A total mess at my first big client meeting in Chicago

I was presenting a new marketing plan to a client at their downtown office. My laptop crashed right as I pulled up the main slide deck. I had to talk through the whole thing from memory for 45 minutes, using a whiteboard and my printed notes. It actually went okay because I knew the material cold, but I was sweating the whole time. Anyone else have a tech disaster that forced you to think on your feet?

4 comments

4 Comments

sammartinez15d ago

Was it really a disaster if you pulled it off? Sounds like you just did your job.

carr.abby15d ago

But what if you pull it off by pure luck? Like a server coming back online on its own right before a big demo. You still did the job, but the whole plan was a mess from the start. That's still a disaster, even if the ending looks okay.

carter.mila15d ago

Right? I had a client call where my slides were totally scrambled until the last second... but it worked, so they called it a win. Feels weird though.

taylor_patel15d ago

My old team had a project where the database crashed three hours before the big review. We got it back up, but only because a junior dev remembered an old backup script. The client never knew, but we spent the whole next week fixing the hidden damage. Pulling it off just means you survived the mess, not that the mess wasn't real. That stress sticks with you.