It is very helpful to have a timer you can glance at to keep track of where you are during a speech. One common type is a stopwatch function on a wristwatch or smartphone app, but knowing how much time has elapsed really is less useful than knowing how much you have left (via a countdown function on a lab timer, as shown above).
It is more useful to have an analog progress bar that uses a
color change to display what fraction of the allotted time has been used and is
left. On December 14, 2017 I blogged about a Review of the Timer function on the Toastmasters
International Mobile App. That app provides a progress bar display.
I just ran across a blog post from June 18, 2018 by James T.
Jarc titled The Color-Timer Method: Exploring the use of a visual timekeeping
application in introductory public speaking classes. He linked to his
Colortimers web site, which displayed four working timers.
One titled Blow out the Candle has a vertical progress bar that burns downward. It inspired me to use PowerPoint to mock up the horizontal Fuse Timer shown above. As the fuse burns down the flame gets taller.
1 comment:
Richard - thank you so much for getting in touch with me, and linking to the ColorTimer site here on your wonderful blog! It's been fun to read through a few of your posts and learn more about your approach to "Joyful Public Speaking!"
I think you're onto something with the fuse timer, and with your permission, I'd like to move forward with developing that. I'll let you know when we've posted it (of course, we'll credit you with the idea!).
I'd love to keep in touch if you have other ideas, or if you end up using any of the timing devices in your various capacities - I'd love to know how it goes!
Take good care,
James
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