Powerpoint

The thing about presentations is that they almost invariably make your brain want to doze off... Unless you've just had, say, a venti mocha with an extra shot to try to prevent that exact situation, and the darkened room and monotone of the presenter aren't enough to put you out. So you actually pay attention to it, or try to. Of course, after the first 30 seconds or so of each slide, there isn't any new information for your brain to absorb, no matter how hard the presenter tries to repeat the same thing in different ways. That's when you start trying to remember when was the last time you saw that particular background, and getting annoyed by the corny "appear from top" effect for the bullet points... I mean, please... doesn't everybody know that the "fade in" effect looks much more professional? And you should use the same effect through to the last slide... and at the end there is yet another meeting, so of course, another day working OT just to do your regular work... you really need to get out of town and do something fun this weekend; possibly hiking on Sunday if the weather cooperates and you can get Sam to come, and maybe Mike, but he's probably sleeping late, like he did after his house-warming party back in the summer of '03, the night you met Lana, that girl that ironically enough, looked just like Lois Lane form the first Superman movie, or was it the second one, the one with Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor... and Lex Luthor is saying something... what? No, wait, you're in a dark room and someone is asking you a question about slide #17 but the last thing you remember is slide #5...

OK, shock is fading, normal brain functions kick in. You take a breath and keep your cool while your mind races ahead... You need time to think, but have none, therefore you must make some.
So you grab your chin, frown, look down at the printed copy of the presentation as if you were reading something and you say, very apologetically, "I'm sorry, I should've asked this before, but there is something I am not really clear about... do you mind if I ask you an unrelated question?" This has the effect of shifting the spotlight to the inquirer -he or she has to go into input mode. The rest of the participants who a second ago were thinking you were distracted and were anticipating some mild but God-sent comic relief at your expense, now have to pay attention in case your question has something to do with them -all prospects of amusement forgotten.
The trick, as you know from using this same technique in a number of occasions since your high-school days, is to find something you do remember that can credibly be seen as ambiguous, and ask for clarification. Now while they answer your question, you have plenty of time to figure out the missing slides -by the time they finish their answer, you are all set. "Great, thanks, that makes sense now", you say with your best smile. More often than not, the inquirer has forgotten they had a question for you, but if they do, all you have to do is apologize and have them repeat the question, which by now no one else remembers either.

As you take a last sip of your now cold venti mocha, you sadly come to the realization that a mature, confident adult would have simply smiled and said: "I'm sorry but I totally spaced-out there, can you repeat the question while I look at my copy?"