How do I give feedback when I know more about the topic than the presenter?

Question

I believe I have specialized expertise in a specific area of technology. At work, I often have to sit through presentations given by others in the same area of technology that I have expertise on.The presentations are of two types:1. declarative presentations that declare the current architecture and design of internal projects in that area of technology,2. training sessions to bring the rest of the company up-to-date with what is going on in this area of technology.**My problem:**I often, but not always, happen to know more than the presenter, and I become restless when I see that the presenter/trainer is presenting the topic in a more confusing manner than it should be, or is wrong about certain things. I find myself constantly nitpicking (in my mind) what the presenter is saying. Sometimes I do end up voicing my opinion or correcting the presenter. Sometimes the audience may ask a question to the presenter which the presenter would answer. I would find the answer very unsatisfactory and I would end up speaking for a while and answering the audience's question in my own words.I am worried that this kind of behavior may be obnoxious to others. I am also worried that it may affect the morale of the presenter. In many cases, the presenter is very junior to me and I am their team-lead. I want everyone in my team (presenter or not) to feel valued and important.How do you think I should handle situations like this? One thing I feel is that I should probably keep quiet and let the presenter be in complete control of the session whether he is speaking correctly or incorrectly. It is his session and unless asked for, I should not be offering feedback or correcting mistakes. Have you been in a situation like this? What strategies did you develop to deal with such situations?

Answer 1

Hello, this is a great question! I have experience in this, having held a Public Information Associate position in an agency where I did presentations for the public and internal presentations for staff. As a Toastmaster I've learned ways to handle this but tbh it's just too much to write out here. If you'd like to schedule a one hour lesson I would be happy to discuss this with you and share what I've learned in my experiences at work and as a Toastmaster/public speaker. I am available Tue-Wed-Thu this week from 7am-3pm PST. Message me to schedule :)

Cheers!

Meilani