Setting up your personal iPad for presenting and teaching

In this blog post, I describe configuration steps to help you setup your personal iPad for presenting at conferences and teaching in the classroom. iPads have great personalization features, however, not all of these features are appropriate if you are displaying your iPad screen to a large audience, such as in the classroom or at a conference. Here are the things you should consider:

1. Set an appropriate wallpaper for display. If you have customized the wallpaper (background on your screen) with pictures of your kids or your favourite vacation spot, ask yourself if this is an appropriate picture to display to everyone at the conference or in the classroom. Also, consider the mood that your wallpaper sets. If necessary, change your wallpaper to one that is more appropriate for your presentation. Here is a video clip describing how to change your wallpaper.
2. Clean up your main home screen. At some point during your presentation, your home screen may end up being projected, even if you didn't intend it to be. Spend a few minutes to make sure that you are displaying only want you are willing to share with your audience on the homescreen. For example, if you are teaching in a classroom with kids, do you really want them to know that you like playing Angry Birds? Perhaps those games belong on a secondary screen. Here is a video showing how to clean up your home screen.
3. Turn off notifications. The last thing you want in the middle of your conference presentation is a popup from your friend sending you a Facebook Event request to join him for a party on Saturday night. Notifications are not only distracting during your presentation, they can also be unprofessional. Here is a video showing how to turn off notifications.
4. Lock your screen rotation. If you are presenting with your iPad wirelessly, then you may end up moving it in one direction or another causing the screen to rotate. When you are projecting or sharing your iPad with a small group of students in the classroom, the autorotation feature can be annoying. Here is a video showing how to set the side switch to lock on your screen rotation.
5. Turn off auto lock. If you might be displaying the same page for longer than your automatic timeout on your screen, you may with to turn off auto lock for your presentation. Here is a video showing how to change the auto lock timer.

Do you teach in the classroom or use your iPad for presenting to large audiences? Did I miss anything? Please leave a comment and I'll update the post.