The Sewing Mom

I was at my daughter’s elementary school this morning to give my presentation and the only electronic device I needed was a T.V. and a dvd player, electronics that I do know how to use! I was told it would all be ready for me, but when I got there it wasn’t in the room. So, I had to go in search of the equipment. I went straight to the tech. person at the school and she told me to utilize the “media cart” in order to play my dvd. This required plugging the cart into an electrical outlet as well as plugging the onboard computer into a computer outlet (sorry for the lack of tech. terms!).

Anyway, my daughter and a teacher were helping me get it up and running thank goodness, and in the mean time, the school janitor showed up with a cart holding a T.V. and dvd player! We opted to continue on with the computer set up because it would show up on a larger pull down screen so it would be easier for the 75 students to see. So, we continued waiting for it to load. This seemed to take forever.

In the mean time I went ahead and began the speaking part of my presentation while my daughter and the teacher continued working with the Audio Visual Equipment and AV Installations and I watched them as I spoke, wondering if it would work. Finally, as I reached the end of my speaking part, a different teacher who was in the back of the room speaks up and says oh, the dvd won’t play in that due to the school’s firewall. OH? She couldn’t have told us that sooner to alleviate the hassle of trying to get this to work?!

Okay, thank goodness I had a backup with the T.V. and dvd player. We plugged it in and popped in the dvd and sure enough, the movie began to play. Other than a few sound issues, it worked just fine and the students enjoyed viewing it. The presentation overall was a success.

It’s at times like these though that I wish I knew more about technology. If I’m going to continue to make presentations like the one today and the ones I made earlier this week to the PTA and last week to the school principal, it’s nice to know how things work. It’s also a nice feeling to know that the audio visual equipment at school has been professionally installed. It’s interesting too because although I don’t know much about it, my 11 year old daughter is using this equipment at school all the time and is becoming quite capable at using it.  I think I’ll be relying on her help a lot in the years to come!

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