Now if I was in charge of all the presentations and was able to work with the more modern WiFi accessible equipment (as opposed to legacy equipment often found), I’d mandate what you said. But, with volunteers/non-profit, it may be like herding cats at times! But that’s another story…

Not that I disagree with you, but with volunteer groups, we are working with a bunch of different personal equipment and technical know how. What you said make sense to me absolutely. May not for other, less technically inclined people. 🙂

As a former traveling trainer here is how I did it in recent years. As an old guy, if I can do it any one can do it.

First, ditch the lap top and use an iPad. The free Microsoft iOS office apps are powerful and easy to use (I don’t know how MS did it) and the files are compatible with Window machines.

WiFi a problem? Bring your own. I create my own WiFi by creating a hot spot on my iPhone and connecting the iPad to it. No need to connect the iPad to the projector with an umbilical cord. Bring your itty bitty Apple TV box with you and connect it to the projector… Wala, you now connect your Apple TV to your hot spot and now wirelessly broadcast your iPad screen to the projector. You can buy any needed adapters to connect the Apple TV to any projector. You are no longer at the mercy of a facility’s WiFi. Oh, and cloud-based stuff is easy, assuming you have cell phone coverage.

Good thing about this setup is it is your equipment and everything is set up once and from then on it automatically works. No need to pray that an IT guy is in the audience 😉

No clicker needed. You carry the iPad in your hand as you walk around. Need to demonstrate something like a spreadsheet? No need to sit down at a laptop. Excel for iOS handles standard Windows Excel files and you can demonstrate on your iPad wherever you want to stand or sit.

If the projector has speakers, the sound goes through it. I usually brought a Jambox Bluetooth speaker for audio.

Have a neat GPS app you want to demo? No need to show pictures of it, just demo it on the iPad or even the iPhone — everything is connected and ready to go.

Hey, old guys rock!