Running over is the most common way a good talk goes wrong. The last speaker at a wedding, the conference talk that eats the Q&A, the class presentation cut off before the conclusion. Timing is not hard, but it needs a plan and a clock you can actually see.
Estimate from the word count
Most people speak at around 120 to 160 words a minute, a little slower when nervous and in front of a room. A useful rule of thumb:
- 3 minutes: about 400 words
- 5 minutes: about 650 words
- 10 minutes: about 1,300 words
If you are speaking from cue cards rather than a script, count cards instead: roughly one card per minute of a relaxed talk, or one per slide.
Rehearse out loud, against a timer
Reading silently is always faster than speaking. Stand up, say it out loud at the pace you will actually use, and time it. Then time it again. The second run is closer to the real thing.
If you run long, cut a whole story or point rather than rushing every sentence. An audience notices a speaker racing far more than a missing anecdote.
Set a warning, not just an end time
A clock that only tells you when time is up tells you too late. What you need is a warning: a signal, a minute or two before the end, that it is time to head for your conclusion.
In CueCard, tap the timer beside the play button and set:
- Duration: how long you have.
- Warn in Last: how long before the end to be warned, for example one minute.
The timer changes color when it reaches the warning, and again once you run over. You can pick the colors in the timer, so choose ones you can tell apart at a glance. With no duration set, the timer simply counts up from when you started.
See the time while you speak
The timer is useful only if it is where your eyes already are:
- In Cards, it sits at the top of every card, on the Lock Screen if you turn on Show on Lock Screen, and on your Apple Watch.
- In the Teleprompter, it runs beside the script and in the floating window, and the watch shows it too.
Mark the checkpoints
For longer talks, note where you should be at the halfway point. A [cue halfway] on the right card tells you whether you are on pace while there is still time to adjust.
Leave room at the end
Plan to finish a little early. Applause, laughter, a slow start or a question all eat time. A five-minute slot is a four-and-a-half-minute talk.
CueCard is free on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with no account and no ads. Make a deck of cue cards or set up the teleprompter.