Pacing

[MUSIC] 0:00 Before you deliver your presentation, know how much time you will have allotted. 0:04 If you are the one scheduling the meeting, you have more control here, but 0:09 be respectful of your audience's time. 0:13 You don't wanna make the meeting so 0:15 short that you don't have enough time to get through everything. 0:17 But you also don't wanna book too much time and take over someone's entire day. 0:20 If you have been asked by someone else to present, for example, 0:25 the company leaders may have invited you to share a presentation at their standing 0:29 weekly meeting. 0:33 Be sure to clarify in advance how much time you will have on the agenda. 0:33 I would book 45 minutes to an hour for our call center presentation. 0:39 If you are presenting to just a few people, you may need less time. 0:44 If you are presenting to a larger group, you'll wanna book a little more time, so 0:47 that you have plenty of opportunities to field questions. 0:51 As your presentation comes together, begin reading your notes and 0:55 the content out loud. 0:58 Consider this a dry run for now and not a full blown rehearsal. 1:01 Reading out loud serves several purposes. 1:05 First something that makes perfect sense as a written sentence or bullet point, 1:08 may not sound as natural when you say it out loud. 1:12 You may decide to edit things that you've written or 1:15 say something differently when you practice speaking it. 1:17 Second, when you practice actually saying what you going to present, 1:21 it will give you a clear idea of how time you'll need for each slide. 1:25 Some slides will take more time than others. 1:29 And third, practicing aloud will help with pacing or 1:32 the rate at which your speaking when delivering the information. 1:35 Many of us have a tendency to speak quickly when we are nervous. 1:38 Or when we've spent so much time with the information, 1:42 we don't realize others may need additional time for it to sink in. 1:45 When you are practicing what you will say for each slide speak in a steady and 1:48 controlled manner. 1:52 If you are addressing particular things on the slide like a chart, or a graph, 1:54 give your audience a moment or two to digest the information. 1:58 And before you move on from one slide to the next, pause for a moment. 2:02 This will give your audience time to ask any questions. 2:06 You should add in time for interactivity, 2:10 ask your audience if they have questions or need clarifications. 2:12 You'll have a good idea of the types of questions they may have based on your 2:15 research. 2:19 With that said, it's good practice to keep your eye on the clock. 2:21 You don't wanna spend all of your alloted time on the first two or three slides, and 2:25 then have to race through or even skip important content later. 2:29 Also, if someone asks a question that you'll be covering in a future slide, 2:33 it's totally appropriate to say, 2:37 that's a great question, we're actually going to get to that in a few minutes. 2:38 Make sure to let me know then if you still need more information. 2:42 After you've run through your presentation a few times on your own, 2:46 you will know which slides take the most time. 2:49 Make a mental note before you begin presenting 2:51 that you want to get through a certain amount of content by a certain time. 2:54 For example, if your presentation starts at 11:00 AM, and 2:58 you have 30 minutes, and ten slides to get through, you may want to stay on track 3:02 to get through slides one through five by 11:10 AM. 3:06 Then, you'll want to get through slides six through ten by 11:20 AM, and 3:11 have ten minutes remaining for questions and answers. 3:15 This of course is just an example, your presentation may be heavier on content at 3:17 the beginning, middle, or end, so you may distribute your time differently. 3:22 I like to appoint someone in my audience as time keeper. 3:28 You could ask a trusted colleague ahead of time to give you a signal when you have 3:31 a certain amount of time remaining. 3:34 It's also a great idea to let your audience know at the beginning, 3:37 that you want to respect everyone's time by staying on track, leaving time for 3:40 discussion at the end. 3:43 And wrapping up the meeting as scheduled, since we all have busy calendars. 3:45