Picture with me, a grand room with marble floors and columns. The kind of room where someone might take their wedding photos, and the kind of room that echoes loudly with each sound that enters the space. That’s what the waiting area was like at my dentist office. A few years ago on a visit, I had just arrived and was patiently waiting for the receptionist to motion me forward to check in. On this particular day, I was wearing 3″ patent leather heels, and as I often do when standing in line, I tried to find a more comfortable pose. For me, that meant crossing my right leg behind the left and resting my right foot on the left one.
Just as I got really comfortable, I heard the receptionist say “next” while waving me forward. I immediately stepped into action but quickly realized that instead of walking, I was actually falling. Just imagine the way a tree looks when the lumberjack makes the final cut, and it just falls over and bounces a little when it hits the ground. That was me falling over in my dentist office, right onto that marble floor. “Timberrrrr…..” someone should have yelled as tumbled and hit the ground. Like the tree in the forest, you could hear the echoes for what seemed like an eternity. So what happened you wonder. Well, if you’ve ever worn patent leather, you can probably guess. When one shoe touches the other, the patent leather sticks together. So, here I was trying to slide my right foot back to its normal position. At the same time my body went forward assuming the leg and foot would do their job and actually step, but my foot was stuck, and I tumbled just like the tree being felled in the forest.
Immediately the receptionist jumped up and asked if I was okay. Aside from being quite embarrassed, fortunately I was just fine. The room, however, went silent. I could sense the awkwardness as the other patients avoided making eye contact with me. I realized in that moment, I needed to help them be ok, and I needed to regain my composure and move on with dignity. Without thinking I said, “don’t mind me, I’m just learning to walk”. Everyone in the room laughed, and I could feel the collective sigh of relief as they resumed making eye contact and actually smiled as I walked past. In that moment we were all able to let it go and go on with our day as if nothing significant had just happened.
Later, it dawned on me – what if this happened during a presentation? How would I handle it? How would I teach others to handle it? When we fall flat on our face during a presentation – either literally or figuratively – we need to quickly regain our composure and take action to relieve the tension in room. When my 3 year old grandson falls, he hops up quickly and says, “I’m okay”. The adults then laugh and relax, and he goes back to playing.
When we make a huge blunder or literally fall on our face while speaking, our audience will be too focused on our physical and emotional well-being to pay attention to our message. We should all take notes from my grandson. He understands the adults are on edge until he let’s us know he is okay. So next time you fall on your face, hop up and declare you’re just fine or maybe relieve the tension with a little humor. Your audience will appreciate it, and will be comforted once they know you’re physically and emotionally okay. Only then will they be able to let it go and concentrate on the message you are delivering.
What have you found to be a good way to recover from a big blunder or literally falling down in front of your audience?