Dead Air

When you give lots of presentations, sooner or later something bad will happen while you're in the middle of a demo. Either your machine will crash, or the app you're demo-ing will freeze, or one of any number of things. In times like this, you don't want to be standing in front of your audience just looking goofy. That's why it's always good to have a handful of canned conversation pieces at the ready.

I typically will use the opportunity to gather more information from my audience about what they've done in the past for test automation, or what their biggest challenges are. (Normally you should learn these before you give a presentation, but sometimes that doesn't work out. If you have learned what their challenges are, this gives the audience a great chance to further elaborate on their situation.)

Alternatively, you can use the time to mention certain "side notes" that may be relevant to the audience. These include things like user conferences, training resources, or books & blogs that may help them.

Some folks like to fill this time with jokes, or anecdotes about their kids. Do this with caution. Gauge your audience and decide if that sort of filler is appropriate. I've found that the more I can keep the discussion focused on the audience and their needs the better.

What sort of things have you done to help combat dead air? Drop me a note in the comments