STAGE TIME: It Happened to Me, It Will Happen to You!
Email this article to a friend
Have you ever been really excited to try a new speech, or even a new story within your speech?
There I was, about to start my workshop in Naples, Florida. Just as I was being introduced, my computer (the one I was using for my slide presentation) shut down! Ouch!
I made light of the situation, and moved on!
Fortunately, just to the right of my computer was a hand-written copy of my new outline. Are you always ready with a plan B?
Don’t get flustered. Don’t be upset. I’m telling you that it will happen, and you need to be prepared for it every time. If you rely too much on PowerPoint, you are just setting yourself up for disaster.
OK, here’s what I realized later. It was my fault! My battery was low on my computer because I had been using it during a social media class the day before.
I was rooming with fellow World Champion, Ed Tate. So, I tried texting him to ask to bring down my adapter. I was short on time and couldn’t get a good cell phone signal in our meeting meeting room.
Sometimes AV failure isn’t our fault — sometimes it is. Either way, we need to be professionals and serve our audience well. It is our responsibility to have a back-up plan, so we can jump right into it, if needed.
It may seem obvious, but let my experience be your reminder!
Will you have a back up plan every time you present?
- – - – - – - – - – - -
Do you have any AV horror stories? Post them here on my blog… then read other stories you can relate to! Remember to include how you felt, how you handled it, and what was the outcome!
Stage time,
Darren LaCroix
2001 World Champion of Public Speaking
This Week’s Video Clip:
Last weekend, I promoted Toastmasters on Fox TV!
See behind the scenes: CLICK HERE!
P.S. Do you know about our first-ever VIRTUAL Storytelling Champ Camp? Spend 6 weeks with 2 World Champs, and never tell your stories the same way again! CLICK!
Several years ago I was making a presentation to a small group of employees. I had worked very hard on the PowerPoint and was really excited about it. Unfortunately, I saved it on our network ONLY and when I went in to set up for the presentation I learned that we had a college-wide network failure. At first I was really upset, frustrated and embarassed. I quickly remembered that I had printed the slides from the presentation and they were even in color (which I don’t normally do). Since I had a small group, I explained to them that I was using a new technology and it was called “PaperPoint”. Everyone laughed, including me. I just held the slide I was talking about in front of me and slowly walked back & forth so that everyone could see the slide well. The session was a success and those participants ask me from time- to-time if I will be using “PaperPoint” for the session we are about to have.
The lesson I learned: always save your presentation in multiple locations – network, directly on the laptop that will be used for the presentation, jump drive, and of course printed in the event that all things electronic do not work.
I was conducting a multi-day training program in Thailand for execs from 6 countries. First, my baggage didn’t arrive and I was not picked up at the Bangkok airport at 1 am (a whole ‘nother saga). Then I get to the first day of the program, open my day one Powerpoint – and discover it is all day two material. No problem – go get my backup CD with all of the program files on it. Open up the file – day two again. Now I’m up against it – Regional VP is coming in to open the program, and there I am working with B&W overheads. Lovely. (He was bothered way less than I was – everyone has had something like this happen). Solution – called back to the US (9 PM Sunday night) and had someone go to my office and email the file to me. The hotel’s business center personnel got me past some glitches on email setup, extremely helpful. I had the correct materials up by about 11 am. What I now do is email the file to myself as an attachment before leaving as well as having the original and a backup with me. One saving grace on the Thailand situation – it was a program I knew inside out.
Thanks to Darren’s “Get paid to speak next week” course I ended up traveling for one of the major training companies. My technology challenge occurred on a trip to Sioux Falls, SD (where it was 19 below when I arrived). I was to teach a class that required 3 computers to demonstrate network software. The computers were not at the hotel. The package delivery company had proof they had delivered them, but the computer container could not be found anywhere in the hotel. I did not panic, simply connected my laptop and conducted the first 1/2 day using PowerPoint and the class manual. The point here is that I never use PowerPoint when teaching software classes. It’s redundant to show a slide with a picture of a screen and then switch over to the actual screen. At lunch I found out camera crews from ESPN had been staying at the same hotel and all their equipment was shipped in exactly the same kind of container as my computers. All the containers had been delivered to the coliseum across the street the day before. On a hunch, I found the senior director with ESPN. We located my container and I was able to complete the rest of my seminar with the correct equipment. In this case, the PowerPoint was plan B.
For my first educational presentation to a group of commercial real estate brokers, I had created a fantastic power point on the changes to the California Building codes (riveting!). I had brought my laptop to connect to their AV system and was ready to go. Little did I know that not all versions of PowerPoint are compatible with every projector. When I tried to start the presentation, my computer became possessed. The image grew so large that it covered the entire wall and the slides started flashing automatically one after the other. Repeated attempts didn’t solve the problem. I had no notes (I was going to use the PowerPoint) and no printout of the slides. When I am nervous I tend to talk more rapidly and I’m certain I set a world speed record for my talk that day. But, two things got me through it (very rapidly). One- I knew my material and, Two – I had been speaking at Toastmasters for about 3 months. I learned not to trust technology and to always trust myself.
Back in the dinosaur days of reel-to-reel films and slide projectors, I was in college getting my teaching credential. They taught us that when you are doing an audio-visual lesson, YOU MUST HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN. Bring an extra bulb, double check to make sure the projector will be delivered to your room, and, if all else fails, have an alternate lesson plan. Tomorrow evening I will be presenting at a holiday kickoff. At one point, I want to play a short audio clip. However, I also know the words I will say if the audio doesn’t work.
Roxann Andersen
So there I was, about to make a presentation on improving presentations! The ppt file wouldn’t open. No problem, I had it on my flash drive, too. Still no dice. OK, I have it on another computer. No way, Jose (‘wonder what the origin of that saying is). Still nothing. Somehow the file add gotten corrupted and I had checked it just before presenting!!!! Time to take the bull by the horns and present from the heart not from the slide..