When Your Speaking Time Is Cut Short – Fastcompany Interview

Have you ever prepared a presentation and just before you are about to take the stage, you’re asked to reduce the planned presentation time? It has happened to me, and if you’ve delivered any quantity of presentations, I’m sure it has happened to you.

I suppose you might have the option to say that you’ve prepared a certain amount of material and will do your best to condense. However, a lukewarm commitment, or rushing through your material is usually unsatisfying for you, and the audience might not receive your message and be left only with the impression that you speak very quickly.  It’s better if you can agree to condense and then deliver on your commitment.

When I receive this sort of request, I will do my best to work within the new time parameters. I somewhat enjoy such an unexpected challenge, and I like to assist the organizer if I can, and as long as I perceive that the presenters are being treated fairly.

So how can you prepare for this scenario? In 2016 I was interviewed by FastCompany about such situations.  I will elaborate on the article which is available here https://www.fastcompany.com/3062235/five-secrets-to-deliver-a-short-presentation-without-sacrificing-the-message

First, understand and use your speech structure. Your structure should be simple. As a test you should be able to describe your speech in 20 seconds.  For example, that might sound like “I start by briefly building some camaraderie with the audience, then I speak a little on my background and credentials, I introduce a problem we all face, and then I describe three options I’ve found successful for similar problems.”

If you understand your structure in such a manner, and you’re not entirely bound by a script, you can make a last-minute adjustment. Considering my example above you could reduce part or all of your background material, or you could allocate most of your available time to discussing what you consider your most impactful option, while still speaking briefly to the other options. Such last-minute changes aren’t ideal, but are manageable when you have a plan and approach. 

A second approach is to start with your slides, but based on your new time allotment prepare to abandon the slides at a specific point.  Slides can be a trap. It isn’t helpful for the audience for you to flash a slide and say ‘I don’t have time to cover this slide.”  Slides can also be a trap if you decide to offer a brief comment, but then talk too long, which will add to your time stress.  If you show a slide, you’ll want to speak to your content, because you prepared it and you’re justifiably proud.

You can feel confident abandoning your slides when you understand your structure, your overall plan, and your key messages, and know before you take the stage that at a specific point, you’re going to stop using them and simply speak to your material. You may want to jot down some reminders of key points you wish to speak about to enable you to work without your slides.

When you do abandon your slides, this will appear extemporaneous and will show that you’re in control of your material. The meeting organizer should be very grateful that you’ve assisted to get the overall program back on track. 

It's disappointing when other speakers continue longer than their allotment, or in some other way a program gets off track. However, if you have a plan for such situations, you can earn the respect of organizers and the audience, and still do a great job of landing your message with the audience.