A speech timer answers the question every presenter loses track of mid-sentence: how much time is left. The catch is that speeches happen while your screen is busy — slides are presenting, notes are open — so the timer has to live somewhere it stays visible without fighting your presentation software.
The browser solves this cleanly. MaestroTimer's countdown is a web page, so it runs on whatever screen you have spare: a phone propped beside the laptop, the presenter's half of a dual-screen setup, or a monitor at the back of the room. This guide covers the setups, including the PowerPoint question.
The two-minute setup
For any speech, timed practice or live delivery:
The steps:
- Create a room, add a timer named after the speech, and set the allotted time.
- Add wrap-up thresholds — a warning to begin closing, and a final-minute signal. The display changes appearance at each, so you notice without reading digits.
- Open the room's viewer link on the screen that will face you, and start the timer when you begin — or have someone start it for you from the controller on their phone.
How to put a timer next to PowerPoint
PowerPoint itself has no presenter-facing countdown beyond the elapsed clock in Presenter View, which counts the wrong direction for staying inside a slot. The practical fix does not need an add-in: give the timer its own screen space beside the slides.
The common arrangements:
- Second device: the viewer link on a phone or tablet beside your laptop — the simplest, and it survives anything PowerPoint does.
- Dual screens: slides present on the projector while the viewer sits in a browser window on your laptop screen next to Presenter View.
- Someone else's screen: a confidence monitor at the back of the room showing the viewer fullscreen — the conference setup, workable in any meeting room with a spare display.
- The same three arrangements work identically for Keynote and Google Slides, because the timer never touches the presentation software.
Rehearse against the same clock
The timer earns most of its value before the speech. Rehearse with the same countdown and the same thresholds you will present with: you learn where the speech stands at each section, and the wrap-up color becomes a familiar cue instead of a surprise.
For early drafts, run the timer in count-up mode to discover the speech's natural length before trimming it to the slot.
Debate, Toastmasters, and timed formats
Formal speaking formats add a judge's requirement: the speaker and the timekeeper must agree on the clock. A shared room does this structurally — the timekeeper runs the controller, the speaker watches the viewer, and both see the same time by construction.
Staged thresholds map naturally onto the green-yellow-red conventions timed formats use, and the live connections view confirms the speaker's display is receiving before the round starts.
FAQ
How do I put a timer in PowerPoint?
You put it beside PowerPoint rather than inside it: open the timer's viewer link on a phone, a second screen, or a back-of-room monitor. No add-in, and it works the same for Keynote and Google Slides.
Does PowerPoint have a built-in countdown for presenters?
Presenter View shows elapsed time, not a countdown against your slot. A browser timer on a spare screen gives you the remaining-time view with staged warnings.
How do I time a speech when someone else runs the clock?
Share the room: the timekeeper uses the controller, you watch the viewer. Both displays show the same room, so the times cannot disagree.
What warnings should a speech timer have?
Two work for most formats: one at the point you should start concluding, one for the final minute. Set them as wrap-up thresholds and rehearse with the same ones you present with.
Time your next talk properly
MaestroTimer runs in the browser: a countdown on any spare screen, staged wrap-up warnings, and a controller someone else can hold. Works beside PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.