Autocue Angst
by Graham Davies

Barack Obama is a Black Belt in the Martial Art of speaking in public using an autocue. Fortunately, he seems to have a sense of humour to go with it.

At the White House yesterday, in a marvellous demonstration of the fallibility of technology, the script of his speech was put up on the autocue screens when it should have shown that of Bernard Cowen , the Irish Prime Minster. Cowen only realised the situation when he started his speech by welcoming himself.

He managed to rescue his credibility by smilingly expressing his exasperation at the fact the machine was not idiot (or politician) proof.

Obama went on to begin his own time at the microphone by thanking the President of the United States. We all hope that this was brilliantly improvised comedy and not the most powerful speaker in the world showing that he is better at reading than thinking in public.

There is a lesson here: never bet your life on an autocue. Always have a copy of your speech in your pocket in case of cock up.

When presenting under pressure, it pays to be paranoid.