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12 What's all this emphasis on time limits? (Toastmasters International)




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This article is from the Toastmasters International FAQ, by Joel Furr DTM jfurr@danger.com with numerous contributions by others.

12 What's all this emphasis on time limits? (Toastmasters International)

As noted above, speeches have time limits, Table Topics have
time limits (1-2 minutes, usually) and evaluations have time
limits (2-3 minutes, usually). This is in order to drive home
the point that a good speaker makes effective use of the time
allotted and does not keep going and going and going until the
audience is bored. In the real world, quite often there are
practical limits on how long a meeting can or should go; by
setting time limits on speeches and presentations, partici-
pants learn brevity and time management and the club meeting
itself can be expected to end on schedule.

Time limits are rarely enforced to the letter. In only a few
situations will you find yourself cut off if you go too long,
and that's up to the individual club. Most clubs don't cut
speakers off if they go overtime.

It is common for clubs to use a set of timing lights to warn
the speakers of the advance of time. All speeches and
presentations have a time limit expressed as an interval, e.g.
5 to 7 minutes. A green light would be shown at 5 minutes,
amber at 6, and red at 7. In Table Topics, the lights would
go 1, 1.5, and 2 minutes respectively. When the green light
comes on, you've at least spoken enough, though you need not
finish right away, and when the yellow light comes on, you
should begin wrapping up. If you're not done by the time the
red light comes on, you should finish as soon as possible
without mangling the ending of your speech.

The only times you're actually *penalized* for going over or
under time is in speaking competition; in speech contests (see
the "Contests FAQ") you must remain within the interval or be
disqualified.

Some clubs hold an audience vote for "best speaker," "best
topic speaker," and "best evaluator" during the meeting and
it's a practice in some clubs to disqualify people who go over
or under time from these meeting awards. Check with the
particular club to see what they do.

 

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