Not many people would rate “giving a presentation” as their favorite thing to do. But whether you love it or hate it, there’s a good chance you’ve had to give at least one during your school career. Presentations can help build communication skills, confidence, public speaking abilities, self-esteem, and other useful traits. But no matter how prepared you are, things can still go awry. When they do, it’s always good to remember that everything in life is a learning experience.
Someone once asked, “What was the ‘please stop’ school presentation that you witnessed?”—and the internet went wild. The post clocked 11,000 comments as people shared the most cringeworthy and embarrassing moments they'd seen in class, from a Computer Security student openly admitting to illegally hacking a website, to another who fully plagiarized an essay—even a voice actor who took things to the next level by awkwardly running around the stage pretending to be all the (bear) characters in a children's book.
Bored Panda has picked the best of the absolute worst presentation moments for your scrolling pleasure. Let us know your favorites by upvoting them, and feel free to share your own experiences of epic presenting fails.
#41
In 4th year university we had a year-long seminar course of 15ish students. Our big end of year project was to give a 3 hour lecture on one of the historical figures we’d studied.
One guy got up there and was so nervous he blasted through his content in less than an hour, without hardly taking a breath. Nobody could understand him, the prof didn’t step in to tell him to slow down, and he was sweating so profusely his shirt was soaked through.
I felt really bad for him, but oh god.
EDIT: the class was taken several years ago, and had more like 8 or 9 students. The presentations still took the majority of the semester. Brutal.
One guy got up there and was so nervous he blasted through his content in less than an hour, without hardly taking a breath. Nobody could understand him, the prof didn’t step in to tell him to slow down, and he was sweating so profusely his shirt was soaked through.
I felt really bad for him, but oh god.
EDIT: the class was taken several years ago, and had more like 8 or 9 students. The presentations still took the majority of the semester. Brutal.
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23points
#42
I was doing work experience with a bunch of special needs kids at a school. We were watching a play that I don't remember the name of, which was about someone who was in a gang or something and got HIV.
Instead of having any action or dialogue, the story was told through characters standing out the front and telling the story to the audience. It was dull as hell. The special needs kids were getting so restless, and I couldn't blame them, because it was terrible.
Instead of having any action or dialogue, the story was told through characters standing out the front and telling the story to the audience. It was dull as hell. The special needs kids were getting so restless, and I couldn't blame them, because it was terrible.
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21points
#43
Junior year of high school, for our AP English class, our group made a 30 minute telenovela of the Scarlet Letter. The whole thing was in Spanish.
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21points
#44
Theatre school, one guy did a 30 minute presentation on why UK Grime music is the future of theatre...expect it was just music videos and no context.
He failed. We all had headaches after.
He failed. We all had headaches after.
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21points
#45
Once in the seventh grade I did a report on the African penguin but it had a nickname called the jacka*s penguin so I decided to call it that and I almost got suspended on the 5th day of school
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20points
#46
Grade 11 physics we were told to a presentation which would account for 30% of our grade. The curriculum was new and the cumulative project being worth 30% was mandated by the province. Also the teacher was new and didn't provide a lot of direction. This was fine for most of us.
But it wasn't fine for Chris. He spent 30 minutes describing the physics of a perpetual motion machine. It was not a debunking. Very awkward.
But it wasn't fine for Chris. He spent 30 minutes describing the physics of a perpetual motion machine. It was not a debunking. Very awkward.
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20points
#47
One day a group of highschool girls wearing really...uh appealing clothes went to the stage at my school's talent show and started twerking thinking they were nailing it. Everyone cringed so much, and the people with the middle schoolers were super uncomfortable. When they finished the teacher presenting the show went to the microphone and said "Congratulations! You got the whole audience clapping!"
But no one was clapping.
But no one was clapping.
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19points
#48
It was a presentation that my art teacher made for the rules of the classroom and it was full of minion memes.
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15points
#49
In high school my best friend, who had learning disabilities, read a monologue that she’d written. It was half plagiarised Shakespeare and half nine year old style writing, everyone else laughed.
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13points
#50
A teacher asked up to compare the cells in our body to anything we can think of. Obviously some students compared the parts of the human cell to schools, jails, libraries, normal things right? Well this one student that sits next to me had a different idea. These were group projects keep in mind. This girl managed to strong arm her group to compare the human cell to the infamous webcomic Homestuck. She did this successfully. Not only did I feel dirty but her group felt worse for having their names on it.
12points