Preparing your laptop for a presentation

If you are using your own laptop to connect to a datashow projector for a public presentation, make sure that whatever the audience sees is up to your usual standards.
The best scenario is, of course, to set everything up in advance. When the audience gets in, the cover slide is already up.
If you have set up on the spot, get the slide up on your pc and only then hook it up to the projector.
In any case, it is important to check what is showing on your desktop. What background or wallpaper are you using? What icons are on your desktop? What other files are stored in the same folder where your presentation is saved?
I've seen the weirdest stuff around. Uggly colours, tasteless wallpapers, bad pictures of loved ones, weird filenames, set of presentation files aimed at a competitor in the same folder, cute love cards from girlfriends, icons to embarassing games or websites.
A good solution might be to set up a complete new user or identity for presentations only and have a clean desktop with a meaningful background and the presentation files conveniently placed on the desktop. Simple, but certainly effective.
Another thought is to selectively make information visible clearly intentionally or seemingly unintentionally. It might be the company's logo and slogan, it might be a hint to that talent recruiter that you have been approached by others or simply a gag to break the ice in the beginning or having a good laugh in the end.