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Public Meetings: Taming the Tough Audience

Most public meetings associated with our projects are greeted with seeming indifference—low turnout, low concern. It’s easy to get lulled into taking them lightly. Then the next one unexpectedly blows up in your face. You wish you had been better prepared. Furthermore, your project now is in serious trouble.

Public meetings have the capacity to do both great good and harm. The key is to anticipate when there’s the potential for trouble, and come ready for it. Vince Covello, the foremost authority on risk communication, offers the following tips for handling the tough meetings:

u Prepare in advance of the meeting. It’s important to anticipate the sources of conflict and plan how to diffuse them. Focus on perceptions rather that facts. Consider who on your team can best represent your position, those most likely to be perceived as trustworthy and credible. How these individuals will be perceived is more important in the meeting than their project roles.

u Focus first on establishing your credibility. Until your audience perceives you as trustworthy, the information you convey will be considered suspect. When people feel their rights or welfare may be threatened, they typically display a distrust of government or industry. If you represent either of those entities, you will be distrusted as well. It will take special effort to overcome that perception, and it has little to do with the strength of your technical arguments.

u Portray genuine caring and empathy. There’s and old adage that goes “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” That’s certainly true in this situation. Covello warns that audience perceptions of caring and empathy are often made at the very start of the meeting. How do you get off to a good start? Listen first to their interests and concerns. Invite them to suggest solutions. You should meaningfully involve the audience, not just talk to them.

u Consider a woman as the primary spokesperson. Research indicates that people generally perceive women to be more caring and empathetic than men. However, they often receive lower initial ratings on competence and expertise (forgive me, ladies, I’m only sharing the data!). A woman who can readily portray both empathy and competence is a real plus.

u Recruit a credible third-party opinion leader. Whenever possible, seek the endorsement of influential, trusted members of the community. Preferably, you should identify these individuals in advance of the meeting. Solicit their help during the meeting to calm fears and reinforce the validity of the information you are presenting. These individuals can bridge the credibility gap and allow your message to be heard.

Copyright © 1997, The Business Edge, all rights reserved (from the newsletter The Consultant Communicator); Source: Sheldon, “Credibility Is Risky Business: Interview with Vincent Covello,” Communication World, April 1996.

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