Despite all my best efforts my computer failed me at the most inopportune time.

I test. Retest. Save. Carry backups. Show up the day before when I can to check. Show up early the day of to check. Even so, my pc failed me at the worst possible time.

Test Your Equipment

I was speaking to a large group where the average attendance in the crowd was half my age. Seriously.

The attendees were barely able to see over their raised laptops. Or maybe they were just too young to be able to.

I was ready.

Related: Be a More Creative Speaker

When the previous speaker was winding down his talk at the left of the stage I started setting up on the podium on the right of stage = smooth transition.

Nothing. Nothing. The cursor would not move. The PC froze. Nothing. I looked and was acting the part of a bumbling old man.

Force shut down and the longest 8 minutes a person could endure in that situation amidst chuckles and very audible sighs and shaking of heads so violently I could feel the wind … and I was back online. All the while I was thinking … how can I deliver this talk sans visuals.

It was tough.

No Visuals, No Problem

I was in as deep a hole as you can get into BEFORE I started. And it wasn’t even my fault … I think.

The more you test your equipment beforehand the less likely this kind of scenario will be yours. But even that is not an almighty solution.

Even so … test, test, test.

Let us get you on board.

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