Don’t Make Michael Bay’s Colossal Mistake
Did you see what happened to Michael Bay? Don’t let this happen to you. Here are 6 lessons we can learn from his colossal mistake.
Lisa B. Marshall
As an experienced director of many well-known films, including Armageddon and the Transformers franchise, Michael Bay is very comfortable speaking his mind and dealing with the media. That’s why I was stunned to watch him get thrown off when the teleprompter failed during a live presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 in Las Vegas this week. He was there to promote a new television from Samsung and unbelievably, after a few moments of visible discomfort, he fled the stage leaving behind the stunned Samsung executive who was interviewing him.
If you haven’t seen the video, check it out. It’s quite remarkable.
Don’t let this happen to you. Here are 6 lessons we can learn from Michael Bay’s mistake:
Lesson #1: Prepare enough to have something to say if your technology fails – even if only brief comments. Never go to an event, particularly an important, highly-televised event, without having some sort of back-up plan. I don’t know if Michael Bay and the Samsung team did any practice runs, but a few run-throughs with the teleprompter should have been enough for him to be able to respond to questions without the aid of a teleprompter.
Lesson #2: When technology goes wrong, discreetly get assistance. Don’t share the problem with the entire audience. You can alert someone with a head nod or perhaps quietly whisper to someone in the front row. At a big event like this one, just ignore it and assume that a technician is already aware of the problem and is working on it. The focus needs to remain on you and your content and not the issue. If necessary, physically walk away from the problem so the audience doesn’t get distracted with any technology glitch (or the people trying to solve the problem).
Lesson #3: Keep talking!! No matter what, the show MUST go on! Here’s the deal, it’s worse to make a big deal of the issue, or to walk off stage, than to say something less than perfect, or something less than what you had originally planned. For example, the executive from Samsung was on the stage and didn’t say anything that eloquent after Bay’s meltdown, but he remained calm and kelp on talking. The audience gives him points for trying.
Lesson #4: Don’t let the audience hear or see your reaction. The problem is that when you get the deer in headlights look, and make no mistake, Michael Bay did have a dear in headlights look, THAT is what becomes memorable. When he started getting anxious, that energy transfered to the audience and we started to get anxious. Unfortunately, he made it even more memorable by walking off the stage! In my training workshops, I always say the solution to any presentation disaster is to stay cool, calm, and continue.
Lesson #5: Don’t assume that if you are good in one area of communication that the skills will transfer to others. Speaking on stage requires different skills than film production or direction.
Lesson #6: Even though this did not reflect well on Michael Bay, the reality is that a lot more people now know about this new television than they would have had he not walked off. So, although it’s an embarrassment, the reality is the sponsor and the sponsored product still got publicity — perhaps even more than they would have had Michael Bay not walked off the stage. Is this marketing disaster or marketing genius?
What do you think about this situation? Post your opinions in Comments below.
Disaster plan image courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Lisa B. Marshall Lisa holds masters with duel degrees in interpersonal/intercultural communication and organizational communication. She’s the author of Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation, as well as Ace Your Interview, Powerful Presenter, and Expert Presenter. Her work has been featured in CBS Money Watch, Ragan.com, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and many others. Her institutional clients include Johns Hopkins Medicine, Harvard University, NY Academy of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Genentech, and Roche.