Speech Length by Duration and Speaking Speed
The average speaking pace is 130-150 words per minute for a formal speech. Conversational speech runs faster at 150-170 WPM. Auctioneers hit 250+. The pace you choose affects how many words fit into your allotted time.
A 5-minute speech at 140 WPM is 700 words. A 10-minute speech is 1,400. A 20-minute TED talk is about 2,800. Martin Luther King Jr.\'s "I Have a Dream" speech was 1,667 words and lasted 17 minutes — a pace of about 98 WPM, deliberately slow for emphasis.
Pauses are part of the word count calculation that most people miss. A speech with natural pauses, audience interaction, or dramatic moments will use fewer words per minute than the same speech read straight through. Budget 10-15% fewer words than the mathematical calculation suggests.
Common Speech Types and Their Lengths
Wedding toasts: 2-4 minutes (250-500 words). Best man speeches: 3-5 minutes (400-700 words). Maid of honor speeches: 3-5 minutes (400-700 words). Father of the bride: 3-5 minutes. Keep it short. Nobody at a wedding has ever complained that a toast was too brief.
Eulogies: 5-10 minutes (700-1,400 words). This is one of the few speech types where going slightly longer is forgiven. But beyond 10 minutes, attention drifts even in mourning.
Business presentations: 15-20 minutes of speaking with 10-15 minutes for Q&A is the standard format. That means your prepared content should be 2,000-2,800 words. Keynote addresses at conferences run 30-45 minutes: 4,000-6,000 words.
Valedictorian speeches: 5-8 minutes (700-1,100 words). Graduation audiences are large, often outdoors, and sitting in uncomfortable chairs. Brevity is kindness.
How to Calibrate Your Speech Length
Time yourself. Read your speech aloud at your natural pace with a stopwatch. Do this three times. The average of the three readings is your actual speech length. Most people speak 10-15% slower in front of an audience due to nerves and pauses.
If you are running long, do not speed up. Cut content. Speaking faster makes you harder to follow and signals anxiety. A calm, well-paced 7-minute speech beats a rushed 10-minute speech every time.
Practice the speech standing up if you will deliver it standing. Sitting changes your breathing and pace. If you will use slides, practice with them — clicking through slides adds time that does not appear in a text-only rehearsal.
The One-Page Rule
A useful rule of thumb: one page of double-spaced 12pt text (250 words) takes about 2 minutes to deliver at a natural pace. So a 5-minute speech is 2-2.5 pages. A 10-minute speech is 4-5 pages. This gives you a quick visual check without needing a stopwatch.
For notes rather than a full script, use an outline with bullet points and key phrases rather than full sentences. A 5-minute speech outline might be half a page. The advantage is that outline-based delivery sounds more natural and allows eye contact with the audience.
If you are reading from a full script, use 14-16pt font with double spacing so you can find your place easily. This means more pages, but the readability prevents the awkward pauses that come from squinting at small text at a podium.