Details gone wrong can be funny (as our top 3 proves) and maybe you have the wit to correct your wrongs during your presentation. But we can only advise you to practice, practice and practice before you check, check and double check.
#3 The name game
We saw this misstep in a column in the economic section of a big Dutch national newspaper (de Volkskrant 31/06/2014). The writer, not exactly your new kid on the block, discusses the value of Google and Facebook. The new buy button that will side Facebook adds gives Facebook the advantage, for now, and Matt Zuckerberg will profit from it, according to the writer. Wait a minute. Did he just write Matt Zuckerberg? Yes he did. Oops!
#2 Online competition
With people spending less money on eating out, restaurants have to fight fiercely to survive. Competitors take this battle to the World Wide Web. We read a story about a restaurant that kept wondering why the crowds weren't coming on weekends anymore. Months passed by, until one customer asked why the restaurant was closed on the weekends. Weird question? Not really. It turned out a nearby competitor had stated on Google that this particular restaurant was closed during weekends, to draw the masses to his own place.
This is probably a criminal action, but it proves a point. In the public domain you're not always in control, so make sure you check information on you or your organization provided by other parties, from Google to the yellow pages and from blogs to news sites.
#1 Hang loose!
Summer is coming. Magazines and fashion labels want to sell cute dresses. To sell their items they show a lifestyle. A VW bus, a bright day, the sea and a beach make up the background. And of course a surfer accidentally walks by in the photo. It does seem very attractive, but something doesn't feel quite right.
In 80 out of a 100 beach ads that are to be found in these kinds of magazines, there are a couple of things missing. The surfer is carrying a board that has no fins and no leash and no wax. Oops!
Respectfully yours,
Mr. Prezident
