Be Careful

Another thing I have learned from all my years as a public speaker, you must be careful of all aspects of your presentation.

I once did a presentation for 3200 people in California and it was a really big deal. I definitely had to make sure I used the important skills I teach in my public speaking course. I had two stage managers with headsets counting down 30 seconds till show time, a personal assistant and complete video crew for tape and image projection. Everything was rush, rush, rush and hustle and bustle.

I had some more assistants who, on cue, were going to distribute plastic glow stars so the whole room would be lit with the stars for the grande finale where I had blacked out the room. 

The entire production went off without a hitch. People had a great time. 

Afterwards I was busy shining my halo ... until the production company head came up to me and said, 'We have a problem.' ... 

I didn't have any idea what he could be talking about. He told me the assistants were throwing the stars into the crowd and one of them hit an attendee in the eye and scratched his cornea ... 

Talk about your heart sinking. No one knew if he was going to be OK or not. He was on his way to the hospital. 

... It was six weeks before he found out if the damage was permanent or not. Luckily he ended up with just a badly scratched cornea and he is perfectly alright now. 

Like the song, "I can see clearly now", I had let all the hoopla get in the way of my normal briefing of my assistants and it almost cost someone their eyesight.

Make sure you do your normal briefings, and proper preparations. I never even considered the possiblity of injury for that stunt so I encourage you when using your skills you learned in a public speaking course that being careful must be a priority. You must think ahead of possible adverse consequences of unusual interactions with the audience so to prepare the event for everything to go smoothly.

... BE CAREFUL! 

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