Public Speaking tip – The Mental Blank

That terrible moment when someone loses complete track of what they are saying - there is a blank, their face drops, and then becomes more and more frantic. This is painful not only for the speaker but for the audience.

Develop a strategy now so that if, despite your best preparations, a blank happens, you have something to say. You could remark, “Oops I’ve lost it” and maybe you can add some appropriate humour (“Must have left the speech in front of the mirror!”) and then add something like “Now where was I?”

Look at your notes if necessary – “We were talking about …”

If it’s really bad, ask the audience.

Whatever strategy you use along these lines, you keep the audience, and yourself, moving on, returning to target and none of you is embarrassed. So if you fear the blank moment, be prepared with a strategy that will allow you to deal smoothly with the situation.