What’s the universal fear? Public speaking. Why? People are afraid of looking foolish. Well, what if you could guarantee that you’d never bomb? GET REAL. It’s going to happen sooner or later. It happened to me. You can prepare but you can’t always be in control-especially when technology is involved.
The biggest anxiety for event planners is technology. If the internet goes down, so goes the conference.
At the end of last year, I was invited to speak to a group of consultants and speakers. It was a two hour Zoom meeting about video and content creation that I had attended several times. I looked forward to speaking to my peers about Mastering Virtual Presentations. In 2020 during the pandemic, I became a certified virtual presenter and my clients hired me to successfully train their teams to give virtual presentations. So I was experienced and prepared.
As a seasoned presenter, I had my back-up plan. I sent the host a copy of my slides in advance while I worked from my desktop slides. The presentation started out well. And then it happened. I couldn’t advance the slides. So we did a quick switch to the host’s slide deck. A few minutes later she froze on the screen.
I quickly pivoted and started coaching individuals helping them with their framing and background. Then the host dropped off the call. I carried on until she found her way back. After I finished my presentation, the group was placed in breakout rooms to apply the learning.
After the meeting ended, I relayed the story to my husband. I wasn’t happy. It’s bad enough when a presentation crashes but even worse when the presentation is called Mastering Virtual Presentations.
When asked what I needed I told my husband “Let’s go out for a drink.” Given the late hour he said, “Well that’s not happening”. So I went to a liquor store and bought a bottle of wine. My friend who attended the presentation called me to see how I was doing. She shared feedback that the group was impressed by how I carried on and didn’t miss a beat. I started to feel better.
I reflected on my presentation and began to reframe my experience. Initially, I thought that I was speaking about virtual presentations. In actuality, I gave a demonstration on how to stay cool under pressure using recovery strategies. Teaching how to handle adversity in a presentation would never be effective as a PowerPoint presentation. It has to be experienced. I gave the audience that experience.
So what do you do if your presentation bombs? Stay cool. Take charge and change direction. Use humor. Never stop serving the audience. Find someone who will give you honest feedback. Focus on the positive and what went well. And remember it’s not what happens. It’s how you respond.
To learn how to Speak Confidently and Effectively check out my LinkedIn learning course. It ranked #5 on the Top 20 Most Popular courses.
To learn techniques to overcome fear of speaking, read chapter 3 of Knockout Presentations.
To work with me contact DiResta Communications, Inc.