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The Speaker Prep Station

Some venues set up a prep station: a screen near the speaker area where you check in, hand over your slides and answer any questions the event team needs answered before you go on stage. You do it once, before you walk to the lectern, and the room operator sees the result.

Where to Find It

At the venue > Speaker prep station

Your event team tells you where the prep station is and when it opens. It is separate from the Me portal. If you already sent slides through ema, they are listed for your talk under Already submitted.

Before You Start
  • Bring your presentation in a format the event accepts, or have the address of your online deck ready. If you plan to use your own laptop, you do not need any files.
  • If you already uploaded in the Me portal, check what the prep station lists for your talk before you replace anything.

Find Your Talk and Check In​

Type your name, your talk title or your session name into the search box. Each result carries small badges showing whether the talk already has Content, Consent and COI (conflict of interest) on record, so you can see at a glance what is still missing. Select your talk, then choose Check in in the Check-in panel. The screen shows the time you arrived.

If the screen says it cannot reach the server, wait a moment and choose Try again: the venue's server may still be starting up.

Hand Over Your Slides​

For your selected talk you can:

  • Upload a file. Drag it in or choose Choose a file. PowerPoint, PDF and video files are accepted. Choosing a file selects the matching content type for you.
  • Submit link instead, for example a Canva, Prezi or Google Slides address.
  • Present from your own laptop. Tick I'm presenting from my own laptop (skip upload) and nothing needs uploading. The operator will see that your talk is ready and will switch the projector to the laptop input when you go live.

Each upload area shows what the event team asked for: a Required badge if the file is required, their instructions, and the upload deadline in the venue's timezone. If the deadline has passed you see a Late chip, but you can still upload. If the organisers decided your talk needs nothing, the screen says No content required.

Under Already submitted you can see what is on file for that slot, Download it, Replace it, or open its version history.

Validation​

After you upload, choose Submit for validation. The prep station checks your presentation against the venue's requirements and fixes what it can. You will see one of three outcomes:

  • A few choices are needed. Answer the questions and choose Apply choices.
  • What we fixed. Look at the read-only preview of the corrected file, then choose Looks good — submit.
  • We couldn't accept this file. Edit the original presentation and submit it again. The block is reported to the room operator, who may be able to accept your deck as it is.

Validation runs on the prep station, so it needs the prep app to be connected. If it is not, the screen says so, and a member of the event team can help.

Edit a PowerPoint at the Station​

Editing needs the venue's Windows prep app and PowerPoint. The event's content slot must allow the file's format: native editing supports .pptx, .pptm, .ppt and .ppsx. PDF, video and online decks keep their own handover options.

  1. Under Already submitted, choose Edit in PowerPoint for the presentation you want to change. For a newly chosen PowerPoint file, use the option to edit the staged file before checking it.
  2. Make your changes in PowerPoint and Save. Keep saving to the prepared file. If the station reports a changed save location or Protected View, keep your work and ask the prep team for help.
  3. Back at the prep screen, choose Done editing. This prepares a saved snapshot to check; it does not upload your presentation or close PowerPoint.
  4. Review the retained snapshot and run Submit for validation. Answer any choices, preview the corrected file, then choose Looks good — submit.
  5. Check that the saved version appears. Close the presentation normally in PowerPoint when you have finished, then use Finish this handover when it is offered.
Your saved presentation and your handover are separate

Saved in PowerPoint describes the file at the station. A retained snapshot may be an earlier save; choose Make another saved snapshot to include later changes before checking them. No changes to submit means an existing presentation's snapshot has the same contents as the version you started from.

If the screen says it is waiting for the saved version, or that cloud sync is pending, keep the work available and follow the displayed retry or review action. A pending message does not mean the handover is complete.

If Another Version Changed​

The current version changed asks you to decide what should happen to your edited snapshot:

  • Make my edit current uses your saved edit as the current version after ema checks the latest state.
  • Save in history only keeps your edit in the version history without replacing the current presentation.
  • Discard my local edit explicitly disposes of that retained edit. Save and close the presentation normally before completing a local discard.

A later cloud conflict uses Use my saved version in the cloud or Keep in cloud history only. Those choices concern cloud sync; they do not replace the presentation already saved locally. If the current cloud version is unavailable, keep your work and ask the prep team to restore the connection before deciding.

Return to Unfinished Work​

Reloading the prep page can show the station's retained editing work. Review the listed revision and state before continuing. A retained snapshot may be an earlier one; after finishing one, another retained snapshot can still need your attention. Nothing is submitted just because you returned to the page.

If PowerPoint closed before you chose Done editing, use that action to prepare the final saved snapshot. If the app cannot establish the editing state, or the station itself restarted, keep the files and ask the prep team for help. Do not treat an unavailable state as proof that no editor remains open.

Ask the Prep Team for Help​

In Need help?, optionally add a note of up to 1,000 characters and choose Ask the prep team for help. Your selected talk accompanies the request when one is selected. Waiting for the prep team changes to Help request acknowledged when an operator picks it up. Choose Cancel my request if you no longer need help.

A request expires after 30 minutes. If you still need help, check the current request and ask again when the screen offers the action. If the request cannot be read or sent, contact the crew directly; the error is not confirmation that someone received it.

If the event team has switched these on, two short forms appear for your talk.

Recording consent. Choose Granted or Declined. If you decline, give a Reason. If you grant consent, draw your Signature on the pad with a finger or stylus; Clear signature lets you start again. Then choose Save consent. You can reopen the form later with Change answer.

Conflict of interest. Tick I have a conflict of interest and describe it under Details if you have one, then choose Save declaration.

A declined consent is still an answer, and the operator can see it. Where the event requires an answer, an unanswered form is what the operator will chase you for before taking your talk live.

A newer upload through ema replaces the slides you handed over

If you or a colleague upload a newer version through ema after your deck was accepted at the prep station, the newer file becomes the one that plays, and it has not been through validation. The operator sees a warning on your talk and can restore the validated version. If you are making changes the night before, tell the operator, or hand the updated file over at the prep station again.

What Happens Next​

Your answers and your deck go to the room operator's cockpit. The operator takes your talk live from there, and the projector shows your slides or switches to your laptop. See Room Cockpit and Speaker Prep for the organiser's view.

Check Your Work​

  • Your talk shows the badge for the content you handed over, or you chose your own laptop.
  • Any editing is saved, checked and shown as an accepted version; a retained or pending snapshot is still work to finish.
  • Your recording consent form shows Granted or Declined, not Pending.
  • You were told what to do if you need to change your slides after leaving the prep station.
Part of these journeys

Journey pages need an operator sign-in to open.

  • Session delivery and captureOnsite

    Sessions run, are recorded or streamed, and attendance is captured.

    • Step 2 of 8Speakers hand over decks and consent at the on-site prep stationSpeaker
  • Speaker prep station to live sessionOnsite

    Each talk goes live from a validated deck or the speaker’s own laptop, with the consent the project requires on record, and the operator sees room faults before the audience does.

    • Step 6 of 16Speaker finds their talk at the prep station and checks inSpeaker
    • Step 7 of 16Speaker hands over the deck or link and submits it for validationSpeaker
    • Step 8 of 16Speaker chooses to present from their own laptop insteadSpeaker
    • Step 9 of 16Speaker grants and signs, or declines with a reason, recording consent and declares conflictsSpeaker
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