Timing is everything
It happens all the time: A speaker gets on a roll and goes over his time limit, then a sort of domino effect happens, with each subsequent speaker falling further behind until your whole schedule ends up dragging and you either cut a session or two, or find other ways to make up the time, or just let it drag on. But just think about what this is telling your attendees. From Seth Godin:
- At a conference I recently attended, the group was 50 minutes behind schedule after only 2 hours of the program. For the speakers, the message was, “I’m important, as important as the last guy, so since he went over ten minutes, I will too.” For the audience, the message was, “this is a conference about the guys on the stage, not about us.”
I doubt this is the message you’re trying to get across. Yet another reason to have the hook ready—and use it.
Related Topics: Meetings and conventions
April 29th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
After following a nationally renowned speaker that went 30 minutes over (leaving me 30 of my scheduled 60 minutes before lunch)…I designed a count-down timer the size (but not weight) of a brick that would alert speakers with a series of colored alerts (green, yellow, red) to allow them to monitor their remaining time without having to check their watch.
I floated the idea of my potential new product to about 20 members of NSA. The universal response: they turned their nose up and said, “we know our timing.”
Too funny…’cause they clearly don’t.
May 1st, 2007 at 5:00 am
I get up and walk out when a speaker pulls that stunt. When someone tasks me to speak I am not afraid or nervous, I’m instead interested in getting my message across in the shortest amount of time possible, take questions them move to the back where I’m busy trading cards with people who recognize not to engage me too long. I’m not there to get in bed with anyone, just available for a date.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Sounds like a great idea to me, Bill (re: the brick). In my years as a speakers bureau rep, I’ve found that the true pro speakers understand the importance of respecting the meeting planner and the meeting, and they do what is necessary to end their session on time — or get permission to go long. There’s nothing worse than a speaker who hits the platform and makes the mistake of thinking “this is all about me” and “I’m going to take as long as I want.”
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