For years, I've had a test-card at the start of my slides. Before I start my talk, I can immediately see if the aspect ratio is wrong, colours are off, or any other visual issues with the presentation.
A few years ago I was invited to give a talk and was assured that the venue was set up for audio as well as video. I dutifully filled my slides with with demo videos containing sound. None of them worked. Somewhere between the HDMI output of the presentation laptop and the speakers, the audio went AWOL.
Ever since then, I've placed an audio test slide at the start of my presentations. There's a good range of videos on YouTube - pick one you like, embed it into your slides, and play it before your talk starts.
Over the years, I've found the following "bugs" with event AV setups:
- No sound.
- Only left channel working.
- Severe latency between audio and video.
- Garbled sound.
- Sound routing to the room but not the livestream.
- Feedback / howl around when sound playing.
Whether events are professionally run or community managed, you can never guarantee that sound will work. Add subtitles to your videos. If possible, add a sign-language interpreter. And, if all else fails, hold your microphone to your laptop's speakers.
6 thoughts on “Put an AV test at the start of your slides”
@Edent Another one I was taught when I used to tutor evening classes - before starting check the people at the back can see & hear the presentation.
| Reply to original comment on ioc.exchange
@Edent Good suggestion! Thanks for sharing that.
| Reply to original comment on mastodon.social
@annehargreaves @Edent when I'm testing, I always put up my slide with the smallest text and walk to the back of the room
| Reply to original comment on infosec.exchange
@Edent
I like the idea of a simple test card.
When I was in academia and on the conference circuit, I got used to finding the room I would be speaking in, in the break before the session, and testing everything properly up front.
Any "live" demos had a canned fallback, in case of network failure.
| Reply to original comment on mstdn.social
Sweet tip, thanks for sharing!
| Reply to original comment on bsky.app
@Edent as someone who used to work in live event corporate AV, it’s wild that the techs there didn’t test basic presenter video and audio playback
| Reply to original comment on hoosier.social
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