For decades to come we will remember the unbelievable moment when a famous Hollywood director, Michael Bay walked on stage at CES 2014 for the launch of one of the hottest Samsung products, at the start of an 1.5 hour press conference last week, froze on stage, could not read the teleprompter and walked off stage. I should know, I was seated in the row behind the execs of Samsung who were in the front row and I can tell you, words could not explain the surprise, angst and agony of the hour after. The press conference never found its mojo and tweeting over Bay’s behavior took center stage.

Tina Fey helped us remember this last night with tons of talk circulating in social media. I don’t think Bay will be invited to be a speaker ever again. Frankly, we all understand that awkward moments arise, but for a famed director not to find a few words to say, ‘intelligently wing it’ and engage the crowd is what we were all amazed at. Specially that as he walked off, great clips of Transformers the movie and music were blasting the stage. Why wasn’t Michael Bay able to say a few words about something he has so much passion about: Cinema, directing and action movies? Was he so tied to the script that he had to read from?

However, kidding aside there is a much bigger issue at stake here. The art of impactful and influential speaking! Yes, many people walk on stages of various types around the world. Millions pages of PowerPoint are recited. But who is ‘really’ influencing the audience? I would say those who are passionate, speak from the gut and are on fire are the real influencers. PowerPoint (and similar tools) have become crutches that people hang on to. There is nothing more painful than to sit and hear someone drone on endlessly through screen after screen, build after build of words. While not many have had episodes such as Bay at CES, many often speak without being heard. No eye contact, staring at their presentation, not realizing that 20 minutes ago people disengaged and are doing email, text or Twitter. And even better…texting about the speaker!

The art of influential speaking is not about who we are, what we have to say, or what we think we have done in life! It is about speaking such that it touches people in a meaningful way, opens their eyes, challenges their thinking and makes a difference. Engaging with the audience, touching the heart and souls of the audience is key; not just reading the speaking points. For many people, public speaking is a challenge because they are afraid to expose themselves to their audience while failing to understand that the audience will appreciate authenticity over almost anything else.

The Challenge: What if you had to speak without PowerPoint, in a room with white boards? How would you engage the audience and keep them engaged? This is an art that we all need to practice and master in order to respect the time of others. Many fumble and we all have. It is about realizing the consequences of what-if we don’t engage the audience? What happens then? Michael Bay cost Samsung dearly last week. Many have cost their companies dearly for decades of not engaging with audiences.

Fact: People are fundamentally really smart and once speakers let go of their scripts and find their mojo/passion and drive, that is when the BEST talks are delivered. Never by reading off of a script. Let’s practice and perfect the beautiful art of public speaking.