Keeping speakers from going overtime at conferences
One of my pet peeves, when attending conferences, is the speaker(s) who go past their allotted time and eat into the next presenter’s session. I wish David Gurteen chaired all the conferences I attend. He sees it to be the chairperson’s responsibility to keep speakers on time.
To my mind, the responsibility for keeping the speakers on time rests firmly with the chairperson. As a chairperson myself I have a simple method: I give the speaker time warnings; maybe a card; maybe just a verbal reminder (my preference) but when they come to the end of their allocated time I simply stand up and if need be walk over and stand close to them. If they still don’t get the message and stop of their own volition – I intervene to stop them.
Click link to read his post and the e-mail template he uses to brief speakers as to what they can expect from him. Keeping speakers to time at conferences (Gurteen Knowledge)
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Hello Ian,
Well said! I’ve seen more than my share of this in numerous conferences. Although there were those who would stop the moment a signal has been given, I’ve seen one instance where the officiant had to wrestle with the speaker for the microphone.
But at least, they were both grinning while they were doing this.
Cheers!
Ricardo
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