Don't say sorry.
It happens. You're speaking to a group and you stumble on a word or make a
mistake. The temptation is to immediately blurt out "Sorry" or some variation of
that word.
Don't say sorry when you make mistakes during your presentation. Instead,
collect your thoughts as quickly as you can, restate the point correctly and
move on.
There are three reasons why you shouldn't say
sorry:
1. Often many of the people in your audience
weren't listening
closely and they missed the error. But when you say "sorry" you
unnecessarily draw attention to the fact that you made a mistake.
2. When you say sorry your brain tends to
fixate on the mistakes
instead of your message. That might cause you to become anxious and
feel more nervous about your presentation. Instead focus on your destination,
not the bumps along the way.
3. The more times that your audience hears the word "sorry" the less they
will feel confident about your credibility. This means that every time you say
sorry you are
working against yourself. Just imagine if the
pilot of your plane announced every course correction with a "sorry". How might
you feel about the pilot and the flight?
Here are some of the transition phrases that you might
use:
- Let me correct that.
- What I really mean is...
- Correction...
- That didn't come out right.
- Let's try again.
Or you could simply pause, smile, and then start that last sentence
again.
What if you didn't notice a factual error when you stated it but recalled it
later? You could say, "I want to correct something that I misstated
earlier."
Naturally there are exceptions to this rule. If you did or said something
that could have offended the audience then you would issue a sincere apology.
My youngest daughter used to say "oopsies" when she made a mistake. It
sounded cute. When you are the speaker you don't look or sound cute when you
litter your presentation with "oopsies".
Your audience will ignore or pardon simple presentation errors. The key for
you is to look and sound competent so you can deliver your intended message.
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Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives
