How many words in 5 minutes
How many words in 5 minutes
How Many Words is a 5 Minute Speech?
You’re preparing to write a speech but there’s a 5-minute time limit. Now, you’re faced with the big question: How many words should you use then?
Any resource will tell you that you can only approximate the number of words it would take to write a 5-minute speech.
Although pacing varies, a 5-minute speech is roughly 750 words.
Publication coach Daphne Gray-Grant says that the average person speaks about 125-150 words per minute—meaning 5 minutes of talking would entail about 625-750 words. That’s about the typical length of a blog article!
Here’s a fun exercise for you—we’re keeping this blog article to 750 words so you can read it out loud to see if it would fit into the 5-minute time limit. How’s that for an experiment?
When you do this oral exercise, keep in mind that there are other factors which might affect the results. People speak in varying speeds—some speak slowly, others do the exact opposite. The good news is, it is easier to adjust the speed of delivery as compared to the number of words used. Beyond the word count, being able to communicate the essence of your speech clearly and eloquently is more important.
Pace Yourself
Pacing yourself helps you articulate better and emphasize the most salient parts of your speech. You’re not just putting yourself out there to say something — retention is key. You have to make your message (or at least the crux of it) memorable to your audience.
Just like a novel, the content needs to pack a punch in order to sustain the audience’s interest. If you think about it, a speech should work even harder because (1) it’s shorter and (2) it’s purely an aural experience which requires the full attention of your audience.
Before you start writing, Jeff Schmitt of Forbes advises keeping these two objectives in mind: “Make a good impression and leave your audience with two or three takeaways.”
Schmitt also highlights the importance of “striking the right tone.” Know your audience well, their reasons for wanting to listen to your speech, and what they want out of it.
Matt Eventoff of YPO elaborates on several “memorable ways to open a speech or presentation.” A quote, “what if” scenario, or statistic are some of the methods you can utilize to captivate your audience.
To make your speech more interesting, Gray-Grant advises “to tell stories or give examples” because stories “stick” and people actually recall them. Another approach is to use humor to break the monotony, but only when it serves an “organic” and relevant purpose for your topic or message. Try not to detract from the flow and coherence of your speech or from the essence of your message.
Just like what chapter breaks are to a novel, remember to integrate cues for pauses or breaks in between points of your speech in order to signal the end of one topic and to smoothly transition to the next.
Keep your language simple and conversational to maximize engagement with your audience. Scholastic gives some tips like using short sentences, contractions, and colloquialisms in your speech.
Avoid tongue-twisters or big words that are difficult to articulate in one breath. You will only subject yourself to potential blunders. This will deflate your confidence in delivering the speech effectively.
Most importantly, get your facts straight. Any speech can be engaging and witty, but people look for truthfulness and credibility more than anything. Citing concrete examples to prove a point is a persuasive method as well. Real-life actualizations are truths in the minds of your listeners. Thus, they will remain engaged on what else you have to say.
Toss a question or two for a bit of introspection. Some people actually do this either at the beginning or at the end of a speech. Making your audience think brings your message across more effectively because it opens up the opportunity for them to contemplate on an application of your insight into their daily lives.
After writing your speech, review the entire material for clarity and brevity. Simplify and tighten the language if need be.
Attention spans are shorter these days (8.25 seconds, according to a study made by the Static Brain Research Institute) so the more succinct you are, the better.
If you can, divide the word count equally among each salient point of your speech. For example, 750 words with 4 key topics would mean around 187 words dedicated for each topic.
Be concise yet comprehensive—and remember to use our word counter to keep it brief.
How Many Words in a Five-Minute Speech?
Five minutes can seem like five hours when you haven’t prepared a speech properly. It seems so easy in front of the mirror, reciting the key points, throwing in a few jokes.
But then the big day arrives, the nerves kick in, and you drone through your speech in a monotone, forget half the information, and anxiously fiddle with your notes. No one wants to hear an audience snoring.
So just how much should you try to fit into a five-minute speech? Presentation Magazine put the question to readers. The responses were varied.
Most estimated the number of words per minute around 80-150, but some said it could be as high as 180.
Some advised a slow, measured speech with pauses for effect, whilst others simply said that more words would equal more information, provided your speech isn’t too fast to understand. We’ve collected the best hints and tips from readers and included them below.
Settling on a word limit is less important than taking time to prepare and practise a structured presentation. Melvin Vu said:
“It is up to you. I don’t think we should set the number of pages or even the number of words a five-minute speech should contain. Know your audience. Know your material. Write it down. Even if it’s 10 pages (the font may be size 38 or something) so be it. You will know it is too long once you have practised out loud.”
Another strategy is to work out exactly what information you want to present, and divide it into clearly defined points. Sarah Liddle said:
“It’s not about the quantity but the quality. I wouldn’t be focusing so much on the number of words but on the points that you want to put across. In five minutes you should be able to get across 2 points (3 max) for the audience. It’s all about the audience, remember, words are insignificant. It is how you use and deliver those words that makes the difference between good and great.”
It is important not to try to cram too much into five minutes. Don’t over-complicate ideas either, the presentation may sound robotic as you try to remember everything. A Toast Master said:
“If you are focused on ‘writing’ a speech, then go ahead and worry about the number of words. If you are truly focused on ‘giving’ a speech then you really shouldn’t write a full speech. If you are, you write it, then read it. Check the time. Then outline it. Then practise giving it with the outline 2-3 times. Then you break the outline down to index cards, but only as much as you need.
Usually a key word to help remember the introduction, all the points you are making, and then the conclusion is the simplest way to go. Try presenting a speech which you hold passion for, the time will pass much more smoothly. Only pause if it is calculated to dramatise your point or lead someone along in anticipation of a pay-off line at the end.”
The best approach might simply be to become so familiar with the subject matter that the presentation can become more like something you’re explaining to a colleague in conversation. Eulogy website remembrance-book.com gave this advice:
“Sort out what you want to say, get a beginning, middle and end. Practise it until you know it by heart. Keep practising it until you are passionate about what you’re saying. Then time yourself. Alter it by cutting things out or add things until it’s the right length. Keep practising. Throw your notes away (or keep the briefest of notes on a card). On the day, you will know your subject, you will know how long your talk will last, you will be passionate about what you’re saying, and it’ll go fine.”
With a little preparation and practice, that five minutes of hell will become a great opportunity to impress your audience.
How Many Words In A 5 Minute Speech
When you are writing or preparing for a speech, you come across many questions. One that is the most common one among all is how many words should a 5-minute speech have? People try to find a specific answer to this question which leads them to misunderstand as there is no specific answer to this. The explanation to this above query can only be explained by observing the delivery style of the person. The main factors that vary from person to person are the speed of delivering a speech. Some people deliver it fast and some deliver it slowly.
If a person delivers a speech slowly, he has to add more words to his or her speech as he or she will take less time to complete it. On the other hand, if a person delivers a speech fast, he or she has to keep the words less than the one who speaks slow. Apart from this, you can guess approximate words of the speech by following some general guidelines
General Rule:
On a general note, a speech that is 1 minute long, should have approximately 100-200 words. So keeping the general rule in mind, a speech that is 5 minutes long, should have 500- 1000 words in total.
How to Measure The Words Spoken in a Minute?
Different people deliver a speech at a different rate. So if you are looking for the words you will need to deliver for a 5 minutes speech, write out 650 words of your speech. You can keep as many words in a paragraph as you want. After writing up the speech, take a stopwatch, and stand in front of the mirror. Deliver the speech the way you are thinking of delivering it in front of your audience. Once you are done stop, and change the number of minutes in decimals. After converting, use the following formula to calculate the results:
Formula: Number of words% Minutes in decimals.
Let’s suppose you delivered your 650 words speech in 3.5 minutes, so to calculate the results, you will divide 650 by 3.5 minutes.
Different speech lengths at different speaking speeds:
To get a better idea of the words you will deliver in a five-minute speech, see the following results.
Wrapping Up:
So it’s clear from the above blog, that number of words in a five-minute speech depends upon the person delivering the speech. The words and time do not change with the words in the paragraphs. Only your delivery style and speed can change the number of words in a 5-minute speech. Use the above formula to get an estimate of your speed and words required for your 5-minute speech.
How Many Words is a 5-Minute Speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
To make sure you will be able to do your job flawlessly while looking and sounding smart, here is some information to guide you. Please, read on.
How many words per minute speech?
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
Public speaking is done live, so the speakers need to consider certain factors to deliver a successful speech. No matter how good the speech is, if the audience doesn’t connect with the speaker, then it may fall flat. Therefore, speakers have to use a lot more nonverbal communication techniques to deliver their message.
Tips for public speaking
Theoretically, in a regular conversation, a person can talk up to 100 to 150 words, but this still depends on how people deliver their words. After all, some people talk fast while others are slower than average.
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
A speech can be anywhere between formal and informal, depending on the occasion. For example, a career-related speech will be more formal than one given at a wedding. The purpose of a speech includes commemorating an event, educating people, and even amusing and entertaining a crowd.
Common types of speech
For anyone who has to give a speech, one of the first questions that usually comes to mind is, “How many words is that going to be?” The problem is there is no set answer to this question. The number of words needed for a speech will depend heavily on the person giving the speech.