Heading to a Conference or Presenting in a Classroom? Here are some tips for a successful presentation whether presenting at a conference or in a classroom. There are a lot of issues to pay attention to and questions to ask before the day arrives.
Audience
This article is intended for faculty, staff, and students.
Platform
Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Contents
What room or location is the presentation being given in?
Locate the room or location so you can know what the room will look like, what technology is available and be able to find it easily the day of the presentation.
Who can you ask about technical questions?
If you are at IC you can contact the Service Desk at extension 4-100 for general technical support or Learning Spaces Technology Specialists at extension 4-1443 for classroom assistance.
If you are at another institution or facility, make sure to contact the coordinator for the conference or event to find who provides technical support.
Some Questions to Ask
- Does the room have a podium computer? What platform is it? Does it have the software or version that you need to run your presentation? Are there multimedia players?
- What type of sound system does it have? Does it play sound well?
- Does the room have internet available? Wired or Wireless? What steps are needed to connect?
- Does the room have a laptop harness? What connectors does it have? Will you have to provide adapters to connect your laptop the laptop harness or will they?
- Does the room support mobile device mirroring? Via a connector or wirelessly?
- What is the aspect ratio of the presentation screen?
Don’t Forget to Test
Make sure to get to the room early and test. Check that the presentation runs smoothly, as well as any audio or video that are a part of the presentation. See if the font is easily visible from the back of the room. Make sure that you can easily be heard, you may need to acquire a mic. Contact technical support if you run into any issues.
Always have Backup Plan
You don’t want to be stuck there unable to present if there are technical issues so always have a backup plan. Make sure to email yourself a copy of the presentation, this is a good plan b. Other backup measures include putting the presentation on a USB or uploading it to cloud storage. If this is a high stakes presentation, even making sure you have printed copies can be helpful.