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We strongly advocate that you create your aids while developing your speech—and then practice using them as you rehearse your presentation. Don’t put yourself in the risky position of needing to create aids on the fly while delivering your speech. At the same time, we suggest that you prepare for surprises—including power failures and technology glitches (frozen programs, system crashes, or a failed Internet connection). As many hapless public speakers have discovered, technology can fail just when you need it most. Imagine how you’d feel if, during a key point in your speech, you turned on your computer to project an important photo and the device didn’t work. To avoid this scenario, always prepare a hard copy of any presentation aids you plan to present through computers or other technology or equipment—you can always pass it around the room as a last resort. To further cover yourself, make sure you practice giving your speech without using the aids.

When delivering PowerPoint or other sorts of digital presentations, make sure to practice a number of times with your slides, just as you would with speech outlines. To guard against any surprises, check that your media will work with the computers in the speech setting before it’s time to speak, and bring hard copies of your aids with you on the day of the presentation. When incorporating a computer or DVD player into a presentation, keep in mind basic principles of using aids: be sure to practice with the aids, ideally in the room where you will be presenting and on the same equipment; consider taping power cables to the floor to avoid tripping over them during your speech; and make sure you have the video cued to the right scene before beginning your speech.