Never pre-qualify to the negative

Originally posted at www.drebinger.com

What he meant was you should never (and I do mean NEVER) begin a safety talk or presentation with a negative comment about that speech or presentation, no matter how true or accurate.

This is one of those concepts, which may best be taught by example. Several years ago, I attended a winter workshop in Hawaii held by the National Speakers Association. I always carefully select which sessions I attend as I am constantly working to improve my skills as a professional safety speaker.

I arrived at the room, which I had selected and anxiously awaited the beginning of the session. The speaker arrived and was introduced. They stepped up to the platform and said, “I’m sorry. I’ve had the flu all week and am just beginning to feel better this morning. My voice is a little weak and I probably won’t be able to cover all the material I had planned for today.”

Was I ever disappointed. If I had been closer to the door I would have exited to attend another session where I would get all that had been promised. When you spend money you want to get the most value and here I was stuck with what was promised to be less than their best. It is a good thing I didn’t. The speaker went on to do an outstanding job and we all learned some great ideas. Had he not said anything, no one would have known. His professionalism took over and he delivered some very useful tips in an entertaining manner.

You Dishonor the Audience and Your Subject

When you pre-qualify to the negative you lower the value of what you are about to say or demonstrate. In safety, we want what we present to have a high value and we should never do anything to lower that value. As a safety speaker you want to honor your audience and your subject.

Here are some examples of prequalifying to the negative:

·      I’m sorry but I forgot to bring my latest PowerPoint presentation…
·      I want to apologize for my hoarse voice…
·      I forgot…
·      I wanted to…. but I didn’t have time.
·      We don’t have enough time to cover everything I wanted to…
·      It’s been a tough week so I didn’t have time to put everything into the slides that I wanted to.
·      We had a great demonstration planned but…. didn’t show up or bring the materials.
·      I’m sure you can remember others you have heard over the years.

Remember all negative pre-qualifications are true; they just don’t need to be shared with your audience.

The Solution

No matter what has gone wrong, give it your best at that moment and if you did less than the necessary preparation learn from that and set aside more time in the future. In fact, every presentation can be improved and striving to constantly improve is a worthy approach. On the other hand, do not get bogged down by trying to make something, “perfect”. My dad had a great saying, “The better is the enemy of the good.”

Yours in Service,
John Drebinger