Playing PowerPoint at the funeral venue: the checklist
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When the funeral venue or crematorium doesn't play this for you, you'll have to do it yourself. The presentation is ready. Now it has to actually work at the venue too. This checklist heads off the most common problems.
A week beforehand
- Ask the venue what they have. Is there a fixed screen or projector? Which connection (HDMI, USB-C)? Is there a sound system the laptop can plug into?
- Arrange the operator. Someone has to run the cues: a member of the venue's staff, the funeral director, or a technically capable family member.
- Share the files. Send the presentation and the instruction document to the venue in advance, for example via a download link, so they can test it beforehand.
The day before
- Test in real PowerPoint. LibreOffice, Keynote and various online viewers play the timing and music differently. Save yourself needless frustration by playing the file only in PowerPoint.
- Play the whole presentation through once, including every cue. Check that the music starts on the right slide and carries on across the photos.
- Put a backup on a USB stick alongside the version on the laptop.
- Turn off notifications. Put the laptop in presentation or do-not-disturb mode; nobody wants an email pop-up during the farewell.
An hour beforehand, at the venue
- Connect the laptop and select the correct display (duplicate, not extend, so the operator sees the same thing as the room).
- Test the sound at room volume. Play the first piece of music and walk to the back of the room.
- Turn off power saving: the screen mustn't go black during a long speaker.
- Lay the instruction document beside the laptop. It states for each moment whether the slide advances by itself or waits for a click, and which music should be playing.
During the service
The golden rule for the operator: only click at the agreed moments. A good funeral presentation handles the rest itself: photos advance by themselves in time with the music, videos start automatically, and at the final farewell the music repeats until the moment has passed.
If you make the presentation with our tool, you automatically get an instruction PDF with all the cues and a shareable download link for the venue, with the final version.