Murphy's Law states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." This is especially true and especially painful when there is an audience involved.

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This blog was active from April, 2008 to July 2012.
It is no longer being updated. It will continue to be maintained for reference purposes.

The Weekly Might Have Missed List (09/28/08)

Blue Room technical forum: Wifi interfering with Radio mics, Strange goings on — “The strange problem we are having is that at some venues we seem to have a conflict between the radio mics and wifi, whilst at other venues there is none. When there is conflict, the signal stength on the Sure recievers is all over the place (normally rock solid in this size venue) and the signal drop out is very high, this occurs over all frequencies in the group. With all radio mic transmitters off, there is no sign of a signal being picked up from the wifi on the Sure recievers. Looking at the frequencies used by the mics and the wifi there should not be a conflict, but there most definately is at times.”

Speak Schmeak: What not to do at the end of a presentation — “We plan a lot for what to do before and during a presentation, but not much for what to do at the end — or what not to do.”

The Codebelay Blog: How Do You Avoid Presentation Disaster? — “But the code used for my presentation didn’t work because the machine it was working on wasn’t configured correctly. There might have been an issue with someone overwriting my code, too.”

Dave Paradi’s PowerPoint Blog: Presenting when you are not allowed to use a handout — “A participant in one of my workshops recently presented me with a new challenge. In his position as a sales professional, he has now encountered two large organizations who have stated that when he presents to them, he is forbidden from bringing handouts for the audience.”

Lynn Espinoza: When YOU should NOT be the spokesperson! — “You’ve been tapped to be the speaker at an industry event.  There is a nagging feeling deep inside your gut that you are being set up for failure.  The content for the speech is not your own, and in fact this is not your area of expertise. You feel like you’re over your head. Guess what? You are.”

Mary Hanna: A day for nitpickers — “The room was full of professional speakers, both beginning and accomplished. The presenter, a well-known marketing expert, was talking about achieving credibility as a speaker. A bullet on his PowerPoint slide, which I was following on the handout, said ‘Always site your sources.’ As I always do, I corrected the handout, crossing out ‘site’ and writing ‘cite.’ I turned to my friend and pointed it out. She acknowledged it with a nod. ‘It affects his credibility,’ I whispered.”

TJ Walker: Should I rehearse and for how long? — “Yes, you should rehearse. From a presentation coach’s perspective, the following 25 words are the dumbest phrase in the English language: ‘I don’t want to rehearse because I don’t want to seem canned. I want to seem spontaneous and fresh so I’ll be better winging it.’ Ugh!!!”

CNET News: ‘Google Moderator’ tool takes on lecture-hall chaos — “There was never enough time for all the questions, and it wasn’t clear that the best questions were the ones actually getting asked,” Heath wrote in a blog post. “And since many of these talks were led by offices outside of Mountain View, it became harder for distributed audiences to participate.”

blogcampaigning: Public Speaking Tips — The last one is best.

Brad Montgomery: What to do when your humor fails? — “When I coach others about how to be funny, I teach saver lines. Basically, these are jokes that you tell after a joke goes bad to “save” the situation. Johnny Carson was the king of savers. I just found this video….check out the master.”

KNOWHR: Writer’s Remorse — “Here’s what else I know: Those last-second edits rarely add anything to the quality of the communication.”

Great Speaking Coach: Avoid the Deadly Quotations Trap — “Why not? Because what could be a living, memorable moment when delivered by you with vocal variety and gestures becomes a flat, two-dimensional inert set of words.”

The Power of Reflection: Do You Make This Mistake When Ending Your Presentations? — “Gord’s terrible ending damages his career.  He looks weak and indecisive.  His presentation fails to generate any enthusiasm for his cause.”

The Weekly Might Have Missed List (5/25/08)

PublicSpeakinghacks.com: Review: Monster Outlets To Go Powerstrip — “In the era of what was supposed to be flying cars and interstellar travel, I spend way too much time on my hands and knees groping in the dark and dust for a free electrical outlet under conference room tables, in presentation halls, and hotel rooms. Now, for less than 20 bucks I’ve got an ingenious compact power strip that is actually designed for the real world.”

Make Your Point with Pow’R: Living with Gremlins: “You never know what gremlin will creep into your presentation. All that you can do is be prepared to speak-on, sans your slideshow.”

Al Nyveldt: Philly Code Camp Wrap up — “If it were not for this extra time, my session would have been a disaster.”

Zallas Technologies: Don’t Fumble the Kick Off — “During a decades long sales career in the high tech industry as a front line representative, sales manager and vice president of sales Steve Martin participated in more than a hundred sales kick off events. He’s witnessed the good, the bad, and a whole lot in between. In an effort to help sales organizations put their best foot forward during the most important meeting of the year, Martin has come up with the following list of ‘Top Five Sales Kick Off Meeting Mistakes.'”

Overnight Sensation: Public Speaking Success: What to do when they don’t laugh at your jokes — “It’s every speaker’s nightmare: you’ve told that joke that you think is funny (you practically chuckle yourself as you tell it) but the audience doesn’t react.”

Speak Schmeak: Make sure the announcer can pronounce your name.

Brad Montgomery: Speaking Tip: We’re Bored By Your Intro! — “This guy has some killer credits and some amazing stuff on his resume. And he was funny. But his opening sucked. And in spite of his terrific skills, he never really one the crowd over.”

The Extreme Presentation(tm) Method: Don’t ever give an FYI presentation.

ManageSmarter: Five Things Not to Do in Front of an Audience

Create Your Communications Experience: Obama and the Teleprompter — “But why doesn’t he learn to use the teleprompter well?”

Memo to C-Level Speakers: Audience? What Audience? — “Sadly, some speakers behave as if, for all practical purposes, their audience doesn’t exist.”

Great Public Speaking: Public Speaking : OPENING TIPS.

bMighty.com: Strategy Matters: Eight Great PowerPoint Myths — “PowerPoint presentations that flood the audience with glittering graphics, brazen bulleted lists, and endless animations may look great, but they often drown out the message. Just because you can use every PowerPoint feature doesn’t mean you should.”

“The Wheel’s” Toastmasters blog: Speed Kills…