Getting Physical
Whether your point of reference is a high school textbook, Stephen Hawking, or the fictional worlds of H.G. Wells and Christopher Nolan, you probably have yet to consider the implications of modern physical science on the presentations you’ve given and heard. Sure, you hope you don’t trip and fall on stage, but that’s just regular ol’ gravity; the basics of that theory have been known for a few hundred years and observable for millions more. But could there be factors beyond Newtonian physics at play every time a speaker takes the stage?
The Theory of Relativity can be as complex as you want it to be. On a superficial level, the name itself is worthy of study — first of all, it actually references two theories, General Relativity and Special Relativity. Secondly, both of these theories are not “theoretical” in the casual sense of the word; they are observable, proven phenomena, and there is no credible dispute in the scientific community about their legitimacy. And that’s just the title!
Although at the time of its discovery Special Relativity was deemed to be the more important aspect of Einstein’s Theory (due to its higher testability as compared to its literally astronomical counterpart), most of the cultural touchstones outside of the now-ubiquitous E=MC^2 formulation can be traced back to The Theory of General Relativity. Perhaps the most notable of these is a commonly misunderstood principle known as Gravitational Time Dilation.
Time What?
Time Dilation is the phenomenon which predicts and explains the difference in time that two objects will observe given a certain set of criteria. In other words, because of the work done by Einstein and other prominent physicists of the 20th century, we now know that the dimension of time is not constant — not even for everyone on Earth.
Scientists have observed measurable differences in the passage of time by comparing highly accurate atomic clocks placed on the tops of tall buildings with clocks on the ground, as well as clocks on airplanes with stationary clocks. Studies like these have confirmed that there are numerous cases in which time moves at a different for certain subjects. In fact, because of the more powerful effects of Relative Velocity Time Dilation, some astronauts and pilots can correctly be thought of as time travelers — they have literally arrived in the future before the rest of us!
The other kind of Time Dilation, known as Gravitational Time Dilation, is a little more relatable than its specially relativistic counterpart. Essentially, this theory describes the time experience of subjects as their proximity to a highly gravitational body increases, as in the tall building example above, or as with astronauts on the International Space Station. If the astronauts on the ISS were not experiencing a stronger effect in the opposite direction due to their high velocity, they would be experiencing time faster than we do on Earth, due to the decreased gravitational pull in space.
But…Presenting?
So, your next presentation probably isn’t happening in a capsule orbiting the earth at 17,000 mph. And if you’re giving a talk on the Empire State Building’s observation deck, hopefully your audience isn’t all the way on the ground. But time is so crucial to good presenting that it’s worth examining how we perceive it, and how it affects us.
Being timely
As we’ve written here on the blog before, time management is crucial for presenters even before they’ve begun practicing, much less giving their presentation.
“For presenters, a few more hours each week would make it possible to do the tasks that often fall off the priority list as the presentation deadline approaches, such as rehearsing the presentation a few more times, getting more sleep, and double-checking technical equipment.”
Being timely doesn’t just mean showing up to your event when you should; it also means using your time wisely as your research, develop, and yes, practice your presentation. Research and development requirements will vary according to the subject and audience, but practice is something we all need. There is no magic number of hours or repetitions, but there’s also no way of getting out of it — you simply must allow for practice time if you want to have any hope of delivering a successful presentation.
Taking your time
For some of us, presenting can make us feel like we’re in a black hole, and not necessarily because we’re pulling in everyone’s attention, either. At the center of all that gravitational force, time slows down to a trickle.
We become hyper-aware of every word as it exits our mouths, we can feel the individual beads of sweat form on our brows, and every minute feels like a thousand years. This time dilation may not be as scientifically observable as the one that Einstein predicted, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less terrifying. Neither does knowing the biological reasons behind it:
“[T]he fight or flight response is kicked off with help from your adrenal glands[…] Those glands, God love ‘em, are a part of your sympathetic nervous system which itself is under the umbrella of the autonomic nervous system. That may sound like a lot of scientific gobbledygook, but the point is: for the most part, you don’t have a ton of control over feeling antsy before a big presentation. You’re quite literally wired to work this way…”
On the other hand, some presenters may feel like they’re whizzing around the earth in a tiny metal capsule. For them, time is sped up, and the moments between when they step on and off the stage are a total blur. These people also experience a distortion that must be counteracted for an optimal performance.
Respecting your audience’s time
The logical consequences of poor time management for presenters are a bad performance and an upset audience. No one likes a boring talk, of course, but we have to realize that audiences are experiencing time differently than the speakers in front of them.
If you’ve ever been in a bad movie, you know that even a reasonable runtime can feel like ages if the content and the experience is subpar. Conversely, the better the film, the more likely you are to feel that the house lights come back up too soon. The same effect holds true for any type of performance, including presentations.
As a result, presenters have to make their audience’s time a priority at every stage in the development process. There are almost always scheduling constraints – respect them. You can start by accounting for the different ways you and your audience may experience the passage of time as you speak. Will your presentation feel interminable, or will you leave them wanting more?
Conclusion
A mind is a terrible thing to waste…and so is time! Time is, after all, our least renewable resource. Though it is complex, and we may never understand its nature fully, we nevertheless must abide by and respect time as it intersects with our lives and responsibilities. As we’ve written before, the real enemy of time is small thinking. The key to combating that for presenters is knowing to always move forward – even when we feel like we’re moving backwards.
