1 Hour max

[Digital]

So I'm fairly new and maybe a fresh perspective will help.

I do agree the presentation went too long, but I also thought it was one of the more educational presentations I've seen. (No offense to any of you that have presented, I am very new.) Furthermore, this guy is dedicating his life and career for this - we are the perfect audience for him. In the end I didn't mind that it was a long presentation, I really liked it. But like most of you I was wondering what time I'm getting home tonight.

I get the feeling a lot of people were ready to go and just staying for the auction. To let those leave that want to escape early, can we do the meeting in this order: announcements, auction, presentation and lastly the raffle tickets? Raffle being last will reward those that stay to the end when the presenter gets long winded.

If we get the business transactions done early then people can just quietly excuse themselves if they need to go home.

Just an idea.

Marlin



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[dogofwar]

I tend to agree...but most of them go for 90 mins anyway.

Just throwing out ideas

Matt

Matt, I think the issue isn't really that people aren't interested in the speaker, but that the speaker goes on long enough to become uninteresting. An intermission is an attempted solution, but at the 45-minute mark, that basically says "we expect you to talk for 90-120 minutes."

I like the idea of a clock or other timekeeper right in front of the speaker. I think it is the simplest solution, and the one least likely to offend a speaker.

 

[spazmattik]

I tend to agree...but most of them go for 90 mins anyway.

Just throwing out ideas

Matt

And if thats the case it would probably benefit everyone to have an intermission rather than power through. If we also wish to hold questions till the end, the split could help here as well. At the end of the first 30 minutes the speaker could simply ask if there is any questions up to this point? It will be easier for people to remember what their questions were in a shorter period of time. I know sometimes if i have a question i think i better ask now before i forget lol.

 

[FishInMaryland]

In the world of conferences in my field, we tell the speakers that they should prepare a 45 minute presentation, and allow 15 minutes for questions. They also have to submit their slides ahead of time. If we were to do this in CCA, and receive a deck of 90 slides, it is very likely that the presentation will be way longer than 45 minutes. Is there some reason that it is impolite in the world of fish club presentations to ask for the presentation deck ahead of time? This is no guarantee, of course, that the speaker won't still go long, but it does show that we are serious about keeping them to an hour. Just my 2 cents.

 

[JasonC]

I'm guessing with the number of speakers that wont even allow their slide decks to be loaded on the club laptop, that this is probably a non-starter. Seems that a not-so-small percentage of fish club presenters are very protective of their slides.

Think the clock is probably our best bet... if that doesnt work, we can look at using another laptop to set up a countdown clock. I would be happy to bring a clock with me to the next meeting if we think this is worth trying.

 

[rsretep]

There is a clock in our meeting room above the doors we enter through

 

[festaedan]

I think having a small digital clock by the projector or some other place where the speaker could easily see it is a great idea.

 

[JasonC]

Not in speakers line of sight. If they can not see it easily in the natural course off scanning the audience, they won't care about it.

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[JLW]

A digital timer would be even better (although not with an audible alarm!).

A countdown or something.

My phone has a large, digital display "stopwatch," and I think I'm going to start putting it somewhere where I can see it, running, when I speak, so I know how long I rattle on for, which can be a lot, because I do so love talking.... :-D

 

[hollyfish2000]

I give frequent presentations within my agency and around the country. I would never dream of being told I had an hour and then speaking for 90 minutes or two hours -- UNLESS -- I got the nod from the host that audience questions and interest allowed me the extra time.

Perhaps we need to have an agenda? That way the speaker can see what time he/she should start and end and what comes after?

I don't think discouraging the audience from asking questions is a good way to keep the talks to an hour. Questions allow speakers to interact wtih the audience. I always plan for at least 15 mintues of questions when giving talks -- and I tell people to interupt me to ask questions. If I start to get behind in my talk -- I skip slides or omit anecdotes.

From my perspective, speakers may be trying to cram too much information into too short of a time. Seeing thier slides ahead of time (to check for length of presentation and give feedback it if looks too long) and giving them an agenda might help.

Having an audience get restless and lose attention during a long presentation isn't ideal.

All of this is from someone who wasn't there that meeting, so this is not at all focused on this speaker.

 

[neut]

I give frequent presentations within my agency and around the country. I would never dream of being told I had an hour and then speaking for 90 minutes or two hours -- UNLESS -- I got the nod from the host that audience questions and interest allowed me the extra time.

Perhaps we need to have an agenda? That way the speaker can see what time he/she should start and end and what comes after?

I don't think discouraging the audience from asking questions is a good way to keep the talks to an hour. Questions allow speakers to interact wtih the audience. I always plan for at least 15 mintues of questions when giving talks -- and I tell people to interupt me to ask questions. If I start to get behind in my talk -- I skip slides or omit anecdotes.

From my perspective, speakers may be trying to cram too much information into too short of a time. Seeing thier slides ahead of time (to check for length of presentation and give feedback it if looks too long) and giving them an agenda might help.

Having an audience get restless and lose attention during a long presentation isn't ideal.

All of this is from someone who wasn't there that meeting, so this is not at all focused on this speaker.

+1

I taught public speaking for years. Settings, circumstances, and need for strict time limits can vary, but running overtime and/or trying to cram too much information into a session is a common downfall for many. Sticking to a limited time can actually force you to become a more effective speaker in many cases. In any case, without getting into the particulars and technicalities of it, it's a natural tendency for some speakers, even some very good ones, and once someone gets into that mode it can be a hard habit to break.

Just an observation, not that it helps solve your problem with speakers running over.