Ways to recover with grace from Zoller

1. Ways to Recover with
Grace
when you make errors while presenting.

2. Based on Zoller’s The Choreography of
Presenting

3. Let’s just face it….we are all going to mess up in a
presentation at some point. Let’s take a look at some ways of
“recovering with grace” when we do. According to Kendall Zoller, co-
author of The Choreography of Presenting, there are essentially
seven ways to do so.

4. Before we introduce ways to recover with grace, take a moment
to reflect upon the following:
· Think about your first kiss. Where were you?
· How about when 9-11 happened?
· What about when you first drove a car alone?
What you may have noticed by reminiscing, is that location has
memory attached to it.

5. Distance yourself from the error to
create amnesia (to help the
participants forget about the error).
Move to a new location in the room to
anchor new memories. This reaction
will set the stage for any other actions
you do in relation to recovering.

6. What happens when you give a response and you can tell that
your participants don’t favor it?

7. First, Zoller suggests you break and breathe. This
means as you take a step to a new location (remember location
has memory!) you exhale, break eye contact with the audience,
and drop your gesture. This allows some processing time for
both you and the audience. As you take up your new location,
point to the original location and say something like, “That
response missed the target. Here’s another perspective.”

8. What happens when the whole group reacts because an individual asks
an inappropriate question, or dominates the conversation, or even asks
questions that only pertain to him/herself? You can tell because it is like
the group freezes or even stops breathing!
People usually react in one of three ways:

9. They may act shocked. In this case, you can respond to the
inappropriate comment in a positive manner. You might
paraphrase it in such a way as to lead it back into the subject at
hand. If in question form, answer it
briefly and succinctly, and move. on.

10. Groups may also react in a confused manner.
When this happens, you may see members of your
audience turn slightly to their neighbors and hold
their breath. To get them back to feeling emotionally
safe, answer or respond in earnest – much like with
the shocked group.

11. Finally, groups may react in an annoyed manner. This
group finally becomes vocal (“tsk, tsk”) when a
participant dominates the conversation, incessantly
makes comments, or even questions the credibility of
the presenter. The group wants the presenter (you!) to
take control and shut down that particular behavior. An
effective way to do this is say something like, “Hold that
idea and we can talk during the break.”

12. When a group is no longer listening...
What do you do when a group is no
longer listening? How can we bring
them back into a state of receptivity,
you might ask yourself.

13. Try interrupting yourself at a point in your
delivery that is abnormal. This might be in the
middle of a word and pause for just a second.
Then step to the side and restate your sentence
more slowly and in a quiet tone.

14. When you really “step in it”...
So far, we’ve explored what to do with
relatively minor presentation faux pas.
But what about when you really step in
it?

15. Consider using self-deprecating humor. It might look and
sound something like this: Stop, break and breathe before taking
a step away from your location. Point to the old location and say
something like, “Ha!, I would never say that!” Then pointing to
where you are currently standing, say something like, “What I
would say is this…”

16. Other glitches...
What about when you lose your place?
Instead of vocally stating what you are thinking (“Oh goodness, the
computer froze up again….let me see how to get this thing
working…”) consider having your audience doing a little work
themselves while you “recover.”

17. For example, you could say, “For the
next minute and a half, please turn to a partner
and share the three key points you have taken
away from the last hour.”

18. OR “You have five minutes to discuss with your group any
questions you have about the last topic. Please come to
consensus on two questions you will share out with the rest of the
group.” You now have time to find your place, fix the frozen
computer, or figure out how to recover.