Timing

Timing is a tricky one, and there are two ways it can go wrong.

Running under. Don’t worry about it. As long as you’re roughly in the ballpark of your timeslot, no one’s going to mind. At some conferences, where there are no gaps between speakers, running under is actually good as it gives people time to move from one track to another. So don’t stress about running a bit under. People get stressed about it, but if you’ve done your prep runs, you’ll be in the right ballpark anyway.

Running over. This is the bigger concern. Again, if you’ve done your demos and walkthroughs, it shouldn’t happen. But if you start running over something like “I’m only 50% of the way through my material and I’m 85% of the way through my time” then it’s time to cut content. Think about your takeaways, make sure the things you definitely want to cover are covered, and drop the rest.

You don’t want to overrun, for three reasons. It’s not fair on the attendees, who’ve got another talk to get to and will miss the start of it. It’s not fair on the organisers, who are stressed trying to keep everyone on schedule. And it’s least fair of all on the speaker after you, who’s sitting there nervous, just like you were, watching their slot get shorter.

So watch your timing. If you’re under, genuinely don’t worry as long as you’re roughly right, it’s fine.