One of the areas that gets to me is when someone tries to add “just that little bit extra” into their presentation. As someone who likes to update my skills and knowledge, I attend face to face training sessions regularly. A few years back I was a regular in front of one person who was a classic for adding just that little bit extra – and it usually took another 20-30 minutes.

Am I grateful?

Should I be grateful that they gave me that “extra bit”? At the time (and it happened multiple times) I used to get so annoyed and not even listen to what was being said. I would shut down, and steam. A couple of times I even walked out. So for me the extra information was wasted.

So what do you do if you’re the presenter and you have three more slides? Do you race through them?

Or if you’re the trainer and there’s just one more concept to talk about even though it is past the scheduled time for lunch.

If your time is up, then your time is up – It’s too late to rush through that last bit.

When your session is too long, there is a point where no further significant gains can be made without a break; especially if you are going over time. You don’t want to receive feedback that sounds like “boring,” “tedious” and “long.”

As a presenter or trainer you should be looking for the tell-tale signs of disengagement. These include the audience staring off into space, looking at their phone/ipad etc, snoring (a good giveaway), or fidgeting.

At this point it is too late.

You need to end.

End with confidence and calm, don’t tell the audience there is just 1 bit more, or start apologies, just simply end.

If you are seeing the audience again then you could possibly add it to the next session, or simply leave it out. Respect your audience to not expect that cramming that extra bit is going to help them.

I certainly haven’t heard anyone come out of a session saying “I’m really glad that they went over by thirty minutes; that was the best part, and I respect them for cramming it all in.”

Less is more. While it might seem there is lots of information to cover, cutting it down (or breaking it into several smaller sessions) can help ensure your audience is actually learning.

Go for quality over quantity. 

Consider your sessions and breaking them into smaller chunks of perhaps 20 minutes. This doesn’t mean you have to break and everyone leaves the room at that point. It might mean a change of focus, learning a new skill, or doing something different.

It really is about the pedagogy, the planning and how you piece it all together. In writing this article I tried to find some relevant neuroscience to help guide this, however the quotes I found were non conclusive. So I am guided by my own experiences.

So how does this meet compliance, I hear you ask, well it’s about your students and working with their needs.