Keep Calm & Carry On: Maintaining Your Composure When Your Presentation Goes Horribly, Horribly Wrong

In June 2013, I was able to present at the American Library Association’s (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago, IL on the topic of public speaking. For whatever reason, whenever I have to do any sort of public presentation, something always goes wrong. Because I have so much experience with things going wrong, I thought that I’d share my experiences with others and also talk about how I plan for the unexpected in my presentation Keep Calm and Carry On: Maintaining Your Composure When Your Presentation Goes Horribly, Horribly Wrong.

This presentation will discuss preparing for the inevitable, unexpected events that occur during a presentation. From technology failures to rude and unruly audience members,this presentation will show you how to deal with surprises. Tips and techniques on how to keep your presentation on track when it seems as though the universe is trying to sabotage your will be provided.

We all have horror stories about public speaking and I will share my experiences to encourage others to think and discuss how they’d react in such a situation. The goal of this is to embrace the hiccups so that we can learn from these events and the mistakes of others to become confident public speakers. Presentations can be intimidating for both new and experienced librarians, but by viewing the unexpected in a more lighthearted way, it will encourage attendees to plan for the what-ifs without causing the usual stress and panic.