Stop feeling bad about messing up

Leverage the mistake into an opportunity

This is for the person who sent the important email with a typo. Or who had a big presentation and whose slides were all out of order.

You may feel flummoxed and angry at yourself for making an obvious mistake.

But it’s all going to be ok.

If you’ve ever been in an audience that spontaneously applauded when a presenter showed their nerves on a big industry stage, it’s because people generally want others to succeed.

A few weeks ago, I heard about an important presentation where a person shared their work on a new product. They worked forever on their deck because the audience consisted of the presenter’s bosses and top clients.

Within five minutes of starting, however, the presentation laptop started freezing. Restarting the computer didn’t work, and they didn’t have a backup plan. Now they face dozens of people, waiting.

While it might have been tempting to reschedule on the spot (or dance a strange jig and run off the stage), there’s a better option.

You can make the presentation about the audience and tap into their humanity.