This past week, my family rented a beach house in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. We had fun at the beach, scouted some houses for a move we plan to take next year, and enjoyed the city’s wonderful restaurants.

We needed to leave our beach house by 10:00 a.m. the following Saturday. We were rushing to make the 10:00 a.m. deadline, but we made it with five (5) minutes to spare.

As we were rushing, I thought about how speakers sometimes rush through their presentations to the detriment of their message and impact on their audience.

Speakers often rush their presentations for several reasons. Understanding these can help in addressing the issue effectively. Below are three common reasons, along with strategies to mitigate them:

Nervousness

Nervous speakers might rush through their material to get it over with quickly.

If you want to get through your presentation quickly, it could be for one of two reasons: you have not practiced enough or don’t like to speak in front of people.

If it is the former, practice more. You may want to find a different line of work if it is the latter.

You are reading this article, so I will assume it is the former.

Anxiety can make you feel like you need to speed up to avoid uncomfortable pauses or to finish before your audience becomes overwhelmed.

Practice is key. Rehearse your presentation multiple times to build confidence and familiarity with the content. My mantra is “When in doubt, take it out.”

You may feel you must pack your presentation with material to make it worthwhile for your audience. Nothing could be further than the truth. Simplicity in presentations is always well received by the audience.

Through practicing, you need to be relentless in judging whether parts of your material have a high enough impact for your message to leave them in your presentation.

There will always be a time limit on your presentation. Choose your material carefully so it adds to your message. If it doesn’t, take it out.

Practicing relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or visualization, can help manage anxiety and promote a calm, steady pace.

Earl Nightingale, one of my mentors in his 1956 million-selling audio album The Strangest Secret, says, “You become what you think about.” Try to visualize yourself succeeding in your presentation.

These actions will usually lessen your nervousness. What’s left over of your nervousness can be used to expand your gestures, vocal variety, and facial expressions.

So, nervousness is one cause of you rushing through your presentation.

Another cause is your lack of time management.

Lack of Time Management

You may have found your presentations running long. The culprit here is usually not practicing your presentation sufficiently.

You may underestimate how long your presentation will take and find yourself running out of time, prompting you to rush through the remaining content.

In my many years of evaluating presentations, the number one reason they are unsuccessful is lack of practice.

Many speakers like to “wing it.” Don’t be one of these speakers. The short-term gain is not worth the long-term pain.

Your presentation timing is directly proportional to the time you take to prepare your presentation. Poor preparation – poor success. Moderate preparation – moderate success. Good preparation – good success.

When you see a great movie, unbelievable sports performance, or excellent presentation, you are enthralled by the actor, athlete, and speaker. However, you only see the “tip of the iceberg” in the performance. You neglect to realize the countless hours of preparation required to perform at a high level. A large part of preparation for speakers is to get the timing right.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says it takes about 10,000 hours to perform an activity to become an expert in that activity. The more you speak, the better you get at speaking time management.

Constantly seek out free or paid speaking opportunities. In addition to seeking these, joining your local Toastmasters Club provides you with regularly scheduled time to practice speaking and presentation time management. It’s a no-brainer for speakers.

Plan and time your presentation carefully. Break down your content into segments and allocate time for each part. Then, time each part separately during practice. Then, adjust the time of each segment for maximum impact and stay on time.

Having a clear structure and sticking to it can help manage the pacing.

So, nervousness and lack of time management are causes of you rushing through your presentation.

Another cause is your desire to convey too much information.

Desire to Convey Too Much Information

Speakers may try to cover too much material in a limited timeframe, making them rush to fit everything in. They might feel pressured to deliver all their points, resulting in a hurried delivery.

Your mantra should be “Less is more.”

You may fall into the “Curse of knowledge” trap. The “Curse of knowledge” trap is when you believe the audience can consume the information in your presentation at the pace you can. They can’t.

Items in your presentation don’t have to be explained to you. However, they need to be explained to your audience. These explanations take time, which adds to your presentation time and may make you rush to get all the information in the allotted time.

There are two ways to avoid adding time by having too much information in your presentation. (1) During practice, critically review your material and remove as much material as possible without losing your message, and (2) Practice before a live practice audience and request they ask questions about anything unclear. Either raise the level of that information so you can explain it in fewer words or take it out completely.

By doing these two practice methods, you have a high probability of not trying to convey too much information to your audience.

Prioritize and focus on key messages. Distill your content to emphasize the most important points and avoid overloading your audience with information.

If you have much to cover, consider providing supplementary materials or offering to follow up with additional details afterward.

Make your presentation lean by taking out extraneous information, making it understandable to your audience at the level they are in your subject, and impacting your audience without “sprinting” to the end.

So, nervousness, lack of time management, and a desire to convey too much information are all causes of you rushing through your presentation.

In all cases, awareness and preparation are crucial. Addressing these issues enables you to deliver your presentations more effectively and engage your audience without rushing.

Call to Action

• Combat your nervousness during presentations by thoroughly practicing your presentation

• Become a ruthless time manager of the different parts of your presentation

• When you design your presentation, use the mantra “When in doubt, leave it out” to streamline it for more impact on your audience

Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks.