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

How many slides would you prepare for each presentation?

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

Alex, a Six Minutes reader, asks:

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

Sometimes, the answer is zero.

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

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

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

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

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

Most presenters use too many slides.

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

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

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

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

Then how many slides do I need?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not all slides are equal.

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

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

Create your own rule of thumb.

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

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

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

Video: Make Your Slides Count

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

Original link: Duarte “Make Your Slides Count” video

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

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

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

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

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

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Have you ever thought about the relationship between time and public speaking?

On the surface, you engage your audience second by second, stringing together words into sentences that, over the duration of your presentation, may last minutes or perhaps hours.

Yet, the impact of your speaking experiences may last days, weeks, months, or even years — for you and for those in your audiences.

In this article, we examine time scales ranging from a tenth of a second to hundreds of years, and consider how each of these scales is relevant to you as a speaker.

One Tenth of a Second

A typical speaking rate is 150 words per minute, or 2.5 words per second. This means the average time between words is just four tenths of a second. When you consider pauses, a syllable leaves your lips in about a tenth of a second. (Your brain, of course, has to operate on a much faster scale to keep up.)

In one tenth of a second, perceptions form in your audience’s mind – either positive or negative. It could be an inflection that makes them cringe, or a visual that evokes a warm memory. It could be a facial expression which betrays a lack of sincerity, or a crackling voice which signals genuine emotion.

One Second

Pauses in your speech range from a short “comma pause” (about one second) to longer pauses for rhetorical effect (lasting several seconds). The duration of pauses is critical; if it’s too long, you’ve got an uncomfortable pause.

The enemy of the pause is the filler word: utterances which include “um”, “uh”, and “ah”. Everyone has a few filler words, but they are more common among speakers who are inexperienced, unprepared, or especially nervous. Skilled speakers understand that, instead of filler words, you can simply pause while you collect your thoughts; you don’t need a filler word to mark the moment.

Although the audience perceives slide visuals on the sub-second level, slide recognition occurs on the order of a second. Well-designed slides are recognized easily, and their meaning is associated the words of a speaker quickly. Particularly confusing slides can cause several seconds (or more) of high cognitive processing.

Ten Seconds

Effective eye contact is achieved when your gaze finds an audience member, and then stays there for perhaps a sentence or two — generally in the ten second range. Eye contact which is significantly shorter — like a ping pong ball — will seem insincere. Eye contact which is significantly longer may be uncomfortable, and perhaps leave other audience members feeling “left out.”

Ten seconds is also the range in which complete sentences are spoken, including most memorable phrases and quotations. You should be able to clearly summarize your main message within ten seconds.

One Minute

One minute is about the length of good story which a speaker might tell. Stories significantly shorter probably do not develop adequate conflict, emotion, or a significant message. Stories significantly longer could likely benefit either from aggressive editing (removing superfluous details which detract from the story) or splitting in two (in case more than one point is being made).

One minute is about the maximum time needed to introduce a speaker in most contexts. Any longer than this, and the introducer risks boring the audience and stealing attention away from the speaker.

Ten Minutes

Ten minutes is the upper limit for what many people might call a “short” speech. In ten minutes, you’ve only got time to properly develop one central idea, while supporting it with several stories and supporting points. It requires precise focus and discipline from a speaker.

Many popular formats hover around this average.

• Speaking formats such as Pecha Kucha (six minutes forty seconds) or Ignite (five minutes) restrict speakers down further and yet are wildly popular social events.
• TED talks (which have been reviewed numerous times on Six Minutes) come in various lengths, but the longest top out at 18 minutes.

Ten minutes is long enough to read most articles on Six Minutes, or another speaking blog. These bite-sized lessons are intended to motivate, instruct, and challenge you to improve your skills.

In a longer speaking session (e.g. a training session), ten minutes is a rule of thumb for switching gears. It’s wise to vary your technique, switch formats, and otherwise add variety to your session to keep the energy of your session high.

One Hour

One hour is a common length of a keynote address or the corporate staple known as the noon-hour seminar. One hour provides time for a speaker to cover their topic in much more depth and breadth, as well as allowing for an extended question and answer (Q&A) period.

One hour is the most common length of a Toastmasters meeting. It’s short enough to allow members to fit it into their hectic day, but long enough to cover the core elements (prepared speeches, evaluations, and impromptu speaking).

One hour is also a convenient duration for speech coaching sessions. A good speaking coach can work with you to explore your strengths and weaknesses, and one hour provides lots of time for repetitive practice as well.

Ten Hours

Ten hours is the upper bound for a daily seminar, or the daily program at many conferences. Most people will get pretty fatigued with 10 hours of listening to speakers. Speaking in this environment requires special skill in balancing valuable information with lighter, less cognitively draining activities.

One Day

One day is a practical upper bound for someone in your audience to act on your call-to-action. Nick Morgan claims that “the only reason to give a speech is to change the world.” I agree, and that starts by changing the thoughts and actions of individual audience members. Your speech should be designed with a clear and emphatic call-to-action. It should be challenging enough that opting to do it truly does represent change, but simple enough that it can be started within a day of your speech.

• For example, “losing 20 pounds” is not a call-to-action,
  but “starting an exercise habit tomorrow” is.

One day is also the outer range where you can receive useful feedback on your presentation (assuming it was not recorded, of course). The best time to solicit feedback is during (e.g. a feedback form) or immediately after (e.g. mingling with your audience) your presentation. Asking for feedback days or weeks after a presentation is not likely to reap many rewards as the feedback you receive will tend to be generic.

One Week

One week is a healthy period to practice your presentation. You certainly don’t need to practice twenty-four hours a day for a full week; thirty minutes per day will usually suffice. Rather than cramming all of your practice into the night before your presentation — or worse, the morning of your speech — consider spreading it over a week to allow yourself the time to become more comfortable with the content.

One week is also a good interval during which you should try to devote some time to developing your speaking skills. Like any habit, it’s hard to built momentum if you don’t get regular exposure. This includes both speaking before an audience, as well as support activities like working on speeches, gathering speechwriting material, or reading speaking blogs and books. It is not a coincidence that Toastmasters clubs (and most other extra-curricular activities) are designed to establish weekly participation.

Ten Weeks

Ten weeks is about the length of time it takes to establish a new speaking habit. Most of us resist change, either consciously or subconsciously. If you want to develop a new habit (speaking or otherwise), doing it once or twice will not suffice.

Ten weeks is the also upper limit needed to fully prepare for most major presentations. Do you think that’s too long? Well, let me bound it a bit.

• By “major presentations”, I’m talking about the ones which can make or break your career (like landing a new client) or help you achieve a personal goal (like making your case before city council for a new bylaw).
• By “fully prepare”, I mean the time from your initial idea that you’d like to give a speech to the time you deliver it. You might spend the first four or five weeks just brainstorming or researching content. Then, you might spend the next few weeks writing, practicing in front of a test audience, and honing your delivery.

One Year

One year is long enough to set yourself on a new speaking path. The new path depends a great deal on where you are now, and what your goals for the future are:

• Maybe “I’m terrified of speaking” gets replaced with “I’m scared, but I speak”.
• Maybe “I’m scared, but I speak” gets replaced with “I feel nervous, but I harness that energy”.
• Maybe “I speak when I am required to” gets replaced with “I enjoy speaking whenever I can”.

In one year, you could recognize an opportunity, develop a course, market yourself, and launch supplementary income or a whole new career.

Ten Years

Over a span of ten years, you can completely reshape yourself with a disciplined, committed approach to improving your communication skills, and translating that into becoming more effective at whatever path you choose to pursue.

For example, maybe devoting yourself to becoming a master communicator will launch you into management and steer your career to new heights.

One Hundred Years (and more)

You may not live this long, but your words can live one hundred years or longer.

Maybe you’re going to give a political speech that is quoted for centuries to come.

Or, more likely, you’re going to inspire your children, your grandchildren, and your audience members with a message that continues to become more and more powerful as the years pass.

Individual syllables, which last only tenths of a second on your lips, can last for hundreds of years if they are carefully chosen. Consider that the next time you are writing your speech.

Inspiration for This Article

You may be interested on know that the inspiration for this article is Powers of Ten, a classic documentary by Charles and Ray Eames which can be viewed below.

As a science geek, the documentary is fascinating, but there are lessons to be learned for speakers too. Some particularly effective techniques include:

• The use of a common, everyday occurrence to set the initial context.
• The frequent use of comparison to easily understandable distances (e.g. 100 meters: the distance a man can run in 10 seconds)
• The simple, repetitive use of 10 and the consistent pace of the documentary.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Similar Articles You May Like... How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words How Many Slides Should You Have? How Many Slides Do You Need? Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) How to Axe Your Presentation… and Still Deliver Value The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

You know your content. Success is in view.

But now, your time slot has been chopped in two.

Oh my! Oh my! What will you do?

ACK!

If you’ve been speaking for a while, this has probably happened to you. If it hasn’t yet, it’s only a matter of time.

Can you still salvage the presentation and provide value for your audience?

Ask Six Minutes

Josh H. from Montana writes:

I’ve been witness to at least two presentations in the last two weeks wherein, the originally allotted time was hugely condensed by outside forces.

For example, an expert researcher came to talk to my colleagues about how to facilitate focus groups. She had scheduled 5 hours to present an overview, lead activities, and inspire lots of conversation. She lived 2 hours away, and was an hour away from us when her car broke down, she had to get back to her home city, secure a rental, and drive back. The 5-hour workshop turned into a barely-2-hour rapid fire lecture. This was something she couldn’t have prevented.

How do other speakers/presenters/educators design flexibility into their talks for unexpected limitations?

Okay, let’s start with what NOT to do…

Your natural response is probably to do one of three things:

1. Quit.
2. Rush through your entire planned presentation.
3. Use all of your original time, going way, way over.

First, don’t quit. Real speakers don’t quit, even when disaster strikes. If you quit, you will probably never be invited to speak to that group again. Your credibility will suffer. Even worse, the company or organization you represent will be tarnished.

Second, don’t rush through the entire presentation. I’ve seen this approach, and it never works. You will be so intent on flying through your content that you’ll lose all chance to connect meaningfully with your audience. They won’t be able to absorb anything at all. In short, this option takes a bad situation and makes it worse.

Third, check your ego. The people in your audience have other meetings to attend, meals to eat, and loved ones to hug. They don’t want to be stuck listening to you for a lot longer than they planned. (Okay, I concede that there are very special circumstances where they may want you to go overtime, but I have never seen such an audience.)

Okay, then what DO you do?

Alright, if you are still reading, then you understand that whatever you deliver must be delivered at a reasonable pace, and end when your original time slot was expected to end. How?

1. Chop big chunks out.

When you lose half of your time slot (or more), you can’t make it up solely by cutting small bits of content here and there. You’ve got to chop big chunks of your presentation out.

Be merciless. Now is not the time to think about how the presentation would be better with the longer time slot. Now is the time to focus on providing value for your audience with whatever time you have left.

2. Plan for it.

It will be difficult to know how much to cut unless you have prepared a lesson plan — a division of your presentation into modules of (approximately) known length.

For example, suppose your presentation is planned for 5 hours in length. Your lesson plan might include modules such as:

• 10 minutes: Introductory story and session overview
• 20 minutes: Examining the status quo
• 40 minutes: 10 principles for improving the process
• 10 minutes: Break
• 30 minutes: Partners exercise
• 20 minutes: Exercise debrief
• 30 minutes: Case studies
• 10 minutes: Break
• 40 minutes: Group exercise
• etc.

If you have this lesson plan with you, it will be straightforward to prioritize modules and select those which add up to the time you have available.

In the example above, perhaps you decide to cut the “partners exercise” and the “exercise debrief”. That’s 50 minutes right there. Then, you decide to chop…

3. Poll your audience.

Suppose you have alternatives for material which you can cover within the remaining time. Maybe you have time to review case studies, or time to do some hands-on exercises, but not both. From your point of view, both would be more or less of equal value.

In this situation, you can poll your audience. You might say something like this: “I have two different modules planned for today, but we’ll only be able to cover one effectively in the time remaining. Which would you find most valuable?”

The audience may not be happy about your truncated presentation overall, but they will be happy that you are seeking their input. Maybe you’ll get invited back to deliver the other alternative module.

4. Plan two endings.

We’ve already said that you shouldn’t charge arrogantly ahead and go overtime, but in certain circumstances, there is one acceptable way to go past your original time boundary if some of your audience is able to stay longer. It involves asking for consent.

Here’s how it works. Make a plan to chop modules which allows you to end on time. Consult your audience with something like: “I understand many of you have to leave at 5:00PM to make your flight, and so I’ve redesigned my presentation to end on time. For those of you who are able to stay longer, I would be happy to stay and lead an optional exercise that I have prepared.”

It’s not perfect, but it does show that you are being flexible and trying to meet the needs of as many people as possible. Those who are able to stay late (if anyone does) may really appreciate it.

5. Deliver chopped content in another form.

Even though you can’t deliver the full content as planned, there are other ways to deliver it.

• You could create a handout with the chopped content, and send it out to participants via email. (No, a copy of PowerPoint slides which you eliminated doesn’t cut it.)
• You could capture the eliminated modules on video, and make it available to participants.
• You could offer copies of your book as “compensation”. (This only works if that is fair value on the same topic.)
• You could even offer to deliver the other modules at another time. I recall a multi-day conference where a presenter in this situation offered to deliver “part two” of their presentation during breakfast the next morning.

6. Make yourself available for follow up.

Making yourself available to your audience after the presentation is always a good idea, but especially so when, for whatever reason, you couldn’t deliver 100% of what was promised to them. Maybe you could stay behind for more Q&A, or perhaps you agree to take their questions via email/phone and answer them promptly.

7. Be decisive.

Make your new plan as soon as possible. (In the scenario of the broken-down car, you could be making a mental plan while driving, and be ready to implement it as soon as you arrive.) The time constraints are bound to be an elephant in the room, so deal with it by assuring your audience that you have revised the agenda. It will ease tensions, and allow everyone to focus on having a productive session.

Whatever you do, decide quickly. The clock is ticking.

What’s Your Opinion?

What other strategies have you used in these situations? What have you seen other speakers do? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

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

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

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

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

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

• 10 slides are the optimal number to use for a presentation.
• 20 minutes is the longest amount of time you should speak.
• 30 point font is the smallest font size you should use on your slides.

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

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

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

#1: 10 Slides Constrains the Presenter to Choose Wisely

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

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

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

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

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

#3: 30-Point Font Guarantees Readability

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

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

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

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

#1: Every Situation is Unique

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

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

#2: There’s no Perfect Number of Slides

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

The wrong answers are numerous:

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

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

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

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

#3: There’s no Perfect Duration to Speak

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

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

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

#4: There’s no Perfect Font Size

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

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

If you have any doubts, go large.

#5: Size Matters, but Quantity Matters More

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

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

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

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

The Verdict

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

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

Your Thoughts?

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

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Other speaking sins are so grave that when you commit them, your speech or presentation is certain to fail. This article reveals the seven deadly sins of public speaking.

Deadly Sin #1: Sloth

Sloth, or laziness, is committed by speakers who fail to prepare.

Speaking in public, whether formally or informally, is an essential activity that requires effort. Yet, the majority of people expend no effort to improve their effectiveness as a speaker. Tragically, they are content to drift from one frustrating presentation to the next.

You can avoid sloth in a number of ways:

• Enroll in a public speaking course
• Read public speaking books
• Read public speaking blogs
• Join Toastmasters or another local speaking club
• Study great speakers
• Hire a speaking coach

(By reading this article, you’re making the effort to improve. Sloth has no claim on you!)

Failing to prepare for life by improving your speaking skills leads to a chain of excuses, characterized by…

Deadly Sin #2: Envy

Envy is characterized by a false belief that great speakers are simply lucky to have been born with natural speaking skills.

You’ve heard the excuses from your colleagues, haven’t you?

• “She’s so lucky! She’s a natural speaker!”
• “Hmph! It’s so easy for him to speak in front of people.”
• “No, I couldn’t deliver the proposal. I’m not a speaker.”

People who are envious of the “natural” skills of others are more likely to apply misguided solutions when confronted by an unavoidable speaking situation:

• They steal stories and anecdotes from others rather than creating original ones
• They copy PowerPoint slides from others even if they don’t quite apply
• They mimic the oratorical style of others and lack authenticity

Because of bad habits like this, speakers suffer from lack of confidence. They know the stories, the slides, and the words are not their own. Nervousness results because they fear being exposed, and this nervousness leads to crazy behaviors like…

Deadly Sin #3: Lust

The lustful speaker attempts to calm their nerves by applying the common (yet terrible) advice to picture the audience naked!

Please don’t picture the audience naked, especially if I am in your audience.

In theory, picturing your audience naked makes them seem as vulnerable as you feel. It may provide a brief lighthearted moment to feed your teenaged appetite, but it won’t help you speak better.

More likely, it will cause an additional distraction and impede your efforts to connect with your audience. Consider this: how easy is it for you to communicate something meaningful to a room full of naked people? Can you inspire them? Impossible.

Nervous speakers who avoid this lustful deadly sin are, unfortunately, still prone to committing another deadly sin…

Deadly Sin #4: Gluttony

Gluttony is exhibited by speakers who believe that more is always better.

More slides, more bullets, more examples, more facts, more numbers, more details, more words — more of everything.

Packing all possible material into your presentation and then speeding through it is flawed, despite your best intentions to provide maximum value. More is (usually) not better. Cognitive research shows that people have a limited capacity to absorb information (see Kosslyn’s Clear and to the Point and Mayer’s Multimedia Learning). Overloading that capacity will reduce their ability to absorb anything at all! Quantity is no substitute for quality.

It is better to focus your presentation on your core message, select only the very best support material (facts, slides, anecdotes), and speak at a reasonable pace. Supplementary material, if necessary, belongs in a handout.

All of this gluttony — too many slides, too many stories, too many details — leads the speaker down a dark and dirty path towards…

Deadly Sin #5: Greed

Greed is the deadly sin of excess, and is committed by a speaker who goes over time.

Does this sound familiar?

• “Oh, is that clock correct? I’m only halfway through…”
• “I haven’t gotten to the good part yet…”
• “Are there any objections to cutting our lunch break in half so I can finish this?”

Speaking for more than your allotted time violates the contract you have with your audience, and that’s never good. People are busy and do not appreciate having their time wasted. Nobody will complain if you finish a few minutes early.

If you go over time, negative emotions begin to fill the room, making you more susceptible to experience…

Deadly Sin #6: Wrath

Wrath, or uncontrolled anger, is committed by a speaker who handles problems in the worst possible way.

As a speaker, you should always remain in control. No matter how bad your presentation is going, keep calm. Don’t let these frustrations provoke you:

• When you make a mistake (even a big one), resist the urge to draw more attention to it by cursing yourself in an attempt to draw pity.
• When an audience member is disrupting the room, resist the urge to “solve” it with sarcasm.
• When the room or venue logistics fail, don’t start blaming the organizers or anyone else. Instead, roll with in and move on.
• When an audience member is heckling you, do not take the bait.

Getting angry — whether at yourself, someone in the audience, or some other factor — is one of the worst things you can do. Your audience will feel uncomfortable and your credibility will be diminished considerably.

Finally, the first six speaker sins are all symptoms of the deadliest speaking sin of them all…

Deadly Sin #7: Pride

Pride is committed by a speaker who believes that public speaking is about them.

It’s not.

• It’s never about you.
• It’s never about your impressive accolades in your introduction.
• It’s never about your dazzling delivery where you channel Churchill.
• It’s never about your sumptuous slides which prominently feature your company logo beside dazzling 3-D pie charts.

Public speaking is always about the audience and the message you want to convey. Failing to put the audience first will kill any presentation. You need to perform audience analysis to discover how best to structure your presentation and deliver the message.

Avoid this sin by starting to analyze your presentation from the audience’s perspective. Amazingly, most of the other speaking sins will go away.

• You’ll recognize that you need to prepare. (Sloth)
• You will realize that you are uniquely capable of delivering your message to this audience. (Envy)
• You will trim all of the fluff to deliver a message which is focused and easy-to-understand. (Gluttony)
• You will respect the time your audience has given you. (Greed)
• You won’t saddle your audience with your problems. (Wrath)

As for Lust when speaking, well… that’s just silly.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Public Speaking

1. Sloth: failing to prepare for your speech or presentation
2. Envy: believing that great speakers are born with their skills
3. Lust: quelling your nerves by picturing the audience naked
4. Gluttony: believing that more words/slides/facts/numbers is always better
5. Greed: speaking over your allotted time
6. Wrath: rigidly reacting to problems and losing your cool
7. Pride: placing yourself ahead of the audience

How many of these speaking sins are committed in presentations you attend?

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.