‘I was speaking at a conference and had a microphone as it was quite a large audience of about 250. Although I was a confident speaker this was the first time I had needed a microphone. Anyway, it was all going well and the break came and I thought I’d just leave the room and focus on the next session. I checked my phone and saw a missed message from my mother, so I called her. We chatted about the usual stuff, as well as my upcoming birthday and what I wanted. When I mentioned my husband was buying me lingerie I heard a large noise come from the conference room. I thought nothing of it until a participant came rushing out and told me my microphone was still on and they had heard every word!’

‘I was attending a colleague’s presentation to offer support. He was quite relaxed and had delivered many times before. I remember it was a hot afternoon and there were about 10–12 people in attendance. To be honest, he is not the most dynamic speaker, and I think he knew that so he put on a video for the group to watch and make notes and then we would complete an exercise. The lights were dimmed and everyone was writing down their thoughts. When the video was finished I thought I’d be helpful and get up and turn it off. I did so, as well as turning the lights back up. However, my colleague was fast asleep! To say he was mortified was an understatement. My rule – never fall asleep in your own presentation!’

‘This could surely have only happened once. I am a very careful planner and always have contingency plans just in case I can’t rely on the equipment. On this occasion I was showing a presentation on the organisation’s room projector. As you sometimes fear, the projector was not working on the day. Never mind, I had hard copies of the slides on the table next to me. Not so apparently.

When I went to the toilet earlier a cleaner had come in and, thinking they were left over from the previous evening, had thrown them out. Still, I was in control as I had brought laminates that I could show on the overhead projector – if it wasn’t being used by the boss! I remember just talking through the session. It wasn’t very memorable. Not one of my better ones.’

‘I remember turning up at a hotel to run a session on time management to approximately 10 managers. The obvious thought is that the management of time is better controlled when we always know what the time is. Therefore, as an exercise, I asked all the participants to remove their watches. They then had to complete an exercise in small groups in breakout rooms while they left their watches in the main room. I wanted them to work without time constraints and just focus on the task in hand. To cut a long story short, the watches ended up being stolen as I mingled with the groups. That is what you call a memorable session.’

‘I was a witness to this one. I was at a government department and was in the audience so remember it well. We were listening to our new three-year strategy and waiting for our new chief executive to launch it. We had never met him as he had only started the day before – as happens in government departments! Anyway, in strode this man and immediately started speaking to us about his new book. He was proud that we were supporting his ideas and was so happy to see that we would actively be pushing it to the marketplace. It’s a shame he was stopped and told he was in the wrong room – I found him to be entertaining. Then we had to listen to our strategy. . .’

‘I turned up to speak at a gym group’s staff training day. My friend who worked there and who got me the gig said that I needed to wear their “uniform” of T-shirt, shorts and running shoes and supplied me with the outfit. I arrived and was quickly led into a back room where I met my ‘friend’ who was wearing the uniform. I changed into mine and was ready. He led me to the back of the stage and told me to go on. Needless to say I was stitched up – as I walked in, every man was in a suit and every woman in a posh dress. I could hear him laughing and I felt helpless, but apparently they do it to all the speakers. For that split second I wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there.’

‘Does it count when I designed a supporting workbook for a company, had 100 printed off and had their biggest competitor’s logo on the front?’