The value of using a Stage Timer for corporate presentations: Are they really worth it?

A countdown timer or clock is an often requested piece of tech to keep presenters to time when delivering speeches on stage, but do they really work?

Stage timer monitors

Stage timers come in a variety of flavours, but in essence its a highly visible clock that counts down the time remaining for the presenter on stage.

An experienced orator can use the timer to adjust their pace, and edit their content, to make sure they fill their allotted time without any run over, and keep the whole event to time.

However, if a presenter has a speech that has enough important content to fill a half hour time slot, even the best can't shoehorn that into 15 minutes on the fly. The secret, as any professional will tell you, is to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again. That way, a level of editing can take place before hand, ensuring that your 15 minutes is absolutely on point, and the clock is just there to help you pace yourself.

The challenge with corporate presentations is that many of the C-Level execs that are up on stage are not professional presenters. They are however, very used to being listened too by their subordinate team, so if they have half an hour of important information to deliver, then you can bet your bottom dollar they will take at least half an hour to deliver it. Those sort of presenters will battle on regardless of any imposed time restriction, no matter how brightly the clock on the floor is flashing at them.

Of course, the polar opposite can often be said for those who are slightly lower down the food chain. They desperately want to keep time in order not to incur the wrath of the conference organiser. They will tend to keep a sharp eye on the clock, and when the time is getting short, will dash through their last few slides at a brain defying pace, walking away from the podium with a number of minutes still left to go.

Where a Stage timer is at its most effective though, is during audience Q&A sessions or panel discussions, where a host or moderator can check the timer, and take a view before allowing 'One more quick question from the floor'.

Why does it matter

Keeping to time is actually more important that it might at first appear. The direct impact caused to the conference delegates is the most obvious inconvenience, but when things don't keep to time, it can have a huge knock on effect to the support mechanism.

When a conference is late to lunch, the catering team have to keep the food at serving temperature. When the event overruns at the end of the day, the venue, the production team and the event organisers themselves, all have to push to make up for that lost time in order that the following days session starts on time.

Of course if the entire event is late finishing, the packing up and travelling home can inconvenience not only the venue and production team, but mean things are not ready for the next crew coming into install their show in that venue. Imagine how you would feel if your venue wasn't ready when you arrived to set up at the beginning of your event.

What is the solution?

Confidence Digital offer a few timer options, though there are others on the market.

Our most basic is a battery powered countdown clock that can sit on a table, or lectern. It starts off green and changes to red when you only have a few minutes of time left. Ideal for the budget conscious, and its an entirely self managed solution.

Management page for Stagetimer.io

A different budget option is a timer app on an iPad. Ideal for use by moderators to keep panel sessions to time, and can be used alongside audience collaboration software like Slido allowing questions for the panel to be collated live.

The premium solutions we offer are software driven display clocks that allow our technical operators to manage multiple timings.

The Irisdown countdown timer is an app based solution run on a laptop or PC. It has been perfectly designed to be handled by technicians managing corporate events.

An alternative from StageTimer.io is a cloud based version along the same lines, but this solution can be viewed from multiple locations using a web link. Ideal for events with remote presenters. Everyone involved can view the same timers over the internet. It even adjusts clocks for different time zones.

But these are merely the tools to facilitate.

Irisdown Stage timer with lunch message

If your presenter Chooses to ignore it, then its not worth the effort of using one at all.

To get round this,

a strategy I find effective is to add a real time clock to the main display, and then, using the message function, remind those on stage what time the next break is scheduled for. I have found that combination can be much more effective than the countdown time alone.

Even your windbag of a CEO knows that depriving delegates of coffee can have dire consequences.

For more information on how we can help support your in person, hybrid or virtual event, get in touch. hello@confidence-digital.com