Imagine this happening to you:

You’re up on stage in front of a room full of people.

You’re focused and you’re determined to deliver transformation.

Everyone will be more productive, less-stressed, and farther down the path to prosperity because of your message.

And then

Poof!

Gone!

Your train jumps the tracks.

You were going to drive home that most important point and you can’t remember what you were saying or what you were leading up to.

Bummer!

I’ll take just a moment to look at my notes and I’l be right back with our regularly-scheduled programming!

[walk off and back]

Hopefully, you’ll never need that speech

But no one inspires compassion and forgiveness like someone who is willing to own a problem.

Own it, have some fun with it, and fix it. That takes mere seconds.

A memory lapse while speaking is one of your audience’s big fears.

When you treat a disaster as what it really is—nothing—you’ll inspire your listeners to think about their own overblown fears.

If worrying about what-ifs is holding you back as a speaker, rehearse what you’ll say when things go wrong.

Write a few lines for handling technology failures.

Write a few lines for memory lapses.

Knowing in advance how we’ll handle adversity is like bringing a first-aid kit on an adventure. We hope we won’t need the band-aids or the anti-itch cream, but they’re there if we do need them.

Spend a little time rehearsing the speeches you hope you’ll never give and watch your confidence grow.