Friday Forward - Dongle Story (#472)

We can solve problems in the moment, or force ourselves to face them later

Over time, I have refined my ideal tech setup for speeches. It’s best for me to have a confidence monitor with PowerPoint presenter mode, which shows me my notes alongside each slide, while the audience just sees the slide itself. This allows me to use mostly visual slides and engage with the audience, rather than just reading the bullet points on text-heavy slides.

While professional AV teams can set this up for an in-person keynote, virtual sessions require use of a second monitor. At home, I have this set-up but when I need to give a virtual keynote while traveling, I bring a small, portable second monitor, which is cumbersome but effective.

Last fall, during a week-long trip, I needed to change the date of a virtual presentation on short notice for a 24-hour live virtual event. Because I wasn’t expecting to speak, I didn’t have a second screen with me.

The morning of the speech, I spent two stressful hours trying to connect my laptop to the TV in my hotel room. It eventually worked, but not perfectly, and I couldn't see what the audience saw. The ordeal left me distracted and affected my confidence.

What frustrated me most was I had experienced similar issues before but had not taken the time to find a permanent solution. I resolved to finally do something about it.

On my flight home, with some help from ChatGPT, I found a small HDMI plug that tricks a computer into thinking a second screen is connected, even when there isn’t one. It was exactly what I needed—lightweight, simple, and effective. I ordered three of them for $20, tested them, and started carrying one in my bag at all times.

I didn’t think much about it again—until a couple of weeks ago.

I was keynoting for a company. We had gone over the AV setup in advance and decided that I would use my PC as a confidence monitor with presenter mode on a podium in front of me, which is a simple set-up I have used many times.

Then, about an hour before I went on stage, I learned that the presentation also needed to be broadcast live to remote employees via Microsoft Teams. The problem was that running presenter mode while screen sharing on Teams would have made my notes visible to remote viewers, while running the normal slideshow would’ve left me without my talking points.

The AV team and I started brainstorming solutions, most of which involved complicated workarounds. That was when I remembered my tiny HDMI dongle. Within five minutes, we had it set up so that I could see my notes on my own computer while the audience and the Teams viewers saw only the slides. It worked flawlessly.

The only reason this didn’t become another high-stress situation was because I had made the decision to act after my previous failure.

Too often, when something goes wrong, we promise ourselves we’ll deal with it later. We endure the frustration in the moment, but once it passes, we find it easier to move on—only to find ourselves in the exact same predicament again, thinking, “I should have done something about this last time.”

Whenever there’s a problem to solve, you can choose to fix it now or be forced to deal with it later. The best time to remedy a mistake or problem is right after experiencing it, when the pain is fresh and the motivation is high. If we wait, the issue fades—until it resurfaces at the worst time.

This lesson extends well beyond technology. Think of a team member who really missed the mark, but you avoided addressing the issue in real-time only to have it happen again. Or small roof leak you promise to fix every time it rains, only to forget once the skies clear. In many cases, the problem isn’t even hard to solve, but we still avoid these frustrations until they resurface at the worst possible moment—when it’s usually too late to take meaningful action.

What’s one recurring problem you could solve today that your future self will thank you for?

Quote of The Week

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” - Benjamin Franklin

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