Channel 2 · Talk length
Speech length calculator
Turn a word count into speaking time, or a time limit into a word budget, at three common paces and your own.
750 words take about 5 min 21 s at an average 140 wpm, and 5 min 46 s at your pace of 130 wpm.
- Slow110 wpm
6:496 min 49 s
Unhurried: ceremonies, complex material, listeners in a second language
- Average140 wpm
5:215 min 21 s
A typical presentation pace, with natural pauses
- Fast170 wpm
4:254 min 25 s
Brisk and conversational; tiring to follow for long
- Your pace130 wpm
5:465 min 46 s
130 wpm is a comfortable presentation pace
Measure your pace
Press Start, read the passage aloud the way you would speak to a room, then press Stop.
Every speaker has a natural pace, and it is rarely the one they imagine. Nerves tend to speed us up, while careful reading can slow us down more than we expect. The easiest way to find your own pace is to read a passage like this one aloud, just as you would speak to a room, and time yourself. Do not rush to beat the clock, and do not stretch the pauses either. Speak the way you plan to speak on the day, with a breath at each full stop and a little weight on the words that matter. When you reach the end, stop the timer and look at the result. If you stumble over a word, carry on as you would in front of an audience rather than starting again. Whatever your number is, it is more useful than any average, because it describes you.
What the three rates mean
The slow, average and fast figures here (110, 140 and 170 words per minute) are working numbers for planning, not measurements of how people talk. Slow suits ceremonies, technical detail and audiences listening in a second language. Average is a comfortable pace for most presentations, with room for natural pauses. Fast sounds lively in a short burst but becomes hard to follow over several minutes.
Real rates vary widely. The same person speaks faster when nervous, slower when reading something unfamiliar, and faster still in casual conversation. Trained broadcasters are often brisker than presenters: a study of radio news bulletins measured BBC newsreaders at an average of about 168 words per minute. Pauses, laughter, applause and live demos all add time that a word count cannot see, so plan to finish a little short.
Your own pace beats any average
Read the passage above aloud at your presenting pace and time it. The result describes you, not a typical speaker, and you can use it here as your pace and as the speed of the teleprompter. Measure again on the day of a big talk if you can: excitement tends to speed people up.
How it is worked out
Speaking time is words divided by words per minute: 750 words at 140 wpm is 750 ÷ 140 = 5.36 minutes, or 5 minutes 21 seconds. A word budget is minutes multiplied by words per minute, rounded to a whole word. To split a longer talk into sections, try the slide timing planner.
Source
- Rodero E. A comparative analysis of speech rate and perception in radio bulletins. Text & Talk 2012;32(3):391–411. doi:10.1515/text-2012-0019: average rates in news bulletins from four European public broadcasters, with the BBC's at about 168 words per minute.
Questions
How long is a 1,000-word speech?
About 7 minutes 9 seconds at an average 140 words per minute. At a slow 110 wpm it takes about 9 minutes, and at a fast 170 wpm just under 6.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 700 words at 140 wpm. Allow 550 words at a slow pace and 850 at a fast one, and trim a little to leave room for pauses.
Should I write right up to my time limit?
It is safer not to. A common rule of thumb is to aim about 10 per cent under the limit, which leaves room for pauses, audience reactions and the moments you slow down for emphasis.
Do numbers count as words?
Each number counts as one word here, but you may say it as several: 1,250 is "one thousand two hundred and fifty". A script full of figures will run a little longer than the estimate.