How to present in English

There are many times when you are presenting that things will go wrong. The projector might not work, your laptop might not be compatible with the equipment you are using, or you may have simply left your cables at your office. Whatever the reason, thing do go wrong sometimes.

This is why having a good, solid backup plan is so important. It is also the reason why relying on reading your slides, or the presenter notes in your software is not such a good idea.

One of the best ways to prepare for possible problems is to actually practice your presentation so that you know it so well that you could present your presentation without the aid of your PowerPoint or Keynote software. (one of my 3 top tips to effective presenting)

When things do go wrong though, the worst thing you can do is to panic. Don’t. Your audience is human. They understand that sometimes things go wrong. Stay calm, work the solution if possible and then continue. If however, there is no immediate solution, if you have the time, suggest a short break so that you can sort out the problem without keeping your audience waiting in the room.

One word of warning here though. If you arrived late and kept your audience waiting, and then things go wrong. Do not expect any sympathy from your audience. You do not deserve and you will not get any. Never, NEVER arrive late to give a presentation. It is asking for something to go wrong.

Here’s the master in action when things have gone wrong during Apple Keynotes. Sit back and enjoy watching an expert deal with problems: