Go Live Checklist For Fail-Safe PowerPoint Presentations

Ready to make a live PowerPoint presentation? Here is your countdown checklist. Check these 10 vital pre-show points to assure smooth sailing at showtime!

2. Before you leave the office, upload your show onto your WEB SERVER, if possible. This way, if the back-up disk is lost or damaged, you can still download the show from any location.

3. Have your Windows, Mac OS and Office software CDs with you, in case you need to reload applications.

4. Get the presentation in RAM. You may have noticed that slides with images or animation built into them tend to "hang up" while they load. When this happens, the speaker will usually hit the advance button. Now they are TWO slides ahead! The presentation will run much smoother if you click through each slide before going live. This gets the slides in RAM. They won't "hang up" then.

5. Set up a BACK-UP COMPUTER. Many of the snafus that plague a PowerPoint presentation are due to machine and operating system problems. The last thing you want to do, in the midst of a critical presentation, is to fumble with your machine while your audience waits. It's much easier and faster to switch out machines.

6. Get the BACK-UP PRESENTATION to RAM. You'll need to click through each slide in your back-up machine, as well.

7. BOOT UP the back-up computer. Have it ready to go, and close at hand, should you need it. For an especially important show, have someone click through each slide on the back-up, as they keep pace with you on the primary machine.

8. If you use a projection system, CONNECT your computer to it. Make sure it works. With multiple standards for projection devices and computers, not all systems are compatible.

9. Highlight the SLIDE ADVANCE button. We use a round, da-glo orange sticker on the advance button. Even in a darkened room, the speaker can easily see the key, and avoid confusion.

10. Using a WIRELESS MOUSE? Test it. You need to click through each slide with every device you'll use to run the show. Look for "dead spots" on stage--places where the radio signal may not work. If you find a dead spot, tape it off on the floor.

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