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The Laptop and Cold Car. "I kept my LCD projector in my car overnight during freezing weather. I plugged it in when it wasn't warmed up and instantly POW the $500 bulb was gone. Not only was it expensive, but I didn't have a spare bulb." Also, remember that very cold cars can deplete the battery charges on laptops.
Shared Projectors. Different people in an office may share the same LCD projector. It is crucial to check whether everything is in there before you set off for your presentation. "I expected to use a remote to advance my slide presentation rather than being tied to arm's reach of the computer key pad. The necessary items were not put back in the box by the last user."
Transferring to Another Computer. Don't make a file that is impossible to copy. "One person had an eighteen-slide presentation with pictures stored at a very high resolution. He couldn't fit it on a floppy disk. In fact I don't think it would have fit on a 100MB Zip disk."
The Fireworks Crash. "I was doing a presentation when the audience, spontaneously, began to mumble elongated ohhhs and ahhhs. I turned around to view the screen, as I knew my presentation was not worthy of the ohhhs and ahhhs one would hear during fireworks. My laptop was in the process of crashing and in a blaze of glory it went out with a dramatic ‘light show.'"
The Promised Projector. "We were out of town trying to use someone else's projector. We could not get our laptop to project. After fiddling with it, and people waiting, we briefed with our hard copy. We were a little embarrassed." This is a no-win situation. Even if their projector is old or not working, it is not useful to start a presentation by telling the client that they have lousy or outdated equipment.
Check Where You Are Writing. If you use a screen and whiteboard interchangeably, don't accidentally sketch or write on the screen, especially with a permanent marker. "I couldn't believe I did it. I wrote with my marker on the screen."
Projection Venue. "I practiced my presentation standing by a screen. When I saw the room, everyone had a monitor. I was thrown off. Instead of saying, ‘Now look here at how this system fits together,' I needed to say, ‘As you see on your monitor, the system fits together....'"
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Live Internet. "Once I was using the live Internet connection and the line went down. I didn't have a backup. Never again! I can now give my presentation without a live Internet connection."
Disappearing Slides. "I prepared a presentation on my company's mapped drive. When I got to the client's, the file was not on the drive."
Checked Equipment. If you do have to check the equipment on an airplane, be sure you have the right kind of box for it. And, as soon as you arrive, test it out. "I had to fly on a prop plane and they forced me to check my LCD projector. When I went to set it up, the projector was shot. I didn't have transparencies, but that wouldn't have mattered. The hotel's one and only overhead projector was broken!"
Copying Handouts to Give Out. If you need to use your handouts, don't erase your presentation notes to yourself until you make a copy of them. "We were forced to make overheads in the middle of a meeting. One colleague erased some handwritten notes that were on the hard-copy slides and this threw the other presenter for a loop."
When the Stakes Are High, Pack Your Own Equipment. Don't trust what people say they will have in terms of equipment. If you have to, rent what you need, if you can't, at least find out as soon as you can what equipment is actually available. "The setting was a surgery resident research competition. Each resident had a maximum of ten minutes to present, then with five minutes for questions. Time was tight. One resident brought a CD, but the computer didn't have a CD-ROM. After twenty minutes with no laptop with a CD, the resident was told his time was up. The next day I privately saw his presentation about his research. His research was fantastic. I was one of the judges and would have certainly given the resident first prize; not to mention many chairs of departments would have been interested in recruiting him. This simple mistake may prove to be a career-crippling problem."
Plan for Delayed Flights. "Problem 1: We had a wholesaler who flew to his destination only to arrive several hours later than planned. Problem 2: He had checked his laptop and discovered at the hotel that he had a huge hole through the screen. Problem 3: He had fifteen minutes to get to the meeting and he had no backup, no overheads, no hard copy, nothing. Problem 4: He attempted to persuade fifty brokers to sell our products with zero slides, zero handouts, and no map to guide his presentation. Problem 5: How to go back and convince the brokers that the products really are excellent."
The 70MB Presentation. "The presenter had a 70MB file. Just when he started, some mini-electrical shortcut made his laptop reboot. The audience had to wait fifteen minutes for the presentation to re-appear."
The Ideal World
In our ideal technology world, the presenter would carry everything. If it were really ideal, someone else would carry it and the presenter would tag along! But as that's impossible, we suggest you go for the lighter equipment. The presenter would have a laptop, a remote mouse, and an LCD projector. That way the presenter is used to the equipment, knows it works, and, over time, will have experience with how to use it. And the novice presenter would have two hot-line numbers to call for the just-in-case situations.
Use the following Technology Checklist and Equipment Checklist to prepare ahead of time and on-site. Also, for your next trip decide which equipment you need to carry. Make your own list to use for every trip. Never depend on your memory when packing equipment. Click here to download the 2 checklists.
In case you missed it, here's Chapter 1, and here's Chapter 2. If you'd like to read the entire book, Point, Click & Wow! A Quick Guide to Brilliant Laptop Presentations by Claudyne Wilder and Jennifer Rotondo,If you'd like to read the entire book, Point, Click&Wow! A Quick Guide to Brilliant Laptop Presentations by Claudyne Wilder and Jennifer Rotondo, Claudyne offers it free when you purchase her CD: Slides That Win showing over 200 before and after PowerPoint slide examples (put in promotional code: pmaster). Find out more at wilderpresentations.com.
Claudyne Wilder is a recognized authority on the art of presentations. She has lectured at and consulted for many top corporations, including Gillette, Fidelity Investments, and Mercury Computer Systems. She's an acclaimed speaker, coach, published author of several books on presenting (Point, Click & Wow! A Quick Guide to Brilliant Laptop Presentations) and co-creator of the CD on visual design called Slides That Win: Your Roadmap to Success. Claudyne founded Wilder Presentations in 1984. She teaches her two day Winning Presentations Seminar to help people speak with confidence, capture the key messages needed to persuade the audience and turn their boring data slide presentations into a sales tool. She also does a three week tele-seminar to help people create slides that persuade. Reach her at claudyne@wilderpresentations.com, visit her Web site at wilderpresentations.com or call 617 524-7172.
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