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How long is a 2,500-word speech?

A 2,500-word speech takes 17 min 14 s at a typical presentation pace of 145 words per minute.

By the Ace Coach team, built with the best speech coaches · Updated · How we write

Time at different paces

PaceRateTime
Slow120 wpm20 min 50 s
Lecture145 wpm17 min 14 s
TED talk169 wpm14 min 48 s

Paces come from measured averages: about 145 words per minute in university lectures and 169 in TED talks (Wingrove, 2017).

What fits in this length

A seventeen-minute talk, near TED's 18-minute limit, or a long keynote section.

Rehearse in sections. Time each one, and know which you can cut if you run long.

Check your own pace

Everyone's pace is different, and most people speed up when they're nervous. Time yourself reading one paragraph of your script out loud, or use how fast do I talk for a 60-second test. Then plug your number into the speech time calculator.

Other lengths

Rehearse it out loud.

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