An important consideration for any speaker or presenter is to stay true to their time allocation. Whether the time allocation is set by you or an event organizer you must ensure that you honour that timing. If you finish too early your audience may perceive you as being ill prepared and not living up to their expectations. We didn’t have enough material to fill the full time slot.
If you finish late the impacts can be even greater. When we go over on our time we run the risk of losing their full attention at a critical part of your speech or presentation; the close. When we go over the audience begins to focus on the time and not the message. The longer we go over the more intense the focus on time will be.
Knowing our material well and having a good sense of timing are key to successful speeches and presentations. If you have a choice between finishing a couple of minutes early or a couple of minutes late it is better to finish a couple of minutes early.
Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!
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