One thing I’ve learned about public speaking is that the shorter the talk, the more preparation it requires. The reason is simple: if you're giving an hour-long lecture, you can get by with a rough outline and a few notes. You have room to meander, to digress, to circle back to your main point. You can go off-topic for a bit—as long as you eventually return to your core message.

And realistically, your audience isn’t going to be fully locked in for the entire hour. Some people will be on their phones, some will zone out or daydream.

But with a 5 minute talk, it’s a different story. People will be paying attention for the entire time. So every word matters. There’s no space for filler or improvisation. You have to be sharp. You have to rehearse. If you want to deliver a good short talk, it demands more preparation than a long one.

Of course, if you just want to get up there and flounder for 5 minutes, you can do that too.