When I speak at conferences, it's not unusual for me to receive heckles. It's part of a thing where a lot of people who know me know that I'm pretty good with banter and will usually respond with a put down or your mum joke in good nature. It's mainly because I grew into conference speaking in a hostile conference environment, and also I've done a bit of stand-up now and again so you get used to it.
The problem with all of this that I've realised is that other people in the audience will see me being heckled and will think it's perfectly fine to heckle speakers, and that other people will see me being heckled and might be discouraged from speaking. It's got me thinking quite a bit about this. Any ideas what I should do about it?
Here's one: Instead of engaging them as a standup comic, willing to cross swords with a heckler (which likely encourages them), make up a three line response about how "this is a tech talk at a conference, please don't heckle, it just wrecks things for everyone." In other words, deflate the situation by being bland in your reply, and only bland.
The problem with all of this that I've realised is that other people in the audience will see me being heckled and will think it's perfectly fine to heckle speakers, and that other people will see me being heckled and might be discouraged from speaking. It's got me thinking quite a bit about this. Any ideas what I should do about it?