Keep your screen awake during presentations and demos
You know the moment: you pause on a slide to take questions, the discussion runs long, and the projector goes black — or worse, the whole room watches your lock screen appear. Screens sleep on inactivity timers, and "standing there talking" counts as inactivity.
The fix in ten seconds: before the meeting starts, open embers.page, click Until…, set the time your presentation ends, and light the fire. Your screen stays awake until then and your normal settings return automatically afterwards — no settings changed, nothing installed, nothing to remember to undo while you pack up the laptop.
One rule to know
The browser wake lock only holds while the Embers tab is visible somewhere on screen. It doesn't need to be your main window — a small browser window tucked in the corner of your presenter display, or on your second monitor, is enough. While it's visible, it keeps all your displays awake, including the projector. If you fully cover it or minimize it, the browser releases the lock.
Worth knowing too: PowerPoint and Keynote generally suppress sleep on their own while a slideshow is actively running. The danger zones are everything around the slideshow — and that's where the fire earns its keep.
When you actually need this
- Before you start: sitting on the title slide or your desktop while people file into the room or the call.
- Live demos: the moment you leave the deck to show a product, a website, or code, the slideshow's sleep protection is gone.
- Dashboards and documents on a screen share: sharing a spreadsheet, Figma file, or metrics dashboard on Zoom, Teams, or Meet while you talk over it.
- Q&A and discussion: long stretches where nobody touches the keyboard but everyone's looking at the screen.
- Lobby, kiosk, and event screens: a laptop showing an agenda, schedule, or welcome screen for hours.
Common questions
Does it work while I'm sharing my screen on Zoom or Teams? Yes — as long as the Embers tab stays visible on one of your displays. A small window on your own screen while you share the other one is the classic setup.
Does it stop the screensaver and auto-lock too? Yes. The wake lock pauses the inactivity timers, which are what trigger sleep, the screensaver, and the inactivity lock. Manually locking your machine still works, as it should.
What if I'd rather change a system setting? Windows laptops have a Presentation Mode in Mobility Center, and macOS lets you extend display sleep in System Settings — our complete guide to keeping your screen awake covers every method and when each makes sense. The advantage of the fire is simply that it expires on its own.
Presenting soon? Set the fire to burn until the meeting ends.
Light the fire →