Speaker guide · reviewed 10 September 2026
Time a 30-minute talk. Keep five minutes for Q&A.
Reserve Q&A first. Give every content section a start mark and next cue. Run talk aloud once, record section minutes, then repair named overruns instead of trying to speak faster.
01
Allocate from fixed constraints.
Treat 30 minutes as event slot, not content target. Subtract five-minute Q&A reserve before dividing anything. Remaining 25 minutes must contain opening, argument, examples, transitions and close.
Choose section boundaries speaker can recognise while presenting: topic change, slide cue, demo start or named story. Put start mark beside each. Start marks are easier to recover than isolated duration targets because they tell speaker whether talk is early or late at exact moment.
Keep closing section fixed. If close begins at 23:00, speaker has two content minutes before Q&A at 25:00. Rehearsal can then reveal whether earlier sections stole that space.
Worked first rehearsal
Two minutes over content. Three minutes of Q&A remain.
| Start | Section | Next cue | Plan | Run 1 | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Open with tension | Slide 4 | 3:00 | 3:00 | ±0:00 |
| 3:00 | Name costly pattern | Slide 9 | 6:00 | 7:00 | +1:00 |
| 9:00 | Walk through method | Slide 16 | 10:00 | 11:00 | +1:00 |
| 19:00 | Show result | Final slide | 4:00 | 4:00 | ±0:00 |
| 23:00 | Close with one action | Q&A | 2:00 | 2:00 | ±0:00 |
Run 1 content totals 27 minutes. Q&A starts at 27:00, leaving three minutes. Because variance belongs to two named sections, repair can target those sections without cutting opening or close.
03
Repair material, not speaking rate.
Write one explicit cut beside each overrun: remove repeated setup, shorten example, replace list with one item, or move optional detail to Q&A. Preserve start marks. Then rehearse second run aloud and compare same sections.
- Pattern section · remove 1:00
Keep costly pattern and one example; remove second example that proves same point.
- Method section · remove 1:00
Keep three steps; move edge-case explanation to Q&A if asked.
- Run 2 acceptance
Content ends by 25:00 with close intact and full five-minute Q&A reserve visible.
04
Carry only recoverable cues.
Event-day card should show section, start mark, next visible cue and exact emergency cut. Avoid paragraphs. At podium, card helps answer two questions: where should talk be now, and what can disappear if it is late?
Prepare two-minute and five-minute contingency versions before event. These are named cuts, not instruction to accelerate. Keep printable copy beside phone version because venue connectivity, batteries and screen locks can fail.
Use timings as rehearsal evidence only. Manual entry can be wrong; verify against real run. Product does not listen, record or claim delivery outcome.
Load worked run card