If you’ve spent any amount of time on the public speaking circuit, you’ll know how common it is for speakers to run into tech issues. It seems like something goes wrong at every single event, from the internet going down to projectors not working, microphones cutting out or flash drives getting corrupted.
In fact, tech issues are so common for public speakers that they essentially become inevitable if you deliver enough presentations. It’s not a case of whether they’ll happen or not – it’s all about when they’ll happen and what exactly will go wrong.
So with that in mind, in this week’s article, we’re going to share a few of our top tips for dealing with the tech issues that you’ll inevitably have to deal with as a public speaker. Let’s get started.
One of the best ways to prepare for tech issues is to have an offline version of your presentation that you can deliver if literally nothing works. In other words, print off your slideshow and take the print-outs with you so that if all else fails, you still have a version that you can present from. Sure, your audience might not be able to see the slides, but at least you’ll still have all your notes and prompts.
It’s always a good idea to store a copy of your presentation in the cloud, because that means it will be backed up and you’ll be able to re-download it from any internet-connected device. Storing your presentation in the cloud comes with other benefits, too. For example, if your file gets corrupted, most cloud storage sites will allow you to revert to an earlier version of the file, meaning you won’t lose all your data.
If you can, consider working on a backup presentation that you practice to such an extent that you’d feel comfortable delivering it at any time. That way, if something goes wrong and you’re unable to deliver the presentation you were hoping to, you still have a backup. Better still, create a presentation that doesn’t require visual aids or any other technology so that all you need is an audience that’s prepared to listen to you.
Merriam Webster defines repartee as, “A succession or interchange of clever retorts: amusing and usually light sparring with words.” By getting good at repartee, you can ensure that even if your tech fails and you’re fiddling around on stage trying to fix it, you can still entertain people with a little banter. It’s a useful skill to fall back on.
This is a simple but effective trick that can save you a lot of embarrassment. It’s not unusual for speakers and presenters to use YouTube videos as part of their presentations, which is all well and good when the internet is working. When it goes down, though, it’s useful to have an offline version, so consider using a YouTube to MP4 converter to download them. If you embed videos into the presentation itself, make sure you have separate versions of them, too.
There’s a concept called the KISS principle, with KISS standing for “keep it simple, stupid”. The idea is to make things as simple as possible, because the simpler things are, the less likely that something will go wrong. For example, if you keep things so simple that you’re literally just giving a talk based on a list of bullet-points, tech issues become less of a problem because you don’t actually need any technology.
This is a trick that we’ve picked up from some of the best and most successful public speakers in the game. It’s particularly important if you spend a lot of time traveling, because different countries have different plugs and you’ll need to ensure that you can always charge your devices. You’ll also want to carry things like HDMI adapters and USB gizmos and gadgets. Just make sure that you have all the adapters you might ever need.
The idea behind carrying out dry runs is to test your presentations in advance so that you can spot potential issues with them. It’s a great way to spot potential issues because there’s a pretty good chance that if you’re having problems plugging your laptop into a projector, for example, then that’s going to happen at the office as well as the venue. Try to test as many different variables as possible, so run the presentation on a different machine or see what happens if you turn off the router.
Check your devices and any network you connect to are secure. Technical glitches can sometimes be caused by security breaches. IT networks that are protected by Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platforms can respond to security threats faster, which means your speech is less likely to be affected.
Learning to troubleshoot is all about picking up some basic IT skills so that you can diagnose problems on the fly and try to fix them, even when you’re in the middle of presenting to people. This is easier said than done, and it’s something that you’ll pick up over years of work as opposed to taking a course. You can also ask your colleagues to try to “break” things so that you can test whether you can fix problems in a more controlled setting.
Sometimes there’s nothing left for you to do but to accept failure and work around it. In the case of tech problems, this might mean just bailing on the slides altogether or forgetting about the microphones and just raising your voice. When you only have a certain amount of time to speak to people, it’s often better to stop troubleshooting and to make the best of a bad job.
Now that you know our thoughts on how you can deal with the inevitable tech issues that you’ll encounter as a public speaker, it’s over to you so that you can share your thoughts.
How often do you run into tech issues during your public speaking opportunities? And what’s your go-to approach for dealing with them? As always, we want to keep the discussion going, so be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments. We’ll see you soon for another article!
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