How about two quick questions, just for the fun of it… (okay the first one’s a little boring) Would you rather give a presentation with your slides but not your speaker notes or have your notes but not your slides? (the second has a little more “zing“) You’re at the crossroads, it’s midnight, the contract [...]

Presentation nightmares (British Airways Business Life) – "And another friend confessed to an incident when he tripped on entering the room where the clients were assembled, and spilt an entire – and extremely hot – latte down his shirt. In one swift action he yelped at the top of his voice and, in a bid [...]

Sexbomb’s scare… the Tom Jones Belfast show… ( Belfast Telegraph) – "The Welsh pop star was due to go on stage at the King’s Hall when he was advised to remain in his hotel due to a “technical hitch”. But the Welsh singer found out that the real reason he was being kept there was [...]

How to deal with rough crowds: A stand-up comic’s advice for Sarah Lacy – “Lacy got to perform in front of a sober audience. She faced a bunch of nerds yelling at her to ask tougher questions. That sounds like a bubble bath compared to what road comics have to deal with. While I had [...]

When presentations go wrong and how to recover afterwards (OfficeRocker!) – “If any of you were at the Nottingham Technet event last week, you were a witness to probably the worst crash and burn I have ever suffered during a live presentation. I had put quite a lot of work into the presentation, believe it [...]

My Apologies – Worst Presentation Ever – Elumenotion Blog – “I just got done with a Live Learning Web cast for AppDev on User Profiles and My Sites and it’s hard to imagine how it could possibly have been worse. … Thoroughly flustered and ashamed I managed to limp through the rest of the presentation [...]

Keep researching because you might just surprise yourself… – Dahle Communication – "Then it happens. An expert in the field we are talking about who has done more research asks a question at the end of our speech that throws us off. It is a slap in the face – a dousing of cold water [...]

Cringing and laughter. Good presentation disaster stories inspire one or the other. Really good presentation disaster stories inspire at least a little of both. This story, from Ian Whitworth’s blog, Can You Hear Me Up the Back?, ping-pongs back and forth from one to the other so often I lost track and ended up laughing [...]

A tad more embarrassing than your run-of-the-mill error and spell check never would have picked it up (you’ll need to click on the thumbnail to see the larger original on Twitpic — click on “View full size” once you get there).

When the speech hands you lemons… – The Eloquent Woman – I arrived and learned that the room booked for the event was under construction, a fact omitted from all the booking conversations the organizers had had. (They'd in fact learned of it just within the hour.) The only available space was essentially a storefront [...]