After putting in weeks or months of preparation, you feel ready to give a great presentation. Nothing could possibly go wrong. And then it does go wrong. It falls flat. It doesn’t reach the goals you were intending. You don’t do the best you could. Whatever the reason for the miss, you decide to give up on presentations.
You may be disappointed by your presentation. You may feel as if you never want to give another presentation again. You may feel as if you don’t want to face those people ever again.
Just as with any new endeavor you take in life, there is a possibility that things won’t go as well as you expected and that you will be disappointed. Should you give up? Absolutely not.
After a bad experience, many of us want to forget it ever happened and move on. Or we promise ourselves that we will never give another presentation again. Or we label ourselves as a bad speaker and decide to live with that label. Or we label our audience as being too stupid to understand us.
None of these tactics will help you improve. They will push you down and keep you from moving forward. After all, it’s a lot easier to stay where you’re at than admit that you have the potential to do better. It may feel safer in the short-term, but it’s actually dangerous because it’s keeping you stuck where you’re at with no hope for improvement.
First of all, you should congratulate yourself for going out there and making the effort. Then, if you are feeling emotional or down, give yourself a few days to calm down. Don’t think about the presentation during this time if possible. Don’t beat yourself up. If you want to feel sorry for yourself during this time, that’s okay too.
After giving yourself a few days to calm down, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Analyze your presentation objectively and write down specifically what went well and what didn’t go so well. Ask someone who was in the audience for feedback. Now, ask yourself what you will do for the next presentation to make it better. Write down concrete goals that you will take action on between now and your next presentation.
“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat,” said F. Scott Fitzgerald. Giving up is a choice; if you choose to give up, it will be a final defeat. How will you choose to handle disappointment?