On the 28th of January, 1986, the space shuttle 'Challenger' launched into the skies over Florida and broke apart just 73 seconds into the flight. The images of that terrible event, and the faces of the seven brave astronauts who lost their lives, continue to flash around the world. Two rubber O-rings were later found to have been the direct cause of the sequence of events that led to the shuttle's disintegration.

The loss of 'Challenger' cost millions of dollars and seven people's lives, but the cost of the guilty O-rings was infinitesimally small by comparison.

Here is another true story about a public speaking disaster.

Some years ago a client of mine (Allison*) working as the L&D manager for a large government power utility ran a stress-management course for 12 of the organisation's technical people. They were all men - formerly linesmen and gasfitters - who, forsaking their tough, blue, cotton overalls, had risen through the ranks to become middle-ranking managers.

Allison had contracted Peter, a stress-management consultant, to run the day-long course at a coastal city.

It was due to start at 08:30, and the participants were there on time, patiently waiting for the consultant - who was now late - to arrive. Not a good start for a public speaking engagement.

At 8:45 am Peter phoned to ask Allison where they all were. She told him that they were at the Beachside Hotel, all ready. "Oh, no," Peter cried, "I'm at 'The Rural Convention Centre (RCC)." The RCC was nearly 50 miles away.

Peter - at the wrong address, about to be very late for his client, a consultant in stress-management - started to hyperventilate; he was over-stressing.

Allison told him, "Don't fuss. I can work with the group until you get here around morning-tea time, and we can just pick it up then."

Peter turned up in time to down a muffin and a hurried cup of tea with the team; however, when he started work with them it was obvious that his lateness was taking its toll. After hearing him confess, "I'm so over-stressed" about 10 times during the remainder of the morning session, one of the men came to Allison and said, "Allison, this is a waste of time. We're going home."

And they did.

Peter lost a client that day forever. Future lost public speaking fees would have amounted to thousands and thousands of dollars.

He lost the client, not because he turned up at the wrong venue (more in a tick), but because he couldn't handle the public embarrassment resulting from his mistake (and it was, Allison confirmed later, his mistake). His subsequent behaviour demonstrated his inability to deal with it. As a stress-management consultant (read: expert), Peter's credibility was completely shot.

However, his late arrival was caused by a simple practical mistake; he had the wrong address. I don't know how he came to wind up at the wrong place an hour and a half away, but the lesson is there for all of us; get all your details right for any public speaking engagement.

There are dozens of details to get right, not just 'where, when, what and who to?' To be sure, they are the main elements to be worried about, but they're not the only ones. Any overlooked detail can bring you undone. An example from before the days of PowerPoint; a speaker I was told about once turned up at a conference with his 35mm slides ready to load into a slide-projector. He had, however, failed to inform the organisers of his need for this particular piece of audio-visual equipment. He had assumed there'd be one there. He was wrong. Nothing could be done about the situation in the 10 minutes before his appearance time. In front of about 150 professional people, he blew it. Without his prompting slides, his progression through his material appeared uncertain - certainly not authoritative - and his presentation fell apart. Another damaged reputation.

A wrong address, a missing projector, two broken O-rings; small items that led to comparatively huge, costly and tragic failures.

Check EVERYTHING! Twice!

* Names, dates, gender, places (except for the 'Challenger' details) have been changed to protect the innocent.