How do you filter feedback from your audience? Whether you’re giving a professional speech, doing a slide show presentation for co-workers, or competing in a speech contest, feedback is the most important part of preparation. Make no mistake, if you don’t filter properly, you’ll be headed in the wrong direction.
One of the most challenging times for me as a speaker came when I was headed for the World Championship of Public Speaking. You may have heard my philosophy about craving feedback. It’s a powerful idea, but it brings about a new challenge. I was actually overwhelmed with feedback. What to incorporate? What to throw away? How do I decide? Do do you decide?
Take a minute to think about that. What’s your filter? Let me clarify the critical difference between two types of feedback.
1.) Here’s what I thought/felt while you were speaking.
Everyone is qualified to give you this type of feedback. Everyone. It doesn’t matter what skill level they have, you need to know what people are thinking as you present.
2.) Here’s what you can do to make it better.
This is actually coaching. Most people are not qualified to tell you what to do to improve. They do not fully understand how their changes would affect the thoughts of the audience.
Would you like your presentations to be at a world-class level? If so, the fastest way to get there is with a coach. This is how I picture the influence of a good coach on a speech.
As we say about our Get Coached to Speak Boot Camp, “Coaching is the fastest way from good to great.” This is what my coach Mark Brown did for my speech during our coaching sessions.
Let’s look at one tiny bit of feedback I got while preparing my winning speech for the Championship. In the attention-getting opening, I literally fall on my face and asked three questions from the floor with long pauses after each. I got the reaction I wanted, but I also received additional feedback I didn’t expect.
Feedback from audience members was: “I felt uncomfortable when you stayed down on the ground and paused so long.” (Type 1 – Thought/Felt)
Then they said: “Because we were uncomfortable, you should get up quicker.” (Type 2 – Coaching)
Incorporating bad coaching advice can make a good speech flop and fizzle. Had I taken that coaching advice from unqualified coaches, it would have had a direct negative impact on my presentation.
Let me ask you this: Would you take relationship advice from someone who has been divorced seven times? Would you take financial advice from someone who can barely pay their bills? Why would you take coaching advice from someone who isn’t a qualified coach? It is an easy mistake to make without this awareness.
A speech coach friend of mine was working with a highly-paid, high-profile speaker who was very coachable. The client spent hours working with the coach and then went home and practiced in front of his spouse. The speaker then proceeded to immediately proceeded to incorporate the spouse’s advice. This seemingly helpful advice can undo the hard work of a good coach. Why? Because the feedback was not filtered.
Getting feedback from a spouse or anyone else can be a great thing. It can also be disastrous, even if well intended. It can be helpful for them to give you improvement ideas to consider, but their advice or ideas should then be discussed with your coach. Your coach will help you decide what to incorporate and what to discard. There are many different directions to go. Trust your coach. Ask, “Why?” The learning you can get from just asking why may be exactly the “ah-ha” you need to raise the bar on your skill level.
The more you get coached, the more your feedback filter will be honed. You will enhance your own instincts as your skill level increases. A week before the competition, I hit a wall and was overwhelmed with feedback. I got to a point where I just couldn’t take any more. Because my own feedback filter was not fully developed, I leaned on my coaches. I trusted both of them. I didn’t want any well-meaning speakers to cast doubt on my speech that I might magnify under the pressure of the contest. Since Mark Brown was not available the week of the contest, I leaned on David McIlhenny. After every practice speech, I asked everyone to give their verbal and written feedback directly to him. I trusted him. It was one of the best decisions I made.
Because of our own lack of confidence in our speaking, we can sometimes let someone who is passionate with their feedback convince us that they’re right.
Remember there are two types of feedback:
1.) Here’s what I thought/felt while you were speaking.
2.) Here’s what you can do to make it better.
Don’t let your speech flop and fizzle as you’re trying to improve it. When filtering your feedback, be on the lookout for commonalities. This is really important because it’s the key to understanding the thoughts of our audience.
Thought/felt feedback is crucial. It was through much feedback and coaching that I was able to transform my average speech and make it awesome. Consider all the feedback you receive, but talk about it with a qualified coach. Do you want to go from good to great quickly? Who is coaching you to develop your feedback filter?
Stage time,
Darren LaCroix
2001 World Champion of Public Speaking
Want more results? Get more insights. Go to StageTimeUniversity.com
** Diagrams were adapted with permission from Alan Weiss, PhD.
Wow! One of your best blogs yet! (and all of the others have been great). Loved the Process Visuals! You used them very effectively to help me understand the importance of qualified feedback vs. general feedback. After reading your blog I felt grateful that I have some of the best speaking coaches in the world giving me qualified feedback.
Once again, thank you for sharing your insight.
Awesome information! I just gave a talk to a soon-to-be-chartered club about the benefits of good evaluations. Can’t wait to share this the next time I speak, giving you all the credit, of course. You are right on and I’ll certainly consider what I’ve learned from your blog the next time I give feedback to a speaker. Thanks!
What an amazing insight !!!
Hi Darren, thank you so much for this awesome advice…
You know at Sligo (UK & Ireland Spring Finals-which I was lucky enough to compete at), after the Evaluation contest …I was indeed showered with mix bags of feedbacks..No way of really telling who was who from the mass..so I took most feedback graciously. .
Luckily , they were all very positive and some very constructive for my future WIN !!
Including your very own feedback to me 🙂 Glad you were there..Darren
I love this blog content…useful illustrations too !
With much gratitude & best wishes to you
Vathani from UK
The advice on improving a speech is not only saying what one likes about the speech and presentation, but also how to improve it. Good thoughts on the coaching process.
This is the most insightful (and helpful) articles I’ve ever read on the subject of how to incorporate feedback effectively. When I went to the World Championship of Public Speaking Finals in Phoenix in 2007, I made the mistake of incorporating some strongly held ‘coaching’ feedback from a less experienced speaker. In hindsight, watching the video, it wrecked the speech because at key moments during the speech, i ceased to be ‘me’.
Still, they say you always learn most from your mistakes – and if I’ve learned one thing about the contest during the five years I’ve been competing, it’s that it truly is about the ‘growth’, not the trophy!
Indeed, Darren, this is an awesome post! I think your type 1, type 2 coaching concept even extends well beyond the platform! It’s important that we filter all feedback and recognize the difference that you outline so clearly.
Hello Darren,
This is such a great blog post. Incorporating feedback into my presentations is something I don’t do well, but this will also help me in the future to give better feedback.
Thank you so much for your insights and your willingness to share.
Pat Gibson
Hi Darren,
We included this blog topic in one of our Educational Sessions in the club and everybody appreciated it. . Next day, when they saw your Video about the same topic, it was like an iceing on the cake. Wonderful!!! It was really an awasome topic to be discussed with for every budding and serious professional Speakers. I wish you all the success to make more thoughts in this direction.
Regards/Vinod