I arrived home late last night from Salt Lake City, where I was training 200 call center reps for a new product launch I’m managing. 

The training lasted 11 hours. 

It was only supposed to last 10. 

Why the extra hour? 

Because of inconsiderate people who don’t comply with the time allocation they’ve been given for a presentation.  

Let me explain…

There were four training sessions throughout the day, with four clients presenting at each session.  Each client was given 40 minutes to train. 

ONE of the clients went over their time limit by at least 10-15 minutes at each and every session.  They had no consideration whatsoever for the timing, schedule, and logistics of the 200+ other people involved in the training process.

This delay pushed the entire training schedule off track, causing a lot of stress, anxiety and even a missed flight for another group who was there. 

Recently, my mom joined a local “professional networking” group where each person present is given one minute to deliver an “elevator speech”.

It drove her crazy, because certain people went 2, 3, or even 4 minutes over their allotted time.  She finally quit the group for a couple of reasons, but this was one of the biggest ones.  Their loss.

Bottom line:  If you are a speaker, trainer, presenter, sales person, giving a networking pitch, conducting the weekly staff meeting, or in front of an audience for ANY reason…if you’ve been given a time limit, PLEASE sit down and shut up when you hit that limit. 

The audience, the organizers, and the presenters following you will greatly appreciate it. 

PS – If you need help learning how to craft an effective presentation within a time limit, RUN, don’t walk to your nearest Toastmasters club.  I HIGHLY recommend it!