When it comes to the technology that you're going to be using in your presentation. You can never be too prepared. You need to check it, double check it, triple check it and then quadruple check it. A couple of decades ago, I was doing a training, very successful entrepreneur. This guy had invented the deposit Skyy vodka, very successful entrepreneur. And I'm doing immediate training with him.
He's introducing a new liquor to the marketplace that day, comes in, sits down very charming. Everything's great. I go to hook up my camera, and the day had come. The camera died. Now this was around the year 2000. I was still using a VHS camera.
The camera was probably 12 years old. So it's the late 1980s camera and it had the big old, clunky VHS tape in it. And it just froze broke died. That's it. Thought Okay, no problem. I am prepared.
I had a second camera. I think the first camera data set the second camera up I'm so proud of myself for planning for doing my due diligence. I've got on the tripod, the lights, fine, the cameras, fine. The tripods find the TVs, fine. Everything's great. Except the cable from the camera to the TV is different than the one from the old camera.
Guess what, when it comes to technology, audio video technology, you're only as strong as your weakest link and I was completely missing a link there was no time to go to Radio Shack or BestBuy or any store like that. It was that simple half day training. And we're now 15 minutes into it. So what happened and this was before the days of video cameras on cell phones the year 2000 there were iPads back then. There were no other cameras around. So I had to talk about what to do with the media.
Now I like to think I'm a good talker. I'm talking here now. But that's not a training. It really didn't go very well. This client never hired me again, the PR firm that hired me, never hired me again. I didn't get any great testimonials.
I didn't get any great endorsements from that. It was a complete bust. So who's to blame here just stuff happens. You know, that's life. Now. It was my fault.
I didn't do my due diligence. I should have double checked to make sure I had every single piece before I went to that training, I should have. Imagine the first camera breaking and then setting up the second training the second camera from scratch for the training and verifying To make sure it works, so it was my fault. These days, I don't do any training unless I've got about four or five options for recording a client. I bring a regular camcorder, another regular camcorder, an iPad, where an emergency I could do a training. Cell phones obviously have it, a laptop has it.
So, these days, I've got a lot of different ways of covering myself from a technology standpoint. And I would urge you to cover yourself as well. Okay, so what's the lesson here? The lesson is you're going to use any AV audio visual tools for your presentation. You've got to prepare. I use this point when I'm coaching people on how they're going to use PowerPoint.
Don't assume the place you're going is going to have a projector or a remote control or the laptop that's compatible with any programs you have assumed nothing Get there early. Take everything you need. Take extra versions of what you need. Only then are you prepared