It
happens. Despite your preparation and
practice, you make a mistake during your presentation. You quote the wrong statistic, mispronounce
the product name or stumble over your words while providing an example. What do you do?
First
of all, remember that it seems worse to you than it does to the audience. In some cases, they didn't even notice your
mistake. Don't call attention to it by
stopping in mid-sentence, looking horrorstruck and apologizing profusely. Simply pause, take a breath, restate the
statistic, word or phrase correctly and keep moving forward. There is no need to dwell on it or make a big
deal out of it. Keep going with the rest
of your presentation as planned.
Sometimes
the mistake is obvious to everyone in the room and it's not small. For example, at a presentation early in my speaking
career, I ended with a handout that misspelled the client company's name. I didn't realize it until I heard some laughs
and someone in the audience pointed it out to me. I immediately turned the microphone back on
and admitted that I had made a mistake spelling the company's name. I apologized and then made a humorous comment
about needing to hire an assistant to proofread.
It was such a glaring error that I could not
ignore it; even if everyone hadn't noticed it yet, they would when they read
the handout or when someone else made a joke about it. By taking responsibility for my mistake and
apologizing, I was able to salvage the situation and no permanent damage was
done. (And you can be sure that the
experience taught me to triple-proofread my handouts, especially the company
name!)
We
are all human, which means that we make mistakes – how you handle your mistakes
is what matters. When presenting, your
goal is not to be perfect – that is unrealistic and unnecessary. Your goal is to communicate and that does not
require perfection.
© Gilda Bonanno - Gilda Bonanno serves as a trusted
advisor to executives and entrepreneurs to transform their communication,
presentation and leadership skills. She has worked with companies on 4 continents, from
Chicago to Shanghai and Rio to Rome. The instructional videos on her YouTube channel have
received over 2 million views and her e-newsletter has reached subscribers in
over 45 countries since 2008. For other articles or to receive Gilda's
e-newsletter, visit www.gildabonanno.com