IT’S YOUR BUSINESS
Advice for enterprising speakers
Eliminate Presentation Chaos
When I returned to my hotel room after dinner to check emails on my laptop, the unthinkable hap- pened: My laptop did not boot up. Trying not to panic, I called Robert, my IT Specialist (and husband), who ran me through a series of tests. At midnight, no progress had been made, so we called it a night. The boot sector was corrupted and Robert could not fix it remotely. I was scheduled to speak at 10:45 a.m. on Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager—live on my
computer. This was not a PowerPoint®
presentation. My presentation had
been completely customized using the
Business Contact Manager (BCM) software add-in for Outlook. I customized
the database and all of my screens with
specific examples for the industry’s
conference, and also had a custom set
of data I had imported to use for my
examples.
If bad came to worse, I knew I was
in a place where everyone could relate
to my situation. I was at the NSA 2009
Fall Conference in Phoenix.
Ironically, the title of my presentation was Eliminate Office Chaos: Use
Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Business
Contact Manager to Take Control of
Your Business, Time and Information.
Now, if only someone could eliminate
my chaos.
I informed Cara Tracy, CMP, CMM,
NSA’s director of professional devel-
opment, about my dilemma and she
suggested that I “tweet.” So, I sent a
“tweet” that I needed a laptop with
I gave Cody a big hug for saving
my day. With only an hour to “show
time,” I dashed back to my room to
customize the software and import my
data. I was able to remote into our
servers on Cody’s laptop and retrieve
a copy of the data I customized and
then exported to an Excel spreadsheet,
just in case! Within minutes, I had the
data imported into Cody’s laptop in
a new database and I could customize
the BCM interface for the examples I
planned to demonstrate.
I can’t remember how I had planned
to start my session. Instead, I started by
So, I sent a “tweet”
that I needed a laptop...
within minutes, I had one
loaded with the software
I needed.
describing the events that had transpired during the last 12 hours. I talked
about why backups are critical in case
of an emergency. I also learned the
power of Twitter that day.
Although my data was backed
up, my presentation would not have
been possible without a laptop that
would “boot up” and have the same
software I use. If you can’t access
your data remotely or don’t have a
backup system in place—preferably
one that automatically and routinely
backs up your computers’—make
this a priority for 2012.
Lesson learned? You can never be
too prepared.
Laura Leist, CPO, CRTS, is typically the one eliminating other people’s chaos. Leist is the author of Eliminate the Chaos at Work: 25
Techniques to Increase Productivity and
founder of Eliminate Chaos, a productivity
and organizing services firm. Leist speaks on
increasing productivity at work and the firm
provides consulting to an international
clientele. Visit www.eliminatechaos.com.
