Please don’t bullsh*t when you’re speaking in front of a group. Please. One of the key things stand-up taught me was to see through all the nonsense, whether it’s from advertising (a rich, if over-used, vein of material for stand-ups), the news or the government. And if someone’s trying to be impressive in a presentation but comes across as a bit of a bullsh*tter, then I lose all faith in them.
I used to respect Lance Armstrong. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that he was a hero of mine; I had two of his books, and I used to like telling people about his resting heartbeat (32-34 bpm, instead of the normal adult’s, roughly 55-65 bpm) and remarkable lung capacity (around double the average man’s).
Guess what I think of him now. I don’t have much loathing for him, he’s just irrelevant.
Tell your audience the truth, because losing credibility is not something you can afford to do.