Time Control in Presentation

This presentation tip is in the category: First-Class Key-Note Speaker Know-How Series

Everybody makes mistakes. The key really is to learn from the lessons and do better next time. I still remember when I was doing my presentation for a Management Information System Strategy class during my undergraduate study. It was one of the most horrified experiences in my life. We had over 60 PowerPoint slides and we never do a trial run for the entire presentation before we went on stage. The result was that we went out of time and was stopped by the Professor before we got to the Recommendation section. We ended up getting a C for that project.

It was one of the worst presentations I have done in my entire life. I spoke personally to the Professor after class and asked for his feedback. He shared to me what I have done incorrectly such as too many PowerPoint slides and overtime issues. Throughout the years, I have always kept this lesson in mind when doing presentations and public speaking. Here is a list of things I have summarized throughout the years for better time control during a presentation:

End early

Be prepared to end early. If you are going to do a 30-minute presentation, prepare a 20-minute speech. Remember, you can always throw in additional examples if you have extra time. Your audience will love you if you end early. On the other hand, your audience will forget everything you say if you go overtime.

Use fewer slides

Incorporating too many slides in a presentation package is always a killing mistake. Yet, beginners are making this mistake over and over again. Everybody prefers to listen to the presenter rather than reading the slides themselves. I have seen a presentation where the speaker tried to incorporate everything into the slide package and ended up with a 100-page PowerPoint presentation for a 30 minutes session. The audience was horrified! My advice for you is to use fewer slides and more graphics!

The ideal number of slides for a 30-minute presentation would be around 7 to 10. Remember, you need time to elaborate on your points and ideas.

Be extremely cautious for break-out sessions and getting input from the audience

I personally prefer not to ask too many long questions. This is simply because it is very tough to control the crowd. If you ask your audience questions that expect long answers, sometimes, it is difficult to stop your audience from talking once he/she starts. Remember that only yes or no questions or questions with short answers can make your presentations more effective. Also, remember to keep track of time carefully. You don’t necessarily need to get everyone’s input.

Ability to summarize a slide quickly

Never skip a slide. If you run out of time, summarize your slide quickly. The audience will appreciate that. You can also choose to elaborate only on one specific bullet point on the slide and give an example.

Be prepared to turn down audience interruption

You can always turn down an audience who is asking a question in the middle of your presentation. Simply tell them you will address everyone’s questions at the end of the presentation. A more polite way to eliminate this problem is to state at the beginning of your presentation that there is a question session at the very end of the presentation.