Oops! The Speaker Went Over… (Part I)

It happens.  Speakers, whether professional or non-professional, have all been known to exceed their time allotment.  It can simply be that they were not watching the time, or they got on a roll and forgot their time limit.  Or there can be an equipment malfunction or an outside distraction that delays or interrupts a session.  It may not even be the speaker’s fault–earlier scheduled events on the agenda (worship, a testimony, a book review) may have gone over their time limit, and she gets a late start.  Errors like these can put the session 10 or 15 minutes behind schedule…and put the retreat coordinator in a tizzy.  How do you make up the time?

Pastor Chuck Smith is credited with this beatitude: “Blessed are the flexible.” We can get stressed out from delays and kinks in our schedules, or we can roll with the punches, and expect that there will always be something that interferes with your smooth-running schedule.  One of the easiest and least stressful ways to deal with this inevitability is to build some flexibility into your schedule.  For instance, if a speaker is scheduled to speak right right before you break for a meal, build into your schedule a 15-20 minute break before the meal.  That way, if the session goes longer than anticipated, your women are still not late for the meal.  You need to put plenty of breaks into your schedule anyway–this is an event for women, after all.  Breaks can give your schedule some flexibility.  And the retreat coordinator can relax.