presentation average time per slide

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game New
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Computers and Electronics
• Presentation Software
• PowerPoint Presentations

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

Last Updated: July 12, 2023 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 221,022 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

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Jun 29, 2017

Is this article up to date?

M. Fernandez

Dec 19, 2017

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help:

Tech troubles got you down? We've got the tips you need

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.

2 Million+ PowerPoint Templates, Themes, Graphics + More

Download thousands of PowerPoint templates, and many other design elements, with a monthly Envato Elements membership. It starts at $16 per month, and gives you unlimited access to a growing library of over 2,000,000 presentation templates, fonts, photos, graphics, and more.

Pitch Deck Templates

Startup pitch deck.

Business PPT Templates

Corporate & pro.

Pitch PowerPoint

Minimal PPT Templates

Clean & clear.

Animated PPT Templates

Fully animated.

Explore PowerPoint Templates

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.

Email Newsletter

Newsletter signup, recent posts from zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance series.

• The importance of using the right tools (Nov 26, 2023)
• Bleeding my brakes (ZAMM series) (Nov 26, 2023)
• Main takeaway: How to incorporate intuitive thinking (ZAMM series) (Dec 1, 2023)
• Why I decided to reread Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM series) (Nov 26, 2023)

Recent posts from my AI tech comm series

• Use cases for AI: Synthesize insights from granular data (Aug 27, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Arrange content into information type patterns (Jul 6, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Develop build and publishing scripts (Jul 19, 2023)
• AI and APIs: What works, what doesn't (Sep 28, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Summarize long content (Sep 6, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Understand the meaning of code (Jul 25, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Seek advice on grammar and style (Aug 4, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Create glossary definitions (Sep 4, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Distill needed updates from bug threads (Aug 6, 2023)
• Use cases for AI: Compare API responses to identify discrepancies (Aug 28, 2023)

Recent blog posts

• Get Better at Using Prompts With Deliberate Practice: One technical writer's little experiment — guest post by Diana Cheung (Apr 23, 2024)
• Prompt engineering series: Creating scripts to automate doc build processes (Apr 21, 2024)
• What should your documentation metrics look like? Q&A with Zoomin about their 2024 Technical Content Benchmark Report (Apr 14, 2024)
• AI is accelerating my technical writing output, and other observations (Apr 14, 2024)
• Upcoming conference: AI the API docs (Apr 3, 2024)
• Prompt engineering series: Gathering source input (Mar 20, 2024)
• Prompt engineering series: Error checking the output (Mar 20, 2024)
• Integrating AI with your content delivery platform and documentation: Zoomin Q&A with Keren Brown (Mar 18, 2024)
• Showcasing your API technical writer portfolio and projects — guest post by Peter Gustafson (Mar 12, 2024)
• Prompt engineering series: Reverse engineering the recipe for excellent documentation (Mar 4, 2024)

Popular series

• Reflections on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• Journey away from smartphones
• Trends to follow or forget
• Simplifying complexity
• Value arguments for docs and tech comm
• See all series

Search results

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 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.

Got a project for us?

© Slide Cow. All rights reserved.

Session expired

Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.

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.

Enroll in our transformative 1:1 Coaching Program

Schedule a call with our expert communication coach to know if this program would be the right fit for you

8 Ways to Rise Above the Noise to Communicate Better

How to Negotiate: The Art of Getting What You Want

10 Hand Gestures That Will Make You More Confident and Efficient

• [email protected]
• +91 98203 57888

Get our latest tips and tricks in your inbox always

Copyright © 2023 Frantically Speaking All rights reserved

Kindly drop your contact details so that we can arrange call back

Select Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria AmericanSamoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Rwanda Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Wallis and Futuna Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe land Islands Antarctica Bolivia, Plurinational State of Brunei Darussalam Cocos (Keeling) Islands Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Cote d'Ivoire Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Guernsey Holy See (Vatican City State) Hong Kong Iran, Islamic Republic of Isle of Man Jersey Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Lao People's Democratic Republic Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Mozambique Palestinian Territory, Occupied Pitcairn Réunion Russia Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan Da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sao Tome and Principe Somalia Svalbard and Jan Mayen Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tanzania, United Republic of Timor-Leste Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S.

ATLANTA, MAY 23-24 PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS IS ALMOST FULL! RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW

• Public Speaking Classes
• Corporate Presentation Training
• Online Public Speaking Course
• Northeast Region
• Midwest Region
• Southeast Region
• Central Region
• Western Region
• Presentation Skills
• 101 Public Speaking Tips
• Fear of Public Speaking

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.

Podcasts , presentation skills

View More Posts By Category: Free Public Speaking Tips | leadership tips | Online Courses | Past Fearless Presentations ® Classes | Podcasts | presentation skills | Uncategorized

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 .

Popular Articles

What is Financial Modeling? Examples & Templates

13 Best Free Presentation Websites Alternatives to PowerPoint in 2023

Startup vs Small Business: Main differences

How do Investors Make Money from Startups?

Let’s move your company to the next stage 🚀

Ai pitch deck software, pitch deck services.

Financial Model Consulting for Startups 🚀

Raise money with our pitch deck writing and design service 🚀

The all-in-one pitch deck software 🚀

A pitch deck is the standard document used by startups to present their case to investors; it’s a brief deck of about 10 to 20 slides. See examples here.

Learn how to create a compelling slide deck for your startup. Explore how to use slide decks as aids for your presentation, and the most common uses for them.

This is a functional model you can use to create your own formulas and project your potential business growth. Instructions on how to use it are on the front page.

Book a call with our sales team

In a hurry? Give us a call at 

How Many Slides for a 30 Minute Presentation

Last updated on May 25th, 2023

30 minute presentations are very common in different situations and scenarios. Some business meetings are arranged for 30 minutes only, and then the PowerPoint presenter can eventually be available for questions or to exchange ideas with the audience. Also, during a presentation in the classroom, a 30 minute presentation is good to leave more space for other student presentations during the same day. This way, many groups can perform the presentation in a single day.

But the question here is, how many slides for a 30-minute presentation? And of course, it is not an accurate answer since every slide and presenter is different and it could take less or more time. But as a rule of thumb, we can get some estimates about how many slides to include in 30 minutes PowerPoint presentation .

Let’s start thinking on this idea. If we have to perform a presentation in 30 minutes and we want to make it on time, let’s imagine every slide should take 2 minutes as most. Then, using 15 slides we’ll be able to present it in a timeframe of 30 minutes.

As a rule of thumb, consider:

• Estimate how much time do you require to present your slides in average and add 30 more seconds to the result.
• Then divide 30 minutes by the time spent on a single slide.
• The result will give you an idea about how many slides for 30 minutes.

Why are we adding 30 more seconds to every new slide? It is very common that we as presenters underestimate the length in minutes for a slide, so by adding a few more seconds for every slide, we’ll be safe in the total presentation time.

Why 30 minute if you can present it in 20 minutes and using less slides?

Alternatively, suppose you need to wrap a presentation in 5-minute presentation, 10-minutes or 20 minutes. In that case, you should be aware that are some well-known methodologies, rules and frameworks that are interesting to know in advance. For example, 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint is a rule that  Guy Kawasaki is evangelizing and that is a very simple concept.

10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

by using 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint for example, you can make less boring presentations, with only 10 slides and no font smaller than thirty point.

How many words to include in a 10 minute presentation speech?

There are many different classifications and estimates, but as a general rule, presenters can consider a speech takes 100 to 200 words per minute. Having this in mind, how many slides should we use in a 10-minute presentation ? The answer is simple, a 10-minute presentation would require between 1000 to 2000 words.

Similarly, if you have a 30 minutes presentation, it would take between 3000 and 6000 words.

The 5 by 5 rule in PowerPoint

There are many other rules that can help to estimate the time taken by presenters to deliver a speech. For example, the 5 by 5 rule in PowerPoint is a rule that will keep your audience from feeling bored and overwhelmed. In this rule, you should keep the text on each slide reduced at the minimum. Keep it short and straight to the point. For example, in the 5 by 5 rule, you can spend up to 5 words per line of text, 5 text lines per slide.

To keep your audience from feeling overwhelmed, you should keep the text on each slide short and to the point. Some experts suggest using the 5/5/5 rule for presentations : no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, or five text-heavy slides in a row.

If you need to prepare a presentation of a different length, then our other guides can help you. For example, in How Many Slides for a 45 Minute presentation can help to decipher how many slides to include in a longer presentation, which is sometimes useful for trainings and courses.

We will send you our curated collections to your email weekly. No spam, promise!

Managing Time Effectively in Your Presentation: 4 Expert Tips  – How to Stay on Track!

We’ve all been there. Halfway through a presentation, you suddenly realise that you don‘t have enough time left! This despite the fact that you‘ve practiced the presentation again and again and have always come in under time.

Presentations are often time-limited. In particular, pitch presentations, and occasions where there are several speakers, generally have rigid time limits that you must stick to. This article will give you four great tips for managing time effectively.

How to keep your presentation to time – 4 expert tips

Here are our four best tips for managing time during your presentation effectively – why not give them   a try?

Tip #1: Prepare thoroughly

You need to start thinking about the timing of your presentation from the beginning of your preparation . One way of doing this is to take a sheet of paper and sketch out your slides in sequence , making a note of the maximum presentation time you anticipate for each slide.

This helps you see which slides are essential, and which can be left out.  You should end up with a coherent narrative line, where each slide adds to your argument.

How much speaking time should you allow per slide?

It would be great if we could calculate the speaking time per slide , adding up to the time you’re allowed for your presentation, thus solving the problem of time management. Unfortunately, there aren’t any hard and fast rules. The approximate speaking time per slide depends on the content of that slide and your presentation topic.

As a rule, however, aim to speak for no more than 3-4 minutes per slide. In general, keep it shorter rather than too long – this keeps your audience attentive.

Bonus tip: Keep in mind that your presentation will almost always take longer than when you rehearse it at home beforehand. This is because you are interacting with the audience and follow-up questions are asked. Allow about 20%-40% more time for the actual presentation.

Tip #2: Look at your subject from an outsider’s perspective, and present it accordingly

Think like an outsider. Instead of considering the individual points of your presentation from your own point of view, imagine how long it would take someone without your prior knowledge and background to understand them . Use the latter times as a guide. This way you allow as much room as possible for questions.

You know yourself and your strengths best. When is your energy level at its highest? Do you start strong or do you need a few minutes to get into flow? Tailor your presentation accordingly. Who is your audience and where are you going to give your presentation?

If you are presenting on the evening of the last day of a conference, for example, you need to be prepared for a tired audience. If you are introducing a conference, you may need to clarify terms first. Also, plan your presentation time carefully in light of your surroundings. T hat way, you won’t run out of time or breath.

As a general rule, make sure you meet the needs of your audience . Ask yourself what points you really want to include in your presentation to get your core message across. You can find further tips in our short article “ Focus on audience’s needs “.

Tip #3: Use PowerPoint Speaker View

Another simple trick you can use to keep your presentation time is the PowerPoint Speaker View. This handy PowerPoint feature offers lots of helpful options. For example, you could set it to show the next slide along in your presentation, or display notes that only you, and not your audience, can see.

A really useful feature here is the timer. It shows how much time of your presentation has already passed, allowing you to keep the presentation on time.

We go through how to set the timer in our article “ PowerPoint Presenter View” .

Tip #4: Use shortcuts for PowerPoint for managing time better!

With the right keyboard shortcuts, you can save a lot of time, whether in PowerPoint presentations or generally when working on the computer. The best thing is: they are easy to learn and work on every computer! You can find out exactly which shortcuts there are and how to get the most out of working with shortcuts in our blog post on “ Shortcuts .”

With the help of shortcuts, you can work much more efficiently in the future and invest more time in presenting itself . Not only you, but also your audience will thank you!

Extra Tip: Use add-ins from PresentationLoad!

Our customers often ask whether there is an add-in available that makes it possible to display time periods, countdowns or the current time in presentations . We listened, and developed such an add-in ourselves! With the help of our revolutionary time presentation tool, you can now incorporate time management and efficiency into your next presentation in a professional way.

Until now, the only way to get an overview of time in PowerPoint presentations was to use PowerPoint Speaker View. Unfortunately, this function is only visible to the presenter. That’s why our new Dynamic Time Add-In tool equips your current PowerPoint version with the features needed to show time, date and time periods in the way that best suits your presentation.

The add-in is compatible with:

• Microsoft Office 2010 (32bit & 64bit)
• Microsoft Office 2013 (32bit & 64bit)
• Windows 7 (32bit & 64bit)
• Windows 8.1 (32bit & 64bit)

Four for one: time, date, counter and countdown

Whether it’s a presentation, a lecture, self-running info screens, or trade fair presentations, showing the time, whether faded in or as a countdown, can be a great tool . For example, you could announce an upcoming deadline for an important product or the launch of your website by fading in a countdown.

By doing so, you not only add interest to your presentation, but also have the use of a unique tool known only to a few. To help you get started, we provide a short tutorial below, to help get you up to speed. Follow the simple instructions to get started!

Just install and go: instructions

The add-in is installed by executing the downloaded file (admin rights may be required) and is automatically integrated within your PowerPoint window as a tab.

To activate the range of functions, click the DynamicElements tab. Then select the Time button to open the Time Panel options window. The editing interface for Dynamic Time now appears on the right of the screen.

As soon as you create a new textbox and select a mode in the Time Panel, it will automatically include the date (or time/countdown) you want.

Any number of text fields can be assigned with time and date display. To do this, create a text field in the conventional way, then activate it via the Time Panel (on the right of the page) by assigning a new mode (the default is none).

We’ve put in four modes (functions with setting options) for this purpose:

• Clock for the time display
• Date to show the date
• Counter to display a counter
• Countdown to see a countdown

When choosing time- or date-based displays, you need to select a time zone if the one you want is not the default.

You can display any time or date using a single field, or split it into components (e.g. the time in hours, minutes and seconds).

To see what the dynamic element looks like once inserted, switch to presentation mode via the Slide Show tab and choose From current slide .

(For further instructions, please see the ReadMeFirst file included in the add-in).

Possible uses:

• Dynamic time display
• Show the current time (including seconds) on your PowerPoint slides during the presentation:

• Show a start screen with live time in digital format (for your event, lecture, self-running presentation/info screen):

• Display a world clock with different time zones. By setting different time zones you can, for example, display an individualized company world clock, including all your company locations:

Display the date in different formats . The days of the week can be automatically included if so desired. Combine the date and time for attractive calendar pages!

3. Dynamic Counter

Show the time which has elapsed since a specified point in time (giving the date and time). For example, show the time since the launch of a new product or of your website, the founding of your company or the opening of a particular location.

4. Dynamic Countdown

Show the time remaining until a particular event (in days, hours, minutes and seconds).

Click here to get to the add-in: Download

To sum up: Managing time in presentations the right way

The chances are that your next presentation is coming up. Using our expert tips, you can plan and achieve sticking to the time you’re given for your presentation .  You should find it far easier to manage that time effectively.

If you have any further questions about managing presentation time, or indeed about PowerPoint in general, do feel free to email us at [email protected] . We’re always glad to help!

Looking for professionally designed slide templates for your presentation? Take a look around our store! We have a fabulous range of slides for download covering the business topics you need! ► Shop

You might also be interested in the following articles:

• PowerPoint Presenter View
• Concentrate on Audience’s Needs
• Preparing Presentatios: 11 tips
• Target Group Analysis

Share this post

• share  
• save  

Design Thinking: Problem Solving with a Difference

Why Corporate Mission Statements Are So Important

7 Tips & Learnings from the Apple Keynote

Ace the Presentation

How to Effectively Manage Time During a Presentation? Short and Long Ones!

Slides are one of the best ways to engage an audience and nail a presentation. Nowadays, people use the most efficient and practical skills to make the slides clear, easy to understand. However, most people struggle to plan and manage time in their presentations.

How Many Slides are Suitable for Finishing a Presentation on Time?

The general rule says 1 to 2 slides per minute. However, it is critical to note that the presentation’s number of slides will vary according to the topic complexity, audience, available time, presentation structure and format, and goal. Good planning, rehearsal, and delivery skills are essential!

To be more specific, if you have too many slides in a presentation at the range of 3 to 15 minutes, you will end up confusing your audience or spending a significant part of your time explaining the slides. It does not mean you have to prepare a lot of information and squeeze it into few slides, and the best practice is to summarize your content to understand it easily.

From 25 minutes to 60 minutes, you can make a considerable number of slides. Some experts recommend 1 to 2 slides per minute, but as I said before, it will depend on the topic. Imagine that one of your slides contains graphs about some work you have been doing that can take more than 2 minutes, and it is important to explain it in detail to the audience.

It all starts with planning, researching, organizing all the collected data, prioritizing your key points, and making a structure. After this exercise, it will be easier to know how many slides you will have according to your given time.

To sum this up, there is no exact rule to set a number of slides for a given time frame, and it will vary according to the topic, your research, and your presentation skills. All you have to do is to balance the slides with your speech and time.

How many Slides for a 3-minute Presentation?

For a 3-minute presentation, the presenter should use four slides. Depending on how the slides are structured, 15 seconds to 2 minutes can be spent on each slide.

What really matters is not the amount of the slides but the quality. You can make three powerful slides and nail your presentation or make 5 with too much content and ending up having a boring presentation.

A good practice for a 3 minutes presentation is to keep it clean and straightforward. Keep in mind that slides are more engaging with visuals rather than texts. And on your speech, be as brief as possible, make a 15 to 20 seconds introduction, and do the same on the conclusion.

How many Slides for a 5-minute Presentation?

Five minutes is enough time to deliver your message and engage your audience with content that is straight to the point. The only thing you need to do is keep in mind that every second of your time counts a lot for your presentation.

How many Slides for a 10-minute Presentation? 

The Rule of Thumb for a 10-minute presentation is having 10-12 slides. Presenters with good skills use up to 30 seconds per slide to keep it nice and engaging. This time frame is suitable for elaborately introducing the subject or topic, diving deep into it, and highlighting the key points.

According to your topic, you can even make eight slides considering the fact that slides are only the guide of your presentation. That is why it is essential to make an excellent structure to organize your content on the slides properly; this will help you to put aside unnecessary data and focus only on what is essential for the audience.

How many Slides for a 20-minute Presentation?

According to  Guy Kawasaki , a 20-minute presentation should have ten slides where each slide utilizes a 30 point font. Using this rule of 10/20/30, the speaker would spend up to 1 minute per slide, which gives time for even allowing 1 or 2 questions from the audience.

To structure a 20 minutes presentation using the rule of 10/20/30 from  Guy Kawasaki , you have to use the first slide to introduce your subject, case study, or others, and from the second slide, start diving deep until you get to the conclusion.

In some cases, each slide has a different theme, and you will need to approach them differently. Having different themes per slide will require you to summarize each slide’s content in under a minute.

Although the Rule of Guy Kawasaki is suitable for a 20-minute presentation, you can set your own number of slides according to your subject and how much time you spend on a single slide as long as you deliver the message properly and engage your audience.

How many Slides for a 25-minute Presentation?

For a 25-minute presentation, the general rule is to use 20 to 30 slides. By spending up to two minutes per slide and focusing on the main subject, the speaker can keep the audience engaged for this period of time. 

Kawasaki believes that a human being can comprehend at least ten concepts in a meeting. In other words, you have to include in your topic or subject up to ten themes to be discussed. Any More than that can make your audience get confused or bored.

In this given time frame, you now have the opportunity to interact more with the audience, start with a quote, let them raise some clarification questions, and get more involved with them. 

How many Slides for a 30-minute Presentation?

Experts recommend 30 to 40 slides to make a memorable presentation. With 30 minutes, the presenter has more options compared to when the given time frame is short. Consider making the content as straightforward as possible. Also, make two paragraphs per slide at the most.

This technique will allow the audience to read all the information on the slide easily and quickly and move to the next one alongside you. If you add too much content on one slide, the audience will likely read something that you are not explaining yet or the opposite.

But you can make more than 40 slides and still have a memorable presentation in just 30 minutes, and I will explain to you how. Well, if you want your audience to understand clearly each content of your slide, make it one paragraph or one sentence, and use more visuals.

Using this method, you will spend 1-2 seconds per slide, and the audience will understand way better seeing the visual (which counts more than text). The explanation is gradual from the beginning to the end.

How many Slides for a 45-minute presentation?

As a general rule, for a 45-minute presentation, between 20 and 50 slides would grant a memorable presentation. Spending 1-2 minutes per slide, the speaker will have time to make a great introduction, interact more with the audience and have a questions and answers session.

A 45-minutes presentation is in the range of long times ones, and in these cases, you have to use the slides very carefully, making them proportional to your presentation time. Consider having a wristwatch to control your time.

A good practice is to use the slides only to guide your speech during the presentation, but you will need to master them. Rehearse the most important of each slide to make sure you spend the right time, or even less. This time management will give you an advantage because you will have enough time to make a great conclusion.

How many Slides for an hour Presentation?

Experts recommend 30 to 60 slides for a 60-minutes presentation. This period of time gives the speaker two main options: summarize the content in 30 slides or make a structure that allows one theme per slide. These two options also give more time to interact with the audience make a great introduction and conclusion.

Both of them are OK. But there are aspects that you have to consider; if you are preparing few slides, you will need to train how to summarize content to make sure you don’t spend too much time explaining all the points or having your audience stuck on reading your slide. 

And if you are planning to make one theme per slide to facilitate the understanding to the audience, make sure you spend 30 seconds at the most. But also consider having black screen slides to make pauses or small breaks and entertain or reengage your audience.

How many Slides for a 90-minute Presentation?

A 90-minutes presentation should have not more than 60 slides. In this situation, the speaker will need to know how to keep time on presentations. Experts recommend up to 2 minutes per slide, but depending on how the presentation is flowing, spending more than 2 minutes per slide is possible.

If you fail to make these pauses to double-check if the audience is on the same page with you, you will be running a risk of going back from almost the end of the slides to the first ones to explain something that the audience did not get very well.

How many Slides for a two-hour presentation?

A two-hour presentation would need 60-80 slides to deliver the message memorably. Some experts recommend one theme per slide to make it clear and easily understandable. Keep in mind that a presentation this long requires careful planning and a very well-organized structure.

Generally, a presentation with more than one hour of duration is for professional speakers who can deal with time management. The best way to not have your audience boring is to use the method of one idea per slide; it will make them easily understand each part of your content.

How many Slides for 2+ hours presentations?

Presentations with more than two hours should have not more than 80 slides. Long presentations with over 2 hours, the speaker can organize the information in order to spend 2-3 minutes per slide. 

120+ minutes is considered an extended time frame; a good practice is to keep the slides brief and clean to ensure your audience won’t get exhausted.

What are the skills needed to Deliver Long Presentations or Speeches?

For long presentations, several skills are required to ensure successful delivery, such as:  

• Time management;
• Engaging the audience
• Solid posture
• Good eye contact
• Controlling your voice, and more. 

All these skills will keep your audience engaged and entertained, and make sure you reserve 15-20 minutes for questions and answers after a long presentation or speech.

How to keep time in your presentation?

First of all, to have complete control of your time on stage, you have to write the schedule of time you will spend on each part of your presentation, something like setting time for your opening, how long time you will spend on the introduction, how long time you reserve for questions and answers, etc.

Make sure you start your presentation on time. If you fail this step, then everything that comes ahead may also delay and end the presentation after the scheduled time. You also need to plan how long your speech will take and have a clock to control it.

Planning is also crucial to keep time on your presentation. The main thing in the plan to deliver your message is the structure of your content. A good structure will allow you to know how much time you will spend on each point.

I have an excellent article with  a guide for outlining your speech , which should help you nail this part of the process. A  good speech outline  is key in managing presentation time.

And last but not least, you need to rehearse before you go on stage. It will allow you to know how much time you need for the presentation and practice to see if you need to remove or add something to your presentation to make it perfect.

Why do people usually fail to finish a presentation within the stipulated time?

Generally, people fail to finish a presentation on time because they do not make a good plan, underestimate rehearsing, and fail at an impromptu delivery attempt at the last minute. What commonly happens is that people make too many slides and fail to go from one to another on time. The rule of thumb says that 1-2 minutes per slide is enough using standards.

Another session that makes speakers fail to finish the presentation in time is the question and answers. This mistake happens when the speaker does not practice enough or predict questions that may come and end up thinking about the answer when the question is raised.

Not setting time for each session of your presentation also makes you not finish on time. This mistake will cause you to take longer at one point or another, especially if you don’t have a clock to keep track of the time.

How to keep your Presentation Brief and Clear

To keep a presentation brief and clear, organize your content to be only one theme per slide. To be more specific, consider having one paragraph or idea per slide, one that is concise, straightforward, and should also include minimalist visuals. 

The design is also essential to help you get a clean design. Choose a layout that comfortably suits your text and image. Another detail is the color, which has to be neutral to help the reader focus on the content only. 

For More Tips on Designing and Nailing a Presentation, open the recommended articles below.

Designing a Killer Presentation in 8 Steps

Planning and performing a presentation that meets expectations and involves the public requires a lot of care. The details involved in holding a talk will be super important to ensure her success and approval from those who participated. Therefore, we have prepared a post with a few crucial steps that you should follow to organize…

What Makes a Great Presenter? 9 Key Qualities to Look for!

Want to Stand Out? 15 Key Tips for an Awesome Presentation

In conclusion, the number of slides a presentation should have for a given time depends on who is presenting and the topic or subject. And also, it varies according to the methods that you use to deliver your message. As long as it reaches the audience properly and on time, the number of slides should be the least of your concerns. 

But you can follow the standards that some experts recommend for a presentation from 3 minutes to 120+ minutes. For example, Guy Kawasaki recommends the rule of 10/20/30 for a 20 minutes presentation. This rule of thumb allows you to have ten slides to be presented in 20 minutes, and the font should be 30 points. 

This example shows that you can follow the standards and still have a successful presentation. the main thing you have to do, is a good planning, a good structure, and make your content brief and clear, that will help them understand and enjoy your presentation 

References and Further Reading

How to Create a Killer 5-Minute Presentation (hubspot.com)

How Many Slides For A Whatever-Minute Presentation? (slidecow.com)

https://www.soappresentations.com/how-many-slides-should-be-used-for-a-60-minute-presentation/

The ideal number of slides for an hour-long presentation, and other thoughts on preparing slides | I’d Rather Be Writing Blog (idratherbewriting.com)

Presentation Slide Counts (duarte.com)

3 Ways to Choose the Right Number of Slides for a Powerpoint Presentation (wikihow.com)

Brevity, Clarity and Wit: 10 Commandments for a 10-Minute Talk | Cath Lab Digest | HMP Global (hmpgloballearningnetwork.com)

How Many Slides to Use For a 5, 10, 15+ Minute Presentation (tutsplus.com)

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint – Guy Kawasaki

How Many Slides to Use in a Presentation? 5 Tips | Design Shack

Similar Posts

15 Demonstration Speech Ideas and Key Techniques for Your Next​ Speech

If you have ever been called upon to teach an audience with the help of some visual aids, then you have done a demonstrative speech or a demonstration speech. Hopefully, you did a great job. This article aims to show you how to best carry out a demonstrative speech that does what it is meant…

How to Draft the Best Persuasive Speech Outline?

When we think of good communication, we refer to expressing ourselves assertively, effectively conveying our ideas, desires, and dissatisfaction, thus inspiring other people. One of the most critical aspects of this communication is the power of persuasion. Many people confuse influence with manipulation, but these are very different concepts! To persuade a person or a…

7 ORATORY SECRETS: HOW TO GIVE AN EFFECTIVE ORATORICAL SPEECH?

What is oratory and why most of the greatest speeches ever are oratorical in nature? Oratory can be summarized as the art of informing and persuading people through the use of public speaking skills. It generally means speaking in front of an audience and using high level language skills to inform, educate and persuade the…

6 Solid Tips about Making Eye Contact

For most people, their first time addressing a crowd can be so scary and they tend to feel nervous or Jittery. My first time facing the crowd was quite an experience for me. I got on the stage and felt like I needed the ground to open up and take me in. One of the…

How to Analyze an Audience

Do you want to know how to effectively analyze an audience for your public speaking engagements or even work pitches? This skill is crucial in order to ensure that your message resonates with its intended recipient and we will teach you all about how to analyze an audience! To analyze an audience, be aware of…

How to Prepare and Deliver a Great Memorized Speech

A memorized speech can be a real nightmare; We easily forget most things even setting schedules and alarms, or asking a friend to remind us about important things to do proves to be a challenge sometimes – now imagine memorizing an entire speech. Today we will learn a bit about how to prepare ourselves and…

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

Related posts.

FREE PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.

Subscribe for free tips, resources, templates, ideas and more from our professional team of presentation designers.

Services by software

PowerPoint presentation >

Remarkable Powerpoint presentations

Keynote presentation >

Presentations in software Keynote

Google Slides presentation >

Professional Google slides presentation

ALL SERVICES

• Pitch deck design
• Google slides redesign
• Investor deck design
• Marketing Presentation
• Sales Presentation
• Keynote redesign
• PowerPoint redesign
• Prezi presentation
• Executive Presentation
• Corporate presentation
• Pitch deck redesign
• Thesis presentation
• Investor Presentation
• Presentation For Event
• Branded email designs that convert
• Corporate Overview Presentation

My availability status:

Currently accepting work

Start a project

• March 4, 2022

How Long Does It Take To Make a Presentation? (Answered)

Written by Tom Caklos

Presentation designer

No matter if you are planning to work with PowerPoint , Keynote, or Google slides .. you are probably wondering how long it will take you to make a presentation.

Making a simple presentation with a few slides and a great message takes anything from 20 – 60 hours. This includes crafting content, designing slides, and preparing. An actual time depends on your topic, the complexity of your slides, and the message that you want to get across.

While this is a very broad estimate, we need to have a much closer look at the whole process.

Crafting content for one slide usually takes about 10 minutes (in some cases it takes hours).

Designing each slide usually takes me around 40 minutes on average . And I am working as a presentation designer! It’ll be probably a bit more for other people. Of course, there are situations when designing a slide takes me literally 15 minutes once branding is established and there’s little content.

So if we include preparation and brainstorming and messaging.. we can estimate that one slide usually takes about 60 minutes to produce (10 minutes for copy + 40 minutes for design).

So how does this stack up for bigger presentations? Let’s have a look at this list:

Please, take these with a grain of salt. Some presentations are much easier than others. For ex. I was once designing a presentation for the sales team . In their presentation, they were using a lot of graphs so it took me around 90 minutes to take care of one slide.

On the other hand, the presentation for the agency was much simpler and it took me around 30 minutes per slide.

How long does it take to make 10 slides?

It takes around 11 hours to make a 10 slide presentation. That includes content creation, brainstorming, and design of each slide. Time will vary depending on the industry and complexity of the slides. Some slides take longer than the others, so this is an only the average estimate.

How long does it take to make a 30 slide presentation

For a 30 slide presentation, it is recommended to prepare around 30-35 hours. This time is usually needed for content creation and design of the slides. But it really depends on the industry and topic.

Wrapping it up

Do not forget to add a few more hours on top for preparation and brainstorming.

If you want your presentation to look really good , make sure you save a few hours upfront for the design part alone. In case you cannot, reach out to me and we can chat about how we can work together.

Thanks for reading my article! When I write, I always try to bring as much value as I can. If you're having any questions, or if you need any help, feel free to reach out to me!

Did you learn something new? Share it with your network!

4 Main Differences Between Good and Bad Presentation

Slides Count for 1 Hour Presentation – Here’s How Many Slides You Need

Creating Titles for Your PowerPoint Slides: Tips & Tricks

Let's get to work.

Oravicka 423 027 12 Vitanova Slovakia

[email protected] +421 903 958 162 Linked In

@Tom The Designer 2021

Slides Per Minute Calculator

Introduction.

Slide presentations are a common and effective means of conveying information in various settings, including business meetings, educational lectures, and conferences. The timing of slide transitions plays a crucial role in maintaining audience engagement and ensuring that the information is comprehensible. Slides that change too quickly can overwhelm the audience, while transitions that are too slow can lead to disinterest. The Slides Per Minute Calculator assists presenters in finding the optimal balance between slide transitions and audience comprehension.

The formula for calculating the ideal number of slides per minute is:

Slides Per Minute (SPM) = (Total Number of Slides) / (Total Presentation Time in Minutes)

• SPM represents the slides per minute, indicating how many slides should transition in one minute.
• Total Number of Slides is the count of all slides in the presentation.
• Total Presentation Time in Minutes is the desired or allocated time for the entire presentation in minutes.

This formula provides a straightforward way to determine the recommended slide transition speed based on the presentation’s length and content.

How to Use?

Using the Slides Per Minute Calculator involves the following steps:

• Determine Total Number of Slides : Count all the slides in your presentation. This should include the title slide, content slides, and any additional slides like section dividers or conclusion slides.
• Specify Total Presentation Time : Decide how long you want your presentation to last or how much time you have been allocated for your presentation. Express this time in minutes.
• Calculate Slides Per Minute (SPM) : Use a calculator to perform the calculation.
• Apply the Result : The calculated SPM value will provide you with the recommended speed at which slides should transition to match the desired presentation time.

Let’s illustrate the Slides Per Minute Calculator with an example:

Suppose you have a presentation with a total of 20 slides, including the title slide and conclusion slide. Your allocated presentation time is 15 minutes.

Using the formula:

SPM = 20 slides / 15 minutes

SPM ≈ 1.33 slides per minute

In this example, the Slides Per Minute Calculator suggests transitioning approximately 1.33 slides per minute to fit the presentation into the allocated 15-minute time frame.

1. Is there an ideal SPM value for all presentations? The ideal SPM can vary depending on the nature of the presentation, the audience, and the content. Some presentations may require a slower pace for complex topics, while others may benefit from a faster pace for concise delivery.

2. What if my calculated SPM is not a whole number? It’s common to obtain fractional values for SPM. In such cases, you can round to the nearest whole number or use a decimal value if you prefer a more precise pace.

3. Can I adjust the SPM during my presentation? Yes, presenters can adapt the slide transition pace during the presentation based on audience engagement and feedback. Flexibility in pacing can enhance the overall effectiveness of the presentation.

Conclusion:

The Slides Per Minute Calculator is a valuable tool for presenters who want to strike the right balance between slide transitions and audience comprehension. By calculating the ideal number of slides per minute, presenters can ensure that their presentations are well-timed, engaging, and effective in conveying the intended message. This tool empowers presenters to create presentations that resonate with their audience, ultimately leading to more successful and impactful communication.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Presentation Time Calculator

PT Time Controller

보다 정확하게 측정하고 싶다면, Customize를 이용하세요.

1. If you scroll right or left, it will calculate PT time according to corresponding speed. 2. You can consider your speech speed and the interval of your PPT pages .

140 WPM (Words Per Minute)

* 매우 천천히 설명하는 발표는 330 CPM까지도 내려갑니다.

1. Read your script for 20 seconds using below stopwatch. 2. Enter the script as much as you just read and it will calculate PT time about total script. 3. If you have PPT, enter the number of PPT pages, the interval of PPT pages and the time to view materials.

2021.03.18. Modified