Think before you speak. . .

Another TV reference for you.

Last night on "Top Chef," after failing in his task to create a fine dining version of the humble taco, Erik Hopfinger made the statement, "I don’t think fine dining and Mexican go together."

For an executive chef who's supposed to know a thing or two about food to make a blanket statement like this on national TV -- not a brilliant move. Did he really just say that a whole entire cuisine has no fine dining?

Besides the fact that there are indeed fine dining Mexican restaurants in this country, all Erik has to do is take a trip down to Mexico to realize that, like just about every other cuisine, there is street food, haute cuisine, and everything in between.

Take it out of the context of a TV show and imagine Erik giving a speech to an audience in the food industry. Not only does he make himself look ignorant in front of his peers, he might even offend a few.

I remember being really embarrassed one time when I called on a young man in the audience only to discover that she was a young woman with very short hair. After apologizing, I told her I could relate, as the same thing used to happen to me all the time (and occasionally still does)!

Have you ever put your foot in your mouth during a presentation? How did you recover?

____________________________________________________
On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!