This depends on a number of things: What is the size of the room? What is the technology snafu? How many people are present? Is this more of a breakout session or a keynote? Is this happening during a lunch period or do you have more free rain of when the talk can take place? For visual issues: If there is something else that I can do to keep the audience busy like talking to a partner about question prompt or another interactive activity, I’ll do that. Or I decide to go without visuals. For sound issues: If this is a smaller audience or room that has really good acoustics then I will talk without a mic. If it can moved into a space with sound for longer sessions and/or a bigger audience, then we move.

I talk on impact leadership and in all areas of creating impact and leadership, things can go haywire! Use this moment to connect to your content. The most important thing to remember is, no one knows your presentation but you. The audience doesn't know what your normal opening line is or first slide is. Only you do. So use this moment to connect to what your content is and flow into your presentation once it's resolved.

When technical issues arise just before your motivational speech, maintaining your composure is crucial. Here are some effective strategies to stay cool: Prepare a Backup Plan: Always have printed notes or a secondary device handy. This reduces your reliance on technology and ensures you can proceed smoothly. Stay Positive and Composed: Your audience will take cues from your demeanor. Keep a calm and positive attitude, and don’t hesitate to use humor to lighten the mood. Engage with the Audience: Utilize any downtime by interacting with your audience. Ask questions, share personal stories, or invite their thoughts to keep them engaged while you troubleshoot.

When Technical issues pop up you can stay calm and cool by following below: Have a Trial Run of your speech with all techs, just before beginning Stay Calm: Take a deep breath and maintain a positive demeanor, stance and position. Your audience will appreciate your confidence Have a plan B: Prepare for glitches by having alternative materials or ways to engage the audience without tech. (E.g. in case of microphone failure, you can move forward/within audience, etc.) Engage the Audience: Connect.. Ask questions or share a relevant story while you troubleshoot. Focus on Your Message: Its about your message, not the tools. Stay committed to delivering value. Adaptability is your greatest asset! #PublicSpeaking #Motivation #Resilience

As we are living in the era of advance technologies, where everything is going to be digitalize along this a huge challenge is to face net issues. Signals lost is quite obvious this is part of online/onsite interruptions, be cool and calm just wait for a while to be normalized system for smooth speech.

I'd recommend preparing for a failure in advance. Having a plan B-C-D is very professional. On top of that I just try to play in my head what my first, second action will be if things don't go exactly as planned. Most of these disaster scenarios never happen, luckily. I also try to have a "rehearsal call" with my assistant a couple of hours before the real event. It helps to see if there are any updates to be installed and even sometimes helps to spot a typo in my slides!

Be cool about it.. probably not the first time. Also, you know the subject very well. Slides are just there as a support - get creative and use the white board and create engagements - it'd be a great learning curve. ;)

I had an issue with my slides not connecting to the panel and had to do the whole presentation without them. I could see them on my computer but didn't want to stand behind the lecturn to be able to see them so I just went with it. It worked becuase I knew my content inside and out so I was confident and energetic. It ended up being more like a TedTalk (adding that to my goal list right now) and the audience was impressed I did the whole presentation without my slides. My advice: know your content and love it, and use technology to enhance your presentation.