I flatly refused as it was the day after a big music festival, I think my exact words to the director were “I’m at a festival for five days drinking stella, I won’t be able to speak on Tuesday, let alone present” followed by “I’m not doing it”.

But he did only give me three days notice, so let me off, however I’m now doing it tomorrow!

the good news is it’s all pictures, bad news – i will be talking. a lot.

What about the fact that it might waste other people’s time? Would an email suffice? A document? Not being qualified is a valid exuse when other people’s time could be potentially wasted, but it’s also a great opportunity to improve your credentials if you deliver a useful presentation. You can do this by finding out what the audience needs to get out of the presentation and design accordingly. A seeminly obvious approach, but often forgotten, and yet it saves a lot of time and frustration–for you and the audience.

Thanks for the post. I was surprised to not see the technological difficulty excuses like: the projector doesn’t play nice with my laptop, or the projector isn’t available (for all of us PowerPoint reliant presentors).

SC