Going over your presentation's time slot is bad for everyone. It frustrates your audience by wasting their time, but also conveys the impression that you are unreliable and unaware. Not a great way to attract business, is it?
Here's how you can avoid crushing your audience's enthusiasm at your next event.
For speakers:
1. Ask the event organiser how long they'd like you to speak for and remember this limit. Write it somewhere prominent, perhaps.
2. Rehearse your talk out loud (not in your head - that's for dummies) and time it using the stopwatch function on your phone.
3. Edit your talk in an attempt to fit your time slot.
4. Rehearse it again, and repeat this speaking/editing process until you have a talk that consistently never goes over the time limit.
5. At the event, use the same stopwatch function on your phone to ensure you finish right on time.
For event organisers:
1. A month before the event, tell your speaker how long you'd like them to speak for.
2. A fortnight before the event, repeat to your speaker how long you'd like them to speak for.
3. The day before the event, tell your speaker how much you're looking forward to their <precise duration> talk.
4. When you meet them at the event, clarify what time they will be giving their talk and when you'd like them to end.
5. If they over-run by five minutes, (unless it's going spectacularly well and the audience is loving it*), stand close enough to them so that it's clear that they should wrap things up.
6. If they seem unaware of you, move closer until they get the message, even if it means invading their personal space. Be bold. Your audience's souls are at stake here, and they will be very grateful for your brave intervention.
* I've never seen this, by the way.
[Image by Crew on Unsplash]
