Planning for Possible Technical Challenges When Speaking

Practice can play an important role in helping us become stronger presenters, particularly when it comes to overcoming potential technical challenges. Whether we are presenting live and our video will not play, or we are presenting virtually and experience Wi-Fi issues, we can be prepared to overcome technical challenges and still deliver a great business presentation.

Use the below questions to start developing back up plans for any technical challenges that might come up before, during or after your presentation.

Preparing for Possible Challenges with Video

Videos are usually a great addition to our presentations to help reinforce important ideas and engage our audiences. Be sure to practice in advance to become comfortable playing the video during the presentation.

Unfortunately, technical challenges can arise though. It is important to have a back up plan in case the video can’t play in the room, or if there are buffer or audio issues when sharing it through a virtual platform. One idea may be to prepare a summary of the video to talk people through if it can’t be played. Another option might be sharing a link to it after the presentation with any follow up notes.

When presenting virtually, it is also important to keep in mind that we may be on video as well during the presentation. If the camera in our computers or the external cameras we use goes out, do we have a backup camera that is easily accessible and can be quickly swapped?

Preparing for Possible Challenges with Audio

Similarly, good audio is essential for our presentations. If using an external microphone – either virtually or in a room – do we have an alternative if it stops working?

Similarly, loud background noise can be distracting to our audiences so it could be helpful to learn in advance how to mute participants on a virtual platform. We may even need to switch rooms if a neighbor is suddenly loud or there is traffic outside. When presenting in the room, we may need to combat with noise from other meetings, hallway traffic, and more. It is helpful to think through these logistics in advance and have a quick strategy in place if there are noisy disruptions.

Preparing for Possible Challenges with Internet

Most of us worry about connection issues with our Wi-Fi before a big business presentation. If that happens, we might want to switch to our mobile hotspot if that is an option. Or, we may want to move to another location that has a reliable connection if we have time.

On a related note, we sometimes have virtual participants join our presentations. It may be helpful to have an alternate plan if they have connection issues. For example, if it is a joint presentation, we may want to make sure we feel comfortable covering the topic as well if needed.

Preparing for Possible Challenges with Slides

When using slides in our presentations, we also want to be prepared in case they cannot be shown because of broken projectors, screen sharing challenges, our computers not connecting to the room’s AV equipment, or any other reason. We may want to have a printout of the slides that we can reference when we speak and then offer to share the deck with people after the session is done.

Similarly, if we have any sort of animations embedded into our slides, we may want to test them out in advance to confirm everything works the way we want. If for some reason an animation breaks, we can simply speak to it and then move on to the next slide. Again, we can always follow up after the talk with a copy of the deck if an animation is important for people to see.

Preparing for Possible Challenges with Audience Questions

A lot of our business presentations will be with smaller groups where the audience will be able to interrupt us to ask a question or we will open it up to them when we are done. But, for larger or more formal meetings, there may be a few extra steps involved. From a logistical standpoint, we want to know in advance how the audience will ask questions and whether there is another option if it doesn’t work. For example, if people have issues submitting questions online, can they email a designated person instead?

If a larger meeting, there may be a moderator who will help receive the questions and ask them during the talk or at the end. If so, it might be helpful to connect with the moderator in advance to align as well.

By the way, try out this bridging technique to help answer audience questions like a strategic communicator.

Take Action

What other challenges might come up for your specific situation? How can you handle them?

Download a worksheet we created with space to write down these back up plans. Hopefully, these won’t be needed. But, even just knowing that they exist can help provide some additional confidence when starting out our presentations.

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