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Out of the blue: how to make an impromptu presentation

By Margaret Zuppinger (June 2004 Issue)
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It can happen to anyone at any time: suddenly you are taken out of your comfort zone and into the panic zone, being asked to deliver a presentation in a way, or on a specialist topic, you are not familiar with, and to a timescale that makes you blanch! And if you are a trainer who presents for a living none of this should be no problem, should it? Has it ever happened to you? It’s happened to me.

Let me take you back to a dark, dank, dull February afternoon where, sat at my desk, I was struggling to write a complex training proposal. (Nothing new there, I hear those of you familiar with the concept cry.) In a nutshell I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, when the telephone rang. I answered the call; it was my friend, Barbara, who I knew was in hospital being treated for cancer. Fast losing the feeling-sorry-for-myself mood, I listened as she spoke slowly and with great effort: ‘I trust you,’ she said. ‘You’re my friend, and a good public speaker. I need to ask you to speak at my funeral, which won’t be far off, about me, life and so on. Oh, and can you make it funny. I think everyone will need a good laugh by then.’ After a stunned silence I said I was proud to be asked to help her in this way, and that I would do my best for her and her young family. Of course, I had hoped there would be months to prepare my thoughts and channel my emotions. However, the next telephone call I received was to tell me Barbara had died. I had a matter of days.

While I have been a trainer and presenter for 20 years I had never been asked to deliver a funeral address. It is a one-off situation – no rehearsals, no second chances ...

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