Had a brain freeze while presenting? Don't worry―your career isn't over. Here are 5 ways to recover and get back in the game!

What do you do when your thoughts go one way, and your mouth goes another? Or if both of them seem to stop functioning completely? Let's call either situation a "brain freeze."

However expert you are on your topic and however well you prepare, you're going to suffer a brain freeze at some point in a speech or presentation. It happens to all of us—and when it does, we may be the most surprised person in the room.

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As a speech coach, I'm sometimes asked by a client to do when he or she a) has a brain freeze during a presentation, or b) makes an obvious mistake, and therefore c) needs to recover. Yes, the word to use is "when," not "if."

Like my clients, you're not a perfect speaker. None of us are. We mess up sometimes―either all by ourselves or because of a difficult audience member. We can't say the key is avoiding the brain freeze in the first place, because that's impossible. We simply need to recover, especially if it seems there isn't any time to do so.

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You're in Good Company with Brain Freezes

So, if you're beating yourself up right now because of a recent "Oops!" moment on stage, steady yourself. And say hello to some other members of your community: 

• Kamala Harris, who really did have time to recover after she discussed her amazingly original "significance of the passage of time."  
• The woman who was referring to her spouse's new video camera when she said in her lecture, "My husband has some great new equipment and he kept me up all night."
• The speaker who wanted to show off his elementary Japanese by greeting his audience in Toyko with "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," but was informed by someone in the audience that he'd just said, "Good morning, toilets and urinals."

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Fortunately, the mind works at lightning speed―and no more so than when we need it to do so. That certainly applies to situations when we have to realize our plight, come up with a solution, and apply it, all in the blink of an eye! 

Take the speaker who tripped up the stairs on the way to the lectern and declared: "I'm a professional. Don't try that at home." He demonstrated both wit and the ability to respond at true 'mind speed.' So did the presenter who lost her train of thought and covered with, "What did I just say?  . . . Good, you're paying attention!"

My clients often remark when I demonstrate how they could express something more concisely, "I wish I could say it like that!" Well, they (and you) can. Sure, acting training helps. But I'm convinced that any of us can come up with a solution to an unexpected slip, even in a keynote or motivational speech. The reason is simple but profound: you bring with you the wealth of knowledge and experience that made you the right person to give this speech in the first place.

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... But These 5 Strategies to Avoid Mistakes Are Better

Then again, why take the chance of needing a quick-as-a-wink response in a questionable public speaking moment? Wouldn't it be better to arm yourself beforehand so you have strategies in place to avoid the mistake altogether? I think it is. Here are five approaches to get you on more solid ground when those all-too-human errors rear their heads:

1. Never lose your composure in the first place. Recovering anything that you've lost is tough. Why not keep it from getting lost in the first place? Then, when that goof occurs, you'll be much better poised to a) regain your momentum, or b) avoid the appearance of a mistake altogether. You can do this in three ways: (1) Breathe diaphragmatically, i.e., "belly breathe", (2) Use supportive body language, and (3) Control your pace and tempo. Together, this threesome of composure skills will give you the look, sound, and (from your point of view) feel of control.

2. Go forward, without drawing attention "back" to your mistake. If you trip over words, simply say the thing again using the right words. If your manuscript drops to the floor and scatters, pick it up and take the time you need to get the pages in the right order again. Saying something like, "Wow, I can't talk tonight!" or "I'm such a klutz!" draws attention back to your "Oops" moment and also prolongs it. Get on with it already!

3. Be open, not hiding. One of the things that creates acute self-consciousness is trying to cover up for what and who you really are. There may be many reasons for this, but whatever the cause, trying to hide from your audience is an impossibility. If you are defensive or trying to be better than you really are, you'll be fragile, and recovering will be that much more difficult. Stay vulnerable with audiences. They'll like you more, and feel that you're a person they can trust. That adds up to priceless credibility.

4. Live in the present moment. The here-and-now of your speech is really all you have to reach audiences. Shakespeare's plays may be exciting to read now―but think how much more powerful they must have been when performed at The Globe playhouse. Stage presence for a speaker more than anything means being fully present. If you're 100% present, it's a much surer bet that something of value will take place. It also means you'll be much less likely to make a mistake, which is often due to lack of focus. How do you achieve that level of presence? Invest yourself completely in your audience's needs rather than your own. And discuss how the information you're delivering helps satisfy those needs! Your talk will flow organically and easily.

5. See your speech as a chance to communicate, not to excel. Try to be "excellent," and you won't be. But if you do your best to get your message across to listeners based on their needs, there'll be nothing to stop you. The paradox of acting applies here as well: Audiences believe a character is a real person not because of artifice, but because of truth. The actor is true to every moment in the life of that character as it unfolds. If you're true to your communication situation, you hardly can make a mistake. And if you do make one, well, it won't matter, will it?

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Gary Genard is an actor, author, and expert in public speaking and overcoming speaking fear. His company, The Genard Method offers live 1:1 Zoom executive coaching  and corporate group training worldwide. He was named for nine consecutive years as One of the World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals, and also named as One of America's Top 5 Speech Coaches. He is the author of the Amazon Best-Sellers How to Give a Speech and Speak for Leadership: An Executive Speech Coach's Secrets for Developing Leadership Presence. His book, Fearless Speaking, was named in 2019 as "One of the 100 Best Confidence Books of All Time." " He is also the author of the Dr. William Scarlet Mysteries. Contact Gary here.  

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