20 min countdown
Presentation Timer
A presentation timer solves a specific problem: how to watch the clock without your audience noticing you watching the clock. This one counts down and changes colour as it goes — green while you have room, yellow once you are into the final stretch, and red at the wire — so a glance tells you where you stand without a number to squint at or a phone to check mid-sentence. The colour system will be familiar to anyone who has spoken at a conference or in a Toastmasters meeting, where timing lights do the same job. Green-yellow-red works because it maps to a decision rather than a raw duration: green means carry on, yellow means begin landing the plane, red means you are out of time. This timer defaults to a 20-minute talk with the switch to yellow at five minutes remaining, and both are adjustable. It suits conference speakers, students defending a thesis, sales teams pitching against a clock, and anyone giving a lightning talk where overrunning is not just rude but disqualifying. The point is not to sprint through your slides but to shape your delivery in real time against a cue you can trust. The non-obvious tip is how to set the yellow threshold, and most people set it wrong. Yellow should mark the moment you ought to start your conclusion, not the moment you must stop — those are different points, and confusing them is why talks get cut off mid-thought. If your close takes about three minutes, set yellow with at least three minutes left, so that when the colour changes you begin wrapping, not panicking. Then rehearse against the timer until you naturally reach your conclusion right as it turns yellow. A well-rehearsed talk treats the yellow light as reassurance, not a fire alarm. Because the cue is visual and silent, keep this timer where only you can see it — a confidence monitor, a laptop at the lectern, a tablet on a stool. Keep the tab open and the screen awake for the whole talk; the colour only helps if it is on. There is no server behind it, so if the tab closes the cue stops, though the timer still reports the correct elapsed time when you reopen it. If you do rely on the end tone, note that a backgrounded tab can delay it, and on iPhone the mute switch silences it.
Presentation
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Enable JavaScript to see background-alert options — this timer keeps correct time either way, but notifications and the install prompt both require it.
Frequently asked questions
- What do the colours mean?
- Green means you have time in hand, yellow means you have entered the final stretch and should start wrapping up, and red means you are at or past your limit. It is the same convention as conference and Toastmasters timing lights.
- When should I set the yellow warning?
- At the point you should start your conclusion, not the point you must stop. If your closing takes three minutes, set yellow with at least three minutes left — that way the colour change is your cue to begin landing, with time to do it gracefully.
- Does it make noise during my talk?
- No — the warning is purely visual, so it will not interrupt you or be heard by the audience. A single tone plays only when time fully runs out. Keep the timer on a screen only you can see.
- Can I change the total time and the warning point?
- Yes — set any talk length and any yellow threshold before you begin, then use the copy-link button to save the setup and reuse it when you rehearse. Practising against the exact timer is the whole point.
- Should I keep the tab in front during my talk?
- Yes. The colour cue only helps while the tab is open and the screen awake, so put it on your confidence monitor or laptop and do not let the device sleep. There is no server behind it — a closed tab stops the cue, though it still reports correct elapsed time when reopened.
This timer keeps the exact time even if you switch tabs. If this tab or your browser closes, nothing can alert you at the exact finish time — there's no server behind this, by design. Come back any time and we'll tell you honestly how long ago it ended.