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What you use to power your PowerPoint

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

Powering a Powerpoint Show

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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