Over time I’ve been asking people I meet if there are any presentation rules they follow. I’ve heard a few that made some sense, and others which are just preposterous. There are two types of rules, I’ve identified, which come from different approaches to presentations: the first style appeared shortly after powerpoint gave the masses the ability to create slideshows; the second type is emerging now, as more and more people advocate for visual presentations. Here’s a collection of rules I think everyone should break.

Rules from early powerpoint days you should break:

1-      The 6-6-1 rule: This rule was intended to limit the amount of information showed on each slide, it promotes 6 sentences in each slide, 6 words per sentence and 1 idea per slide. The thing is that this rule probably started the whole idea of filling every slide with bullet points, instead of having simpler slides… BREAK IT! Try using one word or sentence per slide.

2-      Tell them what you’re going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you told them: This is a very sales oriented rule, and it actually sounds good when you hear it. But people don’t need you to repeat the same thing over and over. In your allotted time you’re going to be able to put forward 3 main points, if you’re lucky. You don’t have the time or need to repeat yourself – BREAK IT! Only repeat what you said at the end, in a short summary.

3-      Have a thank you slide: I guess this one came up when people started realizing they were boring their audiences to death and had to thank them for putting up with them – BREAK IT! Have a summary slide at the end with the three main points, this will be the slide they see the longest.

4-      Start with a joke: I really don’t know who originated this rule or why – BREAK IT! Start with something that shows your personality or sets the mood for the session. Funny remarks are ok, jokes are just lame.

5-      Put your logo on every slide: Repeating the same element on every slide just makes the audience tune it out and not pay attention – BREAK IT! Put your logo on the first and last slide.

Rules from the new, visual, presentation style:

1-      Have pictures on slides, even if they are irrelevant: You’d be surprised how many people have heard this one! Pictures are useful to expand on what you’re saying, they help you explain complex concepts; but pictures just for the sake of pictures will only confuse the audience – BREAK IT! Use pictures only when they are relevant.

2-      Use images as your background: Some images, because of the contrast, will make your text difficult to read – BREAK IT! If you’re going to combine text and images make sure the text can be read easily on the image or don’t use it as the background for the slide.

3-      10-20-30 rule: This rule was created by Guy Kawasaki. He has to sit through an obscene number of presentations and it’s understandable why he would love all presentations to follow this rule. The idea is to use 10 slides, in 20 minutes and with font no smaller than 30pt. In reality if you try to follow this rule you will find yourself leaving out relevant info or packing a lot of really big text on your slides – BREAK IT, BUT KEEP IN MIND THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND IT! When making your presentation try to use fewer slides, les text (readable to the whole room) and don’t go over 20 to 30 minutes.

Any other presentation rules people should break that you can think of? Leave them in the comments.

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.