Trying to find a PowerPoint solution minutes before our presentation was hair-raising!

Recently, I was doing a presentation at a conference for reading teachers with two other authors.  The three of us had met twice to plan our session and had conversed via email.  Two of us had pre-loaded our PowerPoint shows onto my netbook and gave them a test-drive.  Our third partner lived a bit farther away, and didn’t have a chance to load her show.  She also was going to arrive a little later than us, but in plenty of time for us to transfer her show from her flashdrive to the one computer.

 Then – panic.

 Her show, created on a Mac, wouldn’t load onto my PC.  I’m enough of a TechoToddler to know what I didn’t know – and that was how to coax one device into talking with another.  Then suddenly I remembered something my husband had said – that PowerPoint, without the bells and whistles, is really just a series of images.

Time was ticking away.

The solution was to convert her images into jpegs.  But how?  Luckily, my colleague’s husband was working from home.  He found her file and exported it as individual jpegs and sent them via email.

The clock was ticking louder as each image downloaded.

But, just in the nick of time, she was able to transfer the images onto my netbook.

Instead of one click to launch a show as with PowerPoint, she had to go back to the desktop to find each image during her presentation.  The good thing was she had already labeled them in numeric order, so they were easier to find than if each had been given a title. Finding the images became a bit of a game, and the participants were very understanding – they even joined in the treasure hunt for each slide.

So what was the Big Take-Away for me?  When doing a group presentation, load and rehearse everyone’s show before leaving home.  And don’t panic if things don’t go as expected.  Options fly out of your head when your adrenaline is surging and you’re in flight mode.  Have a back-up plan in place.

All's well that ends well. Michelle Markel, Mary Ann Fraser & Alexis O'Neill breathing easier post-presentation.

Oh – and remember, if all else fails, talking was invented before PowerPoint.  It’s okay to just do your presentation, painting pictures out loud with words.

I appreciated the specific questions about my data projector that Jennifer and Mara asked in my last post.  Because my response became a bit long, I decided to put it in its own post.  Thanks for the great questions! (And Jennifer, I’m a techno-toddler, so if I can do this, you can, too!)

I love how skinny my Casio is.

 What model do you use and how much does it cost?  I’m using a Casio Data Projector XJ-S35, 2000 lumens with 2000-hour lamp life (that means if you were to do 4 hour-long presentations per school visit and did 50 visits per year, the bulb would last 10 years.) I bought it from ProjectorPeople in 2006 and it cost me about $1700 back then. Replacement bulbs are $395.00. But wait! Don’t despair!  Casio has a new model, The Casio Green Slim XJ-A145U that uses new lamp technology (no more mercury bulbs) so the lamp will never need replacement, and the price of the projector is about $999.00.  It’s reliable, and the expense is relative.  It’s been totally worth it to me. For helpful information, check out “How to Buy a Projector” in PC Magazine.  (Disclaimer: I’m not an employee of Casio or The Projector People, just a satisfied customer!)

 Brightness? Brightness is measured in lumens. Under 1000 lumens requires a totally dark room.  My Casio has 2000 lumens.  It works great in multipurpose rooms that are “light-challenged” as in windows everywhere and not a curtain in sight.

Basic set-up: computer, data projector, black power cord for projector, and the blue-ended cord that connects your computer to the projector. I also bring along the white power strip (just in case!) Set up time? Fast!

 Ease of set-up?  After you do it a couple of times, it’s a piece of cake. Five minutes tops if you’re using your own equipment and not relying on the school’s set-up.

I keep my flash drive on a key chain so I can find it faster.

 Alternatives to owning your own projector:  First, be sure the school you’re visiting has PowerPoint installed on their equipment. Then 1) you can bring your PowerPoint show on a flash drive and download it onto a school computer (this will retain any fancy formatting you’ve done in PowerPoint like transitions); 2) Convert your PowerPoint to jpegs on a flash drive and plug it into a projector that has a USB port (this acts as a slide show, so fancy transitions are gone) or 3) bring your own computer, on which you’ve loaded your show, that the school’s projector will hook to. If you have a Mac laptop, you may need a Mac-to-VGA adaptor.

 What if there’s equipment failure and no visuals?  Dance!  Seriously – one time, I was in a multipurpose room where the light was so bright, no images were visible.  If you do enough school visits, this will happen eventually.  So be ready to pull out your storytelling skills, grab your props and get on with the show.

 Parting advice:  Arrive early for set-up. Be prepared for the worst and consider it a gift from the heavens when everything goes as planned.

Overhead transparencies are flexible, portable -- and now so outdated!

I’m in transition from using transparencies on an overhead projector to using PowerPoint on a data projector. I’ve always loved the flexibility of using transparencies. With them, I can change sequencing in a blink of an eye to suit the needs of any audience without scrolling through endless screens. So, my author visit hosts smile about my quaint request for overhead and do their best to dig one out and dust it off for me.

But I was really thrown last spring when the librarian couldn’t scare up an overhead projector in the school district (yes, not just the school, but the whole district!) I did happen to have my show on a flashdrive, but they couldn’t get the computer to “talk” to it. Then they offered me a document camera and invited me to put my transparencies under it. The problem was that the shiny surfaces of my images reflected back and washed out the colors. So finally, I put my “real” books under the camera as the kids were filing in, and the assembly began. (Good thing I always arrive 45 minutes early to test equipment!) It was a bit awkward, but the experience gave me the kick in the pants I needed to move to new technology.

So here’s my new Backup Plan:
Plan A: I carry my own skinny Casio data projector and tiny Acer netbook with me with my PowerPoint show loaded and ready to go.
Plan B: I tuck a backup of my PowerPoint in my bag on a flashdrive.
Plan C: I bring along a few transparencies (and of course my books) to pull out if all else fails.

The yellow notebook shows you how compact my Acer netbook and Casio data projector are. Everything fits into a backpack.

But really, if all else really does fail (and it rarely does), I have my voice. I’m a storyteller. And I think we can make it through just fine!