The Unexpected Benefits of Screwing Up
My brain was ahead of mouth.
My mouth wanted to catch up so my brain ordered it to cut out a few syallables.
What should have been “Quite a bit of research” was shortened to bit + the ch part of research.
As the word hung in the air, mortified I glanced out at the audience expecting the worst.
Instead I was greeted with smiles and laughter – as I started to apologize for my gaffe – an audience member shouted out “Don't be sorry!”
I laughed too.
I am not advocating swearing in a professional presentation but instead realizing that screwing up can have unexpected benefits.
Transformative Moment
It's the moment where the audiences stop seeing the presenter as just a speaker who is spewing knowledge (or in my case research) but as a person who is just like them. A person who makes mistakes and can laugh at themselves.
Audiences are Forgiving
Believe it or not – audiences realize how hard it is to be a presenter – most are incredibly forgiving of these slips-ups. Those 100 eyeballs staring at back at you want you to succeed!
Needed Levity
Have you ever had an argument with a friend, significant other or co-worker, where you say something unintentionally funny? The conflict stops. You both look at each other and laugh. It breaks the tension. Same with messing up during a presentation. It gives the audience a good laugh and a break from the information.
Scott Berkun in his book Confession of a Public Speaker collected a variety of public speaking horror stories that will make any presenter feel better about the little slip-ups.
Confession time! What was your worst public speaking gaffe and how did you recover? Share your story in the comment section.
Great article!
I’ve seen a number of comics including Patton Oswalt & Robin Williams screw up and make a good thirty seconds of material out of it.
My worst slip up came in a stage performance when I was supposed to cut myself with a plastic sword. Instead, the sword snapped on my hand and the audience and I shared a gasp. Thankfully I was able to recover by pretending to marvel at my strength, the audience laughed, and we kept the joke in the remaining performances.
Thanks Scott! Your story reminded me of when I was in Brigadoon in my teens for a local community theater. There was suppose to be a big fight and before it started the villain took a nose dive right in front of our hero. Not much of a fight but completely hilarious!
However, you do bring up a good point. Those little mess-up can be great to bring up as a call back in the speech. Thank you for your comment!
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I remember the speech but I don’t remember what I said. I was giving a presentation at a professional conference. I’ll admit it was a bit dry. At one point I said something a bit risque by accident. What ever I said, it kind of hung in the air. There was a little nervous tension in the audience. I just blurted out, “hey, don’t make me go there.” That broke everyone up. I immediately relaxed. As you said, Michelle, I realized the audience was on my side and not my adversaries. It became a much better speech from that point forward.
Audiences love humaness. Screwing up, recognizing it, and laughing at ourselves is one of the best ways to make a connection!
Nicely put…not the bi-ch part, the article. I prefer speakers that are human than those that are so over prepared it’s painful to watch. I listen to them more. I respect them more. I “hear” them more. I had an incident a few months ago where hours before a speech I had smacked my head on the siding of the house (don’t ask) and had this part Harry Potter part Texas Chainsaw Massacre scar on my head. I easily could have cancelled it. But instead I went through with it and opened with a joke shining a perverbial flashlight right on it. Everyone was cracking up and it really lightened the room up a lot. It ended up being one of my best workshops. Now I cut up my face on purpose every time I get ready to speak!
What an awesome visual image, Marc! Really that was the best way to handle it. Otherwise your audience would have spent the entire presentation wondering “What the heck is wrong with his head?” Although if you messed anything else up in your talk, you could have claimed brain damage or that you were having a conversation with Voldermort.
[…] about mistakes the whole audience knows you made? You know like dropping the B-word in front of an entire audience of business professionals? Mistakes are always larger in our own minds than the mind of our […]