I was at a presentation this week where the presenters were about thirty minutes into their program when the electricity went out. The room did have some backup lights, but their carefully crafted Power Point program complete with video was gone and they never got it back.
To their credit, they didn’t quit, but continued their program as best they could. Here are a few lessons we can learn from their experience.
- Prepare for this contingency and be ready to change styles if it does happen.
- If you use your slides as your notes, then print the slides out ahead of time so that you will have a paper copy to talk from.
- Have a small flashlight with you to look at your notes. I like the – LRI PWK Photon II LED Keychain Micro-Light, White Beam – it’s a keychain light you can buy from Amazon.
- If you will be showing video, make sure you have watched the video sufficient times so that you can summarize it for the audience and tell them the main points.
- This may be a blessing. When the electricity went out, it seemed like the presenters relaxed a bit, came away from the lectern and acted a bit more casual and less formal.
This happens to the best of us – Be Prepared.
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