How to Handle a Hostile Audience? (William Benkő and Anna Litovkina)

• What is a hostile audience in public speaking? • How to prepare for a hostile audience? • What is the best strategy when dealing with a hostile audience? • How not to state your beliefs as if they were objective truth? • What to do if your conversation turns hostile despite you being disarming? • What do people insulting the others look for? • How to talk to a person who won’t listen? • What to do if you are interrupted? • When you’re already in front of a hostile audience, how not let your emotions overpower your logic? • How to end a disagreement that is not going anywhere? • When speaking to a hostile audience what should you do? • What mistakes should we avoid when dealing with a hostile audience? • How to change our “fight, flight or freeze” response to hostility? • How do you respond to someone who disrespects and insults you? • How to handle hostile questions? *** The interview was recorded on the 9th of May, 2023 *** WILLIAM BENKŐ’s parents left Hungary and moved to USA in 1956. He was born and grew up in Colorado. After getting a degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, he lived and worked in Texas. From Texas, he moved to Hungary. Recently he has been living in Budapest. William Benkő is a businessman who likes “to take small things and turn them into bigger things.” He is also a passionate public speaker. He is a coach who helps people to boost their self-confidence with the help of public speaking. He is the founder of Toastmasters Hungary and Speak Academy, and the author of a book entitled “Speak Your Way to a Better Life”. For more about William Benkő and Speaking Academy, see: *** Originally from Russia, ANNA T. LITOVKINA lives in Budapest, Hungary and is currently Professor of linguistics in the Department of English Language and Literature at J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovakia. She is also a folklorist, a humour researcher, a practical psychologist, a coach, and a reporter. She has been awarded a number of scholarships to the US. Anna T. Litovkina has done research at the University of California at Berkeley with Fulbright Scholarship. She has taught courses on linguistics, folklore, and cultural studies, including Anglo-American proverbs, American humour, and American folklore. Besides more than 150 articles on folklore and linguistics, she is the author or coauthor of 23 books. For more, see: #hostility #hostileaudience #agressivepeople #debate #argument #annalitovkina #williambenkő #publicspeaking