Reference

Speech length and speaking rate calculator

Paste a draft or type a word count and see how long it runs at your speaking rate, how many words your slot holds and how much to cut. A second box finds your own rate from a recording. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

Paste your draft here (or leave blank and type a word count below) Word count (used when the draft box is blank) Speaking rate (words per minute; 130 is a planning figure, published advice runs 120 to 150; use your own measured rate) Your slot (minutes)

Find your own speaking rate

Record yourself for about a minute, speaking about a topic you know from notes (or reading your draft aloud, if that is how you will give the talk). Then count the words you said, or paste the transcript, and enter the seconds the recording ran. A rate from one recording is a starting point; timed run-throughs settle the real figure. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

Words you spoke (leave blank if you paste a transcript) Or paste the transcript here Seconds the recording ran

Assumptions behind the numbers

The default rate of 130 words per minute is this manual's planning figure, chosen inside the 120 to 150 that speaking guides advise (Lumen's Exploring Public Speaking, Baruch College, the National Association of Funeral Directors). No source we found measures the rate of prepared live speeches.
NCVS's "about 150 words per minute" is a round figure for conversation; Baruch suggests about 140 for presenting; reading aloud runs faster (183 in one reading study).
A double-spaced page is counted as about two minutes (University of Puget Sound), which assumes about 250 words a page at 125 words per minute.
Nerves usually speed a speaker up, so aim for the middle of the slot; your timed run-throughs settle the real figure.
Words are counted in your browser by splitting on spaces; numbers and abbreviations count as one word each.