Tech success with wallacespace

We would always encourage you to use our wallacespace laptops and other equipment for hybrid meetings and presentations. We know it will have the most current version of the software needed to make it work with the rest of our tech. And there’s no extra charge for this, unless you need such large numbers of laptops that we need to hire extra equipment.

If it’s important for you to use your own laptop, there are a few steps outlined below that you can take to minimise the risk of issues, such as running updates (especially for Teams) and checking that your IT department haven’t installed security protocols that mean your laptop can’t be used with unfamiliar technology.

In our experience, one of the biggest barriers when it comes to connecting your laptop or other IT equipment to our projectors and screens, is software not being up to date. We therefore strongly recommend that you do a full system update and restart your laptop, the morning of your meeting. Updates can be frustratingly slow, so it’s always best to avoid the need to run updates once you’re about to start your meeting.

The usual pathway for updates is:  

Microsoft – Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates  

Apple Mac – System Settings > General > Software Update  

There are 3 great reasons why you should be updating and restarting your laptop every day: 

1. Security. Never have we been at more risk from viruses and hackers with an estimation of 500,000 new virus and malware detected each day.  
2. Your laptop has lots of drivers that keep it running efficiently and need regular upgrades to ensure it keeps working as it should and works with any external hardware.  
3. Microsoft loves to keep its software up to date and efficient, especially Teams.
   If you do not update regularly then Teams will simply stop working as it should, because your laptop cannot support its audio-visual features.

Keeping your tech updated will help our teams support you faster and better.  

Another big barrier to success is encrypted laptops. This is usually due to an organisation’s high security protocols, and is a very good idea when the laptop is being used onsite.

However, it can impact your laptop’s ability to support audio-visual hardware, so this is a really good thing to check with your IT department in advance.

Please let us know if you’re worried that this may be an issue, we are very happy to speak to your IT department in advance to work out how we can best make your device work on your day. 

It would be even better to have your company’s IT contact to hand on the day, in case we come up against any unexpected problems. This way they can remote onto your device easily to fix any issues. 

We do occasionally see issues with clickers/remotes not working with PowerPoint presentations.  

First thing to check is the power. Is the device turned on and the USB in a working port on your laptop. Press the laser button and if you get a red or green light then we are in business.  

Second thing (which is the usual problem and a super quick fix), is that we need to sync the clicker to the laptop which takes a simple click of the mouse on the screen. This will then sync up the clicker and will connect properly so you can begin.   

Thirdly, if you are screensharing a presentation on Teams or Zoom, make sure the presentation is the ‘active window’ before using a clicker – if you are looking at Teams/Zoom settings, your emails or any other tab it may not work.

We can help with all of this on the day.

In our experience the browser version of Microsoft platforms have less functionality than the desktop app. Our team can help you access the desktop app, we can do this for you ahead of time to make sure you’re all set up to go on the day.

If you do need to use the browser version, a few examples of issues to watch out for are: 

For Word on the web… 

• You can’t open documents that are encrypted with a  password – use the desktop app instead 

• picture/object formatting and their location on the page may not look the same – overlapping or misaligned pictures can sometimes be seen 

For Excel on the web… 

• Formulae may have less functionality than in the desktop app 

• Data connections to other sources may not refresh – it depends on how your environment is set up however 

For Powerpoint on the web the majority of features are the same, however there are a couple of exceptions, for example:

• Self running presentations 

• Presenter view and  

• Recording your presentation  

For Teams on the web… 

• Most features should be the same for Edge and Chrome but the user interface may appear slightly different to find certain settings 

 

 In our experience newer laptops do not have USB ports and require an adapter to use a USB device and attach an HDMI. 

We have plenty of adaptors available for you to borrow, but for peace of mind it’s always worth checking which ports you have on your laptop and getting in touch in advance so we can sure we have what you need.

The more you can tell us about your event and how you intend to use tech to communicate,  the better we can plan, test and advise on the very best tech solutions for your meeting or event.

The more notice you can give us the better too.

We can always be fleet of foot and sort something out at the last minute for you if needed, especially for smaller hybrid meetings, but the more pre-warning we have, the more tests we can run to pre-empt issues.