Yaron ​Apr 14, 2023
Florian Haas

Experienced speakers, what's your prep time factor for a talk you consider useful, solid, and well delivered?

Assume "talk time" is just the time spent on stage, and "prep time" encompasses all of drafting, writing, preparing slides, editing, and rehearsal. (Including any work you spend on the talk proposal, of course.)

"For every minute of talk time, I spend ___ minutes of prep time."

Boosts appreciated.

A: 10 or less
6.1%
B: Between 10 and 30
53.1%
C: Between 30 and 60
34.7%
D: More than 60
6.1%
Poll ended at .
Apr 12, 2023 at 1:42pmWeb
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
Note: this talks about in-person delivery only, because it gets very messy if we try to define "talk time" for pre-recorded talks.
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 14, 2023
☝️Thanks to everyone who participated! For the record, I'm on the top end of C and have drifted into D territory before.
Show threadKrisBuytaertApr 12, 2023
@xahteiwi it depends :) How long upfront do you know about having to give the talk, is it one you have given multiple times, is it an ignite or a full talk or even a workshop.
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
@krisbuytaert I do mean a newly written talk and not one you've done before. As for the talk type, if it's a new talk I don't think the type makes much difference in the factor; do you see things differently?
Show threadKrisBuytaertApr 12, 2023
@xahteiwi I spend about the same time prepping for an Ignite as a for a full talk.
Show threadFrankApr 12, 2023
@xahteiwi Hard to answer. The best talks are iteration 10+ of that talk, where you have spent time to improve and integrate insights/feedback from your public between each presentation. Hard to gauge that time investment. Also, a new talk doesn't just happen... I've been working on a topic for a long time before I can start to prepare a talk.
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
@fschaap Easy to answer; you're definitely in the D category for a new talk. For precisely the reasons you outline. 🙂
Show threadLars Marowsky-Brée 😷Apr 12, 2023
@xahteiwi I've gone with C), but it also depends on how well-structured the topic already is in my mind, and whether I'm talking to an expert audience or conveying complex topics to one that's new to them, or whether it required active research.
I've had successful talks that I wrote in a day, and some I was only happy enough with in the third or fourth iteration at the very least.
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
@larsmb I think C or D are both good options. I consider a factor of >30 to be reasonable, over 60 happens too. The problem is that a lot of people who know nothing about speaking, or think they do good talks when honestly they really don't, think it's about 10.
Show threadLars Marowsky-Brée 😷Apr 12, 2023
@xahteiwi I'd at least say that there's a bit of a constant effort there, or maybe it's O(log n)?
Shorter talks don't necessarily imply much less work, and expanding a talk doesn't linearly extent the prep time.
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
@larsmb https://mastodon.social/@xahteiwi/110186628498587667
Show threadTheuniApr 13, 2023
@xahteiwi @larsmb I chose option B and would guess that most times I am satisfied are close to 30. However, there are some that surprised me where I definitely did not have to spend more than 10 and was happy. My most intense one (a keynote) was last year and I think I was getting close to 60 but did not exceed it. The additional effort was mostly in basically preparing it twice, presenting it first at a smaller event, doing 3 serious internal test runs and …
Show threadTheuniApr 13, 2023
@xahteiwi @larsmb … having my favorite graphics designer overhaul the slide deck. Actually, thinking about it again it might have been more than 60, but I‘m not sure.
Show threadThaiis Thei 𓁟Apr 13, 2023
@larsmb @xahteiwi Yes, if it is something I am absolutely an expert on and requires no research then <10. Anything else depends on the amount of research required and how carried away I get with making a fancy presentation.
Show threadAndrewApr 12, 2023
@xahteiwi the rule of thumb I've been told is, for every hour presenting, expect 8 hours of prep. Which I think is a bit on the light side.
Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
@puck I'd say that's extremely light. I've found 1 hour of prep for 1 minute of talk to be more realistic, for myself. I really don't think I'd be able to deliver a 5-minute Ignite well with less than 5 hours of prep.
Show threadChristopher NeugebauerApr 12, 2023

@xahteiwi I think shorter talks need disproportionately more preparation time
(per minute of content) because you have to spend so much time cutting material and making sure time isn't wasted.

I've spent 3-10 hours on a 5 minute lightning talk. I'd expect to spend 20 hours minimum on a 30-minute talk that I care about.

@puck

Show threadFlorian HaasApr 12, 2023
@chrisjrn @puck I agree on more prep time for short talks. I doubt that it'll be be more than twice as much per minute, though. Hence the width of the B, C and D options in the poll.
Show threadDiana LarsenApr 13, 2023
@xahteiwi @lkanies It depends (of course) on the topic, new or familiar; if familiar, how many times have I have delivered same/similar; audience; topic they know, something surprising, etc. Always more than 10, but high end with lots of diff might be 40.
Show threadTheuniApr 13, 2023
@xahteiwi One thing I noticed early on was that the quality of the talk (or workshop) improved a lot when I wrote a proper script first that could be its own publication and then disassembled and rearranged it for presentation. I think that is also a more efficient way to do it, but sometimes it doesn‘t click for me. Another option is to review story telling guides (like Squirrel inc) and decide for a story structure first. Other times a „light table“ approach helps me think.