What I Learned from My Worst Presentation

Public speaking can be terrifying. Even for people who have been doing it for a very long time. We’ve all had our fair share of awkward moments—forgotten lines, tech fails, the occasional audience member snoring in the front row. But I swear I’ve lived through the mother of all presentation nightmares.

It started off like a dream. I was hired to do presentation training for a government agency—about a hundred people in a hotel ballroom. The session went great. People were laughing, learning, everyone was having a great time. I walked out of there feeling like Mick Jagger.

Fast forward a month. The same agency calls back and asks if I can do another session. My office says yes—no questions asked. Easy win, right?

Wrong.

I arrive at the venue and immediately sense something’s off. The room is a greenhouse of glass—picture windows everywhere, no blinds, and the sun blazing in like it’s auditioning for a role in a disaster movie. The room divider is stuck, so 100 people are crammed into a space built for maybe 60. Everyone’s just had lunch (I believe it was pasta). Everybody is hot and sleepy.

Then the organizer gets up and says, “We had Richard do some training for us a couple of months ago… and now, here he is… to pick up where he left off!”

The blood immediately drained from my face.

I look around and realize: it’s the same group. The exact same people I trained eight weeks ago. And I’m holding the exact same program. For two hours.

I try to pivot. I try to improvise. But then the microphone starts feeding back—ear-piercing, glass-shattering feedback. The tech team rushes in to fix it, and in their enthusiasm, they knock over the podium. My notes go flying like confetti at a very sad parade.

And that’s how it started.

It didn’t get better. I managed to get through the session, drenched in sweat and existential dread. I left convinced I’d never hear from them again.

But here’s the twist: they kept bringing me back. Different groups, thankfully. Apparently, it wasn’t as catastrophic as it felt.

So, if you’ve ever bombed with a presentation, just remember: it’s always worse in our own heads, sometimes the worst moments make for good stories—and occasionally, they even get you invited back.

Improve Your Next Virtual Meeting

Although I’ve conducted virtual media training and presentation training sessions from our studios in Toronto in the past, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced us all to take things to another level.

During the lockdown, we’ve all spent way more time than ever before waving to friends, colleagues, and clients via Zoom, Google Hangouts, or Skype.

And, according to some experts, we’re all suffering from something they call “Zoom fatigue.”

There’s a very interesting piece about “Zoom fatigue” written by Manyu Jiangfor BBC Worklife called “The reason Zoom calls drain your energy.” 

She points out that although video conferencing is helping us to connect, it’s also very tiring. 

It turns out that meeting via video conference means our brains need to kick things into overdrive to pick up on non-verbal cues.  It takes more of an effort to read body language, micro facial expressions, etc.

Then there’s the performance aspect.  When we’re on a video conference call, we’re all keenly aware of the camera (or at least we should be) and, if you’re on-camera all day long, that can contribute to “Zoom fatigue” as well.

How you come across to your “audience” in a video conference call or any other presentation is something we teach in our presentation skills training course.

From a technical point of view, there are a few things we can do to make sure our video conference meetings run a little smoother.

 1.     Avoid using your cell phone.   This one may seem like common sense but some people choose to use cell phones for video conference calls because it’s convenient.  That’s a bad idea.  Unless you have a bracket that holds the cell phone in place, chances are the image is going to be moving around for other people on the call.  It’s also hard to take notes if you’re holding your cell phone or trying to keep it balanced on your desk.

 2.     Make sure your webcam is at eye-level.  It looks more natural and flattering.  It also spares the rest of the participants from being forced to look up your nose for 30 minutes.

 3.     Make sure you’re well-lit.  If you’re video conferencing from in a dimly-lit room, it can be slightly annoying to the other participants and it can look unprofessional.  We want to look our best on-camera and that means soft, even light.  You can achieve that by facing a window or investing in a couple of LED desk lamps or even a ring light.

 4.     Sound is very important.  If you conduct your video meeting in a room with a lot of hard surfaces, there’s a chance the sound will be “boomy” or “hollow” sounding and that can be a distraction.  Depending on the size of the room, there could even be an echo!  Where possible, try to “deaden” the sound of the room with carpet or by tossing a couple of pillows on the floor.

 5.     Use a neutral background.  If there’s too much going on in the background, people will be distracted.  There’s a chance, they’ll be staring at the Salvador Dali painting behind you and miss what you’re saying.

 6.     Test the Tech.  When we're using any kind of technology there’s always a chance there are going to be issues.  That's why it's always a good idea to test things out before the meeting.

These things may not end your Zoom fatigue but it might make your next video conference look a little more professional.  

Fear of Public Speaking

Fear of Public Speaking