If it was Tiger, then it definitely should have noticed anyway. (However, not FNNotifying will still confuse the Dock if you move things to the Trash.)

http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-mac-utilities-259649.php

Joe: no apology needed. You advice is appreciated.

I did rehearse the demo part but like I said, it’s possible I didn’t rehearse it again after adding the clock setting part which I still think put Finder into a wonky state. More research is needed here. And when I say “research”, I mean cursing Finder and everyone who has ever touched its codebase, at least for the next few days.

Jordy: Thanks for the link to Nudge but it probably wouldn’t have helped in this case. I did continue the demo where files were moved off and onto the Desktop (which is basically touching the directory) and it didn’t fix anything. I had to restart Finder altogether.

But like I said, it’s not the biggest deal. I do realize that the Finder is a risk now and will be prepared next time it decides to be uncooperative. It wasn’t that large a crowd so it’s also good that a kink like this was revealed itself now rather than when I’m demoing to a group of 100+ (if that ever happens).

Paul, I apologise if you were offended by my comment. You probably didn’t write this post on your blog for any advice at all, but for understanding from your fellow developers, or those that attended your demo.

Note to self: Never leave comments on blog posts first thing in the morning!

But what a drag in front of an audience. Hazel rocks, hopefully they were aware of that before your demo.

For the future, there’s a handy little contextual menu that might have fixed this problem: Rainer Brockerhoff’s Nudge. AFAIK it’s basically a GUI wrapper around the Unix touch command, but it usually causes Finder to update a folder. It’s had less consistent results with the Desktop, but it may still have worked for you. I’ve used to fix the Stuffit bug where the uncompressed folder appears empty.

I know what you ran into was mainly a technical problem, but there may be some tips in there you can use. I haven’t done a presentation in a long time, but the next time I do, I’m planning to re-read that article.

To follow up on Joe Goh’s thoughts, maybe there’s an analogy to programming here — once you’ve been through a painful experience, you get highly motivated to avoid that pain the next time.

But you can philosophize later. Right now, enjoy that scotch!

The lesson is to be always well-prepared and rehearse whatever steps you are going to take during the demo beforehand. Like you said, it may make you nervous preparing so much, but I bet it felt alot more nervous when *your program* – which you’ve spent so much *hard work* on, didn’t work as expected before a live audience.

I learnt this the hard way some years back during a very important demo. Nothing worked at all due to a glitch in the database setup, and I cried as I entered the elevator as I left the presentation room.

And just like you, right after I had some time to take a breather and find out what happened, everything just worked.

Of course you have to put it behind you and move forward, but if you don’t take away the valuable lesson to be learned here, this may not be the last time a live demo will fail for you.