Loved jumping back into doing public speaking. Although admittedly, not everything went to plan. The format for this event was to discuss a topic (in my case - the future of B2B marketing in AI) and then provide a live demo. First part, nailed. Then got to the live demo and a very edge-case ( I swear, first time this has happened) bug crashed the demo. 🤦♂️ Heart rate sky-rocketed. Talk-track obliterated. Had an immediate desire to stand up and walk to the nearest exit. But within seconds (felt like hours) I cracked a joke, restarted the demo, and pontificated on...well I don't remember exactly. At the end of it, still had a very engaged Q&A and had multiple audience members come up and ask for advice. Curious if anyone has experienced a similar public speaking moment? Any other useful tactics for pivoting when an external element disrupts your flow on stage?
Dreamwriter was thrilled to share our platform with the AI marketing community at AI For Marketers last night in SF! Great engagement from the audience, awesome questions, and most importantly - love the impactful ways marketers are leveraging #GenAI solutions to superpower #B2BMarketing campaigns. Thanks to Jackson Beaman and the AI User Group for hosting!
Welcome to the big leagues! Sounds like you rebounded just fine 🤠 I typically visualize what I will say and do if the tech breaks (slides, demo.. whatever) as part of my prep-- it's a strategy to keep those "fight or flight" sweaty palms and heart stopping bio-reflexes at bay when/if something does go wrong, because you've already played it out 🤓
You did great! I thought you were natural and very competent, and composed. Really enjoyed seeing what the product does and so many possibilities for applications.
Nicely handled! It'll happen, but sounds like you rolled with it gracefully and kept it authentic.
It’s Murphy’s Law! Glad to hear you were able to adapt and drive home the value of the product
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2moI learned early on to avoid live demos for events unless absolutely required, precisely to avoid uncertainty. Probably not appropriate in all cases. If a live demo is warranted, account for the worst case scenario and have a backup plan. That said, tech has been around long enough that most audiences recognize that hiccups can and will occur. Maintaining composure is probably most important. From my experience, the audience will react to your queues, so if you freak, they'll freak!