What do you do when you have to do a 20 minute presentation? You learn from TED, of course!
If you’ve been given only 20 minutes, 10 minutes, or even 5 minutes to make your point, you don’t need to jam everything you ever learned into that precious time. It won’t make you look smarter. Let’s take a look at what’s possible. Below are three TED Talks that I find to be amazing examples of short presentations.
How many slides should be in a 20 minute presentation?
Some would consider a 20 minute presentation to be a long presentation. But it depends on how focused you are. There is a lot of advice about slides and it usually starts with a rule about what you should or shouldn’t do. My experience tells me that people often rely too heavily on slides. Don’t think of your slides as your content.
20-minute Presentation Example
Take a look at this example from a compelling 20 minute presentation by Jane McGonigal titled The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years Of Life.
PowerPoint: Your Co-Facilitator
Did Jane make her point? Just like in her presentation, you should think about your slides as your co-facilitator.
In 2018 ATD published my thoughts on this in a booklet called PowerPoint: Your Co-Facilitator. When you design your slides, ask yourself how many times you want your audience looking at the slides and not listening to you?
Years ago, my company, Endurance Learning, worked with a manufacturing company and reduced their slide deck from hundreds to 13 for a day and a half training session. This training program continued to be successfully implemented for years with 13 slides. The number isn’t as important as what work the slides do for you.
My team at Endurance Learning is always eager to help you design better presentations and training. Send me a note and let’s talk about how we can help you excel!
How many slides should you have in a 10 minute presentation?
Shorter presentations come with new challenges. In a 10 minute presentation, you should be very careful. Conventional wisdom would say that you can have roughly 5 slides at 2 minutes each. Just like when you had to edit your essay down from 3 pages to 1, a shorter presentation will challenge you to only show the slides that matter. Even the slightest change of pace or adjustment to your talking points could have you leaving slides on the proverbial cutting room floor.
10-minute Presentation Example
Take a look at this compelling presentation by Marla Spivak: Why Bees Are Disappearing.
How many slides should you have in a 5 minute presentation?
Now we’re talking! You may have gotten the sense above that the rules aren’t as important as why you’re using the slides. When you get to a 5 minute presentation (and maybe even on the 20 and 10 minute presentations), you should ask yourself why you are using slides.
5-minute Presentation Example
How important are slides in this 5-minute presentation by William Kamkwamba titled How I Harnessed The Wind?
There are, of course, examples where you can take a short presentation with rapid-fire slides. I talked about Pecha Kucha before and showed how you can make it incredibly fun and engaging. That said, Pecha Kucha is a very specific format that is often used at events where a group of people are presenting in this format. For your 5 minute presentation, think about what you want to achieve and ask yourself if slides will be a critical part of supporting that message.
8 Elements of a Compelling 20 Minute Presentation
Whether you have a 20 minute presentation, a 10 minute presentation, or even a 5 minute presentation, you CAN emulate great presentations.
Try incorporating the following 8 elements:
1. Give Your Presentation a Compelling Title
Your presentation’s title is your first piece of marketing copy. Stop using dull, descriptive headings. Instead, craft a compelling title that answers the audience’s underlying question, “What’s In It For Me?” Even in a 20 minute presentation, the audience wants to know where the value is.This strategic shift immediately generates curiosity and sets the expectation that they are about to receive valuable, actionable knowledge, ensuring you win their attention before you even step into the room.
2. Find a Hook
In today’s attention economy, you have less than 60 seconds to prove your session is worth their time. A strong hook is the fastest way to turn a passive room into an actively engaged audience. Launch directly into a personal story, a powerful challenge, or a surprising data point to immediately draw learners into the narrative. Avoid long-winded introductions; start with the payoff.
3. Remove Physical Barriers and Crutches
To establish confidence and connection, your body language must be open and your movement purposeful. This means removing the podium as a barrier and consciously letting go of delivery “crutches” like laser pointers or reading notes directly from your phone. When you present without distraction, your audience focuses entirely on you, allowing you to establish immediate authority and authenticity as the Guide.
4. Focus on Making Attractive Visual Aids
Though PowerPoint is used, there’s not a single template. There are no bullet points. The slides have vivid, dramatic images and few words. Even statistics and scientific evidence is easy to digest. If you want to learn more consider checking out the podcast with Connie Malamed about visual design. In it she says, “When the visual design is poor, when there’s a lot of extraneous information, when things aren’t aligned, when it’s sloppy, it detracts from the learning. It makes it harder for people to visually process the screen or the slide in terms of e-learning and in terms of job aids or manuals, books, it’s the same story.”
5. Encourage Active Listening
The Jane McGonigal presentation especially uses this strategy by giving the audience an assignment at the beginning (“I want you to think about how you’ll spend your extra minutes and hours of life”). She also intersperses questions throughout, inviting the audience to think for a moment before she proceeds. You should also check out the discussion with Melissa Marshall about creating engaging technical presentations. In it, she says that “… the concept of being a tour guide for the slide is even more important than it’s ever been, which is to very methodically walk people through what they should be noticing, what’s important about it.”
If you’re struggling to deliver effective training, Endurance Learning has a range of train-the-trainer and training delivery courses to support the delivery of highly effective training. Send me a note to discuss the options.
6. Provide Concrete, Real-life Examples
Adult learners connect deeply with content they can immediately see themselves using. When you ground your presentation in concrete, real-life examples and relevant stories, you transform abstract theory into practical application. This strategy is essential because it helps the audience make an emotional connection and ensures the learning sticks well beyond the training room.
7. Share Your Passion
Authenticity and energy are key facilitation skills. Allowing your personality and genuine passion for the topic to shine through is infectious and builds instant rapport. Your audience is more receptive to a presenter who is obviously prepared and cares deeply about the topic and their learning outcome. Confidence is contagious! Channel your preparation into a passionate and memorable performance.
8. Tie It All Together
The final minute of your session is the most critical to driving behavior change. Never end with a soft “thank you.” Instead, deliver a concise summary, a clear call to action, and an explicit bridge to future use. This intentional wrap-up ensures that your audience leaves with a clear next step, committing to doing something with what they’ve learned, maximizing the impact of your time together.
The next time you have a chance to give a 20 minutes presentation, don’t just do what’s easy. Incorporate these eight elements of a compelling 20 minute presentation and watch your participants say “wow!”
