I find that some seeds require almost no effort at all. For example broccoli or some varieties of legumes, or any type of vegetable can germinate within 24 hours if you soak it in a paper towel.
Some take a bit more time. For example I've been germinating asian pear seeds from a fresh fruit and all it took was a few hours of scarification, putting them in hot tap water, and letting it cool all the way down twice, then putting them in straight soil, and after 10 days, I'm starting to have saplings emerge. I believe that scarification in hot tap water should be used on any hard coated seed since it can kill off some of the deadly pathogens on the seed and quickly saturate the seed inside the shell, perhaps shocking it to wake up.
Some seeds are very difficult due to the requirement of double dormancies such as the tree peony. All that takes is making sure they are exposed to moisture and I think vermiculate is the best at holding water and making sure there is air flow, so an open cup works since it hasn't had mold in a month already. I believe that palms and bananas or most other hard to germinate seeds should work with the same concept since fungal diseases seem to be the biggest threat to a germinating seed.
