Saturday, October 27, 2007

How NOT to switch between presenters

Switching between presentations when a new presenter comes up to speak seems to be one of the single most difficult things to do well according to my experience and those who write to me. A recent conference was a perfect illustration. The second speaker came up and needed to switch to his presentation from the one that was left on the screen from the previous speaker. So he hit Escape and dropped into the program mode of PowerPoint. He started searching for his presentation and it took a while for him to figure out where it was. It took so long in fact, that the audience started to chat with each other. Then, audience members started shouting out advice on how he could find the file and get the presentation started. He finally loaded his presentation and started speaking. All of this can be easily avoided, but it seems like most conference organizers have no idea how to do so. By simply setting up a single slide that has hyperlinks to the different presentations, the switch between speakers can be smooth and simple. If you are responsible for a session with multiple speakers, please use this advice to make the session so much more enjoyable for the audience.

2 Comments:

Blogger Linda Maye Adams said...

I've watched many people do exactly what you described. I always tell people to put the presentation where they can find it quickly. When I have to load one for a meeting over a network drive, I put it in a folder called 00. It goes to the top of the folder list so it's easy to find.

If I go somewhere else, it's on CD, numbered in sequential order. I then drag everything onto the desktop and make sure it's in the proper sequence.

7:32 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I have used the hyperlink method with great success; however, I have recently run into a problem when presenters have requested to use the Presenter View. In Presenters View the hyperlinked presentation is not visible, it only shows up on the presentation screen. How do I set up the hyperlinked presentations when using Presenter View?

12:43 PM  

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