I was told the time allotted was 7 minutes. Uh oh. If you know me, 7 minutes is not even a warmup.
I demurred. But I was asked to do this, so I agreed I would try. No promises made, I added.
I forewarned her, not tryng to be rude or self-important, just my intent to cover the topic well.
And the next meeting when it was my turn to educate the group, slide deck ready, copies of an accompanying article to go with it, I was pumped. But as I got into the relevance of this important topic, the attendees did too, because it was a hot topic.
Indeed I went overtime. But I noticed no one stopped me, and I continued on. The slide deck completed, I asked for questions, and 5 or 6 answers later, I had taken a half hour.
No one was complaining. I made my points and the attendees seemed immersed. I knew I can’t really talk about my favorite topic(s) in such an inordinately brief time. Since almost everyone in the room gained something, I felt vindicated.
The comments came in by email the day or two after, all completely hit-out-of-the-park positive. The next meeting a comment was made about the quality of the presentation, nothing about the quantity of time.
Give me a few minutes anytime. I promise a great session. No promises about the short span of time, however.