I AM GUILTY!

Hi everyone, I'm Shawn. Thanks for reading this, and...

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I AM GUILTY!

I am guilty of making many of the mistakes Prof Damith has specifically mentioned not to.

I've even made those mistakes in some of the key moments of my life -- when I was giving my final presentation in national service, or when I was giving a thank you speech to my Dad on his 60th birthday party.

I've thrown PUNCH lines as my opening only for my audience to miss it.

I've tried to exaggerate the potential of my ideas and solutions by quoting how amazing it would be if just 0.1% of Asia used my product.

I've put countless "THANK YOU"s and "Q&A"s as my last slide.

Not once, not twice. But over, and over again! Hell, I can't even count with my two hands the number of times I've done so.

So thank you, Prof Damith, for opening my eyes. I'll try my very best to never make the same mistakes again.

I'll hold back my PUNCHes until after I've gotten my audience's attention.
I'll clink my wine glass with a spoon. Or I'll quickly introduce myself - then pause. And then I'll deliver my PUNCH line! Just like what I did at the start :)

I'll tell a personal story about how my product changed the life of a user instead of quoting some implausible statistic.

I'll give them the key points I want them to walk away with. I'll rally the audience with my call to action.

But most of all, I won't waste my last sentence.

Prof Ben, you very handsome leh. A+ maybe? ;)