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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > Implementing The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint

Implementing The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint

If you’re not used to making a PowerPoint presentation , it can be tough to know how long to make it and how to format the slides. On the other side of the coin: you might overthink your presentation and put too much information on too many slides.

A top down view of someone using a laptop to prepare a PowerPoint presentation.

With help from the 10-20-30 rule, you can make a PowerPoint presentation that’s engaging and efficient . The guidelines for this rule are as follows:

  • No more than 10 slides.
  • No longer than 20 minutes.
  • No larger than 30-point font.

Let’s look deeper at the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule, why it’s a good rule to follow and things to do to follow this guideline.

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Don’t use more than 10 slides. A good presenter shouldn’t have to (or want to) lean heavily on their PowerPoint slides. The slides should be a supplement for your presentation, not the headliner. Limiting to 10 slides will ensure that you’re not going over the top with the length of your presentation and keeps it moving. Your slide count should include both your title and conclusion. A presentation that goes on any longer than 10 slides will distract from what you’re saying and starts to feel like an information overload.

Keep your presentation 20 minutes MAX. During a presentation, people start tuning out after about 10 minutes.Limiting your presentation to this length will ensure that your audience will remember much of what you’re saying. If you’re covering a more complex topic and need more time, stick to the 20-minute MAX rule—it’s much easier to schedule your presentation by timing each slide down to about two minutes. That feels like a much more manageable timeframe, doesn’t it?

Don’t use fonts smaller than size 30. A 30-point font is a great minimum size because it ensures that your text is easy to read from a distance. The recommended guideline to make your presentation accessible to those who might be visually impaired is a 24-point font. Upping the size to 30 is a significant difference, and you can be confident that your audience can see what you’ve written. In addition, choose a font that’s easy to read. For years it was recommended that you stick solely to sans-serif fonts with digital media because serifs could blur together, making certain fonts hard to read. High-resolution screens have nearly eliminated this problem, so some serif fonts can be used and are easy to read in PowerPoint presentations.

A person researching and taking notes from a laptop as they prepare a PowerPoint presentation.

Tips for sticking to these guidelines. It’s not always easy to cut down your presentation to fit the 30-20-10 rule if you’re presenting a lot of information. Follow these tips while putting together your presentation to make the entire process easier on yourself:

  • Limit text to the 6×6 rule. It can feel like there are a lot of rules for making a PowerPoint presentation, but they’re all there to help you make a well-organized and engaging presentation. The 6×6 rule suggests that you don’t use more than six lines or bullet points on each slide and limit each line or bullet point to six words. Following the 6×6 rule helps to ensure that you’re limiting the amount of information on your slides so you can continue to present it rather than have your audience read it.
  • Use visuals instead. Visuals like graphics, animated gifs, and videos can help to keep your audience engaged . Including visuals with your presentation will also help you limit the amount of time and content on each slide. A graph or illustration on the right side of your slide limits the amount of space you have on the left side. This can help to minimize the amount of text you have.
  • Practice makes perfect. There’s a very cool, free tool called PowerPoint Speaker Coach , which leverages AI to help you nail your presentation. Speaker coach gives you feedback on your pace, pitch, use of filler words, poor grammar, lack of originality, use of sensitive phrases, and more as you rehearse your presentation. You’ll get a Summary Report at the end—with key pieces of feedback to help you become a confident presenter .

Use the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule and these other tips to keep your presentation simple. Whether you’re a college student presenting a class project or a teen making the case for a new car, following these guidelines will help.

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The 10 20 30 Rule: What it is and 3 Reasons to Use it in 2023

The 10 20 30 Rule: What it is and 3 Reasons to Use it in 2023

Lawrence Haywood • 25 Oct 2023 • 8 min read

We don’t know you, but we guarantee you have experienced a PowerPoint presentation that’s gone on far too long . You’re 25 slides deep, 15 minutes in and have had your open-minded attitude comprehensively battered by walls upon walls of text.

Well, if you’re veteran marketing specialist Guy Kawasaki, you make sure this never happens again.

You invent the 10 20 30 rule . It’s the holy grail for PowerPoint presenters and a guiding light to more engaging, more converting presentations.

At AhaSlides, we love great presentations. We’re here to give you everything you need to know about the 10 20 30 rule and how to implement it in your seminars, webinars and meetings.

Table of Contents

What is the 10 20 30 rule.

  • 3 Reasons to Use 10 20 30

More Great Tips for Presentations

More tips with ahaslides, frequently asked questions.

  • Types of Presentation
  • How to make a 5 minute presentation

Alternative Text

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

But, the 10-20-30 rule of PowerPoint is a collection of 3 golden principles to abide by in your presentations.

It’s the rule that your presentation should…

  • Contain a maximum of 10 slides
  • Be a maximum length of 20 minutes
  • Have a minimum font size of 30

The whole reason Guy Kawasaki came up with the rule was to make presentations more engaging .

The 10 20 30 rule may seem overly restricting at first glance, but as is necessary in today’s attention crisis, it’s a principle that helps you make maximum impact with minimal content.

Let’s dive in…

The 10 Slides

The 10 20 30 rule of PowerPoint presentations in Stockholm.

Many people are confused with questions like “How many slides for 20 minutes?” or “How many slides for a 40-minute presentation?”. Guy Kawasaki says ten slides ‘is what the mind can handle’. Your presentation should get a maximum of 10 points across 10 slides.

The natural tendency when presenting is to try and unload as much information as possible on the audience. Audiences don’t just absorb information like a collective sponge; they need time and space to process what’s being presented.

For the pitchers out there looking to make the perfect pitch presentation, Guy Kawasaki already has your 10 slides for you :

  • Problem/Opportunity
  • Value Proposition
  • Underlying Magic
  • Business Model
  • Go-to-Market Plan
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Management Team
  • Financial Projections and Key Metrics
  • Current Status, Accomplishments to Date, Timeline, and Use of Funds.

But remember, the 10-20-30 rule doesn’t just apply to business . If you’re a university lecturer, making a speech at a wedding or trying to enlist your friends in a pyramid scheme, there’s always a way to limit the number of slides you’re using.

Keeping your slides to a compact ten may be the most challenging part of the 10 20 30 rule, but it’s also the most crucial.

Sure, you’ve got a lot to say, but doesn’t everyone pitch an idea, lecturing at university or signing their friends up to Herbalife? Whittle it down to 10 or fewer slides, and the next part of the 10 20 30 rule will follow.

The 20 Minutes

The importance of having a 20 minute presentation.

If you’ve ever been turned off an episode of a Netflix Original because it’s an hour and a half long, think about those poor audiences around the world who are, right now, sitting in hour-long presentations.

The middle section of the 10 20 30 rule says that a presentation should never be longer than an episode of the Simpsons.

That’s a given, considering that if most people can’t even entirely focus through Season 3’s excellent Homer at the Bat , how will they manage a 40-minute presentation about projected lanyard sales in the next quarter?

The Perfect 20-Minute Presentation

  • Intro (1 minute) – Don’t get caught up in the panache and showmanship of the opening. Your audience already knows why they’re there, and drawing out the intro gives them the impression that this presentation will be extended . A lengthy introduction dissolves the focus before the production even begins.
  • Pose a question / Illuminate the problem (4 minutes) – Get straight into what this presentation is trying to solve. Bring up the main topic of the production and emphasise its importance through data and/or real-world examples. Gather audience opinions to foster focus and illustrate the prominence of the problem.
  • Main body (13 minutes) – Naturally, this is the entire reason for the presentation. Offer information that attempts to answer or resolve your question or problem. Provide visual facts and figures that support what you’re saying and transition between slides to form the cohesive body of your argument.
  • Conclusion (2 minutes) – Provide a summary of the problem and the points you’ve made that resolve it. This consolidates the audience members’ information before they ask you about it in the Q&A.

As Guy Kawasaki states, a 20-minute presentation leaves 40 minutes for questions. This is an excellent ratio to aim for as it encourages audience participation.

AhaSlides’ Q&A feature is the perfect tool for those after-pres questions. Whether you’re presenting in-person or online, an interactive Q&A slide gives power to the audience and lets you address their real concerns.

💡 20 minutes still sounding too long? Why not try a 5-minute presentation ?

The 30 Point Font

The importance of large text in the 10 20 30 rule.

One of the biggest audience grievances about PowerPoint presentations is the presenter’s tendency to read their slides aloud.

There are two reasons why this flies in the face of everything the 10-20-30 rule represents.

The first is that the audience reads faster than the presenter speaks, which causes impatience and loss of focus. The second is that it suggests that the slide includes way too much text information .

So, which is true about font use in presentation slides?

This is where the final segment of the 10 20 30 rule comes in. Mr Kawasaki accepts absolutely nothing less than a 30pt. a font when it comes to text on your PowerPoints, and he’s got two reasons why…

  • Limiting the amount of text per slide – Capping each fall with a certain number of words means you won’t be tempted to read the information aloud simply. Your audience will remember 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read , so keep text to a minimum.
  • Breaking down the points – Less text means shorter sentences that are easier to digest. The final part of the 10 20 30 rule cuts out the waffle and gets straight to the point.

Suppose you’re thinking of a 30pt. the font isn’t radical enough for you, check out what marketing guru Seth Godin suggests:

No more than six words on a slide. EVER. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken. Seth Godin

It’s up to you whether you want to include 6 or more words on a slide, but regardless, the message of Godin and Kawasaki is loud and clear: less text , more presenting .

3 Reasons to Use the 10 20 30 Rule

Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s Guy Kawasaki himself recapping the 10 20 30 rule and explaining why he came up with it.

So, we’ve discussed how you can benefit from the individual sections of the 10 20 30 rule. From Kawasaki’s presentation, let’s talk about how Kawasaki’s principle can raise the level of your presentations.

  • More engaging – Naturally, shorter presentations with less text encourage more speaking and visuals. It’s easy to hide behind the text, but the most exciting presentations out there are manifested in what the speaker says, not what they show.
  • More direct – Following the 10 20 30 rule promotes the necessary information and slashes the redundant. When you force yourself to make it as brief as possible, you naturally prioritise the key points and keep your audience focused on what you want.
  • More memorable – Pooling the focus and giving an attractive, visual-centred presentation results in something more special. Your audience will leave your presentation with the correct information and a more positive attitude towards it.

You may be one of the millions of presenters migrating to online presentations. If so, the 10 20 30 rule can be one of many tips to make your webinars more captivating .

Remember that experience we talked about in the intro? The one that makes you want to melt into the floor to avoid the pain of another one-way, hour-long presentation?

Well, it has a name: Death by PowerPoint . We have a whole article on Death by PowerPoint and how you can avoid committing this sin in your presentations.

Trying out the 10-20-30 rule is a great place to start, but here are some other ways to spice up your presentation.

Tip #1 – Make it Visual

That ‘6 words per slide’ rule that Seth Godin talks about may seem a little restricting, but its point is to make your slides more visual .

More visuals help to illustrate your concepts and heighten your audience’s memory of the critical points. You can expect them to walk away with 65% of your info remembered if you use images , videos , props and charts .

Compare that to the 10% memory rate of text-only slides, and you’ve got a compelling case to go visual!

Tip #2 – Make it Black

Another pro tip from Guy Kawasaki, here. A black background and white text is a far more potent than a white background and black text.

Black backgrounds scream professionalism and gravitas . Not only that, but light text (preferably a bit greyer rather than pure white) is easier to read and scan.

White heading text against a coloured background also stands out more. Be sure to leverage your use of black and coloured backgrounds to impress rather than overwhelm.

Tip #3 – Make it Interactive

You might hate audience participation at the theatre, but the same rules don’t apply to presentations.

No matter what your subject is, you should always find a way to make it interactive . Getting your audience involved is fantastic for increasing focus, using more visuals and creating a dialogue about your topic that helps the audience feel valued and heard.

In today’s online meetings and remote work age, a free tool like AhaSlides is essential for creating this dialogue. You can use interactive polls, Q&A slides, word clouds and much more to gather and illustrate your data, and then even use a quiz to consolidate it.

Want to try this out for free? Click the button below to join thousands of happy users on AhaSlides!

Feature image courtesy of Life Hack .

Got a question? We've got answers.

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Lawrence Haywood

Former ESL teacher and quiz master converted to the wild slide. Now a content creator, traveller, musician and big time slider preaching the good word of interactivity.

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas Understanding the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

Understanding the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

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Imagine sitting through a seemingly never-ending presentation. The speaker rambled on, reading from text-heavy slides, using a tiny font that strained your eyes, and failing to connect with the audience. As the minutes ticked by, you found yourself daydreaming and eagerly awaiting the end of the ordeal.

If you have been in this situation, then you know what to do if you were in the presenter’s shoes – make your presentations concise. But how do you even start?

You can follow several techniques when preparing your deck and your presentation as a whole. One of them is the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint , a presentation rule championed by Guy Kawasaki – a former Apple employee and a marketing specialist.

Table of Contents

What Is the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations?

Applying guy kawasaki’s 10 slide template in any presentation, the 20 minutes rule, the 30-point font rule, the benefits of using the 10/20/30 rule, tips for applying the 10/20/30 rule to your presentation.

The idea of the 10/20/30 rule is easy to understand, which is summed up in three points.

  • Your presentation should consist of no more than 10 slides .
  • Your presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes .
  • The text on each slide should be no lower than 30 points in size .

Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule emphasizes brevity, focus, and visual appeal to keep your audience engaged and deliver your message effectively.

Let’s examine each rule and explore how to apply it to your presentations.

The 10 Slides Rule

Kawasaki argues that a typical person can only take 10 concepts in one sitting. Therefore, according to him, a presentation should only consist of 10 slides, each serving a specific purpose and conveying a distinct concept.

This insight underscores the importance of concise, focused presentations that prioritize key messages and avoid overwhelming the audience with too much information.

If you are a business presenter struggling to develop a pitch deck , Kawasaki suggests a 10-slide PowerPoint template that includes what venture capitalists like him care about.

  • Title – Includes the business name, the presenter’s name, contacts, etc.
  • Problem/Opportunity – Highlights pain points or unmet needs of customers you aim to solve.
  • Value Proposition – Articulates the value or benefits of your product or service.
  • Underlying Magic – Explains the key technology that goes into your product or service offers.
  • Business Model – Describes how you plan to generate revenue.
  • Go-to-Market Plan – Outlines your strategy for bringing your product or service to market, e.g., marketing and sales plan .
  • Competitive Analysis – Explains how your business is positioned to compete and capture market share.
  • Management Team – Highlights your management team’s skills, experience, and expertise that will drive the success of your business.
  • Financial Projections and Key Metrics – Highlights your business’s financial viability and potential profitability.
  • Current Status, Accomplishments to Date, Timeline, and Use of Funds – Provides an overview of your current business status, any accomplishments or milestones achieved to date, the timeline for future milestones, and how you plan to use the funds you seek.

Infographic showcasing the 10 slides needed for any PowerPoint presentation

The 10 rule slide was specifically designed for startup and business presentations , focusing on pitching a business idea or concept to potential investors . However, it can also be a useful framework for other types of presentations that don’t deal with selling a service or product.

For example, if you are a lecturer, you can emulate Kawasaki’s PowerPoint template layout and reduce your presentation to 10 slides. Some slides might not be relevant to the nature of your topic, so replace them with one that works for your presentation. Using PPT templates helps you focus on the graphical aspect so you can articulate the content to fit into exactly 10 slides (while preserving the same aesthetic).

Let’s say you are a mindfulness expert talking about the benefits of meditation. The first three slides of Kawazaki’s workflow may be applied as you’ll need to establish your audience’s pain points and your solution.

However, you may need to modify the remaining slides as you’re not seeking to make a sale or raise funding. You may use them instead to discuss the main content of your presentation – in this case, the benefits of meditation. The last two slides may contain your conclusions and call to action, respectively.

Time constraints in presentations - Example of an illustration with a woman presenting a presentation and depicting time constraints.

Now, off to the second part of the 10/20/30 presentation rule.

According to Kawasaki, you only have 20 minutes to present your 10 slides – the time needed before your audience’s attention starts declining. He believes it is long enough to convey a meaningful message but short enough to maintain the audience’s attention span.

This is exactly why most TED Talks or The Big Bang Theory episodes would only last for approximately 18 minutes. 

While giving longer presentations is possible, longer presentations may be more difficult to maintain audience engagement and attention.

Kawasaki’s final rule pertains to the font size that presenters can use. This rule suggests that presenters should use a font size of at least 30 points for all text in their slides , including titles, headings, and body text.

When creating presentations, it is common to jam each slide with text and information. This poses two possible problems:

  • First, it may take your audience’s attention from you as they may end up reading your whole presentation and stop listening to you. 
  • Second, including too much information can make your presentation overwhelming and difficult to follow.

Using a larger font size, you must include only the key points of your presentation slides. This prevents your audience from getting ahead of you and keeps them listening to you speak. By applying this rule, you are also ensuring your content is understandable for people with visual impairments. We highly recommend you check concepts from W3C.org on how to make events accessible, as some of these rules can benefit your audience.

Presenters often ask themselves whether is worth applying a new framework for their presentation design and delivery. The reality is that the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations is one of the most effective methods to build your presentation skills . In the list below, we expose the main benefits of this framework for presenters.

Concise and Focused Presentation

With a limited number of slides and a strict time limit, the 10/20/30 encourages you to choose the most relevant content and eliminate unnecessary information carefully. This avoids overwhelming your audience with too much information and ensures your key message is clear and memorable.

Improved Audience Engagement

This rule encourages presenters to focus on delivering a clear message rather than overwhelming the audience with flashy visuals. With fewer slides and a shorter duration, you are likelier to hold your audience’s attention throughout the presentation. This also allows you to address questions from the audience, leading to better interaction and a productive meeting.

Increased Chance of Success

Whether pitching to investors or selling a product, a concise and focused presentation can significantly increase your chances of success. The 10/20/30 rule helps you effectively communicate your value proposition and address potential concerns. This makes your presentation more persuasive and memorable, increasing the likelihood of securing funding or closing a sale.

Time Management

The more senior the person you present to, the lesser time you got to make your case and convey your message. Following the 10/20/30 encourages you to be mindful of the time and deliver your presentation within the allocated timeframe. It also allows you to show respect for your audience’s time.

1. Present One Idea Per Slide

Overpopulating slides with content

Following Kawasaki’s rule on creating your PowerPoint presentation, identify the key points you want to convey to your audience and allocate one slide for each.

Presenting one idea per slide can help your audience stay focused on the topic at hand.  It makes it easier for them to understand and remember your message, as it reduces the amount of information they have to process at once. When there’s too much information on a slide, it can be overwhelming and distracting, making it difficult for your audience to stay engaged and attentive.

Presenting one idea per slide can also help you control the flow of information and ensure that you cover all of your main points.

2. Keep Your Slides Simple

As mentioned earlier, the 10/20/30 rule emphasizes simplicity. Keep your slides simple and avoid flashy design elements that may distract your audience.

Use a consistent color scheme , font style, and layout throughout your presentation. This will help your audience follow along and focus on your message.

3. Balance Text and Visuals

Visuals like images, charts, graphs, videos, and diagrams can help break up text-heavy slides and make your presentation more interesting and memorable. However, relying solely on images can also be ineffective and lead to confusion or disengagement.

When using visuals in your slides, it’s important to balance text and images. Text can provide important context and details, while images can help illustrate key points and make your presentation visually appealing.

Let’s say you want to inform your audience of your company’s marketing plan . Using a rising spiral template is an excellent choice since it can represent multiple plan stages with increasing intensity.

Balance between text and graphics in slides - Example showing a funnel slide design with four levels.

4. Break Down Your Presentation into Smaller Units and Make it Interactive

Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule only gives you 20 minutes to wrap up the whole presentation, but what if you need more than that?

It’s not uncommon to give presentations that last 45 minutes to an hour – for instance, if you are giving a lecture or facilitating a training workshop for employees. The longer your presentation, however, the harder it will be to hold your audience’s attention.

One great way to keep them engaged is to divide your presentation into smaller units and pause in between.

So, before the guy from the third row starts yawning, plan in-between activities to reenergize your audience and reacquire their attention. It can be a simple Q&A session, interactive exercises, or team-building activities.

Don’t forget to time your activities so they won’t disrupt the flow of your presentation.

5. Start Strong

The opening of your presentation is critical in capturing your audience’s attention and setting the tone for the rest of the presentation. Start with a compelling hook, such as a thought-provoking question, a powerful quote, or an engaging story, to grab your audience’s attention. Clearly state the purpose and objectives of your presentation to establish the context and provide a roadmap for what’s to come.

6. End Strong

Your outro is as important as your introduction. So, instead of ending your presentation with a flat Thank you slide , use the opportunity to nudge your audience to action.

Using a summary slide is one of the ways you can end your presentation if your goal is to reinforce your key points. It can be a useful reference for the audience, helping them remember the most important information.

You can also encourage your audience to take action based on what they’ve learned in your presentation. This can be a great way to motivate them to apply the concepts you’ve covered.

The 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint is a useful framework to emulate in creating your presentation.

There are questions about the practicality of its application outside the business context. However, we can agree that it teaches us valuable insight – keeping presentations concise as possible. Limiting the number of slides, adhering to a strict time limit, and using a larger font size can create a concise presentation that effectively communicates your message.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to presenting; you don’t have to strictly follow Kawasaki’s rule. Depending on the audience and the topic, modify the template and adapt your presentation to suit the situation.

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Everything You Need To Know About 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

Would you like to deliver a perfect presentation? Who wouldn’t! Here is an overview of the 10/20/30 Rule for making your presentations polished and perfect.

What's Inside?

What does the best presentation look like? We may not have an answer for that, but we have a clear answer for how a bad presentation looks. Think about a presentation that goes for over 30 minutes, goes over 15 slides, and is still counting, and the speaker reads texts on the slides. Is there anyone even still listening? Most of the audience fell asleep, looking at their phone or daydreaming at this point. 

So, what was wrong with this presentation? What should the speaker do for their next presentation? Here is the 10/20/30 Rule! This rule will be your guideline to avoid horrible presentations. 

presentation 30 20 10

We prepared a comprehensive guide to create and deliver effective presentations by using the 10/20/30 Rule! If you want information about the 10/20/30 Rule, how to apply it to your presentation, its benefits and downsides, and some helpful tips from us for your next presentation, keep reading! 

Presentations in Our Life

Presentations are a ubiquitous part of our lives. In many settings, we can be asked to give presentations, convey information, share ideas, persuade others, or, as a recent trend, just for fun! In school, work, or maybe in your daily life, in a PowerPoint party , you may be asked to give presentations. 

presentation 30 20 10

What to Consider While Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation?

  • Topic and Purpose
  • Organization of the Slides
  • Design of the Slides
  • Delivery Style

You should choose your topic carefully. After choosing your topic, it is important to clearly describe your purpose for giving this presentation. Are you informing, persuading, inspiring, or entertaining? Knowing your purpose will shape your content and approach. Thus, it will create a roadmap for you to follow.

You should organize your slides. Of course, the title is the first slide, but what else comes after? You should outline your topic and organize your slides accordingly. The slides should keep up with the flow of the presentation and support the presenter.

Your slides shouldn't be dull. The slides should contain attention-grabbing designs. Otherwise, you may subject your audience to Death by PowerPoint. In other words, you will bore them to death with your presentation .

There should be a set time limit for delivery. The last thing you want in a presentation is to run around in circles and repeat. You should try to keep it as short as possible, of course keeping in mind the goal for your delivery. Remember that people's attention span is limited. Thus, giving a longer presentation than it should be is never a good idea. The last thing you want is for the audience to stop listening to you.

Your delivery is the most important part of the presentation. You may spend hours on your presentation design, but in the end, you are the one who will present it. Be sure to practice beforehand. Prepare your presentation according to the time limit and focus on your pronunciation. Practice for a smooth delivery. Try to be natural and confident when presenting!

Although you should consider these points for your presentation, you can also apply the 10/20/30 rule for your presentation. This rule almost covers all the main points of a presentation to be perfect! Capture your audience and deliver your point flawlessly!

What is the 10/20/30 Rule?  

  The 10/20/30 Rule refers to a presentation formula for the best and most effective presentations. This rule provides a valuable framework, emphasizing the importance of organization, time management, and legible text. According to this formula:

  • You should have 10 slides
  • The presentation should last 20 minutes
  • The slides should have at least a 30-point font

10/20/30 Rule

The 10/20/30 rule was coined by Guy Kawasaki , who is one of the early pioneers of Silicon Valley, now working as the chief evangelist of Canva . Back in 2006, Kawasaki was working as a venture specialist. After seeing enough presentations, which was a lot, he was able to analyze what makes a presentation better or worse than others. That’s when the 10/20/30 rule was born!

Here is Guy Kawasaki explaining the 10/20/30 Rule in a minute:

Who can use the 10/20/30 Rule in the Slides?

Kawasaki created this formula based on his experiences as a venture specialist. Therefore, this formula can be used for marketers. Presentations are different from advertisements . Presentations should be visually engaging, informative, and supportive of the presenter in times of need. 

The 10/20/30 rule idea can be used for any presentation made with the purpose of reaching an agreement: a pitch deck , making a sale , raising capital, and so on. 

However, if you have other aims for your presentation, you can still take the key points for your presentation. It is important to understand that this rule focuses on the structure of a presentation. This includes the organization of the presentation, time limit, and design of your presentation. Whether you are a student , teacher , or worker, you can consider using the 10/20/30 rule for your presentations.

10/ 20/ 30 Rule for Your PowerPoint Presentation

10 slides is more than enough.

No more than 10 slides! As Kawasaki points out, the human mind is only able to comprehend 10 concepts in a meeting. If you have more than 10 slides, some of them are bound to be forgotten. Some may be forgotten before you even finish your presentation. It is important to use your slides as supporters and add key points only. You should prepare your topic and slides accordingly. 

Actually, Kawasaki also shared an outline to follow on a marketing presentation. By following this outline, you can deliver every important detail in your marketing presentation.

presentation 30 20 10

a. This slide should include your name, company name, contact information, and other information needed.

2. Problem/Opportunity

a. In this slide, you can explain the problem in the market and your solution to this problem. You should be able to explain what needs your product or service addresses and how.

3. Value Proposition

a. You should highlight the values and benefits of your product for the customers in this slide.

4. Underlying Magic

a. In this slide, explain the technology behind your business model. Depending on your product or service, you can keep this part shorter or longer. 

5. Business Model

a. Explain your plan to generate revenue and profit. After all, you are looking for an investment or agreement, so you should highlight this part! 

6. Go-to-Market Plan

a. In this part, explain your market or sales plan. You can show a roadmap for revenue goals, target customers, activities to achieve your goals, and some problems you may experience.

7. Competitive Analysis

a. In this slide, present your strategy that involves examining and analyzing your rivals in the market. In this way, you learn about their offerings, sales processes, and marketing strategies. In addition, add your stronger corporate strategies to gain market share.

8. Management Team

a. Highlight your team and their work! You may want to focus on your management team’s experience, skills, effectiveness, and knowledge of the product. 

9. Financial Projections and Key Metrics

a. Provide a set of financial statements for your business idea. Your future revenues and expenses should be presented in an estimated timeline. Present a budget plan! 

10. Current Status, Accomplishments to Date, Timeline, and Use of Funds.

a. In the last slide, you should talk about the current progress or developments in your business, achievements that you accomplished, a timeline for your future achievements, and how you plan to use the investments that you seek. 

While the 10/20/30 Rule provides a structured framework, you may want to adapt some parts of the outline for your presentation according to your topic. But in the end, it is more ideal that your outline should be similar to Kawasaki’s. 

20 Minutes is Ideal For Your Delivery

presentation 30 20 10

No longer than 20 minutes! People have a very short attention span; this includes your audience, too! Even if everything else in your presentation is perfect, a longer presentation will tire your audience, like a class that is longer than it should be. The longer your presentation gets, the more your audience will get distracted, tired, or bored. Similarly, you will become tired, too. That will make you more prone to make mistakes and repeat yourself.

Most TED Talks are 20 minutes or less, mostly around 10-ish minutes. This shows that you can get your point across effectively in 20 minutes, so don’t hesitate! It may seem short, but because they are fast-paced, they become more engaging. The important part is to get your point across and make your audience understand you!

You may be given more time to present. However, you should still keep your presentation to 20 minutes and leave your remaining time for questions, discussions, and comments. This will also prepare you for any hiccups out of your control. For example, people can arrive late, and there may be problems with the computer and projector. Because of these problems, some of your designated time can stolen. Even if you are given an hour, keeping your presentation 20 minutes will give you an advantage.   

30 Point Font is Better

presentation 30 20 10

No smaller than a 30-point font! Font rule is a very important part of the 10/20/30 Rule. Your presentation shouldn't have any small text. If you have texts that are usually in 10-point fonts, then you probably have chunks of text in your slides and will read from them during the presentation. As most of us have experienced, those presentations are very hard to listen to! After all, the audience can read faster than you speak. Therefore, the audience is ahead of you, and after they read, there is no need to listen to you. 

The purpose of 30-points is this: because it is a large font size, you won't be able to fit all the information you want to deliver. Only key points and main ideas will be in your presentation! As it should be! You can add key points and get support from your slides when needed.

Also, a smaller font means that it will be harder to read for your audience. So, rather than being supporting material, it captures your audience as they try to read the small fonts. What's ideal is for the audience to listen and pay attention to you and maybe take a quick glance at the presentation.

If you think it is a too strict rule, Kawasaki also proposes another idea. If you can, find the age of the oldest people in the audience. By dividing it into two, you will have your ideal font size. For example, if the oldest person in your audience is 50, then your font can be 25 points! 

It is up to you to choose your font size. However, we recommend 30 points!

Why Should Apply Kawasaki’s Rule or Not?

As with everything, there are ups and downs to using this formula for your presentations. Consider these for your presentation to decide whether to use the 10/20/30 rule. Keep in mind that some benefits can outweigh downsides and vice versa. You can analyze it according to your own audience and the context of your presentation.

The Benefits of Kawasaki’s Rule: 

There is an apparent structure Kawasaki’s Rule provides. With years of use, this formula has proven to be accurate and useful. The rule is specially designed for marketers, so the structure fits perfectly into a marketer's presentation. However, everyone can adapt the 10/20/30 rule for their presentation, as it focuses on the structure of the presentation.

Focused Presentation: 

With 10 slides and 20 minutes, 10/20/30 makes your presentation more concise and focused. A concise presentation shows your mastery of the topic. There is more virtue in getting your point across with fewer words rather than talking for hours. The aim is to give your information in a shorter way to make your content easier to understand. Also, it will be easier for your audience to remember what was said in the presentation afterward.

presentation 30 20 10

Response to Your Audience’s Needs:

10/20/30 is prepared by Kawasaki from his experiences as an audience. Thus, it is no surprise that the rule focuses on the audience's perspective more. With this audience-centered approach, keeping it shorter makes your audience more engaged. It is also easier to remember a short presentation afterward. 

The Downsides of Kawasaki’s Rule: 

Remember that this presentation rule was from the 2000s. So, some problems are addressing issues that are out of date.

Time Management Problems:  

Kawasaki points out that 20 minutes is enough for a presentation. However, sometimes it may not be. The 10 slides Kawasaki proposes can take longer than 20 minutes, and this is highly likely. So, for the sake of keeping up with the time limit and being brief, some valuable information can be missed. 

Furthermore, Kawasaki advises that even if an hour is given, the presentation still should be 20 minutes, and the rest should be left for the audience's questions. But trusting the audience's questions is always risky. What if there are no questions? Your presentation will be short and brief. 

presentation 30 20 10

Advanced Technology: 

We now use more high-definition projectors that are able to show smaller texts in better quality. In addition, presentation platforms have become more online. In a video-conference, a 30-point font size is unnecessary and not visually satisfying. Also, a 30-point font does not leave much space for a creative and unique design for your slides.

Some Tips For Your Next Slide

Technology and tools:.

Stay updated with the latest presentation tools and technologies, like Decktopus. Decktopus is a modern presentation tool that offers a range of features for creating visually appealing and engaging slides with the help of AI. Decktopus is easy to use and quick to create slides you want to show in your next marketing presentation. With Decktopus, it is impossible for your slides to not take the attention of your audience.

Having visually appealing and supporting slides is important! You may capture the audience with your speech, but you also should capture them visually! Use creative templates, designs, and graphics! You can easily create decks with various templates and visuals on Decktopus! Take a look !

Storytelling:

Storytelling is an art and a dynamic tool for presentations! By sharing your story, you can make your presentation more memorable and engaging. You may want to create compelling narratives that draw in your audience and make them resonate on an emotional level. Storytelling makes you and your product more relatable for the audience. The audience becomes invested in your story and begins to care about you and your product.

Body Language and Delivery:

As we said, delivery is the key part of a presentation! Your body language gives underlying messages about your confidence and expertise. Practice non-verbal communication before your presentation. You may practice in front of a group of friends to get their advice! Don’t forget the most important ones: maintain eye contact, use gestures effectively, and project confidence!

Handling Questions:

Think about possible questions and your answers before your presentation! You may develop a few strategies for handling questions and addressing unexpected challenges during your presentation. Familiarize yourself with possible questions and objections against your claims, and come up with well-thought-out answers before your presentation. It is important to answer all the questions asked to show your expertise and mastery of the subject. You may conduct a Q&A session after your presentation, or you can take questions during the presentation, depending on the flow of your presentation.

Make It More Interactive:

Creating an interactive presentation will certainly increase your audience engagement and make your presentation more memorable. You may want to get your audience’s attention by adding their input to the presentation. For example, you can conduct a live question and answer session during your presentation and add the input of your audience to the narrative. Similarly, you can create a spontaneous survey or poll, to make your presentation more engaging. You can use some tools in your slides or simply ask people to raise their hands. Remember that most of the TED Talks start with a question!

By incorporating these additional ideas into your presentation, you can create and deliver effective presentations not only in marketing but in various contexts and settings!

How to Start?

Try Decktopus for creating your next presentation. You can follow the 10/20/30 Rule easily with customized slides! 

Decktopus is a presentation assistant that helps you create presentations. Once you answer enough questions about your slideshow, it can also build decks for you. After you answer the questions about your audience, how long your presentation will take, what your presentation is about, your aim, and your template, Decktopus will create a deck for you with images, titles, logos, writings, etc. Because you’ve given detailed information about what you want to present, you don’t have to change many things.

presentation 30 20 10

For your practice, you can use Rehearsal Mode in Decktopus ! You can rehearse and adjust the time for your presentation. You can still make changes that are needed after your practice!

In addition, Decktopus has many templates ! These will make your presentation more visually engaging and look more professional. As with the concept, let’s say you will make a presentation about marketing. Decktopus has over 15 marketing presentation templates! You can choose any template that goes with your concept or product!

Decktopus has you covered for your next presentation! If you want more information about how it is used, you can look at this video: 

presentation 30 20 10

In the fast-paced world we live in, effective presentations have become a vital skill. Whether you're a student, teacher, entrepreneur, or professional, the ability to convey your ideas clearly and persuasively can open doors and drive success. 10/20/30 Rule by Guy Kawasaki, born out of years of experience, offers a structured approach to crafting presentations that capture your audience's attention and deliver your message.

Effective presentations are not just about slides and bullet points; they are about your audience, sparking their interest and leaving a lasting impact. While presenting, storytelling, visuals, slides, engagement, and confidence are equally critical components you should consider.

presentation 30 20 10

So, for your next presentation journey, keep Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 Rule in mind. With practice, preparation, and a deep understanding of your content, you'll be well on your way to delivering presentations that inform, inspire, and engage.

In the end, presentations are not just about the slides; they're about the connections you build, the ideas you share, and the impact you make. Whether you're giving a sales pitch , a classroom lecture, or a TED Talk, the art of presenting is a skill that can empower you to achieve your goals and leave a lasting impression. 

presentation 30 20 10

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What Is The 10/20/30 Rule For Presentations And Why It's Important For Your Team

What Is The 10/20/30 Rule For Presentations And Why It's Important For Your Team

Presentations are an integral part of team workflow. From internal communications and reporting, to client-facing proposals and pitches, presentations keep everyone on the same page. Or in this case, on the same slide.

While collaboration is great, having too many cooks in the kitchen can make things messy. In regards to presentations, it’s important to have brand guidelines and rules in place to ensure all company decks are consistent and professional. In Beautiful.ai, our Team plan helps team members collaborate with content management and branding control settings in place so that less design-savvy departments can’t make a mess of a deck. But still, your team might need additional rules to help them achieve the most effective (and efficient) deck possible.

One of our favorite standards to follow is Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 presentation rule . Not sure what we’re talking about? Let us elaborate. 

What is the 10/20/30 rule for presentations?

The ever-popular 10/20/30 rule was coined by Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon-Valley based author, speaker, entrepreneur, and evangelist. Kawasaki suffers from Ménière’s disease which results in occasional hearing loss, tinnitus (a constant ringing sound), and vertigo— something that he suspects can be triggered by boring presentations (among other medically-proven things). While he may have been kidding about presentations affecting his Ménière’s, it did inspire him to put an end to snooze-worthy pitches once and for all. As a venture capitalist, he’s no stranger to entrepreneurship, pitches, and everything in between. We’d be willing to bet that he’s heard his fair share of pitches that have fallen on deaf ears (almost literally, in his case). 

To save the venture capital community from death-by-PowerPoint, he evangelized the 10/20/30 rule for presentations which states that “a presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.” 

Why it’s important

Because we’re passionate about our own stories, we’d like to think that our audience will feel the same way. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. You could be presenting the most groundbreaking topic, to the most interested audience, and you still might lose people to distractions or boredom. Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule ensures that your presentation is legible and concise, making it more retainable, resulting in bigger wins for your team. 

You’ve heard us say that less is more when it comes to presentations, and Kawasaki’s rule really drives that point home. You can’t expect your audience to comprehend (and remember) more than 10 concepts from one meeting, so keeping your presentation to 10 slides is the sweet spot. Each slide should focus on its own key takeaway, and it should be clear to the audience what you want them to learn from the presentation. While Kawasaki applies this to the venture capitalist world— and the 10 slides you absolutely need in your pitch — this is a good rule of thumb for internal meetings, proposals, and sales decks, too. 

When was the last time you sat through a 90-minute presentation and thought, “this is great, I’m going to remember everything.” That’s a rhetorical question, but it’s probably safe to assume the answer is never. It’s normal for people to lose focus, get distracted, or run through their to-do list in their head while watching a presentation, and it has nothing to do with you or your topic. To keep your audience engaged and interested, keep it short and sweet. Regardless of the time you have blocked out for the meeting, your team should aim to keep their presentation under 20 minutes. If there’s time leftover, use that for discussion to answer questions and drive your point home. 

30 Point font

If your audience has to strain their eyes to read your slides, they probably won’t bother to read them at all. Regardless of the age of your audience, no one wants to squint their way through a 20-minute presentation. Kawasaki’s rule of thumb is to keep all text to 30 point font or bigger. Of course, the bigger the font, the less text you’ll be able to fit. This is a good exercise to decide what information you really need on the slide, and what you can do without. By making your slides more legible for your audience, you’re encouraging them to follow along. Additionally, being intentional about what your team includes on each slide helps the audience know exactly what you want them to pay attention to in the presentation. 

Applying the 10/20/30 presentation rule in Beautiful.ai 

Now that you know what Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule is, let’s apply it to your next team presentation. 

In Beautiful.ai, our pre-built presentation templates make it easy for you to start inspired. Simply browse our inspiration gallery, curated by industry experts, pick the template that speaks to you and customize it with your own content. Most of our deck templates are well within the 10 slide standard, so you’ll be on the right track (the Kawasaki way).  

Once you’re in the deck, our Smart Slides handle the nitty gritty design work so that you don’t have to. Changing the font size is easy, and our design AI will let you know if the size is too big or too long for the space on the slide. You can choose your favorite (legible) font when customizing your presentation theme, and that font will be applied to each slide throughout the deck for a cohesive and consistent look. 

Of course, it’s all for naught if you don’t practice. We recommend doing a few dry runs in the mirror, or in front of your dog, to get the timing of your presentation right. Remember, 20 minutes is the magic number here. 

Jordan Turner

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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What Is the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint?

Brian Halligan

Published: November 12, 2020

Despite how many PowerPoint presentations I’ve given in my life, I’ve always struggled with understanding the best practices for creating them. I know they need to look nice, but figuring out how to make them aesthetically pleasing and informative is tough. 

marketer creating a powerpoint using the 10/20/30 rule of powerpoint

I’m sure my experience isn’t unique, as finding the correct balance between content, design, and timing can be difficult. Marketers know this more than anyone, as success in the role is often marked by being able to create engaging campaigns that tell a story and inspire audiences to take a specific action, like purchasing a product. 

However, PowerPoint presentations are different from advertisements. Understanding how to leverage your marketing knowledge when creating PowerPoints can be tricky. Still, there are various resources for marketers to use when creating presentations, one of which is the 10/20/30 rule. 

→ Free Download: 10 PowerPoint Presentation Templates [Access Now]

What is the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint?

The 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint is a straightforward concept: no PowerPoint presentation should be more than ten slides, longer than 20 minutes, and use fonts smaller than 30 point size. 

Coined by Guy Kawasaki, the rule is a tool for marketers to create excellent PowerPoint presentations. Each element of the formula helps marketers find a balance between design and conceptual explanations, so you can capture audience attention, emphasize your points, and enhance readability. 

Guy Kawasaki PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki , one of the early Apple employees, championed the concept of a ‘brand evangelist’ to describe his position. He spent most of his time working to generate a follower base for Macintosh, the family of Apple computers. Today he works as a brand evangelist for Canva, an online graphic design tool. 

Given that he’s had significant experience giving presentations to captivate audiences, he’s figured out that the 10/20/30 is a successful formula to follow. Kawasaki’s book, Art of The Start , is where he first introduced the concept and described how it works.

Let’s cover each part of the rule in more detail. 

Kawasaki believes that it’s challenging for audiences to comprehend more than ten concepts during a presentation. Given this, marketers should aim to create PowerPoints with no more than ten slides, i.e., ten ideas you’ll explain. Using fewer slides and focusing on the critical elements helps your audience grasp the concepts you’re sharing with them. 

In practice, this means creating slides that are specific and straight to the point. For example, say you’re presenting on the success of your recent campaign. Your marketing strategy was likely extensive, and you took a series of different actions to obtain your end result. Instead of outlining every aspect of your campaign, you would use your slides to outline its main elements of your strategy. This could look like individual slides for summarizing the problem you hoped to solve, your goals, the steps you took to reach your goals, and post-campaign analytics data that summarizes your accomplishments. 

It’s important to note that there shouldn’t be overwhelming amounts of text on your slides. You want them to be concise. Your audience should get most of the information from the words you’re speaking; your slides should be more supplemental than explanatory. 

After you’ve spent time coming up with your ten key points, you’ll need to present them in 20 minutes. Knowing that you’ll only have 20 minutes also makes it easier to plan and structure your talk, as you’ll know how much time to dedicate to each slide, so you address all relevant points.

Kawasaki acknowledges that presentation time slots can often be longer, but finishing at the 20-minute mark leaves time for valuable discussion and Q&A. Saving time in your presentation also leaves space for technical difficulties. 

30 Point Font

If you’ve been in the audience during a presentation, you probably know that slides with small font can be challenging to read and take your attention away from the speaker. 

Kawasaki’s final rule is that no font within your presentation should be smaller than 30 point size. If you’ve already followed the previous rules, then you should be able to display your key points on your slides in a large enough font that users can read. Since your key points are short and focused, there won’t be a lot of text for your audience to read, and they’ll spend more time listening to you speak. 

Given that the average recommended font size for accessibility is 16, using a 30-point font ensures that all members of your audience can read and interact with your slides. 

Make Your Presentations More Engaging

The 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint is meant to help marketers create powerful presentations. 

Each element of the rule works in tandem with the other: limiting yourself to 10 slides requires you to select the most salient points to present to your audience. A 20-minute timeline helps you ensure that you’re contextualizing those slides as you speak, without delving into unnecessary information. Using a 30-point font can act as a final check for your presentation, as it emphasizes the importance of only displaying key points on your slides, rather than huge blocks of text. Font size then circles back around to the ten slides, as you’ll craft sentences from your key points that will fit on your slides in 30-point font. 

Being mindful of slide count, text size, and presentation length ensures that your audiences are captivated by your words as you explain the value behind your work. 

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Create Effective Presentations That Stick with the 10-20-30 Rule

10-20-30-RULE

You’re in a tricky situation— you’ve got an important presentation coming up, but you’re not sure how to make it effective. You’re not alone— piecing together a compelling presentation can be a daunting task. Whether you’re in front of a boardroom full of executives or presenting a project to clients remotely, you need to make sure your audience is engaged and invested in the content you’re delivering. Fortunately, there’s a tool you can use that will simplify the process of creating an effective presentation: the 10-20-30 rule. The 10-20-30 rule is a simple but powerful guideline for constructing a presentation. It makes it easier to get your key points across in a clear and concise way. In this article, we’ll go over what the 10-20-30 rule is, how to use it to craft an engaging presentation, and why mastering this skill will help you stand out from the competition. So if you’re looking to take your presentation game up a level, read on to learn how the 10-20-30 rule can help.

Quick Summary of Key Points

The 10-20-30 Rule states that a presentation should contain no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes, and have no text smaller than 30 points. This rule encourages presenters to focus on the content that will most effectively communicate their message.

Introduction to the 10-20-30 Rule for Presentations

The 10-20-30 Rule for presentations is an invaluable tool that serves as a simple formula for structuring effective presentations . Proposed by Guy Kawasaki , the rule establishes three parameters: 10 slides, 20 minutes and 30 point font, in order to encourage short, focused and powerful messages. Presenters are able to establish structure and focus from the start, as well as remain aware of their time limits. Arguments for the rule suggest that it enables presenters to identify important points early on in the presentation, removing unnecessary information and leaving audiences with a streamlined message. While controlling timing, it also encourages condensing of messages which allows presenters to identify key areas needed to support the main argument. On the contrary, opponents of the rule have suggested that it can lead to overly scripted and rigid speeches, leaving less space for spontaneity or exploration into topics in more detail. They argue that it should be used sparingly or as a guideline rather than taken too literally. Whether you are using this rule as a strict guide or a loose set of guidelines, understanding how to structure a presentation using the 10-20-30 Rule can be a great way to ensure your presentation is concise and easily digestible for your audience. Let’s take a look at how effectively use the 10-20-30 Rule when creating a presentation structure.

How to Structure a Presentation with the 10-20-30 Rule

An effective and concise presentation should follow the 10-20-30 Rule, which suggests that your presentation should contain 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and use a font size of no less than 30 points. The structure of these presentations should focus on presenting the necessary materials without wasting time on unimportant details. In order to break down the components of structuring a presentation with the 10-20-30 rule, it is important to consider what should and should not be included in each slide. Every slide should contain only one main idea to ensure that the audience grasps its purpose without going too much into detail. Details are important but must be limited; excess text or images could make slides difficult to understand or make presentations lengthy. Slides can also be enhanced by including visuals such as graphs, charts, tables, and illustrations, in order to supplement points rather than reading from them aloud. Slide layouts can also be tailored to add visual interest as long as its purpose is still understood. The general suggestion for a format would include the problem statement, facts and statistics that support the point being made, a review of possible solutions (if applicable), the recommended solution (if applicable), and any potential benefits that may arise from following this advice. Additionally, each slide should include an appropriate title and footnotes for referencing sources when applicable. When creating a presentation based on this rule, it is important to consider if all slides are necessary– sometimes we may rely on “the more content the better” mindset when preparing a talk instead of considering what will actually benefit our audience in terms of understanding our message and having enough time to ask questions at the end. By implementing the 10-20-30 Rule’s simple yet effective structure for presentations, it allows ample opportunity for information dispersal while keeping audiences engaged. Now that you know how to structure a presentation with the 10-20-30 Rule, let’s move onto discussing some key tips to keep in mind when creating up to 10 slides .

The 10 slides of the 10-20-30 rule for presentations are, in many ways, the foundation for an effective and engaging presentation . Ten slides can seem like very little to a presenter; however, when done correctly, these ten slides can be full of focus, intrigue, and impact. While too few slides can make a presentation feel rushed, too many can cause the audience to become bored or overwhelmed with information. The first of the ten slides should be used to capture the attention of your audience by introducing yourself and presenting an overview of the entire presentation before going into detail. Many presenters may also include a slide or two dedicated to making humorous observations related to their topic. However, it is important to remember that humor can be subjective and if overdone can distract from the message you are trying to convey. The majority of the remaining slides should concisely cover points related to main ideas set in your initial slide. Statistics and visual aids can help cement important facts and ideas in the minds of those listening, but should not overwhelm or detract from your script . Transitions between different topics should also be considered: although some logical flow is helpful, for example covering each step in a complex procedure in order, it’s important not to wander or become repetitive as this can bore an audience very quickly. As long as a presenter keeps their content relevant, communicative and succinct across all ten slides they will have laid a strong foundation for an effective presentation. Offering clear messages throughout and occasionally pausing in order provide subliminal emphasis on key points is key for engaging an audience. Now that we have discussed 10 Slides, let us move on to discussing 20 Minutes – how does one effectively manage one’s time allowance?

The majority of audiences will only remain engaged with a presentation for the first 20 minutes. Therefore, it is essential that within this time period you make sure to include the most important and impactful points in your presentation. Your goal should be to present as much relevant information in as efficient a manner as possible. It may be helpful to practice timing yourself when rehearsing your presentation so that you can ensure you are not venturing too far off from the allotted 20 minutes. After the 20-minute mark, you run the risk of damaging credibility in your audience’s eyes. This is especially true if the points you are making after that point seem much less significant than those made earlier, or commence as new topics. There are some circumstances where a longer presentation may be appropriate such as discussing complicated data or ideas that cannot be condensed into a short period of time. However, even in these cases it is still recommended to create milestones within the presentation and ensure that all topics are presented efficient and effectively before moving onto the next one. This can allow the audience to easily understand concepts whilst keeping their attention levels high throughout the course of your speech. At the end of your presentation it is also important that you leave some extra time so that questions can be asked, should they arise. With this said, effective timing and structuring is key if you wish to master presentations using the 10-20-30 rule. In the upcoming section we will discuss how to maximize engaging visuals by limiting text font size to 30 points or below.

30 Point Type/Size

The 30 point type/size is a key aspect of the 10-20-30 Rule. The point size refers to how large text appears on the screen, and the 30 point type for 30 minutes or less presentations ensures that your audience does not get squinting to see what is written. This can really keep people engaged and energized when it comes to long presentations. In addition, a larger font helps those who are further away from the screen, making it easier for everyone to be able to understand and follow along with your presentation. On the contrary, some may argue that a larger font size often means that only less words fit in one slide which may limit ideas being presented. Despite this potential drawback, if slides are well thought out beforehand, even with a larger font size you should still be able to convey important points and information. In addition, those who disagree with the use of a large font tend to think that reading off of slides gives off the wrong impression and encourages people to focus more on the visual content instead of paying attention to the person presenting during a presentation. However, overall having a 30 point type/size as part of the 10-20-30 rule helps improve confidence in presenting by ensuring text is legible which will then facilitate audience engagement and understanding when delivering presentations. By combining 30 Point Type/Size with effective visuals, presenters can make the most out of their presentations using the 10-20-30 Rule. Making the most of visuals in presentations using this rule is essential for success. Thus, let us move on to discussing how one can create an impactful presentation using visuals in our next section.

Making the Most of Visuals in Presentations Using the 10-20-30 Rule

When it comes to presentations, visuals are a key factor in delivering an effective and successful speech . Used effectively, visuals can communicate complicated information quickly and make the material more engaging and memorable. The 10-20-30 Rule is an excellent guideline for ensuring visual aids are used according to best practices during presentations. To make the most of visuals using this Rule, presentations should have no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes and include no font size smaller than 30 points. Additionally, each slide typically should feature two or three elements only in order to avoid providing too much information at once. This helps to reduce distractions and focus the audience’s attention towards the core topics addressed in the presentation. Experienced speakers may also opt to limit their use of bullet points as these can often be overwhelming and detract from delivering meaningful messages with clarity. For many professionals, visual aids such as charts, diagrams, images and videos provide more impactful delivery of ideas. To do so while staying within the 10-20-30 Rule framework, the presenter needs to pay special attention on how they select the visuals used throughout a presentation. It is important that visuals are well designed, visually appealing and relevant to what is being discussed or demonstrated in each slide. If done correctly, this technique will help keep your audience engaged for longer periods of time as well as help them recall information relayed during the presentation more accurately. The 10-20-30 Rule strikes a balance between presenting enough visuals to engage your audience without exceeding the number of slides or length of time allotted for your presentation. At the same time it allows you to ensure your visual aids make an impact thereby promoting maximum engagement from your audience. This approach can be especially helpful when aiming to facilitate higher levels of conversation among attendees after your presentation is concluded; with great visuals comes greater understanding and opportunities for discussion. By making wise choices with regards to visuals used in presentations while relying on the 10-20-30 Rule as guidance ensures presenters have greater chances at achieving success throughout their speaking engagements . Next up we’ll discuss tips for engaging your audience using the 10-20-30 Rule:

Tips for Engaging Your Audience Using the 10-20-30 Rule

Here we will discuss tips for engaging your audience using the 10-20-30 Rule as a guide. First, use visual aids to keep your audience involved. While PowerPoint and other electronic forms are common, there are also many options available that can supplement digital slides. Handouts or posters to aid in comprehension and participation are not only fun but rarely take up extra time. Second, select the right media for your statement. You may be tempted to distract your viewers with long videos or sound bites, yet these distractions could easily draw away from your points if they become too long or disruptive. If you want to visually emphasize a certain point, some slides may include just an image with succinct words or phrases instead of long paragraphs full of text. Third, make sure that you speak confidently about your chosen topic by practicing beforehand. Take time to research deeper into the facts and figures you plan on sharing so that you look knowledgeable in front of the group. Also repeating some key concepts multiple times during the presentation will help build confidence and embed the message deeply into your audience’s memories. Finally, allow for Q&A after your presentation is over so the audience can voice any additional opinions or comments they have about what was discussed. This provides an interactive and meaningful conclusion to wrap up your presentation while also giving feedback that you need concerning how comprehensible and well-received it was. By using these tips along with the 10-20-30 Rule as a guide, presenters can create a successful speech and an engaged audience every time they stand in front of their peers or superiors. With this framework covered, let us now explore concluding thoughts on the 10-20-30 Rule for presentations in our next section!

Conclusion of the 10-20-30 Rule for Presentations

The 10-20-30 Rule is an effective and easy-to-remember framework that can help manage presentations, clearly convey information, and captivate audiences. Following this guideline ensures that the key points of your presentation are made early on and that the presentation is streamlined so it can maintain attention and reach its desired impact on the audience. The main components of this rule include: • No more than 10 slides in 30 minutes • No more than 20 minutes spent speaking • Font size no smaller than 30-point size These components are essential to creating an effective presentation that delivers key points efficiently. The content must be concise, yet informative and engaging in order to prevent the audience from becoming bored or distracted. Ideas should be articulated clearly with strong visuals, statistics, and stories for a professional polish . As with anything, there are arguments both for and against using the 10-20-30 Rule for presentations. Those who support using this guideline argue that it is a great way to organize thoughts and ideas quickly with minimal effort. They also appreciate how the framework keeps the presentation light, yet powerful enough to ensure their point gets across. On the other hand, those who disagree with utilizing this technique note that sticking too closely to its constrictions may significantly limit creativity in some cases. It can also stifle growth opportunities within particular topics if they have been proportionally allocated during adherence to these rules. Additionally, they point out that companies with longer time frames may benefit more from 45 or 60 minute presentations as opposed to short 30 minute ones. Overall, it is undeniable that the 10-20-30 Rule offers a helpful structure on which to ground presentations of all types — business meetings, classroom lectures, talks at conferences, etc. While there will certainly be situations where parameters need to be adjusted depending on context or speaker preference, there’s no denying that this framework is an incredibly valuable tool for any presenter looking to maximize clarity and minimize confusion when making a presentation.

Responses to Frequently Asked Questions with Explanations

Are there any potential drawbacks to following the 10-20-30 rule.

Yes, there are potential drawbacks to following the 10-20-30 rule. For one thing, the rule limits a presenter’s creative freedom when it comes to the presentation format and structure. Additionally, a presenter might not be able to adequately cover all of the important points if limited to just 10 slides in 20 minutes total and using 30-point font size. Therefore, this rigid structure could prevent the presentation from achieving its maximum impact, even though it does provide a basic framework for how best to approach presentation design. To combat this, speakers should use the 10-20-30 rule as a general guideline rather than an absolute authority when developing presentations.

How can I use the 10-20-30 rule to maximize the impact of my presentation?

Using the 10-20-30 rule to maximize the impact of your presentation is a simple and effective way to ensure your audience is engaged and attentive. By limiting your presentation to 10 slides, keeping the time spent on each slide to 20 minutes or less, and speaking no more than 30 minutes in total, you can ensure that your presentation is tight and focused. This rule also helps to eliminate unnecessary information and focus on only what is essential for your audience to understand. Additionally, limiting your slides to 10 helps you plan ahead so that you can spend more time crafting detailed explanations for each slide, instead of trying to cram in too many points. At the end of the presentation, this will leave them with a clear understanding of what was presented and how it impacts them.

What are the key benefits of following the 10-20-30 rule?

The key benefits of following the 10-20-30 Rule are twofold: 1. Simplicity and Clarity. The 10-20-30 Rule helps reduce the complexity and length of presentations by forcing speakers to trim down their content and focus only on the most important points. By focusing on just 10 slides, speaking for no more than 20 minutes, and using a 30 point font, presentations can be made and received more quickly and effectively. 2. Engagement. By reducing the length and complexity of presentations, speakers can create a more engaging experience for their audience. This allows the speaker to communicate information more clearly and interact with the audience by asking questions or soliciting feedback during the presentation. This helps keep audiences engaged throughout and ensures maximum comprehension of your message.

Frantically Speaking

The 10-20-30 PowerPoint Rule Explained For Beginners

Hrideep barot.

  • Presentation

Picture depicting the 10-20-30 rule of PowerPoint presentation.

I once attended a presentation that went on and on with no signs of ending. With every next slide, I was hoping it would be the last. The only thought in my head was, “When will this get over?”

Why do you think this was my reaction? Let me tell you why I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.

The presentation I was attending had a million slides which in the start was helpful and informative to read but with each passing slide, it became increasingly difficult to concentrate with chunks of information on the screen.

The speaker also kept talking not keeping in mind that there is a time limit to presentations. Hence, this presentation overall lacked time management and organization skills.

Therefore, to avoid such situations use the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule when creating your presentations.

Origin of the 10-20-30 rule

The first thought that comes to mind after hearing about the 10-20-30 rule is, where did such a rule come from?

This rule was founded by an American marketing specialist and author Guy Kawasaki .

In one of his speeches, he mentioned this rule for presentations. He claimed that he didn’t want to sit for 60 slide long presentations and this lead him to the 10-20-30 rule.

What is the 10-20-30 rule?

This rule is applied to make your presentations brief, intelligible and engaging. It can be considered as the golden rule for creating and presenting a presentation.

The 10-20-30 rule states that a presentation should be of 10 slides, not cross the time limit of 20 minutes and use a font size of 30.

Let’s break it down and have a detailed look at what it means.

This picture portrays PowerPoint slides and how many slides should the presenter use in his presentation.

Why 10 slides and not 15 or 20? 10 is a minimum number for your slides. It’s not more and not less. You can add more than 10 slides but keep in mind that it should balance out everything equivalently.

Adding meaningless slides to make your presentation prolonged, spoils the essence of your presentation.While creating your presentation refrain from adding unwanted information in your slides. Create an outline and framework.

This will give you a vague idea of how to go about your presentation. Guy Kawasaki, like mentioned above the founder of the 10-20-30 rule has provided a readymade outline to make things easy for us.

This table is more relatable to people who give business presentations. You can of course change the content according to your preference.

This table gives you a rough idea of how you can organize your slides. The material inside can change according to the type of your presentation.

It’s not compulsory to follow this format only but make sure not to cramp too much information in one slide. The point of all this is to make sure that the number of your slides are limited and they don’t exceed a certain limit.

In this picture the presenter is talking, using the 20 min factor from 10-20-30 rule.

In today’s fast-paced world even 20 minutes is too long. Nobody wants to sit for an hour-long presentation when it can be covered in far less time.

If the presentation exceeds more than 45 minutes the audience starts to get fidgety. Let’s take an example of studying. It is scientifically proven that the brain can only concentrate for 45 minutes straight before it needs a break.

Hence, when students study for exams they are told to take breaks in between to refresh their mind.

If you are unsure about how to divide these 20 minutes here is what you can do. You can allot specific time to the overall presentation. For instance, have a look at the table below.

presentation 30 20 10

Technically you can get done early leaving the rest of the time to answer any doubts or questions if any. The minimum time for questions is 2 minutes.

To know in detail how to structure your speech follow this article, ‘The Ultimate Guide to Structuring a Speech’ . This article will guide you through the process of structuring the ultimate speech for your presentation.

30 font size

What if I provide you with two pictures one with a font that looks like ants and one with a font that you can read even from far away, what would you choose? Isn’t the answer quite obvious?

This picture depicts the problem of font size faced by the audience during some presentations.

Similarly, while presenting when your font looks like tiny ants in a line the audience prefers not to read what is written.

The content in your slides is the core of what your discussion will be about. Put into simple words these are the bullets from which the audience gets an idea of what you will talk about and that’s one of the reasons the font and font size should be apparent.

And when the audience can’t read they will rely entirely on what you say. So, at this point if you make any mistakes or miss out on anything that’s where the trouble starts. This puts a negative marking on your credibility.

It’s not a compulsion to use font 30 only, but Guy Kawasaki implies that 30 should be the minimum font size so that the readers who are present in the hall can read your presentation without trouble.

One of the reasons he suggests font 30 should be used is because the larger the font size fewer words can be fit into a slide and unnecessary information gets cut out.

In such situations, you can use the 5×5, 6×6 and 7×7 rules. These rules can be used while you prepare your presentations to ensure that there is no extra information and even if there is, these rules will get rid of it.

What is the 5×5 rule?

The 5×5 rule proposes that the presenter use no more than 5 words in a sentence and 5 sentences in each slide.

This rule helps keep the slides precise. It makes sure the content is not exaggerated and is to the point. The benefit of this rule is that the audience can easily take down notes because of the shortened statements.

What is the 6×6 rule?

The 6×6 rule emphasizes that the presentation should at the most consist of 6 words per line and 6 lines per slide.

The purpose of this rule is that short bullet points are easy to read and it may convey the crux of your message accurately in a short period.

What is the 7×7 rule?

The 7×7 rule suggests that the presentation slide should be inclusive of no more than 7 words in each sentence and of 7 sentences/bullets in each slide.

Why? It reduces repetition and wordiness. Captures the attention of the audience instantly as compared to long slides with too much information.

Note- Keep in mind that these rules can be used while preparing for your presentation though it’s not an obligation or necessity.

At times these rules may not be relevant and you may need to add more information according to the theme of your presentation. The objective of these rules is to remind the reader not to add excessive information in a slide.

How to make your slides concise whilst not missing out on relevant information

Follow these steps to ensure that your presentation is to the point and at the same time you do not leave out essential and meaningful information. These points will give you an insight into how to organize your slides

1. Construct an outline of your presentation

The first step before you start making your presentation is to structure your presentation step by step and create an outline.

The outline will help you remember the format of your speech and make you familiar with your material. One benefit of being familiar with your content is that you will know what to put in your slides and cut out the extra.

2. Gather and organize your pointers/arguments

Often presenters face a very common problem that is they keep adding points because they think everything is important. Try not to do that.

You must distinguish between what is important and what is not. Prioritize your points or arguments in a legitimate order.

Eliminate points from the slide that you think you can remember or will easily touch upon during the presentation. Keep those points that you tend to forget or are difficult to remember.

3. Add bullets in place of full sentences

Making use of bullets is suggested by most public speakers. Adding bullets in place of long paragraphs in the slide can help the audience focus on both, the presentation and the presenter/speaker.

The purpose of adding bullets is that they are easy to read, short and make the presentation look crisp and concise.

4. Add images, graphs and tables

Graphics are more appealing when compared to words. Also, they grab the audience’s attention. Therefore, try to add more tables, graphs, pie diagrams, charts and pictures.

It’s a misconception that pie diagrams and graphs are used only for statistical data. No, it can be used to depict information also. For instance, I have made use of a pie diagram to depict the division of 20 minutes in the 10-20-30 rule. Scroll up to see the diagram.

5. Edit until you are satisfied

Editing is an essential part of this process. To make your presentation slides concise you need to edit relentlessly.

One thing that you can do is that when you sit for the final edit you can add the long points in your notes which are right below the slide.

These notes will only be visible to you. You can refer to these notes on the day of your final presentation. Check out this article ‘13 Tips for Rehearsing a Presentation’   where we have mentioned notes used in power-point slides.

6. Time your presentation

Presenters frequently make the mistake of not timing their presentation. Time is a very important element in public speaking. The presenter must know the value of time.

If the presenter, in such a position, does not implement time restriction it gives out a wrong message to the audience. So, before you start rehearsing, time your presentation and keep in mind not to exceed the time limit.

While rehearsing you will also know how much time you are exceeding and you can practice accordingly.

This rule can be used when you begin with the journey of your presentation. You can create and format your presentation using the 10-20-30 rule. This rule will make your presentation 10 times more appealing.

Short, crisp and interesting, this is how the audience will perceive your presentation. The extra material is taken out with the help of this rule and only the essential points are utilized.

Hrideep Barot

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VerdanaBold - Presentation, Design, Storytelling Agency

  • Jul 15, 2020

The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint – How it Can Make (or Break) Your Best Marketing Presentations

10-20-30 Rule

If you’ve done any research on creating effective marketing presentations, you’ve probably seen some basic strategies for timing, slide design, and overall flow. These tools, like the 7X7 rule (which recommends no more than 7 lines of text on a slide with 7 words per line), are great for helping to ensure your presentation stays focused and your audience stays engaged.

You may also have heard of the 10-20-30 rule. Created by former Apple brand ambassador Guy Kawasaki, the 10-20-30 rule states that a PowerPoint presentation should have no more than 10 slides, never last longer than 20 minutes, and should use a minimum point size of 30 for the font.

At VerdanaBold, we’ve always said that content drives design. That means that the best marketing presentations need to be designed around the unique content and audience for that presentation. But as much as we believe in a content-first approach, we’ve found that the 10-20-30 rule is one of the most effective ways for novice PowerPoint designers to craft a marketing presentation template that delivers strong presentations without a lot of fuss.

Here are a few of the benefits of applying the 10-20-30 rule to your marketing presentation template.

1. It covers multiple aspects of a presentation

Perhaps the most important aspect of the 10-20-30 rule is how it covers all the key things you need to make an effective marketing presentation. We’ve long stressed that great design is just one aspect of presentations, and that the best ones also consider the audience and narrative. By using the 10-20-30 rule, you’ll have cleaner, more readable slides, but it will also help you keep the audience interested and make sure that you are focused on the most important messages that each slide needs.

2. It’s backed by science

It will come as no surprise that If your audience stops paying attention, your presentation is doomed. In formulating the 10-20-30 rule, Kawasaki notes the psychology of audiences and their attention span [1] , stating that the average human can not hold and absorb more than 10 pieces of information at a time. We’ve long said that the best marketing presentations should focus on one key idea per slide, and using the 10-20-30 rule is a great way to make sure each key message is heard.

3. It’s about more than just the presentation itself

The “20” in 10-20-30 says that effective marketing presentations keep to a max of 20 minutes, even if you’re given an entire hour! While this sounds radical at first, the idea is that you can leave the other 40 minutes for a discussion, fostering a relationship with your audience and creating better engagement and retention through discussion. If you’re pitching an idea and you’re one of multiple presentations your audience has to sit through, a tight 20 minute presentation can make you stand out among your competition.

As with any general rule, the 10-20-30 approach to presentations is only a guideline to help you put your presentation together. And more importantly, rigidly following a rule may lead you to missed opportunities or simply creating the wrong presentation for the audience and situation.

For example, 10 slides is a nice goal to work towards, but there are many different kinds of marketing presentation templates, and even in the face of scientific evidence, we are often tasked with creating decks that need to convey more than 10 ideas.

Many situations like RFPs require detailed responses, and trying to condense your proposal into 20 minutes could result in glossing over important details, resulting in a presentation that seems thin and makes you look underprepared. This can be exacerbated if the deck is also meant to function as a leave-behind document where certain key stakeholders may not be able to review your content until after the pitch is over.

Similarly, 30 point fonts are an excellent place to start if you’re following this format and depth of detail isn’t essential, but many PowerPoints need to function as both presentation tools and leave behinds for reference. You need to consider every application of your presentation, rather than adhering to rules in every case.

We’ve found the 10-20-30 rule to be a very effective way for novice PowerPoint users who want to create effective marketing presentations but aren’t sure where to begin. One tip is to start by taking an existing presentation, applying these rules and seeing what changes. As you start to see how this streamlined approach to presenting changes your marketing presentation templates, you’ll learn what works for your presentation style and for your audience.

We believe that the best marketing presentations are always made with the specific ask and audience in mind, but these nearly-universal ideas can serve as a great starting point for almost any presentation.

Looking for expert guidance on creating your next marketing presentation?

Contact us to learn how we can help with presentation design, writing, and training that will help you create PowerPoints that win business.

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The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint

You’ve just been asked to give a project update to your colleagues at next week’s lunch-hour seminar.

Quick… How many slides will you use? How much text can you put on them? How long should you speak — the whole hour, or less?

Don’t know? Guy Kawasaki, a famous author and venture capitalist, has the answers and they may surprise you.

What is the 10-20-30 Rule for PowerPoint?

Guy Kawasaki framed his 10-20-30 Rule for PowerPoint as:

  • 10 slides are the optimal number to use for a 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.

You can read his pitch here , and you can see his pitch below (or here ):

What I Love About the 10-20-30 Rule for PowerPoint

If everyone were to follow this advice, the overall quality of business presentations everywhere would improve dramatically. If you stop reading now and follow this advice religiously, I wouldn’t complain too much.

#1: 10 Slides Constrains the Presenter to Choose Wisely

Sure, 10 may seem like an arbitrary number, but putting a limit on the number of slides you are allowed is a valuable constraint. Most people probably have 20, or 30, or 100 slides for a 1-hour presentation. Trimming this number down to 10 forces you to evaluate the necessity of each and every slide. Just like every element of your presentation, if the slide isn’t necessary, it should be cut.

It also encourages a presenter to design wisely. Often a single well-designed diagram eliminates the need for 5 bullet-point slides.

#2: 20 Minutes is Long Enough to Communicate Something Big

“ Often a single well-designed diagram eliminates the need for 5 bullet-point slides. ”

Just like the constraint on the number of slides, a constraint on your speaking time will force you to edit mercilessly. Trim the sidebar jokes. Trim the gratuitous “I’m happy to be here” pleasantries. Trim the stories which aren’t essential to conveying your message. Trim the details that only 5% of the audience cares about — send them out via email later. When you are able to trim all the extras, you can communicate with precision and concision.

Martin Luther King Jr. only needed 17 minutes to share his dream. What makes you think you need more?

#3: 30-Point Font Guarantees Readability

Unless you have a very large audience and a very small projector screen (it has happened to me), 30-point font should be readable by everyone in your audience.  Bigger is probably better, but this is a sensible lower threshold to adopt.

While a 30-point font still allows you to put too many words on a slide, at least your audience will be able to read them.

What I Hate About the 10-20-30 Rule for PowerPoint

There are very few strict rules for public speaking, and these don’t qualify. Here’s a few reasons why you should consider them guidelines, but not rules.

#1: Every Situation is Unique

First, remember Guy Kawasaki’s context for the rule: 1-hour presentations from entrepreneurs to venture capitalists. He’s a successful venture capitalist, so let’s assume his rule is perfect for that scenario.

But does this scenario match your next presentation? If not, then be careful about applying the wisdom to your personal situation.

#2: There’s no Perfect Number of Slides

“ Develop your content first , and then add slides as necessary. ”

“How many slides should I have?” is one of the most frequent questions I hear. Somebody asks it every time I deliver my PowerPoint design course.

The wrong answers are numerous:

  • You should always have 10 slides
  • You should always have one slide per minute
  • You should always have one slide per major point
  • You should have no more than 5 slides

The right answer is: How many slides do you need ?

How many slides are necessary for you to convey your message in an effective and memorable way? It might be zero. It might be one. It might be 200. It depends heavily on the nature of your content, the message you are delivering, and the complexity of your slides.

Develop your content first , and then add slides as necessary.

#3: There’s no Perfect Duration to Speak

The 20 minute suggestion assumes a 1-hour time slot. So, the rule is really saying that you should speak for one-third of your allowed time and leave two-thirds for Q&A . That’s not a bad guideline. In fact, it’s a very good general guideline .

But, it depends. Maybe the format of your event just doesn’t allow for Q&A within or after the presentation. Maybe you are doing a product demo which takes 10 minutes, and you’ve only got a 12-minute time slot. (That’s cutting it close!) Maybe the conference is running 35 minutes behind and you are the last speaker of the day. Or, maybe your audience is better served by a 1-minute speech and a 59-minute Q&A.

Consider the needs of your audience, and choose the best presentation format that will meet those needs.

#4: There’s no Perfect Font Size

30-point font might be an optimal size, but it might be too small or too large. The optimal size depends on several factors:

  • how much text is on your slides (aim for less!)
  • the contrast between the text and background colors
  • the lighting in the room
  • the distance between your audience and the screen
  • the quality of the projector
  • the vision of your audience
  • the time of day (Is your audience tired? Have they been looking at slides all day?)

If you have any doubts, go large.

#5: Size Matters, but Quantity Matters More

To be blunt, it doesn’t matter what the font size is as long as your audience can easily read the words. It is, however, much more important to take a step back from your slides and assess whether the words you’ve got are necessary at all. Neither you nor your audience should be reading lengthy passages of text from your slides. Your audience should be listening to you, and the slides are just visual aids.

#6: If Everybody’s Following the Rules, Maybe You Shouldn’t

One of the strengths of Guy Kawasaki’s advice is that, if you follow it, you are likely to stand out from your peers in a good way. They are probably using too many slides, speaking too long, and putting too much small text on the slides. Standing out as a speaker is a good thing.

But, maybe your colleagues are disciples of Guy Kawasaki. Maybe the 10-slide, 20-minute briefing is commonplace, and your corporate template is set to 30-point font. That’s when the environment is ripe for doing something different. Don’t just change it up for the sake of doing so, but watch for an opportunity where presenting without slides or presenting with 200 makes sense, and go for it.

The Verdict

I applaud Guy Kawasaki’s efforts to use his influence to improve the presentation status quo . He has reached many people with his message; if you are still reading this article, then he’s reaching you too. Overall, the impact of his rule has inched us collectively in the right direction.

But… the 10-20-30 Rule shouldn’t be viewed as a strict rule. (And, for the record, I don’t think Guy Kawasaki views it a strict rule either.) It’s a sound guideline which you should always consider, but make your choices based on your audience, your message, and your own personal style.

Your Thoughts?

What’s your verdict on the 10-20-30 Rule? Should it be embossed onto the surface of every digital projector in the world?

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27 comments.

I love that you explored both perspectives on Guy’s rule. My answer on the 10/20/30 rule would the classic “it depends”. I have day long workshops with no slides, and webinars that have tons… like you said it’s all about your message, your audience, and what is authentic for you.

Cheers, @amandafenton

GREAT. Thank you.

I have been a fan and follower of Guy for almost 30 years and appreciate the clarity and confidence of his speaking and ideas. He knows his stuff, he knows he knows his stuff, and he is generally correct.

You additional comments Andrew help bring the message home. I like that you challenge him a bit (there is no right number of slides).

Thank you for sharing this.

On a side note, I ready many blogs, tweets, and posts on public speaking. Yours is the best. Clearly. Even better than mine (and I do not often say that!)

Since my “presentations” are actually sermons, 20 minutes would be a stretch (because of the teaching nature of a sermon) but I love the idea of being concise and to the point. Awesome thoughts from Guy and you!

Good article (and of course Guy’s rule is a good preliminary rule for Power Point use, especially for VC pitches). That said, there are a couple of further issues about Power Point that need to be highlighted. 1. When you’re asking audiences to look at Power Point, you’re asking them to do 2 things at once (pay attention to the speaker and read slides). Most of us have a very hard time doing that effectively. So you’d better have a very good reason to ask people to look at slides. Word slides — especially word slides that are essentially speaker notes — are a highly ineffective use of Power Point because they drain too much of the audience’s attention. Pictures, an occasional graph, and very limited use of words that make one big point, can work. I recommend Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen as the best book on slides and their uses and abuses. The fact is that the vast majority of business slide decks are speaker notes OR reports that would be better as a leave-behind, and so abuse the audience’s attention. We need to respect, not abuse, our audiences. 2. The research on attention spans suggest that they last about 22 minutes. John Medina, in his great book Brain Rules, suggests that he’s found (among his college students) that attention span is down to 10 minutes. What most people don’t understand about attention span is that it doesn’t mean that the audience is gone never to return. Rather, it means that the audience needs a quick break. As Medina points out, often a pause, a question, a breath, a stretch, or a joke is enough to refresh the attention span (even of college students). So don’t exaggerate what the effect of the limited attention span is. 3. Finally, no one should hide behind the old chestnut that Power Point improves retention. There is simply no good evidence of that. Slides are best used to present pictures with emotional impact. We remember things well that have an emotional impact on us. We don’t remember lists, facts, data, or information well at all.

Thanks Andrew for posting this! I am sure the community of Office users over on Facebook would love to hear your thoughts. You should share your knowledge of Powerpoint with the community over on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Office

Cheers, Bryn MSFT Office Outreach Team

I almost went nuts when I started reading this post, thinking it was all “Pro Guy”, until I saw that you examine both sides of the argument. Good call.

I stand by my belief that there is no “correct” method of presenting. Aside from Guy’s there is the Lessig, Garr Reynolds, and Takashi, just to name a few. All have interesting and effective elements of presentation design.

I often hear people say that X number of slides are too many, or too few, or that X size font is too big (really?). If it’s presented effectively, you can’t say a presentation has too few or too many slides. It’s ALL how you present.

Great post.

Jon Thomas Presentation Advisors

In addition to the above rule of 10-20-30, let me add a “0 rule”. The zero rule indicates that a Powerpoint presentation should not have any errors like spelling mistakes,wrong pronunciations, mistakes in sentence constructions etc..

I agree with most of this. I certainly found Guy’s 10-20-30 rule true as an entrepreneur. As a public speaker, I recently gave a 45 slide presentation in 10 minutes for a 1 hour session. 1 idea per slide or 1 idea for multiple slides, clicked through quickly to make the point.

I think I just found a new addiction! I really enjoy the review style on here and the clarity. I’ll be back for more speaking tips for sure.

Thank you all for a lively discussion on the appropriate use of slides in presentations. For me, I like slides that “show”, and speakers who “tell”. As others have stated, slides should be used as support material or visual sparkle. Save the bullet-heavy points for the handout. If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, any attempt at adding words to it may actually lessen its impact. In the art world, we always hear that “less is more”, which I believe is Guy Kawasaki’s message: Be a brutal editor, not just with the images you use, but also with your “script”. I think everyone appreciates tightly organized presentations that offer real value.

The knowledge of the 10-20-30 rule would help teachers all around the world to keep their audience awake. When the autor writes about exceptions it shows that he knows what he is writing about. I think that every rule has some exceptions.

Thanks for that informative article.

I think the 10 – 20 – 30 rule is a good clue for people who have not made any presentations. 10 slides, 20 minutes for speaking and the 30 – point font are good advices for beginners. But it should be only an advice. The amount of the slides is dependent on your theme and which information the presenter wants to transport. Of course 200 slides are too much for a 20 minutes presentation, but there isn’t a rule. Also there shouldn’t be a rule for a time limit. The time which the presenter needs you cannot set on 20 minutes exactly. For some topics you need more time to transmit it to your audience and to go more into the deep. The 30-point font rule makes sense only the whole audience can read the text on your slide. Exactly as the time of speaking and the amount of the slides the font size is dependent on some factors like Andrew said. Finally I think the most important is that you could transport your message in an interesting and informing way.

Hi Andrew, I think that kind of rule is a very helpful thing to plan your presentations properly. There are allways things to improve and you allways can do it better but that way of presentation would be a great improvement for many people. You would prevent many really bad presentations and have solid ground to start without doing bad. But printing it on the projector wouldn´t help. When you don´t know the rule and read it there you get nervouse becase than you know what you did wrong bevore and what you are doing wrong in the next minutes. Best regards, Matthias

Dear Andrew, For me the 10-20-30 rule sounds really good. The best thing is that you can remember it very easily. Everybody should think about this rule before making a presentation, but of course you have to adapt the rule on the situation. But even if the rule would be written down on the projector people won’t use it, I think most of the people know what a good presentation should look like, but knowing the facts does not necessary mean that the presentation looks like it should in the end…

The 10-20-30 rule for powerpoint offers a great chance to improve presentations. Thinking about the rules in general, they may be a great help, but in many cases the presenter should optimize the presentation by attending the special thematic. The most important point that i personally get out of the rules is to look extremely on the number of slides to not to confuse the audience. I often can’t get the information of the slides as being a listener myself if there are to much of them. All in all the rules will help me for my future presentations and i will try it as soon as possible. All the best Adschmal

The 10-20-30 Rule is a good guideline for presentations, but in my opinion every presentation is unique and has its own rules. For example: the audience, the facilities or the topic. This could be very different and this is the reason why I think that everybody who makes a presentation should coordinate this parameters to reach the goal.

I think that the 10-20-30 rule is a good “reference point” for everyone, who has to do (to prepare) a presentation. But at least every presenter has to know how many slides and how much time he/she needs for the presentation. All in all, the presentation should (must) contain all the important and necessary points of the topic.

I think Kawasaki’s rule is a very good guideline, which can give the right hint to people with less experience in doing presentations. You can look critical on the 20 minuites rule, because that would really depend on the audience and the situation. But the important questions, that everybody should ask oneself after preparing a presentation, are: Is every information necessary? Are the slides readable? Are the slides a assistance or do they make the front-person worthless.

I usually try to have an average talking time of 2 minutes per slide, too. That in combination with almost blank slides really helps to keep the audience’s interest on oneself.

Everyone has to find the best strategy for himself, but Kawasaki gives us the right approach to do so.

best regards, Chris

What’s your verdict on the 10-20-30 Rule?

I think this 10-20-30 Rule is good for beginners, who don’t know what is really important. This rule is very useful for presentations at school or for short business meetings. If you have the purpose to teach something 20 minutes is less time and you are only able to give the audience an overview of a topic.

Should it be embossed onto the surface of every digital projector in the world?

No, how I explained in Question 1 it isn’t good for every kind of presentation. In some cases it is excellent, but sometimes your need mor than 10 slides, or less time than 20 minutes. I think you can’t say that there is a general rule for a presentation in the course slides number and time. It really depends on the topic, available time and purpose.

thank you for this good advices! It is perfect for me to prepare for my next presentation and will allow me to just focus on the important points and the message I want to deliver….

Rock on…

I would underline and accept the 10-20 in the 10-20-30 Rule, as it is important (to be able) to focus on the main things, which stands for the 10, and 20 minutes should be enough to explain even complex relations/models/etc. – but I do not agree with the 30, as you might not know how big the audience or the room in which you are giving your presentation is. Because of that I think that you cannot generalize what font size you should have. But I would still keep the 30 in the rule, which should show the maximum amount of words in one slide.

All in all I would say that the 10-20-30 Rule is a good advice for beginners, but definitely needs some adaptions on the presenters needs.

my verdict on the 10-20-30 rule is that i find it a nice rule to work with. 10 slides are on the one side a little to few , but on the other side you have to chose carefully what you put in your slides fpr your presenation. in 20 min you can put a lot of inforamtion and you can also chose carefuly what you say. Idon´t think that is should be embosed on every projector because when everybody uses this 10-20-30 rule than will not be necesary

My verdict I think it`s a good opinion to make good presentation. It´s very comfortable for the audience if they can read the point fond. Your presentation isn`t going confuesed if you have only slides and the audience doesn`t drift oft if you speak only 20 minutes.

should it be emassed on to the surface of every digital projector in the world?

No i don`t think so. I think it`s an good guideline to make good presentation`s but you have to distinguish what presentation you have. If you have to give a presentation in a meeting or something like this, than this a really good rules but for a lecture with an audience of experts i think this not the right way.

for my opinion the 10 – 20 – 30 rule is quiet good stuff to make a presentation. Probably the most people made fails in this points. On the other hand i would like to say that when you have to hold a 60 min presentation you can´t talk only 20 minutes have a 40 minutes discussion. But this rules are good to help you to were a grood presenter!

A good base for the preparation of a presentation. Thank you for this interesting article.

I’m glad that Guy got everyone thinking about WHAT they are presenting on screen. But his formula still gives far too much text on screen!

The 20 is obsolete if you are contracted to speak for 45-60 minutes. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

Recent Tweets

The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint http://t.co/3GHrnzuSVI via @6minutes — @wisnurdi Aug 22nd, 2015
The 10-20-30 Rule for PowerPoint presentations http://t.co/799nM1ara4 via @6minutes @GuyKawasaki http://t.co/F1xL83MuZQ — @gregreeder Aug 24th, 2015
10 20 30 Regeln för powerpoint. Bra eller dålig? http://t.co/Sa5lZQBSPg — @hakanfleischer Aug 24th, 2015
Good tips to use in presentations. Guy Kawasaki http://t.co/SWQWrEVvuk — Morris Gellman TM (@tmastersarg) Sep 1st, 2015
The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint http://t.co/HA8pBnwAjk via @6minutes — Tawn Gillihan (@tgillihan) Sep 4th, 2015
10 20 30 Rule for PowerPoint: Useful or Useless? http://t.co/c2igyLyknj — @MichaelAlbert Sep 4th, 2015
The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint https://t.co/8sIPS4I3Mk — @Present_2016 Nov 3rd, 2015
The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint https://t.co/BODPNzRugx — @geraldo3 Jan 19th, 2016
@Sandrafobia well I like the 10/20/30 rule, but only as a guide and it’s just an opinion 😊 https://t.co/1wQwih1m3J — @xurxosanz Feb 7th, 2016
dear Client, the 10-20-30 rule DOES apply to you. it applies to EVERYONE using PowerPoint. not kidding on this. https://t.co/St1c4weAmJ — @johnfoster Apr 5th, 2016

12 Blog Links

Javier Saura » La regla 10-20-30 de Guy Kawasaki para las presentaciones — Jun 16th, 2010

4 Power Point Presentation Styles – Lead, Don't Follow! — Oct 8th, 2010

Tip #67: How many slides? It depends… « Presentations 2.0 – getting you to the point — Oct 16th, 2010

English Tools>> What Do You Think About PowerPoint? | Epicenter Languages — Oct 24th, 2011

Entfernen: 3 rasche Schritte zu besseren Vortragsfolien — Oct 25th, 2011

The Entrepreneur’s Guidebook – 26 Must Have Resources for Entrepreneurs | LearnAboutUs.com — Dec 18th, 2011

Turning Over a New Leaf: 6 Changes Affiliates Can Apply in 2012 – Part 1 | Share Results — Jan 5th, 2012

Tip #67: How many slides? It depends… | If Aristotle used PowerPoint… — Nov 18th, 2012

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10/20/30 rule for better presentations

The 10/20/30 rule: Create better PowerPoint presentations!

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What does a perfect PowerPoint presentation even look like? This is a question that many speakers still ask themselves. And still, every now and again the audience almost falls asleep during a presentation.

Online and on social media, there are multiple tips and tricks for good presentations. Some of these are useless, but some of them have been established over years and set the standard, such as the 10/20/30 rule by presentation professional Guy Kawasaki.

What does the 10/20/30 rule look like?

The 10/20/30 rule is a simple, yet effective way to improve your PowerPoint presentations. It brings structure to your presentation and improves the layout and design of your slides.

Your presentation should…

… be no longer than 10 slides.

… last no longer than 20 minutes.

… have a font of at least 30 pt.

Who invented the 10/20/30 rule?

Guy Kawasaki, marketing legend and bestselling author already helped Apple achieve cult status. He said early on:

‘I listen to hundreds of companies pitch for their companies. Most of those pitches are crap.’

As a result, he developed the simple 10/20/30 rule for brilliant presentations . You can also find more tips for a convincing pitch presentation in our article on the topic.

Guy Kawasaki and the 10/20/30 rule

What can the 10/20/30 rule be used for?

Even though our example of the 10/20/30 rule is designed for a business plan , this doesn’t mean that the rule can’t be used for other presentations. You can also use the rule for the following presentations:

#1: Sales presentations

#2: Press conferences

#3: Presentation of Business numbers

The 10/20/30 rule in more detail

In a nutshell – According to Kawasaki, ten slides are the optimal number for a successful business presentation or meeting. According to Kawasaki, anything above this will cause your audience’s attention and concentration to drop and make them unable to process the information.

However, this doesn’t mean that you have to cram the whole content of your presentation on these 10 slides. Instead, focus on the key message . The following 10 bulletpoints act as an example of a business plan and you are welcome to use them as a guide for the content of your next presentation:

#1: Problem

#2: Solution

#3: Business plan

#4: Your deployed technology

#5: Marketing and Sales

#6: Competitors

#8: Predictions and Milestones

#9: Status and Timelines

#10: Conclusion and Call-to-Action

Depending on the need and topic of your presentation, you can of course customize these 10 points.

Are you looking for inspiration for your PowerPoint slides? Feel free to take a look at the following articles on our blog page:

  • Motivate your audience to (purchase) action with a call to action – the right way!
  • Create your own timeline charts
  • Create and Organizational Chart in PowerPoint
  • Images in PowerPoint presentations: Here’s 2 ideas how to skillfully include them!

The second aspect of the 10/20/30 rule states that you should deliver your presentation within 20 minutes . With a compact twenty minutes you can avoid that your audience’s attention slowly decreases.

Furthermore, when planning your presentation, keep in mind that there may be delays , for example, if the technology breaks down or some audience members are late. Furthermore, if your presentation lasts only 20 minutes and your audience thus remains attentive, you will still have enough time for questions and discussion afterwards.

For more advice on how to create a short presentation, take a look at our blog article on ‘short presentations in PowerPoint’ .

A common problem with PowerPoint slides is that they are overloaded with text . There is a risk that your audience will quickly become bored and that you will be tempted to read from the slides instead of speaking freely.

Better: Identify your presentations key points and explain these well. Many presentations are created with a small font size. If you stick to the 10/20/30 rule and use a 30 pt font size, you can only include the most important text onto your slides. And if you feel like 30pt is way too big: even using 20pt can already help.

Conclusion: Use the 10/20/30 rule for better presentation!

Make sure your audience doesn’t forget your presentation anytime soon and put quality over quantity with Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule!

Do you have questions about the 10/20/30 rule or about PowerPoint in general? Don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] . We will be happy to help you!

Are you looking for visually supportive and professionally designed slide templates? Take a look around in our shop. Here we have numerous prepared slides for you to download on a wide variety of (business) topics. Take a look today! To the shop

Further articles that could also interest you:

  • Revealed: The 10 secrets for a perfect PowerPoint presentation
  • PowerPoint Slide Masters: Save Time and Customize Your Presentations
  • Create PowerPoint Flowcharts
  • Interactive Presentations – 7 Tips to Help You Shape Them to Meet Your Goals!

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Master the Golden 10-20-30 Rule of Guy Kawasaki to Create Engaging PowerPoint Slides

Master the Golden 10-20-30 Rule of Guy Kawasaki to Create Engaging PowerPoint Slides

Gunjan Gupta

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We all have faced the fear of public speaking at least once in our lifetime. Standing on the podium, in front of power-dressed men and women waiting to devour us as soon as we make a mistake with the only shield, our support system - the presentation that we have to spend hours and hours on getting perfected. Maybe compromising our sleep to get that one presentation right.

  Trust me this feeling is mutual among all the newbies, entering into the world of public speaking and even for professionals sometimes. However, professionals know how to conquer this fear of theirs!

  But many of us, even experts, get these presentations so wrong that instead of being a powerful persuasive tool they are nothing but a source of Death-By-PowerPoint. Learn how to avoid “death” with your PowerPoint slides by honing Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule (as called by him).

  Now, who is this Guy Kawasaki? And what is this 10-20-30 Rule?

  Guy Kawasaki formerly an Apple employee, achieved an iconic status amongst other venture capitalists. Perhaps he is renowned not because he is a venture capitalist but because he was the leading thinker behind the famous 10-20-30 rule which was devised in the year 2005. Guy Kawasaki was the genius brain behind the rule that totally transformed PowerPoint presentations.

  Now coming to the famous 10-20-30 rule for which you are here. In simplest of its form 10-20-30 rule stands for-

  • Not more than 10 PowerPoint slides,
  • Not more than 20 minutes,
  • A minimum of 30 font size.

  After listening to hundreds of PowerPoint presentations delivered by enthusiastic entrepreneurs, he evangelised this 10-20-30 rule which says “ a presentation should have 10 PowerPoint slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 pts”.

  Such refined rules might be considered as a limitation by some people, especially those who have a habit of loading their slides with a lot of text. However, this 10-20-30 rule has been accepted as a blueprint to make effective PowerPoint presentations worldwide.

  Now, let us dig deeper and explore this rule in detail-

Rule - 10 PowerPoint Slides

Reason - Enough to convey the actual message In a nutshell, Guy Kawasaki says that 10 is the optimal number of slides that a presenter should add in the presentation. Instead of bombarding the audience with too many slides, one should keep the presentation short, crisp and to the point. Your audiences have no interest in details; so refrain yourself from giving them the minutia.

  However, 10 slides doesn’t mean filling those slides with too much text. One should only add that text to the slides which convey the actual message.

  Guy also says that these should be the 10 slides that a venture capitalist should add to his presentation-

  • Title- Give a suitable title/ name to your presentation according to the topic.
  • Problem/Opportunity: - Explain the pain you are mitigating or the opportunities you are providing.
  • Value Proposition: - Explain the value of the pain you are mitigating or the value of what all opportunities you are providing. In other words, provide an apt solution to the problems.
  • Underlying Magic: - This slide is all about the technology and the secret sauce behind your product. Use as little text in this slide as possible rather show your stats using charts and graphs.
  • Business Plan: - Explain who owns your company’s money right now and how you are planning to acquire the same.
  • Go to Market Plan: - Explain how your product will reach your customers and other masses without burning a hole in your pocket.
  • Competitive Analysis: - Showcase the entire competitive landscape in this slide. Make it as detailed as possible.
  • Management Team: - Portrait all the key members of your company such as investors, Board of Directors, and advisors. Don’t worry if your team is not perfect. You still have to mention all your team members with their names and designations.
  • Financial Projections and Key Metrics: - Show a three year to five-year forecast consisting of not only dollars but also key metrics such as a number of customers, installation, licenses etc.
  • Current Status, Accomplishments to Date, Timeline, and use of Funds: -     Explain the current status of your product, show the accomplishments to date. Explain how the money will be used.

  Note- You can alter and modify these points as per the need of your topic.

Pitch Deck Template For Entrepreneurs PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Download this Pitch Deck Template For Entrepreneurs Powerpoint Presentation Slides

Rule - 20 Minutes

Reason - The attention span of people is getting shorter and shorter

Martin Luther King needed only 17 minutes to share his dream with the world. So why do you need more than 20 minutes? Even though sometimes you need more time to explain the topic to your audience.

  According to Guy Kawasaki, decreased span of attention is the culprit. All thanks to television and mobile phones (they are certainly important), the span of attention is decreasing day by day. So one should be able to present his work in a 20-minute marathon which is indeed very challenging to run but guarantees 100% success.

  Guy also argues that sticking to a 20-minute speech will force the person to alter the content mercilessly. With a time constraint, the presenter will be able to trim all the unnecessary details thus helping him communicate with efficacy and precision.

  A 20-minute presentation would allow the presenter to conduct a Question and Answer session for his audience in the end which is also very important as in most of the cases, the audience does have some questions to ask regarding the presentation.

Rule - 30 Font Size

Reason - Don’t force your audience to squint

Squinting might look good in pictures but not in a presentation hall. The last thing you want is to see your audience squint.

  Smaller font size interferes with the readability and so your font size should not be less than 30 points.

  Having a font size that is larger will force the presenter to choose his words judiciously and also will make it much easier for the audience to read what is written in the slides. Since the font is readable to all the audience whether they are sitting in the front or back, they will pay more attention to what is being said by the speaker rather than what is being shown in the PowerPoint slides.

  Applying this rule is easier said than done!

  However, here are a few power-packed examples of speeches that have beautifully incorporated the rule of presenting more in less time-

Some examples of power-packed speeches

You must have seen or heard at least one of the universally acclaimed TED Talks which shook the world with their presentation skills, in a limited time period. Here are four of them which I would especially recommend you to watch if you haven’t.

Sir Ken Robinson’s - “How schools are killing creativity”

Duration- 19:25

Being one of the most popular and most viewed TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson forces one to think about education differently. He says that instead of emphasising on standardized testing schools should nurture curiosity among its students.

  In his talk, Ken criticizes the education system in American schools for instilling in its students, conformity rather than creativity from a very young age.

Julian Treasure- “How to Speak so that people want to Listen”

Duration- 9:58

Have you ever experienced that you are busy talking but nobody is listening? Perhaps you are a teacher! Well, this happens a lot of time with a teacher or a lecturer.

  Here’s Julian Treasure’s awe-inspiring talk that demonstrates the do’s and don'ts of public speaking backed up with empathy as well as some handy vocal exercises. This talk is surely an example of how a big idea can be conveyed in a short duration as less as 10 minutes helping the world sound beautiful.

Dan Pink- “The Puzzle of Motivation”

Duration- 18:36 In his powerful talk of 18 minutes, Dan Pink scrutinizes the efficacy of punishment as well as rewards given in the workplace. And the results are indeed very surprising.

  Differentiating between the two sets of motivators- intrinsic and extrinsic and the various types of rewards, Dan Pink reveals why there is a need to rethink about running our businesses differently. He also explains how the leaders can motivate us to carry the various activities in our business in a different manner.

  TED Talks is not only limited to these three talks; rather it treasures hundreds of inspiring and motivating speeches that one must see. These were just a few examples that we have shared with you to make you understand that you don’t need hours and hours to convey your message. 20 minutes is more than enough to get your message out there!

  If you are thinking of downloading some pre-designed PowerPoint templates for assistance. Here are a few examples-

Download 10-20-30 Rule Templates

New Product Overview PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Download this New Product Overview PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Systems Design PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Grab this Systems Design PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Expertise Matrix PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Click here to download this Expertise Matrix PowerPoint Presentation Slides

  PowerPoint Template 4:

Exigency Plan PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Access this Exigency Plan Powerpoint Presentation Slides

  So, there you have it, a dynamic tool to transform your presentations. Apply this 10-20-30 rule and let your presentation be a breath of fresh air for all your audiences.

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  • Presentation Hackathon Part 1: 5 Incredibly Simple Hacks to Create Stunning Slides
  • 7 Amazing PowerPoint Template Designs for Your Company or Personal Use
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The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

I suffer from something called Ménière’s disease—don’t worry, you cannot get it from reading my blog. The symptoms of Ménière’s include hearing loss, tinnitus (a constant ringing sound), and vertigo. There are many medical theories about its cause: too much salt, caffeine, or alcohol in one’s diet, too much stress, and allergies. Thus, I’ve worked to limit control all these factors.

However, I have another theory. As a venture capitalist, I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. Most of these pitches are crap: sixty slides about a “patent pending,” “first mover advantage,” “all we have to do is get 1% of the people in China to buy our product” startup. These pitches are so lousy that I’m losing my hearing, there’s a constant ringing in my ear, and every once in while the world starts spinning.

To prevent an epidemic of Ménière’s in the venture capital community, I am evangelizing the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides , last no more than twenty minutes , and contain no font smaller than thirty points . While I’m in the venture capital business, this rule is applicable for any presentation to reach agreement: for example, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership, etc.

Ten slides . Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting—and venture capitalists are very normal. (The only difference between you and venture capitalist is that he is getting paid to gamble with someone else’s money). If you must use more than ten slides to explain your business, you probably don’t have a business. The ten topics that a venture capitalist cares about are:

  • Your solution
  • Business model
  • Underlying magic/technology
  • Marketing and sales
  • Competition
  • Projections and milestones
  • Status and timeline
  • Summary and call to action

Twenty minutes . You should give your ten slides in twenty minutes. Sure, you have an hour time slot, but you’re using a Windows laptop, so it will take forty minutes to make it work with the projector. Even if setup goes perfectly, people will arrive late and have to leave early. In a perfect world, you give your pitch in twenty minutes, and you have forty minutes left for discussion.

Thirty-point font . The majority of the presentations that I see have text in a ten point font. As much text as possible is jammed into the slide, and then the presenter reads it. However, as soon as the audience figures out that you’re reading the text, it reads ahead of you because it can read faster than you can speak. The result is that you and the audience are out of synch.

The reason people use a small font is twofold: first, that they don’t know their material well enough; second, they think that more text is more convincing. Total bozosity. Force yourself to use no font smaller than thirty points. I guarantee it will make your presentations better because it requires you to find the most salient points and to know how to explain them well. If “thirty points,” is too dogmatic, the I offer you an algorithm: find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two. That’s your optimal font size.

So please observe the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. If nothing else, the next time someone in your audience complains of hearing loss, ringing, or vertigo, you’ll know what caused the problem. One last thing: to learn more about the zen of great presentations, check out a site called Presentation Zen by my buddy Garr Reynolds.

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About the author: guy kawasaki.

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206 Comments

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Ahh the 10/20/30 rule. I remember this when you gave your speech at the NYLF Tech forum this year. I found this part to be very useful.

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This regime makes presentations better. Thanks. Still, ppt is a monologue at core – unable to adjust to a welcome, hopefully, new idea-detour that could arise between slide 4 and 5 making 6,7…obsolete.

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It’s your. Not you’re. “That’s you’re optimal font size.”

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there’s always one

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Good for you. And good for them: they corrected it (I just sent this to a company in 2020 because it is still excellent advice).

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No it’s not. You’re = You are. So, Guy is grammatically correct here.

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Guy Kawasaki is blogging

Guy Kawasaki: As a venture capitalist, I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. Most of these pitches are crap: sixty slides about a “patent pending,” “first mover advantage,” “all we have to do is get 1% of…

Guy Kawasaki blogging

Guy Kawasaki (author of such titles as Selling the Dream – another must read book) has a new blog. One of his first posts really rings true – about the use (and abuse) of PowerPoint. I am trying to evangelize the 10/20/30 Rule of Powe…

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Welcome to the tactfully tactless world of blogging! (Per the ‘you’re/your’ comment above…) Since it’s Sunday, some Sunday School words come to mind about making “a man an offender for a word.” (KJV, Isaiah 29:11, 12) Gimme a break. Blogging is best when it is organic, fluid, and spontaneous. This is part of the potency of it all. If Christine can’t handle a typo or grammatical faux pas, she should read something other than your (or is it ‘you’re?’) blog (or anyone else’s for that matter). Did you get anything else out of the post, Christine? Forgive the in-your-face comment about the comment, but what a poster child case-in-point for blogging arrogance your comment is. Great post, Guy. It made me think about my posts. That’s something cool to take away from your blog. I look forward to reading more. Keep it up!

Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki makes some interesting comments on PowerPoint presentations he sees on a regular basis….

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Guy, SERC worked for my Menieres – it doesn’t help with the tinnitus and doesn’t stop the hearing loss, but has stopped all problems with vertigo. Worked immediately for me. Cheers, Rob

So it appears that Guy Kawasaki(please don’t tell me you don’t know who he is or Ishall be…

The rules of PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki has some excellent pointers on how to use PowerPoint effectively.

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Very good post. I agree that PP presentations should be made as painless as possible. Fabrice Grinda’s “Fund Raising 101” (http://www.fabricegrinda.com/?p=27) pretty much deals with the same topic, but suggests even fewer slides. Edward Tufte also has some general presentation tips: A summary can be found at: http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/presentations.html What’s your take on these?

Guy Kawasaki: La regla 10/20/30

Guy Kawasaki no es alguien que ‘suene’ mucho a la gente, sobre todo una vez despejado el hecho de que no tiene nada que ver con motos japonesas. Guy es uno de los primeros empleados de Apple, uno de los primeros “evangelistas” de la industria i…

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I used to be of the same opinion, but then I saw this presentation video by Dick Hardt: http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/

The Art of the Start

I recently finnished reading Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start”, a book full of good advices for any entrepreneur. I especially liked the chapter called “The Art of Being a Mensch”. Too seldom I encounter any referrences to being

I recently finished reading Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start”, a book full of good advices for any entrepreneur. I especially liked the chapter called “The Art of Being a Mensch”. Too seldom I encounter any references to being

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I completely agree on you, especially about the font size. I always use at least 30 points. And I more and more tend to use slides with only two or three words on it. It’s only a guideline. Watch the presentations of Steve Jobs and learn. Leaner is better! And: Welcome to the blogging community, Guy! I really appreciate this.

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Guy, First, welcome. I always tell people that you’re the proto-blogger, from back in the days of the EvangeList. So, let Winer take credit as being the first blogger, you’re the first I read regularly (Dave was second…). Good to have you here as an actual blogger. 10/20/30. Love it. Simple, memorable and it makes sense! I’ll be using it and sharing it.

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Guy, great to have you in blogging space. I have been involved in venture capital for 10+ years and agree totally with your post. Why do entrepreneurs try to educate e.g. VC specialized in mobile industry with market data rather than explain some insights which have enabled them to set up a business with true competitive advantage. mikko

Guy Kawasaki on the10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint

I found that Kawasaki’s brand new blog is already helpful, in a backhanded way. I have been working with a number of startups in the past decade, and I continuously struggle with founders about their powerpoint addictions: too many bullets,…

I am trying to evangelize the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. As a special service to Lotus Marketing: I…

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Great post. Point is – people have short attention span. They want information quickly, without the hassles of noise (too much data) or errors (not enough knowledge). I have my 100/10/1 rule: 100 pages detailed plan (in writing), 10 minutes talk (PowerPoint), and 1 sentence elevator’s pitch (the gist of the idea). The detailed plan forces understanding. The presentation presents the highlights. And the Elevator’s Pitch generates interest. I found that I failed when I didn’t use the 100/10/1 rule, and I succeeded when I did. Try it out. It works.

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I also saw the identity 2.0 presentation after an email from Guy’s mailing list, and based on that idea, I did a presentation at work. It went wonderful and has caused a great deal of impact. I found that one of the best things is that people have no other choice than to pay attention to the presenter, instead of reading ahead of the presentation.

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What not to do in a presentation: http://static.flickr.com/28/58697220_0f5db5fe00.jpg If you have a slide that looks like that, you suck. That’s all there is to it. I also recommend using Keynote. It came along just in time to save my life, because if I’d had to do one more WWDC talk with PowerPoint, I’d have shot myself. -jcr

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Gr8 post! Where would u include finance in those slides. I tried to contain my presentation in 10 slides but that is one more slide i have to put in. Last discussion I had with some angel investors, whole meeting turned in discussion rather than power pt controlling the flow.

From The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint: Its quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. [] Sure, you have an hour time slot, but you&#8217…

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Guy, do me a favor: as someone who has to listen to a lot of VC-funded startups give their pitches *after* they’ve gotten your money, I beg you to force all your funded startups to observe the 10 .ppt rule. I’ll give them 30 minutes and don’t care about type size, but the majority of funded companies seem to think 28 slides and 60 minutes is what they need to convince me that they are patent pending, holistic, proactive and will sell to 90% of the Fortune 5000 – let alone China. So, if you make those who want you money stick to a renamed elevator pitch rule, please do so with your funded companies as well. Regards, John P.

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So yes, great advice. I have been attemptinng to follow it for years. So how come every funding source says “nice presentation, send us your business plan” and then they expect a 90 page bplan that itemizes everything down to postage and is projected quarterly over 5 years. C’mon guys. Anything over 8 months is a guess. can’t you multiply by 2 for each year just like the poor entrepreneur that puts those numbers together?

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Although I’ve only seen a few pitch presentations, I would say that instead of making the rule 10 slides, make it 10 concepts, because sometimes you may want to have say 3 or 4 slides to convey a concept. That and I’ve always been a huge fan of the Steve Jobs keynotes. :) Great Article. There are far to many bad presentations out there.

Power Point and Rocket Science and the dangers of compelling stories

Edward Tufte dislikes PowerPoint and explains why in an article about the contribution of PowerPoint to the Columbia disaster. My other models for NASA are Feynmans lectures on physics, and the A3 page (or 11 by 17 in) folded in half. You can…

The 10/20/30 PowerPoint Rule

Guy Kawasaki has posted some great guidelines for delivering effective PowerPoint presentations at his blog (see it here). He calls his theory the 10/20/30 Rule. It goes something like this: No presentation should be bigger than 10 slides, last lon…

The 10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint

My fellow Corante Web Hub member Stowe Boyd posted about the 10/20/30 rules of Powerpoint, which originally comes from Guy Kawasaki. Stowe actually extends Guys idea with a 1/10/20/30 notion, meaning that each slide should make one part of your

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So the next time I’ll present my business modell to VCs I’ll try to follow your rule. We’ll see if it’s convincing…

10/20/30 Rule of Presentations

The 10/20/30 Rule of Presentations…

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Let’s keep in mind folks, following these rules will just make your presentation better, it won’t make your business model not suck. Also, a big fat no-prize to the person who can use “bozosity” the most in a coherent blog post. ;)

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You’ve been dugg! http://www.digg.com/links/Making_great_PowerPoint_presentations_-_the_10_20_30_rule

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I also remember this from your NYLF presentation, I remember our Tech Talk group discussing how great your presentation had been. Nice to see you getting into the blogging world : )

The 10/20/30 Rule of presentations

Guy Kawasaki has a post on his blog about the 10/20/30 (10 slides/20 minutes/30 words) rule of good PowerPoint presentations. (Not the first time hes done this particular pitch but then again, Martin Luther King Jr. did a whole bunch of…

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presumably you do have Meniere’s & not benign vertigo (sounds like it). I suspect you would have looked extensively. The reason I ask, is the tx of BPV with mechanical maneuvers to move the “ear rocks” — see links. (info barter – you re: powerpoint; me re: tim hain, md website): Menieres – http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/menieres/menieres.html BPPV – http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

links for 2006-01-04

Resume of the guy who watched Tsunami (tags: Dogs Brooklyn Friends) Memorable Quotes from “Six Feet Under” (2001) (tags: tv Film) “Let the Good Times Roll” by Guy Kawasaki: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint (tags: Design gtd leadership Speaking…

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I was just wondering what you were up to these days!. Thanks for the post, I will definitely use it.

How to make power point presentations easy and understandable

An article making the rounds today discusses effective Power Point presentations for venture capitalists. It talks about a 10/20/30 rule of Power Point. It’s an interesting article and one I am sure works with venture capitalists, but I’ve found some t…

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Some very good points there :)

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The 10/20/30 rule seems pretty rudimentary, why didn’t anyone come up with this before? It seems it could be very innovative so i’m definately willing to try [for the most part] to abide by those three simple rules and hopefully everything will turn out spectacularly.

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Guy, I would love to see a good example of a “call to action” for 1) investors 2) customers

10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

BUNCH OF GREAT ADVICE ON ENTREPREURISM AND STARTING YOUR COMPANY

Sifting through bookmarks again. This time I came across a bunch of great posts on entrepreneurism, hiring, and advice on fundraising. If you’re doing a startup now or thinking about building a new business and haven’t read some of these posts, check t…

La Regla del 10/20/30 del Powerpoint

Via OtroBlogMas. Guy Kawasaky es un maestro absoluto de la presentación. En este post habla de las presentaciones Powerpoint para la captación de Capital Riesgo, pero me da que es perfectamente aplicable a las presentaciones que se usan en docenci…

10-20-30 PowerPoint Rule: Guy Kawasaki Gets It!

Guy Kawasaki, PowerPoint 10-20-30 rule it’s all over the blogosphere, and deservedly so, as Guy really nails down some of the long time obstacles and myths about effective presentation design and delivery. What Guy Kawasaki advocates is nothing more th…

Guy Kawasaki, powerpoints and the 10/20/30 Rule

Guy Kawasaki, who has now launched a blog, has some good advice for anyone considering a powerpoint presentation: … I am trying to evangelize the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last n…

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Good work. I have to prepare usually 2 to 3 slide shows a week. Granted, I am not a venture capitalist, but those rules are a big help.

10/20/30 Blues

Guy Kawasaki wants you to clean up your Power Point mess. As a venture capitalist, I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. Most of these pitches are crap: sixty slides about a “patent pending,” “first mover…

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Happy to see you in the blog-o-sphere, as I have visited Rules for Revolutionaries more than once this past year and have been listening to ‘Art of the Start’ off and on. On 10-20-30, Good general rule to follow, but have seen some spectacular dissidents as of recent ~ http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/ Cheers, Gregg

I’m an entrepeneur racing after a dream of becoming a VC if I make it into the big leagues. And this was one of the most valuable resources that I ran across since this is exactly what I hate to…

Saving us all from PowerPoint abuse

Flying text, sound effects, animation and retina-burning colour combinations are included in PowerPoint presentations for one reason: because theyre there. In the interest of looking more professional, polished and creative, we&#8…

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Guy Kawasaki sucks.

10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint

Guy Kawasaki makes a good case for The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. I am trying to evangelize the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font …

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I have been making slideshows since 1970, back when it took 4 hours to make the original art for a color slide. PowerPoint is very good, and fast, for making outstanding slide shows. I agree with Guy on his approach to slide shows. Business pitches are a little different than training programs, but there is much more to developing a presentation. Review this article I wrote regarding visual communication http://www.jrneaves.com/instructional_graphics.htm. The biggest abuse I have witnessed is the use of “stupid” text animation and spot animations that add no value to the visual communication (i.e. “the dancing rabbit”, “barking dog”, and so forth. The most important part of the presentation is the complete, expert knowledge of the subject matter by the presenter. Complete knowledge of the subject matter eliminates the need for “wordy” slides and reading the slide to the audiance from the slide, normally with your back turned to the audiance. Remember, the slide show is there to support the message and information transfer. It is NOT the message. PowerPoint is a tool. It does not relieve the presenter of being and integral part of the presentation and message transfer, regardless of whether it is a business presentation or a training program.

Follow the url http://www.jrneaves.com/instructional_graphics.htm for the article. My post included a period at the end of the sentence which was included in the url. The article is worth a read.

Entrepreneurship guru Guy Kawasaki riffs on the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. No more than 10 slides No more than 20…

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Might I suggest 5/10/20/30. As before but use the same presentation NO MORE than 5 times. Keep it fresh! http://lake.blogs.com

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like the idea of 5 ;)

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In my experience the best presentations have hardly any text in them. I was once told a great presentation consists of three consistent parts: Hook, Point, Illustration and ends with Punch. So add to the 10/20/30 Rule and you’ve got a nice guideline to entertaining through quick and precise storytelling.

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Good tips. While for a somewhat different audience, and old (not necessarily computer-related), I find these helpful as well: “Giving a Talk,” Prof. Bruce Randall Donald at Dartmouth College: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~brd/Teaching/Giving-a-talk/giving-a-talk.html Great stuff.

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10-20-30 I love it but what about the “people” who insist on printing out the powerpoint to read it and complain that they can’t follow it because there’s not enough in there? Are we all now supposed to create a complementary supporting document too? Maybe the problem is as Tufte says – powerpoint itself? thx.

Preparing for the SharePoint Community Advancement Initiative

Note to self: Remember to read Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint before preparing…

Let the Good Times Roll by Guy Kawasaki: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki gives good advice in using the 10/20/30 Rule when using PowerPoint in a presentation.

How to use PowerPoint More Effectively Using the 10/20/30 Rule

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Userful, I hope have chance to show you my PPT in your rules. FOB business forum,A professional forum in China, if you have time, please have a look. http://bbs.fobshanghai.com

Common icons for PowerPoint slides and presentation tips

When preparing a slide desk for a presentation I often look at other Microsoft talks and sometimes borrow…

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http://www.nextstudent.com/get_advice/get_advice.asp Student loans, and student loan consolidation – Lock in the lowest rate with NextStudent. We also offer a scholarship search engine, private student loans and federal student loan applications.

Why have I gotten myself into

I’m starting to believe I chose the most boring degree to persue ever, business management. If it wasn’t for Arthur Andersen screwing a bunch of companies up, there wouldn’t be much to talk about in class and my textbooks would…

What have I gotten myself into

Improve your PowerPoint-ing

Diet Pills Archives – Diet Blog

The Progressive Blog Alliance HQ. The Central Node of the PBA … Submitted by diet pills…

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This is very useful information for everyone! Thank you for sharing this. I also got a chance to hear this from Guy first hand from his presentation at San Jose State University. In addition, I took notes on his presentation and posted them here on my blog: http://e-bizz.blogspot.com/2006/02/10-steps-of-entrepreneurship-guy.html Thanks again Guy for all of your incite and great advice! Christopher Salazar

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another guideline for presentation: http://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP269/CP269.pdf it comes from *really* smart people (RAND)

Power Point: the 10-20-30 Rule

I truly dislike PowerPoint presentations. I know they have their place and have phenomenal advantages in some situations, but every time I am subjected to one, no matter how good i…

La règle Powerpoint des 10/20/30

Je viens de tomber par hasard sur le blog de Guy Kawasaki. Comme son nom ne l’indique pas, ce brave homme n’est ni français ni vendeur de motos, mais capital-risqueur californien. Une note de son blog m’a particulièrement intéressée :

PowerPoint rules

A PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 pt.

How to captivate an audience

Read a nice post on Seth’s blog the other day. He’s right: creating a good PowerPoint presentation is not that easy. Making it interactive is one possibility. Taking the 10/20/30 rule into consideration another one.

Put the Wow up Front!

Hackoff.com author and serial entrepreneur Tom Evslin has been posting a nice VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV. He is on target with most of his thoughts and his recent post regarding VC presentations is a good read. Guy has also chimed in on VC …

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Re: your comment – “The only difference between you and venture capitalist is that he is getting paid to gamble with someone else’s money.” I think you’ve described a commonality between the VC and the entrepreneur, rather than a difference. The reality check many would-be amazing entpreneurs (and all their staff who natter for a raise before actually producing anything) should get a smack over the head with is that once they’ve got in VC funds, THEY, themselves, are being paid to gamble with someone else’s money.

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I used to be of the same opinion, but then I saw this presentation video by Dick Hardt:

Use Powerpoint to enhance your presentation, not cripple it

I’m not the first person to point out that Microsoft’s mainstay meeting and presentation application Powerpoint is usually anathema to any sort of useful communication, and that most speakers rely on it as a crutch rather than a memory jog, but I just …

Can Apple make me a better presenter?

Well if I can learn any of the Steve Jobs magic then yes, they probably can so I decided to register…

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I found the 10/20/30 rule to be the most useful part of your entire book. I had the opportunity to put it into action a few months ago at a (VANJ) Venture Association of New Jersey Event. As predicted there was no working projector, no cd- rom in for the laptop, and no microphone. Even though we were told to expect all three. Having read your book, I was fully prepared to belt out my presentation with no slides and I proceeded to follow your instructions to the letter. The result? Well since the topic of the luncheon was “Pitching to VC’s” I was honored to have the keynote speaker Chris Sugden of Edison Venture Fund remark to the audience that my speech was a perfect example of how to deliver! As a result I made two great Angel connections at the luncheon. Fundraising has not been easy, but you’ve helped clear a lot of the fogginess and I thank you for you effort, advice and enthusiasm. – NC

Do your Graphics Say the Wrong Thing?

Can you figure out what the sign says? I couldn’t. Find out why.

Makes good sense to me. I see too many long winded presentations. I also like to use charts rather than bullet points, and talk around it.

Three numbers for better PowerPoint Presentations

102030!The best advice is often the simplest; Remember three numbers Apply what they represent Youll make better PowerPoint Presentations. Guy Kawasaki tells you how

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I was looking at Guy’s Law of Premoney valuation. I am curious why he has -$250K for each MBA. Is this tongue in cheek, or will an MBA truly destroy company value early on? If yes, what are the characteristics of the typical MBA that would put this drag on the organization?

What’s wrong with 90% of convention presentations?

Everyone’s attended useless presentations. My guess is that 90% of all the speakers I’ve heard have fallen into one or more of the gaffs below.Which is sad. Hundreds of attendees have paid and given up time to learn something only to …

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fantastic post – I think this rule has tremendous value **************************

Thanks! Glad that you liked it. Guy

10 20 30!The best advice is often the simplest; Remember three numbers Apply what they represent You’ll make better PowerPoint Presentations. Guy Kawasaki tells you how…The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint – Guy Kawasaki (It’s just one of his Top 10

Guy Kawasaki – Art of the Start

Guy Kawasaki did a book called Art of the Start. He posts about that in his blog as well. This time, however, he has a video out. Both instructional and entertaining. Tags:No Tags…

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Hi Guy. This is totally unrelated to your main content, but still relevant to you ;-) I got Meniere’s disease too. Mine attacks in the rainy season — when (I’m guessing) my colds clog my allergic nose, overloading the balancing mechanism in my ear. Doctors have recommended a slew of meds but in the end, it’s really just self-management as you say. I cut down on coffee and chocolate and inhale steam whenever my sinuses feel clogged. Ciao! ************************ Ben, I’m so glad to hear (no pun intended) you have your Meniere’s figured out. I get about 3 attacks of vertigo per year. Maybe God is telling you to move to Hawaii! :-) Aloha! Guy

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“…contain no font smaller than thirty points.” How come most consultants’ slides use <20 pt fonts?

http://www.abstractdynamics.org/linkage/archives/008127.html

Signum sine tinnitu–by Guy Kawasaki: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint…

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I can not open the pictures. http://static.flickr.com/28/58697220_0f5db5fe00.jpg who can help me? *^-^#

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hmmm… this is good. even though I am not sure about the font 30 part. I am a font 24 or a font 20 user and tend to think that I am pretty effective..

Five things to do at the start of every sales demo/presentation

Five Things To Do At The Start Of Every Sales Demo/Presentation While working for SAP nearly a decade ago there was a Demo training us sales engineers were asked to attend. I can’t recall the name of the company that…

Really Bad PowerPoint Kills People

No longer does Really Bad PowerPoint kill only brain cells and patience. Now it kills US soldiers. I have resisted commenting on Really Bad PowerPoint here because so many others do it better. Seth Godin coined the phrase, and Garr

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I’m an admitted bullet point cripple. I can’t seem to avoid them since it’s how I think… hierarchical and logical. One of the resources that assisted me with my Powerpoint Presentations is Cliff Atkinson’s Beyond Bullet Points. I have the freely distributed PDF if you’d like to see it. His approach is to make your point visually with your presentation – not with text. The science behind it is that people remember visuals but not text. Let your pictures do the talking… and talk about your pictures. Regards, Doug

Everything You Wanted to Know About Getting a Job in Silicon Valley But Didn’t Know Who to Ask

by: Guy Kawasaki Many people ask me for advice about getting a job in Silicon Valley, so heres the inside scoop. Not everyone will agree with this advice, and some will outright deny what Im saying, but if you use…

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All too true, even in Europe where communication is in English, which the majority of the participants use as their second language. The objective should be clarity above all and yet people bog themselves down with dozens of slides which the presenter more or less, reads. The result is – the audience reads faster than the presenter speaks and when finished they go to sleep until the next slide comes up (if the presenter is lucky and they haven’t passed into a deeper comatose state). I try to convince my clients to ditch bullet points completely and am surprised at how many still respond “…but what do we print out at the end?”

10/20/30 Presentation Rules

Guy Kawasaki 가 2005년 12월에 쓴 프리젠테이션 팁에 관한 글을 요약하자면, 1. 파워포인트는 10페이지 정도로, 2. 프리젠테이션은 20분정도, 3. 글자크기는 30포인트이상으로. 1. 가끔 사업계획서나, 프리젠테이션 자료를 보면 심지어 50장, 60장짜리도 있고, 컨설팅보고서를 보면 100장, 200장 되는 자료도 있다. 나 자신도 사람들이 그렇게 많은 양을 왜 굳이 파워포인트로 작성하려는지 모르겠다. 요약이 안 될만큼의 분량이라…

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many people have this silly perception that the thicker your report or the more PPT slides you show, the more intellectual and “great” you are. Sigh… I fall asleep after the 10th slide and your article couldn’t have been timelier!

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“Total bozosity” aint it ‘Bogosity”! vEnkAt

10 reasons needed for venture capitalists to fund your idea

Big time venture capitalists have hundreds, if not thousands, of business plans sent to them from aspiring entrepreneurs every month. As an entrepreneur looking for funding from venture capitalists, you would count yourself fortunate if one of them sin…

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Kudos on your 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint!

Thanks Guy.

I hate PowerPoint. More precisely, I hate my PowerPoint. Granted, I know the rules, but apparently, I also like to sound of my own voice and the look of my own words. Conceptually, I well understand that less is more

links for 2006-09-21

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint (tags: presentations business) The Zen of Business Plans (tags: business startup) Blue Flavor (almost) a Year Later D. Keith Robinson reflects on the first year of running a business (tags: business webdesign) Real Wire…

Présentations PowerPoint efficaces, maîtrisez les 5 S !

Un projecteur qui ne fonctionne pas. Des caractères trop petits à lécran. Un écran mal situé. Un auditoire dissipé (la journée a du retard et lheure du lunch approche), votre patron vous demande de clarifier votre idée. Voi…

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Excellent rule! You hit in on the head. I laughed when you mentioned the 10 point type. I saw one of those recently. I read ahead. It is a bad “persuasion” presentation when you don’t take the necessary time to truly know your topic and just use your powerpoints as MAJOR points. Keep up the great posts! Zachary Romero www.profitableink.com Transforming Words Into Gold

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No tinnitus. no vertigo and no hearing loss anymore for our VC-Audition. Thanks, Guy, we just pressed our presentation to 10 slides with big letters – and that was a real good exercise. Point out the most important topics, forget the line of explanations, the special developed graphics and so on. It will be interesting to see and report, how our European VC-People accept such a presentation. I think, they are not used to 10 slides, so you get attention – but in Europe they might think you took it a bit to lazy. I’ll report on this in a month. amprice is the fastest growing online-marketplace in Germany, based on the Merchands input to develop a place, were they like to deal. We are building the community, which was lost at other marketplaces. And it works!

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I recently sat through a 75 minute Power Point presentation with over 165 slides! 5 years ago when the speaker started out he had 15 slides. He was a lot better speaker 5 years ago – at least I could remember the points he made. Now it’s a blur. We’re all infected with “more is better” to a fault. You’ve hit the nail right on the head with this one. Warmly, Patrick McEvoy President Rainmaker Gateway http://www.rainmakergateway.com

Guy Kawasaki and more on Day One of Pubcon

Audio of the Day: VV Show #39 – Guy Kawasaki Originally uploaded by divedi. Guy Kawasaki’s keynote was inspiring. The powerpoint-driven conference meets the un-conference keynoter. It’s a wonderful treat when you get more out of ten slides with two-word

Using digg and Netscape to get traffic

In the last couple of months more and more bloggers have been catching onto the power of [digg](http://www.digg.com) and [Netscape](http://www.netscape.com). Bloggers have realized that if they get their blog on the homepage of digg or Netscape thousan…

LiveMeeting Best Practices

As part of my role here at Microsoft, I spend a significant amount of time in LiveMeeting doing presentations

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This rule rocks. I made a good (great?) presentation to a few execs but when they tried to read my slides, they squinted. And I knew I had broken ‘the rule’. Lesson learned. Others beware.

Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting and venture capitalists are very normal. (The only difference between you and venture capitalist is that…

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It’s like alcohol abuse. Most people know that too much content won’t do them any good and yet so many will still go out and make a bloody idiot of themselves in front of large groups of people. Some now and then; others at every given opportunity. There should be a health warning on every PowerPoint packet; “Excess content can cause hearing loss, ringing in the ears or vertigo”.

Ripple effects of iPhone

I have tried to avoid this overly-talked-about subject, but can’t help since Jari asked so kindly: It would be fantastic to hear a bit more about your thoughts on the iPhone, the (positive) challenge it throws on S60 and…

Using PowerPoint to Sell

PowerPoint can either make the sale, or kill it.It can either stir an audiences mind, or put them to sleep.It will either keep your audience focused on you, or on the slides that youre trying to talk to them about.I…

Guy Kawasaki,  Apple Evangelist turned  Venture Capitalist (Garage.com) also blogs.  As I was wandering the net, I ran into a posting/rant about Powerpoint presentations.  As he tends to see a lot of them, the  good, the bad and the ugly,  he has…

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For sales presentations, I follow and train people in the 3-to-5 rule: * 3-to-5 slides * 3-to-5 bullets * 3-to-5 words

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Great article, and great book in “The Art of the Start.” My partner and I have found you to be an incredibly helpful resource in our quests as entrepreneurs. I hope to meet you one day to thank you and get you on our side =P. What a great Guy (no pun intended =P)!

Top-Ten Of Guy Kawasaki

As I like to do business as unusual, here is the first of a series of Top-Ten lists. Usually, you publish that kind of thing at the end of the year. I like to publish mine after everybody, at the

Bad Powerpoint – different views on what makes a good pitch

Seth Godin recently reposted his views on how so many companies create really bad powerpoint decks with uninspiring, boring information presentation. His key message – a picture is worth a 1,000 words. For example: Can you trust job candidate intervie…

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…but you’re using a Windows laptop, so it will take forty minutes to make it work with the projector…

Couldn’t help yourself could you? What I like about your post is that it quantifies what makes an effective presentation, something very useful for technically-minded people like yours truly.

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That was great! I wish I could have read that four years ago when I was giving powerpoint presentations (it seems like daily) at USC.

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This is one of the best (and easiest) tips on presentation techniques that I’ve heard. I also think and others may attest to it: Present the best you can, and if you have to, use powerpoint. http://www.TonyZaki.com

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While 10/20/30 is might be good for making pitches, I am not sure this rule would be strictly applicable to all PPT presentations. I think specifially of presentations intent on presenting research results. For a general audience 10/20/30 would be appropriate, but for specialists one must expand that rule to 20 at most. I would like to suggest a revision to your rule 0/10/20/30 Absolutely 0 animations/ transitions/ or sounds unless they relate directly to the presentation … I can’t tell you how annoying it is to listen to a speaker begin to bumble as they are distracted by animations they forgot about.

Presentations and Pitches, RE Style

And by RE I mean Renaissance Entrepreneur, a term coined and slightly explored in the previous post of this blog. I’m sure many people who read this have already read Guy Kawasaki’s famous 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint; in case you

Extraordinary: Presentations

Here are a couple of links that will help you give extraordinary presentations. Enjoy! OSCON 2005 Keynote – Identity 2.0 (must watch!)Dick Hardt | Founder CEO, Sxip Identityhttp://identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint by Guy Ka…

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First time visitor, found my way here through the links from some local blogs. Great post and sage words regarding power point and pitching. I agree with the other comment regarding 0/10/20/30 modification. Also wanted to mention a rule that has served me well called the 6X6 rule for text slides. No more than 6 bullets per page of 6 words per bullet. This way your bullets are speaking points to remind you what to say and avoid that painful reading from the slide thing. Alternately a picture really is worth a thousand words and if you can make your point with a picture it can add variety to the presentation.

We see a fair number of formal and informal pitches (presentations to the uninitiated).  I was asked to be part of a review panel today my parting advice was the now famous 10-20-30 rule: 10 Slides 20 Minutes 30 Point Font This rough guide is …

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Best presentation on SlideShare is not the Best presentation live! There is a fundamental mistake presentors make when using visual aids such as powerpoint. They confuse their notes (which is a roadmap to know what to say and in what order), with visual aids (which should only be used when a visual can render a concept more effectively than words). In most presentations, the “slides” become the notes thus diminishing the value-added of the presenter. SlideShare presentations however, do not have a presenter. Nobody is sitting next to you to comment on the slides. Therefore it OK to have more text than you would if it were a live presentation. Nobody would think that a great TV ad could be a great radio ad and vice versa. Therefore, the conclusion is this: the best presentation for slideshare will not be the best one to present live.

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Hie there, Thanks for this great post, i’ll indefinitely try to implement in my future presentations:) vib.

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Finally someone who also is annoyed from dozens of powerpoint slides. Some people seem that they just want to show how much they can do with ppt and forget about the audience.

Guy Kawasaki VC blog

Came across Guy Kawasakis blog last night. Hes a successful US VC and seems to have a large following in the US. I particularly like his Top 3 posts, which offer good advice for those seeking VC money. The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint…

Time to Trash PowerPoint? No just be smarter in using it.

I’ve been doing a number of presentations in the past few months and so was very interested when I came across an newspaper article saying: The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster. It should be ditched. —

PowerPoint when Thinking is Critical

The year I worked for Dave Snowden’s IBM Cynefin Centre, I was required to use the official Big Blue PowerPoint template. Based on 12pt Arial, the template was impossible to read, even close to the screen. The year after, when Cynefin went independent …

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powerpoint is useful when you must interact with the presentation or you must show some multimedia files, animated graphs and so on… if you have to pass a message sometimes is better to use the “ancient”… but useful paper.

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This will help me with my power point (I’ve committed a few of those sins in the past). It’s a great tool in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. Most everyone else should stick to a flip chart and magic marker.

PowerPoint 10/20/30 rule

When you are preparing a presentation, you have to determine if you are teaching or preaching. In December, Guy Kawasaki had a great post on how to build a PowerPoint presenation. I recommend you read the entire post, but here are some key points: Ten …

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That was so inspiring I think that my newspaper will turn out to be a big hit. Thank you.

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This regime makes presentations better. Thanks. Still, ppt is a monologue at core – unable to adjust to a welcome, hopefully, new idea-detour that could arise between slide 4 and 5 making 6,7…obsolete. http://www.arcocarib.com

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I mean this in the best possible way: of all the things that Guy has contributed to the business community, the 10/20/30 rule is the greatest.

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Guy, you are a genius. My family said that this couldn’t be done, but I did it, and got great feedback. I’m onto my second presentation as a born again PowerPoint user!

INSPIRE AND PERSUADE WITHOUT THE POWERPOINT

I just finished writing a speech and building a PowerPoint presentation for a client. (How ubiquitous PowerPoint is these days!) This is a speech designed to persuade the audience to use the services of an organization which they distrust and

3 regels voor een goede ppt!

Volg de 10-20-30 regel: 10 slides 20 minuten 30: fontsize blog artikel

How is your presentation

I recently attended an errors and omissions insurance seminar that featured a power point. Jealous? I was shocked that people still create power points that are word for word with what the speaker is saying. Please never do that. The

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Guy – You recommend (in your book “The Art of the Start”) that people only use dark colored backgrounds on PowerPoints. I was always told to only use LIGHT colored backgrounds so that meeting attendees could take notes on the printed presentation. Any thoughts on this?

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Nothing really important can be reduced to power-point. Would Lincoln have put the Gettysberg Address on Power-Point? Would Franklin Roosevelt have put anything he ever said in a Power-Point presentation? Skip the power-point. Look me in the eye and tell me what you want to do. I can understand it without the C.B. DeMille special effects. If you can’t explain it without the Power-Point, you don’t understand what you want to do.

Ten Things You Didnt Know About GuyKawasaki

“The only thing worse than a presentation which sucks is a presentation which sucks and you don’t know how much longer it will suck.” Some of you have been asking for me to put up my fantastic and in-depth interview with Guy. So here it is – Form…

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Have to say, you’re selling yourself short if you think this is only applicable to entrepreneurs and venture capital. I’m an academic (a catch-all term for someone who spends most of his time with his nose in a book and has very little chance of seeing the kind of money a successful entrepreneur would make), but the same basic principle apply, and they apply in an awful lot of situations. The most obvious of course is conference lectures. It is becoming more and more common (even in dusty disciplines like mine: literature) to utilize technology in a presentation, and all that you’ve said is true of a venture capitalist is also true of a conference audience. It’s also true, however, in print: particularly in terms of trying to sell yourself to a publisher. Finally, though some of my colleagues forget this, it is true of teaching. Students, whatever we choose to believe, can only digest so much information at a time, can only read print that is so small, and have short attention spans. So you are actually much wiser than you know, but I definitely like the easy formula you’ve created.

Life by PowerPoint

A couple of years ago I led a panel on online learning among nonprofit organizations at N-TEN’s National Technology Conference. As it happened, Guy Kawasaki was one of the keynote speakers at the conference, and I had the pleasure of

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Nice article. Also known as “Less is more”

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I tested it two days ago…it works!

10 Tips for a Killer

10 Tips for a Killer Presentation

Pitching your idea

As an intrapreneur you will have great ideas all the time (at least I have :-)). After thinking a little bit more of them, the most “great” ideas, are not that “great” anymore. But occasionaly you really have an idea, you are so convinced of, that you …

quotin… Nothing really important can be reduced to power-point. Would Lincoln have put the Gettysberg Address on Power-Point? Would Franklin Roosevelt have put anything he ever said in a Power-Point presentation? Skip the power-point. Look me in the eye and tell me what you want to do. I can understand it without the C.B. DeMille special effects. If you can’t explain it without the Power-Point, you don’t understand what you want to do. im my humble opinion, a Powerpoint presentation could help you pitch your idea 1000 times better than pages of business plans…

quotin… Guy – You recommend (in your book “The Art of the Start”) that people only use dark colored backgrounds on PowerPoints. I was always told to only use LIGHT colored backgrounds so that meeting attendees could take notes on the printed presentation. Any thoughts on this? dear kevin, i always use a dark background presentation, but when i print it, i add a space with lines for notes:) it’s the best way in my opinion!

I agree…for this reason you need a great presenter, rather than a great presentation…

Getting funded: just a few notes

geovisit(); Here’s a quick summary of the TC40 discussion on getting funded. First, if you’re like most of us– that is, not from Stanford, and not with serial credentials– the overall message was to just focus on bringing the…

Cultivating Good Audience Karma with the 10/20/30 Rule

Casual Friday: Pecha Kucha

I’ll admit straightaway that I’m a sucker for good presenters. It’s kind of a sad infatuation, actually, since they’re such a rare breed these days. Much has been written about different techniques for giving explosive, emotion-filled presentations (My…

How To Create a Web App

This is the second post in our series on how to run a startup and develop a product. In part one, How To Bootstrap Your Startup, we outlined the process of bootstrapping your company into existence. In this post, we…

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I suggest to bloggers such as yourself: please get to the point soonest. For example, “The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint: It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.” And then the 10 point list. The following text could have the rest, the clever chatter, and other details. There is so much to read these days, I wonder why people post two or three paragraphs of usually not-funny, not-interesting text. At least, I wonder this when I read info-type articles. I read your article for the info, which I liked, and thank you for it. Sorry for my own wordiness.

The amazing 10/20/30 rule that nobody listensto

Ever make a Powerpoint? Of course you have and in high school we do it a lot. But sadly most of them are BORING AS HELL! Until Guy Kawasaki came along, most people would type everything they could onto their Powerpoint into tiny 3 point font and then j…

How can we apply the 10 20 30 rule to a business plan? Just thinking…

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This was a great bit of advice.. to the point and precise.. and i thank you for the same.. Wonderfull.. you may have started a new company here.. Thanks

Lol, the PPT company…just doing executive presentations… Pierluigi Rotundo

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LOL. Entertaining post, but ultimately great advice on presenting. Being a designer of high-end PowerPoints for several years now, I can say that you are on to something here. It’s true about font sizes…people forget when they are laying it out on their screen that the text will look tiny when viewed from a distance, even on a large screen. I especially liked the part about it taking 40 minutes to get a Windows laptop to work with the projector. :)

Online Slide Shows: Not So Scary

It’s Halloween today, and I have a scary topic to discuss. No, this is not about ghost or goblins or even terrorism, wildfires, or avian flu. No, I’m here to discuss the horror of online slide shows. Despite Edward Tufte’s PowerPoint critique, slide s

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Yikes, I think I have Ménière’s too!

250 Things to Guarantee Your SpeakingSuccess?

Eric Feng on the Public Speaking Blog recently posted 250 Things You Wish You Know That Will Guarantee Your Speaking Success. Im skeptical when I read phrases such as guarantee your speaking success, and Im even more skeptic…

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This rule is really becoming famous. I read about the 10/20/30 rule in the printed version of German business magazine “Wirtschaftswoche” (kind of Business Weekly for German speaking countries). They covered Powerpoint’s 20th birthday and elaborated on Guy’s advice in a separate text box (his name was mentioned)!

Tips for raising capital……

Following on from my last post I thought I’d share a few tips on raising capital funds. It always helps

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Have you ever seen Don McMillan’s presentation on how to give a PowerPoint presentation? You can find him easily on YouTube. He’s a former engineer and now a comedian. He makes good points on how to give a PowerPoint presentation, but in a funny way…

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hello guy kawasaki this is AWESOME!!!

For Those About to Powerpoint, We SaluteYou

When we posted our question on www.linkedin.com about the worst sales cliches, we received a fairly decent number of responses that made their way into our Twelve Days of Sales Cliches diddy. One of the responses inspired this post. From …

I frequently find myself presenting using slides and always feel like I am not doing as good a job as can be done. I am very interested in effective presentation methods. Seth Godin has periodically written about the topic and…

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nice tips, however they are completely irrelevant in my industry… often times we have 50, 60, 70+ page decks for presentations running for 8 hours or more. 30 point font, while nice doesn’t always work with graphs, finance, org charts, etc…

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insightful tips on how to create a valid power point

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Often, the bottom 1/3 of the screens are obscured by the heads of the people in the front rows. I’ve stopped putting anything interesting down there except our company logo and URL.

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Guy, fully agree with your comments. See my (humble) view of a similar subject here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/presentation-trap-patrick-roettger?trk=mp-author-card

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This is great. Thanks. Presentations are hard enough. Also, Dude, If you haven’t already, test for MTHFR gene mutations and supplement accordingly. Ménière’s and its symptoms are tied to this genetic lapse. MDs don’t think about this as much as they should, let alone know about it. Pioneers like Dr. Ben Lynch and Dr. Amy Yasko are good places to glean more info.

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First absolute rule of PowerPoint: “There’s no such thing as a PowerPoint Presentation!”

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I tried the last suggestion “find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two. That’s your optimal font size” for my high school class – but the kids still couldn’t read the 8 point font. I guess I’ll never get this new approach to presentations…

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I am doing a PowerPoint project for one of my college classes. I found this to extremely helpful and very valuable information, I am glad that I found this site,

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Good advice, but hey … why doesn’t Guy make the 10/20/30 mandatory and kick out anyone who violates it? Can’t be that hard.

Guy, repeat after me: “My time, My money, My rules.” There. Problem solved … and once word gets around you then won’t have to preach 10/20/30 because everyone will already know.

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Mr. Kawasaki what does team, business model, projections and milestones mean points are about?

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All great points for a PowerPoint presentation, knowing how to use PowerPoint properly in the business world is an absolute must! Thank you for sharing your tips!

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Thanks this helped me fix up my presentation a bit! Good info, thanks for sharing!

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Apply the 10/20/30 Rule to Your PowerPoint Presentations Now

June 15, 2019 / Blog, PowerPoint Tips 10-20-30 Rules, Guy Kawasaki, powerpoint rule

10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint presentations

Guy Kawasaki is a successful venture capitalist who has been writing books about the trade since 1987.

A few years back, he wrote a short blog advocating a simple rule for PowerPoint & pitch deck presentations. He called it the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.

According to the 10/20/30 rule:

…a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

Kawasaki came up with this quick presentation style due to his line of business, citing how he’d often listen to dozens of pitches in a short period of time.

However, even if you’re not in the venture capital business, the 10/20/30 rule can still be applicable to your goals.

Given people’s increasingly shortening attention spans , keeping your presentation compact can save all of you time while still getting the meat of your message across.

Here we expound on each of Kawasaki’s points. But first, the 10/20/30 Rule in his own words:

Rule #1: 10 Slides

Kawasaki pointed out that it’s challenging to comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting.

Most people assume that you need to be highly detailed in order to be impressive, but this isn’t always the case.

The 10/20/30 rule also suggests that you use the ten slides to tackle all the topics important to your audience. For a venture capitalist, these topics are the following:

Use this list as a guide when you’re trying to condense your presentations into neat, salient points.

Depending on the type of presentation you’re giving, you can tweak these to fit your purpose, but try to keep your slides to a minimum, with a visible flow like the one above.

Rule #2: 20 Minutes

You should be done with your ten-slide presentation in twenty minutes.

Kawasaki would often allot an hour to hear an entrepreneurial pitch, but most of the time gets lost in other things. (For instance, your laptop might take a while to sync with the projector.)

Emergencies might also pull your audience away from the meeting. It’s best to keep your presentation short so that you’ll also have time to address questions and other concerns.

Rule #3: 30-pt Font Size

Kawasaki observed that the only reason people used smaller font sizes is to be able to cram huge chunks of text into a slide.

In doing so, your audience may perceive that you’re not familiar with the material and that you’re using the PowerPoint as a teleprompter.

The 10/20/30 rule forces you to use a larger font, so you can cut back on unnecessary details. Remember: you’re the one who has to do the talking, not your PowerPoint presentation.

10 slides in 20 minutes using a font no smaller than 30 points. Easy enough, right?

Are You Looking for a custom-designed PowerPoint Pitch Deck? Schedule a FREE presentation consultation now!

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The 10 20 30 rule of PowerPoint

image showing 10 20 and 30

Guy Kawasaki is a venture capitalist. He listens to hundreds of people trying to pitch potential products to him. In this article Guy evangelises a technique to keep all presentations to less than 10 slides and no more than 20 minutes and a font size of at least 30.

I suffer from something called Ménière’s disease—don’t worry, you cannot get it from reading my blog. The symptoms of Ménière’s include hearing loss, tinnitus (a constant ringing sound), and vertigo. There are many medical theories about its cause: too much salt, caffeine, or alcohol in one’s diet, too much stress, and allergies. Thus, I’ve worked to control all these factors.

However, I have another theory. As a venture capitalist, I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. Most of these pitches are crap: sixty slides about a “patent pending”, “first mover advantage”, “all we have to do is get 1% of the people in China to buy our product” startup. These pitches are so lousy that I’m losing my hearing, there’s a constant ringing in my ear, and every once in a while the world starts spinning.

Before there is an epidemic of Ménière’s in the venture capital community, I am trying to evangelise the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. While I’m in the venture capital business, this rule is applicable for any presentation to reach agreement: for example, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership, etc.

Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting—and venture capitalists are very normal. (The only difference between you and a venture capitalist is that he is getting paid to gamble with someone else’s money). If you must use more than ten slides to explain your business, you probably don’t have a business. The ten topics that a venture capitalist cares about are:

You should give your ten slides in twenty minutes. Sure, you have an hour time slot, but you’re using a Windows laptop, so it will take forty minutes to make it work with the projector. Even if setup goes perfectly, people will arrive late and have to leave early. In a perfect world, you give your pitch in twenty minutes, and you have forty minutes left for discussion.

The majority of the presentations that I see have text in a ten point font. As much text as possible is jammed into the slide, and then the presenter reads it. However, as soon as the audience figures out that you’re reading the text, it reads ahead of you because it can read faster than you can speak. The result is that you and the audience are out of synch.

The reason people use a small font is twofold: first, they don’t know their material well enough; second, they think that more text is more convincing. Total bozosity. Force yourself to use no font smaller than thirty points. I guarantee it will make your presentations better because it requires you to find the most salient points and to know how to explain them well. If “thirty points” is too dogmatic, the I offer you an algorithm: find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two. That’s your optimal font size.

So please observe the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. If nothing else, the next time someone in your audience complains of hearing loss, ringing, or vertigo, you’ll know what caused the problem. One last thing: to learn more about the zen of great presentations, check out a site called Presentation Zen by my buddy Garr Reynolds.

This article was written by Guy Kawasaki at Atherton, California. Guy is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Forbes.com. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. where he was one of the individuals responsible for the success of the Macintosh computer.

Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.

You can read more articles like this on Guy’s Weblog at blog.guykawasaki.com

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it wouldnt work…

thanks many enterpreneurs donot know how to present their b’ss to other.

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10-20-30 Rule Of Presentation

A PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points

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Guy Kawasaki , one of the early Apple employees, championed the concept of a brand evangelist to describe his position. He spent most of his time working to generate a follower base for Macintosh, the family of Apple computers. Today he works as a brand evangelist for Canva , an online graphic design tool. Given his significant experience giving presentations to captivate audiences, the 10-20-30 is a successful formula that consultants could follow to generate client action . Kawasaki first introduced and described this concept in his book, Art of The Start .

PowerPoint’s shortcomings

Presentations are one of the most frequently used methods of communication in most corporations. Both, employees, managers and leaders often resort to PowerPoint presentations to prepare their reports and speeches in front of the Boards. Yet, many academic and industry experts advocate for against using PowerPoint presentations, especially at critical instances.

Edward Tufte

Edward Tufte argues that they reduce the analytical timbre of communication. In other words, presentation slides lack the resolution to effectively convey context:

weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis

Tufte argues that we treat slides more as a medium for self-expression than as a medium to connect with our audiences. His most revealing examples of how presentations corrupt our elegance of expression are his critique of NASA’s slides from the Columbia shuttle disaster and a parody of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address condensed into a PowerPoint deck.

By forcibly condensing our ideas into bullet point-statements, phrases, and slides, Tufte contends that we break up narrative flow and flatten the information we’re trying to convey. In particular, he claims that presentations’ bullet points can’t signify logical relationships well and thus dilute the audiences’ thought process. The resulting message is watered down, lacks proper emphasis, and doesn’t communicate the context very effectively.

Case – IBM

In his pamphlet [1] , Tufte presents a case at IBM [2] in defense of his criticism for PowerPoint presentations:

When Louis Gerstner became president of IBM, he encountered a big company caught up in ritualistic slideware-style presentations: One of the first meetings I asked for was briefing on the state of the [main- frame computer] business. I remember at least two things about that first meeting with Nick Donofrio, who was then running the System/39O business. One is that I…experienced a repeat of my first day on the job. Once again, I found myself lacking a badge to open the doors at the complex, which housed the staffs of all of IBM’S major product groups, and nobody there knew who I was. I finally persuaded a kind soul to let me in, found Nick, and we got started Sort of. At that time, the standard format of any important IBM meeting was a presentation using overhead projectors and graphics that iBMers called “foils” [projected transparencies]. Nick was on his second foil when I stepped to the table and, as politely as I could in front of his team, switched off the projector. After a long moment of awkward silence, I simply said, “Let’s just talk about your business.” I mention this episode because it had an unintended, but terribly powerful ripple effect. By that afternoon an e-mail about my hitting the Off button on the overhead projector was crisscrossing the world. Talk about consternation! It was as if the President of the United States had banned the use of English at White House meetings.

Case – Amazon

This shortcoming is so prevalent in the industry that Amazon banned PowerPoint presentations. Instead of presentations, Bezos began iterating an approach to sharing information that involves writing memos of running copy, between two and six pages long. The original email from Bezos explaining the decision is preserved in Ram Charan and Julia Yang’s book The Amazon Management System :

Well-structured, narrative text is what we’re after, rather than just text. If someone builds a list of bullet points in Word, that would be just as bad as PowerPoint. The reason writing a good four-page memo is harder than ‘writing’ a 20-page PowerPoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what’s more important than what, and how things are related. PowerPoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas, flatten out any sense of relative importance, and ignore the interconnectedness of ideas

Case – Procter & Gamble

Based on this idea, Procter & Gamble (P&G)’s corporate culture uses a powerful discipline called the One-Page Memo for clear and concise communication.

P&G’s corporate culture requires any idea or proposal to fit onto one side of one piece of paper and must follow a predictable format. According to Charles Decker’s book, Winning with the P&G 99 , the one-page memo consists of the following narrative elements:

Charles Decker states:

If you can learn to write a P&G memo, you can learn how to think. The memo becomes a knowledge codification tool, a way to present ideas, arguments, and recommendations in a language and style everyone at P&G understands

Winning with the P&G 99 also quotes an advertising agency executive:

P&G seems to have figured out that if you structure information certain ways, people will readily understand it, good ideas will emerge, and bad ideas will be exposed. I really think that is what has made them so successful. They make fewer mistakes because they find mistakes before they happen

Additionally, P&G’s renowned salesforce uses a Persuasive Selling Format (PSF) narrative that is structured along similar lines.

Support for PowerPoint presentations

Despite such, PowerPoint has its advocates, such as Jean-Luc Dumont, who offered counter-arguments in favor [3] of well-designed and delivered PowerPoint presentations.

PowerPoint is a superb presentation tool, which, when used properly, can be an effective visual aid for professional speakers. However, at the hands of inexperienced presenters who have no eye for design, it can pave the way for jarring and unattractive slides. Sadly, the business world is teeming with mediocre presentations that just don’t do justice to PowerPoint’s abilities as a great communication tool. Luckily, there are people like Guy Kawasaki who can show how to design and deliver compelling PowerPoint presentations.

Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 Rule

Kawasaki advocated the 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint, which banks on the idea that a presentation:

should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points

Although Kawasaki originally meant it to be for entrepreneurs and startup business owners, this principle applies to all types of presentations. By following this guide, you can avoid basic design mistakes and ultimately stand out from the vast sea of lackluster presentations.

Kawasaki believes that it’s challenging for audiences to comprehend more than ten concepts during a presentation. Given this, consultants should aim to create PowerPoints with no more than ten slides. Using fewer slides and focusing on the critical elements helps your audience grasp the concepts you’re sharing with them.

In practice, this means creating slides that are specific and straight to the point. For example, say you’re presenting on the success of your recent strategy engagement. Your strategy analysis was likely extensive, and you took a series of different actions to obtain your recommendations. Instead of outlining every aspect of your analysis, use your slides to outline your recommendations.

This could look like individual slides for summarizing the problem you analyzed, your goals, the steps you took to reach your recommendation, and business impact that your client can achieve on implementing your recommendations.

It’s important to note that there shouldn’t be overwhelming amounts of text on your slides. You want them to be concise. Your audience should get most of the information from the words you’re speaking; your slides should be more supplemental than explanatory.

After you’ve spent time coming up with your ten key points, you’ll need to present them in 20 minutes. Knowing that you’ll only have 20 minutes also makes it easier to plan and structure your talk, as you’ll know how much time to dedicate to each slide, so you address all relevant points. Furthermore, executives are busy people. As a consultant, you will do your stakeholders a huge favour, if you could distill the key information and deliver it within 20 minutes.

Kawasaki acknowledges that presentation time slots can often be longer. However, finishing at the 20-minute mark leaves time for valuable discussion and Q&A. Saving time in your presentation also leaves space for technical difficulties.

30 Point Font

If you’ve been in the audience during a presentation, you probably know that slides with small font can be challenging to read and take your attention away from the speaker.

Kawasaki’s final rule is that no font within your presentation should be smaller than 30 point size. If you’ve already followed the previous rules, then you should be able to display your key points on your slides in a large enough font that users can read. Since your key points are short and focused. So, there won’t be a lot of text for your audience to read. Furthermore, they will spend more time listening to you speak rather than struggle reading the slides you are presenting.

Given that the average recommended font size for accessibility is 16, using a 30-point font ensures that all members of your audience can read and interact with your slides.

Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 Rule is now more than a decade old. Although PowerPoint is still the most used presentation software today, it’s no longer the only one. Several competitors have emerged and they offer compelling features worth considering. Furthermore, how people use PowerPoint has evolved over time. Still, the 10-20-30 Rule is just as relevant today as when Kawasaki originally published it.

Very little has changed with slide design. So, presenters still cram multiple ideas into one presentation. Many presenters don’t triage the content to filter out the unnecessary stuff and keep only the essentials.

So, instead of filling each slide with unnecessary text, try to identify your salient points and then, make an outline based on them. Use as little text as possible to avoid overwhelming your audience with a barrage of ideas. If a slide isn’t necessary, remove it. Remember, you are the star of your presentation, not the pitch deck or anything else. Make sure that all focus remains on you.

Attention span

We’re in the age of social media where the best content is short and fast . People appreciate things that don’t take much of their time. Attention spans have become so short that consumers expect you to immediately get to the point. When delivering a presentation, consider your audience’s time and interest level. Even if you have an hour, prepare for a speech that doesn’t last longer than twenty minutes. Use the extra time to set up your equipment or hold a Q&A / brainstorming session.

Eliminate fluff

The universally renowned TED talks requires speakers to deliver their speeches in eighteen minutes or less. That doesn’t stop them from communicating brilliant ideas that are worth sharing. If you have an imposed time constraint, you’ll be forced to edit your speech meticulously until it’s down to the bare necessities. Trim down all the unnecessary stuff so that you can put the essentials in the spotlight. Remember that your goal is not to bombard your client with ideas, but rather inspire them with a few that can change their organizations for the better.

Ensure readability

The number one rule of presentations is simple: the audience is the boss . Wherever you are in the presentation process, you should always put your audience at the forefront of your mind . For instance, what the people at the front row sees should be seen clearly by those in the back row as well. Optimize the font size of your text to accommodate all of your viewers. When you see people squinting, understand that something’s not right with your presentation’s font size.

Implementing 10-20-30 rule

Kawasaki did not mean for the 10-20-30 Rule to be pedantically applied across business contexts and presenters. Instead, he set it as a guideline for presenters that want to improve their pitch decks, and consequently, their presentations. He understood that each situation is unique, so this rule is not one-size-fits-all .

Instead of going with the twenty-minute rule, apply the one-third rule that suggests that the length of your speech should be one-third of the time you’re given. When building presentations, instead of asking how many slides you should have, ask how many you need. Finally, you can bend the thirty-point-font rule without breaking it. It’s only the minimum font size recommended, so you can go higher as the number of words you use per slide decreases.

Ultimately, you should consider the needs of your audience instead of mindlessly jumping on the bandwagon. What works for one may not always work for you.

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What is the 10/20/30 Rule for Presentations and How to use it?

Last updated on November 14th, 2023

10 20 30 rule for presentations

When you’re a presenter, there is one thing that you never want your audience to experience: death by PowerPoint. You know that feeling when your head hurts, your eyes are tired, and you’re bored to your wit’s end because somebody rambles on for over an hour with a poorly designed presentation? That is death by PowerPoint, and it’s an all too common phenomenon everywhere, from academia to business.  

Some rulebooks and guidelines try to transform how we prepare our presentations and make them more engaging to prevent death by PowerPoint . But one that has got a lot of traction is the 10/20/30 rule for slideshows by Guy Kawasaki. It’s straightforward and a handy rule of thumb always to follow to keep your presentations punchy and impactful. In this article, we explain what the 10/20/30 rule is and how you can apply the 10/20/30 rule to help format your presentations.

What is the 10/20/30 Rule in PowerPoint? 

The 10/20/30 rule for presentations is a simple yet powerful guideline to follow when preparing your visual PowerPoint presentations. This comes from the mind of Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and currently the Chief Evangelist at Canva. 

The rule goes as follows: 

Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule for presentations was designed with the business pitch in mind, but it can be applied to all kinds of presentations. From business presentations to plenary sessions, you can keep the 10/20/30 in mind to help you format your presentations. 

Let’s dissect each component of the 10/20/30 rule for slideshows.  

The 10 Slides

When asked about how many slides for a 20-minute presentation, Kawasaki says that there should be no more than 10 slides. This is because the human mind can only fully comprehend 10 different points in one sitting, considering you have one distinct point for each slide. 

This is perhaps the most challenging part of the 10 20 30 rule for PowerPoint to follow, but it’s also the most important. Limiting yourself to such a small number of slides challenges you to include only the most necessary information in your presentation so that every slide counts. 

How many slides for a 10-minute presentation? 30-minute presentation?

Under the 10/20/30 rule, the 10-slides-in-20-minutes guideline gives you around 2 minutes per slide. You can use this to estimate how many slides you need if you have a shorter or longer presentation time. 

Therefore, if you have a short 10-minute presentation, it is recommended to keep everything within 5 slides. For a 30-minute presentation, you can have up to 15 slides. 

Tips to lessen your number of slides 

Opt for visuals and graphics over text. 

As the popular saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Instead of blocky text, fill your slides with visual elements like photos, graphs, and charts.    

Have a strong and informative script. 

Your slides’ main purpose is to make an impact and complement what you’re saying. If you can do away with a few details and info, go ahead and remove them from your slides and include them in your script instead. 

Edit, edit, edit.  

With presentations, it is often true that less is more. Keep trimming and editing until your slides are lean and only include the meatiest parts, without any fluff included. 

The 20 Minutes 

There’s a reason why most TED Talks fall under 20 minutes. This is because 20 minutes is how long you can expect your audience to fully pay attention. When your presentations go beyond this limit, your audience will inevitably get tired and bored as time goes on. 

Of course, there will be instances where you’re given more than 20 minutes for your presentation. For example, if you were assigned 1 hour of presentation time, Kawasaki suggests that you should still allot only 20 minutes for going through your slides and spend the rest of the 40 minutes on other activities, like an open Q&A forum. Not only do you prevent your audience from getting bored, but you also get to interact and build rapport with them through a Q&A.

Tips to keep your presentation under 20 minutes 

Divide your presentation into sections.

It is helpful to look at your presentation as separate sections, such as intro, main body, and conclusion. If you’re planning to present in under 20 minutes, you can then divide the time for each section depending on how much time you think it requires. 

Time yourself.

You will never know how long your presentation will take until you actually present it. When practicing, time yourself to see whether you fit the duration, and adjust accordingly. 

The 30-point Font 

Following the 10/20/30 rule, Kawasaki recommends that all of the text on your visual slides must have a font size of 30 points or higher . No more blocks of text too small that your audience needs to strain their eyes to properly see. Instead, go for short phrases in big letters that even the people at the very back of the room can receive the message.  

Aside from readability, the 30-point-font rule is a valuable guideline to follow because of the following reasons:

It means more impactful, more digestible text. 

Because of the big font size, you can only include short phrases or sentences in your slides. Compared with unreadable blocks of text, these sentences make more of a punch because they are only used sparingly. 

It forces you to not simply read the slide.

With the big font requirement, you will no longer be tempted to just write everything you want to say on the slide and read it aloud. It challenges you to know your material by heart so you don’t rely on your slides. 

While it is a simple yet fantastic guideline, remember that the 10/20/30 rule is simply a guide, and you don’t need to strictly follow each of its components during every presentation. It will still depend on you and your message and how you want to convey that message to your audience. 

When used properly, the 10/20/30 rule ensures that you get to convey your message and keep your audience’s attention at the same time. 

Alternatively, you can learn about other rules for PowerPoint presentations, such as the 7×7 rule for PowerPoint , or the 1-6-6 rule .

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How To Use The 10-20-30 Rule Of Presentation

Communication is everything at any workplace! However, it isn’t always easy, especially for new employees. Presentations and public speaking are…

How To Use The 10 20 30 Rule Of Presentation

Communication is everything at any workplace! However, it isn’t always easy, especially for new employees. Presentations and public speaking are some of the communication-related activities that daunt employees the most. Recent graduates, in particular, hesitate to deliver presentations as they struggle to navigate expectations and wrap everything up in a time-efficient manner.

Studies indicate that a significant number of people would do anything to avoid delivering a presentation. This is why it’s crucial that organizations have presentation and communication skills training programs in place to instill much-needed confidence among employees. Additionally, the 10-20-30 presentation rule is a game-changer. Read on to explore its meaning and significance in fast-paced business environments.

How The 10-20-30 Rule Came Into Existence

What is the 10-20-30 rule, why give harappa a chance.

Guy Takeo Kawasaki, an American marketing specialist and venture capitalist, had heard several pitch ideas from entrepreneurs. After listening to hundreds of people, he concluded that most pitches lacked substance. To help entrepreneurs pitch more effectively, he came up with the 10-20-30 rule of presentation.

Guy Kawasaki’s rule transformed the presentation landscape and is often considered the holy grail of PowerPoint. It helps communicate valuable information over a short period of time, without overwhelming the audience.

What Is The 10-20-30 Rule?

In a nutshell, Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 is a collection of three golden principles. A presentation should be:

No longer than 10 minutes

No longer than 20 slides, no less than 30 font size.

While Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule primarily applies to entrepreneurs, it can also apply to any presentation that requires reaching an agreement. Here are the details of each component behind the method.

Rule—10 Slides

The first tenet of the 10-20-30 presentation rule is that a presenter should limit the number of slides to 10. By keeping the presentation short and to the point, it’s easier to retain the audience’s attention. Typically, an audience doesn’t want an information overload and doesn’t have an interest in unnecessary details. Moreover, the 10 slides shouldn’t have too much text. Highlighting the important points is more effective.

Rule—20 Minutes

The 10-20-30 rule highlights the reality of the modern world: decreasing attention span. While rapid digitization has been a boon, it has also impacted people negatively. Therefore, it’s difficult to hold people’s attention and expect them to listen till the end. The 10-20-30 rule identifies this challenge and encourages presenters to not extend beyond 20 minutes. The time limit also provides an incentive to trim all the unnecessary details and come straight to the point.

A good 20-minute presentation has the following structure:

Introduction: 1 minute

Problems/questions: 4 minutes, main body: 13 minutes, conclusion: 2 minutes, rule—30 font size.

While the substance of the text is of utmost importance, a powerful visual can enhance the quality of presentations. In addition to hearing, an audience also likes to pay attention to the details presented on the screen. Therefore, good readability is necessary. Small font size makes it difficult, which is why Kawasaki proposes a minimum font size of 30 . This makes the text readable, whether the person is sitting in the front or at the back of the room. Additionally, bigger fonts will prevent presenters from adding unnecessary details and help memorize key points quickly.

Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 presentation rule received several criticisms as many believe that it’s no longer relevant in today’s business environment . Nevertheless, it helps individuals cover the key aspects of presentations. It takes into account the psychology of listening and attention and encourages people to make cleaner presentation slides. If nothing, the 10-20-30 rule of presentation will help win over an audience.

While rules are instrumental in bringing discipline to one’s way of work, there must be behavioral shifts for achieving transformative outcomes. Harappa’s Young Talent Bootcamp is designed to help organizations build must-have Thrive Skills among employees. Help early professionals maximize their potential and navigate everyday professional situations with confidence. The program pivots on several crucial learning outcomes that’ll help employees to raise the bar at work. A communication toolkit will help them enhance their active listening and speaking skills. They’ll not only embrace feedback but also implement them to address any skills gaps they might have. Help new employees drive peak performance through this unique blended learning experience. Schedule your demo today!

Explore Harappa Diaries to learn more about topics such as What Is  Outcome-Based Learning , The Complete Guide To  Distance Learning , What Is The  Kirkpatrick Model  and Skills Of A  General Manager  that will help organizations tap into their employees’ potential

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Example prompts to try with Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat

Experience the power of Get started with Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat  (formerly named Microsoft 365 Chat). See how much time you can save and how much more you can get done. Use Microsoft Copilot to catch up, create content, and ask questions. This article provides several example prompts you can try.

Tip:  When you’re giving Copilot instructions, you can direct it to specific work content by using the forward slash key (“/”), then typing the name of a file, person, or meeting.  If you write a prompt and don’t reference a specific file, person, or meeting, Copilot will determine the best source of data for its response, including all your work content.

Synthesize large amounts of data into simple, consumable responses and catch up on things quickly. Here are some examples:

You've been on vacation now you're back. You need to find out what's going on with Project X. Find the latest about Project X. What's the current timeline? When are deliverables due?

You've just joined a new team and you're trying to ramp up on recent activities. Summarize team communications over the last 30 days. What are the team's priorities? 

There's been a recent change in how your team is tracking work. Find information about the new way our team is tracking work. Include email communications and points of contact for questions.

Create content

Brainstorm ideas and draft new content based on information at work. Here are some examples:

You want to draft a one-page description of a new project (let's call it Project Foo) that's just about to kick off at work. Using information in file1, file2, and file3, write a one-page description of Project Foo. Write it so non-technical people can understand what the project is about and when it's scheduled to be completed.

You're preparing an email to invite customers to attend an upcoming conference and visit your company's booth. Using information in Document Z, write a fun, catchy email inviting our customers to come see us at our booth during next month's conference.

You want to plan a morale event for your team. List 3-5 ideas for group activities in the Seattle area that would be suitable for my team. Include approximate cost and time estimates. 

Ask questions

Find information and get answers quickly, even if you can't remember where the information you need is or how it was shared. Here are some examples:

You need to know what's left in the budget for supplies. How much did we spend on supplies for Project Foo?  How much budget do we have left for Project Foo?

Your team received customer feedback. You want to identify the top things your team should address. Review the feedback we received from customers via email last week. What are the top three issues we should address?

Overview of Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat

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CDC plans to drop five-day covid isolation guidelines

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Americans who test positive for the coronavirus no longer need to routinely stay home from work and school for five days under new guidance planned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency is loosening its covid isolation recommendations for the first time since 2021 to align it with guidance on how to avoid transmitting flu and RSV, according to four agency officials and an expert familiar with the discussions.

CDC officials acknowledged in internal discussions and in a briefing last week with state health officials how much the covid-19 landscape has changed since the virus emerged four years ago, killing nearly 1.2 million people in the United States and shuttering businesses and schools. The new reality — with most people having developed a level of immunity to the virus because of prior infection or vaccination — warrants a shift to a more practical approach, experts and health officials say.

“Public health has to be realistic,” said Michael T. Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota. “In making recommendations to the public today, we have to try to get the most out of what people are willing to do. … You can be absolutely right in the science and yet accomplish nothing because no one will listen to you.”

The CDC plans to recommend that people who test positive for the coronavirus use clinical symptoms to determine when to end isolation. Under the new approach, people would no longer need to stay home if they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of medication and their symptoms are mild and improving, according to three agency officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.

Here is the current CDC guidance on isolation and precautions for people with covid-19

The federal recommendations follow similar moves by Oregon and California . The White House has yet to sign off on the guidance that the agency is expected to release in April for public feedback, officials said. One agency official said the timing could “move around a bit” until the guidance is finalized.

Work on revising isolation guidance has been underway since last August but was paused in the fall as covid cases rose. CDC director Mandy Cohen sent staff a memo in January that listed “Pan-resp guidance-April” as a bullet point for the agency’s 2024 priorities.

Officials said they recognized the need to give the public more practical guidelines for covid-19, acknowledging that few people are following isolation guidance that hasn’t been updated since December 2021. Back then, health officials cut the recommended isolation period for people with asymptomatic coronavirus from 10 days to five because they worried essential services would be hobbled as the highly transmissible omicron variant sent infections surging. The decision was hailed by business groups and slammed by some union leaders and health experts.

Covid is here to stay. How will we know when it stops being special?

The plan to further loosen isolation guidance when the science around infectiousness has not changed is likely to prompt strong negative reaction from vulnerable groups, including people older than 65, those with weak immune systems and long-covid patients, CDC officials and experts said.

Doing so “sweeps this serious illness under the rug,” said Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the People’s CDC, a coalition of health-care workers, scientists and advocates focused on reducing the harmful effects of covid-19.

Public health officials should treat covid differently from other respiratory viruses, she said, because it’s deadlier than the flu and increases the risk of developing long-term complications . As many as 7 percent of Americans report having suffered from a slew of lingering covid symptoms, including fatigue, difficulty breathing, brain fog, joint pain and ongoing loss of taste and smell, according to the CDC.

The new isolation recommendations would not apply to hospitals and other health-care settings with more vulnerable populations, CDC officials said.

While the coronavirus continues to cause serious illness, especially among the most vulnerable people, vaccines and effective treatments such as Paxlovid are available. The latest versions of coronavirus vaccines were 54 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infection in adults, according to data released Feb. 1, the first U.S. study to assess how well the shots work against the most recent coronavirus variant. But CDC data shows only 22 percent of adults and 12 percent of children had received the updated vaccine as of Feb. 9, despite data showing the vaccines provide robust protection against serious illness .

Coronavirus levels in wastewater i ndicate that symptomatic and asymptomatic infections remain high. About 20,000 people are still hospitalized — and about 2,300 are dying — every week, CDC data show. But the numbers are falling and are much lower than when deaths peaked in January 2021 when almost 26,000 people died of covid each week and about 115,000 were hospitalized.

The lower rates of hospitalizations were among the reasons California shortened its five-day isolation recommendation last month , urging people to stay home until they are fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild and improving. Oregon made a similar move last May.

California’s state epidemiologist Erica Pan said the societal disruptions that resulted from strict isolation guidelines also helped spur the change. Workers without sick leave and those who can’t work from home if they or their children test positive and are required to isolate bore a disproportionate burden. Strict isolation requirements can act as a disincentive to test when testing should be encouraged so people at risk for serious illness can get treatment, she said.

Giving people symptom-based guidance, similar to what is already recommended for flu, is a better way to prioritize those most at risk and balance the potential for disruptive impacts on schools and workplaces, Pan said. After Oregon made its change, the state has not experienced any disproportionate increases in community transmission or severity, according to data shared last month with the national association representing state health officials.

California still recommends people with covid wear masks indoors when they are around others for 10 days after testing positive — even if they have no symptoms — or becoming sick. “You may remove your mask sooner than 10 days if you have two sequential negative tests at least one day apart,” the California guidance states.

It’s not clear whether the updated CDC guidance will continue to recommend masking for 10 days.

Health officials from other states told the CDC last week that they are already moving toward isolation guidelines that would treat the coronavirus the same as flu and RSV, with additional precautions for people at high risk, said Anne Zink, an emergency room physician and Alaska’s chief medical officer.

Many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Australia, made changes to isolation recommendations in 2022. Of 16 countries whose policies California officials reviewed, only Germany and Ireland still recommend isolation for five days, according to a presentation the California public health department gave health officials from other states in January. The Singapore ministry of health, in updated guidance late last year, said residents could “return to normal activities” once coronavirus symptoms resolve.

Even before the Biden administration ended the public health emergency last May, much of the public had moved on from covid-19, with many people having long given up testing and masking, much less isolating when they come down with covid symptoms.

Doctors say the best way for sick people to protect their communities is to mask or avoid unnecessary trips outside the home.

“You see a lot of people with symptoms — you don’t know if they have covid or influenza or RSV — but in all three of those cases, they probably shouldn’t be at Target, coughing, and looking sick,” said Eli Perencevich, an internal medicine professor at the University of Iowa.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

New covid variant: The United States is in the throes of another covid-19 uptick and coronavirus samples detected in wastewater suggests infections could be as rampant as they were last winter. JN.1, the new dominant variant , appears to be especially adept at infecting those who have been vaccinated or previously infected. Here’s how this covid surge compares with earlier spikes .

Covid ER visits rise: Covid-19, flu and RSV are rebounding in the United States ahead of the end-of-year holidays, with emergency room visits for the three respiratory viruses collectively reaching their highest levels since February.

New coronavirus booster: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 6 months or older get an updated coronavirus shot , but the vaccine rollout has seen some hiccups , especially for children . Here’s what you need to know about the new coronavirus vaccines , including when you should get it.

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