Anti-Establishment Career Advice
My inbox is flooded with unsolicited advice on public speaking. Now that I’m speaking at the Googles, people want to send me tips and tricks.
I wonder—what’s your most embarassing public speaking flub? I want to know what you did wrong and how I can avoid doing it!
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Based on a work at punkrockhr.com.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Deep breath, speak at an even pace and be comfortable w/silence pause(s). My big public speaking flub is speaking too fast and repeating self to buy time.
So many to choose from. How about the time I kept referring to “postpartum depression” as “postmortem depression” in front of a 5,000 person audience. You know, ’cause it’s sad when you realized your dead.
You’ll do great Laurie so don’t sweat it.
My guess is you’re not speaking to Google outside, but nevertheless…
I had to do a reading (poem) at my friends’ wedding a few years ago. Whoever set up the wedding decided to use a lavaliere microphone (the kind broadcasters clip to their ties) instead of a stick microphone mounted to the podium. So when I arrived at the podium, I had to set my three sheets of paper down (come to think of it, I don’t know why I had three sheets for a poem) in order to affix the microphone to myself. It wasn’t on, either, so I had to fiddle with that and, as I did, my papers blew all over the grass.
I herded them up — and then proceeded to botch, unknowingly, three or four lines of the poem because I was flustered.
Rah!
Mine is usin a levoler mic also. I was working on the TSA project and Sunday mornings we would orientate about 500 new inductees before they started their training on Monday. Needless to say Sundays were hectic because there is also a team working on all the on-boarding documents. As team-lead and presenter, everyone is grappling for your attention. I was all “miked” up and running between a couple of rooms barking instructions and generally stressed before I started the presentation. At one point, I let a stream of cuss words out. One of my team members came running into the room and said that in the general session room they could hear someone across the speakers fading in and out with cuss words…the ole george bush I thought the mic was off defense was all I had!
I was reading a pledge for the new board members of a University SHRM group and I just got this printed. In one of the sentences, I said suck and knew it immediately I screwed up and people were laughing with me.
Just go with the flow.
The things that trip me up are speaking too fast and flop sweat.
As long as you know your material — and it seems that you do — you’ll do fine.
Perhaps the most embarrassing was a presentation before about 20 office managers, the majority of which were women (only relevant because it embarrassed me further).
I was referencing a spreadsheet that had benefits information on it, and told everyone to open the “spreadshit.” The whole room went quiet. I think my eyes widened, I coughed, people snickered, and then I started laughing, apologizing for what I just said.
Not 5 minutes later, I referenced the same material and said: “You know if you go back to your spreadshit…” I said it again. Real awkward work, spreadshit? And at this point, real funny to me, I had to try to keep from laughing, but as it was the second time I said it, the crowd was a little less sympathetic. I think they were wondering if I had real problems.
I wsn’t public speaking exactly. My most embarassing moment ever was in an interview when I missed a step off of a raised dias and fell flat on my face, knocking over a garbage can in the process.
This was at the Florida conference center – the same where you and I met at Kennedy last year, Laurie.
I cut my back when I fell, so I had to complete the interview with a bleeding cut under my suit. I also had to endure to numerous snarky “falling head over heels over this job” comments from the company officials I was interviewing with.
I didn’t get the job either. Surprise!
This wasn’t public – but when I was about 13 years old my mom took me to the local beauty school to get a spiral perm. The (really good looking) guy who was going to do my hair and his teacher were standing in front of me, along with my mom, and my mom said, “well, tell him what you want” and I said, “a SPERM”. Worst moment of my 13 year old life.
during an interview i referred to the candidate by the wrong name. not once, but twice. he was a referral and i kept calling him by his friend’s name. embarassing.
Laurie, You will do very well indeed. Just don’t wear white linen pants with coffee stains on your lap. Someone told me that when speaking to a large group, white against navy drew the eye. Well, so does a coffee stain that dries to look like I needed adult diapers.
Also, don’t say shit when you spill the coffe and discover that the mic is live.
Good luck.
My most embarrassing moment in front of a crowd happened during a training session…
I was leading an interactive technology training in front of a group of 30 recruiters in a computer lab. Well, the internet had gotten wonky and nothing was responding any more. Flustered and at a stand still in the training while the internet wasn’t working, I pointed out helpfully to the group, “It looks like I’m hung. Boy, I’m really hung here.”
Not understanding the snickers from the crowd, trying to troubleshoot and frustrated that the Internet wasn’t responding, I then asked “Is anyone else hung like I am?” The crowd started laughing out loud.
Again, since I was flustered, I didn’t realize what I had said until a co-facilitator whispered it into my ear. My face has never been that red before or since. But hey, it’s now a great ice breaker for me during training sessions!
Good luck in your presentation!
Hey Laurie: My best public speaking flub was blanking on the names of VIP’s in attendance at a reception for scholarship students and their families, namely our university president!
So, my advice related to that is if you need to thank your introducer or anyone else related to the event…WRITE DOWN THEIR NAMES!
Saying “Sir, I think it is rude that you are interrupting me all the time” to the CEO of a company, whom I didn’t recognise at that moment. Oooh this dude was known as the tyrant within that specific company :/
Yeah, like I’m going to say, I mean the therapy costs are already sky high…..and I’m over it……I really am…..my mum has started talking to me again……and I have been promised my public speaking license back in the next 5 years as long as I keep my trousers on……
High School graduation, I was reading names of people as they crossed the platform, they would hand me a little card with their name on it and I would read it.
This poor girl’s last name was Armstrong and I said Thompson… I felt so bad.
Lesson? Go slow, breathe, read
@Patti I’m a fast talker and I forget to breathe. Crap! I’ll keep your tips in mind.
@Mark OMG, I suffer from postmodern depression. I’m sad about art.
@Rick What the hell kind of poem was this? Beowulf? That’s a long poem. You did the best you could. Are they still married?
@Lou Did you say, “That guys is a real sonofabitch!”? Because that’s the best thing George Bush ever did.
@Tracy Suck? So funny. I wonder what was REALLY on your mind?
@Robert I speak waaaaaaay too fast. I need to watch that.
@Dale Spreadshit? I think that was an accurate portrayal!
@MVDVT Oh sheesh, how embarrassing. You’re so brave.
@Jenn Barnes SPERM OMG, I had tears in my eyes. That’s a classic.
@Shawn I hope you hired him.
@ali Well noted. Don’t poop my pants and blame it on coffee stains. Got it.
@PDX Yup, you’re pretty hung. LOL, so funny.
@Debra Thankfully I just have to remember my own name. Great, now I’ve jinxed it.
@Rampancy That’s brilliant.
@TheHRD Therapy, eh? Must’ve bee something.
@Lexy Hey, way to ruin that day. That’s awesome!
I almost scheissen mine pantaloons once.
Ich scheiß mir gleich in die Hose!
600 people, including all the top brass at a major company, and I was the keynote, charged with giving everyone a energy boost and get them to leave with a positive, can-do attitude. As I was being introduced, a well-liked, high-level exec stood up and asked for the mic… and proceeded to solicit donations for a “Make-a-Wish” type trip they were planning, last minute, for a coworker who had just received a terminal diagnosis. And her 9 year old daughter. “And now, ladies and gentlemen, Jason Seiden!”
(Cue crickets.)
Big learning moment for me.
Big.
@Jason Don’t follow cancer. That’s a good lesson.
Dude, this is probably to late to help, but I was doing a corporate stand up gig for a national marketing group and was their headline performer. When I do a corporate gig, I put a lot of effort in making sure I understand the group and the audience, so I can cater a set to their sensibilities (for example don’t joke about junk mail to a direct mailing association), and felt I had a great set ready. I went into the set and I had a couple of jokes about a certain sports team choking in the playoffs. Little did I know that that league was a huge client of that organization and that the VP of Operations for that team was in the front row. They’ve never called me back for another gig.