How do you recover from a mistake during a speech with confidence?

It is very rare as I do a lot of preparation. However, when it does happen I tend to joke about it. I might say "I put that mistake in there to see if you were paying attention."

I've always marveled how certain stand-up comics (e.g., Robin Williams, Steve Martin) can get lost in the routine and recover. "Um" <looks up> "ah ... OK" <looks at the audience>"I was just reminded how long I've been on this planet - oh yes, I was saying something about..." Not only does the speaker own the lapse, but they share their humanity (and a deeply personal connection) with the audience.

Self deprecating humor has saved me many times! But they wanted more characters in this response, so here: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am fanatical about AI, and anyone who meets me jokes, 'Are you a bot?' I'm not too worried about mistakes, but when something does go awry, I bring up that joke and laugh, 'See! AI would never have made that error! I guess I must be human after all.' Use humor to bounce back, and keep a few one-liners in your back pocket for good measure.

In the immortal words of Bob Ross, "there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents". Personally, whenever I do live recordings, it's near impossible for me to avoid mistakes, due to the fact that live talks are heavily based upon improvisation. However, from my experience, nobody pays any attention to slight errors if you continue your speech with confidence. And, to keep a positive outlook, sometimes it is the mistakes that open up new perspectives and avenues of thought, making things more exciting and interesting. You can find yourself switching to a different topic, one that's more relevant to the discussion, simply because you forgot the initial topic.

When I teach some classes, particularly on technical topics, I alert them a priori that I will be making inaccurate statements, sometimes accidentally, sometimes intentionally, and I expect them to be challenge me on it. There are multiple purposes for this: are they paying attention? Are they learning to respectfully challenge errors? Both are important skills in business, boardrooms, Congress, public square. Sometimes I come back the next class period—what did I say last class period that was wrong—and nobody noticed? Good education includes teaching: verifying, fact checking, thinking, challenging status quo…and sharing those skills. I may include financial incentives as additional incentive for alertness??

Own it and keep going. People that want to hear what you have to say are not critical. They want honesty and what's more honest than mistakes?

As usual all six of the specific options are important; however, the audience is usually unaware you have erred. Take a breath and keep going. Although, if it's obvious, I would make light of it... depending on the audience... I would likely say something like, "You're hired me for my expertise. Now you know what I'm saying needs verification."