You know how much I know about AV? Not a lot. I’m all about leaving it to the AV people (that’s what we have experts like Midori Connolly for, am I right?).

That said, I wish more presenters would use AV options to their advantage. I returned from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) 2010 Annual Meeting with much to think about…appropriate use of AV for one.

It seems absurd the amount of preparation that goes into a session only to have the session falter at the end because of an AV situation that could easily have been avoided. A great example is a session I went to about using video for associations. Great information and examples were shared there, but the first presenter kept struggling with a slow connection whenever she wanted to play a video. The first couple of times I felt sorry for her, but after that I grew annoyed. Why didn’t she have a backup plan for something as finicky as video? Why didn’t she have some videos stored directly on her laptop, so she didn’t have to rely on the internet? Had she checked her connection and the buffering time before the presentation?

It was more than distracting to have her, the first presenter, continue with attempts to show the videos. The second speaker was more adept at sidestepping the technical issues and also had 1 or 2 videos pre-loaded on his laptop. He won over the crowd.

At the end of the presentation, the first presenter again tried to play her video and the loud choppy sound as the video started and stopped finally drove me from the room.

Friends, let us promise to always consider AV before our presentations and to always have a backup plan. Can you wing it without slides? Are you ready to roll if the internet is down? Did you think about your crowd interaction when you ordered your mics?

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KiKi L’Italien is an association blogger, consultant, and speaker who has lots of hobbies, friends, and passions.