You are assigned an oral report which is to last six minutes in length. Your teacher has instructed you that if your speech lasts longer than six minutes you will automatically lose a letter grade. As you stand in front of the class you notice that you have been speaking for five and a half minutes, yet you still have a minute of information to cover. You do not want to lose that letter grade.
Which of the following would be your best approach to ensure you do not speak longer than your six minutes?
A. You should speak until the six minutes is up and stop wherever you are in the report at that time.
B. You should finish the speech and then have your parents call to complain that the teacher's policy was unfair.
C. You should quickly assess the information in the speech, determine which remaining information is the least essential, and then take that part out of the speech.
D. You should start to speed up your rate of speaking so that you can fit the entire speech in during the time allotted. If necessary, speak as loudly as quickly as you can.
