One of the biggest gripes of people who regularly sit through presentations is that they rarely finish on time. Yet as presenters, we know how difficult it can be to make sure you fit all of your information into the time given. Here’s a five step process to help you to save your breath and make audiences love you.
1. Plan for less time than you’re given
You’ll probably be interrupted during your presentation. Even if you aren’t, allowing time for your auidences to ask questions is vital to help them to understand the information you’ve shared. So plan your presentation to give you 5-10 minutes for discussion with the audience. The longer you’re speaking for, the longer you should leave for discussions.
2. Have a ‘time budget’ to keep you on schedule
A time budget sets out how much time you want to spend on each section. So when you’re presenting, you should know roughly what time you should be on at each point. A quick glance at the time at the beginning of each section will tell you if you’re on schedule, so if you need to you can cut bits out as you go.
One common mistake is to schedule no time for your introduction and conclusion – they take time to get right, so allow for that in your plan. Use your ‘time budget’ when rehearsing to get your timings just right.
3. Build in a ‘mock finish’
This is an idea I picked up from Nancy Duarte’s book Persuasive Presentations. If you’re worried about running over time, create two points in your presentation (slides and all) which would allow you to comfortably finish. If you’re running out of time, you should be able to end your presentation at the first point without anybody knowing you had more to share. If you’re ahead of schedule when you get there, you can smoothly add your final points before finishing.
4. Rehearse aloud
Speaking your presentation is the only way to truly know how long it will take, because we read faster in our heads. I know you’re short on time, but if you’re worried about timing then you should do your presentation aloud at least once before the ‘real thing’.
5. Deal with the problem early
If you’ve tried everything else, and you’re still well over time in your rehearsals, you need to deal with the issue before you present. Here are some options:
- Make sure you understand the true purpose of your presentation, i.e. what your audience wants. If you feel like you need more time, it may be because you’re providing too much detail, background or fluff.
- Ask the organiser for more time to present. They can only say no.
- Cut more information out. Cut your presentation down to size, and explain that you simply couldn’t fit all of the information in to the time allowed. Consult key audience members to decide parts to cut out.
That’s my five step solution, please leave a comment below if you have any more advice on how to finish a presentation on time.
