Cutting a Talk to Time

What this is for

Every speaker eventually gets a version of "you have 18 minutes, not 45." Cutting a full talk under pressure, by hand, tends to trim evenly across every section, which weakens all of them a little instead of cutting the weak parts hard. This guide uses AI to find what should go, section by section, based on what each part is actually doing for the audience.

When to use it

Use this any time you need to fit an existing talk into a shorter slot - a new booking with a tighter time, a track session instead of a keynote, or a request to trim ahead of an event. Don't use this while you're still building the talk. Guide 20 is for that.

The prompt kit

I have a talk that runs [current length] and needs to fit [target length]. Here's the full script or outline: [paste it]

Before suggesting any cuts, ask me: which section is the one idea, and which sections exist to support it? I want you to understand the hierarchy before you touch anything.

Here's the hierarchy: [paste your answer]

Go through the talk section by section and tell me, for each one, what job it's doing: setting up the one idea, proving it, or just adding color. Don't cut anything yet, just sort them.

Based on that sort, which sections are doing the least work toward my one idea? Rank them from most cuttable to least. For each one, tell me what the talk loses if it's removed, so I can decide with real information instead of guessing.

I've decided to cut: [list what you're removing]

Now check the sections that are left. Does the talk still make sense as a whole with these gone, or did I cut something a later section depends on? Point out any place the logic now breaks.

What good output looks like

A good cutting pass tells you clearly what each section costs to remove, not just what it saves in minutes. The ranking should make the actual tradeoff visible: this section is entertaining but not load-bearing, this one is short but the whole close depends on it. The final check should catch broken logic before you're on stage discovering it live.

Watch out for

Cutting evenly instead of cutting hard. Trimming a sentence from every section feels safe but weakens the whole talk a little everywhere. It's almost always better to cut one full section completely and leave the rest intact.

Protecting your favorite story instead of your most useful one. The story you enjoy telling most and the story doing the most work for the audience aren't always the same one. Trust the hierarchy sort over your attachment to a bit.

Losing a signpost when you cut the section it referred to. If you remove a section, check whether an earlier transition line still refers to it. Guide 20 has the signpost prompts if you need to rebuild one.

Cutting the setup for the close. The close (guide 22) often depends on a specific detail from earlier in the talk. Before you finalize any cut, check that the close still connects to whatever remains.