Honoring the client’s time parameters is the first demonstration of your team’s ability to meet the schedule.
I never prep to meet the schedule on the dot. I prep to be a few minutes ahead of schedule. For example, if a client has given us 30 minutes, I recommend we aim for 27 1/2 to give us some wiggle room.
Here are some ways to keep the team on track after you have assigned them a segment and given them a target time they should be practicing to?
- Suggest they work from an outline to consistently hit the key elements they need to communicate and time each run through to determine how close they are to their assigned window of time.
- Once we have had some solid rehearsals that demonstrate we are hitting our key points consistently and within our target time, I will let the team know what time they should be beginning at and what time they should be ending at for their segment (example: Joe starts at 12:15 and concludes at 15:45 out of our 30 minute time limit). Or if they have mini-segments, I will also let them know how much time they should spend per topic or slide.3. Then, in final rehearsals and in the actual interview, we will put an Ipad up at the front near the projector, so it is visible by everyone presenting. The person leading off will tap the timer at the start of the presentation, then each team member can self-monitor and make adjustments to ensure they are within their time limit.
Impress upon the team the importance of sticking to the plan during the presentation on interview day. It is not wise to test out new material in front of the client. This can compromise another team member’s segment potentially causing the team to lose points. It is everyone’s job to meet the schedule.