Eloquento — Public Speaking Basics | eloquento.org
The introduction-body-conclusion frame with a timing table for talks of 3 to 20 minutes.
The classic speech structure is introduction, body and conclusion, and it is the container every other decision fits inside. The introduction states what the talk covers, the body carries the argument in ordered points, and the conclusion restates the takeaway rather than adding new material.
Timing starts from the frame rather than from the clock. A comfortable speaking pace is about 120-150 words per minute, so a five-minute talk is roughly 650-750 words; multiply your minutes by 120 and by 150 to get the working range for any length.
For a 3-minute talk that gives 360-450 words, for 7 minutes 840-1050, for 10 minutes 1200-1500, for 15 minutes 1800-2250 and for 20 minutes 2400-3000. Write the outline as sentences and count before you rehearse, because a talk that runs long almost always failed at this stage.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Split the body into ordered points and give each one a single job. A body of three points at roughly equal length is easier to time and easier to follow than one long block, and it gives you natural places to pause.
Arrangement is one of the five parts of the ancient rhetorical canon, and it is where the introduction-body-conclusion decision is actually made. Invention supplies the material, arrangement orders it, and the frame is what the audience experiences as a talk having a shape.
Check the conclusion against the introduction: if the conclusion introduces something the introduction did not promise, the frame has drifted and the talk needs cutting rather than extending.
Further reading