The speaker is responsible for tracking the time of the presentation, however, this is often difficult for an inexperienced speaker (even experienced speakers may sometimes forget to track time). Consequently, it is often necessary to assist the speaker by placing some form of dedicated timer where the speaker can clearly see the clock.

There are many possible solutions: many Toastmasters organizations will have a faux traffic light where green means go, yellow means sum up (the last 20% of the required time), and red means stop. The Technical Presentation Proficiency Examination provides the student with an electronic timer which starts by displaying the maximum duration of the presentation (15:00) and then counts down to 0:00. The initial set-up is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The timer as it is set up for 15:00.

There are three lights following the same scheme as the traffic-light aid. When the timer is started, the green light ("TALK") is lit. After twelve minutes have passed three minutes remaining, the yellow light ("SUM UP") is lit, and after fifteen minutes, the red light ("STOP") is lit. These are shown in Figure 2, 3, and 4.

Figure 2. The timer after it begins to count down.

Figure 3. The timer once three minutes are remaining.

Figure 4. The timer once 15:00 have passed.

Once the timer hits 0:00, it waits for another thirty seconds at which point the timer begins making a periodic and annoying beeping noise. If this sound is heard, the speaker automatically fails.