I've been doing a lot of presenting recently, showing off the new-look
Business Life magazine and website to advertising agencies, and so far the response has been great.
Presenting, when you're well prepared and it all goes according to plan, can be lots of fun. But it often gets me thinking about what can go wrong. We've all had the IT that doesn't work, the microphones that pick up not enough or too much, the slides that have been put in the wrong order by someone else, or even the wrong presentation. But sometimes it can go very wrong indeed.
Once, a friend was in the middle of a presentation to a prospective client, involving about 20 people, when all of a sudden a woman at the boardroom table disappeared under the table. Thinking she had been taken ill and collapsed he paused, a bit flustered, and for a few seconds wondered what to do. Then she reappeared, network cable in hand, plugged it into her laptop and started doing her email tough crowd.
Another friend told me about when she was presenting to the board of a major company and an argument broke out between the marketing director and the finance director. It ended with both of them losing the plot and throwing cups of water at each other.
And another friend confessed to an incident when he tripped on entering the room where the clients were assembled, and spilt an entire - and extremely hot - latte down his shirt. In one swift action he yelped at the top of his voice and, in a bid to avoid being scalded, tore his shirt off. To stunned silence. Once the clients had assured themselves he was OK (presumably to avoid some sort of lawsuit) they said he could continue, and he had to give the entire presentation topless. They went with another company in the end
All horror stories of your own gladly received. Just log on below and let me know. And for expert tips on presentation click
here.
blog comments powered by
