Tips for Managing Time in Public Speaking

Video Transcript

"We are here to learn about public speaking. Oh! well I am sorry, I was not paying attention because the speech went too long. That is right. We are talking about clock management today. Going long is death in public speaking. In fact, in the history of speaking nobody has ever yelled at the speaker and said, “you went too short. You should have talked longer.” No way. Here is what you do.

#1 Cut out 10%. If you have 60 minutes, just do 50.

#2 Clocks. Get a watch. May be if there is a clock on a wall, keep an eye on it.

#3 Estimate your speech might go a little bit quicker based on, may be the audience does not respond. May be you say something that is not funny. That happens to me all the time.

#4 Watch and keep you eyes on the person in charge. Because if somebody hires you to give a speech, or your boss is in the back, going…or you get the cane, like Daffy Duck, that means you should wrap things up. Prepare yourself to be able to cut parts of your speech out. That way you can be a clock management pro like some of our famous NBA players."