But let me show you my routine,
what I do when somebody points out a spelling mistake to me.
What I do, first, I check with the audience.
I you ask, is it really a mistake?
Because sometimes I'm not sure.
And the audience says, yeah, yeah, it should be corrected.
So what I do, I go to my computer and then I hit escape, and then I correct the word.
And then I just hit play slideshow from the selected slide, and
I resume my presentation.
And let me tell you, I almost get applaused for that.
It's amazing how well that works.
I don't know why people are so surprised, but
I guess it's a rare thing people admitting their mistakes on stage.
So do make mistakes, even deliberately sometimes.
I think what happens is this moment of co-creation,
you and me working together as a team,
me recognizing your input, I think this is what happens.
So, do make mistakes even deliberately.
I'm sorry for the psychologist reference, I wasn't able to find the original paper.
But there was an experiment by Ellen Langer who
used to be a very famous researcher somewhere at or something,
she's still alive but she's doing something else right now.
And it was a public speaking experiment.
And there were three groups speaking on the three different conditions.
To the first group, she told that mistakes are bad,
mistakes are there to be punished.
To the second group, she said that forgiveness condition, mistakes
are there to be forgiven, so go ahead and make mistakes, it wouldn't matter.
And to the third group, she said that,
you know what, go and make mistakes deliberately.
And then incorporate them as a part of your presentation,
which is precisely what I'm recommending.
And of all the three groups, the last group was the most successful.
It was the most composed,
the most efficient, it was judged as the most intelligent group, and
they themselves were the most comfortable while making a presentation.
And it makes total sense, this is how things should really work in reality.
So bad news, you will make mistakes.
Good news are that most of the time it just doesn't matter.
For you is just an opportunity to crack a joke,
to do this little routine you've prepared precisely for that occasion.
So go ahead and make interesting mistakes.