Sarah Palin on the Tonight Show TJ Walker's analysis of how she did.
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Here is another technique that is simple and easy to do. Let’s say you have concluded your presentation but there are a lot of questions. You feel torn because, on the one hand, you want to finish on time and you can see that half of the room is anxious and itching to get out of there. On the other hand, half of the room is riveted by what you are saying and they have a genuine interest in asking you relevant questions that you could answer in your presentation and you don’t want to disappoint them.
Here is a simple solution: announce the following: “I know that some of you have to leave right now so we are going to conclude as scheduled right now at 1 PM. For those of you who have more questions or would like to chat more about this subject, I would be happy to resume the conversation in 2 minutes right here, immediately after we let our colleagues get by who have to leave.” This way, you look like a class act and everybody wins—everyone gets what they want. The people who want to leave don’t feel awkward or embarrassed about having to sneak out or step over people. And the people who wanted more content from you got all they wanted. And you appeared to be a pretty good presenter in the process.
Another tip when it comes to avoiding the problem of running long is to time your rehearsal the right way. Most people make the mistake by reading silently their presentation and then timing it with a stopwatch. They don’t take into account that it takes a lot longer to talk to people, pause, walk around and take questions. What might take you only 5 minutes to read out loud might take you 10 minutes to say in front of people? And then if you factor in a question or two it could add another 50%. My recommendation is to time your rehearsal and then add at least another 20% to get a sense of how long your presentation will take in the real world.
Final tip. Always have a clock, watch or some timepiece clearly in your view when giving a presentation. You don’t want to have to be worrying about going long in the middle of your presentation and not really knowing what time it is. I just take my watch off and put in on the table or lectern in front of me; that way no one has to notice me making a furtive glance at my wrist.
More Insights from TJ Walker & Jess Todtfeld
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