Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I did a presentation on Social Media today - thought I had it all under control. For once, I wasn’t running late; I had all my handouts and showed up early at the meeting place. Then the fun began. My Macbook and the provided Sony projector didn’t want to talk to each other. So, there I was facing a room full of people, wondering if I was going to make shadow puppets or something. Luckily, a couple of my friends were also there so we got another computer and they figured out the A/V stuff while I did the initial meeting introductions and overview.

It all worked out - and I started the actual presentation almost on time. Lots of good discussion ensued and when we finished many people stayed and continued talking. (Whew!)

A point re social media: No matter what and where you present or attempt to communicate, things will go awry. The technology will hiccup; people won’t like your style; things will be misinterpreted. You’ve got to be comfortable with your subject matter and presenting, regardless of the problems, people or how you’re presenting. And, you’ve got to be able to think on your feet…which brings me to that point about shoes.

Once - back in my corporate America days - I was traveling all over presenting a “leading, bleeding edge” service offering to potentially BIG customers. One day I got up at some ungodly hour, got dressed more or less in the dark, and hit the airport. We land in Florida, race to the customer site and I jump into presenting to a group of about 50 poobahs and their staff. I’m really rollin’…people are nodding…things seems to be going well.

Then I glanced down. I was wearing two different shoes. (See? Things can always be worse.)

(A BIG thank you to Mary Ellen Merrigan and her husband Harris (my favorite Republican) for rushing to my rescue with the HP. Gracias to Scott Westerman of Comcast who played A/V Geek.)

Got a presentation tip or story of your own? Feel free to share below.

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, social media, presentation tips, presentations