I have always been a huge fan of the Time Timer family of products – particularly, their digital applications. The Time Timer is a visual timer, with optional auditory alerts, that helps make the abstract concept of time as tangible and concrete as possible. By using these apps, the learner simply needs to understand that at the beginning, the disc is full – and when it is empty, the time is up.

When presenting, I often talk about timers around ~1 hour into my 90-120 minute talks. At that time, I remind audience members that if they thought the talk was going to be 10 minutes long, by that point, they’d be giving me every non-verbal clue to indicate, “STOP TALKING!” They’d back their bags, start moving around, looking at their watches, thinking about what to make for dinner, thinking about where they will go as soon as COVID is over, etc. They would not be focused or processing information. However, since they do know that the talks are 90-120 minutes, they are still engaged, still asking questions, still processing information! Similarly, we want to provide the same sort of context to our learners, so that they are in the best place possible to allow them to learn. Of note, the Time Timer is also a great tool to help prepare people to transition away from a preferred activity. So, you could imagine my excitement when I saw that the mobile application suite was currently free…and I just had to share this with you! Enjoy now at www.timetimer.com/collections/applications !