If You Trip Up During Your Presentation

Fact: everybody trips up when doing presentations, speeches, press conferences...the works. Everybody (yeaaah - rock your body-eeah)!

It doesn’t have to be some big drama, though.

When you trip up, the best thing to do is to keep going.

> If you're recording it (perfect!):

Literally just take a sec to reset. You'll find your reset 'button' soon enough if you try. It could be a sound, a gesture, a sharp exhale, a swear (in my case 😆). But it really is as simple as taking a quick action, and then NOT giving the tripup any further attention. Just DO instead of thinking.

> If you're live (scarier!):

For god's sake - DON't make it a big deal. If the spotlight is on you, you have a certain amount of 'director's powers', ie. YOU can direct the audience's attention. If you direct it to the error, they will focus on that. What I always tell clients is: acknowledge, but don't apologize.

Again: acknowledge, but don't apologize!

You can have a 'ermm - I meant X', or a '...' (moment to remember what you were saying). You're human and prone to (occasional) glitches. But don'tmake a whole 'ahahahahaha - so sorry - dunno what happened - long day - ahahahaha - I can't believe...'. dramatic soliloquy of it.

When I’m in front of a live audience and trip up (happens to the best of us), I:

1. clear my throat,

2. tak a quick breath, and

3. keep going.

And guess what? 99% of them wouldn't have even remembered a little trip-up by the end of it.

So keep going and don't make big fancy apologies for trip-ups.

Bonus Points: the audience often likes to be included. So if you genuinely draw a blank, you can always try the ‘…where was I?’ (ideally talking directly to someone you noticed being engaged). No need to apologize, just a chuckle and an acknowledgment that you lost your thread. It works wonders.