How do you troubleshoot technical issues when presenting online?

I remember my physics teacher said to me: Always think “you are the best creature of god”.Nervousness will go away. Give your best thinking it as your last presentation.

Ask for a technical dry run before any important presentation. Practice on the same platform you will be using for the final run. Practice all the features such as polls, spotlighting, etc. You can also record and do a playback. I make sure a technical run-through is in all my speaking agreements. This benefits me and the client.

I think its important to know that the audiance is there to hear from you. This makes you the subject matter expert. Whats important whenever you are presenting is to at least have a very good understanding of the flow of your presentation and key elements / points of your content. This will put you in control of your conversation with the audience and even if the technology lets you down (which is does sometimes), the show will go on. Confidence comes from practise and preparation.

I setup a leaner/student view for myself. That helps me to avoid asking questions like " Are you able to see my screen?" and also troubleshoot any issues. The idea is to put yourself in the shoes of a learner.

I learned from the Aircraft Maintenance philosophy, of fail-safe design. All the critical equipment in the aircraft has one to two backup systems. Those systems are used to support flight operations once the primary system malfunctions. Keep those checklists on what are the critical tools and equipment to be verified, validated, and available: - a backup file available (email, cloud, whatsapp) - a backup laptop/ ipad - a backup modem or wifi (internet connection)

Remember that your audience will take a long time to understand that something is wrong. You have the time to try a few different things before you open your mouth to tell the audience there is a problem. These are the moments when your hours of practice pay their dividends. You know the content, keep going even if its without slides etc. These moments are good to pause and check in with you audience - ask for questions or start a discussion with the audience. This will give you valuable time to fix issues.

You can either feel tensed about a technical issue and make a big fuss into your mind. Or you can make it exciting by following some of the strategies below - 1. Make a fun by cracking a joke. E.g. Me & my powerpoint are going through a challenging relationship. 2. Start audience interaction. You can either ask a question or invite some perspective from the audience 3. Engage the audience in an activity - Give them a case study on the fly or a fun ice-breaker game while you look into fixing this. Learning improv can be really helpful in this because it helps you be in the moment.

Yes, and if you know your material as well as you should, you can actually DESCRIBE the visuals. For example: “Imagine a bar graph with 4 bars—2 pairs of 2. The first 2 bars are roughly the same height. The 1st bar shows that 40% of participants in one study were helped by Prozac, a commonly prescribed drug that treats depression, while the 2nd bar shows that 30% responded to placebo. The 3rd bar towers above all the others like a skyscraper jutting out above the city skyline. This skyscraper shows that in another study on depression 85% of participants were helped by an unnamed drug, while the placebo helped 40%. This unnamed drug, the skyscraper, is actually LSD.”

A mentor once said that a successful person is a person that turns a disadvantage into an advantage. This is your chance to be creative gain trust and mark demonstrate your skills while remaining calm. If you can't fix the problem, take a deep breath, regroup and formulate a new plan. Sometimes, the last-minute creative plan can turn out better than the original plan. Use humor, engagement technique to keep going.

"Stay Calm and Communicate" is key advice when facing technical issues during a presentation. Instead of panicking or apologizing excessively, maintain composure. Explain the problem, the estimated fix time, and express gratitude for the audience's patience. You can use humor or anecdotes to keep engagement high, but it should align with the context and audience expectations.

Using the chat feature in online presentations is a practical way to engage your audience and troubleshoot technical issues effectively. Ask for confirmation on audio and visual aspects, encourage questions and comments, and show your audience that you care about their experience.

One of your main goals as a presenter needs to be audience engagement. Without it, you will lose their interest. I do enjoy using the chat feature because people like to share their opinions and insights. It also allows you to draw upon their ideas and improve your talk as you go.

There are numerous factors to consider, but in short, if the audio is functioning properly, the spotlight is on you! It's essential to bear in mind that you've put in a lot of effort to reach this point, and you possess the information that you'll be sharing. Embrace your knowledge and stay calm—this is your moment to shine.

I also suggest that prior to the presentation, find someone who can answer questions in the chat on your behalf which will enable you to have fully focus on the presentation. If there are questions in the chat, which you need to answer, you can request your chat monitor, to prepare a list which you can utilise at the end of the presentation, which will result in more effective communication and responses.

Chat feature is a great way to interact if the audience is large. They can be requested to put in the issues or suggestions in the chat box. That way, the speaker is more connected with the audience.

A few things that happened to me and how I handled the different situations: - Unable to open my presentation: I always have my notes with me so when this happened I was still able to convey my message - Unable to share my screen: I sent the link to one of the attendees and asked them to share the slides. This person was thrilled to help and I was relieved to have someone I could rely on. - Power outage: I explained to the audience what was happening and rescheduled the presentation (which was actually a training session)

First off, remain calm and take a few breaths. When presenting to professionals, you will typically receive more empathy and understanding than you expect. If it is a larger presentation, you should have one or more assistants who can work on the technical issues with you. If you must continue with no technology, go the Town Hall Meeting style. Speak to your main talking points, and open yourself up for questions. One of your assistants can write down the questions, answers, and any questions which need answered with a follow-up communication. Your presentation may become much more interesting and engaging to the audience once you get your slide deck out of the way.

Something I've found useful as a practice is to have back-up plans. Unless you are the only person working on a presentation, it is a best practice to 1. Share the final copy with your colleagues who will be on the call 2. Upload it online and share with the participants before the meeting If the need arises, this will prepare you to continue with the presentation locally on your screen while you have ensured someone else is sharing the presentation on your behalf. In case you are completely blacked out of the meeting, it may take some time for people to figure out, but they may decided to go ahead with the meeting since they already have access to the presentation and you may troubleshoot your connectivity peacefully without panicking.

When presenting online, it's important to have a backup plan in case things go wrong. Prepare offline materials, share documents in advance, and be familiar with different platforms. Keep a backup device handy and establish clear communication channels with your audience. Test everything beforehand and be ready to adapt. Having a backup plan ensures that technical issues won't derail your presentation and that you can keep your audience engaged.

A backup plan is a safety net. Before the event, go over the possible setbacks based on past experiences and possible outcomes. Always have a co-host with the presentation slides and media needed. Likewise, have them plugged into other devices or remote drives. Have more than one internet connection device and from different providers. Should your connection time-out on one while in session, you can easily switch. Have multiple devices e.g. a laptop and a phone connected. It helps if one fails. If you are using a mobile modem, have a charger handy should the session take longer than the power duration of the modem. Same with laptop chargers, etc. Have devices charged a day before. Check for good connectivity 1hr or 30mins earlier.

Don’t forget to write down all your failures and feedback. They are part of your checklist for all your future presentations. This list will also show how far you’ve come - considering that all mistakes are lessons.

I think remaining calm and carrying on with the presentation if the issue will not stifle the rest of the flow can help a lot and usually could go unnoticed. However, if the issue is a crucial thing that needs to be fixed, I find that communicating it is beneficial in the sense that more often than not the person you’re presenting to might understand because chances are they faced something similar in the online space and this might create a couple minutes of relating to the incident until the issue is fixed.

Taking a bit of time to reflect on what went wrong after the presentation can definitely help you prepare better for future presentations. There's a lot to learn when dealing with technology and interfaces, and making mistakes is the best opportunity to learn and improve. Based on my previous learnings, I take those 10 minutes before the presentation to check on the mics/speakers and setup the camera, and have a short test run to make sure all the infrastructure is working.

Always appreciate and welcome feedback and criticism. A mindset for ‘continuous improvement’ is important to feel comfortable and confident. Not every presentation will go your way. Some might get a bit glitchy and cumbersome. Always remember, people always remember the impression you leave with them at the session, and will most probably forget the content of your presentation. So, if something goes wrong technically, remind yourself that things can go wrong, stay calm, apologise to the audience, welcome questions which you can answer without the slides, and then reassure that you will send the entire deck of slides to the audience for their review and queries after the session.

Grow Through the Glitches In the end, every technical hiccup is a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. Embrace online presentation challenges as growth opportunities. After the curtain falls, take a moment to reflect on any missteps and your response to them. Seek insights from both your audience and peers. Dig deep to unearth the root cause of the setback and strategize on how to avert it in future sessions. Dive into resources, gather insights on virtual presentation techniques, and weave them into your upcoming sessions. By adopting this mindset, you're not only refining your skills but also fortifying your confidence as a digital orator.

Have another device join as an audience so that you can check what and how others see. I usually will have my iPhone join the webinar to check how my presentation looks for the attendees.

Here is my plan a to resolve the issue: Preparation: Before the presentation, thoroughly test the equipment, internet connection, and software to ensure they work properly. Backup Plan: Always have a backup plan in case of technical failure. This might include an alternative device, a mobile hotspot, or a secondary internet connection. Troubleshooting Tools: Learn how to use the troubleshooting tools provided by software and operating system. E.g: in Zoom, there's a "Test Speaker and Microphone" feature. Technical Support Contacts: Have contact information for technical support available in case you need to reach for assistance during presentation. Record Backup: If all else fails, have a backup recording that you share afterward

I live in a place with inconsistent internet due to power problems, and due to the fact that I conduct online training, I've developed strategies to manage this situation effectively: 1- I always maintain a backup plan for my internet connection. This involves having alternative methods such as mobile data and different network providers on standby. 2- selecting software which operate efficiently without the need for high-speed internet. 3-Choosing a platform that offers cloud storage for file uploads, which ensures no need to re-upload files after internet outages, saving time 4- Most programs and platforms today support session recordings. If other solutions fail, I can direct trainees to recorded sessions, Ensuring training continues

Always remember, the resources are there to support you, not the other way around. If everything fails, you can always talk through the key points you want to deliver and send a follow up link with whatever visual aid that might be relevant (after the session is over). It's like when your kids take a fall, if you look panicked, they'll panick, if you're cool, chances are they'll just go along.

Have a trusted colleague that is present in the meeting help you troubleshoot problems and give feedback in the chatbox. This is helpful to identify what could be wrong from the lense of the audience, especially when you are not aware of such issues as a presenter.