Lessons learned from the creator of the 10-20-30 rule
I recently attended the only conference in the world dedicated to presentation geeks like me, The Presentation Summit. Here, 200 presentation designers, vendors and speakers gathered to learn about the latest tips and tricks to make our presentations more powerful.
Guy Kawasaki introduced the 10-20-30 rule back in 2004 to help combat death by powerpoint: a maximum of 10 slides for a maximum of a 20 minute lecture with a minimum of 30 point font. While even he admits this is just a stylistic guideline (he had 15 slides), he did share some more meaningful tips with us.
- Have something (valuable) to say.
- Learn something about your audience in advance so you can connect with the commonalities.
- Get with the times and use 16:9 format. Go BIG with your text or images.
- Pre-circulate with your audience to help people build an affinity with you.
- Show you care about them by customizing your introduction with a picture taken with their product or in their town.
- Focus on entertaining, not just informing.
- Cut the sales pitch down to almost nothing. Instead, look for ways to provide value.
- Tell stories. Lots of them.
So what’s the take away? That even though he created the 10-20-30 “rule”, his entire focus was on how we can do a better job connecting with each other.
