Keep to time

An absolutely essential skill for every science presenter is the ability to keep to time. 

  
Often you will be sharing a stage with other presenters, or your audience will have another talk to get to, it is essential that you don’t overrun. 

A couple of minutes might seem like nothing to you, perhaps your audience was late arriving so you feel you have the right to go on a bit longer, but the sign of a professional presenter is one who selflessly gets the program back on track not selfishly compounds the problem. 

I think the best way to think of your overrun isn’t just as the time you go over but the time you go over multiplied by the number of people you’ve kept back. All of a sudden those 3mins you stole look more of a problem when you multiply them by 50 (or perhaps many more). 

At one British Science Festival event I was performing to groups of 300 (10 classes of 30). Another presenter in the session before me was presenting to just one class that were then sent on to me. He was mortified to learn that what he thought had been his harmless 5-10 minute overruns for 30 had actually been consistently delaying over 250 people in the next session. He had no idea where the group was going to next and he felt entitled to “steal back” the time as the audience was arriving late to him. To give him his due when he found out he fixed the problem but there should never have been a problem in the first place. However frustrating I found cutting my material, and however justified I might have felt to take extra time to compensate for what I’d lost, I never did. This was noticed by the organisers and the teachers who’d brought their children and made me look more not less professional. 

The first way to avoid overruns is to be absolutely sure what time your session must end. I will ask the organiser the time I have to finish and write that time in large figures on my notebook. I leave it open on my props table so when I inevitably forget I can glance down and check.  

Ensure the organiser has included the time the audience might need to get to their next appointment. Often “finish at 1pm” on further investigation actually means “finish at 12:50pm” because it will take that time to move the audience on. 

Be wary of clocks in your performance space. Often they will be many minutes out and it’s all too easy to go over because of it. When you ask what time you need to finish it’s a good idea to check everyone is working off the same time too. 

Be prepared to cut or stretch your material to deal with unexpected timing issues. There are always times when you might be delayed starting your presentation or there might be a delay (like a fire alarm) once you’ve started. 

At the most extreme you might have to drop a whole section. It’s easier to stretch. You can ask for questions at the end and no one really minds things ending a little early. If you’ve lost thine there are ways to speed things up:

For instance instead of doing three demos in a chain you might do just two. Instead of asking a question can just state the fact. And carrying out a demo by yourself instead of (announcing, selecting, moving, instructing, thanking and then re-moving) a volunteer can save many valuable minutes. 

Yes, you’ve compromised your material, but only you will be aware of the fact. Getting back on track and finishing on time is much more important. 

Speaking groups like Toastmasters quite rightly put great store on talking to time. They will use devices to help speakers know the time they have left. Sometimes you see such devices at political conferences. 

  

Tools like PClock can help with timekeeping. I have copies on both my iPhone and iPad and I’ll use them to help keep me on time.   

You can set the countdown in three sections. The colours change (and the device vibrates) to show you the section change. 

  
Here I can see I’ve got lots of time left. Even if I don’t read the figures I can see they’re green. At 10:00 they are programmed to go yellow. 

  
If they’ve gone red that means I’m into my last 5:00 and I’d better think about how I’m going to bring things to a halt. 

  
If I’m being honest normally I can just rely on my watch. I’d only use PClock myself if it was a new show or if time was extremely important (ie: I’ve got to finish to the second and I can’t go over or under).

Every now and again I’ll meet a presenter who goes on stage without any way to check the time. Sometimes they’ll even be proud of the fact they don’t even have a watch. Don’t be like them. It’s not big or clever. Going over is rude and selfish. Even if the organiser says nothing at the time it’s a sure fire way to not get booked again. 

If you really struggle I’ve seen presenters that wear devices like vibrating watches so they can’t miss their allotted stopping time. 

  

Sometimes if you are going over the organiser will make signs at you. If you see an organiser circling their pointed finger it means “wrap it up”. If you see hands in the shape of a T it means “time to stop, now”. 

  

TV has a series of signs used to communicate information. If you ever get the chance to appear on TV it is well worth making yourself aware of those. 

  
If you do you’ll avoid having to be cut off like I was at the end of this section of TV in Ireland.