Check the facts during your presentation

It is important tell the truth to your audience. Make sure to have the facts correct and don’t miss anything. There are various ways to support you during your presentation to ensure you get at right.

 

One thing you could do is to arrange with one of more persons before the presentation that they will act as “backup” / “fact checker” during your presentation. They can sit in the back of the audience and you can reach out to them to ensure you have the fact correct / don’t miss anything. You can initiate that during the presentation by saying: “Keep me honest here, <name person>, …” followed by the question that you need to check (Did I miss anything? Is this statement still correct? What is …?). The phrase “Keep me honest here <name person>" is the key phrase for your backup / fact checker to listen and provide information.

 

Obviously you need to be careful not to use this too many times during your presentation, otherwise it appears that you are not well enough prepared. It works well for a specific (small) topic that is part of your presentation, but is not your field of expertise. The backup / fact checker can then validate what you are saying. It can also be used for confirming logistic matters that are difficult to remember (timing of something that changed a number of times and wasn’t certain when you started your presentation).