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How Many Slides to Use for a 5, 10, 15+ Minute Presentation?

Presentations—they're a part of life. One of the first things you may wonder about when you're assigned a presentation is how long it needs to be. You may also wonder how many minutes per slide.

Unfortunately, that question doesn't have a simple answer. But in this guide, I'll help you to work out how many slides you need for presentations of different lengths . I'll also include some tips to help you with presentation timing and delivery. 

Jump to content in this section:

How Many Slides for a 5-Minute Presentation?

How many slides for a 10-minute presentation, how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, how many slides for a 20-minute presentation, how many slides for a 30-minute presentation, how many slides for a 45-minute presentation, how many slides for a 1-hour presentation, how many powerpoint slides per minute, how to make your presentations better, learn more about presentation preparation, find a template for your next presentation, the top source for premium presentation templates.

Let's start with the answer to a common question: how many slides for a 5-minute presentation? 

While 5-minute presentations may not be the norm (let's face it, that's a pretty short presentation slot), sometimes that's all the time you've got. Typically, you might do a 5-minute presentation at a weekly stand-up or similar meeting. 

Can a Presentation Be Too Short? 

If your presentation lasts less than ten minutes, then it is considered a short presentation. It isn't bad to have a short presentation as long as you're able to deliver the message you're supposed to correctly.

But if you’re unable to deliver your message, then your presentation is too short.

For short presentations, it's best to limit the number of slides. In fact, you probably won't want more than 10 slides. And you could get away with fewer.

Here are five tips to make an effective short presentation:

Only put essential information in your presentation. This means that any unnecessary information should be left out. This means that your slides should be brief and concise.

Context is important, so just because you are taking out unnecessary information doesn’t mean that you should leave out context. You want everyone to be able to understand what you are talking about.

3. Series of Three

Try using the series of three. This helps people remember your topic better. You do this by breaking your topic into three main ideas. This makes your presentation more concise.

4. Use Stories

People relate to stories more than facts. So, try to use stories to get your main point across in a relatable or entertaining way.

5. Bare Minimum

You should keep your presentation minimal. They should look good but also not have a ton of information on them.

For example, if you’re wondering how many slides are in a 5-minute presentation, The answer is you should have only five slides. That’s about one minute per slide. The general rule is 1-2 minutes per slide.

So, if a 5-minute presentation is short and sweet, how many slides do you need for a 10-minute presentation? There are a couple of answers to this question. 

One option is to keep the number of slides similar (no more than 10) and spend longer discussing key points. 

But another option is to have more slides, ideally no more than 20. Then decide how much time you want to spend on each slide. As before, it's good practice to stick to one main point per slide. 

Get more PowerPoint presentation tips in How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide) .

As you start to increase the length of your presentation, the issue of the number of slides becomes less important. So, when thinking about how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, you can include more slides. You could perhaps use as many as 30. 

But you don't have to. You can also stick with a smaller number of slides and spend more time talking about key points . In other words, adjust the verbal part of your presentation without changing much else. 

If you do decide to go for more slides, you can move beyond the bare-bones approach. That means besides having slides for your main talking points, you can include slides for supporting points, too.

Once your presentation starts getting a bit longer, the question of how many slides you need for a 20-minute presentation gets more complex. Guy Kawasaki believes the ideal presentation has 10 slides, lasts 20 minutes, and has no font smaller than 30 points. That's his 10/20/30 rule.

Here are some tips for a 20-minute presentation:

1. Go Longer

With 20 minutes, you can go longer. Some recommend 20 slides for a 20-minute presentation, with an allocation of a minute of speaking time per slide. 

2. Spend Time on Slides

But it's not always necessary to have a set time per slide . Just spend more time on the slides where you've got more to say. With longer presentations, include a brief introduction and conclusion to make your presentation even more polished. 

3. Use Charts and Graphs

A 5-minute presentation can have a pretty simple design. As presentations get longer, it's important to think about ways to hold your audience's attention. This is a good time to illustrate key points with graphics, photos, charts, and graphs. They'll give your audience images they'll remember long after you end your presentation.

The same principles apply when considering how many slides for a 30-minute presentation. If you used 30 slides for a 15-minute presentation, you'll likely feel more comfortable with more slides for a longer presentation slot. In that case, add more slides for sub-points.

But if you prefer a minimalist approach, that's OK, too.  Stick to the main talking points and spend more time talking about each one. See our public speaking guide for more presentation tips:

Once your presentation slot gets longer, you'll probably want to have a LOT more slides. When planning how many PowerPoint slides for a 45-minute presentation, it's unlikely that you're going to stop at 10 or 15 slides.

As always, well-designed slides will help hold your audience's attention.

So, what about the number of slides for a 1-hour presentation? This is a pretty long presentation slot. There's a good chance your audience's attention will wander. Here are some tips for longer presentations:

1. Make a Choice

As advised for presentations 20 minutes and above, you've got the choice to add more slides for supplementary points. Or you can speak much longer about the key points. And you'll need to keep slide design appealing to give your audience something to focus on.

2. Make it Interactive

There's another option, though. Even if you've got a 1-hour presentation slot, you don't have to fill the whole thing with your own voice. Instead, make it interactive by getting the audience involved throughout. You can also leave plenty of time for a Q&A session at the end. 

3. Plan a Break

An hour can be a long time to sit and listen to a person speak. If you're working on a longer presentation, scheduling a break not only gives your audience a chance to stretch and move around. It also gives you a fresh chance to capture their attention when they come back.

Another question people often ask is how many PowerPoint presentation slides per minute you should have for a typical presentation. Again, this question doesn't have a simple answer. 

The number of slides you need per minute may depend on your topic. If it's simple, a few slides might do, while a more complex topic might need more slides. 

Another factor is your speaking rate. The average person speaks at 150 words per minute . If you speak faster than that, you'll cover more slides in a minute than someone who speaks more slowly.

Match your slides to your material. Even long presentations can hold attention if the topic is interesting enough. 

A notable example is Mary Meeker's Internet Trends  (Source: TechCrunch ). This runs over 100 slides. It makes good use of graphs and charts. Learn how to do this for your own presentations in our infographics creation guide . 

Instead of focusing on how many PowerPoint presentation slides per minute you need, there are other ways to improve your presentation. 

For example,  focus on what your audience needs . Choose the presentation length that's right for your subject and the occasion. Here are a couple of examples:

An executive presentation is usually short and focused. So, you'll get straight to the point and may only need a few slides.

In contrast, a keynote speech or lecture is usually longer. Spend more time painting a picture or telling a story. 

Use templates to give your presentations a harmonious and attractive look without having to do the design work yourself. Human beings are very visual. Attractive slides will subtly enhance the appeal of your presentation. 

When designing your slides, avoid walls of text , which are a real turnoff.  Keep your slides uncluttered. It'll be easier for the audience to focus on them.

Finally, practice your presentation so you know your speaking rate and get the timing right for moving from slide to slide. This will help you deliver an appealing presentation, no matter how long it is.

If you want to learn more about preparing presentations, check out the articles below:

I've shared some example presentation templates throughout this guide. You can find even more stunning templates for your next presentation in the following presentation template guides:

Make sure your slides pop with an attractive design template. If design isn't your strong point, there's no need to worry. Envato Elements has a great offer you can take advantage of today. Download as many PowerPoint presentation templates for your 5-minute presentation as you want all for one low price.

To find the perfect PowerPoint slide design, select Presentation Templates from the onscreen search box. You'll find thousands of templates. Use the on-site filtering tools to find the perfect one for your next presentation.

Find Presentation Templates

These PowerPoint slide designs are professionally created and well supported to allow you to create virtually any kind of presentation you want.

Plus, Envato Elements now has AI-assisted search . So, you can find the presentation template you need even more quickly.

Download Your Next Presentation Template and Get Started!

We've just discused questions such as how many minutes per slide and how many slides are needed for various timeframes. As we've learned, the number of slides per timeframe can vary per speaker. But it's important to plan your presentation to fit the time allotted.Remember, for a head start on creating the perfect visual identity for your presentation, download unlimited PowerPoint template s from Envato Elements. 

Now it's over to you now to get started on creating the perfect slides for your next presentation.

Editorial Note : This tutorial was originally published in February of 2019. It's been completely reviewed for accuracy and relevancy by Sarah Joy .

Ideal Number of Slides for a 5, 10 and 15-Minute PowerPoint Presentation

How many slides for a 10 minutes presentation are needed? At first glance, it seems straightforward to answer the question; but when you face it, you realize that it is not that simple. If you want to be focused, efficient, and pay enough attention to the details, the number of slides is critical. Knowing the exact number of slides, and planning everything to perfectly fit your time slot gives you extra confidence during your presentation.

Here, I’ll show you how many slides you have to prepare for 5, 10, and 15-minute presentations.

Table of contents

• How many slides for a 5-minute presentation?
• How many slides for a 10-minute presentation?
• How many slides for a 15-minute presentation?
• How to automatically time your slides?

How to prepare to present with a timer?

• Tips for creating a short presentation

How Many Slides for a 5-Minute Presentation?

The short answer: 5 slides that are 1 minute long would be perfect. You could even add more slides, but you’ll get less time to spend on each slide.

Preparing a 5-min presentation is extremely difficult. It gets more arduous when you have less time to present since you have to select the most important details to cover your topic clearly and thoroughly.

Although 5 minutes is short for a presentation, you can present an efficient report on one topic if you omit fillers. It is enough to consider the limit of time, keep an organized structure, and capsulize the most helpful information for your presentation.

How many slides for a 5-minute presentation are sufficient?  To find the answer to this question, first you need to have a good understanding of the following points:

• What the topic and its needs are,
• How the information should be organized.

However, pay attention that the fewer number of slides, the better. We do not mean fewer than five slides, but we cannot recommend using more than six slides as well.

Notice that nobody will listen to your speech if they cannot read your text. So, decrease your text as much as possible. You can choose to include only the basics in your text.

On the other hand, you have less time to talk about the topic, so you should concentrate on the necessary words and make your speech as precise as possible. Remember that doing a lot of practice is recommended because:

• It helps you to keep the track of your scenario throughout the presentation
• It would be best if you matched the slides and text with your speech
• You should end your presentation in just 5 minutes.

If you’re short on time, we can help. You can take advantage of the many well-designed templates available on our website. They are great options to help you organize your slides and text. Check out our collection of PowerPoint templates and use them to create your slides within minutes!

How Many Slides for a 10-Minute Presentation?

The short answer: Anywhere between 10 slides of 1 minute each to 20 slides of 30 seconds each are ideal for a 10-minute presentation. Since you have ample time, be sure to go into more detail. Remember, a boring 10-minute presentation can feel like 30 minutes for your viewer! So be sure to keep your presentations interesting and engaging.

Ten minutes mean more time to cover more details of your topic. If in a 5-min presentation, you are forced to tell your story using a small number of words, a 10-minute presentation gives you more room to plan your slides and speech. So, what should you do with your time? How many slides for a 10-minute presentation are perfect?

To answer the former question, we have to say you have the following choices:

• Decide to go for a similar number of slides (around ten slides) and dedicate your time to discuss necessary points.
• Use more slides and determine the time you need to spend on each one.

Our typical answer to the latter question is to create 10-20 slides. It’s up to you to choose the exact number. However, note that each person, on average, speaks 120 to 160 words per minute. So, you have enough time to use 1200 to 1600 words in a 10-minute presentation.

When you determine the time you spend on each slide, you can decide on the exact number of slides for your 10-minutes presentation. However, choose 20 slides if only you can finish each one in 30 seconds. Remember that every word counts, so pick them carefully to support the main idea of your presentation.

While thinking of how many slides you need for a 10-minute presentation, you should also decide on the perfect font size. The correct size for fonts makes your slides perceptible and not troublesome. Moreover, use bullets and numbers to organize your text but overdoing them may not have the effect you are looking for.

We think that it would be better for everyone, even experienced presenters, if they get access to well-designed 10-min presentation templates. Check out our page and benefit from tons of our professional PowerPoint templates.

How Many Slides for a 15-Minute Presentation?

The short answer: Anywhere between 10 slides to up to 30 slides of 30 seconds each are perfect. We recommend an average of 20-25 slides if you have a lot to cover. However, 15 mins can take a toll on your audience, so be sure to make your presentations as engaging as possible.

There is a plausible relationship between how much time you have to present and how many slides you need. Accordingly, the importance of the number of slides decreases when the length of your presentation increases.

You are the person who decides on everything but recall the two options we mentioned earlier: 1. spending your time talking more about critical points, or 2. increasing the number of slides. These are also applicable to your 15-minute presentation.

How many slides for a 15-minute presentation are needed? Our answer is that you can use more, perhaps as many as 30, although you’d better not to go for a number much greater than a 10-min presentation.

If you prefer to stick to the standard, it is 10 to 20 slides on average. You may wonder, this is similar to our answer to the question,  how many slides for a 10-minute presentation . The reason is that it is only a matter of time increased.

Nonetheless, a 15-min presentation gives you greater freedom to step forward and do something more. You cannot, for example, create slides for your supporting facts in a 5- or 10-minute presentation; however, you have enough space to include them in a 15-minute presentation.

Don’t forget that our services come in handy whenever you need help creating presentations! No matter how experienced you are, you can create professional-looking slides using our high-quality templates.

How to automatically time your slides ?

It is not difficult to time your slides; you can set a specific time for each slide so that your presentation keeps the expected pace. As the time limit is critical, you should use the PowerPoint Transitions tab to ensure you complete your presentation in time.

So, if you want to set a time for each slide to run to the one, complete the following steps:

• Choose the slide for which you are going to specify the timing.
• Select the  Transitions  tab.
• Find the  Timing  group.
• Find the  Advance Slide  and go to the next step.
• Select the  After  check box, and enter your desired number of minutes or seconds.

Now, you have made the slide move automatically after the given time. You can also use  Apply to All  button to use the same speed time for all the slides.

Note:  If you choose no timing, slides will advance by clicking the mouse.

There is only one way to get prepared for a successful presentation, and that is: Rehearse! It doesn’t matter that it is a 5, 10, or 15-minute presentation; you must do as much rehearsal as needed before presenting.

Practice makes perfect, so rehearse as much as you can. For example, you can practice the following:

• Take time differences into account when tailoring your speech.
• Record yourself. Which one do you prefer, video or tape?
• Watch or listen to your tape or video. This way, you can enhance your speech.
• Peer feedback is also helpful. Remember that your family members and friends can also give you practical advice.

In this way, you can prepare your presentation as perfectly as possible.

Tips for Creating a Short Presentation

It is not all about, for example,  how many slides for a 10-minute presentation . There are other ways you can use to present much better. Here are some tips:

What does your audience want? The answer to this question creates your presentation focal point – the audience’s needs. It would help if you even decided on the presentation length based on your subject and the occasion.

How appealing is your presentation? Try to improve the appearance of your slides. Stunning designs will be sure to impress your audience and managers. You do not have to do design work; use templates! It helps you give your presentations a unified and appealing look.

Some tips like the following ones may also be helpful for you:

• Each slide should have a lot of white space. It gives the presentation an organized, convenient layout.
• A mix of images and text is preferable to display the content.
• Use readable fonts and try to keep them compatible.
• It is better to break the messy slides into multiple ones.

Creating a presentation is an art, but it is not difficult for you now. You not only found out how many slides for a 5, 10, and 15-minute presentation are sufficient, but you also know that you should pay attention to other details. However, if you are still out of ideas or need any help, you can use our well-designed templates to create the desired slides for your presentation.

At SlideBazaar, we help you create engaging and memorable presentations. Choose from our collection of professional templates or opt for our custom design services for a personalized touch. Your presentations deserve to be elevated to new heights, and we’re here to help you achieve just that!

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How Many Slides For Presentations (10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 Minutes)

You should limit your presentations to one slide per minute at a maximum. Try to include the least amount of slides while trying to get your message across in a concise while still complete manner.

An alternative rule is the “10/20/30 Rule,” which suggests that a good presentation will limit itself to 10 slides, last 20 minutes in length, and include a font size no smaller than 30 points.

PowerPoint presentations can be overwhelming to the point that they put off people from learning new material and discourage them from taking in the presented information.

The purpose of this article is to help people make their presentations more exciting and easier to follow and discover how many slides are generally needed so you can time your presentations accordingly.

Of course, all of the below points are just suggestions and the number of slides that you will use for your own presentation will of course depend on the content as well your target audience.

How many slides for a 10-minute presentation?

How many slides for a 15-minute presentation, how many slides for a 20-minute presentation, how many slides for a 30-minute presentation, how many slides for a 40-minute presentation, how many slides for a 50-minute presentation, how many slides for a 60-minute presentation.

A 10-minute presentation would require no more than 10 slides. It’s much better to start with too few than too many, so users will likely appreciate the shorter list of bullet points. Your goal is to provide the right amount of information for your audience to understand the topic without overwhelming them.

If you are just giving an overview of something that you want the audience to remember in 10 minutes or less, then this is probably enough. Keep your slides simple and keep them limited to two-three bullet points per slide.

A 15-minute presention should have a maximum of 15 slides. This is the right amount of information for audiences to grasp without feeling overwhelmed or bored. If you can give this type of presentation in 10 minutes or less, it’s even better.

During a 15 minute presentation. These slides should be able to cover the basics of your topic, but if you try to make it too complicated, your audience will lose interest, and you will end up wasting their time.

A 20-minute presentation should require no more than 20 slides. On average, you should only be using 5-7 bullet points on each slide. You can also include one or two images on each slide to help facilitate understanding.

If you are giving an overview of something that you want the audience to remember in 20 minutes or less, this might be the perfect time to follow the 10/20/30 rule. This concept should relate to the audience or is a key part of your speech or presentation.

A 30-minute presentation would require no more than 30 slides. You can use 5-7 bullet points per slide or 8-10 bullet points if the presentation is necessary to convey ideas in great detail. If you are including lots of images and charts to help illustrate your point, then reduce the amount of bullet points used.

It’s a good idea to follow this rule because too many slides can make it challenging to keep track of all the points you are trying to make, and your audience will be more likely to lose interest in what you’re saying or miss important ideas as they go by quickly. It’s also easier for people to focus on your presentation when it’s broken up into smaller sections.

On 30 minute presentations, it is a good idea to leave a few minutes for Q&A. This will allow your audience to ask questions about things they didn’t understand or missed in the part of the presentation. It also gives your audience a reason to get involved in the session.

For a 40 minute presentation, you should try to keep it to 40 slides maximum, you can dole out some information in detail and leave a bigger chunk of time for Q&A. People will stay attentive when the material is broken up into smaller segments.

You should keep in mind that different people respond to different mediums and will better understand an idea when it’s presented to them in a way they are accustomed to receiving information (i.e. some people benefit from text and others from images, some people need the material broken up into small pieces while others prefer a long, steady stream of information).

It will also depend on the type of presentation you are doing. If it’s a demonstration or special event, then more slides are better (and less time per slide is good). If you’re there to present statistics, research, comparison charts, etc., fewer slides with more information per slide would be best.

A 50-minute presentation should include no more than 50 slides. You can have more slides than this if you have a very engaging visual presentation with limited amounts of information per slide.

Similar to a 40-minute presentation, a 50-minute presentation can allow you to go into a lot of detail in some places and remain at a high level. You should also feel free to leave out certain information if it is not essential in a particular presentation’s overall scheme of things.

As a general rule of thumb, experienced public speakers or subject matter experts are the ones who feel the most comfortable holding longer presentations and sessions, which allows them to go into greater detail in certain areas.

If you’re new to this kind of work, it might be best to keep your presentations between 30 and 40 minutes and leave the rest of the time slot open for questions from the floor.

A 50-minute presentation would require no more than 20-25 slides, as the only purpose they serve here would be just as a reminder for the speaker to stay on point as he conveys the story to the audience.

A 60-minute presentation should include no more than 60 slides. If you have a very engaging visual presentation with limited amounts of information per slide, you can have more slides than this.

If the presentation is going to be more interactive, then it’s better to cut down on the number of slides and instead focus on how much each slide will contribute to the overall story you’re telling. You must also leave plenty of time for a Q&A session at the end. 

The number of slides for a presentation varies. While too many can bore your audience, not enough will leave them wondering what you’re talking about.

Your slides can serve as visual reminders of your talk and also help you maintain a narrative flow in your presentation. You must know what you want to accomplish with each slide, how long it will take to read the text and absorb information from a chart or graph and how much time you have for Q&A.

Remember that slides can and should be used as visual aids, not as the main point of the presentation. The speaker needs to convey that information, not just read it from their slides.

Related Posts:

How many slides for a 15 minute presentation?

When the time allotted for a business presentation varies, so must the slide’s content to fit the minute quota. Yet, it can be hard to know how to achieve the right amount of slides for the time frame that you’ve got. Therefore, we’ve considered how many slides for a 10-minute presentation an entrepreneur would ideally need, as well as how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, and how many slides for a 5-minute presentation. And, we’ve also included a note to the number of slides for a 3-minute pitch. 

Without more introduction, we’ll get right to the heart of it. 

How many slides for a 15-minute presentation 

With as many as a slide per minute, you could still range at a 15 slide average. However, some will say you could even do three slides per minute, depending on your content, so these could go up to even 45 slides according to that rule. 

In general, the answer to how many slides for a 15-minute presentation lies in about 25 slides. Yet, think anywhere between 20-30 as the broadest use of those. 

And if you genuinely wish to stick to the standard, remember any pitch deck should be able to withstand a 10-20 slide average. Therefore, you might be better off sticking to your 15 slide quota on this one. If you can afford it with 15 with all your must-haves, we say you do so. 

How many slides for a 10-minute presentation 

Twenty slides are the usual for a 10 min business pitch. Yet, you usually create anywhere from 10 to 20. 

If the number 20 on a 10-minute slot is making you think of 2 slides per minute, please take the load off your shoulders on that obligation before you start. It’s the best you could do. If you make yourself present two slides per minute, you might find you’ll be rushing through what you have to say, looking to cover a lot and find time to be a killer for the way you conceive your pitch.

On the contrary, think of what you need to include in your pitch. What’s better yet is to look up a business presentation template to give you an idea of the required content and its order so you can take it from there. We’ve even created a list full of pitch deck examples from successful startups (such as Airbnb, Uber, Facebook , and many others.) You’ll probably find much use relying on those, so take a look and start from there if it helps. 

On this one, it’s also helpful if you rely on images to keep a visual flow. Also, in considering how many slides for a 10-minute presentation, make sure your font is at the perfect size to be visible and not disturbing. As long as we’re at it, don’t overdo it with the bullet points and declutter your slides to make them look perfect!

How many slides for a 5-minute presentation 

Now let’s get to how many slides for a 5-minute presentation. A 5-minute presentation could already count as a prolonged elevator pitch . If those are new to you, we recommend you read up on How to Create an Elevator Pitch with Tips and Examples . 

In theory, a 5-minute presentation could be done with 5-6 slides at most, cutting your presentation time to about 45 seconds per slide. For this (and with any business presentation, really, but here especially), cut your text down to very basics. If people are lost reading your pitch deck, the chances of them listening to you for those 5 minutes decrease. 

Instead, create a presentation that keeps your audience engaged with what you’re saying. And remember, we still use story-telling even if the time is short, which will demand of your pitch planning a more concise and cohesive content. 

To get there, work on your script. As every word counts, you’ll find drafting a text and then polishing it will make for a precious exercise as you cut down on unnecessary wording to get to your point in the most succinct manner. 

You get this time to make an impression and leave something by which the audience can remember you. So be memorable. 

If you’re looking for less: the 3-minute pitch

Just in case, if you’re going for 3 minutes, we also have a 3 Minute Pitch Deck Template that can help you out. It works perfectly for Demo Day and going on-stage.

The deck includes a nice-looking cover followed by a critical question slide, your problem, and solution, along with chart slides for your financial slides, video inserts for your product demo, even room for a full quote, and much more! Feel free to check it out!

Regardless of the allotted time: Rehearse!

Whether you’ve got 5, 10, or 15 minutes on your business presentation clock, always prepare with much rehearsal. You need to practice your pitch, especially if time variations will be a demand from you. 

There needs to be a clear understanding of your absolute essentials if 3-5 minutes is all you’ve got to draw an investor. While this scenario might sound very wild, trust us that they exist for a very valid reason based on actual need and use in the startup industry. 

Also, by tailoring these pitch variations in regards to time differences, you’ll find a much more polished rendition of your business pitch. And that will significantly help give shape to the best version of your business presentation you could find. 

Please don’t take this for granted. Rehearse all you can as practice does make perfect. Record yourself on video or tape, listen and watch yourself so you can improve and get advice from others. Peer feedback helps, but even your family and friends can give you tips on presenting that can make your pitch go a long way. If not, we’ve drafted the Best 5 Tips on Presenting and Public Speaking to help out, as well.

And remember: whatever you do, don’t rush! A rushed presenter is a business pitch’s fall. Make the best use of your time without rushing, so people can listen to you and pay attention other than to your hurried stance. 

Are you out of ideas?

Before we let you move on to your pitch creation, are you fresh out of ideas on how to build a pitch deck? Just in case that’s you, our CDO and co-founder, Vini, has created a guide to an outstanding presentation deck with presentation deck ideas .

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Home Blog Design Calculating the Slide Count: How Many Slides Do I Need for a Presentation?

Calculating the Slide Count: How Many Slides Do I Need for a Presentation?

Have you ever wondered how many slides you need for a presentation? Perhaps you’ve been in a situation where you felt the slides were too many or too few for the time given. Who sets the standard for the number of slides per minute?

Thankfully for you, we’ve included some calculations based on our expertise in the presentation industry. This article includes an interactive calculator and suggestions for how many minutes per PowerPoint slide, content to list for such situations, etc. 

Table of Contents

Slide Calculator

Rules for choosing your ppt slides, typical presentation length in minutes by topic, how many slides for a 3-minute presentation, how many slides for a 5-minute presentation, how many slides for a 7-minute presentation, how many slides for a 10-minute presentation, how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, how many slides for a 20-minute presentation.

• How Many Slides for a 25-Minute Presentation?

How Many Slides for a 30-Minute Presentation?

How many slides for a 45-minute presentation, how many slides for a 60-minute presentation, final words.

We crafted this easy-access calculator tool to simplify the experience of choosing how many slides your presentation should contain. Please consider that the total count is entirely subjective; for some presenters, the slide count may feel too restrictive, whereas it can be a relaxed approach for others. As a general guideline, don’t overdo 30% of the total count suggested by this calculator.

How many slides?

One Topic per Slide

We cannot stress enough the importance of not over-populating your PPT slides. Presenters feel the need to compact their presentation into as few slides as possible, which compromises their readability, especially if we talk about a data presentation .

One topic per slide only; if you are required 2-3 slides over your planned limit for easier comprehension, go for it.

Choose Quality Over Quantity

Building a huge slide deck is not the answer. Concise presentations like elevator pitches are identifiable for the maximum impact-driven in a short selection of slides, where data is precise, and where the key points for the presentation are highlighted through correct visual communication , allowing the presenter to focus on the speech.

Work with presentation templates that customize the layout and contain visual cues to make relevant points stand out.

On Font Sizing and Graphs

The 10/20/30 Rule of Presentations by Guy Kawasaki is a valid approach to presentation design as it specifies a minimum size of 30 pt for titles in presentations. Taking this method, in our experience, secondary text should be between 18-24 pt, depending on the amount of text to add, but no less than that.

Graphs should occupy 1/3 of the slide layout for easier visibility. Remember to work with legible legend text and bold colors. If you have to work with multiple graphs, opt for one or two graphs per slide top (two graphs in case you are comparing variables/scenarios and don’t want to go back and forth with the slides).

The typical length of a presentation can vary depending on the context and purpose of the presentation. Here are some common presentation lengths for different scenarios:

Business Presentations

• Team Meetings: 10-20 minutes
• Project Updates: 15-30 minutes
• Sales Pitches: 20-30 minutes
• Client Presentations: 30-60 minutes

Academic Presentations

• Classroom Lectures: 45-90 minutes
• Conference Talks: 15-30 minutes
• Thesis Defense: 45-60 minutes

Public Speaking and Events

• Keynote Speeches: 30-60 minutes
• Workshops: 60-120 minutes (including interactive elements)
• TED Talks: 18 minutes

Webinars and Online Presentations

• Webinars: 45-60 minutes
• Online Workshops: 60-120 minutes

Elevator Pitches

• Elevator Pitch: 1-2 minutes

Being a super-concise format, the 3-minute presentation can be done in 2-3 slides. Ideally, one slide showcasing the context of your problem, the second slide offering a solution, and optionally a CTA slide to conclude the presentation – although the call-to-action can be added to the second slide.

Applying our calculator, the ideal number of slides for a 5-minute presentation is between 3 and 4, which you can expand to 5 slides if you have multiple graphs to introduce. Check our article for further information on how to create and deliver a professional-quality 5-minute presentation .

When working with a 7-minute presentation, the typical length is 4-7 slides, ideally 5. You need to include two slides for the core main ideas, with one slide reserved for the summary of key points. If we add the title slide to the mix, that gives us a minimum of four slides.

Ten-minute presentations are the average length for project update presentations or in-team meetings. However, this format is not commonly used for academic presentations, which require a minimum of 15-20 minutes to present a case properly. Consider a length of between 7 and 9 slides for 10-minute presentations.

Depending on whether you are approaching a product presentation , a sales presentation requires the title slide, an introduction slide with the background or context for the presentation, the main content, and a call-to-action slide. The main content can be arranged in 3-5 slides, giving an overview of the value offering, strategy, and implementation plan ( roadmap , timeline , etc.)

15-minute presentations are ideal for conveying more in-depth topics, like introducing case studies for marketing research or academic presentations. In terms of slide count, consider a minimum of 10 slides, as going below that count implies remaining over 2 minutes per slide and a maximum of 15 slides.

Academic presentations can follow the same approach regarding the number of slides as long as three slides are present: background, methodology, and conclusion. However, 15 minutes is the minimum length acceptable for a conference talk as presenters feel too rushed to disclose the information that backs up their research process. Still, the poster session is a fine example of how to deliver an academic presentation in a concise time allocation.

Presentations that last 20 minutes are the common ground of business meetings, as we allow for questions and answers , to demonstrate live features in a product as in a demo presentation, or to define strategic planning for team meetings. In terms of length, the 20-minute presentation has to cover at least these slides:

• Title + Introduction
• Context (2-3 slides): Where you bring all the data to present the problem.
• Body (5-7 slides): Where you introduce your research, tools, or strategy to tackle the issue.
• Proposal: One or two slides where you deliver a response based on your presented findings.
• Conclusion (1-2 slides): Aim to include a powerful call-to-action and the Q&A session introduction.

Therefore, it makes a minimum of 12 slides, and you can go all the way up to 20 to complete your presentation. One particular format that stands out in this time block is the TEDx Talks, which typically last 18 minutes. TED Talks have very much in common with video presentations , where audience engagement is key, so the total count of slides is not considered by minutes but rather by how presenters structure their storylines .

The 30-minute presentation format is commonly used in training presentations , as it allows presenters to structure lessons to cover theory and one practical example in multiple lesson formats rather than lengthy webinar sessions. Depending on the platform to use, if handouts are delivered as part of the study material, and if videos are included, we can define the actual count of slides to work with. 

In this type of long-presentation format, it’s best to stick to a maximum of 25 slides and use multimedia elements to boost audience engagement. Otherwise, the format can be dense and tiresome in terms of content retention.

The average length of live events and webinars is 45 minutes, as they can condense a 30-minute presentation format, end with a powerful call-to-action or testimonial, and include a five to ten-minute Q&A session. 

If the presenter opts to do a live course event format, then a minimum of 10 slides must be included aside from the main screen-sharing event. In the case of recorded interviews, structure the slide deck so you can count an equal number of slides before and after the interview. By doing so, the presentation is not perceived as streaming an interview but as a multi-resource event featuring an interview. 

Finally, the 60-minute presentation format is strictly academic or educational. It’s seen in thesis defense sessions, where the candidates must explain their research in detail and often provide live demonstrations. In business settings, the 60-minute presentation format is reserved for workshops, which may include a concise slide deck of 25 slides at the top and, most of the time, covered in live-time exercises or mentoring.

There’s no golden rule for defining the number of slides per minute, as the presentation delivery experience depends on both presentation skills and the niche. With this guide, we intend to provide some general guidelines that can help you consider an estimated count, but once again, it shouldn’t restrict your own creativity. Always consider that in presentation design, less is more. Don’t go overboard with slides to add content, as the same concepts can be explained in your speech.

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How Many Slides in a 15 Minute Presentation? Perfect Slide Count for 5, 10, 15-Min Presentations

Discover the ideal number of slides for short presentations. Whether it's 5, 10, or 15 minutes, learn to captivate your audience with the perfect balance of content and design.

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

• Nostrum non voluptas alias sit ut corporis perspiciatis nihil molestiae. Vitae quidem aut aut quia quia porro explicabo. Similique occaecati sit quo. Enim enim dolor ut. Et error alias nam fuga voluptas inventore placeat et. Eligendi similique officia provident magni aut quasi soluta qui.
• Deleniti totam eius similique repellendus. 
• Deleniti totam eius similique repellendus. Doloremque sunt nihil et. Tenetur delectus velit ut. Pariatur velit ipsa.

3 Static and dynamic content editing

4 static and dynamic content editing.

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

5 Static and dynamic content editing

6 static and dynamic content editing.

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any pa ge and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

"Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system."

How long should a presentation be? That is a popular question for which many presenters seek a magical answer. However, most of them leave one critical point out – it is not the length of the presentation that matters, but the number of informative and engaging slides.

You've read it right. The number of slides can predetermine the success or ultimate failure of your project. Very often, presentations packed with too many slides distract and overwhelm the audience, affecting their attention negatively. At the same time, too few slides leave the viewers wondering whether they've grasped the presented matter fully. Moreover, sometimes, there are gaps that the audience can't fill in on their own.

Today, we'll share our professional view on presentation time counted in slides. Do you wonder how many slides in a 5-minute presentation would suffice the purpose or how many slides for a 45-minute presentation you require to keep the audience interested and alert? We've got more than that to offer!

The Rule of Thumb for Slide Count

Many professional presentation design services outline the Rule of a Thumb strategy as a starting point that can help you figure out the precise number of slides you need. The Rule relies on the 1:1 ratio, aka one slide per minute. While this universal standard comes of use in some situations, it is not the solid pillar on which to base your presentation every time.

The ideal slide count depends on various factors, such as presentation style or complexity of the subject. This means that some more technical topics would require additional information for the audience to grasp the message fully. At the same time, a more conversational presentation usually requires fewer slides since it depends on the spoken narrative.

Concept of audience attention span

The number of slides in a presentation can be dictated by the concept of the audience's attention span. There isn't a single attention span period to base on. Still, you should remember that people react to different factors, such as the topic, context, and environment, not to mention personal preferences. When planning a presentation, you should spice it up with visuals, interactive elements, storytelling, and critical data. Such an approach will help you keep the audience alert and engaged throughout the presentation.

5-Minute Presentations

An expert pitch deck design company knows that a 5-minute presentation is a lot more challenging to create than it seems. It takes a fair share of dedication and professionalism to make a shorter presentation both informative, impactful, and engaging.

How many slides should a 5-minute presentation be? Whitepage experts advise it to stick within 5-7 slides, and here's why: fewer slides will give the audience a very vague idea of what is going on, and too many slides will distract them from the speaker and the presentation in general.

Now, when you know how many slides for a 5-minute presentation you need, it takes time and effort to make the most of those 5-7 slides. Use these practical content formation tips to succeed with the task:

• Main message . With as many as 45 minutes per slide at your disposal, you should figure out a main idea for each slide and center the viewer's attention on it. Make sure that you are not using too much information or too complex concepts that will leave the audience wondering. You should do your best to make every critical point digestible and easy to grasp so that they leave a desired impression.
• Textual component . Even the most helpful text can become an undesirable distraction when you are presenting a 5-minute pitch. That is why you should cut the textual component to a bare minimum. To succeed with the task, you must be fully aware of what a presentation outline is . It will take some time to point out the most critical text, but in the end, the result will be worth the effort.
• Visuals. Well-picked visuals will suffice the primary goal of your presentation. People are known to perceive visual information better. Besides, such types of visuals as charts, diagrams, and graphics will enhance the viewer's understanding of the topic. Lastly, you can use various images to support and reinforce your message so that it becomes twice as memorable.
• Practice . To ensure that you don't exceed the 5-minute limit, you must practice the timing. If you rehearse the presentation beforehand, you will be able to introduce necessary improvements, attune your presentation, and eliminate potential weak spots.

10-Minute Presentations

The answer to the question of how many slides a 10-minute presentation should be lies within 10-12 slides. In some instances, 20 slides are used, but discussing 2 slides within a minute may create unnecessary pressure on both the speaker and the audience. A 10-minute presentation with 10 to 12 slides grants the opportunity to submerge the viewers deeper into the topic. At the same time, you will be able to keep them attentive and alert. The trick is not to focus on how many slides in a 10-minute presentation you should include but how to make the most of the given time.

Content tips:

• Clear structure . With 10 minutes at hand, you can divide the presentation into three clear sections: intro, main body, and conclusion. Such an approach will ensure a memorable structure and logical information flow that will keep the audience engaged.
• Supportive elements . Use the slides to support the main arguments. Spice them up with compelling visuals and relevant data to reinforce the goal.
• Interactive elements. The simplest way to keep the audience alert and engaged is to include them in the presentation flow. You can use rhetorical questions, personal anecdotes, polls, and quick quizzes to achieve the desired results.

15-Minute Presentations 

15 minutes is a perfect time to deliver a well-balanced and impactful presentation. How many slides should a 15-minute presentation be? The Whitepage team agrees that 15-20 slides are more than enough. A 20-slide presentation allows it to introduce the main points along with the supporting facts that usually make it twice as memorable.

There are a few content tips to pay attention to when working on a 15-minute project:

• Mix and match different content types. You can use text, images, and charts to help the audience understand and memorize the presented topic.
• Use a storytelling approach to connect with the audience . Emotional bonds help to deliver a more impactful presentation that resonates with the audience.
• Use strategic pauses. While you may not be able to afford to pause during a 10-minute presentation, let alone a 5-min one, 15 minutes grant you enough time to stop and emphasize critical points, let the audience reflect for a moment, and boost further interest and engagement. Strategic pauses spread the aura of suspense, which in turn makes the audience twice as motivated and curious about the matter.

Guidelines for Other Popular Presentation Lengths

5-minute, 10-minute, and 15-minute presentations aren't the only options available. There are many other presentation lengths you can use. We'll cover the most popular of them below.

20-Minute Presentations

In case you wonder how many slides for a 20-minute presentation you should use, Whitepage professionals say – 20-25 slides. As you may have already guessed, such a format allows you to dive deeper into intricate and captivating storytelling. Moreover, you'll have enough room for detailed explanations so that you can introduce more complex concepts and ideas.

Now that you know how many slides in a 20-minute presentation you can count on, we'll share a few practical tips on how to make the most of the presentation:

• Spice the slideshow with real-life examples, case studies, and related stories that make the content twice as memorable.
• Explain complex data through professional visuals to enhance viewer comprehension.
• Balance the ratio of text and captivating visuals to maintain proper viewer involvement.

30-Minute Presentations

As we proceed to the question of how many slides in a 30-minute presentation should there be, the number of slides keeps growing. Through years of dedicated research in the industry, Whitepage experts point out that 25-30 slides will suffice for any presentation purpose.

With as many as 30 slides, you can go wild and tune your project to perfection. On top of all the primary aspects of the presentation, it is time to think about useful handout ideas for presentations to promote interactive discussions and launch a progressive Q&A session.

• Use the given opportunity to present relevant insights to support the main point and improve the audience's understanding.
• Use interaction with the audience to boost a more dynamic environment.
• Don't use too much information that could confuse or overwhelm the audience.

Quick Tips for Longer Presentations (45-60 minutes)

An hour-long presentation isn't something out of the ordinary, but it requires a fair share of practice to rock it. When you think about how to make a presentation longer , you should realize that presenting as many slides as possible isn't a great solution. There are many other tricks and techniques that will help you succeed with the task without losing the interest of the audience.

• Pace . A steady pace is critical when it comes to a lengthier presentation. Rushing forward or stalling may impact the audience negatively. At the same time, a well-maintained presentation manner will help the viewers keep up with the flow, even when you transition from one complex point to another.
• Interaction . Various polls, surveys, and other interactive sessions will keep the audience active and alert. Moreover, two-sided cooperation will assist in better comprehension and information retention.
• Breaks . It is vital to give your viewers time to recharge. That is why strategic breaks are critical during longer presentations.
• Flexibility . You may need to adapt to real-time shifts in the audience. Whether the viewers require a more detailed explanation of a notion or have a few pressing questions – you should be flexible and willing to respond to these needs.

Popular Techniques for Counting the Number of Slides

A slideshow calculator would be a handy tool to refer to, but there are time-proven techniques that serve the same purpose.

The 10-20-30 Rule (Guy Kawasaki)

Guy Kawasaki is a marketing specialist, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He has come up with one of the most used presentation rules used for pitches and investor presentations.

Kawasaki's 10-20-30 Rule for slideshows relies on three principles

• Number of slides
• Font size for presentation

Let's decode this seemingly complex Rule. According to Guy Kawasaki, you have to present 10 slides within 20 minutes, and the minimum font size is 30 points. Such an approach ensures that you center your attention on the main points and skip all the unnecessary data and details. The mentioned 20-minute timeframe grants you enough time to share your ideas without taking up much of the viewers' time. Finally, the chosen font size ensures that your text is readable. Plus, the font eliminates the issue of a crammed slide.

The 5/5/5 Rule

Another helpful rule to consider when working on a well-optimized and informative presentation is 5/5/5. There are three main components as well:

• Number of words
• Number of lines

According to the 5/5/5 guidelines, you should only use 5 words per line. If you do so, you will present the main message clearly and concisely through informative phrases or keywords.

There should be no more than 5 lines of text on a slide. The approach eliminates overcrowding and suffices the overall clarity of the slide. Finally, there should be no more than 5 text-heavy slides before a visual slide. The rule helps with better information retention and gives the audience some time to digest previous slides before you introduce another complex notion.

The PechaKucha Method

The PechaKucha method was invented by chance and wasn't aimed at the professional presentation field, but it's proven to be quite useful. If you are working on an engaging presentation, the "chit-chat" method may serve you well. The core of this presenting technique lies in using 20 slides total, with as many as 20 seconds dedicated to each.

The PechaKucha presentation is exceptionally dynamic and relies heavily on the art of storytelling. The speaker has around 6 minutes and 40 seconds to deliver the presentation. Moreover, the automated slide change keeps the speaker focused and clear-minded.

The Ignite Format

Similar to PechaKucha but with 15 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds, resulting in a quick, 5-minute presentation. Highlight its usefulness for igniting conversations and sharing passions or ideas quickly.

Some may refer to the Ignite format as an even more dynamic spin-off of the PechaKucha method. The Rule relies on the same structure: the speaker has 15 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds to deliver the whole presentation. All in all, you have 5 minutes to inspire action and discussion in the audience.

The primary advantage of the Ignite format is that it suffices for a passion-driven presentation. The fast pace of the presentation allows you to share your ideas so that they project the urgency of the matter and your enthusiasm.

Additional Tips for Effective Presentations

No matter the length of the presentation, a bunch of effective tips from experienced specialists will ensure the future success of your venture.

Understanding Your Audience

No matter how eloquent the speech , its effect will be lost if you don't value the needs and interests of the audience. Before you even start the presentation preparation, you should do your research to figure out their level of familiarity with the subject. Consider the audience's demographics, interests, and expectations to deliver a presentation that resonates and leaves a lasting impression.

The better you understand the audience, the easier it will be to find the best content, tone, and style of the presentation. Don't forget about various interactive elements to boost your connection with the audience and enhance their active engagement.

The Importance of Design

The visual aspect of the presentation can be either inviting and compelling or distracting and tiresome. Whether it is the first, the middle, or the final slide in a presentation , they should coincide in color palette, style, and font size. Uncluttered and visually appealing slides improve information retention and keep the audience engaged. You should try to find a perfect balance between text and graphics to deliver the main message effectively. Don't forget about the logical flow of presented data and visual hierarchy to draw viewers' attention to critical points and make them memorable.

Rehearsal Is Key

Rehearsal is one of the most understated stages of effective presentation delivery. A fair share of practicing will help you find the best pace, smooth out existing transitions, and perfect your body language in public speaking . You can rehearse in front of the mirror or invite a few colleagues to simulate the actual meeting. Self-recording comes of great use as well. It will give you a clear idea of what can be improved in the presentation and your behavior during the presentation.

Don't forget that time is of the essence, especially if you are working on a time-limited presentation such as PechaKucha. As you practice, you can time the delivery to ensure that it remains within your outlined timeframe. Not to mention the fact that the more you practice, the better you will know your topic so that no questions from the audience will catch you off-guard.

Each presentation format differs from one another in terms of slide count, delivery time, and the amount of information you can pack it with. However, every presentation requires a deep understanding of the audience, its needs, and preferences to be as impactful and meaningful as possible.

Today, we've shared a few practical strategies, methods, and techniques to help you create a successful presentation. Yet, you should always remember that adaptability and flexibility are critical, no matter the topic of the presentation. Moreover, sometimes professional assistance is the best way to deal with a challenging task.

Whitepage's team consists of devout experts who have perfected their skills over the years in the industry. Whether you are working on an investor pitch, marketing presentation, educational project, or any other complex presentation, our professionals are ready to offer a helping hand. All it takes is to book a discovery call, and we'll rush to the rescue!

Find more valuable information in our articles on what is a slide deck and how to master color blind friendly presentations .

Download "What Should Be in a Pitch Deck Presentation" for free!

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How Many Slides to Use in a Presentation? 5 Tips

There’s nothing worse than a presentation that goes over time or poorly-designed slides that cram too much information onto the screen at once.

While there are a lot of things that can dictate how many slides to use in a presentation, key factors include how long you have to speak, what content you are presenting, and the visual nature of the content. (Some speakers don’t need slides at all to keep audiences engaged!)

Here, we’re breaking down common presentation times with a guide for how not to overload slides, and use them well—no matter what type of talk you are giving.

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How Many Slides for a 5 Minute Presentation?

When it comes to short presentations, you probably want to keep the number of slides to a minimum. Think about the venue here in particular. How many people are you presenting for?

Often short presentations might be for a small group or on a small screen. That’s a major consideration when it comes to how many slides you need for a 5-minute presentation.

For most speakers that comes down to 5 to 10 slides, up to 2 per minute of speaking time .

• Design for screen size. If you’ll be presenting on a desktop or laptop screen, ensure that text is large enough to read for people standing or sitting a few feet away.
• Practice your timing. Five minutes might seem like a long time until you start talking.
• Put one point on each slide. (That’s probably all you’ll have time for.)
• Include a call to action at the end for the audience. This might include anything from an email address to answer a question or provide feedback to taking a survey or visiting a website.
• Don’t include a questions slide unless you will actually have time to take questions at the end of a short presentation.

How Many Slides for a 10 Minute Presentation?

With a 10-minute you have a little more flexibility in terms of slide count.

With more time, you can vary pacing and might have time to take questions at the end of the talk. (Your slide count will be less if you cut time from your presentation to answer questions.)

For a 10-minute presentation, you’ll probably end up creating 10 to 20 slides, but don’t feel like you have to move through two slides per minute. It really depends on the complexity of the information you are talking about.

Record your presentation as you run through it. Did you finish on time? And were you able to see each slide long enough to understand it during the natural flow of the presentation before moving on to the next one?

• Include plenty of white space for an organized, easy to read design.
• Use a mix of images and text to keep the visual flow moving.
• Use legible fonts that are consistent from slide to slide.
• If a slide looks cluttered, break the content into multiple slides.
• Don’t go crazy with bullets. The goal of each slide is to present an idea, not serve as notes for you.

How Many Slides for a 15 Minute Presentation?

There’s a fairly logical relationship between the time you have to present information and how complicated the content is. The number of slides you need for a 15-minute presentation might not be that much different than at 10 minutes.

That’s because what’s on each slide might need to sit with the audience a little longer. You need to leave a chart on the screen long enough for the audience to understand it. A photo, on the other hand, can flash up and go away quickly and still be understood.

Carefully consider your presentation topic and then use this recommendation as needed: Allow for 20-30 slides for a 15-minute presentation .

• Pick a theme for each slide: Image or text? Don’t expect the audience to “read” both on every slide.
• Use image based slides to connect a short text point (or no text at all) to an idea the audience can see.
• Use text-based slides without images for more complex information or to show bullet points, charts or numbers.
• You don’t have to have a new photo and image for each slide. Use the same image and change the text if you need to. Or don’t use an image at all. Nice typography is pretty awesome.
• Include more detailed information in the notes area for you as you are giving the presentation or to the audience to download and print later.

How Many Slides for a 30 Minute Presentation?

Once you get into the territory of longer presentations, you might want to use slides of varying types – some that are super quick and others that stay visible longer – to get different points across and fit the conversational flow.

This varying approach can be interesting for the audience but might require a little math and planning on your part to determine the exact right number of slides.

Start with this formula for a 30-minute presentation :

• 4 minutes: Amount of time for opening and closing (1 slide each)
• 2 minutes: Time for each point in your presentation (1 slide per point)
• 1 minute: Time for each sub-point in your presentation (1 slide per sub-point)
• 3 minutes: Deep dive for one or two key takeways (1-2 slides)
• Flash slide (quick on and off the screen): For transitions between large topic areas or polling the audience to keep them engaged

Now you can look at your content and do a few quick calculations to get a rough idea of how many slides you might need. For a 30-minute presentation with 5 points with two subpoints each and a takeaway, that’s in the neighborhood of 20 slides.

How Many Slides for a 45 Minute Presentation?

For longer presentations, pace and energy are key. Some presenters can go through an exceptional number of slides because of the way they speak.

Seasoned speakers, often giving a presentation that they’ve done a lot of times, can average 5 slides per minute. These are fast-paced quick hit images that really keep the audience thinking and engaged. It’s a fun style but can be difficult to pull off.

A more moderate estimate is 1 to 2 slides per minute at a varying pace. That’s what you commonly see in corporate presentations and talks. (The content is often complex as well.)

• Consider location with longer presentations. Will the slides be projected on a large screen? Design for that environment.
• Include mixed media clips if appropriate in longer presentations. Varying formats can keep the audience interested.
• Use a design theme for a consistent look and feel for the entire presentation.
• Don’t let slides sit on the screen for too long. Mix it up with a new photo even if the content theme hasn’t changed much. Once you set an expectation for the audience with visuals, you don’t want them to check out.
• Make the most of the top half of the slides. If you are in a big room, sometimes the lower portion is obscured for some audience members. Even if you need to use more slides to keep content toward the top, do it.

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How Many PowerPoint Slides Should You Use in a Presentation?

Instead, you want to figure out what you want to say first . Then, after you have designed a great presentation, go back and figure out what visual aids you will need to better make your key points. The main rule of thumb is to provide only the number of slides that you absolutely need and absolutely no more than that.

So in this session, I’m going to cover a few examples for the right number of slides needed in short presentations, the long presentation, the best way to give corporate presentations.

The Max Number of Slides for a 15-Minute Presentation (or Less.)

Instead, especially for short talks, the first thing you want to do is make a list of the most important items that need to be covered in your presentation. Then, rank these items based on their list of importance. As you go down the list, you should notice that the level of importance for each item drops exponentially as you go down the list. So, instead of covering all of the items, just cover the three (or five) most important items in your presentation.

On your first slide, give an overview of all of the points. Just list them out for the audience so they can see what you will be covering. Then, create a separate slide for each of the three (or five) main points. Finally, on your last slide, just copy the content from your first slide and your introduction now becomes a nice conclusion as well.

By the way, for most business presentations, if you can deliver the important things in a 10-minute speech, you will be loved. If you require a 30-minute presentation time, the audience will like you about three times less.

For more details about how to design presentations or to use our helpful online presentation generator click here.

What If You Have an Hour-Long Talk? How Many Slides Do You Need?

Start with an introduction slide with an overview of all five bullet points. On your internal slides, just cover the single main idea for each bullet. You will have five internal slides. Then, end with your summary slide with the main concepts one more time. This repetition of the main concepts will increase the audience’s retention of the material. For the more seasoned presenter, you can use just three main bullet points but add an extra relevant story to each point. The more that you use this technique the easier you will find it to fit your content into the correct presentation length.

For instance, if you find yourself rushing at the end without enough time to finish, you can give fewer details in your stories. If you finish early, you can add more details into your examples and stories.

For a 60-minute presentation, use five bullet points and seven slides . This time insert a couple of different stories as evidence of each bullet point. I like to use the “bad example/good example” technique. On each of the internal slides, give your audience an example of yourself or someone else who did the opposite of the point. Then, follow up with a good example.

The “Bad Example/Good Example” Technique.

If I were to use the technique to prove the point that you need seven slides for an hour presentation, I could use the following…

Bad Example : A few years ago, I went to a three-day seminar where the presenter taught about how to market to universities. On the first morning, his team gave each of us a three-ring binder with hundreds of pages. I was actually pretty excited as I scanned the binder. It was full of a ton of great information. During the first hour, the speaker gave us over 50 great tips and techniques. In the next hour, he covered another 50. He did this over and over for two and a half days. Because I am a public speaking

However, a better example is…

Good Example : A few weeks ago, a long-time client asked me to design a custom workshop for his team. He had a team who were working on a project that had been discontinued. So, he wanted to help the team members have an easier time getting rehired elsewhere in the company. We created a short class for them on how to do well in a job interview. I started by making a list of the most important items they would likely want to know. Art the top of the list was how to reduce nervousness. I spent the first few minutes covering details on how to do this. Second, I gave them a simple process to help them answer questions with credibility. Finally, I gave them a list of questions they would likely be asked. I could have covered hundreds of other tips. However, these were the things that would give them the most bang-for-their-buck.

How Many Slides for a Longer Presentation

Basically, if you design a 120-minute PowerPoint presentation, start by creating two 60-minute presentations. Then, just insert a short break in between each session. When I created the two-day Fearless Presentations ® class, I didn’t start with two days of content. On the contrary, I started with an outline of the “most important” items just like what I suggested you do in your 15-minute presentation.

Here is the list that I started with:

• How to Reduce Public Speaking Fear.
• Designing Short Impromptu Speeches.
• How to Create a Presentation that Is Easier to Deliver.
• Adding Energy and Enthusiasm to Boring Topics.
• Ways to Add Impact and Interactivity to a Presentation.

If I wanted to, I could deliver the entire content of this speech in an hour-long keynote. I’d just need to insert a few examples for each point. That is pretty easy. However, if I want to turn the list into a 2-day seminar, that is pretty easy as well. I’d start with the first point, “How to Reduce Public Speaking Fear.” This becomes the topic of a new one-hour presentation. I use the same technique. “What is the most important thing I can teach the audience about reducing nervousness? What is the second most important thing? And the third thing?”

Basically, the entire two-day class is just a collection of five shorter presentations. In my entire slide deck, I use about 30 different slides in two full days.

The Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki created an interesting PowerPoint rule for entrepreneurs coming to him for venture capital. He calls it his 10/20/30 PowerPoint Rule . This general rule is what he requires presenters to use when they come to him for help. Basically, he noticed that presenters spend too much time blathering about unimportant things. So, he gave them a guide and set time limits for each presenter.

• 10 PowerPoint Slides
• 20-Minute Presentation
• 30 Point Font

Obviously, he created these criteria for a certain type of presentation. However, his logic is sound. In fact, the only thing I might argue with him about is the 10 slides rule. Kawasaki says, “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.”

Let me reiterate that. A normal human being cannot comprehend. He doesn’t say retain. The average person can comprehend more information than he or she can retain. For instance, if I read an entire book on accounting, I might comprehend all of the content. However, because the book covers so many concepts, I’m likely to retain only a few. Knowing this, reduce your number of slides and you will increase retention of your important points.

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How many slides in a 15 minute presentation

A 15-minute presentation optimizes attention, delivers key points effectively, and respects busy schedules, fostering engagement.

• Storytelling : Narrating a personal or relevant anecdote can humanize your presentation and create an emotional connection with your audience.
• Surprising Statistic : Share a startling statistic or data point related to your topic to pique your audience's curiosity.
• Relevant Quote : A well-chosen quote from a notable figure or source can set the tone and provide a unique perspective.

• Thought-Provoking Question : Pose a question that challenges your audience's thinking and sets the stage for the discussion to follow.
• Visual Opener : Start with a striking image or a brief video clip that relates to your topic. Visuals can captivate your audience from the outset.
• Thesis Statement : Clearly state your main point or thesis early in your presentation, preferably within the first few slides. This gives your audience a roadmap for what to expect.
• Use Signposts : Throughout your presentation, use signposts or transition statements to guide your audience through your content. For example, say, "Now that we've discussed X, let's move on to Y."

• Quality Over Quantity : Don't overwhelm your slides with too many visuals. Select visuals that directly support your key points and enhance understanding.
• Data Visualization : When presenting data, use charts or graphs to make complex information more digestible. Ensure labels and titles are clear.
• Images and Icons : Choose high-quality images that evoke emotion or convey concepts. Icons can be used to represent ideas or concepts visually.
• Consistency : Maintain a consistent visual theme throughout your presentation with regard to fonts, colors, and formatting.
• Recap Key Points : In your conclusion, summarize the main takeaways of your presentation. Remind the audience of the central message.
• Memorable Closing Statement : End with a memorable statement that leaves a lasting impression. It could be a call to action, a thought-provoking question, or a powerful quote.
• Tie Back to the Opening : If appropriate, reference your opening to provide a sense of closure and connection to your initial engagement strategy.

• Seek Diverse Feedback : Don't rely on a single source of feedback. Gather input from multiple people with varying perspectives to get a well-rounded view of your presentation's strengths and weaknesses.
• Practice Adjustments : After receiving feedback, make necessary adjustments to your content, delivery, or visuals. Practicing these changes can significantly enhance your presentation.
• Rehearse with a Timer : Practice your revised presentation with a timer to ensure that you can deliver it within the allotted time. This also helps with pacing.

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How to Choose the Right Number of Slides for a Powerpoint Presentation

Last Updated: June 24, 2024 References

Choosing the Right Number of Slides Based on Design Choices

Using time to determine the right number of slides, moving beyond formulaic answers to finding the right number of slides.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 223,281 times. Learn more...

• Keep the presentation about you, not the slideshow. [2] X Research source The slides are there to support what you have to say. They should be just one part of your presentation, not the whole thing.

• Go through your entire presentation and ask yourself if you really need a given slide. If the answer is no, or if you find you can deliver the info verbally instead, eliminate it.

• If your presentation ended well before the time limit you’ve been given, try to extend the amount of time you spend on each slide, or add extra slides to expand on the info introduced in the presentation.
• Solicit advice from family and friends during your practice presentation. If they feel there are too many or too few slides, or if they feel certain sections of the presentation felt rushed or slow, adjust your presentation to correct these deficiencies.

• One well-known formulation for PowerPoint presentations is the 10/20/30 rule. This rule dictates that you should use about ten slides for a twenty minute presentation, and each slide should utilize thirty point font. In other words, each slide should be about two minutes in length. [8] X Research source Perhaps the 10/20/30 rule works for you. If it does not, don’t feel as if you’re using the wrong number of slides.
• Others argue that an average slide should be onscreen for no more than two minutes, and can be onscreen for as little as 15 seconds. [9] X Research source

• If, on the other hand, you’re in a more intimate environment and can control the lighting, you might be inclined to utilize a greater number of slides. As always, however, don’t feel obligated to use many slides just because you can.

Community Q&A

• If your slide has embedded video, or you aren’t using one slide for each point of your presentation, you can spend longer on each slide. [11] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Treat each slide on its own merits. If one slide needs to be onscreen for two minutes, so be it. If it needs to be onscreen for ten seconds, that’s fine too. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you have a slide with no pictures but several bullet points, each of which you intend to talk about for fifteen to twenty seconds, you might spend well over a minute on that slide. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• When you take all of these factors (detail, technicality, audience size and awareness, etc.) into consideration, you can see that the only short answer to "how many slides should I use" is: "it depends." Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.virtualsalt.com/powerpoint.htm
• ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-06-01/how-to-powerpoint-like-a-pro
• ↑ http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/7-design-tips-for-effective-beautiful-powerpoint-presentations
• ↑ http://www.mrmediatraining.com/2011/03/10/the-five-most-common-powerpoint-mistakes/
• ↑ http://www.free-power-point-templates.com/articles/how-many-slides-for-a-30-minute-presentation/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/ppt/20071016041310_686.ppt

About This Article

1. Break complex slides into several simple slides. 2. Include audio and video support only as needed. 3. Time your presentation. 4. Match the number of slides to the subject matter. 5. Tailor to your audience. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How many slides do I need for my presentation?

How many slides for a 10 minute presentation and the 3-2-1 rule for presentations

The 3-2-1 rule for presentations

Co-founder, CEO

Preparing for a presentation can be a daunting task for anyone. If you are presenting to an important client, a large audience, or a group of classmates, it can feel like it's impossible to figure out where to start.

However, with some planning and preparation (and help from wonderful blog posts like this one!), you can go into your presentation with confidence and deliver your message effectively. So don't worry, we've got you covered!

Here are some tips to help you determine how many slides you need for your presentation, based on the length of time you have to speak.

How many minutes per slide for a presentation?

A general guideline is to allocate approximately 2 minutes per slide. This means that for a 10-minute presentation, you should aim for around 5 slides, plus or minus 1 to 2 slides. Try the calculator below or read the 3-2-1 Rule for presentations for a more in-depth guide on how to budget the number of slides for your next presentation.

How many slides for a presentation? (Calculator)

Here is a calculator that can help you budget how many slides you will need for your presentation depending on the time you need to present for. Just type in how long your presentation needs to be in minutes, and it will give you a suggestion for the number of slides.

While this is a simple calculation, the number of slides in your presentation can vary widely depending on the complexity of the content, the type of presentation, and the goal of the presentation.

For example, a slide deck for an 18 minute TED talk might only have a few slides with very little text, while the slide deck for a ~18 minute research presentation might have 30 slides (although many of them could be backup slides in an appendix).

Here are some additional rules for thinking about the number of slides in a presentation: 

• When using this calculator, enter the amount of "presentation" that you will be actively presenting. Don't worry about time that will be spent in discussion or Q&A
• If you are presenting data, try to reduce the complexity of the presentation itself and put most of the charts and data in an appendix.
• If you are creating a presentation as a 'leave-behind' that can stand by itself, you should aim for the higher end of these recommended ranges. If you are creating a presentation that is a visual aid for you to tell a story, you should aim for the lower end of these ranges.

Follow the "3-2-1 Rule" for presentations

While every presentation is different, and everyone's presentation style is different, the 3-2-1 rule is a good rule of thumb to plan the overall structure of a presentation. This applies whether you are a management consultant advising Fortune 500 CEOs or if you're a student making a high school presentation.

Here are the three components of the 3-2-1 Rule:

• THREE takeaways for your audience
• TWO minutes to present a slide
• ONE idea per slide

As you create the outline for a new presentation or revise an existing presentation, you should ask yourself:

• What are the 3 things that I want my audience to remember from my presentation when I am done talking (or they are done reading)?
• How many slides will I have to make these points? Divide the time of your presentation by 2 to get a general idea for how many slides you will need in your presentation
• What is the main idea for each slide? A common refrain among professional consultants is that you should be able to understand the story of a slide deck just by reading the slide titles

Regardless of the length of the presentation, you should always start the planning or revision process by thinking about the key points that you want your audience to take away (that's the whole point of a presentation, really!).

Then, if you are making a 10 minute presentation, you probably need 5 slides plus or minus 1 to 2 slides depending on the style of presentation or depth of content. If these are slides to start a conversation, you probably need fewer. If these are slides to present your takeaways from a research project, you may need more (and maybe some backup slides in an appendix, too).

From there, write out the key idea for each slide. One great way to do this is to make the key idea of the slide the slide title itself. Then, you should be able to read all of the slide titles one after another and make sure that they deliver a cohesive story.

If you need a quick way to get started, try using an AI presentation maker to generate the first draft of your presentation.

How many slides do I need for a 5 minute presentation?

If you are making a 5 minute presentation, your goal should be for your audience to only remember one or two key ideas, so you should have 2 or 3 slides max.

• For work: Try to create 1 slide with your main idea, along with 1 or 2 backup slides that can present supporting data like a data visualization, customer quotes, or an execution plan.
• For sales: Try to create 1 slide to focus your discussion, along with 1 or 2 backup slides that can help answer customer questions.
• For school: Try to create 1 slide for each key point in a story or research idea and make sure the key points can tie themselves together in a conclusion.
• For storytelling: Try to create one slide with a poignant story, quote, or data point to help your audience remember the key message from your presentation. Then, you may also want to have 1 or 2 slides to build up to the idea or present conclusions from that idea.

How many slides do I need for a 10 minute presentation?

In a 10 minute presentation, you should aim for 5 slides, plus or minus 1 to 2 slides. Here are some suggestions based on the type of presentation:

• For work: Create 2 or 3 primary slides to present your key points (e.g., a framework slide, a key data visualization, or a plan of action), and 2 to 3 additional slides with supporting data or examples.
• For sales: Create 3 main slides that highlight the benefits of your product or service (e.g., problem statement, customer story, value proposition), and 2 additional slides for testimonials or data to help support the conversation if your customer wants to dive deeper on a specific topic.
• For school: Create 2 or 3 main slides for your key arguments or findings, and 2 to 4 additional slides for evidence or further explanation. A book report, for example, could have a slide with a plot summary and another slide with the key themes in the story.
• For storytelling: Create 3 main slides that build a narrative arc (introduction, rising action, conclusion), and 2 additional slides for impactful quotes or visuals. The key slides for a TED talk might be an image to tell a captivating story, a slide to present a shocking statistic, and end with a story about a hopeful new project to solve a key problem.

How many slides do I need for a 15 minute presentation?

For a 15 minute presentation, aim for 7 slides, plus or minus 1 to 2 slides. Here are some suggestions based on the type of presentation:

• For work: Create 3 primary slides to present your key points (e.g., a framework slide, a key data visualization, or a plan of action), and 4 to 5 additional slides with supporting data or examples.
• For sales: Create 3 main slides that highlight the benefits of your product or service (e.g., problem statement, customer story, value proposition), and 3 to 4 additional slides for testimonials or data to help support the conversation if your customer wants to dive deeper on a specific topic.
• For school: Create 3 main slides for your key arguments or findings, and 3 to 4 additional slides for evidence or further explanation. A book report, for example, could have a slide with a plot summary, a slide with the key themes in the story, and a final slide with how those themes apply to your life.
• For storytelling: Create 4 main slides that build a narrative arc (introduction, rising action, climax, conclusion), and 3 to 4 additional slides for impactful quotes or visuals. The key slides for a TED talk might be an image to introduce a captivating story, a slide to present a memorable statistic, a slide to with a story about a hopeful new project, and a slide with the results to-date.

How many slides do I need for a 20 minute presentation?

For a 20 minute presentation, aim for 10 slides, plus or minus 1 to 2 slides. Here are some suggestions based on the type of presentation:

• For work: Create 3 primary slides to present your key points (e.g., a framework slide, a key data visualization, or a plan of action), and 6 to 7 additional slides with supporting data or examples.
• For sales: Create 4 main slides that highlight the benefits of your product or service (e.g., problem statement, customer story, value proposition, evidence), and 5 to 6 additional slides for testimonials or data to help support the conversation if your customer wants to dive deeper on a specific topic.
• For school: Create 4 main slides for your key arguments or findings, and 5 to 6 additional slides for evidence or further explanation. A book report, for example, could have a slide with a plot summary, a slide about a key moment/decision in the story, a slide with the key themes in the story, and a final slide with how those themes apply to your life.
• For storytelling: Create 4 main slides that build a narrative arc (introduction, rising action, climax, conclusion), and 4 to 5 additional slides for impactful quotes or visuals. The key slides for a TED talk might be an image to introduce a captivating story, a slide to present a memorable statistic, a slide to with a story about a hopeful new project, and a slide with the results to-date. One thing to note here is that the length of a storytelling slide deck does not need to get much longer for 15, 20, or 30 minute presentations.

How many slides do I need for a 30 minute presentation?

At 30 minutes and above, it becomes increasingly likely that you won't be expected to present for 30 minutes straight, and the "presentation" itself becomes more of a conversation aid that can support a back-and-forth discussion about a topic.

For these types of presentations, you should calculate how much time is going to be used in a "single-sided" presentation and how much time will be used in discussion. If you expect 10 minutes of your 30 minute presentation (or more) to be a discussion, you should refer to the section on "How many slides do I need for a 20 minute presentation?"

If you think you will need to present for a full 30 minutes, here is our recommendation for the number of slides you need, based on the type of presentation.

For a general 30-minute presentation, aim for 15 slides, plus or minus 2 to 3 slides.

How many slides do I need for a 45 minute presentation?

45 minutes is a long time for a one-sided presentation, so it's more likely your presentation will be used to facilitate a back and forth conversation (which may use slides as support to make a strategic decision), or present an in-depth look at research data and conclusion (which may use slides with in-depth data analysis).

For these types of presentations, you should calculate how much time is going to be used in a "single-sided" presentation and how much time will be used in discussion. If you expect half of the time to be a discussion, you should refer to the section on "How many slides do I need for a 20 minute presentation?"

If you think you will need to present for 45 minutes, here is our recommendation for the number of slides you need, based on the type of presentation.

For a general 45-minute presentation, aim for 20 slides, plus or minus 3 to 5 slides.

How many slides do I need for a 60 minute presentation?

60 minutes - one hour - is a very long time for a one-sided presentation. For these types of presentations, you should calculate how much time you expect to give a "single-sided" presentation and how much time will be used in discussion or Q&A. 

If you expect half of the time to be a discussion, you should refer to the section on "How many slides do I need for a 30 minute presentation?"

If you think you will need to present for 60 minutes, here is our recommendation for the number of slides you need, based on the type of presentation.

For a 60-minute presentation, aim for 25 slides, plus or minus 3 to 8 slides.

How should I create slides for my presentation?

Staring at a blank page when you need to create a dozen slides for your presentation can be a nerve-wracking experience. One of the best ways to get a quick start on your next slide deck is to use AI to speed up your workflow.

To get started, install the Plus AI add-on. Enter a prompt or an existing text block (e.g., an article, a blog post, a document), and then ask Plus AI to generate a first draft of your presentation.

From there, you can use Plus AI's editing, rewriting, remixing, and design features to apply the perfect finishing touches on your deck to make it yours!

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How Many Slides Does Your Presentation Need, Anyway: A No-Nonsense Guide

Hrideep barot.

• Presentation

It doesn’t matter whether it’s your first time giving a presentation or fortieth, a quintessential question that always pops up in a presenter’s mind is: how many slides should my presentation include? 

Well, this straightforward question doesn’t have a straightforward answer.

What I mean by saying this is that there is no magical number of slides that will guarantee you pocketing an outstanding presentation. Your decision on how many slides your presentation has shouldn’t be based on some rigid rule plucked from an instruction manual or the internet. 

Rather, decide the number of slides in your presentation based on your individualized requirements, as well as that of the presentation that you plan on delivering. 

However, this doesn’t mean that your presentation should drag on for hours, backed by an abysmal corpus of slides that fly past before the viewer has had the chance to fully comprehend the previous slide.  

While it’s important to be flexible in organizing your presentation, it is equally important to ensure that this flexibility doesn’t transmute into redundancy. 

Or vice versa: You don’t want to be tarrying over the same five slides throughout an hour-long presentation.  The dearth of visual cues will not only make the reader bored but might also make it difficult for the viewer to follow what you’re saying. 

So how to ensure that you hit the sweet spot every time? 

That’s what this article is all about! 

Here is a quick overview of how many slides your presentation should include:

SO, HOW MANY SLIDES SHOULD I USE ANYWAY?

To answer your question, I’ve listed out some guidelines below. However, remember that these are only guidelines.

 As I mentioned before, there is no fixed rule of thumb for the number of slides that are exactly right for any and every single presentation that you’re going to deliver over the course of your life.

Keep that in mind as you go through the rest of the article.

1 . So, what are you trying to say, anyway?

Is your purpose to show the audience X number of slides in X minutes? No!

Your purpose is to convince them. To persuade them. To make them listen and understand your message—whatever it may be.

So, the first and the most important point to determine how many slides your presentation should contain is to decide what message you’re trying to get across. If there is a particular topic that you have to speak on, stick to it.

If not, then ask yourself the following questions:

What is the purpose of my presentation or what is the main underlying message that I am trying to get across?

Who am I trying to get it across to & what is the best way to get it across to my target audience?

Once you’ve determined what you’re trying to say, move on to how you’re going to say it. Ask yourself:

Is there a time limit that I must stick to?

Is there a range or limit of slides that I have been asked to follow?

Is there a particular theme that I have been asked to follow?

What is the setting where the presentation is to be delivered?

The questions listed above contain few of the most important factors to consider before deciding upon the number of slides in your presentation.

Once you’ve determined what your main message is and if there are any guidelines that you must follow/have been asked to follow while delivering it, move on to the second guiding principle:

2 . Quality Over Quantity

As with most other things in life, when it comes to the number of slides in your presentation, quality trumps quantity.

The quality of the information included in your slide is a more appropriate determinant of its utility to your presentation than a random goal number of slides that you’re trying to hit.

Don’t just add a new slide for the sake of increasing your total number of slides or because you’re trying to meet a random number that you saw on the internet or heard an ‘expert’ on YouTube declare is the perfect number of slides to include in a presentation .

Rather, decide whether you want to include a particular slide in your presentation or not based on what value it adds to the latter.  

A rich corpus of information may impress your viewer, but might actually do nothing to expand their understanding of your presentation.

On the contrary, it might leave them confused about the actual message you’re attempting to get across, or straight up bore them and make them lose interest in the rest of your presentation.

An effective presentation should include only the key points or augment what you’re saying with the help of audio-visual stimuli.

You don’t need to list out every single thing that you’re saying in the presentation. You want the audience’s eyes to be on you and not on the screen behind you. Remember that the audience is there to see you present, and not to read what you’re trying to present.

3 . Space It Out

Imagine stepping into an over-crowded bus after a long day of hard work. The sweaty bodies brushing against you, the longing side-glances that you throw at seats that were unoccupied just yesterday but are swarming today, the arm that jostles you every time the bus slows down or lurches forward.

Now imagine stepping into the same bus the following day, only this time it is occupied by only five people instead of fifty, leaving you with an extensive array of empty seats to pick for day-dreaming upon on your way back home.

How do you imagine yourself feeling in both of the scenarios?

Most likely, the way you imagine yourself feeling in the first situation is drastically different than how you imagine yourself feeling in the second scenario.  

The first scenario probably made you feel befuddled, irritated, and overwhelmed. If you were on the bus in the second scenario, however, you would feel relaxed, comfortable, and maybe even pleasantly surprised.

Similarly, if your viewer is greeted with a presentation with a scanty number of overcrowded slides, most likely by the second or the third slide, they will find themselves annoyed, overwhelmed and unreceptive, or downright resistant to the message you’re delivering.

On the other hand, a spaced-out, attractive presentation will not only engage your reader’s attention but also make it easier for them to comprehend and retain your message.

So, make sure to space out your presentation and have appropriate ‘breathing room’ in individual slides, even if it means you have to add more of them.

For example, if there are eight comprehensive points under one topic of your presentation, instead of cramming all of them into a single slide, use one slide for one point.

Not only will this make your presentation look more physically attractive, but it will also allow you to add more visual stimuli like videos and pictures for a single point, thus helping to give a boost to your audience’s overall understanding of the material.

4 . Time Matters

Before the big day, make sure to practice delivering your presentation a couple of times. Again, there is no set rule for how many times you should practice.

Simply do it as many times as it takes for you to grow comfortable with what you’re saying and remember your topic well enough that you don’t have to keep re-checking the slides over your shoulder over and over again.

As you practice, keep a lookout for how much time it’s taking for you to reach the end of the presentation.

Are you finishing it well before your time limit? Doesn’t matter whether it’s been provided to you by someone else or is simply a target that you’ve set for yourself.

If that’s the case, then increase the number of slides in the presentation. Alternatively, if you feel like adding more slides is redundant, you could also increase the amount of time you spend explaining each slide.

Is your presentation transgressing your time limit?

In that case, you might want to go the opposite way and either decrease the number of slides in your presentation or the amount of time you spend on each slide.

If you find that you’re still struggling with timing your presentation, check out our article on 11 Steps To Help You Keep Time During Your Presentation for some killer tips on timing your presentation!

What is the speed at which you speak? Are you someone who speaks slowly, using eloquent words and slotting in substantial pauses between sentences for added impact? Or do you tend to breeze through your words, keeping your sentences brusque and the tempo of your speech swift?

What is the capacity of your target audience? Are they experts on the topic or novices—this is an important determinant of how much time you’re going to need to spend on each topic/slide.

If your audience is a complete newbie to the topic, you might be required to spend more time describing terms and topics that might have been otherwise familiar to a person who is already well-versed with what you’re saying. This will come into play for you to determine how many slides to include.  

You could also ask a mentor or a family member to provide feedback on your presentation. Ask them if they feel you’ve spent too long lingering over a particular slide or if you’ve breezed through a topic so quickly that they’re left confused.

Try incorporating their feedback in your presentation. However, remember that at the end of the day, you know your topic best and you’re the one who’s going to be delivering it. Don’t take their feedback as gospel, but as guiding principles.

5 . So, who are you presenting it to, anyway?

Everybody expert has a different idea about how many slides is the “correct” number of slides to have in a presentation. Some people believe that five slides are enough for a twenty-minute presentation, others believe that twenty slides are the best bet for a presentation of the same length.

However, as I’ve mentioned before, there is no set formula for the perfect presentation length. 

An array of different factors, and not a single rule, should be kept in mind while determining the length of an individual presentation.

One of the most important factors, besides the audience and the subject matter, is the venue of your presentation. Are you going to deliver your presentation in a workplace or for a school project?

Are you going to be delivering it to a large audience on a big screen or is the setting more intimate, with just a couple of important people as viewers?  

If you’re going to deliver a presentation to a big audience, it’s better to minimize the importance of the presentation and focus more on the speech part of your delivery. If the setting is more intimate (eg: if you’re delivering it to your colleagues), you could get away with utilizing a larger number of slides. 

6 . The Battle Of Slides: Low Count vs. Medium Count vs. High Count

All three types of slide use have their own advantages and disadvantages. 

Low Slide Count :

If you’re using a low number of slides (ranging from 1-10 slides, depending on the total duration of the presentation), then the focus of the audience will naturally be directed towards yourself.

This will increase the relative importance of not only what you’re saying, but also how you’re saying it, as the audience will be able to focus more on your gestures, your body language, and your expressions, all of which are important modes of communication. 

However, if you’re someone who’s not very comfortable with public speaking, this might turn out to be a disadvantage instead of an advantage, as too many eyes might make you feel self-conscious. If you like this type of approach but are afraid of having too many people looking at you , check out our article on Public Speaking For Introverts: The Why, What & Who (An A-Z Guide) , for some tips and tricks to deliver an awesome presentation!

Medium Slide Count:

If there is a lot of important information that you must include in the presentation, don’t cram it all in a few slides just to cut the length of your presentation. 

Instead, you could go with a more moderate amount of slides. Here, you’re looking at a range of about 1-2 slides per minute, which leaves you with about 30-60 slides for an hour-long presentation.

This is the average length of most types of presentations. This number of slides will allow you to spread out your topics and not force you to cram a lot of information in a handful of slides. 

On the other hand, if you’ve not practiced enough, you might end up losing track of time and spend too long on a particular slide, thus disrupting your time limit. Also, if you add slides just for the sake of increasing your slide count, your audience might pick up on this and you may end up losing their attention, which is crucial to delivering a successful presentation.

High Slide Count:

Many people also prefer using a high number of slides, firing through upwards of 5 slides per minute. This rapid-fire style keeps the audience riveted and engaged, as they have to keep be attentive and stay on the lookout for every new slide.

However, if you’re not well-versed or don’t have enough experience with delivering these types of presentations, your efforts might backfire and make your presentation seem too cluttered and your ideas too far-flung for them to make sense to your audience.

7 . Design Matters Too

The design of your presentation is another important determinant of how many slides it’s going to contain. If, for instance, your presentation involves a lot of visual imagery (for instance, if you’re presenting a new design of a product), the number of slides is going to be more.

This is because, in order to draw attention to the pictures, you might end up employing one slide for a single picture, thereby increasing your slide count, even if the actual points or written material is not as exhaustive.

On the other hand, if your slide involves a lot of textual material (for instance, if you’re giving a business presentation), then the number of slides that you use might be less, as a multitude of related points might be fixed on a single slide instead of being spread across multiple slides.

In this scenario, you might end up spending more time on a single slide instead of quickly firing through many of them as it contains more points to be explained and expanded upon.

Similarly, if your presentation contains an equal amount of pictures and explanations (for instance, if you’re doing a school presentation), then your slide count might fall somewhere between the two examples mentioned above.

GETTING A LITTLE MORE SPECIFIC…

I’ve listed below a general range that you can follow while laying down the skeleton of your presentation. Again—and I cannot stress this enough—remember that these are only guidelines.

• Five Minutes Presentation: In the exceptional scenario that you’ve been asked to deliver a presentation lasting under five minutes, you can get away with using fewer slides, somewhere between 5—10. After all, you simply won’t have the time to breeze through 20—30 slides (unless, of course, your presentation involves displaying a lot of pictures, in which case it’s generally wise to use one picture per slide).
• Ten Minutes Presentation: For a presentation that’s to be wrapped up in under ten minutes or less, you can stick to the general guidelines listed above. Anything between 5—20 slides is a good number to aim for.
• Fifteen Minutes Presentation: For a moderate-length presentation lasting somewhere around fifteen minutes, you might want to consider using more slides. A general range is something between 15—30 slides, although you can play around with the number depending on how much time you’re going to be spending on each individual slide and other factors listed in the article.
• Twenty/Thirty Minutes Presentation: Guy Kawasaki advocates a 10/20/30 rule i.e your presentation should have 10 slides, last 20 minutes, and not contain any font smaller than 30pts. However, you don’t necessarily have to follow such a rigid structure. As the length of your presentation increases, it becomes less and less important to ponder over how many slides it exactly has. You can aim for whatever number feels natural to you.
• Forty-Five/Sixty Minutes Presentation: As the length of your presentation increases, chances are that your audience’s attention span will begin to waver or reduce. While you can follow the above-listed guidelines for a sixty-minute presentation as well, for a speech of this duration, it’s important to give prominence to other factors as well. Keep your slides attractive and engaging. Try to include more pictures in each slide. Another important factor is to continue interacting with your audience or involve them in your presentation—this will keep them attentive and less susceptible to boredom.

The above-listed guidelines will help you lay down the structure of your presentation, however, the actual delivery of it is up to you. Choose whatever method suits best your goal and feel the most natural to you. Remember that it is your presentation. You get to decide how to present it.

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• February 9, 2021 September 25, 2023

How many slides for a 10-15 minute presentation?

**Spoiler alert** 

A 10-minute presentation should have between 10-14 slides and a 15-minute presentation 15-20 slides. 

Present each slide for 45-60 seconds.

The 'Goldilocks-mindset' - a tough audience

Goldilocks And The Three Bears helps us understand why and how to structure your message and slides.

Goldilocks is a tough audience. Things need to be ‘just right’; otherwise, she rejects them and moves on taking her attention with her. 

Is the porridge too hot, too cold or just right?

Is the chair way too big, still too big or just right?

Is the bed too hard, too soft or just right?

Goldilocks is only interested in what is the right fit for her. This is perfect as neither the presenter nor the audience wants to waste their time in a presentation with no value; the message needs to be ‘just right’.

The following blog post is for delivering a live  stage presentation  either in-person or online.

The starting point, your audience and your goals - discovery questions

Starting with the ‘Goldilocks-mindset’, ask yourself two discovery questions to define a ‘just right’ message. 

#1 – Who is my audience?

#2 – What is my goal for giving this presentation?

Each presentation is different based on your relationship with your audience. 

Is the audience people you know or people you are getting to know? 

What expectations do they have for the presentation? 

Are they the decision-makers who can take direct action?

Ask yourself, what is in it for you, and what is in it for your audience?

What are the desired outcomes from having people’s attention and sharing your message?

Is your presentation goal to inspire, inform, educate, persuade or something else?

Click here for a PDF checklist of 20 discovery questions you can use to define your audience and goals. 

Target number of slides - be intentional

So,  How many slides for a 10 minute presentation?  A 10-minute presentation should have 10-14 slides.

How many slides for a 15 minute presentation?  A 15-minute presentation should have 15-20 slides.

Aiming for one slide per 45-60 seconds in your presentation allows you to be informative and professional without sharing too little or too much. The goal is to keep Goldilocks attention, focus on your message and the shared outcomes.

An additional idea which supports 45-60 seconds per slide is to present one idea per slide. 

One idea per slide allows you to focus on the essential information, establish your domain expertise and transfer awareness and understanding to your audience.

However, the guideline of one slide every 45-60 seconds is not set in stone. Some slides might be fast and some slow. 

A third discovery question to ask yourself is what flow and rhythm do you want to create for the audience? 

Think of your favourite songs; they have loud and quiet parts, fast and slow, they take you on an emotional journey. A presentation needs to do the same. 

Be intentional with your performance. Engage and inspire your audience with slides that move. If you feel confident and your message works with less or more slides, that is great. It all comes down to the most effective performance for the audience and the goals of the presentation.

Time is a non-refundable asset - start a conversation

Remember Goldilocks wastes no time with things that are right for her. 

Your audience is exchanging non-refundable time to learn something they cannot get from a brochure, video or website. 

This places you as the focus of attention. Do not mistake focus for importance. Your audience and their non-refundable time are the most important people in the room during your presentation. 

The one idea per slide approach also stops the slides becoming too dense. When slides have too much text, images or graphics, the audience’s attention is torn between listening to you and reading the slide. The focus becomes the slide, and the speaker drifts into the background. This is not the result you want. Your presentation should be a conversation between you and your audience focused on your shared goals.

Avoiding over-pitching - no content pile-ups

Over-pitching a slide. This is when you do not advance through your slides on cue, and you end up presenting the content of the next slide on the current slide. This creates a ‘content pile-up’. 

Over-pitching a slide puts pressure on the current slide to communicate a message, it was not designed for. It also tips the balance and flow of the overall presentation.

• The ‘Goldilocks-mindset’ – a tough audience
• The starting point, your audience, and your goals – discovery questions
• The target number of slides – be intentional 
• Time is a non-refundable asset – start a conversation
• Avoiding over-pitching – no content pile-ups
• Present like Baby Bear – just right

Present like Baby Bear - just right

In Goldilocks and the three bears, Goldilocks is the audience, and the bears are presenting. In the end, Baby bear had the most relevant content for his audience. Daddy bear and Mummy bear ‘presentations’ were not the right fit. Consider your audience and their goldilocks-mindset when creating your slides.

The two principles of speaking for 45-60 seconds per side. And one idea per slide are practical guidelines that position you to deliver the right content on the right amount of slides avoiding content pile-ups. 

Remember, success always comes down to your audience and presenting to them. Present like Baby Bear.

Martin Barnes is a pitch coach who has worked with 100’s of founders and entrepreneurs, inspiring them to pitch their business stories and pitch for attention because attention is the bridge from your business to creating value.

Check out our presentation resources section for a detailed workflow to structure your message and start designing your slides.

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How many slides should I have in my PowerPoint presentation?

When you’re planning out your next big presentation, it can be hard to know what the slide count sweet spot is. How many slides to put in a presentation, to keep your audience’s attention, is a much bigger question than it may seem.

We’d love to tell you there’s a simple answer, but if you really want to create a persuasive argument, there are a few variables to consider when planning the number of slides in your presentation. And despite what other articles spout, it has nothing to do with time.

We bet you’ve heard a few conflicting theories on this subject, so we thought it was about time we weighed in. You might’ve heard  Guy Kawasaki ’s 10/20/30 rule. This rule states that the “perfect” presentation has ten slides, lasts for 20 minutes, and uses a 30pt font. Or you might’ve read that every minute you speak equates to one slide on display behind you. You might even have uncovered some more formulaic and intricate theories than those, where x = the perfect number of slides. To reach x, you simply divide the number of people in the audience by how many seconds you have to speak, times that by how many steps between your house and the venue, to the power of your height in centimetres. If you’ve already worked your way through a series of varying opinions, you might currently be crying out “just tell me how many damn slides I need!”

Just tell me how many damn slides I need! You

While a lot of these theories are rooted in intelligent thinking and, sometimes, even science, we can’t get on board. They’re just too damn limiting. The people behind the theories were probably trying to over-simplify this complicated question, just to give you an answer. But do you want any answer? Or do you want the right answer?

The right answer is: you’re thinking about presentations wrong.

Do you think Jack Kerouac, Graham Greene, or Dan Brown ever sat down to write with the sole intention of landing on 432 pages? No, they had stories to tell, and it didn’t matter how many pages they took to tell them.

What makes you so different from  Kerouac ?

How many slides until there’s purpose?

You’re writing a presentation with a purpose. There’s a change you want to make, and your task is to convey your message persuasively, to inspire everyone that hears it to want the same change. Your purpose is not to fill exactly 20 minutes with exactly ten slides. It takes as many slides as it takes.

No, we’re not just going to leave you with that. We’re not trying to lose friends, clients and beloved readers.

We understand that presentations do often have a time limit, and that limit is one we have to consider when writing. But that limit needs to influence the number of ideas you try to convey, not dictate how many slides go into your presentation to convey these ideas. Because that’s what we’re really talking about here: ideas. For a shorter presentation, you’re going to need to be cut-throat with your editing. To trim the excess, until all that’s left is the most impactful, delicious centre piece. 

That doesn’t mean, if you have the freedom of time, you should use it to reel off every idea you’ve ever had. But you can allow yourself the luxury to layer linked ideas that all point towards one conclusion. To build a nest of ideas. And to support those ideas with facts, figures, previous successes, as well as other people’s ideas.

Only once you’ve written your detailed narrative structure, or your full script , if that’s how you feel most comfortable, should you even start to think about PowerPoint slides.

Give your ideas room to breathe

Each of your ideas deserves its time to shine. A dramatic pause works to let an impactful sentence sink in, giving the audience a moment to consider the gravity of the spoken word. Uncluttered slides have the same effect. If you try to include too many ideas on one slide, none of them are going to be understood, or remembered. 

If you’re just starting out in the world of persuasive communications, a good rule to follow is:  one idea, one slide . This will allow each idea to have its moment, without competing with any of the other ideas. This will also mean, visually, you’ll have more opportunity to enhance your message. With more slide real estate to play with, you can create presentation designs that hammer your ideas home, rather than confuse the situation further.

The journey of an idea:

• introduce it
• let it sink in

and signal the introduction of the next idea with a brand-new slide.

This is a great guide, for those lacking confidence, to use as a starting point. It is not a rule.

What counts as an idea?

Now, this is a much more complicated question, and one that will change for every presentation. In our role as guides in this scenario, we want to give you a tangible answer to your query, not simply introduce more questions, and more confusion, into the mix. After all, if your presentation is tomorrow and your search was the result of extreme desperation and maybe a little too much wine, well, you’re probably not reading this anymore because you’ve already poured said wine over your laptop in frustration. But if you are still with us, you’re probably really keen to get an answer right about now.

Frustration and confusion are not our goals. We just respect you too much to lie to you. We trust that you’ve caught on to the general theme that there are many considerations that go into the slide count of any presentation that comes through the Hype Presentations studio doors. Now that we’ve addressed that, we can give you a template to help you along your way.

If you’ve read any of our other  storytelling blogs , you already know that every story – this includes your presentation – needs a beginning, middle and end . Let’s break down a very basic structure, and accompanying slide count, for these three key sections.

This is where you set the scene, pique the audience’s interest, give them a clue as to what’s in it for them, and establish common ground. It might look something like this:

• Title slide : give your audience something exciting to look at, as they’re waiting for the presentation to begin. One slide.
• Agenda: lay out the journey they’re about to go on, and why it will be worth their while. One slide.
• Current situation : describe the landscape as it currently stands, making sure everyone is on the same page before you set off. No man left behind. One slide.

This is where we get into the real juicy bit of storytelling. And it’s also where all hope you had of squeezing a definitive slide count out of us will come tumbling down. 

A persuasive argument needs to acknowledge your audience’s challenges, and propose a solution to each one of them. Your audience might have one challenge, they might have 50, which is where the ambiguity kicks back in. Each challenge needs its own slide, and each solution does too. 

If your audience does have 50 challenges, try to find common themes between them, so you can address them as a cohesive group, all under one idea umbrella. Human beings find patterns comforting, so they’ll appreciate the bundling, as well as the reduced slide count.

Appealing to emotion, by showing you have the answer to your audience’s problems, is just one part of landing a persuasive argument. You also need to apply to logic and establish credibility. Again, this could take one slide, or it could take nine, but here is some general guidance:

• Case studies: one case study per slide.
• How it works: if the technology, service, or process you’re proposing is simple, showing your audience how it works may only take one slide. However, if it’s complicated, you’ll need to break it into component parts and tell this story across multiple slides. Remember, it’s about clarity and comprehension. It takes as many slides as it takes for the information to be processed.
• About you: audiences don’t care that much about how you were formed, or where your CEO worked before he came to be with you. Edit your company information down to what actually matters to them, and what will establish credibility in their eyes. If you’ve won awards that prove your innovations are the best in your field, show them the accolades. If the technology partner you work with is exclusive to you, let them know. The most effective ‘About us’ sections are one or two slides at the most. Avoid the company timeline, at all costs.

To close, you’re going to want to sum your key points up in one slide. Just a gentle reminder of the immense benefits they will receive by working with you.

And finally, your end slide should be, as the name suggests, one slide with a powerful call to action. To find out more about how to leave a lasting impression on every audience you encounter,  take a look at this article .

Even if you’re still pulling your hair out, desperately grasping for a simple number, hopefully these guidelines have given you some food for thought.

And now we’re going to complicate the already-fuzzy rules we’ve put in place. 

At Hype Presentations, we never look at the number of slides.

Give a shit, that’s what we say. Slide count doesn’t mean a damn thing. Sometimes we spread one message across five slides, because that’s how you get the animation to work seamlessly. Complicated navigation often requires duplicating slides, so that you don’t confuse PowerPoint as to where action came from. In contrast, we can present really complicated messaging on just one slide by using animation builds to break up the story, instead of a series of slides. There are so many variables. All we’re trying to say is, stop worrying yourself about slide count. 

However, some things, to do with slide count, you should worry yourself about:

Bad advice  

This is a call back to some of those other articles you likely stumbled across in your search. If you’re basing your presentation on hitting exactly one minute per slide, you’ve already lost your audience and you’re not even stood in front of them.

If you’re basing your presentation on hitting exactly one minute per slide, you’ve already lost your audience and you’re not even stood in front of them.

Are all ideas created equal? No. Does your audience care about everything you have to say in equal measure? No. Even if you’ve taken the “so what?” test, and all your messages have passed and are providing value to them, they’re not going to appreciate you skipping over important parts of the solution because the clock is ticking. 

Take time to explain the ideas with the greatest impact, and appreciate your audience’s intelligence enough to assume they’ll understand what an award means, without you describing it for a minute, just because the rule says so.

Do you need slides at all? 

Pick your jaw up off the floor. Just because we create next-level presentations day in, day out, and we absolutely bloody love PowerPoint, doesn’t mean we’re going to lead you astray. Sometimes, you just don’t need the support that slides bring. 

Slides are not there to remind you, as presenter, what your key talking points are. If you’re one of the – terrifyingly few – people who practice adequately ahead of a big presentation, you won’t need your memory jogged anyway. 

Slides are not there to tell the whole story for you. The slideshow is not the presentation. The words coming out of your mouth are what the audience came to hear. You are the star of your own presentation.

Before you start closing your laptop down in celebration, let’s take a step back and talk about why you (probably) do need slides.

What are slides for, anyway?

When  designed  and animated correctly, slides enhance your spoken message so that it’s easier to understand, easier to remember, and more persuasive. You and your slides are a team. There are some things that a visual can just do better than you can. Take, for example, a chart. You could spend half an hour painting a word picture of a chart you saw once. Or you could whack an impactful piece of data vis up on the screen and move on.

So, back to the original question you never even asked:

When might you not need slides?

If you only have five minutes to influence that desired change in the minds, hearts, and actions of your audience, an emotional and well-told story, spoken directly from your heart, without the dilution of technology or the fumbling of a slide clicker, could be the best way to get your message across. No distractions, no gimmicks, just authenticity. 

In this instance, it wouldn’t matter how many slides are in your presentation, they’re never going to be more impactful than your honesty and vulnerability.

In this short amount of time, your audience is unlikely to suffer from information overload and forget any of your messages, so you don’t need the slides for their ability to enhance memory. They’re unlikely to lose the train of your narrative, so you don’t need the slides as visual guidance. And if your story is told right, speaking to their challenges, and wrapped up in a situation that’s personal to them, you won’t need the persuasive powers of PowerPoint either.

But, nine times out of ten, a PowerPoint can only better your spoken messaging. Fact.

Nine times out of ten, a PowerPoint can only better your spoken messaging.

Extra time means extra slides 

And not just because of the extra ideas. If you’ve been asked to speak for a long time, firstly ask yourself if it’s really necessary. Can your audience concentrate for that long? Could the session be split into smaller chunks? Is it even going to be valuable for them? Do you have that many relevant ideas?

If it turns out to be necessary, there are some extra slides you’re going to want to add to your deck. Consider adding regular breaks (one slide per break), recaps (one slide per recap), even quizzes (one slide per question-answer combo) to keep your audience engaged, check understanding, and give them a chance to stretch their legs.

And, with the freedom of time, comes the opportunity to use other people’s voices to enhance your own. Consider adding relevant quotes, audio clips, or videos from recognisable people who support your message. Of course, you could animate these elements onto your slide with a click, but if you’re not that confident using PowerPoint, creating a new slide for each is an easier option.

When we’re deciding what the most impactful way to tell a client’s story is, we bring brilliant minds from each department together to throw ideas around, consider workarounds for each limitation, and push ourselves to deliver the best solution for each client. And not once do we say “But is that the right number of slides?”

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How Many Slides Do You Need For A Whatever-Minute Presentation?

Yousef "yoyo" abu ghaidah.

• May 9, 2018
• One Comment

“How many slides do I need for a 10 minutes presentation?”

“I have 30 minutes. Do I need 30 slides?”

“I have a 60-minute presentation coming up and I don’t want to bore my audience to death with slide-overload. What do I do?”

If I had a dollar for every time I get a question like these, I’d be a millionaire.

It’s time to put the age-old PowerPoint question to rest. How many slides do you  really need for your next presentation, regardless of the time set?

Here’s your answer: As many as you need, but within reason .

I know, I know. You’re looking for a quick and simple solution that you can use right now. But trust me, you’ll get what I mean after reading this post.

Rules Don’t Apply … Sort Of

There are so many rules out there that you’ve probably heard of.

“Only use five slides.”

“Keep it to one slide for every three minutes.”

Even presentation pros like Guy Kawasaki will advocate for the 10/20/30 rule (10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font).

These rules aren’t necessarily wrong, but I do feel they overlook one of the most important factors in your presentation: Your message.

When you apply a general rule-of-thumb to the content you want to present, you’re going to end up limiting yourself. That sort of practice can be bad for you, and even worse for your audience.

Look at it this way: Do you think J. K. Rowling was thinking about how many pages she would need to get Harry Potter out to the world?

Of course not. Her priorities were centered down to the plot, how the characters express themselves, the intricacies between the hero and the villain, and so on.

Rowling’s only true goal was to write a fictional novel so epic that it would appeal to the masses.

Do I need to tell you how hugely successful she was a result of that approach?

Take the same principle and develop as many slides as you need to capture every meaningful component of your message.

Remember, slides are empty canvases for your information. You can put a single word and a picture to demonstrate your point or 500 words and a chart to do the exact same thing.

But practice this approach with caution. Don’t just cram in slides for the sake of doing so.

Only bring the slides that express the value of your content. Nothing more, nothing less.

Time Allocation is Crucial

Time is the most precious thing we have in this world , and it is certainly the one thing you  NEED  to respect when it comes to your audience.

That said, there is a misconception about time limits in presentations that you need to be aware of.

Avoid going for the minute(s)-per-slide approach. Many presenters feel that sustaining this number is crucial for delivery. For example, if someone was preparing 10 slides for a 10-minute presentation, then that same person may feel dedicating 1 minute per slide is the way to go.

Don’t do this, because  how you allocate your time should be completely up to you.

I’ve witnessed presenters spend 10 seconds on one slide only to spend five minutes on another, and they were extremely effective in their delivery.

The slide that took five minutes to present was also the slide that needed five minutes of my time to understand. This highlighted that the slide in question was meaningful, insightful, and followed a pace that I was comfortable with.

That’s the key take away. Dedicate more of the time given to you to the content that matters most.  This approach should allow you to gauge just how many slides you need to bring in.

So, How Many Slides Do You Really Need?

All you have to do is answer two simple questions:

• “How many slides do I need to get my message across?”
• “What pace would my audience feel comfortable with?”

With the ‘right’ answers, you’re almost certain to get the perfect number of slides for your presentation, every single time.

You’re The Special Ingredient

Whatever number you go for, remember that your slides should only be seen as the tools you need to get your message across.

Sure, designing beautiful slides will help, but they won’t do the work for you.

Rely on yourself to get your message out there. Your tone, body-language, and passion are what truly can make or break your presentation.

Dang…I needed this LOL. Thank you for decreasing my stress.

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > How many slides does your presentation need?

How many slides does your presentation need?

When you’re creating a presentation, it’s important to consider the amount of information you’re sharing with your audience. You don’t want to overwhelm them, but you also want to be comprehensive and ensure that you’re covering all your bases. Whether you’re giving a 10, 15, or 30-minute presentation, see how many slides your presentation needs to get your point across.

Rules and guidance for PowerPoint presentations

PowerPoint is a powerful visual aid for introducing data, statistics, and new concepts to any audience. In PowerPoint, you can create as many slides as you want—which might sound tempting at first. But length doesn’t always guarantee a successful presentation . Most presentations last around 10-15 minutes, and anything longer than that (such as a 30-minute presentation) may have additional visual aids or speakers to enhance your message.

A handy rule to keep in mind is to spend about 1-2 minutes on each slide. This will give you ample time to convey your message, let data sink in, and allow you to memorize your presentation . When you limit each slide to this length of time, you also need to be selective about how much information you put on each slide and avoid overloading your audience.

For 10-minute presentations

Ten minutes is usually considered the shortest amount of time you need for a successful presentation. For a shorter 10-minute presentation, you’ll need to be selective with your content. Limit your slide count to approximately 7 to 10 slides.

For 15-minute presentations

When preparing for a 15-minute presentation, concise and focused content is key. Aim for around 10 to 15 slides to maintain a good pace, which will fit with the 1-2 minute per slide rule.

For 30-minute presentations

A longer presentation gives you more room to delve deeper into your topic. But to maintain audience engagement, you’ll need to add interactivity , audience participation, and elements like animations . Aim for around 20 to 30 slides, allowing for a balanced distribution of content without overwhelming your audience.

Tell your story with captivating presentations

Powerpoint empowers you to develop well-designed content across all your devices

Using the 10-20-30 rule

The 10-20-30 rule is an effective way to structure your presentation. It calls for no more than 10 slides and no longer than 20 minutes (as well as a 30-point font).

Tips for crafting an effective presentation

No matter how long a presentation is, there are guidelines for crafting one to enhance understanding and retention. Keep these tips in mind when creating your PowerPoint masterpiece:

• Avoid overload: Ensure that each slide communicates a single idea clearly, avoiding cluttered layouts or excessive text.
• Pay attention to structure: Think of slides as bullet points with introductions, endings, and deep dives within each subject.
• Add visual appeal: Incorporate images, charts, and graphics to convey information without using too many words to make your audience read.
• Engage with your audience: Encourage interaction through questions, polls, or storytelling techniques to keep your audience actively involved.
• Put in the practice: Familiarize yourself with your slides and practice your delivery to refine your timing and confidence.

Ultimately, the ideal number of slides for your presentation depends on the allocated time frame and how detailed your content is. By striking a balance between informative content and engaging delivery, you can create a compelling presentation that can teach your audience something new.

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What are the key features of a short (15 min) conference presentation?

I am preparing to give a conference presentation from scratch.

What is an effective ratio of introduction / methods / results / conclusion slides?

How can I balance the details of research without loosing the audience on key points?

In my experience, 90% of conference talks are dull and there may be one or two at any given conference that are really inspiring. What makes a "great" talk?

• presentation

• 4 The LaTeX Beamer User's Guide contains useful hints on short conference presentations. Those are applicable even if you use another tool to actually prepare the presentation. See tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/… –  gerrit Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 7:17
• 2 Don't have too many slides. It's my pet hate when speakers have 50 slides for a 15 minute talk. –  csgillespie Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 8:09
• A tangent to consider: Writing and Speaking . –  user568 Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 12:51

11 Answers 11

(edited to extract the key points from the main reference)

Ian Parberry's guidelines were always essential for me. Firstly I will give a personal replies to your answers and subsequently I will extract the main points of the Ian's guidelines which are the basis for my answer.

Personal perspective

My own rule of thumb is to allocate 2-3 minutes per slide, which gives max. 6-8 slides including the envelope (the "title" and the "end+questions?" ones). That is, we have about 5 real content slides of which for introduction I allocate 1 for motivation&context, and 1 to problem definition.

The body gets whatever it needs, but shouldn't exceed 4 slides, with at least a single one dedicated to a sketch of a worked example . The audience doesn't need to know how exactly I am doing the magic, I must however make them trust me and see what I am doing as plausible .

The summary/conclusion/future work gets 1 slide.

Stress the motivation, the relevance of the problem and only sketch your solution so that an example which you provide will be plausible enough.

Your talk is an advertisement for your paper. You are doing your best to assure that people learn something and you imprint some key points in their heads (the problem description and a sketch of the main idea solving it). You don't need to explain the details, just sketch the main principles. You want to compel the audience to either read your paper that day in the evening and base their own work on it (hence citations!), or ensure that sometime in the future when they will face a problem, they'll remember that there was this guy speaking about something along the same lines, so let's check it (hence possible citations!).

What makes a "great" talk?

For me, it's grounding in reality . Show me what impact your stuff has on me. Speak about an application I might care for, even if it will be only a hypothetical one. If the result cannot be framed as a machine, or software, such as a lot of (non-computational) game-theory, then speak about implications to the society. Strike whatever chord, which makes your results tangible . It all boils down to answering a single question for every single person in the audience: Why should I care?!

But even if you do the all the positive advice right, there's a more important point, namely what you shouldn't do. For example I tend to speak a lot (see my posts at this site :-) ). My main drill during preparation of a talk is to throw away everything non-essential. Moreover, I am often writing down notes about what not to say . Many otherwise great talks are ruined by the presenter speaking too much* and **showing off . I don't want to be impressed by your smartness, or charisma per se, I want you to simply educate me !

And finally the key points from the Ian Parberry's guidelines for giving a good talk, emphasis mine.

General advice

• Communicate the Key Ideas : select 1-2 main high-level ideas and present them in a crisp and crystal clear way.
• Don’t get Bogged Down in Details : do not even attempt to discuss the details, unless you you have brisk answers to possible questions you open that way.
• Structure Your Talk & Use a Top-down Approach : go the least-surprise path, i.e, the audience needs a story a wants to be able to follow it. The structure should stay crisp: 1) solid motivation/intro, 2) main points/body, 3) technicalities, if really necessary, 4) conclusion.
• Know Your Audience : allows you to skip some common-knowledge in the audience, as well as select what is important to them and what do they care for.

Structure of the talk

I added the emphasis to the points which I consider crucial.

The Introduction

• Define the Problem
• Motivate the Audience
• Introduce Terminology
• Discuss Earlier Work
• Emphasize the Contributions of your Paper
• Provide a Road-map
• Abstract the Major Results
• Explain the Significance of the Results
• Sketch a Proof of the Crucial Results

Technicalities

• Present a Key Lemma
• Present it Carefully

The Conclusion

• Hindsight is Clearer than Foresight
• Give Open Problems
• Indicate that your Talk is Over

• +1 for introducing a good reference. –  enthu Commented Sep 27, 2014 at 19:55

How can I balance the details of research without losing the audience on key points?

From my perspective, the key to giving a 15 minute talk is to omit all of the details. Many audience members don't care, the few who do can read your paper, and in any case it's impossible to convey any serious details clearly and correctly in such a short time. If you try, then much of the audience will stop paying attention; you'll end up wasting their time and missing a great opportunity to present your work. Instead, your goal should be to ensure that everyone leaves with some understanding of what you've done, and that some of them are inspired to learn more.

This means you should focus on the big picture. What did you do, how and why did you do it, and what have we learned from it? In mathematics, I'd focus on context, motivation, definitions, theorem statements, examples, and intuition. It's OK to give a brief proof outline or sketch, but nothing detailed or complicated. If you can't summarize it in a few sentences, it's too complicated.

There are various ways short talks can go wrong. For example, some of them try to compress 30 minutes of content into 15 minutes by talking fast and barely explaining anything, while others simply omit the background and context needed to understand the presentation. However, there's a common difficulty behind many bad talks: they focus on the speaker's desires and goals rather than the audience's. Ultimately, you need to design your presentation to fit the background and interests of the audience and the time available, rather than what you wish you could tell them.

• 2 Great advice on focusing on the big picture. For such short talks, especially on conferences, I'd focus more on the results than the methods. It's a great opportunity also to practice your elevator presentation -- describing shortly what you are working on to (almost) complete neophytes on a social gathering without being boring. –  mindcorrosive Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 7:26
• 13 On omitting detail: The point of a short research talk is to convince the audience to read your paper, not to make reading your paper unnecessary. –  JeffE Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 14:02
• +1 @JeffE . A 15 min. presentation is a kind of advertisement for your publication. –  Noble P. Abraham Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 16:13

While 15 minutes is on the longer side for what I'm about to suggest, I think it's still useful.

In a 15 minute presentation you don't have time to think of things to say on the fly. It's important that you have a story nailed down fairly tight. While you don't need a full script for what you're going to say, you should have a fairly detailed plan of what you're going to say (even upto key sentences and transitions).

As others have pointed out, you'll have to eliminate most details. THIS IS OK ! The audience will only (at best) get a high level idea of what your work is about and only the briefest glimmer of a technique or tool. So in order to decide what to say, you should ask yourself the following:

Why should I (the listener) care about your work ?

Answering this question will help you decide what to keep and what to throw.

As for your last question, a great talk is a strange mix of details, high level concepts, and inspiration. If it were easy to describe it, all talks would be great :). But if you shoot for a talk that people will remember, that is both more attainable, and easier to construct.

Consider the point of the talk; you want to convey to the audience what it is you did and what your results were. Similar to a paper, you'll want just enough background to bring those who aren't familiar with your subfield up to speed, and barely any conclusions as the audience will draw their own conclusions.

With that in mind, you'll want something similar to the following:

• 1-2 min — background
• 5-6 min — methods
• 3-4 min — results
• 1 min — conclusions, thanks, etc

Note that you'll probably want to leave some time for questions, so you should err on the side of shorter rather than longer.

From my experiences, you will want to really prepare for this. As discussed in more detail in this answer , this is really the main forum for you to sell your work. You'll want to make sure you put forward your best possible face. All the usual points related to public speaking apply here as well: talk slower (yes, slower... slower than that, even), be concise, be clear, make good use of slides, etc.

• Note the usual disclaimer that this may vary from field to field. –  eykanal Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 0:39

I think the other answers state it quite clearly: eliminate most details! Some key points I've found across different sources and observed at talks I've enjoyed:

You don't want to explain your paper, you want the audience to want to read your paper.

You need to be comfortable with your talk. I've attended great short highly technical talks, and great short high-level talks. What made the talks great was not the technical content, but the capability of the speaker to convey his/her enthusiasm for the content.

I particularly like AnonynousMathematician's "[bad talks] focus on the speaker's desires and goals rather than the audience's". At a conference, the audience is not here to judge you, or to evaluate your work, but to attend an hopefully interesting talk. The point is not to show how good you are.

It might depend on the technical field, but a good way to interest an audience is to present them with a problem, usually illustrated with a simple example, and then to give the guidelines of how you solved that problem.

Finally, read many advices you can find on this topic. For instance, I'd suggest you the page of Simon Peyton-Jones , recently pointed out by walkmanyi .

I think in any conference presentation (whether it is 10 minutes or 60 minutes), there are only two parts that are absolutely necessary:

What is the problem that you studied. Explain it as carefully as possible, in the simplest possible form; make it as easy to understand as possible. Do not assume that some parts of the setting are obvious to the audience; make everything explicit.

What is the new result that you obtained. Again, explain it as carefully as possible, in the simplest possible form. Proceed slowly; even if you could state the result in 5 seconds, spend much more time on it. Make sure the audience has enough time to digest what was your new main contribution.

If these parts necessarily take 15 minutes, it is OK. I do not think anything else is absolutely necessary.

Of course there are lots of things that would be nice to have, time permitting: background, motivation, related work, a very rough overview of some methods that you used to obtain the results, conclusions, etc. But none of these parts are as important as explaining what was the research question and what was the new result.

By the way, if it appears that this approach results in a boring talk, most likely your own idea of what is your research question is wrong . Think big, go one level up.

Example: You have studied thingy X (something technical and complicated) and your work shows that X has property Y (something easy to understand), and this is cool, as it is the first example of a thingy with property Y.

Problem: We study the properties of thingy X. (But explaining X takes forever. It is complicated, technical and boring. And why would you want to study it anyway.)

Result: We show X has property Y. (But now you would still have to explain what is Y. You are already running out of time, and you have already lost your audience.)

You feel like you would have wanted to talk about motivation, related work, and methods, but you are already overtime, and nobody is following anymore.

Problem: Is there a thingy with property Y? (Now this was much easier to explain. You have got plenty of time to also mention that this is a famous open question posed by Professor Bigname in 1950s.)

Result: Yes, we give the first example of such a thingy! (That was easy. And now to make sure that everyone gets the big news, you can spends some time explaining that in prior work others have come close, but nobody has been quite there.)

And now you still have lots of time left, so you can tell something about the particular thingy X that you put together. All of this is extra. You can be sketchy, just give some highlights of the main ideas. Everyone in the audience already knows where you are aiming at and what is the big picture; they can fill in the details or look it up in your paper if it matters.

Some things to think about (from the point of view of a mathematician, but I hope some of this might be relevant in other fields too): Does your main result have a special case or two that would be easier for your audience to understand than the general result (without being trivial)? If so, you might just present that (or those) special case(s), and add at the end one sentence to the effect that your full result is more general.

Does your result require terminology that people might not know? If so, does it really require that terminology, or could you perhaps get by without it? If you really need the terminology, budget enough time to explain it and, if possible, relate it to something your audience already knows.

The background information (previous results, open questions) that motivate your work is likely to be too much to present in full in the limited time available. Select just enough of that information to be understandable and to provide some (not necessarily all) motivation for your work. Having presented some motivation, you can add one sentence saying that there is additional motivation, which you don't have time to explain in the talk.

In two places, I've suggested adding a single sentence saying "there's more"; you should indicate your willingness (or even eagerness) to discuss the "more" later with anyone who is interested.

A nice discussion on this can be found here: http://presentations.catalysis.nl/presentations/presentation.php .

If your talk is in mathematics, you might also want to look at https://mathoverflow.net/questions/29866/presenting-a-paper-dos-and-donts .

Some other tips I've heard:

• Use one slide per minute. For a 15-minute talk, use only 15 slides.
• The first part of your talk should be understandable by any adult (if your target audience consists of adults). The next part should be understandable by your peers (same field as yours, e.g., mathematics, but not necessarily the same subfield, e.g., number theory). The next part should be understandable by your peers working in the same subfield. The last part should be understandable by you. (Although some believe this last part is too much).

My goal when giving a talk is to convey information in a way none have presented or expressed before. The constraints being:

• easy to understand for complete novices
• interesting for experts

My mindset is also to aim for 10-12 minutes when allocated 15 minutes. It is always better to finish early than it is to go over your time. It ALWAYS leaves a bad taste in my mouth when a speaker exceeds their allotted time. It's disrespectful and inconsiderate of other people's time.

I also subscribe to the 1 slide per 1 minute MAX philosophy. In terms of time per section (borrowing from @eykanal's reply), but whichever section has your contribution then the time spent there should be doubled (e.g., I assume in the Methods section):

• 2 min Background
• 4 min Methods
• 2 min Evaluation
• 2 min Results
• 2 min Conclusions
• 1 min Future Work

There are many good answers. I especially like the second half of the answer from @walkmanyi, especially as concerns the structure of a short talk. I disagree with most the time amounts given. I have found great success with:

• 7 minutes of background
• 5 minutes combined methods, results, conclusions
• 3 minutes of questions

If a separate time is given to questions, then 9 to 6 in favor of background.

An interesting comment about presentations can be found here . The author is professor of Computer Science, thus some things may not apply in all cases. Moreover, I think that the advice is very extreme, which actually makes it interesting.

In the case of the area of management, this resource may be helpful. These notes were the result of a session at one of the Academy of Management meetings.

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How to Create a Great Presentation in Just 15 Minutes

Did you know that the highest paid profession in America is professional speaking? Speakers can earn between $5,000 and $10,000 for a 20 minute keynote presentation.

It’s the reason why great entrepreneurs know how to get up and share their message .  They indirectly get “paid” by moving employees, partners and communities to engage with their business in a way that goes far beyond the financial upside.

Some of the best, like Mark Zuckerberg  (Founder/CEO of Facebook), go even further and learn other languages , so they can share in a more authentic way.

If you can master – or at least be mediocre – at speaking, it will open up the world to you. I’ve been paid to fly around the world sharing stories of lessons learned with amazing entrepreneurial communities.

What I’ve covered below is my approach to creating a great presentation in 15 minutes. Yes, that sounds ridiculous – but it’s true. I can sit down with a piece of paper, write out the structure outlined below and insert the missing elements to be able to get up and speak for 20-60 minutes without skipping a beat and feeling confident in delivering the value to my audience.

It’s taken me years of practice and training to get mediocre at best, but I felt my approach was something worth sharing as I often get asked to help others with their presentations. I would love nothing more than to see more entrepreneurs share their story and lessons learned with a global audience.

Overview of sections below:

Highlevel Outline: How I create my presentations following a system I’ve created and adapted over the years. It’s a simple way to ensure you don’t forget anything major and provides a framework to quickly create your next presentation.

Slide Creation: My approach to creating slides. I borrow a lot of the design sensibility from an old friend, Daniel Burka. 5 years ago, I watched him give a talk and I was so impressed with how visually stunning his slides were, but also in their simplicity.

Highlevel Outline

Here’s a quick overview of the framework I use, inspired by T. Harv Eker , to give a talk:

• Title of Talk
• Teaching(s)

1. Title of Talk

Creating a catchy title can feel overwhelming, but there’s a simple trick based on decades of research and it’s super scientific. Just use magazine covers. Search online for a magazine in your industry and put the words, “Magazine Cover” after it. (ex: Forbes Magazine Cover ). You’ll see 100’s of examples of article headlines designed to capture someones attention. Use them for inspiration and tweak for your own needs.

The best way to open is to state your name and the title of the talk. It’s simple and gets things rolling. If you want to be fancy, you can do a bunch of other things here, it’s your call.

Tell a Story: This is one of my favourite ways to open. If you have a funny story about the city, venue or organizers, tell it. Keep it short – but funny – and if possible, relevant to the topic.

Ask a Question: You’ve probably seen people do this. They ask, “How are you doing?” or “How many of you …?” – either approach is fine and it gets the audience interacting early in your talk to set the mood and to gain audience participation.

One of the perfect way to engage the audience is to thank them. Doing this will leave them feeling a sense of respect for you because you appreciated them. There are 2 groups you’ll want to thank, and in this order:

Attendees: Thank them for coming, for their time and participation over the allotted time.

Organizers: Get the name of the organizers and a few major sponsors. Thank them and then ask everyone to give em’ a big round of applause.

4. What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM)

No one goes to an event for the speaker, they go for themselves. Tell them what they’ll get out of your talk. This is referred to as “WIIFM,” or “What’s In It For Me?”, asked from the attendees point of view. If you don’t tell them, you may lose them.

5. Earn The Right (ETR)

Why are you on stage? Why should anyone listen to you? Be sure to share those reasons at the beginning of your talk or the audience will be sitting there wondering what makes you qualified to even be there. I NEVER assume anyone knows who I am, what I’ve accomplished or the reason I was asked to speak. Tell them.

Tell Your Own Bio: It’s the reason I don’t like having someone else read my bio before I get up.

Share Your Accomplishments: Inline with the topic of your talk, what have you accomplished? Brag a bit. Tell them.

Share Your “Why”: Why are you on stage? What’s your purpose in life? How is that coming along?

6. Teaching(s)

This is the meat of your talk. It can be as simple as a story, or a series of lessons learned. Regardless of how long you have to talk, each learning is a story and usually lasts about 10 minutes.

The optimum way to fill an hour talk is to break things up into 10 minute stories or 10 minute teachings. It makes approaching a big presentation so much more doable. If you follow the structure below with the opening, story and ending – then you can just toss out all the topic teachings (ie. topics) you want to cover up front.

For each teaching: decide on the best way to frame it, the story you feel demonstrates the lesson the best and how you want to end.

Here’s the format I use to accomplish this:

This is usually the point you want to talk about – the  lesson learned, trend or belief that you would like to teach. If you have any powerful statistics or examples to reinforce this, then lead with that. One of my favorite openings I’ve heard recently came from an HR startup at a pitch competition:

“People don’t quit their companies. They quit their boss.”

An excellent way to teach something is by telling a story. I personally like to share stories about my experiences that help reinforce the topic.

There’s been a lot written on the format of stories, but the key in my mind is this: The more vulnerable the story, the more universal the appeal.

Regardless of the topic, everyone likes a good story, so don’t bore your audience with facts & figures, instead, weave that information into a relevant story. Remember, “Facts tell… Stories sell.”

This is where many speakers mess up a great story. They don’t bring the story to a resolution, or explain how the lesson they learned helped them achieve or avoid a similar fate in the future.

I used to be horrible at this. I would always forget to “end” my story. You quickly learn this by the types of questions you’re asked after your talk. If you get the “What happened with the company afterwards?”, or “Did you ever figure out a way to avoid that…”, etc.. Then you’ll know you didn’t end or resolve the story properly. It only takes a few seconds, but it will help the audience stay engaged.

At the end of my talks, I always like to quickly go over the topics I covered, then end with either a “Call to Action” or a “Call to Purpose.”

Call To Action: This is some type of action I would like the audience to take. Most of the time I give them a URL to download links so I can collect their email and build a relationship. It’s also a great way to judge how well you did based on the % of the audience that were motivated to do so. The better your talk, the higher the conversion to email.

Call to Purpose:  If the purpose of my talk was more inspirational than teaching, I’ll end with a call to purpose. This is more of an “ask” to the audience to live their life with purpose. I’ve sometimes asked, “Will you make me a commitment to have no small plans?”, or borrowed from my friend Clay, “I have no doubt you’ll all be successful, but will you matter?”

Both questions are designed to summarize the essence of the talk and leave the audience with a question that will connect them through emotion to the topics covered. It’s like planting a trigger to help connect with the audience.

TIP: The First 7 Minutes: The best way to reduce the stress you might be having for an upcoming talk is to practice and perfect the first 7 minutes. That’s all you need.

If you’ve practiced the opening, all the other elements written above, and maybe the first topic, you’ll be fine. Remember, you’re human, you already know how to tell a story so the key is to remember how you begin and end. The middle will fill itself in.

Creating Your Slides

The best slides are no slides. If you’re an amazing story teller then you should be able to get away with no slides. I’m not there, yet. So in lieu of that, I continuously reduce the amount of information on a slide as well as the total number of slides in my presentation.

Currently, I have the following slides for my talks:

• Earn The Right
• Teaching #1

Title slide:  This is the first slide which has a strong image with the title of my talk, my Twitter handle and the hashtag for the talk or event.

Earn The Right (Your Story) : This is a slide with a picture that represents who I am and allows me to cover the Earn The Right (ETR) part of my talk.

Teaching(s): This slide has the topic I want to cover, relevant image and that’s it. I repeat this format for every 10 minute story I plan to share.

In the past, I would do 4 slides per teaching: teaching title, opener, story and closing. The format didn’t change though, typically a big image with or without a word.

Closing: Last slide is my thank you slide + some kind of call to action, or call to purpose. It usually includes my Twitter handle, the hashtag for the event and maybe a URL if I want them to visit a website and take action. It’s the slide I leave up when I’m doing Q&A with the audience.

When you get on stage and you teach from the heart everyone will notice – and then it has nothing to do with structure – because at a human level, we all just want to connect.

Share your stories. Share your passions. Teach others what you’ve learned. You’ll always get way more out of it than you put into it.

Have you ever been scared to give a talk? How did you overcome it? Was it as bad as you thought it would be? Leave a comment below as I’d love to learn more!

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How Many Slides Should You Have? How Many Slides Do You Need?

This article is part of the 12 Days of Ask Six Minutes . This event is over now, but you can send your questions anytime. Imagine yourself in these scenarios:

• You’re delivering a 1-hour keynote address on pursuing your dreams to high school graduates.
• You’re teaching a full-day corporate course on quality assurance processes.
• You’re giving a 10-minute pitch at your local service club to partner with Habitat for Humanity.

How many slides would you prepare for each presentation?

As this is a very common question, it seems like a great starting point for our 12-day event of answering reader questions.

Alex, a Six Minutes reader, asks:

Can you provide some guidance on deciding how many slides should be in my PowerPoint presentations? I’ve read that you shouldn’t have too many slides because it distracts from the speaker. But I’ve also read that having lots of slides keeps the presentation fast-paced and prevents boredom. What’s right? How many PowerPoint slides should I have?

Sometimes, the answer is zero.

Even if you are accustomed to presenting with slides, there are many situations when you should go without any slides at all. These include formal situations such as:

• a commencement address ;
• a presidential inaugural address ;
• a wedding toast; or
• a CEO delivering news of layoffs

There are many other situations when slides would distract more than aid your presentation. For example, I find that for very short presentations (10 minutes or less), I rarely need slides. If I do, then perhaps just one or two is required.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you must have slides every time you stand before an audience, regardless of the situation.

Usually, the answer is “Fewer than you think.”

Most presenters use too many slides.

Slide decks overflow when the presenter uses the slides as a crutch (so they can read bullets), or when the presenter tries to put everything  on the slides.

To combat this, let’s start with two core assertions:

• PowerPoint slides, like any visual aid, are support material for your message, not the message itself.
• PowerPoint slides are for your audience, not for you.

Instead of asking how many slides you should have, the right question to ask is “How many slides do I  need to communicate my message to my audience?”

Then how many slides do I need?

For each element of your presentation (major points, minor points, anecdotes, stories, etc.), ask yourself this simple question: Can I convey this idea clearly with words alone, or would my audience benefit from visual support?

• If the answer is no, then don’t add a slide. It’s redundant.
• If the answer is yes, then perhaps you need to add a slide (or two) or incorporate a prop into your presentation.

For each idea which needs support, craft a slide which conveys it in the clearest way possible. A diagram? A chart? A photograph? A table?

How many slides will fit in my 30 minute speech slot?

“ Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you must have slides every time you stand before an audience, regardless of the situation. ”

One lesson that I’ve learned the hard way is that adding slides to a presentation adds time to the presentation as well. It takes time for an audience to absorb the information from slides, and (often) it takes time for you to set the context and explain the meaning on slides.

So, when you rehearse, it is important to rehearse the entire presentation  including the slides with a sample audience.  This will help you to determine:

• How smoothly do your slides fit your narrative?
• How effective are the individual slides?
• How long does it take for each slide to be absorbed?

Not all slides are equal.

Technical diagrams (even well-designed, simple diagrams) take longer to absorb than photo-centric slides with a single phrase.

Similarly, slides will take longer to absorb if your audience is not familiar with your content.

Create your own rule of thumb.

“ Don’t worry about your slide count. Just make your slides count. ”

If you often speak in similar situations (audience composition, subject matter, and time frames), it is reasonable that you may find yourself needing about the same number of slides each time you speak.

For example, I deliver technical presentations of an hour or more. For these situations over many years, I have determined that I need approximately one slide for every two minutes of speaking, or about 30 slides per hour. That’s my rule of thumb for those situations.

You will have a different rule of thumb, depending on your speaking style, and the situation where you find yourself speaking. Just remember not to use that number as a goal (e.g. I must create 30 slides, or else ). Instead, use that number as a sanity check (e.g. Uh oh. I have one hour to speak, but I’ve created 72 slides. I need to take out some material .)

Video: Make Your Slides Count

The creative geniuses at Duarte recently addressed the same question in a wonderfully satirical puppet show video. It is only two minutes long, and well worth your time.

Original link: Duarte “Make Your Slides Count” video

Take out? Take out? No, no, no, no, no. I’m not taking anything out. This is corporate gold. I’m leaving it all in. I’m just going to talk four times faster.

That is absolutely perfect. And so is their summary statement:

Don’t worry about your slide count. Just make your slides count.

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

How do you answer this question? How many slides works for you?

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Good article, Andrew.

The “Rules” should be considered guidelines.

The presenter is the presenter, not the slides.

Don’t forget the “B” Blank button or placing blank slides in the deck to put the audience’s eyes on you – the presenter.

Thanks for the Post!

I don’t know the rules about the number of slides you need for a presentation, but I’ve seen some elaborate slides on Slideshare.

Also, I’m reading Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte. This gives some great information and details on how to create slides. Who knew there was an art to creating slides?

Nice post on slides.

Slides & presentations, like life itself, rarely fit neatly into a set of rules. I’ve done a 45 minute presentation on slides and at the end an audience member asked me how many slides I’d used. We were both shocked to learn it was 145 slides! But the point for us in the room that day, as you indicate above, wasn’t about a rule or a guideline. It was what was needed to help the audience. 145 slides wasn’t too many for that talk.

Thanks again for the post!

I like to remind my presenters that people come to presentations to listen, not read. Many presenters use PPT as a planning tool, and load slides with everything they think they need to present. Some presenters know it’s too much, and intend to severely edit, but that rarely happens, and it ends up that there is a slide for every point. I recommend finding other ways to plan and hold off designing slides until content has been determined. Then, when it comes time to design slides, design three essential and well-designed slides first and only add more if a slide would be supportive. This is taking a building up approach, rather than a taking down one. I find this often results in fewer and more thoughtfully-designed slides.

I couldn’t agree more, Jason. I give the same advice in presentation courses that I teach. Delayed opening of slide software is key.

It all boils down to the individual speaker and the quality and usage of the slides. At a professional teachers’ meeting once, I saw a woman speaker, who entered the meeting place dressed in a plain, black skirt and jacket and with very little attention paid to her makeup. As she set up the slides, those of us who did not know her mumbled about another boring presentation to endure after our meal. Were we ever in for a surprise when this plainly attired woman began to speak! She was so excited about her topic that she had our attention immediately. Somehow, her aspect and demeanor changed before our eyes; and, the entire audience was leaning forward, listening attentively, and anxiously awaiting the next slide! She made her topic come alive with the use of her own enchantment with it and with the effective use of her slides. We usually made a quick escape after our presentation, but she had to leave for another commitment in order to get away from us. That took place many years ago, but we still recall that day and that speaker. I do not know how many slides she used, but they were just enough! (I don’t know how personal you want us be, so I will not reveal names. That speaker became a world-renouned, professional archeologist and professor, who later used her low-key charisma and talent to lead a state university to great strides of modernization and growth that will be remembered forever in that community, state, and beyond.)

You are right, Sharon. The speaker and what they say (and how they say it) is far more important than slides. Slides are meant to complement the presentation, not _be_ the presentation.

I was just asked this in a training session. The participant does sales presentations and his main customer has a rule that they are to use 6 slides only. Which is ridiculous and arbitrary because obviously with a small font you could fit a 1000-plus words on 6 slides. They should instead impose a time limit (10 or 20 minutes or whatever).

As you said, every presentation is different. Mine are not technical, so my slides are almost entirely visual. If there’s text it’s one to three words. So I may have 80 or more slides in a 50-minute session. (That includes builds.) So it all depends.

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The ideal number of slides for an hour-long presentation, and other thoughts on preparing slides, comparing two recent presentations, the right number of slides, font size and bulleted lists, avoiding laundry lists, argument overview slide, a good essay makes for a good presentation.

These past two weeks, I gave two presentations — a keynote at an internal writers conference at SAP, and a keynote at an internal writers conference at Amazon. (Sorry that I can’t post the recordings.) Both presentations filled an hour time slot. Because I’ve been in presentation mode this past month, especially preparing slides, I’d like to share some thoughts I have about how to create slides for presentations.

Hands-down, the best advice for creating slides is Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule of PowerPoint , which says you should have just 10 slides , your presentation should last no more than 20 minutes , and your font should be no less than 30 points .

I have aspired to follow Kawasaki’s slide rule for a number of years, but one fear always gets in the way: if I have just 10 slides, what if I run out of things to say after 20 minutes? I mean, usually I have to fill an hour presentation slot, right? In order to guard against running out of time, I have a tendency to add more and more slides, helping me remember points I want to make and ensuring I don’t end early.

With my first keynote presentation, I unfortunately had 50 slides (and got through about 40 of them during the presentation). (Granted, many were “sub-slides,” but they were still slides.) For my second presentation, I had only 14 slides (and got through them all). I felt the second presentation went better than the first.

Here’s the problem with having too many slides: the slides lock you into a fixed, rigid presentation order. The more slides you have, the more locked in you are to a fixed set of topics in a predefined order — which may or may not be the right order you want while presenting. With 50+ slides, you won’t have the freedom and flexibility to flow in a more natural way. The more slides you have, the more fixed the order becomes. Instead of a crutch, these slides become a cast that restricts your movement.

The absolute best presentation I’ve ever attended was by David Crystal at UA Europe , and he had no slides at all. He simply had a stool where he occasionally sat, and he spoke for about an hour and a half. It was the most mesmerizing presentation I’ve ever attended, and much of it focused on grammar (and stories about the origins of language). Crystal is the author of some 100+ books on language , and after the presentation, it was clear to me that he was a complete language genius.

I once gave a 20-minute presentation with no slides at all (at a WordPress conference), and I felt a bit naked. It wasn’t a great presentation, but it didn’t tank either. At some point, I’d like to develop the ability to present with just a few slides. I think such a presentation would resemble that of a stand-up comedian or other performer (like the Moth). I don’t have stage performer skills, so I doubt the slide-less presentation will ever be something I pull off. Still, I think as a general rule, the fewer slides one has, the more knowledge and experience the presenter has. Lots of slides is a red flag that the presenter isn’t an expert.

Until I can go slide-less, I have compromised at what I feel is the ideal number of slides for an hour-long presentation: about 15 slides (including the title and conclusion slides). Kawasaki says to limit the number of slides to 10 because no one can retain any more than 10 ideas in an hour, and though I don’t know what data supports this, I generally agree. I bumped my estimate up from 10 to 15 because Kawasaki’s ideal time of 20 minutes seems too short for the hour-long time slot.

Limiting the number of slides to 15 provides the perfect balance between flexibility and structure. You can pursue your ideas in a more freeform, natural way without being locked into a fixed, rigid order that might not fit the idea journey of your presentation.

You might object and say that if you practice your presentation enough, the slides can exactly match the idea journey you want to tell. Hence, you wouldn’t be locked into a structure you don’t want — instead, the slides would help you follow that desired structure.

Well, maybe. But I’ve given about 90 presentations, and it never seems to work out that way for me. Consider the analogy of a conversation. You want to have talking points that allow you to move about in a more freeform way, not necessarily a rigid order in which each topic must be spoken. If you imagine yourself having a conversation with the audience (rather than presenting a presentation), the talking points idea has more merit.

Another Kawasaki principle is to limit the font to no less than 30 points. This is also key. When I see slides with extensive bulleted lists, I cringe. While these bulleted lists might prompt the presenter with details to say, what ends up happening is the presenter more or less reads the slides and presents the presentation rather than telling a story.

Whenever you present a slide with text, the first thing the audience does is tune you out and start reading the text. As an audience member, it’s impossible not to — the screen is huge and directly in front of you.

If you reveal the bulleted list point by point, it has the same effect as flashing multiple, separate slides on the screen: It locks the presenter into a fixed order that potentially interrupts the natural flow of the story.

Ideally, I think good slides should be idea diagrams or visual sketch notes that demonstrate your ideas. Some presenters just put photos from Flickr on their slides to generally depict an idea, but I like more purposeful concept diagrams that might have multiple ideas going on. For example, like this:

Or like this:

Granted, some font on these slides is less than 30 points, but you don’t see extensive bulleted lists here.

For my second presentation slides , I tried to include about 3 stories per slide depicting concept diagrams like this. My thought was that I could glance at the pictures, and each picture would trigger 3 points to cover for the topic. I could cover the 3 stories/points in whatever order I wanted, so I wasn’t locked into a fixed outline. It more or less worked.

I also had slide notes in the presenter view that I could fall back on, but these presenter notes are challenging to read while speaking, and I think most presenters end up ignoring them. Pictures that trigger thought without interfering with one’s language-speaking functions work much better (for me anyway).

I use The Noun Project and Illustrator to create my concept diagrams, as it allows me to more easily manipulate different objects into the slides I want. The images aren’t spectacular, and they’re mostly black and white, but they aren’t embarrassing either, and I have fun making them. I end up exporting these artboards into my presentation. Each artboard is basically a slide in my presentation.

I use RevealJS for my presentations (and have been for the past several years). RevealJS is an HTML/CSS/JS framework that lets you code your slides with simple HTML syntax. For my second presentation, I put the SVGs as slide backgrounds , leaving ample room on the sides to allow for visibility even when the slide show is not in full screen. This worked quite well.

I also put each RevealJS slide presentation into its own GitHub repo. This makes it easy to update the slides. Kawasaki doesn’t say anything about RevealJS, PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote. It really doesn’t matter which tool you use. (I just added some tool-related details here in case you were curious.)

I’ve given many presentations that turn out to be laundry lists of points — a format I regret. This was the problem with my first keynote presentation. After highlighting a trend, I started listing a number of points that could provide solutions to the challenge. These “laundry list” topics tend to be on a lower-level than topics that provide a fuller, richer argument throughout.

Here’s an example of what I mean by a laundry list. In my first presentation, my argument overview was this:

Technology is getting simpler on the front-end for end-users But the code underneath is becoming increasingly specialized/complex Tech writers are generalists, not specialists To provide value in specialist contexts, tech writers must exploit the gaps These gaps are (1) doc tools/processes, (2) understanding user feedback/experiences, and (3) information usability

Then within the “(3) information usability” section, I covered these points:

Give users a map Make information discoverable as needed Ensure harmony across all docs Reduce and distill to its essence Confirm to genre expectations Reduce language complexity Iterative design of docs

Can you see how the presentation just devolved into a laundry list of points rather than focusing on a more focused idea journey? The laundry list comes into focus with the “(1)”, “(2)”, “(3)” points in the last bullet, followed by the 7 bullets later. When I was a composition teacher, I docked student essays for presenting similar laundry lists of ideas rather than going in depth with one point.

For my second presentation, I decided to chop out this laundry list of ideas and instead focus more singularly on my trends argument. So my argument overview was as follows:

Technology is getting more specialized/complex. This complexity drives up the value of technical knowledge, making it more prized than writing skills. To handle the complexity, technical writers must play increasingly collaborative roles with engineers to create documentation

And that’s it. No laundry list at all. I instead spent much more time developing, supporting, and exploring each of these parts of my argument.

Speaking of arguments, I also recommend putting up an “Argument Overview” slide right after your intro hook slide (which usually comes after your title slide). In other words, after you introduce the relevance of your topic, present the audience with your overall argument, so they know where you’re going and what you’re arguing for.

Many presentations will omit this argument overview. When they do, I find myself wondering what the presenter’s overall point is, if they even have one, or if they just have a collage of lots of little ideas. People can often take 10-15 minutes working their way up to some point, which they articulate in fuzzy ways.

I think a good presentation mirrors the elements of an essay:

• relevance hook
• argument/thesis

Many other essay elements might be reflected as well.

Kawasaki says to limit your presentation to 20 minutes. His main scenario isn’t presenters at a conference but rather presentations from startups to venture capitalists (VCs), and he doesn’t really give much reason here for the 20-minute length except to sarcastically say that if you have a Windows machine, it will take 40 minutes to troubleshoot the display. My guess is that VCs are executive types who have a lot of questions and don’t want to be lectured at extensively.

For too many presentations I’ve given, I’ve filled the entire time slot, without leaving any time for questions. This has been a mistake, in part due to having too many slides in the first place. For my second keynote, I spoke for only about 40 minutes and then let Q&A dominate the remaining 20 minutes. Although as an audience member I sometimes dislike listening to other audience members ask questions, I do like to ask my own questions.

Further, very few people can sit patiently listening to a lecture for an hour without engaging with more interactive dialogue. My brain isn’t wired to listen to lectures this long, and neither are many other people’s. You have to be pretty interesting to retain my attention for a full hour in an engaging way.

Probably the biggest reason, though, is that the purpose of a conference is not to present lectures — it’s to confer . You come together to confer with other people, and so you need this space to allow time to discuss your ideas.

What if no one has any questions, and you’re done 20 minutes early? Won’t that feel like you didn’t fill the time, that you short-changed what you promised?

If no one asks questions, it might mean you didn’t make a real argument in your presentation, but instead focused on something everyone already agrees on.

Coming back to the essay comparison, a good presentation focuses on an argument. And an argument must be something that people can take different sides on. If everyone already agrees on the position you’re taking, why bother making it in the first place? Are you already telling people something they already know?

I realize that many presentations at conferences are more information-based rather than argument-based, and people come to “learn” rather than to “debate,” but I’d counter that almost every topic has areas of controversy or uncertainty, and I like to see someone taking a position and defending it with evidence. This shows my bias towards the essay format, as I think good essays reflect this focus as well.

At any rate, if you’ve focused on some argument that people can disagree about, then ending 20 minutes early for Q&A should be ideal, as you will have set the stage for a lively discussion — which is one draw to these gatherings in the first place. You’re setting up the discussion and then allowing for the audience to engage in critical thinking.

Additionally, note that as a presenter, you can also be the one to ask questions. A good teacher doesn’t just lecture to students for 20 minutes and then ask them what questions they have. The teacher asks challenging questions to students and invites them to engage. Why can’t presenters at conferences do the same?

A good essay and a good presentation share many similarities. For many presentations I give, I’ll often write out the content as a blog post or essay before hand. For example, for my second keynote presentation, my Tech comm trends - take two post was the essay form of the post. The essay was about 8,000 words, which is about right for an hour-long presentation. For my first keynote, the essay was an earlier version of the same trends topic .

If the essay doesn’t have a good shape and focus (no idea journey, no story arc, no argument, no evidence, no analysis of opposing views, no interesting questions, etc.), then the presentation will probably lack life as well.

The absolute best advice for any presentation is to structure the idea journey as a story. I don’t mean to pepper in anecdotes everywhere (though that is actually great advice). I mean presentations should follow the general story arc. You have some sort of goal, and you encounter challenges to that goal. The bulk of your work is in getting through these challenges, until you finally come to some realization or conclusion. This flow aligns perfectly with the essay format.

Although I’m not a professional presenter and I lack more training and polish, in the presentations I’ve given over the years, fewer slides work better than more slides. Overall, if I can shape the essay right in the first place, it usually eliminates most of the problems with presentations. That’s why I spend about 90% of the time writing the essay first, and then in the last couple of weeks create the slides.

About Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me . Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.

© 2024 Tom Johnson

How Many Slides For A 30-Minute Presentation

Table of contents.

Do you have a presentation coming up that’s 30 minutes or less? You may be asking yourself, how many slides for a 30 minute presentation are needed?

It’s widespread in many companies to only have 30 minutes to present , with a few minutes added on for questions and ideas from your audience about moving forward. 30 minutes may seem like a lot of time for you when you are looking over your slides in preparation, but it’s also important for you to look at how many slides you are preparing for a longer presentation while still keeping the audience engaged with the material you are presenting.

In this article we explore whether there is a set amount of slides required for a presentation of a certain length, or not!

Are There Slide Rules For Presentations?

Some argue that there are slide rules that should be strictly adhered to, to create an effective, impactful presentation in your allotted time without using too much information. One of the rules is the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint, coined by Guy Kawasaki , which is a general rule that can be followed. The idea behind this is that a PowerPoint presentation should have only 10 slides, last 20 minutes or less and use a font that is 30 points or above so the audience can read along.

However, if we all followed the same format it would be difficult to truly stand out and make an impact which we dive into this more further in the article. Our recommendation is to connect with a presentation consultant who will treat your case individually and suggest the right course of action for your unique situation.

What If I Can Present To My Audience Members In Less Than 30 Minutes?

If you can use visual aids, keep your presentation simple and your talking about the important parts in under 20 minutes and have 30 minutes to present, you should ask yourself if you can make a more effective presentation by including your audience. Telling your story in a presentation is critically important , but keeping your audience engaged is critically important too.

Here are 10 helpful tips on making your presentations interactive.

How Many Slides for a 15-Minute Presentation?

You can have anywhere from 10 slides to 30, it all depends on how many words you have on each slide, and the amount of time that you spend speaking about each slide. Fewer slides aren’t bad, just plan to spend more time and great detail on each slide. Short presentations can still keep an audience’s attention, regardless of how much time you’ll use. Make sure you use the key message to deliver your point with lots of practice. It really all depends on the purpose of the presentation and what you want it to achieve.

How Many Slides for a 10-Minute Presentation?

A typical rule for a 10-minute presentation is ten slides, and using between 30 seconds to a minute on each slide. You’ll want to focus on your speech while being aware of the time limit that you are working with. Bullet points are a useful tool for a good presentation, so you keep the audience from feeling overwhelmed by too much information on your slides.

How Many Slides for a 5-Minute Presentation?

When choosing the number of slides needed for a 5-minute presentation, it’s similar to a 10-minute presentation. You’ll want to aim for a slide a minute, as you have time limits. Anywhere from 2 slides to 5 slides with the 30-point font size or above within 5 minutes when you practice is what you should go with during your presenting time.

Time Allocation Is Of Critical Importance

By practicing ahead of time, you’ll know how much time you need per slide. Your message is the key, regardless of whether you have five minutes or a 30-minute presentation . For example, it’s key to not spend the entirety of your thirty-minute presentations only speaking on one slide, and missing the rest of the slides that you created. The quality of your presentation comes down to time allocation, and knowing how much time you’ll need per slide will set you up for success.

So, How Many Slides Do You Really Need?

You need as many slides as you need for you to be able to fully present your topic and keep your audience engaged. Whether it’s a single slide, two slides or five slides, make sure you are getting your point across in however many slides you think you’ll need. Your storytelling is the most important because it’s your idea that is being shared!

No Matter The Number Of Slides, You're The Secret Sauce

You are the secret sauce that brings the whole presentation together. Your message can be the answer to a problem, or you can bring an example to the table, the main point of your 15-minute presentation or however long you’ll need is how you’ll present. It doesn’t come down to the presentations, or the number of slides you have, it matters that you are the one who is presenting the slide because you will bring it all together as the presenter.

But We Can Help You Stand Out Visually

Our concluding thoughts, not every slide is created equal.

More isn’t necessarily better and having too many slides is definitely a bad thing as it dilutes the impact your presentation will have.

You may be asking yourself, how many slides are for a 30-minute presentation, but don’t overthink it? Go with the amount that you’ll need to present your idea, because no slide show is created equal. You may only need the one slide or you may need a multiple. Just make sure you leave lots of time to answer questions from your audience, after all you need to keep them involved!

With all the above being said, we only speak from experience. There is no right or wrong way, there is your way which will depend on a multitude of factors. You really should connect with a presentation design specialist who will guide you after collecting information.

Looking For A Presentation Design Company? Look No Further

Are you overthinking your next presentation? Considering m aking your own presentation, perhaps a short presentation or some corporate presentations and don’t know where to start on how many slides you should have?

We’ll help with your allotted time, keep it your own slide and keep you from feeling overwhelmed. We are the presentation geeks after all , here to help you with your presentation design, layout and any other questions you may have to help you succeed.

Author:  Content Team

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