How do you troubleshoot visual aid issues?

It's not enough to check your equipment before you give a speech. You should also ensure there are redundancies in your planning for almost every part of your talk. This includes: Computer PLAN A: Request a laptop. BACKUP: Bring your own laptop. Controller PLAN A: Request a controller. BACKUP: Bring your own controller. Presentation PLAN A: Email your deck to the organizer. BACKUP #1: Email your deck to yourself. BACKUP #2: Bring your deck on a clean USB drive. I use one that is custom-made and includes my picture, company name, and email address on it. This helps AV know it's mine! Clothes PLAN A: Pack what you need. BACKUP: Know where to get clothes quickly. I'm serious! I've had to buy suits, boots, cufflinks, and shirts on the fly.

I always bring my presentation on USB along with my laptop, I have turned up to so many talks and not been able to connect my laptop /get videos working/ connect to the internet - painful! Nothing worst than standing in a room full of people and making excuses, I’ve been there too many times.

I have found having a back up usb drive or my own laptop has been a lifesaver at times. In most cases, the tech crew in the presentation venue will have you well taken care of. However, it only takes one time for an issue to cause the entire presentation to be unviewable. Our audiences are more visual today than ever. One is at an extreme disadvantage without the aid of the ppt presentation. The audience will lose interest quickly. Since many times I’m delivering a 1-3 hour CEU with charts and data, having a back up plan is required. Otherwise, I could be looking at not being asked to return for future presentations.

How about back up Speaker too. I've had food poisoning enroute and it was impossible to stand on stage. Having the material such that another could deliver.

In my experience, technological advancement is another challenge. It needs to be more sophisticated always. When you have your laptop and you need the projector...how does it feel when the two are incompatible? It happened to me and was really annoying! Get ready with the environment as well as all equipment for your work to be accomplished successfully.

It's a great idea to visit the venue where you will be speaking in advance. A few pro tips. 1.) Test the sound. 2.) Watch all your slides appear on the screen. 3.) Ask for a confidence monitor and reverse shot-clock. 4.) Request that your confidence monitor be in "presentation mode." 5.) Request brand-new or fully-recharged batteries in your lav microphone. 6.) Request brand-new or fully-recharged batteries in your handheld controller. Very seldom is the room an issue. It's even rarer that a speaker has any control over lighting, color, or brightness. But some of the support tech issues can go awry pretty easily. They also disrupt the flow, appearance, and perception of the talk you give. That's not a recipe for success!

Pro Tip: Run your visual presentation in the empty room FROM THE BACK OF THE ROOM. How does it look? Does it look like there's too much text? This is the time to fix it. 1. Your slides add to what you're saying. They're not your script. 2. Remember: 5/5/5. Five Words, Five Lines, Five Slides. Use Photos, Bright colors. If it looks bad from the back, CHANGE THE FONT & FORMAT! Don't get fancy with fonts. This isn't the time. Stand up straight. Shoulders back. Don't hug the podium! Make eye contact. Have fun!

Excellent tips, thus far. Additional tidbits, easy to forget & knowing time can be limiting factor. Know your material cold, so visuals support not carry the presentation. Your main points on any slide should have words and something visually that links the two to assist with memory consolidation for your varied learners. First substantive slide and last are visually identical, the 30,000 foot view/summary = reinforcement and help the audience remember. A visual break in the middle of your slide - something personal, a pic you took or like, and if time a brief moment to explain - show pic, take a breathe, “… and this is where I learned how to ride a camel, yes, it’s true they do spit!” Humor is the best way to aid memory.

Usually, issues with visual aids come in batches. It's easy to apologize if you have one quick issue or if one slide has a typo. But it's much more difficult if you need to do a concurrent apology tour for your presentation. To reduce the potential catastrophic issues, confirm with the conference or meeting organizer about what tech support you will have, about the slide and AV requirements, and don't include anything too fancy or difficult for the system to handle. Using audio clips, video clips, and hi-res photos may sound like a great idea when you are planning your speech, but those things can all cause major hiccups during your talk. Files that are large can be an issue if the computer is not up to snuff. Keep it simple if you can.

Make sure that it is your script. I used to teach in a large secondary school where we prepared basic resources for non-specialist colleagues - including AV and presentatiobs. The expectation was that these would be adapted. If it's your script then when things go wrong it is easier to think on your feet.

Giving a speech with notes and cues is like watching a comedian with cue cards. It just doesn't seem professional. You should know your talking points cold so that you can give your speech without your deck. As a backup plan, email yourself any presentation you are planning to give. That way, you don't have notes or cue cards. But you would still have access to your slides (ideally, to forward them to someone who can then make them visible) or, as a last resort, you can read the main points off your slides if you need to. But whatever you do, do not show up to a big meeting or talk with index cards!

Rehearsal is key. Know your aims and objectives. Remember: Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them.

When speaking to groups, visualizing is more important than practicing. You need to put yourself in the shoes of the audience. Ask yourself: - What do I want the audience to take away from the talk? Am I delivering those points? - Do I need to sandwich the points, sharing key topics at the beginning and the end to make sure everyone comes along on the journey with me? - Would this be interesting to me? If it risks being dull, can I speed it up or add some fun images or memes? - Will the energy be high enough to keep people from looking at their cell phones? - Can I make a pop-culture joke that is tied into a point I'm trying to make? Practicing the talk is helpful. But you need to visualize your success at giving the talk as well.

I'd suggest practicing the speech portion of the presentation without and then with the visuals for a peer or mentor. Have them sit at the farthest point back in the room. After, ask them if they could see and hear the presentation clearly. Take notes and adjust. Then ask if they got the same informational impact from the speech without the additional visual presentation. Their response should allow you to be sure that the message of the presentation is not overly dependent on the visuals.

This underplays how bad these issues can be. And they can be quite nerve-racking. Imagine giving a talk for tens of thousands of dollars, and things go wrong. Let's consider a few scenarios that have all happened to me. 1.) The slides don't advance the way they should. 2.) The clicker receiver is too far from the stage. 3.) The lac mic is finicky, cutting out during the talk. 4.) Your slides are 16:9, but the client changes it to 3:4 at the last second. Now, all your slides are squished. Do you know what happens in all these cases? The problems were not your fault, but the client or audience will very likely think you messed up. Be thorough with the AV team. Because if they mess up, it looks like it's your fault.

- Get the lay of the land. - Use backups. - Be thorough with the AV team. - Accept that things may go wrong beyond your control and know that you may be blamed for these. - Finally, never fly in the day of a talk. Always arrive the day before.

If you can have yourself recorded delivering the presentation. When you watch it back then you can see for yourself how you come across. You can assess your own body language, speech patterns and overall communication skills.