It might be a toss up as to who gets more frustrated when it’s time to start and the speaker is not ready … because of all reasons … technical problems.
It happens despite our very best efforts sometimes.
I was giving a presentation in Phoenix. My laptop was fully charged. My deck was opened and ready on my laptop screen and my clicker had fresh batteries.
There was a very short 10-minute transition time to set up on podium number 2 while the speaker at podium number 1 took questions.
In that 10-minute time frame my PC died. Agh!!!
Related: Determing Themes for the Perfect Presentation
There I was – looking like a fumbling old man who didn’t know how to do use his presentation tools, losing my audience one-by-one by the second while we rebooted.
What a fiasco! What an embarrassment! And none of it my fault.
I was on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic. I showed up 20 minutes early to make sure everything worked. Tech support did not show up till 2 minutes till. And the screens were blocked with pianos and drum sets. Not my fault again.
Who gets more anxious, perturbed, put out when the speaker is not ready for whatever reason? Those sitting in the audience twiddling their thumbs or the speaker sweating bullets to get things going?
Get your presentation mechanics down.
Make sure your projector projects.
Make sure your PC turns on AND stays on.
Make sure your slides slide.
Make sure you clicker clicks.
Make sure you microphone mics.
Make sure you laser pointer points.
Oh, and don’t forget about Murphy. He loves messing with speakers and presentations.
Contact us to get a gig on a cruise ship and to learn more about how and what to avoid.
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You know you want to.