You have to get a remote control. Really.

This is a small but vital piece of equipment. The number of presentations I have seen where the presenter stays rooted to the spot next to their computer and has to lean forward every time they want to move on to the next slide is shameful.

At the opposite end of the scale are the people who wander around and forget where they are up to and end up dashing across to the computer to click the mouse or keyboard. This is a huge distraction and disrupts the flow of the presentation.

Don’t let your equipment dictate the pace and energy of your presentation.

If your equipment isn’t helping to make things seem smooth and effortless then you only have a few options:

• Change the equipment
• Change how you use it
• Get rid of it.

None of your equipment should interrupt the flow of your presentation.

Get a remote control or presentation mouse (the wireless ones with a little laser pointer built in) and then work out how to use it. I don’t just mean read the instructions. Test the range it works over, the angles it works from, find any blind spots there may be and be aware of them. Make sure it is always charged before a presentation and then use it! Learn how to use it well and practice with it. As regular readers will know, practice makes habit.

Having this piece of equipment in your toolbox makes a huge, if unconscious, impression on your audience. They won’t notice you using it but you can bet they will be distracted if you aren’t!