On Friday, I continued my story about my most embarrassing presentation.

As promised, here are all the mistakes I made:

1. Agreeing to speak at someone’s event without asking who the other speakers were going to be. Had I done that, I would have known that someone else was selling a product very similar to mine.

2. Not meeting with the event organizer to go everything in detail with him before I was scheduled to go on. Just plain dumb. Sure, he should have known I when I was scheduled to speak, but I should have double-checked.

3. Not being a 100% sure the event organizer had my written introduction and that he was going to use it. I sent it to him ahead of time but should have brought a copy with me and given it to him.

4. Trying to combine an entertaining show with a pitch. Why I agreed to that, I don’t know. What I used to do very successfully (and still do) was a show before I spoke and then a sales presentation the next day. You need to know what your goal is and make sure everything you do helps you achieve it.

I talk to you a lot about “control.” Controlling your emotional state. Controlling your audience. When you abdicate control of ANYTHING, as I did with the event promoter, odds are, you’re going to lose.

Live and learn.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave “Never Again” Dee