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What If . . .?
by
David W. Richardson, CSP 

What if my mouth goes dry???  What if I lose my place???  What if I run out of time??? 

Recently, while coaching a client who was preparing for a significant presentation to his company's top 50 customers, he began to ask these "what if" questions.  As we discussed them, I realized that perhaps there were a lot of "what if" questions that people secretly had but had gone unanswered.  Have these situations ever happened to you?  If so, how have you handled them?

 WHAT IF MY MOUTH GOES DRY?

The Challenge 

While delivering a keynote address to a sales force of 500, all of a sudden, with no warning, my mouth went dry.  The more I talked the drier my mouth became, my tongue felt like it was swelling to unbelievably large proportions, and instead of focusing on my audience, my concentration jumped to my dry mouth. 

The water glass I had very carefully placed on a nearby stand prior to the presentation had mysteriously disappeared.  Continuing to speak, I casually wandered to the front table, looked down and caught the eye of one participant as I made my point, and subtly gestured to an empty glass.  He got my message and poured arguably the best glass of water I have ever tasted. 

The Solution

 While you can always recover, it's best to prepare in advance: 

  1. Prepare two glasses of water (no ice) and place them where they can be easily reached during the presentation.  Just make sure someone doesn't walk away with them.
  1. Drink nothing hot or cold before or during your presentation.
  1. Use honey and lemon in combination to soothe your throat prior to your presentation.
  1. If you're in a critical situation with no water available, place small bits of balled up paper between your gum and your cheek.  This will help you produce more saliva.

What causes dry mouth?  Who knows? With a little bit of pre-planning the problem becomes non-existent. 

WHAT IF I LOSE MY PLACE? 

The Challenge 

One of my clients, a very well-respected attorney from a prestigious law firm, shared with me a defining moment from one of his presentations.  While making a well thought out and rehearsed presentation to secure a highly sought after six figure contract with a large company, he completely lost his place ten minutes into his message.  Stumbling and stammering, he acknowledged to the group that he had lost his place and along with it his train of thought. 

He says, "I was able to recover in less than a minute (but it seemed like hours) and became immediately aware that I had just gained the sympathy of each member of the management team.  However, at that moment, my firm went from being perceived as a powerful problem solver in challenging times to a weak, lackluster, out of touch legal group.  I recovered and finished strong, but we didn't win the contract." 

The Solution 

Many highly-skilled, very professional organizations fail to win new business contracts because of similar incidents in major presentations.

  1. Don't admit that you have lost your place or train of thought . . . you want action, not sympathy.

  2. Repeat what you have just said and you should jump right back on track

  3. Stop, compose yourself, and move on -- only you know where the presentation is going.

  4. Ask a question.  In a small group, if the time is right, the development of a dialogue may be very appropriate.

Everyone loses their place and with greater frequency than all audiences realize . . . they recover without even breaking stride.  It's not what happens to you, it's how you react to it that counts. 

WHAT IF I RUN OUT OF TIME? 

The Challenge 

I had been engaged by AT&T as the closing speaker at a meeting held in Pinehurst, North Carolina, the golf capital of the world.  My scheduled time was 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.  The first tee time for the group was 12:10, and they still had to go to their rooms, get their clubs, pick up a box lunch, and be ready to play 25 minutes after my presentation.  Believe me, I was critically aware of the timing at this meeting. 

The division vice-president was scheduled to speak from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., a one-hour presentation.  Fifty-five minutes into his presentation he was still going strong and it became very obvious that there was no way he would finish by 11 a.m.  And he didn't!  As a matter of fact, he kept going and now it's 11:20 and I am already well into formulating the pieces of my message I must delete in order to squash my presentation from 45 minutes to 15 or 20 minutes.  I'm well aware that if I go one minute past my deadline I will lose my audience mentally, two minutes and I will lose them physically, but I am prepared. 

All of a sudden a note was passed to me with an envelope which said, "My sincere apologies -- here is your check.  We'd like you to come back and speak at our next meeting." 

I returned, not to Pinehurst, but to New Jersey on the day of one of the worst snowstorms in history.  On this day I probably could have gone on for two or three hours because they liked it so well, but I stayed within my specific timeframe. 

The Solution 

The best solution is to always be prepared.  Carefully examine where you can, if necessary, cut 10% - 15%, even 25%, of your material without injuring your message.  If that can't be done, then reschedule. 

  1. If for whatever reason the time allotted for your presentation is cut, you must either find a way to reduce but not destroy your message or reschedule.
  1. If you find yourself running out of time, don't rush, don't start speaking faster in order to "get it all in".  Better you cut something than leave your audience behind in a race to the finish.
  1. When performing emergency surgery on your presentation, if you cut out a story or example, you must also delete the fundamental key point.  Do not cut out your valuable support material to the point where your presentation is nothing more than a jumble of boring facts.

And never, never, never exceed the time allotted for your presentation. 

WHAT IF BY ACCIDENT I LEAVE OUT AN IMPORTANT POINT? 

The Challenge 

During the course of a presentation you may suddenly realize that you have inadvertently omitted a major piece of information which was to have been shared with your listeners.  

As part of the audience, I was watching a young man as he very appropriately went through his presentation point by point by point.  Part way through point number five he suddenly stopped and exclaimed that he had failed to mention something important during point number two. 

When he jumped back to point number two we began to get lost.  The new information from point number two was totally irrelevant to what he had just been discussing in point number five.  Two or three minutes later, without warning, he jumped forward to point number five, continuing his presentation. 

The majority of the audience was totally lost somewhere between point number five and point number two and then point number five again.  And, in the midst of the confusion, people just gave up.

The Solution 

People will follow your presentation as long as your thoughts remain consistent from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph, but the moment you try to retrieve something that was forgotten you run the risk of losing the entire group. 

  1. Forget it.  It's forgotten, in the past, just continue on.
  1. Work it back into your message and they'll never know it.  After all, and I can't emphasize this enough, only you know where the presentation is going.
  1. Don't tell them, don't confuse them, just keep going.

Everyone leaves something out of a presentation periodically.  It's not what you leave out that counts, it's how you recover. 

WHAT IF SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENS IN THE PRESENTATION? 

What if . . . there are many possibilities, and if you have a "what if" you would like an answer to, fax me a copy of your business card with the words "what if" written on it (480-452-9372) or call our office at 800-338-5831.  We will use your "what ifs" for a future article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David W. Richardson, CSP, is a professional speaker specializing in speech coaching, sales training, and keynote addresses.  He can be contacted at 480-452-8808 or 1-800-338-5831.  

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