Tips for presenting under a time limit?

[Cheesycheese213]

I have a presentation with a 2 minute time limit, but I keep going over, and I'm a bit worried because I have to memorize it and I can barely fit it in just reading it aloud.

I would really appreciate any tips to make it a bit faster! Thanks!

P.S. also how would I read a quote with ellipses in it?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I have a presentation with a 2 minute time limit, but I keep going over, and I'm a bit worried because I have to memorize it and I can barely fit it in just reading it aloud.

It's difficult to given suggestions when we don't know the speech. There is nothing you feel can be cut or boiled down?

P.S. also how would I read a quote with ellipses in it?

I've heard people use "dot dot dot"

 

[Cheesycheese213]

There is nothing you feel can be cut or boiled down?

I was wondering if I should remove some detail to make it shorter, I was just a bit worried that it might not support my theme as well that way?

I've heard people use "dot dot dot"

Thanks!

 

[Vanadium 50]

I can barely fit it in just reading it aloud.

Then it's too long.

I was wondering if I should remove some detail to make it shorter, I was just a bit worried that it might not support my theme as well that way?

Even if that's true, it's still too long.

 

[fresh_42]

Concentrate on the main idea behind it. Only one thought. And then sale it. Two minutes are short and trying to get more into it by speaking faster or learning it better are failures. It is a good speech, if nobody recognizes that you're in a hurry and there is still time left! Thus: One thought only and sale it as if you explained it to your, say dad or someone else who doesn't know what it's about. You have a quote? Fine, then use this to tell the story around.

 

[Choppy]

I know this doesn't work for everyone, but I tend to avoid the "write it out and memorize it" approach. When I present, I much prefer to just have a few main points that I need to cover and speak naturally about them. I practice the talk until it feels comfortable (or until I have to give it). I may write out a couple of phrases if I want to get the wording right, but for the most part I just concentrate on getting my core points across.

Two minutes is not a lot of time to speak about anything. It takes me longer than that just to get comfortable in front of an audience, but you have to work with the slot you have. As Fresh-42 says, you really need to concentrate on getting a single thought across. What do you want your audience to take away from the talk?

 

[BillTre]

The suggestions of @Choppy and @fresh_42 are good ones.
I would add, to get going well, you might want to memorize an opening and for wrapping it up, a closing sentence. Both are important to a talk and can be made concise.

If you have any visual aids they can in some cases replace words (up to 1,000!).

Will there be questions after your talk?
If so, you could leave some obvious things out (making the talk shorter) and let people then ask the obvious questions after your time is used up and your talk is done.
Alternatively, have a friend in the audience ask the questions.
This also makes your talk more interesting.