Presentation skills – 5 tips to help you survive a disaster

Have you faced a disaster during a presentation? If not, you will soon. It happens to every public speaker at some point. What I experienced during a recent presentation can help you prepare for the inevitable.

Like most presenters, my presentation was on PowerPoint slides. I set up early, and had the projector running prior to my presentation. Unfortunately, the projector died soon after I began, which caused me to react. There are several lessons to be learned from this incident. Note that the first item is more of a preventive measure. I include it in the list because projector problems are common.

1. Monitor the projector. Unlike most presenters, I don’t typically glance at the projection screen. Preferring to maintain my concentration on the audience, I will just glace at the laptop monitor, and look up at the audience. In this case, the projector was placed next to the laptop. Had I turned my attention slightly to the left, I would’ve seen that there was no light coming from the projector lens.

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