What you use to power your PowerPoint show matters.
The Stuff of Nightmares
When I was the Training Coordinator at UCLA, a PowerPoint show kept shutting down and starting up during a class. It was just awful – not only for the trainers but for me too. After all, I was the person in charge of making sure there are no technical issues!
When the PowerPoint show went black, the trainers instructed the students to refer to their PowerPoint print-outs to keep the class flowing. I crawled under the table to try to figure out what was going on. Everything was connected. All wires securely in place. Yet, after a few minutes, the PowerPoint show mysteriously went back on, only to go dark again a few minutes later.
Maddening
The Power Strip
Upon closer investigation, I noted the projector plugged into a power strip. I got a heavy-duty extension cord and plugged the projector directly to the electrical outlet. Problem fixed! Apparently, unless a power strip is a superpowered one, the projector is not going to get enough power to stay lit. Why take a chance? Feed the projector the power it needs by plugging into the source – a wall outlet.
Be prepared
I have witnessed this phenomenon probably a half-dozen times. Most recently it happened at a meeting where a seasoned trainer’s PowerPoint show suddenly went dark. I looked to see where his projector was plugged in. Sure enough, the projector was plugged into a power strip. We moved things around to plug the projector into the wall outlet. Results? No more presentation black-outs
This was addressed in a PowerPoint training class I attended yesterday. It was new information for everyone. Unexplainable PowerPoint blackouts happen a lot. Most do not know why. The culprit is usually a power strip.
Now, wherever I go to do a presentation, I take along a long heavy duty extension cord. I want to make sure the projector I’m using has enough power to stay lit; that is, receiving power directly from the wall outlet.
No PowerPoint blackouts for me, thank you very much!
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