How do you pace your presentation?

1 Know your time limit

Before you start preparing your presentation, find out how much time you have and how flexible it is. This will help you plan your content, structure, and delivery accordingly. Aim to use about 80% of your allotted time, leaving some room for unexpected delays, questions, or feedback. Avoid cramming too much information or skipping important details to fit your time limit.

2 Practice and time yourself

The best way to gauge your pace is to practice your presentation and time yourself. Use a stopwatch, a timer, or a recording device to measure how long each section and slide takes. Pay attention to your speed, pauses, transitions, and emphasis. Adjust your content and delivery as needed to match your time limit and your goals. Practice in front of a mirror, a friend, or a camera to get feedback and improve your confidence.

3 Use signposts and summaries

Signposts are words or phrases that indicate the structure and direction of your presentation. They help you and your audience keep track of your progress, main points, and transitions. For example, you can use signposts like "first", "next", "finally", "in conclusion", "to summarize", etc. Summaries are brief recaps of what you have covered or what you will cover next. They help you reinforce your message, clarify your arguments, and prepare your audience for the next step. For example, you can use summaries like "so far we have seen", "let's review", "the main takeaway is", etc.

4 Vary your tone and pitch

Your tone and pitch are the qualities of your voice that express your attitude, emotion, and interest. They affect how your audience perceives your message, your credibility, and your engagement. To pace your presentation well, you need to vary your tone and pitch according to your content, purpose, and audience. For example, you can use a higher pitch and a faster speed to show excitement, enthusiasm, or urgency. You can use a lower pitch and a slower speed to show seriousness, authority, or caution.

6 Monitor and adapt

The final tip for pacing your presentation is to monitor and adapt to the situation. You need to be aware of the cues and feedback from your audience, your environment, and yourself. You need to be flexible and responsive to the changes and challenges that may arise. For example, you can monitor and adapt by checking the clock, the mood, the attention span, the questions, the interruptions, the technical issues, etc. You can adapt by speeding up, slowing down, skipping, adding, or repeating information as needed.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?