By Michael Wadley
Recently my colleague Tim Richardson wrote
a blog about the perils of knowing when to keep schtum and being
overheard (sssshhhh!…you
never know who’s listening).
In his blog, Tim gives a few real-life
examples of people saying the wrong things in the wrong place.
As part of our media training, we provide
some slightly more gruesome anecdotes to keep people alive to the fact that it
can happen to anyone at any time.
Well last week it happened to me.
Attending an industry convention in a large
London hotel, I had a few minutes to myself to check on emails and listen to
voicemails. The event itself involved live presentations and so during the
break, I sat quietly and unassumedly at the back of the technical area.
I didn’t realise that a remote microphone
had been left switched on about a yard from where I perched. And yes, it was
connected to the loudspeakers around the presentation suite…where the ensemble
speakers and delegates were tucking into lunch.
I made a phone call. One which I later
discovered, was listened in to by everybody present.
Oh dear.
But I had a lucky break.
Because fortunately my call wasn’t to book
a massage with Helga or order a suitcase full of ketamine pills, or even to
have a profanity-laced whine about life with work colleagues
It was a dull-as-you-like, 25 second conversation
with my best friend about tickets for a one day cricket match.
Owizee?
Walking, head down, back to the pavilion. Lesson
learned. That’s how.
