Dear Vital Speeches editor …

A woman who heard me speak at the IABC conference in Chicago earlier this summer sent me an question that had a whiff of desperation: “What is the maximum length of a speech to hold an audience’s attention?”

Twenty minutes is the general guideline, I told her, but I added that it depends on the speech. “Some people can hold an audience for an hour, whereas the truly gifted can bore an audience in 30 seconds!”

And I asked her what occasioned her question. Of course, she was working on a speech that was getting longer and longer with every new round of changes.

“Tell โ€˜em Vital Speeches editor says itโ€™s scientifically proven that an audience loses focus at 20 minutes and people begin to die at around 30,” I told her.

“Thank you!” she replied.

All in a day’s work, ma’am. โ€”DM

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