Keep your Mac awake during a presentation
Prevent an untimely screen saver, lock screen, or sleeping display by preparing both the presentation app and macOS before the audience arrives.
Quick answer
Start by using the presentation or full-screen mode in Keynote, PowerPoint, or your meeting app; these modes often request sleep prevention while presenting. For extra control, temporarily change macOS Lock Screen settings or run caffeinate. Test the exact display setup before the event.
Start with the presentation app
Presentation applications are designed to keep slides visible while a deck is playing, but behavior may differ between a full slideshow, a browser tab, a PDF, and a presenter view. Start the actual mode you plan to use and leave it untouched for longer than your usual display timeout.
If you are presenting through Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or another meeting tool, test screen sharing as well as the local display. Meeting controls and notifications can behave differently when sharing a window versus the entire screen.
Review macOS before the event
In System Settings, inspect Lock Screen, Battery, and Energy Saver options. Increase the display-off interval for the duration of the presentation and, if available, prevent automatic sleeping on the power adapter when the display is off. Connect power for long sessions.
Also enable the appropriate Focus mode, turn off disruptive notifications, and confirm which screen contains presenter notes. These steps do not affect sleep directly, but they prevent the most common presentation interruptions.
Use caffeinate for a predictable session
Open Terminal and run caffeinate -t 5400 to request 90 minutes of sleep prevention. Leave Terminal running until the time expires. You can change 5400 to the number of seconds you need or run plain caffeinate and stop it manually with Control-C.
Should you use a mouse mover?
A mouse mover creates visible pointer activity, so it is not always ideal during a live deck. The cursor may be noticeable over a slide, video, or demonstration. If you use Mouse Sentinel, choose an interval deliberately, place the pointer somewhere unobtrusive, and rehearse the behavior first.
Mouse Sentinel restarts its countdown whenever it detects real keyboard or mouse activity. That makes movement less likely while you are actively advancing slides, but you should still treat it as a visible tool rather than an invisible safeguard.
A five-minute preflight checklist
- Connect the Mac and external display, projector, or capture device.
- Start the real slideshow or screen-sharing mode.
- Confirm resolution, audio output, and presenter notes.
- Temporarily adjust sleep and display settings.
- Hide notifications and close private windows.
- Test for longer than the normal idle timeout.
- Know how to stop every keep-awake tool immediately.
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