I was standing in the back of the auditorium in Hollywood, California… when I realized that I only had 45 minutes for my 60-minute keynote.
Yikes!
Quietly, I sidled up next to the event organizer and asked her what she wanted me to do…
“Should I shorten my speech to 45 minutes, or is it okay for me to go over?”
She looked at me with wide, desperate eyes…
“Oh my gosh. No, we can’t do that. We have a bus coming to take everybody to the Warner Brothers studio lot. Can you fit your speech into 45 minutes?”
With a confident nod, I hiked my big boy pants and got ready to take to the stage. It was “go” time!
Okay… maybe I didn’t actually hike up my pants. But I probably did straighten my bow tie and take one last calming breath.
The reality is, things like this happen all the time, and how you react to the situation will reflect on both your event organizer and you as the speaker.
Today, let’s look at exactly what you can do when your speech’s time is suddenly (and unexpectedly) cut short.
