Don't rush

In music, the titular words are a golden rule, because as stress built up, we lose control and speed up.  I see now that the same rules apply in public speech.

I had a presentation last night that I had planned extensively.  I rehearsed my speech, designed my powerpoint, and timed myself to the limit of 5 minutes.  I went in slightly nervous, enough to know that I cared and was ready.  I was the second of eight presentations.

The speech started off great.  All eyes were up, hands raised when I had planned them to, laughter arose on cue.  I started getting that familiar rush of adrenaline, the one when I know that there are high expectations, and I am meeting them.

Suddenly, I see the teacher lean forward and whisper, "Time, time!"  I was shocked, for I was only about 3/4 of the way through.  But I had to finish!  I went into overdrive mode and started churning information off the slides.  I finished the remaining quarter of the presentation in about 30 seconds.

When I finished and sat down, I saw her stopwatch (she was sitting directly in front of me).  It read "7:08."

I was upset at myself.  I didn't think I had gone that long, and in practice I had never reached that time.  The idea that time had snuck up on me, unaware, bothered me.  I thought I had covered all the details and time was the least of my worries.

But as I watched her continue to time the students, I noticed a few funny things.  Firstly, everybody after me went 6-8 minutes each, and she didn't say a word.  I think she realized that everybody was going over, and decided not to fight it anymore.  Furthermore, she started the clock immediately after the previous student finished, not at the start of the first word. The setup added about one minute to each presentation.

My lesson to my past self: When it comes time to perform, don't adjust to the outside.  I should have continued at my deliberate pace unless she outright told me to stop.  Speeding up accomplished nothing.  Even if I had gone overtime, I'd prefer to abruptly stop in the middle of a great presentation, rather than finish at the end of a rushed one.

That would leave them wanting more, which is usually a good thing.