What is the worst presentation gaffe you've ever seen?
What is that absolute worse crash and burn you've ever seen in a presentation. I'll start:
While the trainer from a big software company was preparing, a very, very explicit picture flashed on the projector as his laptop booted while he was getting handouts out of his bag. Half the crowd gasped, half the crowd laughed. By the time the presenter turned around, the picture was replaced with the familiar Windows 98 logo. The presenter, having no idea whatsoever that he had violated the optical virginity of at least half the crowd asked what just happened... and was told by our manager that he could call us from his car on his way to the airport to find out, and that training was canceled.
Good Answers (7)
Richard E
Innovative Sales Trainer / Award-Winning Leader Who Generates Sales Results
Best Answers in: Personnel Policies (1), Communication and Public Speaking (1)
Hi Michael,
I have seen and heard about quite a few, but two stick in my mind.
The first one was a sales student of mine (early in my career) doing a presentation on a new concept of a pornography blocker for the internet.
After showing us how easy it is for some undesirables to get our kids to these sites he proceeded to show the sites with fig leaves and cobs of corn covering up the private parts. Needless to say the presentation didn't go over too well with me and some of my the students. Now I approv every presentation ahead of time.
The second one was done by a friend of mine who is a humorous speaker. She had a clip-on microphone for the first time and after delivering the first two hours of her talk, took a break. After visiting the washroom she came out and many people were looking at her strangely.
Finally one of the participants approached her and suggested that the next time she turns the mike off before going to the washroom.
Feeling embarrassed, she decided that she had three choices.
1. Slip out the door and sacrifice her reputation (and fee)
2. Ignore it, lose her audience's attention on the subject matter adn still sacrifice her reputation.
Or do what she did, which was to take stage and begin the second half of her presentation with, "Now that I'm relieved .... we can move on."
The audience roared and she had them in the palm of her hand afterward.
Now that is someone who as a humorous speaker, walks her talk.
Making a difference,
Richard Elmes CSP
The Sales Dating Guy
www.RichardElmes.com
P.S. If you want to know who she is (for the purposes of having her speak to your group), send me a message and I will make the connection.
I made a dandy a few years ago. Newly promoted, I was asked to introduce the (highly paid) speaker for one of the company's HR/Morale presentations. After the presentation, I was to return to the stage to thank everyone for coming, and ask them to complete a feedback survey before leaving the auditorium. The place was packed.... over 1000 people from all depts and positions. It was being videotaped so employees who were not fortunate enough to attend in person could view it later.
My introduction went fine and the presentation was awesome. Morale speaker, so you know it was high energy, very interactive, all the things you wish for. Unbeknownst to me however, was that he would end his presentation by jumping off the stage, running down the aisle, and out the back door. All eyes followed him, turning backs to the podium. Well, with everyone in position to leave anyway they all started heading out the door too.
Desperate to close things "properly", my immediate reaction was to release a good-old-farm-girl "Yooooo Hoooo!' into the microphone to bring everyone's attention to the front again. Oh, it worked all right. And absolutely horrified our conservative executive team... I was never asked to open or close a major presentation again.
Scott B
Author, Artist, Director of Business Development
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My first time public speaking. I was asked to give a training progress report for my department in front of about 100 people from other departments. My manager was there. I thought there would be nothing to it since I had "people skills". I didn't prepare. I got up to the podium and got about 30 words out before I realized that I had repeated myself 3 times and nobody knew what I was talking about. I saw the confused and embarassed look on their faces and I started stammering and sweating buckets. I finally saved myself by admitting my inexperience with public speaking and asking for forgiveness. They were nice about it and I learned a valuable lesson. Since then, I always come prepared and have been very successful in presentations.
Randy R
Senior IT Analyst
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At one educational conference I went to, there was a session on Second Life with a panel of three speakers. The first two were going to use their own laptops for their segments.
Of course, time was tight between the sessions, so we wound up waiting for five or ten minutes as the first speaker hooked up their laptop and stalled for time as they tried to get it to work with the projector. Then, finally, when it was working, he started going into his presentation, featuring a live tour of his project in Second Life. In a room with really flaky wireless.
After twenty minutes or so, he gave up and we were treated to another ten minutes or so of the second speaker getting her laptop to work with the projector. Well, that didn't work, so they went to speaker number three.
Out came laptop number three from a tech guy they brought along. Thankfully, they got it hooked up fairly quickly. In this case, speaker number three was being teleconferenced in with a series of PowerPoint slides. So, for the last twenty minutes, the attendees with stories about how great their projects were as they tried to get the wireless network to actually get a stable connection.
We never even got to see speaker number three.
Hi Micheal
I was working on a TV series many seasons ago, on a particularly long and tiring day we were having lunch break and i was at at my seat chatting with the director,.when through the TV speakers we clearly heard 2 actors chatting and calling the director names and bitching about the production/channel in general,apparently one of the actors had forgotten to switch of the wireless microphones strapped on them,
On my side i had also forgotten to switch off the system during the lunch break,as i was caught up in a urgent discussion with the director over some technical matters,so the sound leaked in to the TV speakers which was heard very clearly by a a small group sitting nearby
i still remember the red faced director and my own discomfort at my gaffe
but we laughed it off later as we wrapped the show
it took me a while to get over this incident
Art M
Consultant, Trainer, Speaker, Author, Coach, Raconteur
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For those of you old enough to remember when presentations were made with overheads instead of Powerpoint, you'll appreciate this. I went to see a competitor give a one hour presentation at a convention.
He walked on stage with about 50-60 overheads. As he reached to turn on the projector, his overheads fell out of his hand. They were not numbered. He spent the next 10 minutes on his knees trying to reassemble his overheads.
As much as part of me was hoping he would "bomb", I actually felt sorry for him.
My worst presentation experience was when I was asked to co-host an enormous live music event, with a fellow radio dj in a packed auditorium - about 5000+ people. The afternoon's rehearsal had gone well, but the big moment did not... We were announced and I swanned onto the stage to do the introductory remarks, got to my spot and... realised my microphone was missing. It took an embarrassing two minutes under hot lights looking and feeling like a complete idiot in front of an ever-more restless crowd, before the technical crew located the missing mike. My genial co-host made a comment about theft in Cape Town, which got the audience laughing, but I never really recovered my momentum, and got at least one horrible review in the press, which is still floating around now...
Awkward.
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Easier to talk about the worst I ever experienced. I was in the audience during readings given by the uber-novelist Saul Bellow. The moderator introducing him had occasion to repeat his name several times, and each time she referred to him as Saul Bellows. She did not appear to notice the audiences groans and tsk-tsk's, and Mr. Bellow, genteel as always, ignored the gaffe.
Tom A
Sr. Contract Recruiter at Life Technologies
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I may be guilty of having the committed the worst one I've ever seen. When I was still in sales for a s/w company about 13 years ago I was setting up to do a training for some of our region's internal staff. I apparently left some files open on my laptop when I moved it into the training room, and the first thing people saw on the screen when the display went active was my recently-updated resume!
Kate W
Director, Human Resources at Campbell Soup Company
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I hired a speaker for a large event and she left her clip mike on when she went to the ladies room. We were on a break and I was in the general session room talking to my boss when I heard something coming through the ceiling speakers -- and we both turned our heads up to try to figure out what it was. The click of the latch on the stall. The sound of her clothing moving around. By now we're looking at each other grinning like idiots. Then the sound of someone who really needed the break, and then .... wait for it... we looked at each other with that expectant red face and then it hit -- the tidal wave booming through the speakers. We were doubled over by now, and then came the latch on the door, the click of heels across the tile, the running water in the sink, the pht-pht of paper towels. Then he turned to me and said, "You need to talk to her." Woman to woman seemed safest, but I think he wimped. When she walked back in, I asked to see her off to the side and told her that she might want to either remove the mike or turn it off when she took a break. She had that dimmer switch of awareness, right up to that Mr. Bill look. Priceless.
Amanda C
Mechanical Design Engineer at Inergi
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Every year our student section of SWE would invite successful female engineers to be the keynote speaker at our "Dinner with Industry" event--essentially a networking event for engineers, recruiters, and students looking for work. One year we invited a woman who had been the president of our chapter the year the event had started--25 years before.
She got up, gave a couple of sentences that were essentially the abstract she had given us to put in the program, said thank you, and sat back down. It took less than 2 min for a speech that was scheduled for 15. Threw off the servers and surprised the guests.
I once convinced the marketing director of a client company to hire a comedian to deliver the keynote at a formal dinner/awards banquet. Bill Frenzer (aka The Corporate Jester) researched the company and the industry and delivered an amazing speech. The company president had introduced him as a super sales rep and sales trainer with many years of experience in the industry.
For a few minutes, Bill was completely believable... then he started getting more and more ridiculous. He shared his ten (absurd) keys to success and finished by singing a specially composed blues number accompanied by live musicians who came out of nowhere. Big finish, lots of laughing, then the gaffe.
The company president was supposed to let the audience in on the joke, re-intro Bill as the Corporate Jester, ask for a round of applause and move on. Instead, he just moved on. People left the event wondering if they were really supposed to implement Bill's ten tips. The marketing director spent the next week explaining to 600 people that "no, they should not."
Bill K
ERP Software Sales Management Professional
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We had a large presentation for a large apparel manufacturer here in Southern California. We had online resources, CFO's, CEO's, CTO's, power points, you name it, we wanted this deal.Our Vice President had a bad migraine, I had some muscle relaxers because of some surgery that I recently had (herniated disks) I told her that was the only thing that I had. I handed her one, she insisted on two, so I gave her two. Well, you get the picture, she ended up in the car sleeping & I finished the presentation. We got the deal but it wasn't because of her performance.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Bill Gates and Windows crashing.
Rebecca M
Human Resources Consulting, Management Training and Writing
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Very early in my career as the Safety and Security Supervisor for an Owens Corning manufacturing plant I begged and pleaded to buy what was considered an expensive safety video. When the purchase was approved I was asked to do a presentation of the video and how it would be used to the Plant Manager and his senior team. I was pleased with the opportunity until the video started and the copy we had received was not in English. The only saving grace was the conversation to try to identify what language it was in. I never use a dvd, video or PowePoint without previewing it, more than once.
This one took place 15 years ago when I was applying for my first job. The selection process was quite elitist and after several rounds, we were 4 survivors to take the last exam : crossfire questions and discussion with 4 VPs of the firm. One of the candidate, after performing very well, and probably feeling very relieved, took a big mouthful of his cup of coffee,...and choked to death, spitting out coffee over the assistance... After grumbling for a few seconds while assessing the damage done to their 1000$ suits, the VPs made as if nothing had happened in the first place and asked for the next candidate to come onstage, so that the poor guy was forced to go backstage without having any opportunity to regain control of the situation. He was petrified.
Mary Agnes Vetell A
Independent Writing and Editing Professional
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During a venture capital meeting at a company I consulted for, my partner insisted that he present the PowerPoint portion of the pitch. I protested slightly, since I had written the presentation and felt I knew the material quite intimately, but alas, he felt a "man" would bring more "strenght" and he presented. When he bent over to pick up the printed materials that went along with the visuals, he let out a huge, I am not kidding, huge fart.
Everyone was in shock, paralyzed. No one moved. My partner was as red as an apple and looked like he might pass out. I looked around and said, "Good one, BOB! Now let's move on without all the hot air."
After everyone stopped laughing (at least five entire minutes later), I took over the rest of the presentation.
Mary Agnes Antonopoulos
Freelance Writer and Social Networking Expert
www.FreelanceMaryAgnes.blogspot.com
Links:
Patrick H
Semiconductor Sales Professional
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My all time favorite Michael.
F7
spell check
The presentation could be flawless, but if there are spelling errors the TV is turned off If you know what I mean.
Grant G
2006 - Present: Director, and Head of Genetic Immunology at HUMIGEN LLC, the Institute for Genetic Immunology
yellow letters on a red background..I'm talking primary colours... and letters that vibrated....
Antonio S
Product Marketing Manager at mental images GmbH (NVIDIA Corp)
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A presenter at an exhibition, in front of dozens of attendees, was supposed to introduce the latest and greatest JCB (John Banford) earth moving machines. At some point she mentioned "the great technological advances from Caterpillar engineers".
Michael C. D
Senior Manager, Corporate Finance Global Credit at a Large, Publicly Traded High Tech Firm in the Silicon Valley
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I attended an awards banquet for successful women in business in which more than a hundred women were nominated in five received awards of various types.
The keynote speaker was introduced. In his introduction, he thanked his wife - the mother of his five children - for becoming a "stay at home" mother which gave him the flexibility to pursue his professional interests.
I assume that this was part of his standard keynote presentation, but you can imagine the response by this audience.
This one is hilarious: 'How NOT To Use Powerpoint' By Comedian Don McMillan. Very educational.
Best,
Peter
Links:
Stephen W
Marketing Communications Professional
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Michael:
Years ago, the Mayor of Milwaukee was at an official dinner and his pesentation moved to the topic of local entrepreneurs. He mentioned a certain individual as having founded a local, high profile company, with the company being named after the individual. What the poor mayor didn't know was that the name of the company was an acronym, and the name of the company's founder had nothing to do with the acronym. It taught many of us in the audience to do our homework before we try to attribute facts in a public forum.
Attending a training class and the instructor pulls up his laptop which is a craglist listing of women seeking men in the city we were at. and then he promptly told us each day in 5 day course where he took a "chick" out that night.
Wallace J
Multimedia Producer, Mind Taffy Design; Graphics Design, VR and i3D programming for Acrobat 3D PDF
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A major display industry player at CES with no content and the displays shown while turned off (grey screens). Walls. MindTaffyLLC@Yahoo.com
