What would you do?

[Paladin-X]

Let's say that you are in charge of organizing a conference for the company or organization you work for. You invite a good friend of yours to be the keynote speaker. About a week before the conference, you find out that your friend is actually horrible at delivering presentations. How do you handle this situation?

 

[JGirl]

i try to find someone else to replace that person and then flat out tell them that i couldn't risk using them (i might even bitch them out for not telling me up front that they sucked at it). if they are adult enough they will take it as an opportunity to brush up on their public speaking skills.

 

[barbad0s]

Spend every night that week training him

 

[LittleTalks]

Get another keynote speaker (make sure it is one who is an expert in the topic of the conference and has done lots of public speaking before). Explain to the friend that a speaker with more expertise would be better for the conference.

But I realise this is a cop out :S

 

[barbad0s]

Honestly though I don't know why one would choose someone without previewing their skills first, even if it was a good friend. If I had enough time in that one week to find or hire someone else who I knew would make a good impression, I would do so and tell my friend that I needed someone more experienced with presenting and that the deal was off. There is just no question if it would put my job at risk, and any good friend should be able to understand that.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

I never mix work with personal stuff. I would never invite a friend to give and address, even if he was awesome.


Nevertheless, I would book another speaker and simply inform my friend that we had to cancel on him because another speaker had been chosen because of the following criteria: .......... (make sure you list things that your friend could not claim to have expertise in).