideas out there, you won’t be surprised when it comes. As part of your writing and preparation process, spend some time coming to terms with the reality that you will probably encounter criticism. Sit with that knowledge for a moment. Then, look at your work through fresh eyes. What is it that people might disagree with? What other perspectives might be taken?
See if you can make a specific list of the criticisms that you might encounter. And as you begin to explore other viewpoints, Dr. Harriet Lerner says, “Listen only to discover what you can agree with. Do not interrupt, argue, refute, or correct facts, or bring up your own criticisms and complaints.” Anticipating criticism works best if you start from a place of acceptance and appreciation of other perspectives, not from a place of argumentation.
2. Represent it fairly.
Graff and Birkenstein say, “Once you’ve decided to introduce a differing or opposing view into your writing, your work has only just begun, since you still need to represent and explain that view with fairness and generosity. Although it is tempting to give opposing views short shrift, to hurry past them, or even to mock them, doing so is usually counterproductive.”
If you don’t represent your opponents’ criticisms fully, you risk engaging in what is called the straw man fallacy. A great speaker attends to his opponents’ criticisms as carefully and respectfully as he attends to his own ideas. This, perhaps more than anything else, will build your credibility and character in the eyes of your audience members.
3. Answer it fully.
Graff and Birkenstein realize that incorporating criticism into your presentations comes with a risk. The risk is that your audience members might “find those objections more convincing than the argument you yourself are advancing . . . To avoid having this kind of unintentional reverse effect, you need to do your best to make sure that any counterarguments you address are not more convincing than your own claims.”
What you might find is that in order to answer your critics, you must strengthen your own claims (assuming you still maintain your own original perspective, which is another risk). This re-evaluating and strengthening process is an important step in preparing an effective presentation. It doesn’t mean you should ride the fence on the issue. Instead, it means that you can tell your listeners that you’ve spent some time on both sides of the fence and are ultimately more fully convinced of the side on which you’ve chosen to stand.
So how do you do it?
How do you actually give the critic a voice in your presentation? It can feel strange at first to use this strategy. But you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. Especially if you use the following templates. Graff and Birkenstein have shared the following suggestions for what they call “planting a naysayer in your text” which I’ve adapted loosely for presenting:
Of course, some might disagree on the grounds that . . .
(Name a specific group of people, field, etc.) might take issue with my statement that . . .
But is my proposal realistic? What are the chances of its actually being adopted?
Yet, is it necessarily true that . . . ?
Proponents of X are right to argue that . . . but they exaggerate when they claim that . . .
Although I grant that (name a criticized component here, such as “the book is poorly organized”), I still maintain that it (name a positive component here, such as “it raises and important issue.”)
While it is true that . . . , it does not necessarily follow that . . .
It’s important to note that the process of anticipating, representing, and answering criticism isn’t a one-time process. It is ongoing work as you seek to add your ideas and presentations to the larger context of human communication. The best ideas are spoken, criticized, and revised over and over again. It’s a natural process that leads to better speakers, better ideas, and better societies. So don’t let criticism scare you or silence you. Let it propel you.
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