My initial thoughts are that I can relate so strongly to getting anxious in public (or even in a one-on-one with someone new) and mixing up words, causing confusion or worse. It's so easy to mix up especially things that aren't significant to us (like a new name that you've never heard or paid much attention to before)! I really appreciate the point you made about no one caring at the end of the day. I feel as though blowing these minor miscommunications out of proportion compounds the problem and sets us up for worse faux-pas in the future as our anxiety increases with each situation. The truth is, especially in this scenario, everyone is just ready for the main act to start, and is willing to forgive your mistake as long as the star shows up as promised. Similarly, in one-on-ones or group conversations, most people either don't overthink or over-analyze your misstep as much as we think they do, or they forgive you without even a thought because they've made the same mistake or same kind of mistakes before, too. I'm so happy that this turned out okay, and hope you were able to take away a positive message about public speaking - people are often more forgiving than we think! (And if they aren't, it isn't life ending anyway most of the time.)