Top 5 Ways to Mess Up a Presentation

So today I had a presentation for one of my courses which was worth 25% and even though our group had worked for many weeks, I still had butterflies make that mothra floating in my stomach.I usually don't get too anxious before presentation but this was a big one and I was starting it off for my group so I had to make a great first impression. Anyways, as I usually do when feeling nervous about something, I began to think of the amazing humour that could come from just absolutely screwing it up in a horrifying manner. So hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husbands because its about to get messy:

1. Forget your points without any cue cards to refer to. You were the smart one right? You don't need to write down your ideas because your memory has more gigabytes of space than your computer's. So how come the transition to your first slide results in the loss of everything from the name of your girlfriend to the number of people in your presentation group. You promptly make things up on the spot and look like a fool, or act cool and break into an interpretive dance like your all alone. Great job Champ.

2. Forget to start talking when your slide appears. Ok, maybe you were imagining the perfect entrance, full of charisma and charm. Too bad you fell asleep at the wheel and didn't notice your group staring at you with eyes about to explode. You quickly run to the front of the group, only to trip over that shoe lace you were fixated on while day dreaming. The prof proceeds to initiate face-palm, twice.

3. Mix up your points and diagrams. You spent all night before the big day making an awesome diagram on PowerPoint explaining the mating habits of the honey bee. You, however, get no sleep and arrive to class just in time for the presentation. Half way into your spiel about why honey bees live a single life, you shockingly realize that all you've said is wrong, everything. You get light headed, twirl on the spot and faint as the paramedics tell you as you awake that even they knew about honey bee mating. Rough

4. You've timed your slides on PowerPoint at exact intervals. Hey why click the arrow button if it will do it automatically, or so you think. You fail to realize that after 5 hours of perfecting the synchronization between slides that one second could be the difference. So when your presenting and get distracted by that creepy guy in the front who laughs menacingly, you lose your spot and shoot out words like a machine gun to catch up before jumping on a desk and breaking into hysterical tears of "why me?" then entering catatonic shock. Hilarious!

5. Show up late. We've all dreamed this, hearing the alarm go off and realizing you set it 4 hours later than you wanted. You run to class, throwing people from bikes and start taking hostages lest you be threatened with a small mark penalty. Finally arriving to class you barge in, leap to the front and start releasing all forms of random excuses mixed with a Shakespearean ode to your drastic measures to overcome your plight. Sadly, your group is at the back of the class waiting to go next, knowing that your dramatic entrance has cost them 50% of their participation marks... and their dignity. Smooth.