It’s inevitable. At some point during your speaking career, no matter how carefully you prepare, something will go wrong.
The equipment may fail; the well-known speaker sharing the stage with you may not show up; someone may step in with a tweak to the event that hurts your sales.
You may not be able to prevent the unthinkable from happening, but there are ways to salvage the event, perhaps even turn the mishap into a plus. Here are seven secrets to save the show:
1. First, Be Prepared
Use your checklists and prepare for the mishaps that commonly occur. For instance, bring your laptop in case there are problems with the A/V equipment; bring an extra copy of your introduction in case the host has lost yours; if you’re shipping product, carry a few with you in case your shipment doesn’t arrive. Those kinds of problems are more predictable and, with preparation, you can prevent them from ruining your event.
2. Breathe
If something does go wrong, remember to breathe. Take a few deep breaths to calm yourself before you do anything else. Much better to respond than to react.
3. Don’t Lose Confidence
If you experience a mishap, don’t take it personally. Problems happen to the best of us. Keep your cool and tell yourself that everything will turn out all right. If you can keep your head clear while you look for solutions, you’ll be sure to find them faster.
4. Pray
While you’re seeking solutions, don’t forget to ask for help from a higher power. You may be surprised by how quickly an answer appears. (I do this ALL the time!)
5. Maintain a Sense of Humor
When things go wrong, the audience is feeling for you, so if you’re distressed, they will be too. If you can find the humor in the situation, and even joke about it, you will not only put yourself and your audience at ease, but, seeing how well you handle stressful situations, they will like and trust you even more than if everything had gone well!
6. Don’t Panic and Throw Out Your Plan
You’ve thought long and hard about what you’re going to do, so don’t let a last-minute disruption make you throw the baby out with the bath water. During a book tour, an author I know had only a few people show up at an event. Rather than focusing on the people who had attended, she became upset at the “poor” turnout and assumed that her talk wouldn’t work in an intimate setting. The trouble was, she didn’t have a Plan B. She fumbled her way through, panicking inside. Finally, she went back to her outline and got herself back on track, realizing that small tweaks to her presentation as she went along were sufficient. She salvaged the event (including hitting her usual sales conversion rate of 50%) and, on to #7, learned several lessons.
7. Learn Those Lessons
Don’t beat yourself up; milk the mishap for lessons. Sometimes when things go wrong, there isn’t a happy ending. A person with authority might step in and make a decision that truly wrecks your sales and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You lose money, but you can look for the lessons in the experience. One of them might be to negotiate better upfront next time and state certain conditions in your contract that you need in order to attend. For example, if you plan to make an offer when speaking, make sure there is a 20-minute break after you speak and that, aside from announcing what time they should return from the break, no one is speaking between you and that break.
The bottom line: no matter how carefully we prepare, we can’t protect ourselves from every contingency. Our job is to learn how to flow with the things that go wrong; if possible, prevent them from happening again; and look for the gifts of insight and learning.
If nothing else, our setbacks make memorable stories that help others avoid the same fate.
How have you “saved the show”? What have you learned from things that have gone wrong during presentations? Let us know below.
Normally, the thought of speaking from the stage would fill me with fear, but this article makes me feel centred and calm. Great advice, Lisa.
But, then it would be wouldn’t it? You are the outstanding expert in this field.
I’m excited to get stuck into your course that I bought through Ali, Simply Irresistible.
Thank you,
Lily
I’ve had several of your examples happen to me when speaking…once to an audience of 60 woman. I usually use a projector and presentation, but it was obvious once I saw the set up that the logistics just would not work. The organizer said “what are you going to do”…I said “no problem…I’ll just talk” I grabbed the mic and had a great presentation. After all I knew my own materials.
I have had other times when the projector does not work and
I have a small group…so we get cozy around the laptop and
it works just great!
Great recommendations Lisa!
Wow, I was surprised and happy to find this post.
I love when people know what are they talking about and
write practical answers that can be applied in real life
applications.
I run audio/video equipment for a big facility and it is not
only people that are doing the presentation have to be
prepared… but if something goes wrong on our end then it is
more then one person upset…
So, I can really relate to this. Thank You Lisa for sharing!
With Rspect,
Slavik G
Oh goodness Lisa, I can soooo relate to this post! Prayer is one of my greatest allies in these situations.
My second one is humour. Many years ago I was invited to speak about a specialty topic and one that was pretty new at the top (desktop publishing…yup, I’m that old!).
I was excited, especially since I’ve always loved to be at the front of the room…and this was my very FIRST professional speaking engagement. Even years of training didn’t prepare me for the tongue-tied, fumbling approach I had that night
Guess the nerves got to me more than I realized.
At one point I said “excuse me” and turned to face the wall. I took a deep breath, then another and as I turned around to face the audience, I pushed on my front teeth and said “geez, new dentures and can’t do a thing with them!”
The audience cracked up and the tension in the room went “poof”. It was then that I realized how most people really do want you to succeed…and that if you share your humanness, they’ll share it with you. At least most of the time!
In the 20+ years since that first gig, there are lots of things that have happened…and not ones that were always fun. And always, always, there are lessons to help you or someone else.
Thanks so much for all you do! You’re such an awesome resource to the world.
love and light, hugs and blessings
MamaRed
Lisa,
I loved the article. years ago, I was scheduled to present a full day seminar to about 40 people. i flew to the city, met my host and checked into the hotel. I had shipped the handouts ahead, and they were there. At the insistence of my host and the hotel, I, somewhat unwillingly, left the handouts in the assigned meeting room. the next morning when my “students” and I arrived, the handouts were not there. We finally found parts of them in the dumpster. fortunately, I had taken a couple to my room, and the hotel printed new copies. They were just a little late.
These comments and tips are so relatable.
I once asked this question on a LinkedIn speakers group site and received some hysterical answers. My favourite ones: I was speaking at a new hotel in Bali and the ballroom sprinklers went off just as I started. How do you recover from being rained on? Well a sense of humor helps…as the silk dress I was wearing became transparent very quickly.
Another fun incident occurred when I was speaking. A large group of food and beverage staff, cooks, stewards, servers etc. entered the ballroom banging on pans and waving noisemakers. They thought that their boss, the hotel general manager was in the meeting room and it was his birthday. They were also carrying Champagne and Cake. When the group of about 30 employees realized that we were gaping at them with unhinged jaws? They apologized profusely. I told them I would forgive them if they would provide champagne for our group after the training session. They did and it was cold and delicous and my group of 40 clients were thrilled!