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10/20/30 is not just for VC presentations it's for all presentations. Ever sit through a 1 hour PowerPoint? You only can recall at best a few key points from the first 10 minutes if you are still awake.

KISS Method....Gotta Love it!

Slides should only be used to enhance the presentation. The whole presentation need not be composed entirely of slides. Only bring on slides where they are needed to illustrate concepts, images or video clips.

Remember: the first rule of great presentations is to loose PowerPoint!

I like that.
Could we see the whole presentation ?

great hihihi!

I agree with a business presentation. In the academic arena 10 slides would not cut it for many professors. They'd laugh. I do agree with 30pt font. Sometimes I have used 24pt though. Hee hee. No reading the slides though! Also I print the slides as a form of handout and most people like that.

Classic Kaw advice - best 2 minute video I've seen all year re simple and effective PowerPoint "rules" to live by. Great vid & funny too!

Hi,
I've followed this rule for most of presentations.And customer's have always appreciated it.Though some of my bossess don't quite get the idea..anyways, this simple rule has helped me bring clarity for my audience which is more important.

10/20/30 - 10 Slides, 20 Minutes, 30 pt Font
0 - 0 reading of slides

If your presentation can be done < 2 minutes and doesn't require video or slides, just say it (or print it) and get it over with =)

This makes sense. Sometimes. For certain specific presentations. And certain audiences. I have found however, that in some case, for example presentations designed to educate a corporate audience on new products, new strategies, and or in cases when the presentation is also the takeaway, 10 slides are not going to cut it. Nevertheless, your point is well made and regarded.

Good points, nicely presented

All good advice.

However, there's one good reason for having lots and lots of detail on slides -- slides get forwarded around after the presentation.

Maybe the best solution is to embed the details in the presentation, but don't have them appear in the slides.

Very sound advice. The same goes for professors, teachers, and politicians. If you can’t get your message across in 20 minutes, you typically don’t know what you’re talking about or you’re doing a poor job of presenting the information. When you go on for an hour or so, it means that you’re presenting too much information and not allowing people to absorb what you have to say. Present and then dialogue. You’ll get much more across that way.

There's always the, don't use PowerPoint at all strategy....

We routinely use 1 or 2 slides in a deck now -know your material

great 10/20/30 rule of PPT.

It's really about finding balance. Informative books use illustrations to highlight the text and not to subvert the text.

Another rule should be to not wear fancy print vests. ;)

As Edward Tufte said in the NY Times years ago:

PowerPoint makes you dumb

(basically for the reasons given in the comments)

Great insight about the number of slides.

10 slides, minimal text on each, such obvious advice by @guykawasaki is rarely followed

This makes very much sense, easy to remember.

I will send this to my collegues let's hope they will listening

All good. But judging from the comments here, you're preaching to the choir. BTW, folks who do long PPT presentations are also those who use $10 words when 5cent words would do.l

excellent advice if your audience is people with a 20minute attention span. I'd suggest that if this is the case for university students, that they be asked to relocate somewhere where thinking is not needed eg the business world.

Guy - I agree that 30 pt font is right for an audience that speaks the same language as the presenter. What about foreign audiences who wish to read the content while the speaker is presenting because it helps them understand the speaker?

I agree with less is more and know your content for one-off live presentations. HOWEVER, in today's day and age, many people want the slide deck to refer to AFTER the presentation. If you have a 10 slide presentation on Slideshare with minimal content, you're not THERE to add the verbal info, and it's useless and worthless. Some of the value provided by the presentation should also be embedded within in the form of info/text. If all of the high value information is presented verbally, unless you were there to witness the presentation live, you don't get any value.

If you need to give handouts for reference, hand them out as people leave the presentation otherwise people will be fumbling through them through your presentation and distracted . If the handout cannot be understood, then it has not been designed properly. The message is clear, know your stuff and don't use Power Point as a prompt for your to cover the material. The presentation should be planned to cover what people must know. Not what they should or could know.