Setting Up The Audio Visual Equipment

Contents

Introduction

When a talk or lecture is to be presented at Tuggerah Lakes U3A Inc., one of our members will need to set up the audio visual equipment required by the lecturer. 

These notes explain how to set up the equipment that is usually needed, namely:

(1) The Voice Amplification system (which consists of an amplifier/loudspeaker, a radio microphone, and a power extension lead)

(2) The laptop computer and projector, which are needed if the speaker has a Powerpoint presentation, or wishes to show videos, photographs, or graphics stored on data drives, DVD, memory sticks, or from the internet.

Time required for set-up and removal

It takes at least 30 minutes to set up the audio visual equipment by yourself, and if you are inexperienced, can take as long as 40 minutes.  This means that you need to get to the meeting room between 9.20 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. at the very latest in order that the equipment can be set up in time for the talk to commence at 10 a.m.

It takes at least 20 minutes to disconnect and pack up the equipment, after a talk, and to put the equipment back into the storage cupboard, by yourself.

Familiarisation and identification of storage bags and their contents

The first few times that a person has to set up the audio visual equipment, it can be difficult to remember which of the storage bags in the equipment cupboard need to be taken through to the meeting room.  That is, it can be difficult to remember what each storage bag contains.

Rest assured that once the job has been done a few times, you will become familiar with the contents of each bag, and be able to identify which bags are needed.

Importance of returning items to the correct bag after the talk

When packing up after a talk, please make sure that you replace items in the correct bag.  Failing to do so can cause significant problems for others who will have to hunt through bags looking for a misplaced item.

Setting up the Voice Amplification System

The Voice Amplification system consists of three items, all of which can be found in the Equipment Cupboard:

(1)  a small black portable loudspeaker and amplifier unit, very light weight, which has a carry handle at the top and a removable grey cover with a pocket, in which is stored the attached one metre power lead,

 

 

(2) a small lapel radio-microphone linked by a short wire to a small battery power unit.  This microphone and power unit are stored in a very small brown plastic box, which, in turn, is kept inside a lunch-box sized orange plastic container (NB: related items, such as spare batteries for the microphone power supply are also kept inside the orange container)

 

 

(3) A three metre extension lead, used to carry power from the wall socket just inside the meeting room door, on the left hand wall, to the loudspeaker and amplifier unit.  This extension cable is stored, with several other extension cables, in a small black zipper bag

How to set up the Voice Amplification system

Place the loudspeaker/amplifier unit in a safe position at the front of the meeting room.  Somewhere where it will not be tripped over by the lecturer (nor by members of the audience during the interval, etc).  For example under or beside the projection screen, or under or beside the white board. 

Plug the short power lead of the loudspeaker unit into the white three metre extension cord, which should be laid along the wall behind the whiteboard to the wall socket just inside the entry door on the left (behind the reception table)

Switch on the wall socket.  Switch on the amplifier by pressing the black button at the right hand end of the panel of controls



Take out the small brown container from the orange plastic lunchbox and undo the two clips holding the lid of the brown container. 

Remove the lapel radio microphone and battery power supply.  Slide the switch of the battery power supply to “On”, and ask the lecturer to attach the microphone to their lapel, etc, and place the battery unit in a pocket, or on the table beside them.  Ask the lecturer to speak a few words to allow you to adjust the volume control on the loudspeaker/amplifier unit (the volume control is a rotating knob immediately adjacent to the on/off button on the control panel of the amplifier - see photograph next but one above - i.e. it is the second control from the right hand end of the control panel)

After the talk, when replacing the microphone and its power supply into the small brown plastic container, SLIDE THE BATTERY POWER SWITCH TO OFF.  Otherwise the battery will run down and the microphone will not work at the next talk

Should the battery run out, there is a spare battery in the orange plastic lunchbox.  If you need to replace the battery with the spare. PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ADVISE SOMEONE ON THE COMMITTEE TO ACQUIRE A NEW SPARE BATTERY

Setting up the laptop and projector

To set up the laptop computer and projector, you will need the following items from the Equipment Cupboard:

(1) the black computer bag containing the laptop, and in the front pocket, ancillary equipment such as mouse, power supply, leads, and internet dongle

 

 

(2) the large upright black bag with two small red plastic edges on the top surface, which when unzipped contains the projector and a blue plastic bag.  Inside the blue plastic bag will be found the 1 metre power cable for the projector and a 1 metre audio visual cable which is used to join the projector to the laptop)

 

 

(3) Two pieces of rolled up carpet, store vertically at the back left and back right of the Equipment cupboard.  These are used to cover the extension lead in the central aisle in the meeting room (see below)

 

(4) The small black zipper bag (also needed for the Voice Amplification equipment, see above), which contains various extension leads.

How to set up the laptop and projector

Place these bags containing the laptop and projection equipment near to the projection table in the centre of the meeting room.  Once the items you require have been removed from the bags, place the bags in a safe place where they will not be tripped over (eg against the wall at the rear of the central aisle in the meeting room)

Set up the extension cables

First, extract two of the extension cables from the small black zipper bag, namely the long 5 metre white extension lead, and a ten metre yellow extension lead wound around a four-socket power board. 

Plug the long white 5 metre extension cable into the unused power socket in the wall socket near the hot water urn (the power socket should be switched off at this stage).   Ensure the lead runs behind the stacked chairs next to the hot water urn, and the along the bottom of the wall.  Join the 10 metre yellow extension cable to this white cable, and run the yellow cable along the bottom of the side wall and then along the back wall, behind the chairs, to the central aisle of the meeting room, Then run the yellow cable down the central aisle so that the powerboard at the end of the cable is underneath the projection table.

Lay the two strips of carpet on top of the yellow cable in the central aisle, so that the cable will not cause anyone to trip.

Set up the laptop computer

Remove the laptop computer from the black computer bag, and place it on the table behind the projector. 

From the front pocket of the computer bag, remove the small grey power supply unit attached to a 1 metre cable with a small round socket at the end.  Place the power unit on the table and push the small round socket into the socket on the right edge of the laptop (towards the back)

From the front pocket of the computer bag, remove the 1 metre connector lead which has an ordinary power plug at one end, and a small triangular three socket connector at the other end.  Plug the three socket connector into the socket on the grey power supply unit and plug the other end of the lead into the powerboard under the table.

From the front pocket of the computer bag, remove the mouse with USB cable.  Plug the mouse into one of the two USB sockets located on the left edge of the laptop

If the lecturer requires internet access, there is also a dodo internet USB dongle stored in the front pocket of the computer bag.  However, you will need to make sure that we have sufficient dodo prepaid credit - see separate heading below.

Set up the projector

Remove the projector, and the blue plastic bag of projector leads, from the upright black zipped bag with red tags on. 

Place the projector on the table.  Remove the lens cover by turning it a little. 

From the blue plastic bag of projector leads, remove the 1 metre power lead.  It has a power plug at one end, and two small circular sockets at the other end. Plug this lead into the powerboard under the table, and insert the other end with a two circular sockets into the power socket at the rear left base of the projector

Join the laptop and the projector

From the blue plastic bag of projector leads, remove the 1 metre audio visual cable which links the projector to the laptop computer.  At both ends of this cable are identical connectors, each having three rows of pins. 

Insert the pins of the connector at one end of the audio visual lead into the blue plastic socket (having three rows of holes) on the rear of the projector.  Note that the pins and holes are not symmetric, so the connector will only insert if it is the right way up.  After inserting the connector pins into the blue projector socket, please turn the two twist bolts at the sides of the connector to more securely attach the lead to the projector.

Insert the pins of the connector at the other end of the audio visual lead into the blue plastic socket (having three rows of holes) on the left hand edge of the laptop computer.  Note that the pins and holes are not symmetric, so the connector will only insert if it is the right way up.  After inserting the connector pins into the blue projector socket, please turn the two twist bolts at the sides of the connector to more securely attach the lead to the laptop.

Turning on the laptop and projector

Once all the equipment has been connected, you should switch on the power to the extension lead at the electricity socket near the hot water urn,

Next, switch on the power at the yellow powerboard master-switch, under the projector table.

You should now see two faint yellow lights just above the keyboard of the laptop and a red light on the top control panel of the projector.  These lights merely indicates that power is connected.

You can now turn on the laptop by depressing for a moment the small recessed button just above the keyboard, at the top right corner of the keyboard.  You will hear the disk-drive and fan of the laptop start up.

Once you have turned the laptop on, you may start up the projector as follows. Depress, and hold down for a moment, the red button on the top control panel of the projector.  The adjacent red light should change to a flashing green light. Release the red button and wait.

After a minute or two, the projector lamp will warm up and you should see a gradually brightening image being projected by the projector onto the wall (or on to the projector screen if in use).  At first, the image may not be the same as what is visible on the computer screen, but after a few moments, the images will match.

Raising the projected image to a higher position and adjusting focus

At this early stage, when is has just been switched on, the top of the projector is not hot, and you can raise the front of the projector to raise the projected image higher on the wall or projection screen as follows.  At the front of the projector there is a small blue lever. With a thumb or finger, raise this blue lever a small distance upwards - towards the top surface of the projector.  When the lever is in the raised position, an adjacent long support is free to move up and down, to raise or lower the front of the projector.  If necessary, give the projector a small movement to release the screw so that it slips down and becomes visible. Gently extend or depress the screw to raise or lower the front of the projector the desired amount.  Then release the blue lever, so that it grips the support screw and holds it in the current position

Once you are happy with the position of the image on the wall or the projection screen, it is easy to bring the image into focus.  There is a small nob attached to the projector lens. By rotating the nob a small amount clockwise or anticlockwise, you can adjust the focus as required

Turning off the projector during the interval and at the end of the talk

At a convenient point, perhaps about an hour after the lecture began, we usually have a twenty minute break for tea, coffee and biscuits.  During this interval, people are moving around the front of the room, so the projector should be switched off.  (Note, the laptop computer does not need to be switched off during the interval)

Switch off the projector by depressing for a moment, and then releasing, the red button on the top control panel. A message box will appear on the projection screen asking you to again depress the red button to confirm that you wish to switch the projector off,  When you depress the red button the second time, the projector will switch off.

At the end of the interval, switch the projector back on by depressing the red button until a green flashing light appears near that button. Then release the red button and wait while the projector lamp warms up and then shows the laptop screen image.

At the end of the lecture, turn off the projector in the same way before starting to disassemble the equipment.  Remember that the top surface of the projector may be hot, so leave the projector to cool down for 15 minutes while you pack everything else back into the appropriate bags.

The projector should be the last item to be packed away into its bag.  Before doing so, please

(1) place the lens protector on the front of the lens, and give it a very small turn, so that it engages and stays in position, and

(2) raise the small blue lever at the front of the projector to release the raising screw, and while keeping the blue lever raised, push the screw that raises the projector back into its recess

Using and recharging the dodo wireless broadband dongle

If the lecturer requires internet access, you may need to buy a $10 prepaid dodo wireless broadband voucher from a service station or supermarket a few days before the talk, to recharge our prepaid wireless broadband access (pay-as-you-go). If you recharge our dodo account with a $10 prepaid dodo wireless broadband voucher, preferably a day or two before the session, you can choose to receive the credit as 10 hours of internet access available during the thirty days following the recharge.

If the dongle is attached to one of the laptop’s USB ports, whether at the time the laptop is switched on or later, after it has been switched on, the laptop will detect the dongle, and will display on the desktop an information box, centre screen, offering a button to connect to the internet.  After clicking this button and waiting a minute, the laptop will be connected to the internet and the label on the button will change, now offering to disconnect.

To access the internet, start up the browser (i.e. Internet Explorer)

If our prepaid credit has expired, the dongle will still allow us to access the internet, but only to certain sites, in particular the dodo webpage for recharging our credit.

The dodo recharge webpage is bookmarked (ie listed) in the Favourites menu of the laptop’s internet explorer.  So after purchasing a dodo wireless broadband voucher, you can recharge the dongle’s access by going to the recharge web page while using the dongle.  To recharge, you will need to type in our ID (tuggerahlakesU3A) and p/w (tlu3a), and you will need to choose whether we receive 10 hours access during the next 30 days, or instead, a volume limit (500 Mb over the next 30 days).

After finishing an internet session, before switching the laptop off, please remember to click the “Disconnect” button on the form displayed on the desktop