You have 2 options when it comes to scheduling an Enewsletter send:

1. Realtime send.
2. Scheduling for a future date/time.

In the case of #1 above, they go out (relatively) instantaneously. In most cases, you should be seeing the email you just sent in your own email inbox in less than 3 - 5 minutes after you click the Send button (and many times it will be in less than a minute.)

In the case of #2 above, Enewsletters that are scheduled by you to go out at some future date/time are throttled for several reasons, most of which have to do with making sure that the emails have the best possible chance of making it to your users and not getting caught in spam filters or causing your chapter to get spam-listed. (These reasons tend not to apply in the case of realtime sends, and that's why those go out very quickly.) The reasons for the throttling have nothing to do with our ability to "send" quickly--it's really all about minimizing the chance that you could get spam-listed. Hence throttled sends typically take 1 - 3 hrs to go through your entire distribution list but can occasionally take longer.

What about Test Sends of your Enewsletter? Same as with Realtime sends (i.e., "send now"), you should see these very quickly in your email inbox.