Using the Mic

[sasha_feather]

What you're Saying when You Say "I Don't Need the Mic"
By Erika A. Hewitt
August 31, 2017

https://www.uua.org/worship/lab/what-youre-saying-when-you-say-i-dont-need-mic

This is directed at a Unitarian Universalist audience, but can apply to any group or event.

“When a mic is being used at a meeting and someone looks at it and says, ‘Do we really need this?’ I feel outright anger. That person just asked if people like me really exist and demanded that we defend ourselves.”

Comments

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Sometimes it's that.

Other times it's an oblique way of saying, "I don't know how to use this," which is true for a lot of less-advantaged people.

For some it's, "I can't stand the sound of that thing so close to me."

It can also mean, "If I use that electronic device, it is likely to cease functioning."

And you're unlikely to know which from the audience.

Re: Well...

[sasha_feather]

I will continue to think about these issues.

Thanks for bringing them up.

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

You're welcome.

These things are often more complicated than they seem at first glance.

My experience of microphones is varied. Sometimes they're essential. Often they're more trouble than they're worth. Sometimes you can distinguish by testing them, other times not.

Coincidentally, last night I was listening to several speakers. One didn't use a microphone and was perfectly audible. (Small room, maybe two dozen people.) But the ones using the mike had this bizarre, faint echoing whine added that kept making me cringe. I don't know if the thing was misbehaving because I was there, the other folks were also prone to making technology malfunction, or it was just a piece-of-shit device.

One technique I've found useful is just asking people. "Can everyone in the back hear me?" "Is this thing too loud for the folks in front?" "Is this even on?" "Does anyone else hear that aggravating whine/rattle/buzz?"

Another is that, if the equipment is malfunctioning or incompatible, change the venue. Ask for a different room or equipment, if available. Switch from talking to text display if people have the resources for that -- that would've actually worked last night, they were running the slideshow from a laptop. In a small group you can often shuffle the chairs into a better configuration to reduce the need for a mike. Sometimes you can get different results with a shuffle: "Would the people who can't hear from the back move toward the front, and anyone who doesn't need to be right on top of me move back to make room?" "If anyone tends to fry technology, could you move to the back or step out a minute, and see if this thing will revive if we give it a little breathing room?" A drawback of this approach is that it requires people to out themselves, which not everyone is comfortable with, but it does solve some problems that other methods won't.

For anyone who does public speaking regularly, it's worthwhile to practice pitching your voice, in case equipment is unavailable or ineffective. We teach this for ritual purposes, but it works just as well in a lecture or whatever. Kind of hard to describe, as it's not only raising your voice but changing the quality so it carries better. One time I was at a con where George Takei was speaking, in a largish room without a mike. His voice went within a fraction of an inch of the wall, and didn't pile up next to it like what usually happens when people speak to carry. Crystal clear through the whole room. I have no idea how he did it but I remain in awe. I doubt I did anywhere near that well in my following panel, but then I didn't have people six-deep along the back wall, so it went okay.

I'm less sure of workarounds for folks who find mikes aggravating. Based on personal experience and observation, things sitting nearby are less so than things hanging on one's person. Also close contact greatly increases the chance of technical failure. For anyone who codeswitches between sign and spoken English, anything with an attached wire -- clip-on or handheld -- is a disaster waiting to happen. So using floor/table mikes is much safer than the kind meant to attach to a person. There may be other solutions.

Generally speaking, seek to define a problem as precisely as possible, then ask if people have solutions to the various aspects of it. Once those are found, you can spread them around. I'm starting to see some really good tipsheets on disability etiquette. I've also seen a few lines worth of "What do I do if the mike dies?" advice for panel moderators. Huh, now I've got enough to make a post on my blog, so that's useful.

Re: Well...

[lauredhel]

Unfortunately, all the "can everyone hear me? Rearrange yourselves, come to the front" solutions require a lack of intersecting disabilities like social anxiety, PTSD, a possible need to leave quickly (babies, on-call, fatigue etc) and so on.

I too have been repeatedly angered by multiple people jabbering "We don't need this do we good" and continuing on. Interrupting to object over and over again through the course of a con is thoroughly exhausting.

(That people should make sure the tech is well-behaved should be a given, but yes.)

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Unfortunately, all the "can everyone hear me? Rearrange yourselves, come to the front" solutions require a lack of intersecting disabilities like social anxiety, PTSD, a possible need to leave quickly (babies, on-call, fatigue etc) and so on. <<

Sadly, the same applies to using a microphone. Some people's disabilities or other features make it painful or otherwise problematic.

Over on my blog, we've been discussing workarounds for mike challenges and how to make sure one is used effectively if feasible. Mental issues have come up. Need to leave quickly has not, so thanks, I'll add that. The solutions I can think of include looking for frontal doors (especially in hotels, rooms often have multiple doors) and seating anyone with special needs on the aisle (preferably outer, but inner will do), thus making it easier for anyone to slip out if necessary. Regarding babies, in a large venue ask if they have cry rooms. Those aren't as common as they used to be, but some places have them where parents can sit with fussy babies and still observe the event. Do you have any other possible solutions?

>> I too have been repeatedly angered by multiple people jabbering "We don't need this do we good" and continuing on. <<

It's easy for people to overlook concerns they have not encountered personally, and if they have a reason for avoiding mikes, also natural to favor their own needs -- just as people who need the amplification urge everyone to use it. That's why I advocate talking about the issues so that folks will know how and why to use mikes when available, and when unavailable or unfeasible will have other techniques to compensate.

>> Interrupting to object over and over again through the course of a con is thoroughly exhausting. <<

That's true. (I think it's true of all disabilities; they're exhausting.)

>> (That people should make sure the tech is well-behaved should be a given, but yes.) <<

If only. I have learned not to assume competence or knowledge from other people, based on the high rates of malfunction I have observed. And even if people know what they're doing, sound equipment is cantankerous marginally reliable stuff. But the chances of success are greatly improved if the event organizers check for functionality before the event and ask whether speakers know how to use a mike, so they can fix any problems before showtime. Several folks have already grabbed my growing list of issues and options for use at their events/venues so that's encouraging.

[lilacsigil]

The only person I've ever met who actually didn't need the mic was my high school chaplain who had been a professional opera singer and could easily reach the back of our huge, echoey school hall without raising her voice. Everyone else, use the mic!

[fred_mouse]

We had someone like that! I don't know what her training was, but she was five foot nothing and all voice. She was the senior art teacher, and she would get on the gymnasium stage in front of ~800 students plus staff, and could be heard no worries at the back (her enunciation was fabulous as well).

[lauredhel]

That chaplain's mic-less projection isn't going to do a lot for someone who's relying on microphone input for the hearing loop system.

[lilacsigil]

There was no hearing loop system in this case.

[sasha_feather]

Sure, there may be an exception to every rule. But it's nice when *everyone*, without exception, uses the mic because it normalizes mic useage and encourages others to use it.

[jewelfox]

I feel like a lot of the outgoing, exuberant, public speaking types don't really get that some of the rest of us have lots of trouble with that. There's a lot of ablism.

I grew up Mormon (unfortunately), and I remember they used to do this thing like "everyone come up and fill the first three rows!" when we were all spread out through the chapel. Dear goddess, I hated the boundary violations, especially the back-slapping and hand-shaking and things. It felt like everyone who ran that church was extroverted.

[sasha_feather]

I never thought about the ableism inherent in "fill the first three rows" request. Thanks for pointing that out.

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, that was meant to be my point - unless you're an opera trained chaplain in rural Australia in the 1980s (and you're not!) please use the mic. Sorry it didn't come across.

[sasha_feather]

Ah sure, no worries! :)