Had a total tech fail at a Peachtree Center meetup last month

I was demoing a new CRM setup on my laptop for a small group. The HDMI adapter just died. No signal to the big screen, dead quiet. I had maybe 30 seconds of awkward silence before I just pulled up the exact same deck on my phone, hooked it to the TV with a different cable from my bag, and kept going. It was clunky but it worked. What's your go-to backup plan when your main tech gear flakes out at an event? I'm thinking I need a better kit.

4 comments

4 Comments

gray3142mo ago

My old boss at a trade show in Orlando had a full laptop meltdown. I always pack a tablet with a mirrored presentation now, just in case.

max_schmidt772mo ago

Ever see a guy's laptop just die mid-pitch, @gray314?

max_schmidt771d ago

Mirroring still needs the laptop to run the show" - yeah, that's not quite how it works. Mirroring is actually just sending a copy of what's on your laptop screen to the tablet. If your laptop dies mid-pitch, the tablet isn't getting any signal so it goes black too. You're better off saving the actual file on the tablet or a flash drive. I learned that the hard way at a conference once.

green.laura2mo ago

Mirroring is a good backup plan, but it still needs the laptop to run the show. If the laptop fully dies, the tablet won't get a signal. You need the files saved on the tablet itself, or better yet, on a flash drive too.