“They don’t get it . . . they never will . . . and that’s good for me.”

That’s what one young man said to me after a talk during which two young ladies walked out in a huff.

They walked out, and Ron was utterly delighted.

They left, because I called them out on their rudeness of continuously and ostentatiously texting during a presentation.

Their ignorance, My Competitive Advantage

They walked out, because I wasn’t speaking to “their needs,” and the seminar was a “waste of time.”

They walked out for the same reason that some women walk out when they hear a talk by legendary CEO Jack Welch.

Generally speaking, this type of walk-out isn’t there to learn anything new to begin with, but rather to get confirmation for what they already believe they know.  It’s a kind of Dunning-Kruger effect.

Again, generally speaking, this type of walk-out wants validation for what they already believe.  They want a familiar sermon that externalizes blame, that places the onus for their low self-perceived status as somewhere outside themselves.

So they search for someone who tells them what they want to hear.  And for a sermon that likely will do them no good whatever.

And in this case, they walked out, because I wasn’t saying what they wanted to hear.

Likewise, if folks in my audience think they’ve “heard all this” and “this goes against everything I’ve learned about public speaking,” well then off you go!

Good Luck and Godspeed!

Good luck and Godspeed to you in whatever other 90-minute activity that will remain memorable for the rest of your life.

“They don’t get it,” Ron said.  “They’ll keep on doing what they’re doing, never improving.  That cuts the competition for me.  And that is good for me.”

You see them in every walk of life . . . folks who stop learning.

Folks encrusted with cynicism.  Folks who cannot grant that perhaps their hauteur is not warranted, who cannot see that their grandeur is not as lustrous as they believe, who lost their last shreds of coachability in high school and who elevate mediocrity to a virtue.

Folks who just don’t get it.

We don’t have nearly enough time to cater to them, to “have a conversation” about presenting.

If folks believe they already know how to present . . . already believe that there is nothing left to learn . . . believe that their actual performance matches what they believe they already know . . . then I encourage people not to attend my seminars, or to leave if they stumble-in by mistake.

Again . . . Good luck and Godspeed!

Negative Energy May Leave Now

I’ll even pay them a dollar at the door as they exit.  Off you go!  The sooner, the better.

Why?

Because their time is valuable and they should not waste it in activities they believe won’t benefit them.

Fair enough.

And we can proceed without the burden of angry cynicism and negative energy in the room.  That’s fair as well.

Everyone wins!

We who remain learn much about the business presentation enterprise.  And we achieve that sublime seminar state where naysayers and crabby folks have taken their troubles elsewhere and the atmosphere is more malleable and capable of producing the magic that occurs in what I call “good gestalt.”

Great things happen when smart people gather for a common purpose.  And all involved can gain personal competitive advantage.

For more on good gestalt and becoming an especially powerful business presenter, consult The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting.