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Why are TED talks 18 minutes long (or less)?

31st December 2011

My answer to Why are TED talks 18 minutes long (or less)? on Quora

I imagine it’s because enforcing a shorter talk time results in consistently higher quality presentations, by forcing speakers to carefully structure their talk and strip out any unnecessary details.

A similar logic holds for five minute “lightning talks”, which are extremely popular at technical conferences. Only having 5 minutes forces people to get straight to the point and stay there.

This is Why are TED talks 18 minutes long (or less)? by Simon Willison, posted on 31st December 2011.

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