Picture this: You have a conference coming up in two weeks and 200 speakers lined up to cover a wide range of topics, from tech innovation to environmental sustainability.
While you’re excited to host the event, you’re equally concerned about keeping speakers within their time slots.
By now, you know too well the challenges that come with managing multiple speakers in such massive gatherings. Even a slight overrun can send ripple effects through the entire program. Attendees might miss out on crucial sessions and delays and disruptions could affect the overall experience.
This is when a stage-timer controlled by software can be your savior!
Yes, you can also have a crew member hold an index card at the back or run a digital timer on a monitor. But, with stage timer software, you can have more control over the timer and set it according to your requirements.
How do stage timers work?
When a speaker goes on the stage, a quick glance at the timer can tell them exactly how much time they have left to make their point.
As the timer ticks down, the software sends gentle reminders at strategic intervals on the timer screen without interrupting their flow. And if they happen to get carried away, a discreet warning flashes on the screen, prompting them to wrap up gracefully before the time goes up.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, you can monitor the proceedings with ease with your stage timer software. You can adjust the time limits, sync timers across multiple stages, and even customize the timer screen as per your needs.
Best stage timer software
Let’s look at the seven best stage timer software tools that are effective in keeping your speakers on track and enhancing the overall conference experience.
Stagetimer
Stagetimer is a remote-controlled countdown timer that comes with many advanced features such as count-up, time of day (clock), time formats (12h/24h), wrap-up colors, and chimes.
- You can send messages directing to the presenter signaling them to wrap up as their time limit is about to be over.
- It’s easy to share a link for the timer with your team to keep them in sync.
- It allows API integration with many tools to remote control the timer.
- It’s available as both a cloud app and an on-premise app.
The best part—it’s very simple to get started with Stagetimer. All you have to do is create a room, add as many timers as you want for your conference, share the viewer link to connect with an external monitor, and run the show while keeping in touch with the speakers in real time.
Ontime
Ontime is a free, open-source software designed for managing event rundowns and stage timers, developed by video engineers and entertainment technicians. It’s fully based on web technology and therefore multiplatform and accessible on any device via a local network.
Key features include the ability to manage runtime delays in real-time, automatability, and a focus on integrations with other software, such as Companion. Ontime supports different views for directors, operators, backstage, and audiences, offering stage timers, production data, cuesheets, and operator views.
Countdownkings
Countdownkings is a free countdown timer that’s perfect for startups and event organizers and is available to operate on both Windows and Mac. It was originally developed for a TEDx conference, replacing a basic PowerPoint timer.
To use it for your next event, all you need to do is manually set the time of every presentation in your event and let the timer run until the time is out. You can also pause the timer and reset the timer on your computer.
They also have a pro version available for users who want more features and customization capabilities to manage their event time better. These features include:
- Custom text for timeout
- Color-changing capabilities
- Timeout and notification sounds
- Bigger display for large conferences
- Set time for up to 24 hours
Cuetimer
Cuetimer is a product by Presentation Tools, an AV tech company that aims to simplify workflows for AV engineers and event operators. It allows you to create a list of timers that you can easily manage using triggers and shortcuts during the event. You can connect the countdown to an external monitor through a high-definition media interface (HDMI), network device interface (NDI), or weblink.
The software is available to download for both Windows and Mac devices, allowing free trials for both versions.
You can get started with Cuetimer to control your event time in just three simple steps:
- Write down your event schedule in a spreadsheet that you can import to Cuetimer later.
- Connect the output for your timer—you can either connect it to an external monitor or send the timer page to a broadcast device through NDI.
- You can start and stop the timers over the remote control.
Showtimer
Showtimer is another free stage timer software that helps you keep track of time and your presenters. It runs as an offline web app on your local network and it’s easy to set up.
All you need to do is set up a simple countdown and a display screen on stage to help the presenters keep track of track. So, when the presentation time is about to end, the showtimer shows a warning to alert the presenter right on time.
You can also set up a timetable for your entire event by entering the starting time and duration for their presentations and it calculates any change-over time automatically.
The software is available in two different versions—Showtimer Mini and Showtimer Server—you can run the former on your browser, while to run the latter, you need to set up Showtimer clients by executing a downloaded file.
Countdown Timer 2.0
Countdown Timer 2.0 by Irisdown is a Windows application designed for show operators, featuring a simple yet intuitive user interface with numerous underlying options.
It allows for the display of time remaining, current time, and messages on a secondary display. The software supports full network control, audio clip triggers at specific times, and comes with several user interface features like presets, timer control, and message display options.
It also offers customizable output display settings and remote control capabilities, including compatibility with Stream Deck and Bitfocus Companion.
SpeakerTimerPro
SpeakerTimer Pro is a MacOS only application designed for speaker timing in production environments. It offers customizable fonts, background colors, various display modes (h:mm:ss, mm:ss, etc.), and features both count-up and count-down modes with an “always on top” control.
A unique “Time Warp” feature allows subtle speeding up of the counter to maintain schedule timing.
Preseria: A perfect ally for your stage timer software
Preseria is a presentation management tool that works well together with stage timer software to enhance the overall efficiency and effectiveness of presentations. When it comes to managing time effectively, Preseria helps with structuring the entire presentation and schedule beforehand and ensuring all the speakers are on board with it.
With Preseria, you can invite your speakers to submit their presentation content on time and run them through thorough quality control checks before the big day.
Book a demo with Preseria today and manage your presentation effectively!