A fair ten minutes

Original non-fiction-style practice text.

The chair announced that every speaker would receive exactly ten minutes. It sounded admirably fair until the first person used nine of them thanking people already sitting in the room. The next speaker had brought the technical explanation on which our decision depended and was stopped halfway through a sentence.

Equal rules can protect a meeting from its loudest member. I have attended enough discussions captured by one voice to value a firm limit. But identical portions of time are not the same as thoughtful attention to what a meeting needs. A question, a report and a ceremonial thank-you do not necessarily require the same space.

I would keep the clock and change the preparation. Agree the purposes of the contributions before dividing the evening. Fairness should help us hear what matters, not provide a beautifully measured way of missing it.

Assess the writer’s attitude towards the chairperson’s equal speaking-time rule. Use three details from the text to support your answer.