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How many words is an 8-minute speech?

An 8-minute speech is about 1,160 words 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

Words at different paces

PaceRateWords
Slow120 wpm960 words
Lecture145 wpm1,160 words
TED talk169 wpm1,352 words

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

Word counts for common time ranges

Speech slots are often given as a range, like “3 to 5 minutes”. Aim for the middle column, which assumes a typical 145 words per minute.

LengthWords at 145 wpmSlow to TED pace
1–2 minutes145–290120–338
2–3 minutes290–435240–507
3–5 minutes435–725360–845
5–7 minutes725–1,015600–1,183
7–10 minutes1,015–1,450840–1,690
10–15 minutes1,450–2,1751,200–2,535
15–20 minutes2,175–2,9001,800–3,380
20–30 minutes2,900–4,3502,400–5,070

What fits in this length

A team presentation, a longer eulogy, or a short conference talk.

Tell the audience the three parts up front, then signal each one as you reach it.

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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