Presentation Structure Generator

Talks overrun for one reason: the middle had four points in it when there was time for three. That is arithmetic, and it is knowable before you stand up. This divides your slot into timed sections that add up to exactly the time you have — including the close and the questions, which are the two parts that get eaten when the rest overruns.

Structure

How long, in minutes

The sections always add up to exactly this.

Prompts per section

Ideas for what goes in each part.

The classical rhetorical division — tell them what you will say, say it, tell them what you said.

Your outline will appear here.

What this generator does

Budgets minutes across a talk's parts. The run-of-show generator here schedules a whole event with clock times; this plans a single talk's internal structure, which is a different problem — no clock times, but proportions that have to add up and a close that must not be squeezed. The shape is the classical three-part division, with its source named rather than presented as a discovery.

How to use this tool

Set how many minutes you have.
Build the structure.
Lock any section you are happy with and rebuild the rest.
Copy it into your notes.

Understanding the controls

How long, in minutes: Your actual slot, including questions. The sections always total exactly this.
Prompts per section: How many suggestions for what each part should do. Two is usually enough to start.
Lock: Keeps a section's prompts while the rest are redrawn. Timings always recalculate.

Worked examples

A 20-minute slot: 3 opening, then roughly 4-5 for each of three points, and 4 to close.
A 45-minute slot: The same proportions, larger numbers, still totalling exactly 45.
Locking the opening: Comes back unchanged; the points and close are redrawn.
The close: Always gets its share rather than whatever is left.

Common use cases

Planning a conference talk to fit its slot
Structuring an internal presentation or a project update
Rehearsing against timings rather than against a slide count
Cutting a talk down when the slot shrinks
Teaching somebody to structure a talk for the first time

How this generator works

The three-part structure declares a share for each of its five sections — opening, three points, and a close — and those shares are apportioned over your slot by largest remainder, so the minutes sum to the total exactly. Every section has a minimum below which it is dropped rather than given a token minute, and prompts are drawn without repetition from a bank written for that part.

Randomness and fairness

The draw decides which prompts appear. The structure and the minute budgets are computed, so pressing again changes the suggestions and never the timings.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Assumptions this tool makes

The slot includes questions, and three main points is the right shape for it.

Limitations and good to know

It plans the shape, not the content. What your three points are is the hard part and it cannot help with that.
The proportions are the classical convention, not a finding about what works.
It does not plan slides — a minutes-per-slide rule is a bad idea and this deliberately does not offer one.
It has no way to know how fast you talk; rehearse against the timings.
The timings are not saved, so copy them into your speaker notes where you will actually see them.

Common mistakes

Planning four or five main points: Almost nobody has time for more than three, and audiences remember fewer. The structure is three for a reason.
Leaving questions out of the slot: If the slot is twenty minutes including questions, the talk is not twenty minutes. Enter the whole slot.
Rehearsing against slides rather than minutes: Slide counts tell you nothing about time. Rehearse each section against its budget.

Practical tips

Rehearse the opening and the close word for word; improvise the middle if you must.
If a section consistently overruns in rehearsal, cut its content rather than hoping.
Write the closing sentence before you write anything else.

Privacy and your data

The slot length and prompt count stay in your browser. Nothing about the talk you are planning is uploaded, stored between visits or written into the page address. Analytics records that the tool ran and how many sections it timed.

Frequently asked questions

Why three points?: It is the classical rhetorical division and it survives because audiences retain about that many. If you genuinely have five things to say, that is usually two talks.
Does the slot include questions?: Enter the whole slot including questions, and the close section covers them. A talk planned to fill the slot leaves no room for the part where people engage with it.
How is this different from the run of show generator?: That one schedules a whole event with clock times and fixed anchors. This plans the internal proportions of one talk.