Presentation Tip: Your first priority is to start on time.

There’s a long running online discussion on the pages of a speakers’ group, about speeches starting late. It asked for reasons – in one or two words – why a speaker might not start their speech on time.

Several justifiable reasons were given – fire alarm, emergency, illness. But one thing that struck me was the number of reasons which (to me, at least) seemed to be down to the speakers themselves. “My laptop wouldn’t work”. “My train was late”. “I went to the wrong room”.

These aren’t reasons, they’re admissions of fault. It’s the responsibility of every speaker, every presenter, to arrive on time – indeed, to be there early. In any case, if you’re there early, you can get a feel for the room – and the audience! And you can check your laptop, have a run through – or just relax a bit. Yes, your train might run late. That’s why you get the train two before the one that should come in on time.

My tip? Imagine the worst thing that could go wrong – and leave enough time for that to happen, and you to still start on time.

Incidentally, if you look at the reasons given above, only a few were the one or two word answer asked for. Several responses ran to five or six words. Perhaps that’s why so many presenters also over-run?