You've got the speaking slot. Now what?

Getting on a conference stage is an achievement, but what happens between "yes, I'll present" and the moment you step up to the podium is what separates a forgettable session from one people talk about afterward. The venue is bigger than your usual meeting room. The Wi-Fi is unreliable. The screen resolution is different. The audience in the back row is far away. And you've got one shot.

This checklist covers everything you need to do before, during, and at the end of your conference talk, with Prezi AI doing the heavy lifting on the visual side.

1. Build Your Presentation With Prezi AI First

Before anything else, get your presentation built and polished. Prezi AI can generate an outline and visual structure from a single prompt, so you're not staring at a blank canvas on a deadline. From there, you can refine the narrative, swap in your own data, and apply a theme that fits your topic and brand.

A few things to nail at this stage:

Keep slides clean and readable at a distance. Conference rooms are large. Content that looks fine on your laptop screen may be unreadable from row 15. Use large headlines, short text, and generous white space. A good rule: if you can't read it from across the room, cut it.

Use high-contrast color combinations. Dark text on a light background (or vice versa) reads clearly even on lower-quality projectors. Avoid red/green or blue/yellow pairings. These are difficult for colorblind audience members to distinguish. Stick to 2–3 dominant colors maximum to keep the design cohesive without overwhelming.

Make your typography intentional. Sans-serif fonts generally project more cleanly than serif fonts at large sizes. Don't go below 24pt for body text, and for anything you actually want people to read from the back of the room, think bigger. Prioritize hierarchy: one thing should command attention on each frame.

Images and charts need to earn their place. Use high-quality, relevant visuals, not clip art or generic stock photos. Charts should make one clear point; label them directly rather than relying on a legend that requires squinting. A single large number or a simple bar chart will communicate faster and more powerfully than a dense data table. You can also create your own images using Prezi's AI image generator or review our image library of 1M+ visuals.

Design for accessibility from the start. Beyond color contrast, make sure your layout has a clear reading order. Avoid placing critical information in the corners of frames. Use alt text where possible, and don't rely solely on color to convey meaning in charts or diagrams.

2. Prepare for the Offline Reality of Conferences

Conference Wi-Fi is notoriously unpredictable. You cannot rely on a browser-based presentation when 500 people in the same building are competing for bandwidth. Plan for offline from day one.

Download the Prezi desktop app. The Prezi desktop app (available for Windows and Mac on Plus and higher plans) lets you create, edit, and present entirely offline. Log in and sync your content before you leave for the conference, once you're offline, your dashboard and presentations are ready to go. Use the on-screen arrows or keyboard to navigate, and jump directly to any frame by clicking on it. Use this option if you plan to use your own computer and plug in an HDMI.

Export a portable offline presentation as a backup. In the Prezi desktop app, open the three-dot menu on your presentation thumbnail and select Download / Export → Offline Presentation. You'll get an EXE file (Windows) or a ZIP file (Mac) — a standalone file that runs without an internet connection, without a Prezi account, and without any installation. Save it to your laptop and a USB drive. If the conference AV team needs to run your presentation from their own machine, hand them the USB.

Export to PDF or PowerPoint as an additional fallback. If for any reason the conference venue needs a file, or if you're running your talk from a shared AV system, you can export your presentation as a PDF or PPTX from the Share menu. Each frame becomes a page or slide. It won't have Prezi's zooming motion, but your content will be intact and presentable on any machine.

Pre-event checklist:

• Prezi desktop app downloaded and synced
• Offline portable presentation exported (EXE or ZIP)
• PDF or PPTX backup saved
• All files saved to laptop and USB drive
• Tested opening each file format on the presentation laptop

3. Set Up Your QR Code Slide

One of the most practical things you can do for a conference audience is give them an easy way to access your presentation after your talk, especially during Q&A, when people want to re-examine a specific chart or find a reference you cited.

Add a QR code to your final slide. Prezi has a built-in QR code generator. In the editor, click the Share button in the upper-right corner and select Insert QR Code. Prezi automatically generates a code linking to your current presentation. You can insert it directly onto your canvas or download it as an image. You can also add in multiple QR codes and customize them if you want to share more items beyond your Prezi presentation itself.

A few tips for making it actually work in a large room:

• Size matters. Make the QR code at least 2×2 cm on screen, larger if you're projecting in a big hall.
• Leave clear space around it. Don't crowd the code with overlapping elements or push it to the edge of the frame.
• Contrast is everything. A dark code on a light background scans reliably. Test it yourself before taking the stage.
• Test on multiple devices. Scan the code on your own phone, and ask a colleague to test it on theirs before the event.

Leave this slide up throughout your Q&A. It keeps your contact information and content visible while you're fielding questions, and it means attendees can follow along with your key points even if they didn't take notes.

4. Do a Full Technical Rehearsal

Technical glitches don't care about your preparation. The only way to minimize them is to run a complete test under conditions as close to the actual presentation as possible.

Check your equipment:

• Presentation laptop is fully charged + power adapter packed
• Clicker/remote tested and batteries fresh (or bring spares)
• Display settings configured for external monitor (Extended vs. Mirror, know which you want)
• Presenter notes visible on your screen only, not projected
• Any videos or embedded media tested for playback (note: YouTube videos in Prezi require an internet connection to play)
• Audio levels checked if your presentation includes sound

Know the room before you present in it. If you can get into the room the day before or even an hour early, do it. Walk the space. Find out where the projector throw lands, whether the screen has any glare issues, and what the lighting situation is. Dim the lights just enough that the screen is clearly visible, but not so dark that the audience can't see you or starts to drift off.

Bring a backup for your backup. Have your portable offline presentation on a USB drive in addition to your laptop. If your laptop fails entirely, you can run the file rom the AV team's machine.

5. Design for the Back Row

A conference room is not a conference call. The person in the last row paid the same registration fee as the person in the front. Here's how to make sure your presentation works for everyone in the space.

Font size: Headlines should be 40pt or larger. Body text or supporting points: minimum 28–32pt. If it fits on the slide but you had to shrink the font to make it fit, cut the content instead.

Color contrast: Use tools like the WebAIM contrast checker to verify your text-to-background ratio before finalizing your design. High contrast isn't just good accessibility practice, it's the difference between legible and illegible on a projector in a bright room.

Images: Use large, full-bleed visuals where possible. A single strong image communicates faster than a cluster of smaller ones. Make sure images are high resolution, pixelated visuals on a large screen will undercut the professionalism of your talk.

Charts and data: Remove clutter. Eliminate gridlines, borders, and legends when you can replace them with direct labels. Use color purposefully, one highlight color draws attention; multiple colors of equal weight confuse it. If you're showing a trend, make the trend line thick and obvious.

Layout: Keep critical content out of the corners and bottom edges of your frames, which can be cut off depending on projector setup. Center or upper-center positioning is safest for key information.

6. Own the Room

The visuals set the stage. The delivery is what people will remember.

Arrive early and walk the space. Get familiar with where you'll be standing, where the screen is relative to your position, and how far the front row is from the back. This removes the shock of an unexpectedly large or oddly-shaped room.

Face the audience, not the screen. It sounds obvious, but it's the most common mistake at conferences. Use your laptop or a confidence monitor to track your progress, never read from the projected screen with your back to the room.

Make eye contact across the full room. Don't anchor yourself to the front-center section. Pick individuals in different parts of the room and make brief, genuine eye contact as you move through your points. This keeps the whole audience engaged and helps you read the room.

Slow down. Nerves make most speakers talk faster than they should. Pause after key points. Let a strong visual breathe. Silence is not dead air — it signals confidence and gives the audience time to absorb what you said.

Use your body. Stand with your weight balanced, shoulders back. Gestures should be natural and deliberate, not nervous fidgeting. Movement across the stage (if the space allows) keeps energy high, but planting your feet and speaking directly is equally powerful.

Manage the Q&A intentionally. Keep your final QR code slide up. Repeat questions clearly before answering them — the microphone is usually only on you, and the people in the back didn't hear the question from the third row. Leave time, signal clearly when Q&A begins, and end on time.

The Full Pre-Conference Checklist

Presentation build:

• Prezi AI draft complete, narrative refined
• Fonts 28pt+ throughout, high-contrast color palette
• Charts simplified and directly labeled
• QR code slide added as final frame, sized and tested

Export and backup:

• Desktop app downloaded, presentation synced offline
• Portable offline file exported (EXE for Windows / ZIP for Mac)
• PDF or PPTX backup exported
• All files saved to laptop + USB

Technical:

• Laptop fully charged, adapter packed
• Clicker tested
• Videos tested (note internet dependency for YouTube)
• Display output configured
• Speaker notes visible on presenter screen only

Room and delivery:

• Room visited before your session if possible
• Lighting and screen visibility checked
• Rehearsed full talk at conference pacing
• Q&A questions anticipated and prepared