– Create emotional connections
– Enhance audience understanding
An engaged audience is essential for a successful presentation. By maximizing audience participation and interaction, you can keep your audience engaged and attentive throughout. Here are some techniques you can use to achieve this:
The way you deliver your presentation plays a crucial role in its length and audience engagement. To ensure a captivating delivery that keeps your audience engaged, consider the following tips and tricks:
To effectively lengthen your presentation, it’s crucial to demonstrate your expertise and knowledge about the topic at hand. By fully embracing the subject matter, you can provide valuable and insightful information that helps your audience grasp complex concepts. Here are some techniques to enhance your presentation and make it more engaging:
Incorporate visual elements, such as images, charts, and infographics, to enhance your presentation and make it visually appealing. Visuals can effectively convey complex information and help your audience grasp concepts more easily.
Pro Tip: When using visuals, ensure they are directly related to the topic and support your key messages. Avoid using irrelevant or distracting visuals that may confuse your audience.
By expanding on the relevant topics and information in your presentation, you can effectively lengthen your speech without losing your audience’s attention. Remember to maintain a balance between depth and clarity, and cater to your audience’s level of knowledge and interest.
Utilizing professional presentation design and templates is a crucial element in enhancing the overall look and effectiveness of your business presentations. A well-designed and visually appealing presentation not only captures the attention of your audience but also helps keep them engaged throughout.
By partnering with a reputable presentation design agency, you can ensure that your presentations are created with a keen eye for detail and compelling visual aesthetics. These experts have the expertise to incorporate design choices that align with your brand identity and effectively convey your message.
When selecting templates for your presentations, opt for those that complement your content and enhance its impact. A carefully chosen template can make a significant difference in how your information is perceived, making it more engaging, memorable, and professional.
Visual elements such as high-quality images, charts, and graphs can also help convey complex data and information in a more digestible and visually appealing manner. When used strategically, these elements not only enhance the understanding of your audience but also prolong the duration of your presentation as they capture attention and encourage active participation.
“The right design and templates play a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness of a presentation. It’s like adding a touch of professionalism and visual allure to your content, making it more impactful and engaging.” – John Smith, Presentation Design Expert
Remember, an effective presentation is not just about the content but also about how it is visually presented. By leveraging presentation design and templates, you can elevate the overall quality of your presentations, capture and maintain your audience’s attention, and optimally optimize your presentation length without compromising engagement.
Some of the Benefits of Presentation Design and Templates includes,
In conclusion, implementing the strategies discussed in this article can effectively make your presentation longer without sacrificing audience engagement. By experimenting with different techniques and keeping your audience engaged, you can deliver a successful and impactful business presentation .
Engaging your audience throughout the presentation is key. Techniques such as incorporating audience participation, using every slide effectively, and working with a presentation design agency can help you make your presentation more engaging and lengthen its duration.
Furthermore, enhancing your presentation structure by expanding on key points and maintaining a cohesive flow will keep your audience captivated. Incorporating multimedia elements such as videos and interactive visuals can also add depth and engagement to your presentation.
Maximizing audience participation and interaction through Q&A sessions and creating an interactive environment will further extend your presentation. Mastering the art of delivery by taking control of your voice, including strategic pauses, and avoiding unnecessary repetition will help keep your audience engaged.
1. How can I make my presentation longer without losing audience engagement?
There are several techniques you can use to extend the length of your presentation while keeping your audience engaged. One strategy is to incorporate audience participation, such as asking questions or conducting interactive activities. Another approach is to ensure that every slide serves a purpose and effectively conveys key points. Additionally, you can consider adding multimedia elements like videos or relevant visuals to enhance audience involvement. By employing these strategies, you can lengthen your presentation without sacrificing audience engagement.
2. What is the ideal length for a presentation?
The ideal length for a presentation depends on various factors, such as the purpose of your presentation and the nature of your audience. Generally, shorter presentations of 10-20 minutes are suitable for delivering concise and focused messages. However, for more detailed or complex presentations, the duration can range from 30 minutes to an hour or longer. It’s essential to consider the attention span of your audience and ensure that your presentation is engaging and informative within the allotted time frame.
3. How can I engage my audience throughout the presentation?
Engaging your audience throughout the presentation is crucial to maintaining their attention and interest. One effective strategy is to encourage audience participation by asking questions or involving them in activities related to your topic. Another approach is to make each slide impactful by using visuals, graphs, or key points that capture their attention. Additionally, you can consider working with a presentation design agency to create visually appealing slides that enhance audience engagement. By employing these techniques, you can keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation.
4. How can I effectively lengthen my speech during a presentation?
To effectively lengthen your speech, you can incorporate various techniques. One approach is to take control of your voice by speaking slowly and emphasizing important points. You can also include short pauses strategically to allow your audience to reflect and absorb the information. Another technique is to expand on relevant topics and provide additional information that helps your audience fully embrace the topic. Additionally, you can utilize audience participation methods, such as question and answer sessions, to extend the duration of your speech. By implementing these strategies, you can effectively make a speech longer during a presentation.
5. How can I enhance my presentation by adding videos?
Adding videos to your presentation can be a powerful way to enhance audience engagement. You can incorporate relevant video clips that support your topic or provide additional information. Videos can help illustrate concepts, showcase product demonstrations, or share real-life examples. By integrating videos strategically, you can effectively convey your message, captivate your audience, and lengthen the overall duration of your presentation.
6. How can I make any presentation more engaging?
Making your presentation more engaging involves considering various factors. Firstly, ensure that your presentation design is visually appealing and complements the content. Utilize presentation templates and visual elements to enhance the overall look. Secondly, incorporate interactive elements such as audience participation, discussions, or activities that require their involvement. Thirdly, focus on the delivery by practicing your speech, using appropriate gestures and maintaining good eye contact with the audience. By implementing these strategies, you can increase audience engagement and make your presentation more impactful.
7. How long should a business presentation typically be?
The length of a business presentation can vary depending on the purpose and context. Generally, business presentations shouldn’t exceed 45-60 minutes, as that’s the average attention span of most audiences. However, it’s important to consider the complexity and depth of the information being presented. If you have a lot of detailed content to cover, it may be necessary to extend the duration up to 90 minutes. Regardless of the length, it’s crucial to ensure that your presentation is engaging, concise, and delivers your key message effectively.
8. How do you make a 10-minute presentation long?
Presenter, don’t be afraid to add some additional content to your presentation if you need to lengthen it. Whether you’re discussing more examples, going into further detail on certain points, or even adding in a personal anecdote, these can all help extend the time of your presentation. Instead of rushing through your many slides, take the opportunity to delve deeper into each point you’re making. This is a great strategy to use if you want your audience to walk away with a deeper understanding of the topic.
Why wait? Avail a complimentary 1-on-1 session with our presentation expert. See how other enterprise leaders are creating impactful presentations with us.
Corporate communication functions and its importance, barriers to effective communication: 14 common communication barriers.
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Using time to determine the right number of slides, moving beyond formulaic answers to finding the right number of slides.
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1. Break complex slides into several simple slides. 2. Include audio and video support only as needed. 3. Time your presentation. 4. Match the number of slides to the subject matter. 5. Tailor to your audience. Did this summary help you? Yes No
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Home Blog Design Calculating the Slide Count: How Many Slides Do I Need for a Presentation?
Have you ever wondered how many slides you need for a presentation? Perhaps you’ve been in a situation where you felt the slides were too many or too few for the time given. Who sets the standard for the number of slides per minute?
Thankfully for you, we’ve included some calculations based on our expertise in the presentation industry. This article includes an interactive calculator and suggestions for how many minutes per PowerPoint slide, content to list for such situations, etc.
Table of Contents
Rules for choosing your ppt slides, typical presentation length in minutes by topic, how many slides for a 3-minute presentation, how many slides for a 5-minute presentation, how many slides for a 7-minute presentation, how many slides for a 10-minute presentation, how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, how many slides for a 20-minute presentation.
How many slides for a 45-minute presentation, how many slides for a 60-minute presentation, final words.
We crafted this easy-access calculator tool to simplify the experience of choosing how many slides your presentation should contain. Please consider that the total count is entirely subjective; for some presenters, the slide count may feel too restrictive, whereas it can be a relaxed approach for others. As a general guideline, don’t overdo 30% of the total count suggested by this calculator.
How many slides?
We cannot stress enough the importance of not over-populating your PPT slides. Presenters feel the need to compact their presentation into as few slides as possible, which compromises their readability, especially if we talk about a data presentation .
One topic per slide only; if you are required 2-3 slides over your planned limit for easier comprehension, go for it.
Building a huge slide deck is not the answer. Concise presentations like elevator pitches are identifiable for the maximum impact-driven in a short selection of slides, where data is precise, and where the key points for the presentation are highlighted through correct visual communication , allowing the presenter to focus on the speech.
Work with presentation templates that customize the layout and contain visual cues to make relevant points stand out.
The 10/20/30 Rule of Presentations by Guy Kawasaki is a valid approach to presentation design as it specifies a minimum size of 30 pt for titles in presentations. Taking this method, in our experience, secondary text should be between 18-24 pt, depending on the amount of text to add, but no less than that.
Graphs should occupy 1/3 of the slide layout for easier visibility. Remember to work with legible legend text and bold colors. If you have to work with multiple graphs, opt for one or two graphs per slide top (two graphs in case you are comparing variables/scenarios and don’t want to go back and forth with the slides).
The typical length of a presentation can vary depending on the context and purpose of the presentation. Here are some common presentation lengths for different scenarios:
Being a super-concise format, the 3-minute presentation can be done in 2-3 slides. Ideally, one slide showcasing the context of your problem, the second slide offering a solution, and optionally a CTA slide to conclude the presentation – although the call-to-action can be added to the second slide.
Applying our calculator, the ideal number of slides for a 5-minute presentation is between 3 and 4, which you can expand to 5 slides if you have multiple graphs to introduce. Check our article for further information on how to create and deliver a professional-quality 5-minute presentation .
When working with a 7-minute presentation, the typical length is 4-7 slides, ideally 5. You need to include two slides for the core main ideas, with one slide reserved for the summary of key points. If we add the title slide to the mix, that gives us a minimum of four slides.
Ten-minute presentations are the average length for project update presentations or in-team meetings. However, this format is not commonly used for academic presentations, which require a minimum of 15-20 minutes to present a case properly. Consider a length of between 7 and 9 slides for 10-minute presentations.
Depending on whether you are approaching a product presentation , a sales presentation requires the title slide, an introduction slide with the background or context for the presentation, the main content, and a call-to-action slide. The main content can be arranged in 3-5 slides, giving an overview of the value offering, strategy, and implementation plan ( roadmap , timeline , etc.)
15-minute presentations are ideal for conveying more in-depth topics, like introducing case studies for marketing research or academic presentations. In terms of slide count, consider a minimum of 10 slides, as going below that count implies remaining over 2 minutes per slide and a maximum of 15 slides.
Academic presentations can follow the same approach regarding the number of slides as long as three slides are present: background, methodology, and conclusion. However, 15 minutes is the minimum length acceptable for a conference talk as presenters feel too rushed to disclose the information that backs up their research process. Still, the poster session is a fine example of how to deliver an academic presentation in a concise time allocation.
Presentations that last 20 minutes are the common ground of business meetings, as we allow for questions and answers , to demonstrate live features in a product as in a demo presentation, or to define strategic planning for team meetings. In terms of length, the 20-minute presentation has to cover at least these slides:
Therefore, it makes a minimum of 12 slides, and you can go all the way up to 20 to complete your presentation. One particular format that stands out in this time block is the TEDx Talks, which typically last 18 minutes. TED Talks have very much in common with video presentations , where audience engagement is key, so the total count of slides is not considered by minutes but rather by how presenters structure their storylines .
The 30-minute presentation format is commonly used in training presentations , as it allows presenters to structure lessons to cover theory and one practical example in multiple lesson formats rather than lengthy webinar sessions. Depending on the platform to use, if handouts are delivered as part of the study material, and if videos are included, we can define the actual count of slides to work with.
In this type of long-presentation format, it’s best to stick to a maximum of 25 slides and use multimedia elements to boost audience engagement. Otherwise, the format can be dense and tiresome in terms of content retention.
The average length of live events and webinars is 45 minutes, as they can condense a 30-minute presentation format, end with a powerful call-to-action or testimonial, and include a five to ten-minute Q&A session.
If the presenter opts to do a live course event format, then a minimum of 10 slides must be included aside from the main screen-sharing event. In the case of recorded interviews, structure the slide deck so you can count an equal number of slides before and after the interview. By doing so, the presentation is not perceived as streaming an interview but as a multi-resource event featuring an interview.
Finally, the 60-minute presentation format is strictly academic or educational. It’s seen in thesis defense sessions, where the candidates must explain their research in detail and often provide live demonstrations. In business settings, the 60-minute presentation format is reserved for workshops, which may include a concise slide deck of 25 slides at the top and, most of the time, covered in live-time exercises or mentoring.
There’s no golden rule for defining the number of slides per minute, as the presentation delivery experience depends on both presentation skills and the niche. With this guide, we intend to provide some general guidelines that can help you consider an estimated count, but once again, it shouldn’t restrict your own creativity. Always consider that in presentation design, less is more. Don’t go overboard with slides to add content, as the same concepts can be explained in your speech.
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One of the biggest challenges for presenters is to summarize content from lengthy reports, academic papers, or any other kind of written media in an informative and concise way. Rather than losing countless hours going over and over the same text, we can speed up the process thanks to the virtues of artificial intelligence. In […]
When it comes to creating a PowerPoint or Prezi Presentation , one of the most common questions is:
“How long should it be?”
The answer to this question is not a simple one , as the length of a perfect presentation or pitch will vary depending on a number of factors.
Let’s analyze five key subtopics that can help determine the ideal length of your presentation.
The first consideration when determining the length of your presentation should be your audience. You need to think about whether they experienced professionals in your field or can they be considered with little knowledge of the topic?
Will they be attending the presentation in person, or will they be viewing it remotely via online presentation tools?
The level of familiarity your audience has with your topic and the context in which they will be viewing the presentation will greatly influence how much information they can absorb and follow.
The complexity and difficulty of the topic also plays a big role in determining the overall length of your presentation.
A simple topic with a clear message can be effectively communicated in a shorter amount of time, while a more complex topic may require a longer presentation and a Q&A at the end.
The purpose of your presentation should also be taken into account when determining its length.
Are you trying to inform, persuade or simply entertain your audience? The purpose of your presentation will influence the amount of information that needs to be covered.
The average attention span of an adult is around 5-10 seconds, so it’s important to keep your audience engaged throughout the presentation.
Too much information at once can be overwhelming and cause everyone to tune out at some point. In order to maintain the attention, you should aim to keep your presentation concise and to the point at all subtopics.
It’s important to consider the timing of your presentation, including how much time you’ve been allocated and how much time you need to effectively communicate your message.
It’s better to have a shorter, more focused presentation that leaves a lasting impact on everyone, rather than a longer one that may not be fully understood.
The length of the perfect PowerPoint presentation will vary depending on:
A general rule of thumb is to keep the presentation as short as possible while still effectively communicating the information you need.
Most experts recommend limiting your presentations to 15-25 minutes to keep the audience engaged and avoid overwhelming them with too much information.
Remember, it’s not about the number of slides, it’s about the amount of information that needs to be conveyed.
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There’s nothing worse than a presentation that goes over time or poorly-designed slides that cram too much information onto the screen at once.
While there are a lot of things that can dictate how many slides to use in a presentation, key factors include how long you have to speak, what content you are presenting, and the visual nature of the content. (Some speakers don’t need slides at all to keep audiences engaged!)
Here, we’re breaking down common presentation times with a guide for how not to overload slides, and use them well—no matter what type of talk you are giving.
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When it comes to short presentations, you probably want to keep the number of slides to a minimum. Think about the venue here in particular. How many people are you presenting for?
Often short presentations might be for a small group or on a small screen. That’s a major consideration when it comes to how many slides you need for a 5-minute presentation.
For most speakers that comes down to 5 to 10 slides, up to 2 per minute of speaking time .
With a 10-minute you have a little more flexibility in terms of slide count.
With more time, you can vary pacing and might have time to take questions at the end of the talk. (Your slide count will be less if you cut time from your presentation to answer questions.)
For a 10-minute presentation, you’ll probably end up creating 10 to 20 slides, but don’t feel like you have to move through two slides per minute. It really depends on the complexity of the information you are talking about.
Record your presentation as you run through it. Did you finish on time? And were you able to see each slide long enough to understand it during the natural flow of the presentation before moving on to the next one?
There’s a fairly logical relationship between the time you have to present information and how complicated the content is. The number of slides you need for a 15-minute presentation might not be that much different than at 10 minutes.
That’s because what’s on each slide might need to sit with the audience a little longer. You need to leave a chart on the screen long enough for the audience to understand it. A photo, on the other hand, can flash up and go away quickly and still be understood.
Carefully consider your presentation topic and then use this recommendation as needed: Allow for 20-30 slides for a 15-minute presentation .
Once you get into the territory of longer presentations, you might want to use slides of varying types – some that are super quick and others that stay visible longer – to get different points across and fit the conversational flow.
This varying approach can be interesting for the audience but might require a little math and planning on your part to determine the exact right number of slides.
Start with this formula for a 30-minute presentation :
Now you can look at your content and do a few quick calculations to get a rough idea of how many slides you might need. For a 30-minute presentation with 5 points with two subpoints each and a takeaway, that’s in the neighborhood of 20 slides.
For longer presentations, pace and energy are key. Some presenters can go through an exceptional number of slides because of the way they speak.
Seasoned speakers, often giving a presentation that they’ve done a lot of times, can average 5 slides per minute. These are fast-paced quick hit images that really keep the audience thinking and engaged. It’s a fun style but can be difficult to pull off.
A more moderate estimate is 1 to 2 slides per minute at a varying pace. That’s what you commonly see in corporate presentations and talks. (The content is often complex as well.)
A division of bold new directions training, how long should your powerpoint really be.
You have just been asked to give a presentation to your colleagues. You are preparing to put together a Powerpoint presentation when you are faced with an important decision: How long should your Powerpoint presentation be? You want to be sure you include all of the necessary information but you don’t want your audience to fall victim to complete and utter boredom. When creating a Powerpoint presentation you can’t go wrong with the “10-20-30 Rule.â€Â Here is a breakdown of this rule:
10 slides are the optimal number to use for any presentation.
20 minutes is the longest amount of time you should speak.
30 point font is the smallest font size you should use on your slides.
The quality of your business presentation will dramatically improve by following this general rule of thumb and here’s why:
10 Slides Forces the Presenter to Choose Wisely
It might not seem like a lot, but trimming your presentation to just 10 slides is a valuable constraint. Most people have between 30-50 slides for a 1-hour presentation and many of the slides are filled with unnecessary content. By limiting your slides to just 10, you are forced to evaluate the necessity of each slide and just like every other part of your presentation, if it isn’t necessary it shouldn’t be included! Selecting fewer slides also encourages the presenter to design their presentation wisely, keeping it clear and concise.
20 Minutes is Ample Time to Illustrate Your Point
Much like the constraint on the number of slides, cutting down on your speaking time forces you to do plenty of editing. You can trim out the silly jokes and the “I’m so happy to be here’s.â€Â Cut back on the details and only include the information that the audience actually cares about. When you get rid of all the additional fillers, you focus on what is truly important and deliver a presentation with precision.
30 Point Font Guarantees Readability
It is critical that your slides be readable from a distance. You might have the best material in the world but if audiences can’t read it, it does no good. Bigger is probably better, but at the very minimum 30-point font should be readable by everyone in your audience.
It’s important to remember that there is not a “one size fits all†rule when it comes to presentations. Every presentation is unique but the “10-20-30 Rule†should act as a basic guideline. If your topic is more complex and absolutely requires the use of a few more slides, don’t hesitate to include what you deem necessary. Likewise, if you just absolute CANNOT deliver your presentation in less than 30 minutes, take the time you need. Just remember that it is important to edit your presentation and get rid of any material that is not necessary. Audiences will appreciate it and you will be more apt to deliver a meaningful presentation.
You should limit your presentations to one slide per minute at a maximum. Try to include the least amount of slides while trying to get your message across in a concise while still complete manner.
An alternative rule is the “10/20/30 Rule,” which suggests that a good presentation will limit itself to 10 slides, last 20 minutes in length, and include a font size no smaller than 30 points.
PowerPoint presentations can be overwhelming to the point that they put off people from learning new material and discourage them from taking in the presented information.
The purpose of this article is to help people make their presentations more exciting and easier to follow and discover how many slides are generally needed so you can time your presentations accordingly.
Of course, all of the below points are just suggestions and the number of slides that you will use for your own presentation will of course depend on the content as well your target audience.
How many slides for a 15-minute presentation, how many slides for a 20-minute presentation, how many slides for a 30-minute presentation, how many slides for a 40-minute presentation, how many slides for a 50-minute presentation, how many slides for a 60-minute presentation.
A 10-minute presentation would require no more than 10 slides. It’s much better to start with too few than too many, so users will likely appreciate the shorter list of bullet points. Your goal is to provide the right amount of information for your audience to understand the topic without overwhelming them.
If you are just giving an overview of something that you want the audience to remember in 10 minutes or less, then this is probably enough. Keep your slides simple and keep them limited to two-three bullet points per slide.
A 15-minute presention should have a maximum of 15 slides. This is the right amount of information for audiences to grasp without feeling overwhelmed or bored. If you can give this type of presentation in 10 minutes or less, it’s even better.
During a 15 minute presentation. These slides should be able to cover the basics of your topic, but if you try to make it too complicated, your audience will lose interest, and you will end up wasting their time.
A 20-minute presentation should require no more than 20 slides. On average, you should only be using 5-7 bullet points on each slide. You can also include one or two images on each slide to help facilitate understanding.
If you are giving an overview of something that you want the audience to remember in 20 minutes or less, this might be the perfect time to follow the 10/20/30 rule. This concept should relate to the audience or is a key part of your speech or presentation.
A 30-minute presentation would require no more than 30 slides. You can use 5-7 bullet points per slide or 8-10 bullet points if the presentation is necessary to convey ideas in great detail. If you are including lots of images and charts to help illustrate your point, then reduce the amount of bullet points used.
It’s a good idea to follow this rule because too many slides can make it challenging to keep track of all the points you are trying to make, and your audience will be more likely to lose interest in what you’re saying or miss important ideas as they go by quickly. It’s also easier for people to focus on your presentation when it’s broken up into smaller sections.
On 30 minute presentations, it is a good idea to leave a few minutes for Q&A. This will allow your audience to ask questions about things they didn’t understand or missed in the part of the presentation. It also gives your audience a reason to get involved in the session.
For a 40 minute presentation, you should try to keep it to 40 slides maximum, you can dole out some information in detail and leave a bigger chunk of time for Q&A. People will stay attentive when the material is broken up into smaller segments.
You should keep in mind that different people respond to different mediums and will better understand an idea when it’s presented to them in a way they are accustomed to receiving information (i.e. some people benefit from text and others from images, some people need the material broken up into small pieces while others prefer a long, steady stream of information).
It will also depend on the type of presentation you are doing. If it’s a demonstration or special event, then more slides are better (and less time per slide is good). If you’re there to present statistics, research, comparison charts, etc., fewer slides with more information per slide would be best.
A 50-minute presentation should include no more than 50 slides. You can have more slides than this if you have a very engaging visual presentation with limited amounts of information per slide.
Similar to a 40-minute presentation, a 50-minute presentation can allow you to go into a lot of detail in some places and remain at a high level. You should also feel free to leave out certain information if it is not essential in a particular presentation’s overall scheme of things.
As a general rule of thumb, experienced public speakers or subject matter experts are the ones who feel the most comfortable holding longer presentations and sessions, which allows them to go into greater detail in certain areas.
If you’re new to this kind of work, it might be best to keep your presentations between 30 and 40 minutes and leave the rest of the time slot open for questions from the floor.
A 50-minute presentation would require no more than 20-25 slides, as the only purpose they serve here would be just as a reminder for the speaker to stay on point as he conveys the story to the audience.
A 60-minute presentation should include no more than 60 slides. If you have a very engaging visual presentation with limited amounts of information per slide, you can have more slides than this.
If the presentation is going to be more interactive, then it’s better to cut down on the number of slides and instead focus on how much each slide will contribute to the overall story you’re telling. You must also leave plenty of time for a Q&A session at the end.
The number of slides for a presentation varies. While too many can bore your audience, not enough will leave them wondering what you’re talking about.
Your slides can serve as visual reminders of your talk and also help you maintain a narrative flow in your presentation. You must know what you want to accomplish with each slide, how long it will take to read the text and absorb information from a chart or graph and how much time you have for Q&A.
Remember that slides can and should be used as visual aids, not as the main point of the presentation. The speaker needs to convey that information, not just read it from their slides.
When you’re planning out your next big presentation, it can be hard to know what the slide count sweet spot is. How many slides to put in a presentation, to keep your audience’s attention, is a much bigger question than it may seem.
We’d love to tell you there’s a simple answer, but if you really want to create a persuasive argument, there are a few variables to consider when planning the number of slides in your presentation. And despite what other articles spout, it has nothing to do with time.
We bet you’ve heard a few conflicting theories on this subject, so we thought it was about time we weighed in. You might’ve heard Guy Kawasaki ’s 10/20/30 rule. This rule states that the “perfect” presentation has ten slides, lasts for 20 minutes, and uses a 30pt font. Or you might’ve read that every minute you speak equates to one slide on display behind you. You might even have uncovered some more formulaic and intricate theories than those, where x = the perfect number of slides. To reach x, you simply divide the number of people in the audience by how many seconds you have to speak, times that by how many steps between your house and the venue, to the power of your height in centimetres. If you’ve already worked your way through a series of varying opinions, you might currently be crying out “just tell me how many damn slides I need!”
Just tell me how many damn slides I need! You
While a lot of these theories are rooted in intelligent thinking and, sometimes, even science, we can’t get on board. They’re just too damn limiting. The people behind the theories were probably trying to over-simplify this complicated question, just to give you an answer. But do you want any answer? Or do you want the right answer?
The right answer is: you’re thinking about presentations wrong.
Do you think Jack Kerouac, Graham Greene, or Dan Brown ever sat down to write with the sole intention of landing on 432 pages? No, they had stories to tell, and it didn’t matter how many pages they took to tell them.
What makes you so different from Kerouac ?
You’re writing a presentation with a purpose. There’s a change you want to make, and your task is to convey your message persuasively, to inspire everyone that hears it to want the same change. Your purpose is not to fill exactly 20 minutes with exactly ten slides. It takes as many slides as it takes.
No, we’re not just going to leave you with that. We’re not trying to lose friends, clients and beloved readers.
We understand that presentations do often have a time limit, and that limit is one we have to consider when writing. But that limit needs to influence the number of ideas you try to convey, not dictate how many slides go into your presentation to convey these ideas. Because that’s what we’re really talking about here: ideas. For a shorter presentation, you’re going to need to be cut-throat with your editing. To trim the excess, until all that’s left is the most impactful, delicious centre piece.
That doesn’t mean, if you have the freedom of time, you should use it to reel off every idea you’ve ever had. But you can allow yourself the luxury to layer linked ideas that all point towards one conclusion. To build a nest of ideas. And to support those ideas with facts, figures, previous successes, as well as other people’s ideas.
Only once you’ve written your detailed narrative structure, or your full script , if that’s how you feel most comfortable, should you even start to think about PowerPoint slides.
Each of your ideas deserves its time to shine. A dramatic pause works to let an impactful sentence sink in, giving the audience a moment to consider the gravity of the spoken word. Uncluttered slides have the same effect. If you try to include too many ideas on one slide, none of them are going to be understood, or remembered.
If you’re just starting out in the world of persuasive communications, a good rule to follow is: one idea, one slide . This will allow each idea to have its moment, without competing with any of the other ideas. This will also mean, visually, you’ll have more opportunity to enhance your message. With more slide real estate to play with, you can create presentation designs that hammer your ideas home, rather than confuse the situation further.
The journey of an idea:
and signal the introduction of the next idea with a brand-new slide.
This is a great guide, for those lacking confidence, to use as a starting point. It is not a rule.
Now, this is a much more complicated question, and one that will change for every presentation. In our role as guides in this scenario, we want to give you a tangible answer to your query, not simply introduce more questions, and more confusion, into the mix. After all, if your presentation is tomorrow and your search was the result of extreme desperation and maybe a little too much wine, well, you’re probably not reading this anymore because you’ve already poured said wine over your laptop in frustration. But if you are still with us, you’re probably really keen to get an answer right about now.
Frustration and confusion are not our goals. We just respect you too much to lie to you. We trust that you’ve caught on to the general theme that there are many considerations that go into the slide count of any presentation that comes through the Hype Presentations studio doors. Now that we’ve addressed that, we can give you a template to help you along your way.
If you’ve read any of our other storytelling blogs , you already know that every story – this includes your presentation – needs a beginning, middle and end . Let’s break down a very basic structure, and accompanying slide count, for these three key sections.
This is where you set the scene, pique the audience’s interest, give them a clue as to what’s in it for them, and establish common ground. It might look something like this:
This is where we get into the real juicy bit of storytelling. And it’s also where all hope you had of squeezing a definitive slide count out of us will come tumbling down.
A persuasive argument needs to acknowledge your audience’s challenges, and propose a solution to each one of them. Your audience might have one challenge, they might have 50, which is where the ambiguity kicks back in. Each challenge needs its own slide, and each solution does too.
If your audience does have 50 challenges, try to find common themes between them, so you can address them as a cohesive group, all under one idea umbrella. Human beings find patterns comforting, so they’ll appreciate the bundling, as well as the reduced slide count.
Appealing to emotion, by showing you have the answer to your audience’s problems, is just one part of landing a persuasive argument. You also need to apply to logic and establish credibility. Again, this could take one slide, or it could take nine, but here is some general guidance:
To close, you’re going to want to sum your key points up in one slide. Just a gentle reminder of the immense benefits they will receive by working with you.
And finally, your end slide should be, as the name suggests, one slide with a powerful call to action. To find out more about how to leave a lasting impression on every audience you encounter, take a look at this article .
Even if you’re still pulling your hair out, desperately grasping for a simple number, hopefully these guidelines have given you some food for thought.
And now we’re going to complicate the already-fuzzy rules we’ve put in place.
Give a shit, that’s what we say. Slide count doesn’t mean a damn thing. Sometimes we spread one message across five slides, because that’s how you get the animation to work seamlessly. Complicated navigation often requires duplicating slides, so that you don’t confuse PowerPoint as to where action came from. In contrast, we can present really complicated messaging on just one slide by using animation builds to break up the story, instead of a series of slides. There are so many variables. All we’re trying to say is, stop worrying yourself about slide count.
However, some things, to do with slide count, you should worry yourself about:
This is a call back to some of those other articles you likely stumbled across in your search. If you’re basing your presentation on hitting exactly one minute per slide, you’ve already lost your audience and you’re not even stood in front of them.
If you’re basing your presentation on hitting exactly one minute per slide, you’ve already lost your audience and you’re not even stood in front of them.
Are all ideas created equal? No. Does your audience care about everything you have to say in equal measure? No. Even if you’ve taken the “so what?” test, and all your messages have passed and are providing value to them, they’re not going to appreciate you skipping over important parts of the solution because the clock is ticking.
Take time to explain the ideas with the greatest impact, and appreciate your audience’s intelligence enough to assume they’ll understand what an award means, without you describing it for a minute, just because the rule says so.
Pick your jaw up off the floor. Just because we create next-level presentations day in, day out, and we absolutely bloody love PowerPoint, doesn’t mean we’re going to lead you astray. Sometimes, you just don’t need the support that slides bring.
Slides are not there to remind you, as presenter, what your key talking points are. If you’re one of the – terrifyingly few – people who practice adequately ahead of a big presentation, you won’t need your memory jogged anyway.
Slides are not there to tell the whole story for you. The slideshow is not the presentation. The words coming out of your mouth are what the audience came to hear. You are the star of your own presentation.
Before you start closing your laptop down in celebration, let’s take a step back and talk about why you (probably) do need slides.
When designed and animated correctly, slides enhance your spoken message so that it’s easier to understand, easier to remember, and more persuasive. You and your slides are a team. There are some things that a visual can just do better than you can. Take, for example, a chart. You could spend half an hour painting a word picture of a chart you saw once. Or you could whack an impactful piece of data vis up on the screen and move on.
So, back to the original question you never even asked:
If you only have five minutes to influence that desired change in the minds, hearts, and actions of your audience, an emotional and well-told story, spoken directly from your heart, without the dilution of technology or the fumbling of a slide clicker, could be the best way to get your message across. No distractions, no gimmicks, just authenticity.
In this instance, it wouldn’t matter how many slides are in your presentation, they’re never going to be more impactful than your honesty and vulnerability.
In this short amount of time, your audience is unlikely to suffer from information overload and forget any of your messages, so you don’t need the slides for their ability to enhance memory. They’re unlikely to lose the train of your narrative, so you don’t need the slides as visual guidance. And if your story is told right, speaking to their challenges, and wrapped up in a situation that’s personal to them, you won’t need the persuasive powers of PowerPoint either.
But, nine times out of ten, a PowerPoint can only better your spoken messaging. Fact.
Nine times out of ten, a PowerPoint can only better your spoken messaging.
And not just because of the extra ideas. If you’ve been asked to speak for a long time, firstly ask yourself if it’s really necessary. Can your audience concentrate for that long? Could the session be split into smaller chunks? Is it even going to be valuable for them? Do you have that many relevant ideas?
If it turns out to be necessary, there are some extra slides you’re going to want to add to your deck. Consider adding regular breaks (one slide per break), recaps (one slide per recap), even quizzes (one slide per question-answer combo) to keep your audience engaged, check understanding, and give them a chance to stretch their legs.
And, with the freedom of time, comes the opportunity to use other people’s voices to enhance your own. Consider adding relevant quotes, audio clips, or videos from recognisable people who support your message. Of course, you could animate these elements onto your slide with a click, but if you’re not that confident using PowerPoint, creating a new slide for each is an easier option.
When we’re deciding what the most impactful way to tell a client’s story is, we bring brilliant minds from each department together to throw ideas around, consider workarounds for each limitation, and push ourselves to deliver the best solution for each client. And not once do we say “But is that the right number of slides?”
When you think about PowerPoint animations, does your mind shoot to a...
Discover how to transform your presentations with the “Storytelling for Winning Presentations”...
Giving an effective PowerPoint presentation requires careful planning and preparation. One important aspect that is often overlooked is properly timing your slides. Setting the right duration for each slide will ensure your presentation flows smoothly, keeping your audience engaged from start to finish.
Before timing your slides, you need to plan out the overall structure and flow of your presentation.
Once your presentation structure is set, the next step is timing your entire presentation.
Timing your entire presentation first provides a benchmark for how long each slide should be displayed.
4. set slide duration.
With your presentation timed and Slide Sorter View enabled, you can specify exactly how long each slide displays on screen.
You can still manually override durations for certain slides if needed. For example, your title slide may only need 5 seconds while a slide with a diagram may need a full 2 minutes for explanation.
6. save slide timings.
To save slide timings:
Saving locks in the slide durations. The slides will now automatically transition based on your set timings when presenting.
You can enable timings again later if needed for future presentations.
Vegaslide staff, related posts, how to make a photo slideshow in powerpoint.
How to make a gantt chart in powerpoint.
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February 15, 2021 - Dom Barnard
This guide covers everything you need to know to prepare for your presentation. including what you need to think about beforehand, during and after the presentation.
Once you have your presentation worked out, you will need to practice it, but even though you might think it’s the best way to have a flawless presentation, don’t memorise what you’re going to say.
That might sound like incredibly bad advice, but here’s why:
Not only that, but every audience is different . Sometimes they laugh out loud, sometimes they sit and smile, and you never know which type of audience you’ll have until you’re live.
Improve your public speaking and presentation skills by practicing them in realistic environments, with automated feedback on performance. Learn More
If you’re going off a memorised presentation, it’s much more difficult to break away from that to go with the flow on the day, and respond naturally to your audience.
Rehearse in front of colleagues, friends, a mirror, in virtual reality – always aloud. Make sure you spend plenty of time practising your presentation, it will make you feel much more relaxed if you know your material.
Courses where you can rehearse with interactive exercises:
Video showing how you can prepare for your presentation using virtual reality. Learn more about virtual reality training .
Do, however, memorise your opening line. If you know how you’re going to begin, you’ll get a strong start and that will build your confidence.
Many speakers and stage actors find that the minute they’ve actually delivered their first line, the nerves are gone and they’re well into their stride.
Writing your presentation out in your own handwriting will help you clarify your ideas and may well bring you new ones.
As well as practising for the ideas and what you want to say, practise how you want your presentation to flow. Think of it almost as a symphony, with high points, slow movements and crescendos. If it’s important, think about how you want your audience to feel, what emotions you want them to have, and when.
Don’t be afraid to pause and use the power of silence. A good pause can have a huge emotional impact. It allows people to really absorb what you are saying and react, and it’s vital to pause if you’re using humour so that the next part of your presentation doesn’t get lost underneath people’s laughter.
For more on the ‘Power of the Pause’, watch this short from video Brian Tracy: The Power of the Pause
There’s nothing worse than the projector dying or finding that your laptop won’t communicate with the projector for some reason. If you know you have a backup, even if it’s only a pre-prepared flip chart, you’ll feel better, and you’ll be more confident.
Following on from that, arrive at least half an hour early so you aren’t feeling rushed, and so you have time to check your equipment and get your notes laid out ready to go. That gives you time to breathe and relax before you go on, knowing everything is as set as it can be.
Use physical props, if possible, for a demo. This can make you stand out and be more memorable among all the other speakers who only use PowerPoint, and it can add greatly to the impact of your presentation.
Video showing an example of using physical props during a live demo.
First, find out how much time you have to present, is it 10 minutes, 15, an hour? Prepare enough material for this time and have a couple of extra slides as backup – we tend to speak much quicker when nervous so you might find you finish your presentation too early. At some large conference events, timings may change on the day, be aware of this have a shorter version of your presentation in mind (i.e. know which slides to skip over).
Have a few backup slides for questions you think will arise from your presentation. It is sometime a tactic to explain a section briefly in your speech, so that you get a question about it afterwards. If you don’t understand the question, ask for it to be rephrased.
If there are no questions, it is not an indication how good or bad your presentation was. You many have explain your material extremely well, or simply that people are tired at the end of the day and want to go home.
If you can, go to the room you are speaking in before the actual event. It gives you an idea of furniture layout, podium height, location, room size, audience size and lighting. You can then visualise the room while practising and avoid the shock of suddenly being faced with a huge room when you expected a tiny one.
Ask the organiser if you need any particular props, for example a table to help with your live demo.
Additional planning to think about before your presentation:
1. Purpose – what outcome are we trying to achieve? How can results be measured? What will success look like?
2. Topic – Novelty? Complexity? Technical?
3. People – Who should attend? What do they already know? How are they going to help?
4. Timing – When will it happen and how long will the presentation take?
5. Location – Where will the presentation be held? Do you have access to the correct facilities for the presentation?
6. Papers – Who is keeping minutes? Do you need to send out an agenda before the presentation? Background information required?
7. Visual aids – Is a projector required ? Boards?
8. Style – Structure or unstructured, discussion style? How assertive should you be? How should the meeting items be organised?
Before the presentation, think about these 5 topics:
Decide how you will use each of these to reinforce your message. Use the table below for help.
Passive | Aggressive | Assertive | |
---|---|---|---|
Flat, monotonous, trails off, shaky, hesitant. | Sharp, cold, loud, shouts, abrupt, clipped, fast. | Controlled, firm, warm, rich, clear, even, loud. | |
Ers and ums, jerky, too slow, too fast. | Fast, emphatic, blameful, abrupt, erratic, hurried. | Steady and controlled, changes easily. | |
Evasive, looking down, darting, low eye contact. | Stares and glaring, dominating, fixed gaze, threatening. | Firm not fixed, natural and relaxed. | |
Fixed smile, apology facial gestures, blinking, blushing, chewing lip. | Set face, few smiles, clenched jaw, frowning, chin forward, lips tight, gritted teeth. | Open, varied and congruent expressions, calm, jaw relaxed, few blinks, smiles. | |
Hunched, hand over mouth, arms crossed, head down, slumping, legs crossed, stands awkwardly, soft handshake. | Thumping, clenched fists, pointing, pacing, leaning forward, sharp and rapid movements, crushing handshake. | Open hand and arm movements, head upright, calm, emphatic gestures, relaxed, head nodding to show attention, firm handshake. |
Additional courses to help you prepare for your presentation:
Think about these 10 techniques while you are preparing your presentation..
Renderforest Staff
16 Jun 2021
7 min read
Giving a presentation can be stressful. There are just too many balls to keep in the air: an effective opening, audience engagement, body language, visual aids, anxiety management. The list goes on.
On a positive note, public speaking and presentation skills can be learned and refined. That’s why we put together a list of 14 dos and don’ts that will help you deliver a killer presentation. If you already have your presentation idea and are wondering how to effectively develop and deliver it, this article is for you.
Let’s jump right in and explore the basic rules of making and giving a presentation.
From the very beginning, the audience should feel that your speech is leading to something important. This is what will spark their curiosity and keep their attention focused.
Of course, to achieve such an effect, you should actually have something important to communicate. Otherwise, your audience will feel like they wasted their time (and would be right to think so). The material you present should resemble an arrow with a clear point, not an unending loop of words that leads to nowhere.
But having something worth telling is only part of the job. You also need to make sure that your entire presentation is woven around that key idea. From beginning to end, your core message should be your guiding light. Each sentence should move the audience closer to it, and by the end of the speech, leave them with a sense of illumination.
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Planning your speech beforehand is the only way to avoid getting sidetracked. As you think about your message, try to structure it in a way that makes its delivery most effective for the audience.
So, how do you structure a presentation? Consider both the logical and emotional implications of your structure. First, you want to give your listeners enough background information to help them get better acquainted with the topic, but not so much as to get them bored. Once all the need-to-knows are out of the way, make a seamless transition to your main message and start laying out your arguments in a convincing way.
Also, think about the emotional effect you want to achieve in each part of your presentation. The best way to go about it is to capture your audience’s attention right off the bat, which is often considered to be the hardest part of giving a presentation.
“How do I begin a presentation?” is a question you’ve surely asked yourself. Once you’re done introducing yourself, you can jump into the presentation with a story or an intriguing question. Then, build suspense throughout the speech and release it at the end with a well-grounded closing statement.
How do you present a topic? As human beings, we’re attracted to stories. This is why we go to the movies, read fiction and, yes, become all ears when hearing gossip. Thus, it’s always a good idea to begin your presentation with a story or even spice it up with one in the middle. This can make all the difference between an engaged and indifferent audience.
Need some proof? Watch this TED talk and see how the presenter wins the audience over in less than 3 minutes using the magic of a personal story (admittedly, a relatable one).
Many first-time public speakers try a bit too hard to make their speech expressive. As a result, their presentations appear showy and even pompous to the audience.
To prevent this, simply use a conversational tone. Feel like you are communicating your message to individual people, rather than a large alien audience. This will not only ease you up but will help the audience connect to you as well.
After all, when you really look at it, you are talking to individual people, not their aggregation.
What is the one thing you’d wish the audience to take away from your speech as they leave the room or the auditorium? Define it in a single phrase or sentence, using straightforward, accessible language, and present it at the end of your presentation. Keep that takeaway in mind when planning your speech, and put a special emphasis on it during the wrap-up.
Time your speech.
There’s probably a specific timeframe within which you should complete your speech. Even if it’s not rigidly set, the audience will have certain expectations as to how long your presentation will take.
Therefore, it’s important to plan beforehand the approximate time your speech should take and set a timer during rehearsals. If your presentation lasts longer than expected, make sure to leave the inessential parts out.
As you memorize your material, your speech will get smoother and faster. This will also shorten the time required for it. Thus, before making any adjustments to the length of your script, rehearse it a few times.
Practice your speech as many times as necessary to build confidence. This is not to say you should memorize every single word or sentence, but you should know exactly what you need to cover at every point.
When you’re confident enough about your speech, there’s one less reason to be nervous during the presentation. You can now relax and focus on building rapport with your audience.
Perhaps, the worst thing you can do during a presentation is to read your script. Even glancing at a paper or screen far too many times is distracting enough. What’s more, your audience will find it difficult to connect to your message, as it will all feel mechanical and staged.
The solution? It’s fairly simple: rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
A slide should never be the main source of information for the audience. Use it as a mere extension that makes your speech more engaging or credible. Always keep in mind that your audience needs to learn from you , the speaker, not from your slide.
It goes without saying that you shouldn’t stuff any slide with text. Or include so much information (whether textual or visual) that your audience gets overwhelmed and stops following your speech. When it comes to slide design, minimalism is your best friend.
To know if you’re relying heavily on your slides or not, ask yourself this question: “Will my presentation still make sense without the slides?” If the answer’s no, then you should rethink your script. But, there’s also a fun side to this. When you free your slides of the burden to inform, they can now be used creatively and even enhance the effect of your speech.
Notice how the presenter in the video shown above only turns to slides to highlight or demonstrate a point she made. And if you remove all the slides? The presentation will be just as complete and impactful.
How a good presentation should look like? Nowadays, there are lots of advanced presentation software and screen-sharing tools one can use to “wow” the audience. The problem with them? “Wowing” your audience with something as trivial as slides is hardly why you’re making your speech. The fewer distractions there are in your presentation, the better. Keep this in mind, and avoid using anything showy.
While presenting, it’s recommended to maintain a consistent pace that’s neither too fast nor too slow. Talking fast might cause unnecessary tension in the audience, and excessively slow speech is sure to annoy them.
While different people naturally speak at different paces, it’s still something that can be worked on and modified with enough practice. You can refine your pacing during rehearsals until the preferred pace is second nature to you.
You’re about to start your presentation, but the internet connection is too slow, and your slides won’t load. On top of it, you didn’t follow our advice about not relying on slideshows. What do you do?
Well, if you’re considerate enough, you will have a USB flash drive with backup slides. Next time you feel like forgoing this little step, recall this scenario.
The way you move your body on stage tells a story. And if that story is incoherent with the one you’re telling with your words, disharmony arises. Imagine a speaker is talking about peace and tolerance, yet their every movement is abrupt, hasty, and aggressive. Sure, this might be the result of nervousness, but would you still be able to connect to their message? The answer’s likely to be no.
When rehearsing your speech, don’t neglect body language. Practice standing tall, keeping your hands open, and your movements relaxed. Avoid pacing on the stage during your presentation, as it may distract or, worse yet, annoy your listeners.
Check out this TED talk by Emily Esfahani Smith. Pay attention to how her empathetic facial expressions and open hand gestures help to reinforce her message.
And, of course, don’t skip eye contact. Instead of glancing over the entire audience, pick a few individuals from different parts of the room, and establish your eye contact with them. This little trick will help you feel like you’re speaking to one person at a time. And that’s far more manageable than speaking to everyone at once.
To emphasize a point, sometimes, what you need is not words but their absence. Take a pause after you ask a question or make a strong statement. Spare your audience a moment to think, reflect, and ponder. Or leave a gap of silence right before you present something exciting to build suspense and anticipation.
No one expects you to go on talking for 10-15 minutes without a pause. Take a few seconds once in a while to breathe. Draw in deep breaths to collect your thoughts and calm your nerves if the situation calls for it. This is one of the most effective ways to relax when presenting.
These were the things good presentations include. Hopefully, you’ve learned enough from our tips and are now ready to get to work. Delivering effective presentations is not an easy task, but definitely, one that’s worth the effort. If you’d like to create a presentation for your speech or even online platforms, give these customizable templates a try.
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* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
Published: December 2, 2021
Citation: Naegle KM (2021) Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Comput Biol 17(12): e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
Copyright: © 2021 Kristen M. Naegle. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.
Competing interests: The author has declared no competing interests exist.
The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.
Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.
Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554.g001
When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.
When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.
While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.
An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.
As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.
The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:
It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.
Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.
The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:
These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].
I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.
How to time your powerpoint slides for more effective presentations.
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Delivering a presentation is not just about giving good slides, it is also about making sure that our presentation finishes by the time our audience wants to have their tea break---so practicing how long to speak for each slide is essential for a proper presentation.
Before we rehearse, make sure that we select our first slide. Now open the 'Slide Show' tab and click the 'Rehearse Timings' button.
Powerpoint will start the usual presentation mode with a timer panel. The clock on the panel will start ticking once we enter the presentation mode.
Click on the arrow button to move on the next slide and Microsoft Powerpoint will record each timing as you progress from one slide to the next one. You can also click on the pause button just in case you need to answer the phone or turn off the oven while you're rehearsing your slides.
You will see a summary on how much time you have spent on each slide at the end of the rehearsal.
You can even set a self-running power point slides and let it run according to these timing, relieving us from the need to manually navigate the slides. Bear in mind that we can run into a situation where Powerpoint changes the slides before we finish, so make sure that you can deliver each slide based on your rehearsal timing.
Click on the setup slide show button.
Select the 'Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)' option to setup a self-running Powerpoint presentation. Press the 'esc' key to stop the self-running presentation.
You can re-adjust the presentation timing by recording back from the beginning or from the current slide.
If we're still not happy with the timing, we can clear all the slides timing and redo our presentation rehearsal.
Delivering a good presentation is not an easy task and requires a lot of practice. There are tons of great things that we can do with Powerpoint to add punch to our presentation, for example:
What other tips do you have for giving an effective presentation?
An excellent public speech has the power to change people’s lives permanently. The task is to deliver it in a way that hits the right chord with the audience. Keynote speeches cannot be too short or too long. They need to convey the essence of the chosen theme in an easy-to-understand manner.
Event organizers choose professional speakers for the keynote address. These people are usually well-known in the event and public speaking industry. Their power-packed oratory skills can stir the right emotions in the audience for a successful event opening.
While keynote speakers are usually experienced in their areas of expertise, it is crucial for those of you who have been newly invited to speak that you understand how to craft your speech. One key concern for most speakers is how long should a keynote speech be.
To arrive at a definitive answer, it is essential to understand the structure of a keynote speech. In this article, let’s explore everything you need to know about a keynote speech, from its basic structure to the total duration taken to prepare for it, insightful tips for delivering it effectively, and more.
A successful keynote speech has a well-defined framework designed to make it compelling for the audience. The primary intent of a keynote speech is to introduce the event’s central theme to the attendees and motivate them for the programs and workshops scheduled for them.
Every keynote speech is structured differently based on the speaker’s style. However, a few essential elements are the same for all keynote speeches. Please review them below to understand how long a keynote speech should take.
Have you been to events where you doze off in the first ten minutes of a presentation? We’ve all had such experiences. To avoid that, it is essential to kick-start your keynote speech with a bang! You can start with a personal story that connects to the event’s central theme. For instance, if the topic is “Encouraging Women Entrepreneurs,” you can share a personal story of how you started your journey as an entrepreneur or cite an inspiring example for the audience. You could also use humor to start light and gradually shift to a more serious tone, talking about how companies and governments can support the mushrooming of women entrepreneurs.
You could also start with a rhetorical question to instantly grab the audience’s attention. The idea is to hook the audience’s attention within the first five minutes of your speech.
As mentioned before, every keynote speech has a central theme. Once you have established a rapport with the audience, you must understand the event’s central theme. This is where all your research and industry expertise will come into use. Make the topic interesting by using relevant examples and anecdotes.
A killer keynote speech demands well-researched facts, statistics, current trends, and a future topic forecast. For example, discussing economic development in Africa begins with facts and figures about the current economy, factors working for and against its growth, measures to achieve sustainable growth, and a forecast of what lies ahead based on current growth and geopolitical conditions.
This is where you have to dive into the main topic . Let’s take, for example, the keynote speech to address Africa’s economic growth and development. Then, you could start by going over the situation in the continent over the past five years and then move on to the current scenario. You can give examples and state relevant data to substantiate economic growth and development details and address the need to deal with challenges. Further, you can also touch upon the goals for the future and the course of action to achieve them. This was just an example of how to deliver a keynote address. You can always merge your style and have a unique way of presenting.
Humans are visual creatures irrespective of one’s actual visual abilities. It’s easier for us to retain information when shared in pictures. So, bank on this aspect and use infographics, relevant images, data sheets, and other visual reference materials during your presentation. This will get your audience to pay more attention to your speech and give them a sensory break from continuously looking at you. These small things go a long way in ensuring maximum audience engagement at a B2B event. Also if you’re not fully confident of your subject matter, wondering how long a keynote speech should be, it’s wise to use all kinds of visual aids to support your presentation.
Concluding a speech has to be done powerfully to create maximum impact. A good ending has two parts: first, you will summarize all the points discussed in the speech, and then you must communicate the call to action. Going back to the previous example, the call to action could be to encourage more people to opt for entrepreneurship or a renewed focus on the service sector to foster economic growth and development in Africa.
Just as you decided on an impactful opening, ensure you also have a powerful closing. People tend to remember the opening and closing of every speech or presentation, and you don’t want to miss out on any opportunity to create a strong impression on your listeners.
Patricia Fripp , an accomplished keynote speaker, presentation skills trainer, and executive speech coach, has developed a speech model to help keynote speakers structure their speeches. Below is a representation of her speech model:
According to Fripp, it is essential to have a power-packed opening, then proceed to the main content, and eventually end on a high note so that the audience will remember your presentation for the coming days. Her speech model can be used for any kind of presentation, such as a marketing pitch, a guest speech, the opening for a debate, and so on.
According to Janice Tomich , a global communications coach, a keynote speaker should spend 30 hours researching the keynote topic and developing the keynote content. Another 30 hours to assemble the keynote slides and presentation and 30 hours of practice for the final presentation. Ninety hours should be spent preparing for D-day to deliver a killer keynote speech.
If you are practicing to deliver a keynote speech, here are a few insightful tips to help you prepare.
While preparing your keynote speech, your primary focus should be understanding what’s in it for your audience. You must clearly understand your audience’s nature, needs, and pain points and then craft a presentation targeting them. Your audience should have something valuable to take back at the end of your address. Your speech should inspire them to take the necessary actions to help them upgrade their professional skills.
You can talk to your event organizer, understand your audience’s demographics, and then plan your keynote speech.
Pro Tip: Look at the audience. Yes, you already know that, but the urge to look at the screen behind you can distract your audience. So be prepared with your subject matter and avoid looking at the screen behind you. Imagine you’re talking to a friend, and that friend equals a hundred thousand people.
When preparing a keynote speech, you might get caught up in all the details and forget to have a bird’s eye view of the content you are presenting. To avoid this, get other people involved while drafting your speech. Identify the key focus areas and phrases you want to stress on. Envisage the impact you wish to create on the audience and highlight the necessary points while drafting the speech. Do a mock presentation before the event organizers, gauge their response, and make the required iterations.
Pro Tip: Avoid obsessing over slides or cue cards all the time while on stage. It is better to memorize and build on a few keywords on stage. You can look at the slides but not rely heavily on them, as facing your audience is crucial for connecting with them.
Although events are highly formal, you can choose to add a personal touch to your keynote speech. While addressing your audience, add a relevant personal story or recent encounter. This will build an instant connection with them, and you will have their attention for the main message. Everyone connects with stories and experiences; you should use them to deliver an impactful message.
Pro Tip: You can have a prelude cum introductory announcement of you being the keynote speaker for the event on your social media profiles. This adds value to your digital presence and gives your followers something to look forward to.
No matter how experienced you are, it is always better to review your keynote speech multiple times before finally presenting it on stage. The more familiar you are with your topic, the more confident you will be when addressing the audience. The ease with which you communicate will help you engage your audience.
Imagine a forced, unnatural way of speaking that will fail to create a positive impression on your audience, and that’s the last thing you want. So, practice well before your final speech.
You can practice in front of the mirror to gain more confidence and check your body language. To understand the nuances of body language as a public speaker, check our blog, “10 Ways to Unleash the Power of Effective Body Language in Public Speaking. You can also read our article, How to Speak at a Conference: 10 Tips to Become a Successful Speaker, to learn about the sure-shot practices for improving public speaking skills.
Pro Tip: Maintain energy levels on stage. Speaking for over half an hour is no joke. Keep yourself hydrated and grab a bite before going on stage. A cup of strong coffee can also go a long way in keeping you fueled for your keynote presentation.
There has been much debate about the length of the keynote speech. Some professional speakers say the shorter the speech, the better, while others contradict this notion.
The market standard for most keynote sessions is about 45-60 minutes. However, your speech timing has to be in sync with the event’s agenda. Therefore, it is better to consult your event organizer about the exact time that you are allotted for your keynote speech. Ensure you write your speech within the given time frame. Also, include sufficient time for questions and any other technical glitches during the event.
It is a privilege to be a keynote speaker. You have the power to direct your audience, who have come to an event with a clean slate. The information you give them and how you give it will be the starting point of their learning journey at the event. This ability to transform people’s minds is indeed an enriching experience. To keep going as a professional public speaker, you should be well-connected with the event world’s stakeholders.
At Eventible , we have a strong network of public speakers who event organizers constantly contact . Enlist in our Speakers Directory , and event organizers worldwide can contact you.
Related posts, the ultimate event strategy guide for conference planners, in conversation with hugh forrest, co-president & chief programming officer at sxsw, a wholesome guide to becoming a panelist speaker in 2024.
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Senior director of global events, cloudinary, proudest of.
In both cases, we had to figure out how to take what are historically in-person events and translate them into engaging virtual experiences with a team of just two in-house event marketers, counting myself.
ImageCon is our flagship customer summit. In 2021, more than 1,700 people across 107 countries registered for the two-day event, which included 20 virtual sessions designed to help retailers unleash the full potential of their visual media.
Our hosted event series included about 8 virtual events across North America and EMEA markets. To drive up attendance and engagement, we hosted unique virtual cooking and mixology classes, wine tastings, tequila pairings, and more, with celebrity chefs and bartenders such as Marcus Samuelsson, Julio Cabrero, and Amanda Freitag.
ImageCon was a success, in part, because we secured high-quality speakers and focused on providing true value to attendees by creating sessions to optimize their usage of the Cloudinary platform to improve their business. We featured customers in the content by doing customer spotlights. We also improved the production level of the summit by partnering with an agency.
I am proud we were able to pull off a high-quality event of this scale while managing 30 other events for the year.
Prior to the pandemic, our hosted event series consisted of in-person dinners and intimate happy hours. We wanted to recreate these virtually, without making them feel like webinars. We succeeded, in part, because we invested in high-quality talent to attract participants and create fun, memorable moments we probably could not have pulled off in-person.
We also took pains to make the events as easy as possible to attend, for example, by mailing guests meal kits or drink kits with everything they needed to participate. Of course, everything was branded, right down to the salt and pepper. We know our attendees’ time is precious, so we encouraged them to involve their family and were sure to include enough food and/or drink to share.
After the experience, we broke out into small groups, allowing people to network with peers and Cloudinary team members, who led discussions on relevant industry topics. Thus, attendees topped off a great culinary or cocktail experience with valuable learnings that could help their business. In fact, I see us continuing with some of these virtual events even after we have resumed in-person ones.
Our on-demand event content is now a powerful sales enablement tool for our sales team, who share session recordings with prospective customers, as well as existing ones who are considering adding on a new capability. We will continue to measure the performance of this content.
For the hosted events, we evaluate success by measuring pipeline acceleration. So, we consider where event guests are in their consideration process before attending the event. We use the event, and event follow-up, to help move the prospect or customer to the finish line. We usually see prospects who engaged in marketing campaigns were more likely to close, and close faster, than those who did not attend an event.
While this is harder to measure, we know our event series keeps the Cloudinary brand top of mind and deepens our relationship with customers. We document the positive feedback we receive from attendees and sales reps for internal use and marketing purposes.
Another challenge was creating an event strategy against a backdrop of so much uncertainty. I have seen industry colleagues invest resources in planning in-person events, only to have to rejigger in the final hour. I made the decision from the onset of the year to plan for virtual events, given our small team and resources. This allowed us to create more effective and engaging virtual events from the start and maximize our budget.
Nothing beats in-person events, and I am excited to be moving forward with these in 2022. But I plan to continue with digital and hybrid events, as well, for a number of reasons. When done right, they can be more memorable than in-person ones, and certainly more convenient. They also allow me to engage people across a wider geographic region (all of Europe for example or across the US), which leads to cost-savings and unique and widened interactions for our attendees.
Global corporate events and experiences, sumo logic, bethany roskin murphy, director of global events, drift, charlene kate ditch, founder, charlene kate events, gabrielle d., global events director, automation anywhere, gerilynn marburger, director, global events, hewlett packard enterprise, hollie ashby, senior manager, cxo and third party events, palo alto networks, lindsey cohen, director- event marketing, snyk, ceo & chief event strategist, liz king events, nicola kastner, vice president, global head of event strategy, sap, rachel russell, field marketing manager, even, samantha calle, associate director, xandr, margaret shaeffer, head of field marketing & events, linearb, traci depuy, head of global events, salesforce, dale rickert, global conference head of greentech festival, matthew lin, head of marketing, beetc, emilie watrob, head of event marketing, zs, katherine leong, director, corporate events, gainsight, sr. director, marketing technology (brand and events), salesforce, karim youssef, creative director, dpw, elizabeth thomas, head of global events, elastic, gerry schneider, vp events at wearedevelopers, director, global events at hewlett packard enterprise, mike kalyan, event and seminar marketing manager, shrm.
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They should look good but also not have a ton of information on them. For example, if you're wondering how many slides are in a 5-minute presentation, The answer is you should have only five slides. That's about one minute per slide. The general rule is 1-2 minutes per slide.
When giving an hour long presentation, about 15 slides is ideal. Although having fewer slides might make you panic about possibly forgetting what you want to say, in reality fewer slides gives you more flexibility to narrate your idea journey in a dynamic way. If you have too many slides, it locks you into a fixed, rigid structure that can actually make presenting harder. Additionally, a good ...
Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired ...
The 10/20/30 rule states that an ideal presentation should: have no more than 10 slides. last no longer than 20 minutes. use font sizes no smaller than 30 pts.
Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide. When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged.
If you have decided to create a Powerpoint for your presentation, it might be helpful to follow the 10-20-30 rule. This rule states 10 slides is the optimal number for any presentation. 20 minutes is the longest amount of time you should speak. 30 point font is the smallest size that should be on your slides.
April 10, 2024. Key Takeaways: Engage with your audience through audience participation and interaction on every slide. Extend your presentation by incorporating additional key points and expanding on main points. Add multimedia elements such as videos to enhance depth and engagement.
One well-known formulation for PowerPoint presentations is the 10/20/30 rule. This rule dictates that you should use about ten slides for a twenty minute presentation, and each slide should utilize thirty point font. In other words, each slide should be about two minutes in length. Perhaps the 10/20/30 rule works for you. If it does not, don ...
Ten-minute presentations are the average length for project update presentations or in-team meetings. However, this format is not commonly used for academic presentations, which require a minimum of 15-20 minutes to present a case properly. Consider a length of between 7 and 9 slides for 10-minute presentations.
Generally, you should spend no more than 5-7 minutes per main point. Give Your Presentation. The best way to determine how long your presentation will last is to perform it live. Perform it exactly as you would in front of your audience and time yourself. You can even record yourself, so you know where to make adjustments if needed.
The length of the perfect PowerPoint presentation will vary depending on: timing. A general rule of thumb is to keep the presentation as short as possible while still effectively communicating the information you need. Most experts recommend limiting your presentations to 15-25 minutes to keep the audience engaged and avoid overwhelming them ...
A good guideline is to keep the presentation to no more than 10-15 minutes, leaving time for questions from the audience. This time frame allows for a thorough presentation without overwhelming the audience. Of course, if you have a lot of information to present, it can be broken up into several shorter presentations.
For most speakers that comes down to 5 to 10 slides, up to 2 per minute of speaking time. Design for screen size. If you'll be presenting on a desktop or laptop screen, ensure that text is large enough to read for people standing or sitting a few feet away. Practice your timing. Five minutes might seem like a long time until you start talking.
10 slides are the optimal number to use for any presentation. 20 minutes is the longest amount of time you should speak. 30 point font is the smallest font size you should use on your slides. The quality of your business presentation will dramatically improve by following this general rule of thumb and here’s why: 10 Slides Forces the ...
A 15-minute presention should have a maximum of 15 slides. This is the right amount of information for audiences to grasp without feeling overwhelmed or bored. If you can give this type of presentation in 10 minutes or less, it's even better. During a 15 minute presentation. These slides should be able to cover the basics of your topic, but ...
We bet you've heard a few conflicting theories on this subject, so we thought it was about time we weighed in. You might've heard Guy Kawasaki 's 10/20/30 rule. This rule states that the "perfect" presentation has ten slides, lasts for 20 minutes, and uses a 30pt font.
To set slide durations: Select the "Transitions" tab in the PowerPoint toolbar. In the "Timing" section, enter the number of seconds in the "Duration" box. For example, 10 seconds. Click "Apply to All" to set all slides to that duration. For a 20 minute, 10 slide presentation, a 2 minute (120 second) duration works well.
4. Practise presentation flow. As well as practising for the ideas and what you want to say, practise how you want your presentation to flow. Think of it almost as a symphony, with high points, slow movements and crescendos. If it's important, think about how you want your audience to feel, what emotions you want them to have, and when. 5.
Take a pause after you ask a question or make a strong statement. Spare your audience a moment to think, reflect, and ponder. Or leave a gap of silence right before you present something exciting to build suspense and anticipation. No one expects you to go on talking for 10-15 minutes without a pause.
Tip #2: Pay attention to time constraints. The time constraints of the presentation need to be understood. For example, if you are asked to present a 30-minute presentation, you need to determine if this is the allocated time slot, or the length of time you should be speaking.
Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide. When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged.
Now open the 'Slide Show' tab and click the 'Rehearse Timings' button. Powerpoint will start the usual presentation mode with a timer panel. The clock on the panel will start ticking once we enter the presentation mode. Click on the arrow button to move on the next slide and Microsoft Powerpoint will record each timing as you progress from one ...
Have you ever wondered why TED-talks are 18 minutes long? That's because this is exactly one unit of optimal attention span. If you're allotted 40-45 minutes, this means that you can start ...
These small things go a long way in ensuring maximum audience engagement at a B2B event. Also if you're not fully confident of your subject matter, wondering how long a keynote speech should be, it's wise to use all kinds of visual aids to support your presentation. End Note. Concluding a speech has to be done powerfully to create maximum ...