How-to/Checklist for Presentations

Thanks to Mike Peshkin

1. Check that your equipment is available (computer, projector, etc) an hour ahead of your presentation, so that there is time to do something about it.
2. Set up 10 minutes ahead, and preview your slides while looking at the projected image.  Powerpoint problems are the normal situation.  Everything going smoothly is not the normal situation. 
3. Bring a laser.  Get one of your own, they are fun with pets too.   Train yourself not to use the laser, except when you are saying the words "right here".   Do not use the laser to point at what you are saying, or to swoop dizzyingly around the screen.  For most talks this means you use about 5 seconds of laser in a 45 minute presentation.
4. Powerpoint slides prepared on a mac won't work quite right on a PC, or vice versa.   Especially movies, but not only movies.
5. I have a remote mouse and USB/receiver, with a laser built in.  You can borrow it, but I will take it away if you use more than 5 seconds of laser.
6. Movies may or may not show up on the projector, even if they look just fine on the laptop.  Sometimes you get a black rectangle instead.   So try it out first.   Lowering the laptop display resolution may help.
7. Pictures are stored in the powerpoint file, but movies are not.   (Nor sounds, I think).   If you move files (from computer to computer or to/from storage media) the link between the powerpoint file and the media files may be broken.   You should not discover this during your presentation.  
8. Try to talk to the audience, not to the screen.  Bring a printout of your slides so you don't have to look at the screen to remember where you are.   Also you are less likely to overuse the laser.
9. Practice your talk.