The agenda states an end time of 2:00 pm, and yet it is 2:10 and the guy is still droning on with only 52 more slides to go in his presentation!
You are told that you will have 30 minutes to present and now you show up and find out your time has been cut to 20 minutes because the person before you went over time.
As the band, Chicago sings, “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care about time?” Start your next meeting with this song and then share this mathematical formula to help the speakers for the next time.
The average person speaks 150-200 words per minute. During a presentation we should slow that pace down to about 125 words per minute to allow for better enunciation, interaction and clarity. If you are asked to speak for 15 minutes, do the math…15 times 125 equals 1,875 words…period! Type up what you want to say and then do a word count (go to TOOLS menu and select WORD COUNT). This will let you know how long you will need to cover this information.
When people ask me how many slides they should have in a 15 minute presentation, I say, “It depends.” How many words are you going to say on each slide? Sit down at your laptop and type out verbatim what you think you will say with each slide. Of course you are not going to bring this typed transcript up and read it, but it will tell you where you need to cut or add more detail.
If you have 30 minutes of material prepared, ask yourself what you would cut if they took you down to 20 minutes. What would you cut if you had only 15 minutes? This is a great exercise in editing and really drilling down to your point.
A little planning ahead of time will really make a big difference when it comes time to present, and a little math ahead of time will make a huge difference to your audience. And when you hear Chicago singing, “Does anybody really care about time?” You can answer “I DO!” (ps. This article would take someone approximately 3 minutes to speak!)
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