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WHEN YOUR WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONS IN FRONT OF 10,000 PEOPLE, MAKE IT PART OF YOUR ACT

Two Public Speaking Screwups

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone gets egg on his face sometimes, including me. Screwups may not seem so funny at the time, but at least they make life interesting. Fortunately, in almost every instance, even big goofs can work out for the best. I know that sounds clichéd but it happens to be true.

I was scheduled to speak in Dayton, Ohio, and about 5,000 people were waiting. I was flying in from New York City along with a camera crew, who would be filming the speech for footage on The Apprentice. Just as we were ready to take off, my jet stopped. My pilot said there was something wrong with the brakes, and he didn’t think it was safe to proceed. So we tried to get a commercial flight—but there weren’t any that could accommodate the large group we had. I started to wonder if I might have to cancel the speech. However, when I give my word that I’ll be somewhere, I do my best. So what I did was to call all my friends and ask if anyone had a private jet we could borrow. Sure enough, someone had a jet at LaGuardia that wasn’t being used. So we all piled out of my jet and into another jet, and finally took off for Dayton. I figured it would all go well from then on.

THE LOW POINT

When we landed in Dayton, it was pouring, just pouring buckets of rain, plus it was rush hour. It was such a mess that they arranged a full police escort for me and my entourage to get from the airport to the arena where I’d be speaking. It still took a long time. This was beginning to seem like a trip to China, not Ohio. To top it off, it was also Melania’s birthday, and I had planned to get back to New York City in time to take her out for dinner and to celebrate. Unless she was ready for some midnight supper at a local deli, those plans were about to be scrapped, too. The audience had the worst of it. They had been waiting patiently for several hours at this point.

When I finally arrived, I told the patient folks in Dayton that they’d had their own reality show that day. They were impressed that I had finally made it there despite several major deterrents, and we all had a great time despite the delays, the rain, and the malfunctions. In fact, they sang happy birthday to Melania while they were waiting for me to show up. When I finally arrived, someone gave the heads-up that “Mr. Trump has entered the building”—shades of the days of Elvis. I had a good laugh, and we all had a day to be remembered. The point is, even big goofs can (and often do) work out for the best.

A WARDROBE MALFUNCTION

Another time I was scheduled to speak in Las Vegas in front of approximately 10,000 people, and I flew in from California with about half an hour to spare before going on. Since I had been traveling, I asked a young woman who was the backstage coordinator to have my jacket pressed. So she took my jacket, and I waited in the green room chatting with visitors and with Keith, my bodyguard. When it was time to go on, I started looking for my jacket. It was nowhere to be found. I had 10,000 people waiting for me and no jacket.

The young woman appeared and told us she’d sent my jacket out to a nearby hotel to get pressed, and it wasn’t back yet. We were astonished—with a half hour to go before stage time, no one sends a jacket out to be pressed. We thought she’d have it steamed or pressed on the premises, but she was obviously new at this job. I wasn’t happy about it, but what could I do? I borrowed Keith’s jacket, even though Keith is a bit larger than I am. It had to suffice. I was a few minutes late getting to the stage, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind too much. I told them about what had happened backstage, and apologized for a jacket that neither fit nor matched my suit. They didn’t seem to mind that either. The speech went well despite the backstage commotion, and they seemed to enjoy the spontaneity that was created by someone’s mistake. I still wasn’t happy about it, especially since I spend a lot of time preparing to make sure my presentations are seamless, but I figured “what’s over, is over,” and I let it go.

The next day, on the front page of the major Las Vegas newspaper was a photo and story about me. I shared the front page with a story on Jay Leno. Due to the “wardrobe malfunction” that occurred the night before, they decided to give me more coverage because it ended up being a funny story to them—the billionaire loses his jacket! So, this goof ended up being in my favor in the long run after all.

COACH TRUMP

MAKE IT HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE

Take blips in stride—instead of trying to deflect problems or obstacles and send them off in another direction, try to embrace them. Turn them into something positive. You can often disarm people this way and get them on your side. Don’t get too attached to your ideas. Adjust, adapt, and take things in stride.