Technology Fail

Lights, camera, action!

And we’re live!  “Welcome everyone! I’m so happy to host today’s webinar….”

I was on a roll.  I had been preparing for several weeks. My thoughts were organized and I was ready to answer any question thrown my way during this video conference.   My outfit was camera-appropriate and I looked good, if I do say so myself.

As questions came in I answered each one as if I did this every day.  It was awesome!

Except that no one could see me.

As luck would have it, we had a “technology fail” at the last minute and for some still-yet-to-be-determined reason, only the audio portion of the webinar worked.  Apparently the audience could hear me but they couldn’t see me.

I got the message just as we were starting.  The team and I tried rebooting, tried to re-load the platform, tried everything in our bag of tricks to get the video to work, yet nothing.

It was so frustrating!

Especially since we had done a dry-run using the same technology the day before, just to be sure all systems were go.

Apparently all systems didn’t agree to the terms and conditions of the webinar, huh?

So what’s a webinar host to do when things don’t go as planned?  I took a cue from the Oscars and moved on with an Academy award-winning performance.  You go on as if nothing was wrong.

Isn’t that what preparation is all about, being ready for anything? 

I remember a course I took in college that prepared me for just such a “real-world” business situation.

Not to date myself, but this was pre-PowerPoint; back in the day when business presentations depended on overhead projectors. The instructor had a list of items we needed to bring in order to avoid any last minute hiccups.  Most important lesson: “Always carry a spare bulb”.  

After all, you never knew when the projector bulb would break, leaving your presentation in the dark.

In addition to “Carry a spare bulb” was “Bring handouts or visuals” – at least you could carry on with the audio portion of your presentation as if nothing was wrong and you had planned it this way.

This lesson came back to me as I quickly found my voice and carried on with the audio portion of the webinar.  I tried to inject as much verbal enthusiasm as possible to make up for the fact that viewers were staring at a blank screen.

The good news is that we have the opportunity to edit and add my photo to the presentation when we post it online.    It will appear as if my smiling face was there all along.

No one needs to know it was a technology fail, do they? After all, I happened to carry a spare photo.