Get Your Own Projector

My new Planar PR3020DLP Projector

Pretty much every time I have been asked to give a presentation for the last several years, the organization inviting me to present has been able to provide a projector for me to use with my presentation. I use a MacBook for my presentations, and the Mac is pretty good about “just working” with almost any projector that I have hooked it up to. Because of this,  I have been lulled into a false sense of security, and have never bothered to spring for my own projector.

So let me tell you about my last three presentations. The first of the three, we were meeting at a local community centre, and the fellow that was bringing the projector was not there when I arrived to set up. The meeting started, and he still was not there! Thankfully, he arrived a few minutes later. Now I was scrambling to get the projector set up minutes before my presentation was to start. Trust me, that extra surge of adrenaline right before giving a presentation is not needed.

The next presentation, the projector was permanently installed in the room, so no worries, right? And as always, I was there plenty early. Good thing too. In this case, my Mac let me down, and it didn’t “just work”. I always use the presenters screen option in Keynote, so that my presentation appears on the projector, and the presenters notes and next slide appear on my laptop. This way, I can see what my next slide is, and see my notes in case I need a reminder. I know that I coach my readers to rehearse their presentations so thoroughly that they practically know their material by heart, but this particular training session ran for two days, and had hundreds of slides, so I really needed the crutch offered by the presenters screen. It wouldn’t work. No matter how much I fiddled, Keynote insisted on sending my “presenters screen” to the projector, and the audience screen to my laptop. I finally solved my problem by mirroring the screens between the two displays, and using my iPad with Keynote Remote to give my presenters notes.

The last of these three presentations, my host kindly provided a projector, and was there plenty early, so that I could set up. But in this case, their projector was not working properly. The colour on the projector was really odd. We figure that the green channel was not working. As it turned out, the wonky colour of the presentation wasn’t a game killer, and the presentation went pretty well, but boy I would have been happier if everything was working okay.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long story while I get to the point. My brother recently upgraded his projector to a fantastic new high def projector, a really nice machine. Here's where the story gets good.  My fantastic brother gave me his old projector! While its not as nice as his new machine, it has several years of good use left in it, and it produces a nice, crisp, bright image.

It occurs to me that my life has just gotten a whole lot easier. Now, I can set up my presentations and rehearse with the actual projector that I will be using in front of my audience. I can test all the settings in advance, and I never have to worry about the person with the projector being late, or not coming. I can still ask the organization inviting me to speak to have a projector available as a backup.

I was an idiot all along. I should have done this years ago! I was really lucky to get a free projector, but I did some research for this post, and I found that projector prices have really dropped in the last few years. You can get a good machine for $500 or less. Presenters, make your life a whole lot easier, get your own projector!

(As a footnote, I finally figured out why my presenters notes were appearing on the wrong screen. In keynote, go to Preferences, Presenter Notes, and make sure the box next to “Use alternate display to view presenter information” is checked off. And a second footnote, I have the world’s best brother!)

Keynote Remote

Here’s a tip for all of you iPad fans. Frequent readers know that I am a big fan of Apple’sKeynote presentation software. I was quite excited when Apple introduced Keynote for the iPad. But my excitement was quickly cooled when I discovered that there was no way to remotely control Keynote on the iPad. Because of this limitation, I was  forced to stand next to my stationary iPad if I wanted to use it for a presentation.

Great news. With the most recent update to Keynote for iOS, you can use the Keynote Remote app to control Keynote on your iPad using your iPhone (or iPod touch). Keynote Remote is a sweet little app that not only allows you to control your presentation, but also shows you a thumbnail of your current and next slide. This allows you to freely move around the room while controlling your presentation, without having to turn your back on your audience to see what slide you are on.

So how do you use it? First, you must have the latest version of Keynote  running on your iPad. Next, run Keynote Remote on your iPhone. Follow the on screen instructions to connect to your iPad. Both the iPad and iPhone have to be connected to the same WiFi network. The last presentation I gave, I didn’t have access to WiFi, so I brought along an old wireless router and used that for my WiFi access. It worked just great, and the audience (who largely shared my passion for technology) were really taken with the setup.

Create Your Presentation Using Post-it Notes

There are two types of terrible PowerPoint presenters; those who don't know how to use PowerPoint, and those that know how to access every single special feature of PowerPoint, and try to use them all in every presentation! This post addresses the problems of the second group.

Most people compose PowerPoint presentations in PowerPoint. Here is the danger with this approach. It encourages you to add special effects while creating your slides, and you can quickly overwhelm your presentation with fonts, colours, animations and transitions. The PowerPoint quickly becomes more about the cleverness of the program than about the content of the presentation.

If you find yourself falling into this trap, try this idea. Don't do the initial composition of your presentation on a computer. Instead, create it using a block of Post-it Notes. Sketch out your slides, one note per slide. Use small Post-it Notes to make sure that you don't try to cram too much content on each slide. Find an empty section of wall, or pin up a couple of pieces of bristol board, and layout your presentation storyboard style. If you are collaborating on a presentation, this works even better, since your whole presentation can be seen at a glance, and team members can easily add an rearrange slides. Once you are satisfied with your presentation layout, transcribe it straight into PowerPoint, using only one font, one colour, and no animations or special effects.

Run through the presentation in this clean state. I'll bet that it is pretty good. Now, with great restraint, consider adding a few effects to a few slides, only if the effect adds something to the presentation.

Here are a couple of instances where I allow myself to use special effects. I will use a special slide transition between sections of a presentation to tell the audience that we are entering a new chapter. I will animate just one or two points per presentation for emphasis. The key is to limit the animation to a couple of points. If you animate everything, how will your audience know when an given animation is special!

Give it a shot, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Let me know how you make out.

Your Slides Are Not Your Presentation

Many presenters seem to think that their deck of PowerPoint or Keynote slide ARE their presentation. Used correctly, your slides supplement and enhance your presentation, but the slide alone are not the presentation. If they were, why would your audience even need you to present? You could just e-mail your presentation to them and save everyone a lot of time and trouble!

Consider this. Could you give your presentation without your slides? A number of years ago, my company was offering a series of seminars on calibration (this was when ISO certification was the big hot topic). I had given the presentation dozens of times, and I had an important client who wanted me to make the presentation to his team and some senior managers. I may be dating myself when I tell you that this was in the days when you had to print your presentation on overhead transparencies. As fate would have it, the bulb on the overhead projector blew after the first few slides, and when I dug out the spare bulb, it was also blown. What could I do? I knew the presentation by heart, so I went ahead and gave it, using a flip chart and marker when a diagram or calculation was needed.

At the end of the presentation, several of the managers approached me and told me it was one of the best presentations that had ever seen. Personally, I don't think that it was all that great, but I think the fact that I pressed on in spite of my failed technology added to their opinion. I actually liked the part of the presentation where I did the calculations on the flip chart, so I pulled the math slides out of my slide set and brought a flip chart for subsequent presentations.

What I learned by accident that day is something that all of todays presentation gurus teach. Use your slides to enhance your presentation. Use simple graphics. Know your material inside-out and backwards. Be prepared for any contingency.

Good luck with your next presentation!

Record Your Rehersal

Here is an idea that you are going to hate!  But trust me, give it a shot, you won’t be sorry.

The next time you have a presentation to rehearse, record your rehearsal on video. I know, we all hate the way we look and sound on video.  But it’s okay, get over it. After all this recording is just for you, nobody else ever has to see it.

I promise you will get a lot by recording yourself. You need to rehearse anyway (you do rehearse your presentations don’t you?) And who knows your subject better than you? So doesn’t that make you the perfect test audience.  By rehearsing on tape, you can judge if you are speaking at a good speed, if you are able to maintain eye contact with your audience (the camera) without stumbling. You will get a pretty good idea of the length of your presentation, and you can test out your equipment, software and visual aids to make sure everything is in working order.

So start up the video app on your smart phone, or use the web cam on your laptop.  Production value is not important. Remember this is just for you. Read your script over several times, not to memorize it, but just to be sure you are really comfortable with the material, then reach over and hit the record button.

When you are done, get comfortable and watch the playback.  Take note of any changes or corrections that you would like to make.  Feel free to do a second recording once you have run though the first, and hey, when you are done, feel free to hit the delete button!

Learn From Other Presenters

One of the best ways to improve your presentation skills is to watch and learn from other presenters. When you attend a trade show or conference, be sure to take in some of the keynote presentations. Watch the presentation critically, and take note of the presenter’s style, the quality of their slides, the way they incorporate graphics in their presentation.For certain, you can learn from the good presentations. But you can probably learn as much from a poor presentation. Why did you think the presentation was poor? Did the presenter use their slides poorly, or was the content poor? What would you have done differently?

If the presentation was great, hang back after the presentation and tell the presenter that you liked their presentation. Exchange business cards, and keep in touch. Maybe you can exchange ideas. It’s always great to have a network to share with.