Steer Into The Skid!: 3 Ways to Survive Public Speaking Disasters
Posted on February 28, 2012 by Baxter Dickson
The corporate offices of VoicePro® are located on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio, in the middle of the Great Lakes snow-belt. Needless to say we drive on icy roads….a lot. Still, years of winter driving experience can’t save us from black ice, the thin coating of ice on an asphalt road.
Hitting a patch of black ice triggers a scene right out of an action movie.
The brakes screech, the car veers, your heart races, and panic strikes—until you remember one of your earliest driving lessons: steer into the skid. You make the correction and soon the vehicle is back on track. Your heartbeat slows and once again all is well.
Have you ever made a mistake during a presentation? The feelings are strangely similar. Here are three ways to steer into the skid and avoid driving into a metaphorical ditch.
#1 Pause
What do you do when you see debris in the road? Steer around it. What do you do when your car drifts off the road? Get back between the lines. Now what do you do when you hit a patch of ice?
There’s a reason we’re taught to steer into the skid. Our first reaction is to steer away from it.
We have a strong instinct to rush in and try to rectify our mistakes immediately, but doing so can lead to avoidable errors. One verbal stumble easily becomes five when you’re rushing through your material.
Take a moment to pause and collect your thoughts, and then move forward. The actions you take will be more reasoned and the flow of your presentation will remain intact.
#2 Don’t Freak Out (On the Outside)
I will always respect race car drivers for their grace under pressure. Despite ten car pileups, and a car spinning out of control, their radio communications also sound calm and reasoned. Based upon their vocal tone you’d never guess their car was on fire.
When you’re in front of a group, even a tiny mistake feels equally monumental.
I was once in a show that required my character to cut himself with his sword. When the moment came, the flimsy plastic sword broke on my hand and three pieces flew across the stage. I was mortified.
However, after a brief pause I looked at the sword and pretended to marvel at my strength. No one in the audience was the wiser and the unintentional joke was added to the show.
There are some mistakes your audience will never know about, unless you tell them. My unstable stage sword could have killed an entire scene if I rushed to pick up the pieces or cursed out loud. If your mistake isn’t big enough to rattle the audience, don’t let it bother you.
Maintain your composure and avoid letting an unseen mistake from spoiling your show.
#3 Admit Your Mistake
Some mistakes cannot be ignored. You drop papers all over the floor. You forget the name of your own company. You trip and face plant on your way to the podium. This is when steering into the skid means fessing up and owning your screw-up.
If you pretend nothing happened, your audience will wonder if you noticed it, or worse, presume your ego is massive enough to pretend it didn’t happen. Now your mistake is the highlight of the presentation, and no one will hear another word you say.
An audience will forgive almost any mistake. What they will not forgive is ignoring it. So, own your slip-up. Take a moment to poke fun at yourself, then, go ahead and correct the mistake. This gives the group an opportunity to laugh with you and celebrate your humanity. If you embrace your mistake, your audience will as well.
Black ice and speaking mistakes are terrifying because they occur unexpectedly. However, your speaking mistakes offer you an opportunity black ice does not. If you own your mistakes and maintain your composure, you will endear yourself to your audience.
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Image provided by ajachu
