How long is your speech?
Most people speak at around 130 to 150 words per minute when they give a speech, and nerves usually push that faster. Dividing your word count by your pace gets you close, but numbers, dates and pauses throw it off. Speech Timer counts words the way you'll say them: "$2.4M" is timed as "two point four million dollars", "2019" as "twenty nineteen", and notes to yourself like [NEXT SLIDE] aren't counted at all.
How many words for each speech length
| Speech length | Slow (130 wpm) | Typical (150 wpm) | Fast (170 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 130 | 150 | 170 |
| 2 minutes | 260 | 300 | 340 |
| 3 minutes | 390 | 450 | 510 |
| 5 minutes | 650 | 750 | 850 |
| 10 minutes | 1,300 | 1,500 | 1,700 |
| 15 minutes | 1,950 | 2,250 | 2,550 |
| 20 minutes | 2,600 | 3,000 | 3,400 |
These are spoken words only. If you expect laughs or applause, add [pause 3s] after the line and Speech Timer includes the wait.
How long should a wedding speech be?
Three to five minutes is a good target for a best man, maid of honour or parent speech. That's roughly 450 to 750 words: enough for one or two good stories and a toast, and short enough that the room stays with you. Pick 3 or 5 minutes as your target and the tool shows how many words to cut or add.
Time your practice run with green, yellow and red
The Practice timer works like the lights at a speech club or debate. Press Start and read your speech out loud. The light turns green when you reach the minimum, yellow when it's time to start wrapping up, and red when your time is up. The cues come from your target length, so a 3-minute speech goes green at 2:00, yellow at 2:30 and red at 3:00. When you stop, it tells you how fast you actually spoke and can use that pace for every estimate after. Press Full screen to time someone else's speech from across the room.
Practise with the teleprompter
Open the teleprompter and read your speech out loud. It scrolls at your pace and highlights the word you're on. Turn on Auto-pause and it waits whenever you stop talking, so you can practise pausing for laughs without losing your place. Tap any line to start from there, or press M to go back a sentence and try it again. You can also record yourself while you read and watch it back.
Find your real speaking pace
Everyone's pace is different. Record yourself reading the speech, even as a voice memo on your phone, then upload it under Match my voice. Speech Timer measures how fast you actually spoke and uses that for every estimate after. A full read-through on the teleprompter's recorder does the same thing.
Speech Timer is part of Cue & Cut, a set of free tools for anyone who writes things to say out loud. Making YouTube videos? Script Clock is the same tool with YouTube features like chapters and editing markers.