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Last week I was at a wonderful event, listening to an expert speaker on business and marketing.  Her content was interesting and her personality was engaging.  So what was the problem?  She ran out of time at the end. This meant that in her last three minutes, she was rushing through her content (she didn’t get through a third of it) and didn’t end on a strong impactful note. She didn’t get to give us a ‘call to action’ or make us an offer, or tell us how to best contact her.  Her presentation sort of . . .just . . . petered out . . . and although it should not have affected her credibility or resulting business, it did.  I found out later  that no-one had engaged her services, although clearly, there were people in the room that would have made ideal clients. 

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In this day and age, it's hard to be successful without ever standing up in front of a group of people at some stage and presenting information, an update, a report, a business pitch or a speech. It's an essential skill and one we were not generally taught at school.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do, if one or more aspects of your presentation is lacking, you can miss out on the business, income, promotion, respect or recognition you deserve.

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Running out of time is one of the most common mistakes presenters make.  And by presenter, I mean anyone who is speaking or presenting something to a group of people.  There are three common reasons presenters run out of time:

• They don’t know what they want their audience to do, think or feel at the end of their presentation so therefore they don’t make an offer or relevant call to action

• They don't know how to best structure their presentation, so there is no clear flow or impactful ending

• They do not keep track of time.

 

Tips

Here are some simple tips to help you avoid the stress and impact of running out of time during your talk or presentation:

• Know what you want your audience to do, think and feel as a result of your presentation (and be very specific!)

• Always follow a template which will help guide you through your talk and find out how to put some pizzazz into your ending

• Make sure you regularly keep an eye on the time and know how to quickly adapt if you have gone off course.

 

This is just one tiny aspect of delivering successful presentations.  There is a 5 step process I’ve developed to help people master their presentations and feel more confident in front of any group.  I’m excited to be presenting this process in Sydney in September.

 

For more information please visit www.fearlessspeaking.com.au

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