Length of best man's speech.

tomstickland

I'm busy preparing and rehearsing my speech. I was aiming for 10 minutes.
Do you think this is about right, or should I be going for less?

ncv2

WAY too long. I think 3 minutes tops. Talk about you and him, funny story, how she is great for him etc, then toast.
As a guest you lost me at minute 4.

frannyann

tomstickland wrote: »

I'm busy preparing and rehearsing my speech. I was aiming for 10 minutes.
Do you think this is about right, or should I be going for less?

Hello :hello: Aim for 5 mins max, that should be enough time to get a few laughs in and say the thank you's

Viper_7

Maybe include in the speech some readings from Cards that have been sent - that way it involves the guests too.

foxxymynx

10 mins is waaaaay too long. However, saying that, 1 side of a4 written in about 14 font will take about 3 mins to read out loud - so you can cram alot into a short space of time. Other than that, do what sales people do! - Use the first 30 seconds to attract their attention, if you win their interest in the first 30 seconds, you're laughing

tomstickland

ncv2 wrote: »

As a guest you lost me at minute 4.

I've been to weddings and had people deliver speechs that were easily 15 minutes long and generally very funny too.
If I lose everyone at 4 minutes then I can easily bin the rest of it.

Anyway, point taken, going to see how much more trimming I can do.

I've just had a look in "the complete best man" and it says 8-10 minutes.

tomstickland

Right, I'm busy adjusting the balance and pruning more bits out.
Luckily, this will make the job of learning it a lot easier.

foxxymynx

wow, that's quite long - it's the equivelent to 3 songs!

vij

if you are interesting talk lots if not well..................
the other thing would be to ask the groom what he wants from the speech or if you have a master of ceremonies ask them as they may have a plan in place and if you know their expectations it will help.