We continue from Part 1. This is the second and concluding part.
If you are the MD/CEO of your company(or a Senior Executive that never has to do chores like this at work), this edition may not directly apply to you but it could benefit you if you passed it on to your Personal Assistant, Secretary or anyone responsible for setting up your presentations anytime you have to deliver them.
If you are not an MD/CEO, you are likely to find the lessons from this story quite instructive.
In part 1, Musa’s world is falling apart as the Powerpoint file he setup for the MD’s presentation suddenly stops working midway through the latter’s talk.
Read the rest of the story below to learn how how Musa was able – within a space of 3 minutes – to resolve the problem and get the MD’s presentation back on its PowerPoint based tract, to record a happy ending.
There are many practical lessons to be learned from this narrative of a true-life occurrence.
10. Musa suddenly remembers that while preparing for the MD’s presentation, he had taken pains to save a backup copy of the PowerPoint Presentation on his PC desktop in his office. An idea occurs to him, and he bolts from the hall and up to his office in the Training block in seconds.
11. He tries to copy the file to a flash drive, but gets an error message: “not enough disk space!” There’s no time to check what can be deleted from the disk. He curses under his breadth, checks his watch: now almost 2 minutes since the MD stopped using the PC.
12. Some more thinking leads him to recall that right-clicking on a file in Windows XP and highlighting the “Send To” shortcut menu item brings up a short cut menu item called “Compressed(zipped) folder”.
This useful feature is an alternative for when one does not have utilities like Winzip, Winrar or other file compression software on their PCs.
Typically, compression of up to 40% is achievable with this Windows XP version(Why not try using it now and see what you get?).
13. He right clicks the Power Point file, and applies the command. The resulting compressed .zip file easily copies to the flash disk. He sprints out of his office and back into the hall where everyone turns to look at him as re-enters. He avoids his boss’ glare and walks to the Laptop, heart pounding, barely hearing the MD’s voice.
14. With the PC projector lights still switched off, he copies the zipped file to the desktop and right clicks on it.
a. He then clicks on the “Extract All..” shortcut menu item to bring up a “Compressed (Zipped) files extraction Wizard” welcome screen.
b. He clicks “Next” twice and watches as the wizard copies a folder containing the powerpoint file to the desktop.
c. He clicks “finish” and the folder (by default setting) automatically opens to reveal the uncompressed PowerPoint Presentation.
15. He quickly launches the presentation and clicks through slides 1 to 3, then holding his breath clicks to continue. There is a short delay, then the 4th slide appears! He clicks again, and the 5th appears, till all 10 slides are complete.
16. Musa looks up at his boss whose piercing gaze he has felt on him all the while and nods to indicate all is well. He puts on the Projector lights to reveal the 4th slide at which the MD turns and says “Ah, looks like we can continue!“. The presentation continues smoothly to the end. Musa looks at his watch: It had taken 3 minutes!
17. After the presentation, some of Musa’s colleagues asked him what happened.
He had no answer for them as he had checked the bad copy again and again and could simply not explain what had caused it to go bad or “corrupt” at the transition to slide 3.
It could have been the power glitch during the test run he did – but he could not be certain.
He did tell them two things however:
a. First was that keeping a back up copy of the file on his PC(and close to the presentation venue) made it possible for him to replace the bad one – in time.
b. Secondly, knowing about the Windows XP file compression utility enabled him get around the twin problems of the file being too large to fit on a disk + his not having WinZip installed on his PC.
One could argue that he could have used another removable storage device, but what if he did not own one, or could not find anyone who did or even worse(and quite possible), what if it went bad or missing at that point when he needed it? Things like this have a way of happening, so one is better off considering all possibilites and preparing for them.
18. The most important message here is that you need to take time to acquire new/relevant knowledge and skills to enable you become more productive and efficient on your job.
The little things you can learn about technology available in your office to get more done in less time, will set you apart from the crowd and make you look good more often.
The quote below, in our opinion summarises it well:
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“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write. They will be those who cannot learn, un-learn and re-learn” – Alain Tofle
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Tayo Solagbade‘s 113 page paper back(physical) book – “Ten Ways You Can Use Self-Development To Create The Future You Want” is available for purchase from the Self-Development Academy’s online store hosted by the following Print-On-Demand service provider:
Lulu.com (e-book and in print. Get a FREE Chapter Preview – click here)
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