Getting ready for the tech side of conference presentations

29 Mar 2026 - karit

So you are presenting for the first time, wondering what to expect on stage, and would like some tips to make things go more smoothly?

Having helped get speakers ready and onto the stage at Kawaiicon at the end of last year, and having presented at a reasonable number of conferences, I have some things to share that can help smooth the process. This will look at some of the more technical aspects of AV, so you can get the best out of it for your presentation.

For actual presentation tips, Lukasz recently did a great talk at ChCon 2025. There is a video of the talk and links to his resources.

This blog post is most likely going to go into extra detail that probably isn’t needed, but will hopefully help explain why things are the way they are.

What to expect?

Each conference will be different, and AV will be implemented differently. What will be common is an audio system and a system to get your slides onto the screen. This is not a definitive guide, but it should be a good starting point. Conferences will also often provide speakers with a guide that is specific to their conference. These are some tips that are not often mentioned or go a little bit deeper into the why.

In the lead-up to the conference

Before even getting the venue, there are some things that you can do to make sure things run smoothly:

Make sure you know how to drive your laptop for presentations, including how to direct windows to specific screens. Without fail, it seems, your laptop will decide that the presentation should be on its screen, while the speaker notes go to the big screen. It is helpful if you have practised at home with a monitor or TV, moving the presentation and speaker notes back and forth. That way, when you are on stage, you can quickly and simply switch them over. This is particularly targeted at Apple users, as the way Apple implements full-screen mode by putting windows into different workspaces can make it a little fiddly to get the full-screen presentation onto the other screen. Accessing and using Mission Control isn’t always intuitive, and moving things around in it isn’t either. Along similar lines, if you are using a browser-based presentation tool, experiment with it so you know how to full-screen the slides without the URL bar and menus showing.

If you have multiple audio clips in your presentation, please ensure that they are all normalised to the same volume. Having audio at different volumes means the sound tech may turn up the volume for the quieter first pieces of audio, and then, if your second piece of audio is louder, it will be super loud in the speakers before the sound person can reduce the volume.

Copies of your presentation

With your presentation, make sure you have the files, slides, and PDF saved on a USB Drive. If anything happens, you can always easily use a different laptop. If you have video or audio, make sure this is saved in the files.

If you are presenting in a browser, you have to enable offline mode so your presentation still works when you are in aeroplane mode with no Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Cellular. Check that the videos and audio still work in this scenario. If you have the offline mode enabled, you should be able to close and open your browser and still have the presentation work.

At the venue

Make sure you follow any instructions given by the organisers. When you arrive, make sure you check in and find the green room/stage entrance. One of the people at the registration desk should be able to point you in the correct direction or have someone show you the way.

AV Check

The purpose of the AV Check is to ensure that the laptop will interface with the conference’s AV setup. If they’re filming and you’re someone who doesn’t stand at the lectern during your talk, ask about the camera coverage so you don’t end up standing somewhere you can’t be seen on camera. If you have preferences on audience lighting, talk to the crew. Some people like seeing the audience, and others prefer not to.

The AV Check will normally take place during the break before your talk (or at the suggested time), and it is generally a good time to do one. It is worth doing the check as your laptop may need to get/load drivers for the HDMI. Plugging into HDMI on stage often takes longer than plugging into your monitor or dock at home, because the chain is far more complicated. Conference setups will usually be using EDIDs that your laptop hasn’t used before. The chain is much longer, as it will include not just basic HDMI but also decimators, HDMI switches, HDMI splitters, Display Matrixes, SDI, etc., so the handshake is much longer.

If your laptop doesn’t have a 16:9 screen, make sure you extend your screen to the projector rather than use screen mirroring. Sending a 16:10 or 3:2 output to the projector will result in black bars or weird scaling somewhere in the display chain.

If you have audio, please test it during the AV Check. Before the conference, it is worth telling the organisers that you will have audio during your presentation. This will first ensure that your audio works and secondly allow the person at the sound desk to set your initial audio levels. Once you have done your sound check, please don’t change the volume on your laptop.

Know where in settings you set your audio output device, as you may need to switch it to 3.5mm or HDMI.

If you are first up after the break, see if you can just leave your laptop plugged in on stage, all set up and ready to go. Less to worry about later. If you are doing this, don’t shut your laptop screen. If you are plugged into power and have an HDMI cable plugged into your laptop, it will turn off the laptop screen and display all windows on the HDMI output. Leaving your laptop screen open should leave all your windows where you left them.

Your Talk is coming up soon

Make sure that the laptop is in do-not-disturb mode. That way, you won’t get any notifications popping up during the presentation.

When you get mic’ed up, the people helping you will do an audio check. This serves two purposes. Firstly, it ensures that the mic and wireless pack are working correctly. Secondly, it is the sound person’s responsibility to set the initial sound levels. So when the person says “talk normally”, please speak at the volume you will use on stage during your presentation. Talking quietly “because you are off stage” will mean the initial levels are set incorrectly, and when you start talking on stage, you will be extra loud.

While you are on the side of the stage, make sure you unlock your laptop. It is far easier to type your password without a ton of people watching you. Also, sweat and stage lighting may prevent face unlock and fingerprint sensors from working. So, it’s best to unlock early and just hit the shift key from time to time to keep the laptop unlocked.

All the best

Hope your talk goes awesomely. Let me know if you have any questions or if I have missed anything.