Make Sure Your Technology Works

Prepare, check and have a backup!

These days it seems that everyone aspires to slick PowerPoint presentations. A laptop and digital projector send words, pictures and graphs flying, twisting and blinking across a screen. It can look very impressive.

Now think back and try to count the number of times you have sat waiting patiently while the technology is sorted out. The laptop won't talk to the projector. The presenter can't find the right file on his computer. The movie refuses to play. It happens often. In fact I find it hard to remember a single presentation when everything worked fine first time around.

In this month's issue, Patricia Fripp writes about how effective speakers avoid the excessive use of audio-visual technology. Her message is "don't depend on PowerPoint, slides, and overheads alone to tell your story". Use technology to support the message, not visa versa.

I would like to suggest you also make sure the technology will work. Try the laptop and projector before the audience arrives. Look through your slides on the screen... is everything visible? And be prepared to move quickly into a low-tech talk should everything fail!

You don't want to risk losing your audiences attention before you've even begun your presentation. Don't assume the technology will work. Prepare, check and have a backup!

Written by Dick James, the editor of UK Training News.