Justin Cobb Talks About the Importance of Efficiency at Conferences, Ahead of His Conference in Philadelphia on Sunday

Justin Cobb is no stranger to presenting, or managing and running conferences. As founder of Justin Cobb Academy, a company that aims to help coach and mentor aspiring entrepreneurs, Justin Cobb participates in and organizes conferences and seminars all over the world, and engages speakers from all different business sectors. This Sunday, Justin is running an important conference in Philadelphia, and has spoken about how important efficiency is when you are scheduling speakers, and speaking yourself.

“Giving a presentation at a conference, especially when it is about something you are really knowledgeable about and which you feel a lot of enthusiasm for, can be really rewarding.” Justin Cobb began, when asked about the key things involved in managing these kinds of events. “But if you are not really conscious of the time, you can end up throwing the whole event off by running over or getting too deep into question and answer sessions with your delegates.”

“Keeping to time is vital. It means that everybody gets the slot they were expecting to make their talks, and that the attendees know what to expect from each session. This means that as a scheduler, I have to make sure everyone is given enough time, and as speakers, people need to rehearse their presentations and ensure they are not trying to cram more into their time slot than they realistically can.”

When asked if he had any advice for speakers to help them stick to their allotted time slots, Justin Cobb said:

“The most important thing is to have done a dry run of your talk before. This will help you to work out what the running time is, and if you need to reduce or increase the scope to cover everything in the time that you have. If you find that your timing is way beyond what the organizers have given you, you can always get in touch with the person running the conference and ask if you could have a longer session, but you need to do this well in advance of the event before the schedule for the day has been finalized. Organizers want the full benefit of your knowledge and experience, but they also want their conference to run smoothly.”

For anyone asked to present at a conference, Justin Cobb’s advice is well worth listening to!