EYN#022 - Clock Fails: 5 Reasons Why Poor Time Management Hurts Your Presentations & Meetings

We live in a world of back to back virtual meetings, 10 concurrent projects and 67 simultaneous stakeholders. There's a lot going on. But there's a really simple way to raise your effectiveness. Keep your eye on the clock.

It's low hanging fruit.

Here's the most common time failures I see and what to do about it.

You Only Manage To Deliver Half Your Message

Let's imagine you've got 15 mins and 3 key topics you want to cover. You jump into topic 1, get ratholed in a set of questions, don't look at the clock and the next thing you know time is up. There's a hard stop with everyone dropping for their next call. It turns out your most important topic was the 3rd one and you've not even mentioned it.

It's vital you deliver all your key messages. So, make sure you allocate time slices to your content and stick to it. Manage questions and park them for later if you start running over time.

No Clear Next Steps

You've got a 30 min meeting. You've delivered some compelling content and people are energised and engaged. It’s led to some great discussion but you haven't protected "Next Steps" time. The meeting ends and everyone starts dropping to their next call without a clear set of Next Steps. Your hard work has been undone, momentum and energy is now lost.

Ringfence time at the end of a meeting to ensure you agree or communicate your next steps. It's rare the meeting/presentation is the end goal, it's normally part of a bigger picture. You need to keep momentum and energy by agreeing next steps.

You've Hogged All The Time or Been Left With None

It's a 1 hour monthly call and you've been allocated a 20 min slot to talk about your important topic. You're third on the agenda. But the first topic overrun by 10 mins and the second topic runs over by 15 mins. Your topic gets parked and you've lost your time with your audience. Grrrr!!!!

Be the change you want to see. Keep to your time slot and respect your co-meeting presenters. Don't be the one everyone hates presenting after. If you've got a 20 min slot - don't be more than 20 mins.

You Made Everyone Late

You're in a position of power and you've gone on. People didn't feel they could drop off for their next scheduled call, school run, lunch. You felt your message was more important that everyone else's plans. Really!?!? Have a bit of respect for your audience. Life doesn't revolve around you.

If you have to go on, make sure people know they are free to leave if they need to. But the best thing to do is to make sure you keep to time.

You've Built A Reputation as "Not Dependable"

As you start to get in more important meetings and bigger audiences you don't want to be the unreliable, unpredictable, wildcard agenda item. People invite guests and speakers who say something valuable, say it well and keep to time.

Build your reputation as a pro. Great message, well delivered, on-time. Consistently do that and people will be happy to give you space on their agenda to deliver your topic.

Good time management is an easy way to raise your effectiveness. It's low hanging fruit.

Hope this helps

Ben

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