Breaking Murphy's Law » Problems with Time http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com Because when you're presenting, someone's always watching. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:54:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Overheard on Twitter: Your nose is running… http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/11/22/overheard-twitter/ http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/11/22/overheard-twitter/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:35:12 +0000 Lee Potts http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/?p=2408

Sick enough for the symptoms to interfere with your presentation but snot nearly sick enough to call it off. What do you do when a cold hits you right in the eyes, nose and throat when you’re due to hit the stage? Do you have a favorite trick to dry things [...]]]>

Sick enough for the symptoms to interfere with your presentation but snot nearly sick enough to call it off. What do you do when a cold hits you right in the eyes, nose and throat when you’re due to hit the stage? Do you have a favorite trick to dry things up just before you go on? Tough call. You should probably avoid most over the counter cold medicines and they tend to make folks loopy and you might end up completely lost and forget where you are in your talk. I guess the best thing to do is to avoid getting sick in the first place. It can be hard to not burn the candle at both ends those last few days before you present, but getting enough sleep and eating right can go a long way toward preventing all your hard work from going down the drain. Along with all that gunk the neti pot dislodged.


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"Overheard on Twitter: Your nose is running…" was originally posted on Breaking Murphy's Law on November 22, 2011. Copyright 2011 Lee Potts and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. All other rights reserved.

]]> http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/11/22/overheard-twitter/feed/ 0 Basic Questions Too Often Unasked http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/11/21/basic-questions-unasked/ http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/11/21/basic-questions-unasked/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:37:22 +0000 Lee Potts http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/?p=2400 (Thanks to Michael Wade for providing the inspiration for this post.)

1) Who will bring the projector?

2) What if the flight is delayed that morning?

3) Where is the presentation backed up to?

4) Are any of the presenters using a Mac?

5) Is that 9 o’clock Eastern or Central time?

6) Are [...]]]> (Thanks to Michael Wade for providing the inspiration for this post.)

1) Who will bring the projector?

2) What if the flight is delayed that morning?

3) Where is the presentation backed up to?

4) Are any of the presenters using a Mac?

5) Is that 9 o’clock Eastern or Central time?

6) Are there any protests anticipated at our meeting? In the vicinity of the meeting venue?

7) What time is the hotel going to have the meeting room ready?

8) What if we can’t get online at the meeting venue?


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"Basic Questions Too Often Unasked" was originally posted on Breaking Murphy's Law on November 21, 2011. Copyright 2011 Lee Potts and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. All other rights reserved.

]]> http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/11/21/basic-questions-unasked/feed/ 0 Might Have Missed List (07/17/11) http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/07/17/missed-list-071711/ http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/07/17/missed-list-071711/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:02:07 +0000 Lee Potts http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/?p=2333 Gub doo gia bee? (Language Log)

[This post is chock full of all sorts of wonderful things going wrong during a series of presentations at an academic conference. This brief passage represents just a sliver of a very entertaining story]

And the other problem was that, impelled by some irresistible psychological imperative (I saw [...]]]> Gub doo gia bee? (Language Log)

[This post is chock full of all sorts of wonderful things going wrong during a series of presentations at an academic conference. This brief passage represents just a sliver of a very entertaining story]

And the other problem was that, impelled by some irresistible psychological imperative (I saw this later with several other speakers), he instinctively pointed the remote projection controller at the screen, desperately trying to get it to respond. But the computer he should have been pointing the remote at was ten or fifteen yards away on a table in a totally different direction. It was just too counterintuitive to turn 180 degrees away from the screen, so his back was toward it, in order to change the screen image. We humans are simple mammals, and we imagine that what we are focusing on is where the action is. So his clicking away with the remote was not being detected by the computer, and even if it had been detected, he would have had no idea whether anything had happened to the screen as a result.

Presentation Tip: First Impressions Matter (Professionally Speaking…)

Be prepared, with AV equipment checked, handouts sorted and slides ready. If you seem disorganized and rattled over logistics, your audience may assume that your presentation will be equally disorganized.

How to recognize someone for their service to an organization when they can’t be present in person (Conferences That Work)

  • A week before the event, Nancy and I set up a test call with me calling from the laptop I would be using at the conference. It was good we did this, because it took a while to get Nancy’s camera working. We arranged for her to start Skype when she arrived at work, thirty minutes before we would start the recognition ceremony.

…

  • About twenty minutes before the call, Nancy was not showing up as connected on Skype. I called her from my cell and she assured me Skype was running. I restarted Skype on my machine & this time she appeared. Phew! During the next few minutes, I muted our audio while the audience assembled.

 


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"Might Have Missed List (07/17/11)" was originally posted on Breaking Murphy's Law on July 17, 2011. Copyright 2011 Lee Potts and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. All other rights reserved.

]]> http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/07/17/missed-list-071711/feed/ 1 You can’t present… http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/06/19/present/ http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/06/19/present/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:38:13 +0000 Lee Potts http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/?p=2322 if you can’t get to the venue.

USA Today: Lost your travel documents? How to avoid being grounded.

Sharing: del.icio.us Twitter Categories: Pre-presentation, Problems with Time, Problems with Transportation Tags: documents, travel ]]> if you can’t get to the venue.

USA Today: Lost your travel documents? How to avoid being grounded.


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"You can’t present…" was originally posted on Breaking Murphy's Law on June 19, 2011. Copyright 2011 Lee Potts and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. All other rights reserved.

]]> http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/06/19/present/feed/ 0 Living Room http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/06/19/living-room/ http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/2011/06/19/living-room/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:28:26 +0000 Lee Potts http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/?p=2317 Dr. Jim Anderson, (The Accidental Communicator), reminds us that controlling the room is much better then letting the room control your presentation.

I’ll bet that you didn’t know that the next time that you give a speech, the room is going to be actively conspiring against you! Yep, it’s true – no matter how [...]]]> Dr. Jim Anderson, (The Accidental Communicator), reminds us that controlling the room is much better then letting the room control your presentation.

I’ll bet that you didn’t know that the next time that you give a speech, the room is going to be actively conspiring against you! Yep, it’s true – no matter how cozy and inviting the room that you are going to be speaking in may appear, it is actually working against you. This room has chewed up and spit out tougher speakers than you – what makes you think that you’ll do any better?

It’s absolutely crucial that you get into the room where you will be presenting, well in advance of when you will actually be presenting in it. Showing up 5 minutes before you’re supposed to go on is asking for disaster.


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"Living Room" was originally posted on Breaking Murphy's Law on June 19, 2011. Copyright 2011 Lee Potts and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. All other rights reserved.

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