I have to make an oral presentation for a school project. Unfortunately, it’s just me and my computer, so there will be no visual aids. I’ll just be reading my presentation to the microphone, much as a famed scholar of English literature might read Chaucer’s Prologue.
Can anyone give me some length guidelines? I need to have about 30 minutes of material, so about how many pages is that, assuming I read from the text verbatim and it’s 12-point double spaced?
My rule of thumb for simply reading something through is about 120 to 140 words per minute. It varies a lot per person, so take John Wayne’s advice: Speak low, speak slow, and don’t say too much.
My unsolicited advice is not to read something for 30 minutes. Make some bullet points to keep you on track and speak as extemporaneously as you can.
Rule of thumb is about 2 minutes (or a little more-- however fast you read, slow down) per double-spaced school report style page.
Why don’t you just test it? Write a page or two and see how long it takes to say.
I would have liked to present a coordinated powerpoint-with-audio presentation, but we are being discouraged from doing that, due to potential technical difficulties that might make it difficult for the instructor to see and hear it as intended. Yet I still have to do a PPT presentation anyway.
I don’t think I have ever talked for 30 minutes in my life.