On Friday, I linked to a video of stage manager Debbie Williams exhibiting aplomb and presence of mind while fixing Brad Pitt’s malfunctioning microphone during the Idol Gives Back concert. We’ve all seen presenters and stage crew deal with difficult situations, mistakes and disasters.
What was the single most inspiring example grace under pressure during a presentation that you’ve had the privilege to witness?
Please share your story in a comment to this post.
Bonus points if you can provide some video.
I’m looking forward to reading your stories.
I once saw the BSOD appear on the screen in the middle of a talk by a CEO at a public forum. She never missed a beat, describing what was on the next slide and the next while a techie dug around the podium to reboot the machine. When it came back up, we saw that the slides were exactly what she had described (including numbers) as she skipped ahead to continue the talk.
No notes, and definitely not reading the talk from the margin notes in PowerPoint. Totally working without a net. Sure, she had given it before, but this was a practiced reaction. She had her valium bubble on that day!
CCPhysicist: It always nice when CEOs give us reason to believe that they deserve to be CEOs. I find it impressive that someone at that level was able to find the time to prepare so well. Did the techie have his valium bubble on as well? Thanks for stopping by and for the story.
I once saw the BSOD appear on the screen in the middle of a talk by a CEO at a public forum. She never missed a beat, describing what was on the next slide and the next while a techie dug around the podium to reboot the machine. When it came back up, we saw that the slides were exactly what she had described (including numbers) as she skipped ahead to continue the talk.
No notes, and definitely not reading the talk from the margin notes in PowerPoint. Totally working without a net. Sure, she had given it before, but this was a practiced reaction. She had her valium bubble on that day!
CCPhysicist: It always nice when CEOs give us reason to believe that they deserve to be CEOs. I find it impressive that someone at that level was able to find the time to prepare so well. Did the techie have his valium bubble on as well? Thanks for stopping by and for the story.