How to prevent embarrassing tech mishaps during your presentation

If you’re like most businesspeople, technology has become an integral part of your presentations. Although your audio and visual aids undoubtedly add value for your audience and make it easier for them to quickly understand your message, there’s a downside to relying on technology.

Who hasn’t experienced a technology screwup that spoiled a presentation? Members of the Professionals in Speaking Mastermind recently shared lessons learned from technology mishaps:

1. Be careful with custom fonts.

Custom fonts are great for tailoring your slide deck to your brand, but they do not always travel well. If the computer you’re using doesn’t have the font, it will automatically replace your carefully chosen lettering with Arial, Calibri or some other (boring) standard font. If you embed custom fonts, your file can end up being enormous.

One obvious solution is to use standard “safe” fonts. If you don’t want to give up your custom design elements, though, turn your text into images; pictures do travel.

2. Make your slide deck accessible in multiple ways.