Monday, 4 March 2013

What To Do When Your Technology Fails You


Welcome to your latest edition of Presentability Matters.

Recently, we’ve experienced some technological challenges that were out of our control on both webinars and face to face presentations.

We thought it would be helpful to give you some simple ways to keep your cool, keep your message heard, and make sure your presentation is remembered...for all the right reasons. 
 

So...What To Do?  

1. Be prepared: Effective preparation means knowing exactly what you want to say with your message, and why. It’s not about your slides or music or video clips, they’re simply mechanics to support your main message and key points. Learning the essential points, ideas, and key take-aways you want your audience to absorb are always the most important priorities for preparing – and learning – your presentation.

2. Rehearse your key points at regular intervals before the presentation. The main reason for doing this? So the presentation becomes second nature to you to deliver it, PowerPoint or no PowerPoint. The more you rehearse with this audience and this event in mind, the more grounded the presentation is in the present also.

3. Give yourself a solid back up plan. Have the slides on a USB stick in case your laptop doesn’t speak with the other technology in the room. Take an extra printout of your key points or have the slides and notes accessible on your Smartphone. Design some additional activities to increase engagement and reinforce key points. All of these simple back up strategies will help you stay on track.

Remember...

They’re here to see you and hear what you’ve got to say, and most importantly, what’s in this presentation for them. They’re not here to hear how everything went belly up with your technology. Simply let them know there’s been a glitch without drawing unnecessary attention to it and solider on with purpose, so they get the experience they deserve to have.

Making sure you send out slides, videos, links and any other information can also help you flip a less than ideal experience around, and have them admiring - rather than admonishing - you. 

To find out more about the ways in which we can support you simply contact support@presentability.com.au
 
Until next time, keep practicing your presentability, 

Phil Preston & Michael Neaylon
FOUNDERS & DIRECTORS
On behalf of the presentability team

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