It’s a great question. It has a simple answer.
My old english teacher used to say;
“a speech should be the same length as a ladies skirt, long enough to cover everything but short enough to be interesting”.
He was spot on – but there are some other important provisos which we will now discuss.
If you are speaking by invitation at an event as an after dinner speaker then you must STRICTLY adhere to the time allocated. If it’s fifteen minutes – then that’s all it is.
You may have six additional one liners, jokes and shaggy dog stories that you know are really good but strange as it may seem – it’s NOT about you.
It is about the organisation who have requested your attendance and what THEY need.
However, if you are speaking at an event you have organised e.g. a wedding or a presentation then you can speak for as long as you like, but remember, it is extremely difficult to hold people’s attention past a certain point.
At a wedding depending on the quality of your speech five or ten minutes can be plenty.
My advice is do what you need to do, thank the right people and get off while the going is good if you are not a natural or practiced speaker.
How Long is Long Enough?
This is what you should bear in mind if invited to speak.
- Five to ten minutes if you are introducing someone
- Approximately thirty minutes if you are the main speaker
SUPPORTING SPEAKER
If you are introducing someone they are meant to be the main act or speaker – not you.
You are a warm up for them, an ice breaker. You can be witty, funny or whatever you like but never deliberately steal any of their material or preempt what they are going to say.
A good example would be “thanking the catering staff” etc as this is usually down to the organisation to mention.
MAIN SPEAKER
I suggested thirty minutes and it is important you stick to the time allocated.
The evening will be well planned and there may be other mini speeches, presentations, awards and announcements.
These usually take far more time than planned and I’ll explain why in a second because it will also happen to you.
Organisers often fail to realise that these other parts of the evening engender a reaction from the assembled audience. It can be laughter, banter and even bread roll throwing – honestly – and anything can happen – even at the poshest of “do’s”.
This has an affect on timing and things will typically start running late.
You may think that doesn’t matter – well it does. It’s critical.
People have to catch buses, trains, planes, have a car park bill running, release babysitters, have taxis waiting etc.
As your speech will usually be towards the end you often get an audience who are already looking at their watches and they haven’t heard a word from you yet!
The Golden Rule of Speech Time
If you have a speech that lasts thirty minutes and you have practiced it to the second in front of the mirror – well done – but in a room full of lots of people it will not work that way so think again.
Firstly, if you are an entertaining speaker you will get considerable feedback.
As an after dinner speaker it’s fair to say I am entertaining and I tell some shaggy dog stories and a few topical jokes. I am always inclusive and sometimes include people involved with the organisation – e.g. at a rugby club I may mention children, men, women, parents, coaches, ballboys, the people who mark the white lines etc and this always creates reaction.
Added to the mix is the odd one liner and occasionally and reluctantly, some interaction with a drunken heckler who’s just trying to get noticed etc.
There is often much laughter and “being funny” takes time. As a rule of thumb in a thirty minute speech I’d allow anything from three to five minutes for the “unknown” which includes laughter.
Also, subject to how the speech is being received you may speed up if you get nervous or you may find you are considerably slower than you thought you would be – usually the latter if you are a confident speaker and know your subject.
If it’s thirty minutes I urge you to practice for twenty five minutes and then invent a couple of “fillers” just in case you are short on the allocated time.
You will know where you are time wise – you should have something in front of you letting you know how you are doing for time – an Iphone – on silent in airplane mode works well – but keep it out of sight of the audience.
A filler – might be a “before I go I must tell you about” or “I don’t usually tell jokes but my grandson” or “I have had a tremendous evening and would like to thank”.
It doesn’t matter what you have up your sleeve or WHERE you fit it in – but usually it’s in the last third of the speech.
Just make sure you have created the flexibility to slip it in and make it seem perfectly fluent and natural.
It is a skill – and there is more to being a compere and host or speaking after dinner than most people realise.