Chisel

Today at YAPC I got unexpectedly moved to the main room; somehow this messed up all the mental preparations I’d made for the day:

• sitting through at least one talk in the room
• checking the layout, setup, etc
• working out where I’d stand relative to the screen
• (yada, yada)

I was lazy in the wrong ways and hadn’t figured on a move to a stage with a podium and a mic and a huge projection behind me.

Worse, and the thing I’m kicking myself most about is:

• I didn’t plug my (current) laptop into ANY projectors at all before my talk
• I’d assumed I could remember (in a moment of panic) that I could find certain settings

Bad Move.

Silly move!

In my vague defense:

• the previous talk overran
• I didn’t have the five minute grace period to find the setting(s) I wanted
• people were drilling into my head with their evil laser-beam eyes!

I did muddle my way through but I’m thoroughly upset and unimpressed with my presentation skills today. It’s only my second YAPC talk but I really should have known better.

Next time I’ll get it right - I promise!