I recently attended an hour-long webinar. During part of the presentation, the microphone cut out. About twenty seconds of speaking were unintelligible.

Of the many participants on the call (I’m guilty too) no one asked the speaker to back up and repeat what was missed. We were fine letting it go.

Conversely, I’ve attended events where the audience was captivated. A microphone glitch would have resulted in quickly raised hands. We had hung on every word.

* * *

Not every presentation will be a viral TED Talk. However, we can strive to be compelling. We can endeavor to offer what’s meaningful to our audience. And we can seek the audience that needs to hear what we have to say.

But no matter what, we can learn from our missteps. If our microphone is dead and no one tells us, we’ve just learned that there’s a mismatch between what we’re saying and who we’re seeking to serve.