Burnt a client presentation on a projector that wouldn't sync

I was at a coffee shop in downtown Austin prepping for a 10 AM pitch with a potential client... I had everything ready on my laptop, but when I plugged into their big monitor, the display kept flickering and going black. I realized I'd forgotten to check the HDMI cable and adapter the night before, and the shop's WiFi was too slow to pull up my backup cloud copy. I ended up emailing the PDF to the client's assistant right there from my phone, and she printed it for me 5 minutes before the meeting... it worked out but I was sweating bullets. Anyone else have a tech fail that almost cost them a gig?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel_rivera1mo ago

Buddy of mine had his whole sales deck crash and burn when his laptop blue screened mid presentation at a big meeting. He just laughed it off and said "well that was embarrassing" while he rebooted, somehow still landed the client.

samf951mo ago

You really think clients are that chill about a tech fail ruining their time? Guess you've never had a suit stare at you like you wasted his morning while you fumble with cables. Respectfully @ivan522, most people don't pay for "almost" smooth presentations.

ivan5221mo ago

Honestly you panicked for nothing, the client probably would've understood a quick tech glitch.