Talks
Arrange comments you have already written into a running order — from any subject — and see what the whole thing adds up to.
~4 minutes to learnA talk is an arrangement, not a container
A subject holds the material for one meeting: the paragraphs, the questions, the comments you wrote against them. A talk is a different thing — an order of points you intend to make, where each point borrows a comment you have already written.
The word borrows is exact. Nothing is moved and nothing is copied. The comment stays under its own question, in its own subject, and the talk simply points at it. That one fact is what makes the rest possible.
What it does that a subject cannot
- Draw on more than one subject. A point from last week's study and a point from this week's can sit side by side in one talk. Neither subject has to know.
- Keep more than one arrangement. The same material said to a family and said to a hall are two different talks that can share the same comments.
- Have sub-points that are not where the comments live. Your outline's shape is yours; it does not have to mirror how the source was organised.
Getting to it
- From the main menu, under Prepare — Talks.
- Or go straight to comment.coach/talk.
Start one, and name it
+ New talk makes an empty one. Click the title to rename it — Circuit visit, Sunday, whatever tells you which arrangement this is when there are three of them.
Lay out the points
+ Add point adds a main point. The + on a row adds a sub-point underneath it, at any depth. The arrows move a row among its siblings.
Write the point as the thing you want to say, not as the source you got it from. The source is already recorded on the comment.
Allot the time, before you have written a word
Every point has an Allotted box. Type it the way you
would say it: 3:00, 3m, 90s, 1m30s, or just 3 — a bare number means
minutes, because nobody gives a main point three seconds.
This is the half of preparation that usually happens on the back of an envelope. A talk is eight minutes; the second point is worth three of them; you find out on the night that it was worth five.
Borrow a comment for each point
Borrow a comment opens your subjects. Pick one, then pick the comment. It appears under the point, with the subject it came from named beneath it so it is always obvious where it lives.
Replace swaps it for another. Remove takes it out of the talk and does nothing at all to the comment.
The arithmetic, which is the point
The line under the talk's name carries two numbers and the distance between them.
- Allotted — what you decided this talk should run, added up from the points.
- Estimated — how long the comments you borrowed will actually take to say, at your own speaking pace.
- Over by / under by — the gap, which is the number you can act on.
- Empty slots — points you have laid out but not filled yet, so an unfinished talk never reads as a short one.
The estimate uses your pace, not a textbook figure. Once you have recorded a few rehearsals the app knows how fast you actually speak, in each language, and every estimate on this page shifts accordingly.
One comment, once
A comment can be borrowed by any number of talks — that is the whole idea. But within a single talk it can appear only once. If you try to borrow the same comment twice, the app refuses and names the point that already has it, because saying identical words at two points is almost always a slip rather than a plan.
Tips
- Allot before you fill. Deciding the shape while the boxes are empty is the only time you are judging the talk rather than defending what you already wrote.
- Leave points empty on purpose. An empty slot is a visible question — the talk tells you what is still missing instead of looking finished.
- Borrow across subjects freely. The best illustration for this week's point is often something you wrote a month ago.
- Two talks, one set of comments. Make a second arrangement rather than rewriting; the comments are shared, so improving one improves both.
FAQ
If I edit a comment, does the talk change?
Yes. The talk points at the comment rather than holding a copy of it, so the talk always shows the current wording — and the estimate updates with it.
What happens to my comments if I delete a talk?
Nothing. A talk borrows; it does not own. Deleting one removes the arrangement and leaves every comment where it was written.
Can I use the same comment in two talks?
Yes, and that is the intended use. Which version each talk uses is a property of that talk, so two arrangements can make different choices without fighting each other.
Does a talk need an account?
Yes. A talk borrows your comments, so it only exists where your comments do.
Can I rehearse a whole talk out loud?
From a subject, yes — its outline offers Rehearse N points and records each one as its own take. Rehearsing straight from a talk is not wired up yet.