Blank screen panic during a big client presentation in Chicago

I was at a client site in Chicago last spring, about to show a 6 month marketing campaign report to their whole leadership team. My laptop went black right when I plugged into their projector - totally froze, wouldn't even restart. I had about 3 minutes before everyone sat down, so I grabbed my phone and emailed the PDF to the admin assistant I met that morning. She printed it out while I stalled by asking about their quarterly goals. The presentation ended up working fine on paper, but now I always carry a printed backup for any big meeting - has anyone else had tech fail at the worst possible moment?

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jordan_webb494mo ago

Oh man, that's a classic nightmare scenario (I've definitely read a few stories like yours over the years on tech forums). The way you handled it with the email and the admin assistant was actually pretty smart, especially stalling with their goals. I get that same cold sweat just thinking about it. I remember an article I saw about how most people forget that projectors and laptops can just decide to stop talking to each other at the worst time. That's why I always have a PDF copy on my phone AND a spare thumb drive in my bag now. You can't beat paper for reliability though, that's for sure.

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the_emery4mo ago

Classic nightmare scenario" is right, my heart rate still spikes just reading that.

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