Lesson

ps1-4. Know your time limits

Before any formal speaking opportunity, find out how long your talk should be. And double-check the agreed-upon subject.

Ask for a volunteer to signal you when you have one minute left. This will give you enough time to ease into your important ending and finish on a polished call-to-action. 

Do not be swayed by a lackadaisical response, "speak as long as you want." What will happen is audience enthusiasm will wane, and people will start drifting off. Your reputation will sink from dynamic to "OK, but too long."

So insist and agree upon a specific length of speaking time.
Once you know the length of your speech, you can estimate how much research you will need to create an outline.

​After your speech, I advise against an immediate question and answer period. It is not for you to offer this to the audience. End your address, wait for someone to come up to you, and thank you. Then walk off the speaking area.
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Practice

ps1-4p. Know our time limits
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Create and practice a one-minute speech on the subject, "The importance of not speaking overtime."

Walk around timing your speech talk and see how close you can stop at 50-70 seconds. You may have to try several times.

When you think you can do it, record yourself on video. If you still miss the mark, study your video and see where you could have cut something out or expanded it to get into the time zone. Don't worry. This is just practice.
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