Simon Willison

I think 25 minutes may be my new favourite talk duration

On the one hand, it's a really difficult space to fill: it's similar to a 5 minute lightning talk in that you have to edit drastically to fit the space, but it's a longer slot so it takes ~5 times longer to prepare

But the act of editing down to 25 minutes enforces getting straight to the point while also being long enough to explore more complex issues

And then later people can watch the talk video at 2x speed in just 12.5 minutes!

Nov 26, 2022 at 5:22pmWeb
Show threadKansas GrantNov 26, 2022
@simon At least with alcoholism they would have a longer life expectancy.
Show threadJan Lehnardt 🛋️Nov 26, 2022
@simon that’s been our sweet spot length for JSConf EU for 10 years. If you can’t say what you have to say in that time, you haven’t thought about it enough and shouldn’t be giving a talk :)
Show threadλ Calrissian / MatthewPNov 26, 2022
@janl @simon I loved that about JSConf EU was the talk length made me get to the point as well as having very on point demos. Live coding is hard to get right in that timeframe so I never tried
Show threadChristopherNov 26, 2022
@simon @janl For me videos below 30 minutes are quick, something I can do in a break or similar.
While longer conference talks videos are a time commitment.
Show threadStefan TilkovNov 26, 2022
@Terreii @simon @janl the downside is that you have to assume the audience to be knowledgable about basics because you have no time to explain them
Show threadSimon WillisonNov 26, 2022
@stilkov @Terreii @janl yeah it does force you to be even more careful that you understand the level of the audience for the talk
Show threadMaineCNov 26, 2022

@simon @stilkov @Terreii @janl it also forces you to make a decision: do you target beginners, or are you talking to people who already know the basics.

As a result the beginners will less likely be lost at the end of the talk, the experts less bored at the beginning...

Show threadMaineCNov 26, 2022
@simon @stilkov @Terreii @janl some of the most memorable talks I've been to though: 25min speaking, rest of the (often 45min) time slot used for a conversation/ ask me anything with the audience...
Show threadStefan TilkovNov 26, 2022
@mainec @simon @Terreii @janl I’ve made a habit of asking who is new to the topic in talks that had “advanced” in their title, and it was never less than 50 %
Show threadBrian DorseyNov 26, 2022
@simon I agree. I like 5 and 20 minute talks and then 2-3 hour workshops. ~45 minutes is the hardest to do well. Really needs good storytelling. Thinking about it in terms of what someone will remember a week later, it’s a very rare 45 minute that folks will remember more of than the same core content in 20-25.
Show threadColin DeanNov 26, 2022
@simon in my years of hosting conferences, I found that 25 minute talks with 10 minutes between works well for a rolling multitrack conference. It can easily extend to 40 minutes but keep the 10 minute between unless you're going to suffer Q&A, in which case it should be kept to 5 minutes or basically three questions. I don't like doing Q &A anymore, instead of allowing ample time for people to approach the speaker afterwards with the speaker accompanied by a staff member keeping things fluid.
Show threadmasukomiNov 26, 2022

@colindean @simon

At Abstractions conf they had a "speaker room" where the speakers would hang out after their talks and you could go ask them stuff without tying up the conference rooms, or blocking hallways

Bonus: the speakers ended up having great convos with each other about stuff which were fun to just listen in on.

Show threadColin DeanNov 26, 2022
@masukomi @simon that was one of my favorite features of that conf series and that will definitely return when Abstractions returns
Show threadmasukomiNov 26, 2022
@colindean @simon still desperately wishing they'd release the videos they recorded. So many AMAZING talks that i want to share with others that exist nowhere else.
Show threadAlexNov 26, 2022
@colindean @simon it keeps the awkward situation away when no one in the audience has no questions.
Show threadAmy HoyNov 26, 2022
@simon at our confs, the longest talks are 15 min. it’s the perfect length. it does take some time getting used to but it is powerful bc it’s so focused
Show threadSimon WillisonNov 26, 2022

@amy wow that sounds hard! I have enough difficulty trimming to 25

I should definitely try doing a 15 minute one, not sure I've ever done that before

Show threadAmy HoyNov 26, 2022
@simon a 45 minute talk is 3-5 bullet points, 25 is 2-3, the trick for 15 min is to go with 1 bullet point and dive into that instead. it works well.
Show threadDygearNov 26, 2022
@simon I did a medical talk series called "Three Wise <Medics/Nurses/Officers/Doctors>" Three people had 7 minutes each to talk about a subject. The total time for all of them with about three minute between talks for setup was about a half hour. The three topics kept the audience attention and has a really high signal to noise ratio.
Show threadmasukomiNov 26, 2022

@simon Gotta say that last bit is actually a big deal for me.

I've been encountering a lot of talks / overview that're roughly 30 mins lately and knowing that I can consume that in ~15 mins (or less) makes me so much more likely to watch them.

I've a huge backlog of longer talks i haven't watched.

Show threadSimon WillisonNov 26, 2022
@masukomi yeah I finally got over my habit of grumbling about "who even has time to watch these talks? wish it was a blog post instead" when I got used to watching things at 2x speed
Show threadKristin BransonNov 26, 2022
@simon I either cut down my 50-min talk or slow down my 15-min talk. Both are reasonable options!
Show threadAdam Johnson  Nov 26, 2022
@simon Yes I quite enjoy the format. I always start out feeling I have 45 mins of material but when delivered in 25 it’s much more engaging.
Show threadJoe SĹ‚owikNov 26, 2022
@simon Agree with this completely - with one caveat. Such TL;DR talks should be accompanied by a long form blog or paper that fills in the assumptions and jumps, and which the talk provides a succinct introduction for - so basically @VirusBulletin in the #infosec space
Show threadAnthony BakerNov 27, 2022
@simon I like this idea.
Show threadLuca Nov 27, 2022
@simon I think that 20 minutes are enough. If you want to go straight to the point, it is a lot of time anyway.