For the first time this month I’ve had to give two speeches whilst having a really bad throat. I was in two minds as to whether I should go ahead at all, but did not want to let down the organisers – specially given that they were both booked many months in advance.
On one of the speeches, I broke my golden rule of apologising in advance to the audience in case I collapsed on stage in a heap coughing and spluttering. It’s a rule in so much that starting a speech with an apology is always a big downer for an audience and somewhat lowers their expectations. As it happened, both speeches went without a hitch, but I was conscious that I was only firing at 99%.
But interestingly, when following up some of the audience today with phone calls, all of them asked how I was feeling etc – so clearly it was remembered for the right reasons.
What do you do when you’re feeling below par but still need to perform?
Phil
