A 4-minute speech will have around 520 words at a regular speaking rate of 130 words per minute (wpm). Overcome your fear of public speaking. Then practice reading from a script to improve your delivery skills. The first thing to understand about how many words there are in a 4-minute speech is that it's not as simple as adding up the number of words you think you'll need. You should allow for plenty of room for improvisation, so don't be surprised if some of the words you plan turn out to be too long or short. Also remember that people read at different speeds, so a 400-word sentence might only take four minutes for someone else. In order to keep your audience interested, you need to vary your speech with some anecdote, story, or example. This will help break the monotony of talking for such a length of time and also make your speech more relevant to your audience. They will also appreciate you taking the time to include some humor now and then! So in conclusion, a 4-minute speech will usually contain between 500 and 1,000 words.