RankedSpeakSpeech timer with timing lights
Last updated 8 November 2026
A speech timer with green, yellow and red timing lights, built for the Toastmasters Timer role and for practising to a time limit. Pick Table Topics, Ice Breaker, a speech or an evaluation, hold up the full-screen colour card, and copy the timer's report at the end. Free, and nothing leaves your browser.
Table Topics · green 1:00 · yellow 1:30 · red 2:00
0:00
Waiting for green · green at 1:00
Press space to start and stop. The screen is kept awake while the timer runs, where your browser allows it.
Meeting log
Time a speaker, stop the timer, then add them here. The log stays on this device (saved in your browser, never sent anywhere).
How timing lights work
Timing lights tell a speaker where they are against their time without a word being said. Each speech type has three marks. Green appears at the minimum time, yellow at a point in between, and red at the maximum. The speaker aims to finish between green and red. The timer shows the colour with a card, a flag or a light device where the speaker can see it but the audience mostly cannot, and notes the final time on a log.
Green
Minimum reached. You can start to wrap up, or keep going.
Yellow
Time is running out. Head toward your close.
Red
Maximum reached. Finish your sentence and sit down.
Standard Toastmasters timings
These are the marks in Toastmasters International's Timer Script and Log for club meetings. They are the presets in the timer above.
| Speech | Length | Green | Yellow | Red |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Table Topics | Up to 2 minutes | 1:00 | 1:30 | 2:00 |
| Ice Breaker | 4 to 6 minutes | 4:00 | 5:00 | 6:00 |
| Standard speech | 5 to 7 minutes | 5:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 |
| Evaluation | 2 to 3 minutes | 2:00 | 2:30 | 3:00 |
Contests use stricter rules. In the official speech contest time sheet, International, Humorous and Online speeches run 5 to 7 minutes (lights at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00) and a contestant is disqualified under 4:30 or over 7:30. Table Topics contest speeches run 1 to 2 minutes with a disqualification under 1:00 or over 2:30. Evaluation contest speeches run 2 to 3 minutes with a disqualification under 1:30 or over 3:30. For a contest, use the custom setting and follow the contest chair's instructions.
How to be a good timer
- Start the clock at the speaker's first word, not when they stand up or when they are introduced.
- Hold the card where the speaker can see it and keep it up until the next colour. Raise it steadily, not with a flourish.
- Use the full-screen card on a laptop or phone propped where the speaker looks, and stay quiet. A beep can distract the room, so leave the tick off unless you are practising alone.
- Write the time down straight away. Press Stop, then Add to log with the name, before the next speaker starts.
- Keep the timer in view of the Toastmaster for evaluation pauses and transitions as well as speeches.
- Introduce the rules at the start: say the three marks for each kind of speech, as in the table above, and show the cards.
- At your report, read the times the way the log shows them: name, time, and whether they were within time.
Practising a timed speech alone
You can use the same timer on your own: pick a preset, press Start, and talk to the colours. If you keep finishing under green, you are cutting content, and if you reach red mid sentence, you are not editing hard enough. A timer tells you how long you spoke but not how it sounded. RankedSpeak is our iPhone app for that: you answer a question you have not seen for 30 to 90 seconds, and a few seconds later you read a score out of 10 with your filler words and pace measured from a word by word transcript, plus one fix to try next time. One daily prompt a day is free.
Practise to a time limit, then see how it sounded
Answer a daily prompt out loud and read a score and one fix a few seconds later.
iPhone app. No Android or web version. What is free and what Pro costs
Questions
What are the Toastmasters timing lights?
Three colours shown to the speaker. Green means the minimum time has been reached, yellow means time is nearly up, and red means the maximum has been reached. For Table Topics the lights come on at 1:00, 1:30 and 2:00. The timer uses coloured cards or a light device and writes down each speaker's time.
What times do green, yellow and red mean for each speech?
From Toastmasters International's Timer Script and Log: Table Topics 1:00, 1:30 and 2:00; Ice Breaker 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00; most other speeches 5:00, 6:00 and 7:00; evaluations 2:00, 2:30 and 3:00. Pathways projects can have different limits, so use the custom setting for those.
Is there a grace period before a speaker counts as over time?
The club Timer Script and Log does not state one, so this timer does not assume one: grace is a setting, off by default, with 15 and 30 second options. Speech contests are different. The official contest time sheet disqualifies a contestant outside a stated range, such as under 1:00 or over 2:30 for a Table Topics contest speech, and gives 30 extra seconds only when the timing equipment fails. Ask your club what it follows.
Does it work on a phone, and will the screen stay on?
Yes. It asks the browser to keep the screen awake while the timer runs (the Screen Wake Lock feature, available in current Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox). If your browser says no, the page tells you and you can turn off auto-lock in your device settings instead.
Can I hold it up or put it on a projector?
Yes. The full-screen card fills the display with one colour and a large G, Y or R letter, so it also works for colour blind speakers. Space starts and stops it from a keyboard, and Esc closes the card.
Does it save or send anything?
No data is sent anywhere. Your settings and meeting log are saved in your own browser (localStorage) so a refresh does not lose them, and Clear log removes them.
What does the timer say in the timer's report?
The Copy timer's report button produces plain text with each speaker's name, time and whether they were under time, within time or over time, grouped by role, ready to read out or paste into the meeting notes.
RankedSpeak is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Toastmasters International. Toastmasters and Table Topics are trademarks of Toastmasters International, used here only to describe the meeting roles and speech types this timer is designed for.
Sources
- Toastmasters International: Timer Script and Log (item 675E, rev. 09/2019) (checked 8 November 2026)
- Toastmasters International: Speech Contest Time Record Sheet and Instructions for Timers (item 1175, rev. 10/2024) (checked 8 November 2026)
- Toastmasters International: Timer meeting role (checked 8 November 2026)
- Toastmasters Magazine: The Timer's Toolkit (February 2021) (checked 8 November 2026)
- MDN: Screen Wake Lock API (checked 8 November 2026)
Related pages
Filler word counter
The Ah-Counter role: tap to count um and uh live.
Speech length calculator
How many words fit your time slot.
Speaking speed test
How fast do you talk? Get your words per minute.
Table Topics practice
Daily impromptu prompts, scored.
Toastmasters alternatives
Ways to practise speaking between meetings.