Personally I didn't bother with tracking XP, I leveled my characters up when the AP calls for it and when it felt right - there's an outline for levels presented at the start of each book. If you do track XP I believe RotRL is designed for characters on the Fast Track.
Maps depend on how you normally play PF - I find them useful to clarify where everyone is and keep the action moving smoothly. That said, "maps" can be anything from Paizo official flipmats to drawings on graph paper or scribbles on a whiteboard. Don't put more effort into it than you feel you need and are comfortable with.
As for time, it really depends on how efficient your players are. I spent about a session getting the players started, playing out various games at the Swallowtail festival, and doing the three encounters up to and including Die, dog, die!
That said, it's fairly easy to extend or shorten it depending on how your players are coming along.
As for advice... I'd encourage connections between your players and Sandpoint. A lot of the AP centers around that town and Varisia, so it helps if the players actually care about the people who live there.
Don't be afraid to plot in a little downtime between events. On my first playthrough I rushed from part 1 to part 2 fairly fast, and in hindsight I regret that - it would have been a great time to let the players put down some roots and enjoy being heroes.
I ran Rise of the Runelords in Savage Worlds and it took 4x four hour sessions to beat Burnt Offerings, but I did miss out the Catacombs of Wrath optional dungeon. I agree with Kudaku's suggestion, level the PC's when the AP suggests, that way you need not worry about throwing a load of tedious encounters at them and focus instead on the main story-driven encounters.
I also find that it makes players slightly less hyperaware of any and all chances to get XP. They'll probably still vacuum the AP for treasure(I know my party did!) but they won't always go haring off into the countryside at the mention of a possible adventure hook.
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I am a first time home game GM running Jade Regent with mostly new players so my situation is similar. I'm at the end of book two and my biggest regret was that I didn't prep enough. Without prep it devolves more into a hack and slash. Leaving the AP to the side somewhat, or reading the extra info about the town and stuff will give you the opportunity to explore the role play aspect more. I felt I was pushing and railroading them more and I think I lost a lot of opportunities because of that.
Make sure to take time to really think about where they are and who is there. And definitely prepare aids for combat and everything, it just adds to the cool factor.
I used a big Battle Mat (Chessex?) and just sort of sketched out the area outside the cathedral. Regarding XP- as someone else said, I level the PCs when the AP calls for it. (I do still keep track behind the scenes, but don't tell the players what their XP is.)
Wayfinder #7 (free to download) has things built to fit into RotRL. I used the festival games to introduce my PCs to Sandpoint and some of its inhabitants. I think it helped hook them into the scene. Later used a modified "Chopper's Isle" to clear up some PC/NPC bad blood.
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I also run without tracking/awarding XP. I have 6 players and I usually keep them about 1level behind the advancement guide.
Regarding maps, I generally just sketch them out on a blank flipmat. There's no reason to get overly fancy and there are other areas I want to spend my limited prep time.
-Skeld
With Runelords, maps are essential! Seriously!
For instance, there is an encounter with four undead critters in Skinsaw Murders. The information on the critters has them swarm one PC at a time. The map shows this is almost impossible, especially when you consider the terrain is slippery and sloped. If you didn't use the map you'd just have them swarm that one PC... while without it you have the tactical situation.
So use maps and use miniatures or cardboard pawns (of which, Paizo has the Runelords pawns as something you can purchase separately and have almost everything you need).
I think the OP was asking about layout of encounters that don't have a map in the AP... They're not very important. All groups are different, but a lot of times I don't bother drawing anything on the battlemat and just narrate their surroundings. Maybe draw one or two rectangles to approximate the stage or the cathedral, but again not a big deal.
The first part of Burnt Offerings is pretty linear. The Anniversary Edition gives you ideas of what the PCs can do during the Sandpoint Festival. Look at the gazetteer on Sandpoint and pick out NPCs you'd like to "plant" in front of the PCs: the mayor? The fortune teller? Shayliss Vinder and/or her sister? Their father? Ameiko Kaijitsu? Aldern Foxglove? Maybe even Nualia who is in disguise to study the town's defenses for the real raid, as an early mystery and to create a little bit of foreshadowing?
It's after the Sandpoint Festival that it becomes less linear, where you'll need to think things through a little more. Think about how you might LEAD them (and that's okay, you're a new GM and its hard to just give them a "season pass" through the town) to the different encounters at the Rusty Dragon. Have a checklist for encounters you'd like to lead them too, or a cluster web, so you have a general sense of how you'd go from The first part of Burnt Offerings to the middle part. You'll note that after the Glassworks, events kind of transition speedily from one part to the next, so you'll want to get in as many of those early events as you can before they go to the glassworks factory.
With Runelords, maps are essential! Seriously!
For instance, there is an encounter with four undead critters in Skinsaw Murders. The information on the critters has them swarm one PC at a time. The map shows this is almost impossible, especially when you consider the terrain is slippery and sloped. If you didn't use the map you'd just have them swarm that one PC... while without it you have the tactical situation.
So use maps and use miniatures or cardboard pawns (of which, Paizo has the Runelords pawns as something you can purchase separately and have almost everything you need).
Do the maps come in the size needed or do you have to enlarge them; If so what size do you recommend?
The maps are in the book and thus would need to be enlarged or redrawn.
Or you can always use a program like roll20.net to determine where people and monsters are. I used it for my Skype-based game and was impressed enough that I intend to use it with my tabletop game.
If drawing it, Paizo assumes that an one-inch square is a five-foot equivalence for miniatures and the like.
It's not until the second chapter, but I found that having a printed-to-scale map of the Misgivings was extremely helpful, because even when there's not combat going on, there are a lot of times where it's important just where people are standing in relation to each other, whether they're split up and in different rooms, and so on. I printed each floor separately and covered the rooms they hadn't opened yet with paper cutouts which I then removed once they had investigated a room.
Maps are sooooo useful. But I'm finding I need 2-6 hours before a gaming session to be truly prepared for my adventurers. They are the definition of "nonlinear storyline". So I often have to lead them back to a forgotten point on the storyline railroad track.
Do a Google search for any major map point - Catacombs of Wrath, the Misgivings, the Sawmill, the Clocktower. You'll get some pretty good stuff already made out there.
Be flexible as a GM when it comes to monster baddies. Skinsaw Murders has a potential BBEG with a guaranteed TPK. Hook Mountain Massacre has one-shot, one-kill baddies. I usually throw in multiple Perception checks until the guys and gals around the table get the message. Hook Mountain Massacre also has bait-and-switch battles, where one room is pure magic and the other room is pure massive damage. So be prepared to adjust down, or leave out a special ability, unless your players are good with rolling up new characters every other game.