This article is reprinted from The Consulting Journal
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Conferences: Chairing conferences: timing

by David Blakey

Do you dread your conference running late? Here's why running early is worse.

[Monday 5 August 2002]

Managing time

I stated in an earlier article) that you should keep a log of each speaker and break.

Let's say that Andrew's presentation ran until 10:00. The next speaker is Jennifer Brown, scheduled for fifty minutes until the first break, of twenty minutes. Your log will look like this.

Now let's say that Jennifer runs under time, so that she finishes at 10:40. What do you do about the following break? Here are your options

The first option is to take the break and restart with the next session at 11:00. The break will still be twenty minutes.

The second option is to take the break and to extend it to thirty minutes so that it still ends at 11:10.

The third option is to delay the break until its scheduled time of 10:50.

Do you consider the first option to be the best? Everyone will get their twenty-minute break and you'll be ahead of schedule. Does that sound good to you?

Now consider the following.

1. Refreshments may not be available. The caterer may have planned to set up hot food and refreshments to fit with a scheduled break beginning at 10:50. In a large venue, hosting a number of simultaneous conferences, the caterer may have to keep to their plan. If the audience leaves the conference room at 10:40, their refreshments may not yet be available. Also, the caterer may now have to work around the conference audience, so that the refreshments may be not be available by the planned time of 10:50. Taking an early break may actually cause delays.
   
2. The next speaker after the break may have timed their arrival based on the scheduled break. If they are planning to speak at 11:10 and need ten minutes to set up, they may arrive at 11:00. Many speakers are busy people and will plan their arrival in this way. If you do take an early break, you may have to extend it to finish at the scheduled time.
3. Breaks that are too long may make audience members fractious. They need a break but they do not need a long break. The conference organizer has planned for a twenty-minute break because, in their view, that is the optimal duration. If the break is shorter or longer, it may not be as effective.
   

The lesson here is that it is better to run on time than to run early. It is also actually better to run late than to run early. Running late creates problems that you should - as chairman - be able to manage. Running early creates problems that you cannot control.

Let's consider the situation again. Jennifer has planned her presentation so that it runs for forty minutes, with ten minutes for questions. Her presentation actually does run for forty minutes, but there are no questions. As far as the audience is concerned, all their questions were answered in the presentation. The result is that she finishes ten minutes early. Not only that, but this happens so quickly that you cannot easily control it. She has finished speaking. There are no questions. The focus of the conference returns to you, so that you cannot check on whether the refreshments are available without losing that focus. You can't leave the room or otherwise communicate with the conference organizer staff, who are most likely to be outside the conference room, preparing for the break at 10:50.

The best option for delaying the break is to ask a question yourself. To do this successfully, you must ask a question that will take Jennifer some time to answer. It should also be a question that should encourage the audience to ask questions.

Your question should therefore be pertinent to what Jennifer has been speaking about and should address a gap in what she has said. While she was speaking, you should have been identifying these gaps and writing a list of possible questions for you to ask at the end.

If she had run on time or had run late, you would simply ditch these questions. You should beware of asking them just because you would like to know her answer or because you think that it would be interesting to the audience.

So what happens is this. When she has finished speaking, either you or she will invite questions. There will be a pause. No hands will be raised. Then, without looking at your notes, you can say

I have a question. Jennifer, in what ways do changes in the law in the US or the EU affect us here in New Zealand?

The effect should be that you want to ask this question (so you shouldn't look at your notes) and that you would have asked it anyway. You should never say anything like: ‘As we have some time, I'd like to ask you a question.’

You should be confident that the speaker will be able to answer it. It would help if you knew that Jennifer was an expert in international law and that she had been studying this very issue recently. That is a good reason for you to chat with every speaker before their session.

The main point of this article is that you should be working throughout the whole conference. Before their presentations, you should meet each speaker and find out their special areas of expertise. While a speaker is speaking, you should be getting your questions noted. You need to listen and concentrate on the speaker while watching and concentrating on the audience.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

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