presentation of 5 slides

How to Create an Engaging 5-Minute Presentation

Published: September 15, 2023

A 5-minute speech can feel both incredibly short and infinitely long.

While this short format encourages audiences to pay more attention, presenters often struggle to fit everything into five minutes even as they navigate nervousness that seems to stretch out each second.

As a result, preparation is key for 5-minute speech success.

But how can you ensure your presentation accomplishes everything it needs to within just five short minutes? We’ve put together an (appropriately condensed) guide on five-minute presentations to help you get started.

How many words are in a 5-minute presentation?

A five-minute presentation is approximately 700 words long. The average person speaks 120 to 160 words a minute, which means the average five-minute presentation is 600 to 800 words.

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To calculate your own personal speaking speed (words per minute, or WPM):

• Make an audio recording of yourself speaking for one minute.
• Use a free transcription service to generate a text version of your speech.
• The number of words you spoke in that minute is your personal WPM.

When constructing a longer presentation, you might be more concerned about transitions and keeping the audience engaged with more extensive narrative elements.

In a short presentation, everything you say should directly tie back to your central premise and further advance your main point.

Keeping a tight scope and using your words carefully ensures your time isn't wasted and the audience leaves with a clear, singular takeaway.

How many slides are in a 5-minute presentation?

Five or six slides, or about one per minute, is a good baseline for a 5-minute presentation. Depending on your subject matter, however, you might use up to 20 slides and spend about 10 or 15 seconds on each.

More important than your slide count is what each slide contains. It‘s a good rule of thumb to keep your slides simple and focused on visuals instead of text for a presentation of any length.

This becomes especially important when you’re dealing with a condensed presentation window.

Trying to cram in as much information as possible within a short time frame can be tempting. Resist the urge. Instead, focus on simple, clean visuals that all tie back to your central premise.

You can also use these free presentation templates to arrange your slides in a way that makes the most sense for your delivery and the content of your presentation.

Don't forget to share this post!

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• Presentations

How to Make Short 5-Minute Presentations With Quick Ideas & Tips (+Video)

• Bahasa Indonesia
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Need to learn how to make a short presentation? A quick presentation has unique challenges. In this article, we'll look at tips and ideas for 3 to 5 minute presentations. We'll also check out some 5-minute presentation samples, and other tips and tricks for planning your mini presentation. 

There are many situations where you may need to give a short presentation. For example, you may need to give a 5-minute presentation for job interview criteria. Or you may need to give a mini presentation in 5 minutes to brief your team, at work. 5-minute presentation topics can vary, but have a few key things in common:

• A quick presentation should be concise and to the point.
• 5-minute presentation topics should be strategic, but not too complex.
• A short presentation, like 3 to 5 minute presentations, doesn't need too many slides.

Need Help? Download Our eBook on Making Great Presentations (Free)

We also have a useful complement to this tutorial. Download our FREE eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations. It'll help you write, design, and deliver the perfect presentation. Quickly grab it before you read on. 

Make Amazing 5-Minute Presentations (Quickstart Video)

Step 1. know your audience well, step 2. choose the right 5-minute presentation topics, step 3. use a professional presentation template for your mini presentation, step 4. start your quick presentation with a powerful attention grabber, step 5. practice makes perfect, plan your short presentation length, 5-minute presentation samples, make your presentation scalable, download our ebook on making great presentations (free pdf), make a great 5-minute presentation today.

Do you need to make a 5-minute PowerPoint presentation quickly? Get started right now with this video:

Learn even more about short, mini-presentations in the tutorial below: 

With only five minutes for your presentation, you don't want to waste time covering information your audience already knows. To make sure that you reach your audience with material that they can understand and relate too, you need to know as much about them as you can.

If you don't understand your audience, it's unlikely that you'll be able to hold their interest. Research your audience to find out as much as you can about them. A quick way to find out more about your audience is to ask the organization or person who invited you to give the presentation for more information about who you'll be addressing.

Now that you've learned about your audience, it's time to choose a topic.

For short presentations, your topic selection is very important. Some topics just do not lend themselves well to presentations because they're too complex.

Here some crucial points to consider when selecting a presentation topic for a 5-minute presentation:

• Choose a topic you're already familiar with. This will cut the time you spend researching your topic.
• Keep it simple. Avoid complex topics that need lots of explanation. If a topic is complex, pick a single, simple aspect of it to present on, rather than trying to cover it all.
• Stick to one or two main points. Also limit yourself to a minimal number of sub-points. Because your presentation length is limited, it's unlikely you'll have time for more than that.
• Remember your audience's background. I can't say this enough—to create an engaging presentation you must know your audience.

Now, write your draft:

After your draft is ready, it's time to start thinking about how your presentation is going to look.

Even short presentations need to look nice. Since this is a quick presentation, you'll save lots of time by using a template.

Templates give your presentation a professional look without you needing to spend the money to hire a professional designer or the time to design your own template. For most presentation templates, just insert your own information in the appropriate places and add your own images. Then, remove the slides from the template that you do not need.

You can find a wide variety of professional templates available on  Envato Elements . To get an idea of the difference that a professional template can make for your presentation, here's a look at this stylish PowerPoint presentation template from Envato Elements.

This PowerPoint template has over 125 slides to choose from, so there's a wealth of content to work with. It's easy to complete your presentation with a professionally designed template on your side.

Discover more PowerPoint template designs with powerful features on Envato Elements. The right premium PPT template  will help you make a great presentation quickly. 

You'll find even more excellent professional Microsoft PowerPoint template options in these curated articles. They're a great resource if you're looking for even more 5-minute presentation ideas: 

Since your presentation is so short, you'll want to pay some extra attention to the opening. You probably don't have time to show a video or play complex animations. You may not even have time to play a soundtrack.

That's okay. There are other ways to grab your audience's attention. These quick attention grabbers are great for short presentations:

• storytelling
• poll the audience
• mention a startling statistic
• show a compelling image

In a short presentation, it's also a good idea to organize your material so that your most important point is discussed first. This insures that you've covered your most important point in case either of the following happens:

• You run out of time.
• Your audience loses interest.

Your short presentation should be starting to come together now, but you're not ready to give your presentation until you complete the next step.

For a short speech, practice is critical. Timing your presentation is also the only way to know for sure how long it'll take. The shorter the presentation the more crucial it is that you time your speech. For example, if you're giving a 5-minute presentation for a job interview, you'll really want to stay within the required time frame! 

Practice gives you a chance to really polish your presentation. Focus on sounding comfortable and confident. Work on eliminating or reducing any distracting personal habits. Many speakers benefit from having a third party listen as they practice.

Ideally, you want to be able to present your material without reading it verbatim (which can sound stilted and unnatural). So, you'll be learning your material as you practice.

Once you feel confident about your presentation, time it. Have a colleague or friend help you keep track of how long you speak. Or use a recording device or other electronic timer.

If you find that your presentation runs over the five-minute mark, remove some of your less important points from the end. Be cautious about doing this, though. Nerves can cause many speakers to speak more quickly during the actual presentation than they normally would.

If your presentation falls short of the five-minute mark, add another short point or summarize what you've discussed to make up the time difference.

You're basically ready to give your 5-minute presentation. But there are a few more things you should know.

When creating a timed, quick presentation, a common question is "how many PowerPoint slides do I need for a presentation that lasts X minutes?"

The answer is ... it depends. There are many variables that determine the number of slides required to fill a specific time slot.

Not all slides are created equal. You'll want to discuss the information on some in more detail because it's more complex. Other slides, such as images, may require no discussion on your part. Also, every speaker speaks at a different pace. So, someone who speaks quickly will probably require more slides than someone who speaks more slowly.

These variables are why it's so important to time your presentation before you give it.

Remember, though, being nervous can make you speak more quickly than you normally would. So, try to keep your pace normal. A short pause between points can help you get your bearings, even if you're giving a presentation in 5 minutes.

The most common presentation mistake is to have too many slides. Having too many slides poses a problem in several ways:

• It's harder for you, as a speaker to keep up with all that material. You're more likely to have to read your presentation.
• Your audience is unlikely to remember all that material anyway. Your main point is likely to get lost.
• In a shorter presentation, you're more likely to run out of time.

While I can't tell you exactly how many PowerPoint slides for a five minute presentation, I can provide you with some overall guidelines that'll work for many speakers. Use these guidelines to plan your presentation and adapt them as needed.

Slide Guidelines for Various Presentation Lengths

Even the experts disagree on how much time you should spend on a single slide. And not all slides in your slide presentation require the same amount of time to present. Still, there are some steps you can use to figure out how many slides you'll need.

Start by dividing your presentation into two types of slides:

• Simple. A simple slide requires very little explanation on your part. Examples of this type of slide would be your title slide or a graphic that speaks for itself. Aside from your title slide, most experts agree that you should try to spend less than 30 seconds on a simple slide.
• Complex. This slide requires some explanation on your part. These are the slides that you'll use to convey your message. Most experts agree that you should spend between one and no more than three minutes on this type of slide. When you're timing your presentation if you find that a slide takes more than three minutes to present, divide it into two slides.

During your practice session, pay attention to how long each type of slide takes you to present. If you've given lots of presentations already, you may already know. If you're new to giving presentations, you'll have to get this figure when you time your presentation as you practice.

Here's how these guidelines might play out when planning different length presentations:

• 1-Minute Presentation . Stick to one main idea. Keep it simple. A single slide may be enough. But use no more than two slides--one of which is a title slide with the company name and presentation title that won't require discussion. If you can, have the title slide on the screen before your presentation starts. Leave it up as you introduce the presentation (about 15 seconds). The second slide covers a very simple main point (plan on 45 seconds to discuss it). You may have no sub-points and no discussion, as this is a very short talk.
• 3-Minute Presentation. Again, stick to one or two simple, main ideas. You may have several simple sub-points. Use the company name slide to open your presentation (15 seconds). If your topic is complex, you may spend nearly the entire three minutes on a single slide. For simple topics that require less than a minute per slide, you may need up to six slides.
• 5-Minute Presentation. For this slightly longer presentation you can cover four very simple points or one complex point with several sub-points. Plan on a title slide (up to 30 seconds), and you can insert some opening humor or other attention grabber. With a complex topic slide you may find yourself spending three minutes on it, which would leave about a minute and a half for two sub-points--so four slides in that scenario. You may need up to ten slides if your topics are very simple.
• 15-Minute Presentation. With a longer presentation like this, plan on a pause of several minutes after about seven minutes. You could use this time as a question-and-answer period. Or just allow your audience to stretch. Following the break, you'll need another attention grabber. You also have time to include more complex attention grabbers such as short videos and animations. You could need between five and 20 slides, depending on the complexity of your material.
• 30-Minute or Longer Presentations. Longer presentations allow you to present more material that's more complex. You're also likely to include more slides. When creating a longer presentation, don't forget to allow for your audience's human needs. You'll need to include more planned pauses. Also, most experts agree that you should plan on a bathroom break at least once an hour. After the bathroom break, you'll need to recapture your audience's attention again. For very long presentations you may need to plan for a snack or a meal.

You won't know for sure how closely to follow these guidelines unless you time your speech. After practicing, you may find that you need to tweak the guidelines by adding or subtracting a slide. Or if you're spending too much time on a single slide, you may need to narrow down your material.

Below I've included slides that I created using this professional PowerPoint template from Envato Elements. A simple professional PowerPoint template offers a great starting point to work from. These slides are made quickly for a short presentation.

From practicing, I know that this presentation takes approximately two minutes to give. Here's the first slide, which is my title:

For this slide, all the presenter would need to say is their name, the title of the presentation, and the name of the company. Note that not everything the presenter says is on the slide. This title slide took me 15 seconds to present. Your results could vary.

Here's the next slide:

This slide basically introduces the company. Again, not everything I'm going to say is on the slide. This simple slide took me 30 seconds to present.

Here's a second example of a 30 second slide:

The final slide in this very short presentation is a little more complex, but it still only took 45 seconds for me to present:

Many professionals are asked to do variations of the same presentation over and over. Sales professionals, for example, may need to have long and short versions of the same presentation topic. This would mean giving your presentation in 5 minutes or 30 minutes. But how do you scale a large or mini presentation? 

If this is what you need to do, keep in mind the points above. It's best to create and save the long version presentation first. Then edit the material down and re-save it as a shorter, more focused version of the presentation. Be careful not to overwrite your original presentation though.

Once you've done this several times, it'll get easier.

We've got the perfect complement to this tutorial, which will walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. 

Download our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's available for free with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. 

Now you know how to make a short presentation of your own. You can create an effective slide presentation for any amount of time, if you know how. With the right planning, you can quickly create snappy 5-minute presentations with just the right number of slides.

When creating a short presentation, remember that it's important to know your audience well. It's also crucial that you pick a simple topic that's right for them. Most importantly, remember to practice and time your presentation. Timing is the only way to know for sure how long it'll take you to give a presentation. Keep in mind that you may speed up your delivery during the actual presentation, so aim to account for that.

Also, don't forget how important your slide design is to making an effective presentation. Remember to check out the PowerPoint presentation templates on Envato Elements. One low monthly price gets you unlimited access to the entire library of templates!

Now, that you know what to do, you're ready to create your own 5-minute presentation. Good luck!

Editorial Note: This tutorial was originally published in July of 2017. It's been updated to make sure it's completely relevant and a video has been added by Daisy Ein .

• Alternatives

How to Make a 5 Minute Presentation | 30 Killer Ideas in 2024

Leah Nguyen • 20 May, 2024 • 11 min read

5 minute presentation - intriguing to the audience (no one likes to sit through a one-hour-feels-like-a-decade kind of talk), but a big nuisance to the presenters to decide what to put in. If not handled properly, everything will slip away from one's mind in the blink of an eye.

The clock is ticking, but you can keep your panic attack at bay with our step-by-step guide with free topics and examples. Get the full lowdown on how to make a 5 minute presentation for a team meeting, college class, sales pitch, or wherever else you need it!

Table of Contents

• Present better with AhaSlides
• 5-Minute Presentation Topic List

How to Make a 5-Minute Presentation

• 5 Common Mistakes

5-Minute Presentation Examples

Present Better with AhaSlides

• Types of presentation
• 10 20 30 rule in presentations
• Top 10 office games
• 95 fun questions to ask students
• 21+ icebreaker games

5 Minute Presentation Ideas

First thing first, you should come up with a 5 minute presentation idea that's intriguing. Think about what makes the general audience, even you jump out of their seat and eagerly hear. What topic can you elaborate on better that's your niche? Get some sparks with our list below:

• The danger of cyberbullying
• Freelancing under the gig economy
• Fast fashion and its environmental impacts
• How podcast has evolved
• Dystopian society in George Orwell's literature
• Common health disorders you might have
• What is aphasia?
• Caffeine myths - are they real?
• The perks of having a personality test
• The rise and fall of Genghis Khan 
• What happens to the brain when you’re in long-distance relationships?
• Is it too late to care about the environment?
• The consequences of relying on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• The ways anxiety disorders disrupt our life
• 6 economic terms you need to know 
• Gods in Greek mythology versus Roman mythology
• Origins of Kungfu
• Ethics of genetic modification
• The supernatural strength of cockroaches
• Is social media detox necessary?
• The history of the Silk Road
• What is the world’s most dangerous disease in the 21st century?
• Reasons to do self-journaling everyday
• New trends in careers
• Five reasons to get some quality time for yourself
• The best food to cook when you’re in a hurry
• How to order the best Starbucks drink ever
• Ideas and practices that you follow and would like others to know about
• 5 ways to make a pancake
• Introduction to blockchain 

Start in seconds.

Get any of the above examples as templates. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

Bonus Video ▶ How to make a 10-minute presentation

If you feel like a 5-minute presentation would be too stifling, stretch it to 10! Here's how to do that...

Remember, less is more, except when it comes to ice cream. 

That's why amid hundreds of methods to use, we've boiled it down into these four simple steps to make a killer 5-minute presentation.

Let's jump right in!

#1 - Choose your topic  

How do you know if that topic is "the one" for you? For us, the right topic ticks everything on this checklist:

✅ Stick to one key point. It's unlikely you'll have time to address more than one topic, so limit yourself to one and don’t go over it! 

✅ Know your audience. You don't want to waste time covering information they already know. Everyone knows 2 plus 2 is 4, so move on and never look back.

✅ Go with a simple topic. Again, explaining something that requires time should be off the checklist since you can't cover it all.

✅ Don't dwell on unfamiliar topics to minimise the time and effort you spend preparing the presentation. It should be something you already have on your mind.

Need some help finding the right topic for your short presentation? We've got 30 topics with different themes to captivate your audience.

#2 - Create your slides 

Unlike the long presentation format in which you can have as many slides as you want, a five-minute presentation typically has significantly fewer slides. Because imagine each slide would take you roughly 40 seconds to 1 minute to go through, that's already five slides in total. Not much to think about, eh? 

However, your slide count doesn't matter more than the essence each slide contains . We know that it's tempting to pack it full of text, but keep in mind that you should be the subject your audience focuses on, not a wall of text. 

Check these examples below.

Make the text bold to highlight important parts and use italics primarily to denote titles and the names of particular works or objects to allow that title or name to stand out from the surrounding sentence. The underlining text also helps draw attention to it, but it is most commonly used to represent a hyperlink on a webpage.

You obviously saw the second example and thought there's no way you're going to read through this on the big screen.

The point is this: keep slides straight, concise, and short, as you've got 5 minutes only. 99% of the info should come from your mouth.

When you’re keeping text minimal, don't forget to befriend visuals , as they can be your best sidekicks. Startling statistics, infographics, short animations, pictures of whales, etc., all are great attention grabbers and help you sprinkle your unique trademark and personality on each slide. 

And how many words should be there in a 5-minute speech script? It mainly depends on the visuals or data you show in your slides and also your speech speed. However, a 5-minute speech is roughly 700 words long. 

Secret tip: Go the extra length by making your presentation interactive. You can add a live poll , Q&A section , or quiz that illustrates your points and leaves a lasting impression on the audience.

Get Interactive, Fast 🏃‍♀️

Make the most of your 5 minutes with a free interactive presentation tool!

#3 - Get the timing right

When you're looking at this, we only have one thing to say: STOP PROCRASTINATING! For such a short presentation, there's virtually no time for "ah", "uh" or short pauses, because every moment counts. So, plan the timing of each section with military precision. 

How should it look? Check out the example below: 

• 30 seconds on the introduction . And no more. If you spend too much time on the intro, your main part will have to be sacrificed, which is a no-no.
• 1 minute on stating the problem . Tell the audience the problem you are trying to solve for them, i.e., what they are here for. 
• 3 minutes on the solution . This is where you deliver the most essential info to the audience. Tell them what they need to know, not what is "nice to have". For example, if you're presenting how to make a cake, list each item's ingredients or measurement, as that’s all essential information. However, additional information like icing and presentation is not essential and can be cut.
• 30 seconds on the conclusion . This is where you reinforce your main points, wrap up and have a call to action.
• You can end with a small Q&A .  Since it isn’t technically a part of the 5-minute presentation, you can take as much time as you want to answer the questions. 

How many times should you practice a 5-minute speech? To nail these timings down, make sure you practice religiously. A 5-minute presentation requires more practice than a regular one, as you won’t have as much wiggle room or chance for improvisation.

Also, don't forget to check your equipment to ensure everything runs smoothly. When you’ve only got 5 minutes, you don't want to waste any time fixing the mic,  presentation, or other equipment.

#4 - Deliver your presentation 

Imagine you're watching an exciting video but it keeps.lagging.every.10.seconds. You’d be super annoyed, right? Well, so would your audience if you keep confusing them with abrupt, unnatural speech. 

It's normal to feel pressured to talk because you feel every minute is precious. But crafting the convo in a way that makes the crowd understand the assignment is so much more important. 

Our first tip for delivering a great presentation is to practice flowing . From the introduction to the conclusion, every part needs to connect and link with each other like glue.

Go between the sections repeatedly (remember to set the timer). If there's any part in which you feel the urge to speed up, then consider trimming it down or articulating it differently.

Our second tip is for reeling in the audience from the first sentence .

There are countless ways to start a presentation . You can get factual with a shocking, on-topic fact or mention a humorous quote that gets your audience laughing and melting away their (and your) tension.

Secret tip: Don't know if your 5-minute presentation makes an impact? Use a feedback tool to collect the audience's sentiment right away. It takes minimal effort, and you avoid losing valuable feedback along the way.

5 Common Mistakes When Giving a 5-Minute Presentation

We overcome and adapt through trial and error, but it’s easier to avoid rookie mistakes if you know what they are👇

• Going way past your allotted time slot. Since the 15 or 30-minute presentation format has long dominated the scene, keeping it brief is difficult. But unlike the long format, which gives you a bit of flexibility on time, the audience knows exactly what 5 minutes feels like and, therefore will expect you to condense the information within the time limit.
• Having a decade-long introduction. Rookie mistake. Spending your precious time telling people who you are or what you’re going to do isn’t the best plan. As we said, we’ve got a bunch of beginning tips for you here . 
• Don't dedicate enough time to prepare. Most people skip the practice part since they think it’s 5 minutes, and they can quickly fill that up, which is an issue. If in a 30-minute presentation, you can get away with “filler” content, the 5-minute presentation doesn’t even allow you to pause for more than 10 seconds.    
• Devote too much time explaining complicated concepts. A 5-minute presentation doesn’t have room for that. If one point you’re explaining needs to link to other points for further elaboration, it’s always a good idea to revise it and dig deeper into only one aspect of the topic.
• Putting too many complex elements. When making a 30-minute presentation, you might add different elements, such as storytelling and animation, to keep the audience engaged. In a much shorter form, everything needs to be straight to the point, so choose your words or the transition carefully.

To help you grasp how to make a 5-minute presentation, check these short presentation examples, to nail any message!

William Kamkwamba: 'How I Harnessed the Wind' 

This TED Talk video presents the story of William Kamkwamba, an inventor from Malawi who, as a kid experiencing poverty, built a windmill to pump water and generate electricity for his village. Kamkwamba’s natural and straightforward storytelling was able to captivate the audience, and his usage of short pauses for people to laugh is also another great technique.

Susan V. Fisk: ‘The Importance of Being Concise’

This training video offers helpful tips for scientists to structure their talk to fit the “5 Minute Rapid” presentation format, which is also explained in 5 minutes. If you plan to create a “How-to” quick presentation, look at this example.

Jonathan Bell: ‘How to Create a Great Brand Name’

As the title refers to itself, the speaker Jonathan Bell will give you a step-by-step guide on how to create a lasting brand name. He gets straight to the point with his topic and then breaks it down into smaller components. A good example to learn from.

PACE Invoice: ‘5 Min Pitch at Startupbootcamp’

This video shows how PACE Invoice , a start-up specialising in multi-currency payment processing, was able to pitch its ideas to investors clearly and concisely.

Will Stephen: ‘How to Sound Smart in Your TEDx Talk’

Using a humorous and creative approach, Will Stephen’s TEDx Talk guides people through the general skills of public speaking. A must-watch to craft your presentation into a masterpiece.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why a 5-minute presentation is important.

A 5-minute presentation shows the ability to manage time, grab the audience's attention, and mirror-like clarification as it requires lots of practice to make it perfect! Besides, there are various suitable speech topics for 5 minutes that you can refer to and adapt to your own.

Who gave the best 5-minute Presentation?

There are lots of impactful presenters over time, with the most famous man named Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk titled "Do Schools Kill Creativity?", which has been viewed millions of times and has become one of the most-watched TED talks of all time. In the talk, Robinson delivers a humorous and engaging presentation on the importance of nurturing creativity in education and society.

Leah Nguyen

Words that convert, stories that stick. I turn complex ideas into engaging narratives - helping audiences learn, remember, and take action.

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

More from AhaSlides

Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Create a 5 Minutes Presentation

How to Create a 5 Minutes Presentation

Giving a 40-60-minute speech isn’t a synonym for success. Sticking to shorter presentation formats can increase the impact of large-format events. Among its many advantages, allowing multiple speakers to give their insights rises above everything. Still, presenters often struggle to be concise, as they aim to disclose as much content as possible, ending up overdoing the allotted time or delivering rushed-up presentations.

In this article, we’ll share our experience on how to master the art of 3-5 minute presentations, keeping your speech concise while using powerful graphics to connect with the audience.

Table of Contents

What is a 5 Minutes Presentation?

What are the requirements of 5 minutes presentations, how many slides for a 5 minute presentation, 5 minute presentation ideas, how to make a 5 minute presentation, common mistakes to avoid in 5-minute presentations, recommended templates for 5 minute presentations, final words.

A 5-minute presentation is a short talk designed to convey a specific message, idea, information, or argument within a limited timeframe, between three to five minutes – the latter being the average duration. Due to the brevity, these presentations require careful planning and preparation to ensure the content is concise, focused, and impactful. 

We can define a five-minute presentation’s must-have(s) in seven different categories.

Objective Definition

The purpose of your talk has to be clear from the presentation planning phase. This implies acknowledging whether you intend to inform, persuade, inspire, or instruct your audience on a given topic.

On this behalf, we made a list of frameworks to help you pinpoint the core objective of your presentation:

• SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff): Intended for sales strategy or customer-driven presentations. The focus is set on understanding the audience’s situation, presenting the problems, implications, and potential benefits of a proposed solution.
• AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action): The AIDA framework is extremely popular in marketing campaigns and sales presentations. You can learn more about this approach for engaging presentations by checking our guide on the AIDA model .
• SCQA (Situation, Complication, Question, Answer): Intended for problem-solving meetings and business presentations. The SCQA framework establishes a context and its challenges, raises a question, and provides solutions for it.
• Minto Pyramid Principle: This unconventional approach is used for business presentations and reports, and was developed by Barbara Minto at McKinsey & Company in the 1970s . We start by stating the conclusion or core recommendation, then organize the information that supports your statement in a logical flow. By implementing this approach, you inspire the audience to think critically about the presented scenario, while discussing complex ideas in an easier-to-digest format due to its hierarchical organization of ideas.
• Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: A framework with a focus on persuasive presentations. It is structured by five pillars recognized by its author, Alan H. Monroe : Attention, Need, Satisfaction, Visualization, and Action. 

Concise Content

“How many words in a 5-minute speech” is a commonly asked question by beginner presenters. The average range for seasoned speakers is 130-150 words per minute in a fluent speech, and depending on the topic, that can go slower (technical-based presentations) or faster (motivational presentations, like the ones delivered by Tony Robbins ). 

Therefore, for a 5-minute speech, you might aim for:

• At 130 words per minute: 130×5=650 words
• At 150 words per minute: 150×5=750 words

That calculation can help you curate the script for your speech. In general lines, our expertise tells us that selecting a topic that can be covered within 5 minutes is roughly 60% of the job. After effectively selecting a topic, you must restrict the content to 2-3 main points to remain within the time limit and end your presentation in style. 

Presentation Structure

In more laid-back scenarios, presentations can lean toward a conversational mode rather than a strict agenda. Still, we ought to ensure the presentation structure contains an Introduction, a Body, and a Conclusion. 

The Introduction helps us familiarize the audience with what’s expected out of your presentation. Additionally, it is our chance to make a good first impression . Knowing how to start your presentation guarantees audience engagement from the initial moments of your delivery.

Moving to the Body, this is where facts are laid out and backed up using evidence or examples to support your view. Visual aids can contribute to minimizing the need for lengthy text walls. 

Finally, the Conclusion summarizes the key takeaways and, when applicable, brings a call to action in the format of thought-provoking statements, data shared, an irresistible offer, and plenty of other scenarios.

Audience Engagement

Connecting with the audience is vital, especially in short formats like Pecha Kucha presentations . Your speech pace and body language are significant factors that contribute to how the audience perceives your interest in their time. 

Aim for a relaxed but confident attitude, as if you were passionately talking about a topic with a group of acquaintances. This reinforces your authority in the topic you deliver, as being anxious or rushing through the presentation only speaks of a lack of interest.

Apply professional presentation techniques like storytelling for presentations or harnessing the power of visual communication strategies to make your message memorable. 

Audience Acknowledgement

Tailoring your presentation for the audience’s interest is the first step every presenter must take to guarantee success, especially if we’re another speaker in large-scale events. In some niches, like academic presentations, it is vital as some of the audience may not feel connected with your research topic. 

Based on information gathered from our customer’s feedback, a good recipe to connect with your audience is to work with a sales approach in mind and create your “ideal audience persona.” This would be your attendee who’s 100% connected with what you intend to share. Compare and contrast demographics with the public you know will attend, and find the common points and where you need to adjust your expectations to meet the audience’s interest.

If the event format allows for it, be ready to present questions at the end of your presentation that may drive the interest of a Q&A session.

Visual Aids

Slides featuring infographics , dashboards , or storytelling-based illustrations help to attract the spectator’s interest and increase the retention rate, as research proves it’s easier to recall pictures than words . As previously mentioned, leveraging graphics helps us reduce our slides’ word count.

Other presentation aids , like videos, audio, and even sensory elements such as smells, can drive a broad range of emotional responses within the audience. It’s worth exploiting this route if your presentation aims to persuade or motivate the spectators. 

Time Management

Last but not least, time management is an etiquette rule of respect for fellow presenters. Your content has to fit within the 5-minute limit, including transition times and variations in your delivery speed.

A good presenter is an adaptable one. Be ready to adjust your speech on the fly if you find yourself running short or long on time or if the audience’s interest drives the conversation briefly away from your intended destination.

Defining how many slides is a 5 minute presentation isn’t an automatic task. Some topics can be quickly resolved following the premises of the 1-2-3 rule for presentations, applying:

• One main message: Your presentation should center around a single, clear main message or idea. This ensures focus and helps your audience grasp the core of your presentation without getting lost in details. 
• Two supporting points: Support your main message with two strong, relevant points or arguments. This structure helps provide depth to your presentation without overwhelming your audience with too much information. 
• Three examples or pieces of evidence: For each supporting point, provide three examples, pieces of evidence, or data points to substantiate your arguments. This reinforces your message and helps in making your case more convincing.

In short, implementing this practice can result in a range between 5 and 10 slides in your 5-minute presentation. More complex topics, like medical presentations or scientific conferences, cannot be summarized easily, as graphs require one full slide for accurate data visualization. In this case, weigh the critical points your presentation must cover, assign a maximum of 3 slides per crucial point, and avoid filler content.

Googling around you can come across lists with 200, 60, 40, and plenty other title combinations referring to 5 minute presentation ideas. Despite it being a good starter to brainstorm potential topics or angles for your presentation, we shall introduce our method to implement AI tools to come up with 5 minute presentation topics. The following instructions apply to ChatGPT , Gemini (Bard) or Bing.

• Consider the niche in which you want to deliver a 5 minute presentation. 
• Gather the main keywords around the topic you intend to present. For example, if you want to deliver a presentation about artificial intelligence, the following keywords may suit your needs as well: AI, artificial intelligence chatbot, types of artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence solutions, what is artificial intelligence.
• Open your AI tool of preference and write the following prompt: “Give me a list of 20 5-minute presentation ideas in the IT niche that fit these keywords: AI, artificial intelligence chatbot, types of artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence solutions, what is artificial intelligence.”

And this is the list generated by ChatGPT-4

• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Basics of AI, its history, and evolution.
• Exploring AI Technologies: A dive into machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning.
• Types of Artificial Intelligence: From narrow (or weak) AI to general (or strong) AI, and superintelligence.
• AI Chatbots: Revolutionizing Customer Service: How chatbots are changing the customer service landscape across industries.
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Discussing AI solutions for diagnostics, treatment recommendations, and patient care.
• The Role of AI in Autonomous Vehicles: Examining how AI technologies power self-driving cars.
• Ethical Considerations in AI: The moral implications of AI in decision-making and privacy concerns.
• AI in Cybersecurity: Using artificial intelligence to predict, detect, and respond to cyber threats.
• The Impact of AI on Job Markets: How AI is reshaping employment opportunities and the workforce.
• Machine Learning Algorithms Explained: An overview of popular algorithms and their applications in AI.
• AI and Big Data: How AI algorithms process and analyze large datasets to extract meaningful insights.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) in AI: Understanding how AI interprets, understands, and generates human language.
• AI in Finance: The use of artificial intelligence in fraud detection, algorithmic trading, and personalized banking.
• Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Sustainability: Exploring AI solutions for climate change, conservation, and sustainable energy.
• AI and Robotics: How AI is applied in robotics for automation, exploration, and manufacturing.
• Deep Learning and Neural Networks: An introduction to the architecture of neural networks and their significance in AI.
• Implementing AI Solutions in Small Businesses: Practical AI applications for improving efficiency and productivity in SMEs.
• The Future of AI: Predictions and emerging trends in artificial intelligence technologies.
• AI in Education: Personalized learning, automated grading, and AI’s role in educational institutions.
• Ethics and Bias in AI: Addressing the challenges of bias in AI algorithms and ensuring ethical AI development.

In this section, we will apply the explained suggestions earlier, approaching a real use case of a motivational speaker addressing an audience of marketing professionals. The speaker has to deliver a 5 minute presentation for a large onsite event.

Defining the Objective & Core Message

Our presenter is faced with the challenge of highlighting the importance of data analysis in marketing these days, and why marketing professionals should be adaptable to the latest trends. Therefore, using Minto’s Pyramid Principle, the presenter who already knows the answer – that hunch-based decisions need to be turned into data-driven decisions – plans how to convey the importance of that statement into the presentation’s flow.

Then, a powerful hook comes to mind on how to start this presentation: “Today, I want to share why embracing change isn’t just necessary; it’s our most powerful tool for growth in the marketing world.” Since that statement can sound somewhat vague, the presenter opts for a quote to impact the audience. A definition of what Social Listening is, indicating the connection between data and consumer behavior analysis.

Concise Content Tailored for the Audience

Research or inquire about the audience’s background in marketing. Are they novices or seasoned professionals? What challenges are they facing? Use this information to shape your presentation content.

In our presenter’s case, the event’s organizer gave some basic information about the demographics and audience’s background. Returning to the “ideal audience persona” concept, this presenter’s audience consists of mid-level marketing professionals facing rapid industry changes. Some already have experience working with data analytics but couldn’t extract the full potential. Therefore, rather than losing time with basics, the presenter prepares a compelling dashboard slide showing metrics of how working with data helped a client grow its revenue rate by 19% in three months.

The time limit for this presentation is 6 minutes in total, as a 1-minute Q&A session is contemplated. Therefore, using our word-per-minute calculation, the presenter opts for a 5 minute speech word count of 600 words, as it’s best to impact with powerful visuals and data storytelling rather than to rush the speech. As the recommended slide deck length for this presentation format is between 5 and 10 slides, the presenter opts for 3 extra slides, totaling 13 slides, since the two main points require 2-3 slides each.

The Introduction for this presentation is a powerful statement, as we mentioned above, taking one full minute to deliver the phrase and share the information that backs up such a statement.

The Body will take 3 minutes to be presented, and it shall cover a three-tier structure with the following premises:

• Challenge: “The digital marketing landscape is evolving faster than ever before, leaving many behind.”
• Strategy: “Yet, some marketers are thriving by adopting agile methodologies and data-driven strategies.”
• Success Story: “Take, for example, a small business that doubled its online engagement and grew its revenue rate by 19% in three months just by simply listening to its audience through social media analytics.”

The Conclusion takes another minute, using a powerful slide to leave a lasting thought that the audience can dwell on.

As the format is brief, the presenter will use powerful graphics to boost audience engagement. Additionally, there’s a short exercise at the beginning of the presentation where the speaker promptly says: “Turn to the person next to you and share one change you’ve embraced in your marketing strategy this year that made a difference.” This is a fine example of how to implement interactive presentation techniques to boost audience engagement.

Leveraging this kind of strategy helps the audience to connect with the importance of making changes in the marketing strategy of their work environments, but not just any change, something that’s measurable and has a significant impact. The presenter expects that not many members can successfully relate to change with results due to their inexperience in marketing data analytics – a piece of information disclosed by the event’s organizer – so the remaining of the presentation consists of ‘wowing’ the audience on the importance of data and how to measure that impact to stay tuned with the latest trends.

Although it seems an easy-to-adapt format, presenters working under 5-minute presentation can face some challenges that affect the overall outcome of their presentation delivery. Most of these presentation mistakes apply to any kind of presentation. In particular, we consider the following list as beginner mistakes we can easily prevent.

• Using Jargon or Complex Language: This can alienate your audience. Use clear, accessible language.
• Reading from Slides: This is literally “death by PowerPoint.” Use slides as a visual aid, not a script.
• Overuse of Animations or Transitions: While they can be engaging, too many can be distracting and appear unprofessional.

Check the following slide decks and PPT templates to maximize your performance in 3-5 minute presentations.

1. 5 Minute Business Marketing Presentation Template

Create eye-catching marketing presentations by using this best PPT template with a clean layout and wavy backgrounds. The information can be structured around the included icons, maximizing the retention rate by giving an area to focus on just the core information to be disclosed.

Use This Template

2. Business Executive 5-Minute Presentation Template

Geared toward business presentations, this slide deck layout contains cutting-edge graphics that grab your audience’s interest. It can be easily customized to speak about your company’s growth process, reach out to potential investors, or even for non-business topics.

3. Modern Hexagon 5-Minute Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

Another clean layout template with vivid colors to highlight the information shared. This professional PPT slide deck helps us discuss data or compare features between competitor products in the blink of an eye. The color palette uses gradients to transition between sections smoothly.

4. Kaleidoscope 5-Minute Company Profile PowerPoint Template

Although it is intended for company profiles or company overview presentations, this highly visual PPT template can be repurposed for many niches. Due to its limited-space placeholder text areas, the 5 minute speech word count can be significantly reduced, aiming for concise content.

5. Academic 5-Minute Presentation Template

An ideal template for presenting thesis dissertations, this slide deck features designs to introduce the scope of our research, problem statement, methodology used, outcomes, and their significance while preserving a cohesive aesthetic.

As we can see, concise presentation formats like the 5 minute presentation have their own challenges when we strive for quality. Consider rehearsing your presentation multiple times, opting for the slideshow mode , to spot any areas where you can trim the speech or change text for graphics. 

Speak reasonably, and remember it’s best to fall short some seconds and allow for a Q&A session rather than rushing and not giving a proper closure to your speech.

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Presentation Approaches, Presentation Ideas Filed under Presentation Ideas

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Short Presentation in PowerPoint: How to Win Your Audience over with a 5 Minute / 5 Slide Presentation! -Includes Examples

There are occasions when you only have limited time to give a PowerPoint presentation. This is where knowing how to create and deliver a short PowerPoint presentation is essential. Done right, you really only need a few minutes to deliver your presentation, get your ideas across and achieve your goals.

You may well be thinking, “No!  How can I squash my ideas into that time? Only five minutes?” Actually, it’s easier than you think with the right structure . Here’s how!

Why give a short presentation?

So when might you only have a few minutes to give a presentation? When making the first steps in applying for a job, for example, or when presenting a product or business idea to potential prospects and investors.

The length does NOT have to be a disadvantage! A well-put-together short presentation, delivered smartly, can actually engage your audience more than a presentation lasting much longer.

Sure, you can go into more detail in a longer presentation, but it’s often more difficult for your audience to stay focused for the full duration. Scientific studies show that most listeners have trouble maintaining their concentration after just 20 minutes.

Haven’t you been there yourself? So why ask your audience to do something you find difficult, unless they’re already on board with your ideas?

Short presentations are actually a great way to present facts, ideas or concepts clearly in only a few minutes. However, take care not to overload them with too much information. It’s important to distill the content of your presentation down to the essentials and key messages.

The purpose of a short presentation is usually to draw your audience’s attention to either you or your product. You don’t get much time to do this, so you need to know how to focus on what’s important. The following tips may help.

Short PowerPoint presentation: set-up and structure

A short presentation should have a clear structure so that the audience can easily grasp and digest the information. So:

Introduction :

A brief explanation of what the presentation will be about.

Main body :

This is the actual content of the presentation. This is where to present the most important information.

Conclusion :

A brief summary of what you covered in the presentation.

Also, keep in mind the order of your slides. The first and last slides are the most important as studies have shown these are what people remember . So make sure that these two slides are particularly engaging and give the audience a good overview of your topic.

The order of the other slides is important too, but not as crucial as the first and last slides. Just play around with the order a bit and find what works best for you.

Make the presentation count

How you design your slides is important here. Create slides that are as clear and professional-looking as possible. Be careful not to put too much text on a slide, and make sure you use a font size that is large enough to be clearly seen by everyone.

If you try to put so much text on a slide that you need to make the font too small, you’ll lose your audience’s attention. For tips on choosing the right font, see our “ Fonts in PowerPoint ” post.

Try using pictures and graphics to make your slides more vivd . A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. Use images to illustrate and support your statements.

As well as adding visual interest to your slides, they arouse emotions in the audience, whether they know it or not, which makes you and your presentation topic seem more approachable. Be careful not to place too many images on one slide, though, as this can make it look messy.

Surefire ways to make your short presentation compelling:

• Present no more than three main points . More than this and you’ll lose your audience.
• Have a clear structure , so your audience always knows where you are and what’s coming next. Getting the structure of the presentation clear in advance really helps. Our article „Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation: 11 Tips”   shows you how to make the best use of your presentation preparation time.
• Make it easy for the audience to follow you. Use clear and simple language and avoid jargon. Smart use of images and graphics will make your content more vivid.
• Stay positive and confident . Your audience should be reassured that you really know your stuff; how else are they going to take your ideas seriously? Try to avoid coming across as arrogant, though – that automatically puts people off.
• Maintain eye contact with the audience. This demonstrates interest and appreciation – both important factors in convincing people and thus gaining potential customers.
• Be ready for questions . At the end of your presentation, allow a few minutes for questions and discussion. This gives your audience the opportunity to go into further detail or address other aspects as well. We’ve set out a few tips for including Q&A sessions in our article „ Prepare for your Q&A in Presentations” .

Short PowerPoint Presentation Example #1: The Five-Minute / Five-Slide Presentation

A classic example here is the five-minute presentation . This is similar to a Pitch-Presentation  , but structured slightly differently. Read on to see how.

What does a 5-minute / 5-slide presentation entail?

Imagine you have to present yourself, your company or your product in just a few minutes. You only ever need five slides for this . One way of structuring this, and creating a coherent storyline, would be:

• Overall idea (1st slide) A brief introduction. One slide showing your name might well suffice; you can then briefly describe your field of work or what you do within the company.
• Introduction (2nd slide) Start with a funny story, an anecdote or a quote to attract your audience’s attention. Then briefly address what you will be talking about. This slide can serve as a short introduction to the topic (company, product or service range).
• Main message (3rd slide) Try to illustrate the main point of your presentation with one or two simple graphics or diagrams. Photos related to your content or theme are also very useful here. PowerPoint is brilliant for this.  Aim for as little text as possible, with the visuals doing the work for you.
• Main concepts (4th slide) Underline your main message with three to five essential arguments and present them on a single slide (animated one after the other, if needs be). Remember that people’s attention span drops off sharply after absorbing five ideas.
• Conclusion (5th slide) Keep your conclusion short and end your presentation with a summary of the content and key messages of your presentation. These are, of course, what you want your audience to remember.

TIP: When preparing your presentation, remember the main question in your audience’s mind: “ What’s in it for me? ” We’ve covered this in our post about customer benefits . The overriding principle is KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Design and present everything as simply as possible!

Questions and discussion after the presentation:

If you have time, give your audience the opportunity to ask questions after the presentation, or actively try to spark a discussion and then moderate it. Allow about 5-10 minutes for this. If necessary, you can create back-up slides beforehand, to deepen certain sub-areas in case of specific questions.

Tips for your Q&A session can be found in our Q&A post .

Less is more

It’s sadly not uncommon to see slides stuffed with far too much information, whether text or images. The presenter certainly meant well, but failed to realise that their audience wouldn’t be able to process and absorb all that information at once. So try to stick to the following when putting your presentation together:

• Maximum one image per slide
• Only one topic per slide
• Minimal text
• Font size at least 18 point
• Maximum two fonts; sans serif fonts are more legible
• Display figures as graphs and diagrams
• No more than four colors per slide

In a five-minute presentation, you need to get to the point as quickly as possible . So skip the lengthy introductions and aim to grab your audience’s attention right at the start. Try to summarize your presentation as pithily as possible, too, to leave them wanting more.

While presenting, don’t forget to establish eye contact with the audience . Just standing there reading the text of a presentation from the slides is a common mistake, and one which quickly loses an audience’s attention.

Try to speak as fluently and freely as possible , so that you don’t look as though you’re just reading off your content (which can come across as a lack of competence or preparation). Invest enough time in preparing your presentation and practice it in front of an audience of acquaintances or, if needs be, in front of a mirror, until you’ve internalized the content and flow of your presentation.

Coming across as confident is just as important for the success of your presentation as its actual content. Don’t underestimate the influence that body language, speaking speed, gestures and facial expressions have on how the audience perceives your presentation. We go into this in detail in our “body language” post.

Keep your presentation lively by using figures of speech or catchy metaphors at appropriate points. We’ve gone into how (and why) to integrate rhetoric into your presentation in our „Public speeking skills” post. 

Short Presentation PowerPoint Example #2: The Three-Minute Presentation 

Imagine you only have three minutes. Three minutes in which to tell your audience everything they need to know about your idea, your product and your company. Well, it’s possible with a three-minute presentation! This is exactly what it sounds like: a coherent narrative, or story, in three minutes.

How to get your presentation to the point

The essence of this concept is to answer these three questions “ What’s it about?”, “How does it work?” and “What’s in it for me? ” in a few short paragraphs, a handful of slides and finally a short, pithy statement. A strong and compelling three-minute presentation will consist of roughly 25 sentences.

Write these down in advance so you have a clear outline in your head , making the presentation lively. Short and snappy is what you’re aiming for. You can get to the meat of your presentation in three minutes; try it!  Even if you have longer to present, it’s a tremendously useful exercise.

“If I’d had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” Blaise Pascal, mathematician and philosopher 

The above quote is really on point.  It takes time and effort to organize your thoughts into short, coherent sentences, but it’s so worth it. There’s a lot of excess verbiage about, the result of people just writing down whatever comes to mind, however disorganized it is. This has the effect of boring or confusing people, or both.  It really pays to condense your thoughts smartly.

So you need to work out which are your most important points, weigh them against each other, and discard any excess. This is the only way to communicate clearly and concisely.

It’s really useful to have the essentials of what you want to communicate distilled into their bare bones when time is short. If you know exactly what you need to say, you can fit it into whatever time slot you’re given, even if the half hour you’d expected ends up being only five minutes.

This is also invaluable if your boss unexpectedly asks you what you’re working on, or if you’re talking to a client and they want a brief overview of your presentation.

Getting your presentation distilled down to three minutes is very advantageous , even if you plan on presenting for longer. Concentrating on the essentials not only shows creativity, but also organizational and communication skills. You’ll have a strong core to your message and won’t need to depend on your presentation slides and charts. 

Storytelling or Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch gets to the heart of your ideas in just a few minutes, and is great for getting someone new to what you’re presenting to want to learn more.

The focus in an elevator pitch is on the positive aspects of your ideas , for example their uniqueness and utility. Of course, the pitch must be delivered persuasively enough for the conversation to continue in a follow-up meeting afterwards!

Storytelling focuses on the story , which pulls the power of emotions into your content, selling them better. So storytelling can also work for a three-minute presentation. Do keep it short and resist going off on tangents, though. We’ve covered all this in our “Storytelling” post.

When you don’t have enough time to present (all) your slides

Even if the time you’re allowed for a presentation is really short (say your customer or client arrives late, then has to leave for another appointment soon), you can still make a strong impression with a three-minute story. It means you always have a plan B up your sleeve.

If you know exactly what you want to communicate, it will be easy to spontaneously adapt it to whatever time limits you are given. This way, many of your slides, diagrams and graphics are an added extra, rather than being something you are lost without.

Short PowerPoint presentations: More examples

Short presentations are an effective way to engage your audience with your idea, offer or brand. They can also be used to draw attention to a specific aspect or trigger an action. Short presentations are often used as presentation teasers to capture the audience’s interest and make them want to learn more.  Examples include:

• Presenting a new brand or product
• Presenting a current topic or trend
• Presenting your company’s successes or growth
• Presenting your company’s vision or mission statement
• An informational or educational presentation
• A scientific topic within your own discipline
• A research paper, a concept, an innovative project
• A hot social or political topic
• A presentation on climate change, migration, globalization, inflation, conflicts
• A topic from your private life such as a vacation, a special experience or a passion
• A historical event
• The history and development of a company you admire
• An artist whose work you find interesting
• Your favorite book/movie/musical/etc.

As you can see, the short presentation is ideal for a huge range of topics and occasions. Two examples are introducing a new product or a new service to potential customers.  How to get those into the short presentation format?

Presenting a new product

When introducing a new product, first highlight its key features and benefits. Then explain the different applications of the product and provide examples of them. Finally, you can ask the audience to test the product and give feedback.

Introducing a new service  

present this successfully, start by highlighting the added value and customer benefits. Then explain the different areas of application in more detail and show with concrete examples of where your service can be used meaningfully, and the advantages and results it has led to with your existing clientele.

To sum up: Short PowerPoint presentations – how to effectively use limited time to deliver your presentations in a target-oriented way

Short presentations are a great way to present and communicate topics to an audience. Why? Because they help the audience grasp the key message of the presentation in the shortest amount of time.

This is especially important when the audience is in the middle of a conference or workshop and has a limited attention span. Presentations are an important means of conveying information to an audience. So follow our tips to make your short presentation the best it can be and achieve your goals.

Got further questions about short PowerPoint presentations, or indeed general questions about PowerPoint? Please don’t hesitate to contact us! Feel free to email us your question at [email protected] . We’re always happy to help!

Looking for professionally designed slide templates to strengthen your short presentation? Have a look around our store! We have a huge range of slides on business topics. Get the best basis for your short presentation today! ► To the Store

 You might also be interested in these articles:

• Pitch Presentations
• Speech techniques for Presentations
• Storytelling in Presentations
• Elevator Pitch
• Preparing Presentations: 11 Tips
• Body language in Presentations
• Customer Benefits for Your Presentations
• Q&A that’s how you manage it

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Design Thinking: Problem Solving with a Difference

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How To Design and Deliver a 5-Minute Presentation

Attention spans are lower than they’ve ever been. We have the rise of short-form video content— TikTok— to thank for that. Short-form videos has changed the way audiences consume content in that they want to get to the key takeaway as quickly as possible. When you apply the new attention span norm (or lack thereof) to a presentation, a 60 minute presentation simply isn’t effective anymore. Presenters need to get their message across more efficiently in order to keep an audience engaged. Insert: a 5-minute presentation. 

A 5-minute presentation might be taking it to an extreme, and we realize not every deck can be trimmed down to meet those time restraints, but there are benefits to designing and delivering a quick, and to-the-point deck. The biggest benefits being time and engagement. The longer your presentation goes on, the greater the chance that you’re losing your audience to boredom. If you’re able to pack a bigger punch in less time, your audience will retain more of what you’re telling them with an interest in continuing the conversation. A shorter presentation also helps the presenter prioritize what really matters in the story so that they’re leading with more meaningful and valuable information. A win-win for everyone involved. 

In this blog we help you rethink your presentation game, and share how to design and deliver a 5-minute presentation effectively.  

Slides to include in a 5-minute presentation

When you’re preparing a quick presentation, the less time you spend on design the more time you have to focus on the delivery. But on the same coin, your deck design needs to be organized and impactful. This is where presentation software, like Beautiful.ai , really shines. Our Smart Slide templates automatically apply the principles of good design, so even the most amateur designers can create stunning slides in a fraction of the time by easily plugging in their content. The smart technology takes on the burden of design choices so that presenters can focus on what matters most: their 5-minute story. 

Here are the slides you should include in your 5-minute presentation deck. 

Title slide

A title slide is self-explanatory, but since this is a 5-minute presentation, you’ll want to provide as much context as possible without compromising the design. A title slide in this case should include the what (subject matter), why (it’s importance), and who (the thought-leader or expert on the topic). You won’t spend much time on this slide in the presentation, but it will tell the audience exactly what they’re about to learn and (hopefully) grab their attention. 

Outline slide

What are the specifics that you plan to cover in your 5-minute presentation? The next slide (the outline) should showcase more details about the presentation on a high-level. This helps set expectations with the audience on what’s to come, and how it’s relevant to them. 

Pro tip: incorporate animations and visual assets where it makes sense on slides to keep the audience engaged the entire 5 minutes.

Problem description

Before you can introduce your solution, you need to make the problem clear. The problem can be a gap in the market, a unique pain point, or an opportunity for improvement. By explaining the problem, you’re creating a sense of urgency and anticipation for your value proposition and the solution you’re offering. 

Proposed approach

You’ve piqued the interest of your audience, now it’s time to hit them with your proposed approach. What is the solution to the problem, and how will it benefit them? You only have five minutes, but don’t skimp on this slide. Your proposed solution should be very specific and the value should be clear. 

Summary slide

How you end a 5-minute presentation matters. Your summary slide should pack a punch, and leave the audience wanting more. This is what will motivate them to follow up or follow through with the final call-to-action (assuming there is one). You can treat your summary slide as an executive summary and recap the most important points, or leave them with a powerful statistic and next steps. 

Delivering a 5-minute presentation

Your deck is done, now let’s nail the delivery. Five minutes isn’t a lot of time to add context to the content you chose to include in the deck. Each slide in the presentation should have one key idea so the takeaways are obvious and clear. In your delivery, you can add color to those slides and elaborate where necessary. But remember, it’s a 5-minute presentation, and you should aim to present a slide per minute (give or take) to give yourself ample time to hit each key point. 

Because of the time limitations, practice is key. Do a few dry runs of your presentation in front of your dog or the mirror to ensure you're adhering to the time limitations, and then do a few more. Practice will help you ace your speech, while ensuring there aren’t any technical issues with your presentation throughout the deck. 

As a follow-up, you might choose to send your presentation deck to the audience via email after the meeting so they can view it in their own time. This gives them time to comb through your content at their leisure, which may result in additional questions or feedback. Use your email as an opportunity to remind them of the CTA and encourage them to take the next steps. 

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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• Inspiration

23 presentation examples that really work (plus templates!)

• 30 Mar 2023

To help you in your quest for presentation greatness, we’ve gathered 23 of the best business presentation examples out there. These hand-picked ideas range from business PowerPoint presentations, to recruitment presentations, and everything in between.

As a bonus, several of our examples include editable video presentation templates from  Biteable .

Biteable allows anyone to create great video presentations — no previous video-making skills required. The easy-to-use platform has hundreds of brandable templates and video scenes designed with a business audience in mind. A video made with Biteable is just what you need to add that wow factor and make an impact on your audience.

Create videos that drive action

Activate your audience with impactful, on-brand videos. Create them simply and collaboratively with Biteable.

Video presentation examples

Video presentations are our specialty at Biteable. We love them because they’re the most visually appealing and memorable way to communicate.

1. Animated characters

Our first presentation example is a business explainer video from Biteable that uses animated characters. The friendly and modern style makes this the perfect presentation for engaging your audience.

Bonus template:  Need a business video presentation that reflects the beautiful diversity of your customers or team? Use  Biteable’s workplace scenes . You can change the skin tone and hair color for any of the animated characters.

2. Conference video

Videos are also ideal solutions for events (e.g. trade shows) where they can be looped to play constantly while you attend to more important things like talking to people and handing out free cheese samples.

For this event presentation sample below, we used bright colours, stock footage, and messaging that reflects the brand and values of the company. All these elements work together to draw the attention of passers-by.

For a huge selection of video presentation templates, take a look at our  template gallery .

Business PowerPoint presentation examples

Striking fear into the hearts of the workplace since 1987, PowerPoint is synonymous with bland, boring presentations that feel more like an endurance test than a learning opportunity. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out these anything-but-boring business PowerPoint presentation examples.

3. Design pointers

This PowerPoint presentation takes a tongue-in-cheek look at how the speakers and users of PowerPoint are the problem, not the software itself.

Even at a hefty 61 slides, the vintage theme, appealing colors, and engaging content keep the viewer interested. It delivers useful and actionable tips on creating a better experience for your audience.

Pixar, as you’d expect, redefines the meaning of PowerPoint in their “22 Rules for Phenomenal Storytelling”. The character silhouettes are instantly recognizable and tie firmly to the Pixar brand. The bright colour palettes are carefully chosen to highlight the content of each slide.

This presentation is a good length, delivering one message per slide, making it easy for an audience to take notes and retain the information.

Google slides examples

If you’re in business, chances are you’ll have come across  slide decks . Much like a deck of cards, each slide plays a key part in the overall ‘deck’, creating a well-rounded presentation.

If you need to inform your team, present findings, or outline a new strategy, slides are one of the most effective ways to do this.

Google Slides is one of the best ways to create a slide deck right now. It’s easy to use and has built-in design tools that integrate with Adobe, Lucidchart, and more. The best part — it’s free!

5. Teacher education

Here’s a slide deck that was created to educate teachers on how to use Google Slides effectively in a classroom. At first glance it seems stuffy and businessy, but if you look closer it’s apparent the creator knows his audience well, throwing in some teacher-friendly content that’s bound to get a smile.

The slides give walkthrough screenshots and practical advice on the different ways teachers can use the software to make their lives that little bit easier and educate their students at the same time.

6. Charity awareness raiser

This next Google slide deck is designed to raise awareness for an animal shelter. It has simple, clear messaging, and makes use of the furry friends it rescues to tug on heartstrings and encourage donations and adoptions from its audience.

Pro tip: Creating a presentation is exciting but also a little daunting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed — especially if the success of your business or nonprofit depends on it.

Prezi presentation examples

If you haven’t come across  Prezi , it’s a great alternative to using static slides. Sitting somewhere between slides and a video presentation, it allows you to import other content and add motion to create a more engaging viewer experience.

7. Red Bull event recap

This Prezi was created to document the Red Bull stratosphere freefall stunt a few years ago. It neatly captures all the things that Prezi is capable of, including video inserts and the zoom effect, which gives an animated, almost 3D effect to what would otherwise be still images.  

Prezi has annual awards for the best examples of presentations over the year. This next example is one of the 2018 winners. It was made to highlight a new Logitech tool.

8. Logitech Spotlight launch

What stands out here are the juicy colors, bold imagery, and the way the designer has used Prezi to its full extent, including rotations, panning, fades, and a full zoom out to finish the presentation.

Sales presentation examples

If you’re stuck for ideas for your sales presentation, step right this way and check out this video template we made for you.

9. Sales enablement video presentation

In today’s fast-paced sales environment, you need a way to make your sales enablement presentations memorable and engaging for busy reps.  Sales enablement videos  are just the ticket. Use this video presentation template the next time you need to present on your metrics.

10. Zuroa sales deck

If you’re after a sales deck, you can’t go past this example from Zuora. What makes it great? It begins by introducing the worldwide shift in the way consumers are shopping. It’s a global phenomenon, and something we can all relate to.

It then weaves a compelling story about how the subscription model is changing the face of daily life for everyone. Metrics and testimonials from well-known CEOs and executives are included for some slamming social proof to boost the sales message.

Pitch presentation examples

Pitch decks are used to give an overview of business plans, and are usually presented during meetings with customers, investors, or potential partners.

11. Uber pitch deck

This is Uber’s original pitch deck, which (apart from looking a teensy bit dated) gives an excellent overview of their business model and clearly shows how they intended to disrupt a traditional industry and provide a better service to people. Right now, you’re probably very grateful that this pitch presentation was a winner.

You can make your own pitch deck with Biteable, or start with one of our  video templates  to make something a little more memorable.

12. Video pitch template

This video pitch presentation clearly speaks to the pains of everyone who needs to commute and find parking. It then provides the solution with its app that makes parking a breeze.

The video also introduces the key team members, their business strategy, and what they’re hoping to raise in funding. It’s a simple, clear pitch that positions the company as a key solution to a growing, worldwide problem. It’s compelling and convincing, as a good presentation should be.

13. Fyre Festival pitch deck

The most epic example of a recent pitch deck is this one for Fyre Festival – the greatest event that never happened. Marvel at its persuasion, gasp at the opportunity of being part of the cultural experience of the decade, cringe as everything goes from bad to worse.

Despite the very public outcome, this is a masterclass in how to create hype and get funding with your pitch deck using beautiful imagery, beautiful people, and beautiful promises of riches and fame.

Business presentation examples

Need to get the right message out to the right people? Business presentations can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

Simply press play and let your video do the talking. No fumbling your words and sweating buckets in front of those potential clients, just you being cool as a cucumber while your presentation does the talking.

Check out two of our popular templates that you can use as a starting point for your own presentations. While they’re business-minded, they’re definitely not boring.

14. Business intro template

Modern graphics, animations, and upbeat soundtracks keep your prospects engaged as they learn about your business, your team, your values, and how you can help them.

15. Business explainer template

Research presentation examples.

When you’re giving a more technical presentation such as research findings, you need to strike the perfect balance between informing your audience and making sure they stay awake.

As a rule, slides are more effective for research presentations, as they are used to support the speaker’s knowledge rather can capture every small detail on screen.

With often dry, complex, and technical subject matter, there can be a temptation for presentations to follow suit. Use images instead of walls of text, and keep things as easy to follow as possible.

16. TrackMaven research deck

TrackMaven uses their endearing mascot to lighten up this data-heavy slide deck. The graphs help to bring life to their findings, and they ensure to only have one bite-size takeaway per slide so that viewers can easily take notes.

17. Wearable tech research report

Obviously, research can get very researchy and there’s not a lot to be done about it. This slide deck below lays out a ton of in-depth information but breaks it up well with quotes, diagrams, and interesting facts to keep viewers engaged while it delivers its findings on wearable technology.

Team presentation examples

Motivating your team can be a challenge at the best of times, especially when you need to gather them together for….another presentation!

18. Team update template

We created this presentation template as an example of how to engage your team. In this case, it’s for an internal product launch. Using colorful animation and engaging pacing, this video presentation is much better than a static PowerPoint, right?

19. Officevibe collaboration explainer

This short slide deck is a presentation designed to increase awareness of the problems of a disengaged team. Bright colors and relevant images combine with facts and figures that compel viewers to click through to a download to learn more about helping their teams succeed.

Recruitment presentation examples

Recruiting the right people can be a challenge. Presentations can help display your team and your business by painting a dynamic picture of what it’s like to work with you.

Videos and animated slides let you capture the essence of your brand and workplace so the right employees can find you.

20. Company culture explainer

If you’re a recruitment agency, your challenge is to stand out from the hundreds of other agencies in the marketplace.

21. Kaizen culture

Showcasing your agency using a slide deck can give employers and employees a feel for doing business with you. Kaizen clearly displays its credentials and highlights its brand values and personality here (and also its appreciation of the coffee bean).

Explainer presentation examples

Got some explaining to do? Using an explainer video is the ideal way to showcase products that are technical, digital, or otherwise too difficult to explain with still images and text.

Explainer videos help you present the features and values of your product in an engaging way that speaks to your ideal audience and promotes your brand at the same time.

22. Product explainer template

23. lucidchart explainer.

Lucidchart does a stellar job of using explainer videos for their software. Their series of explainers-within-explainers entertains the viewer with cute imagery and an endearing brand voice. At the same time, the video is educating its audience on how to use the actual product. We (almost) guarantee you’ll have more love for spiders after watching this one.

Make a winning video presentation with Biteable

Creating a winning presentation doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Modern slide decks and video software make it easy for you to give compelling presentations that sell, explain, and educate without sending your audience to snooze town.

For the best online video presentation software around, check out Biteable. The intuitive platform does all the heavy lifting for you, so making a video presentation is as easy as making a PowerPoint.

Use Biteable’s brand builder to automatically fetch your company colors and logo from your website and apply them to your entire video with the click of a button. Even add a  clickable call-to-action  button to your video.

Share your business presentation anywhere with a single, trackable URL and watch your message turn into gold.

Make stunning videos with ease.

Take the struggle out of team communication.

Try Biteable now.

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• No experience necessary

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Blog Data Visualization 18 Presentation Design Tips For Success

18 Presentation Design Tips For Success

Written by: Midori Nediger May 15, 2023

Bad presentations. We’ve all had to sit through them.  Heck, we’ve probably all given one or two. I know I have.

You know the type: twice as long as they need to be, slides chock-full of text, no visuals in sight. 

How can you ensure you don’t fall victim to these presentation faux-pas when designing your next presentation for your team, class, or clients?

In this blog, I’ll walk you through tips on how to design an impactful presentation along with presentation templates that can help you deliver it with style to leave a lasting impression.

Tips for designing and delivering an impactful presentation

What makes a presentation memorable?

It usually comes down to three things:

• The main idea.
• The presenter.
• The visuals.

All three elements work together to create a successful presentation. Just like how different presentation styles serve different purposes, having a good presentation idea will give the audience a purpose for listening.

Here are some top tips to consider to help you design and deliver an impactful presentation:

• Include less text and more visuals in your presentation design
• Identify one core message to center your presentation design around
• Eliminate any information that doesn’t immediately support the core message
• Create a strong presentation outline to keep you focused
• Use text to reinforce, not repeat, what you’re saying
• Design your presentation with one major takeaway per slide
• Use visuals to highlight the key message on each slide
• Use scaffolding slides to orient your audience and keep them engaged
• Use text size, weight, and color for emphasis
• Apply design choices consistently to avoid distraction
• Split a group presentation by topic
• Use a variety of page layouts to maintain your audience’s interest
• Use presentation templates to help you get started
• Include examples of inspiring people
• Dedicate slides to poignant questions
• Find quotes that will inspire your audience
• Emphasize key points with text and images
• Label your slides to prompt your memory

1. Include less text and more visuals in your presentation design

According to David Paradi’s annual presentation survey , the 3 things that annoy audiences most about presentations are:

• Speakers reading their slides
• Slides that include full sentences of text
• Text that is too small to read

The common thread that ties all of these presentation annoyances is text. Audiences are very picky about the text found in presentation slide decks .

In my experiences speaking at conferences and in webinars over the past few years, audiences respond much more positively to presentations that use visuals in place of text.

Audiences are more engaged, ask more questions, and find my talks more memorable when I include lots of visual examples in my slide decks. 

I’m not the only one who has found this. We recently surveyed nearly 400 conference speakers about their presentation designs and found that 84.3% create presentations that are highly visual.

A great example of a high visual presentation is the iconic AirBnB pitch deck design , which includes no more than 40 words per slide. Instead of repeating the speaker’s script on the slides, it makes an impact with keywords, large numbers, and icons:

Learn how to customize this presentation template:

To help you take your presentations to the next level, I’d like to share my process for creating a visually-focused presentation like the one above. I’ll give you my top presentation design tips that I’ve learned over years of presenting:

• Class presentations
• Online courses

You can then apply this process to our professional presentation templates  or pitch decks , creating unique presentation decks with ease! Our user-friendly editor tools make customizing these templates a breeze.

To leave a lasting impression on your audience, consider transforming your slides into an interactive presentation. Here are 15 interactive presentation ideas to enhance interactivity and engagement.

We’ll cover the most important steps for summarizing lengthy text into a presentation-friendly format. Then we’ll touch on some presentation design tips to help you get visual with your slide decks. Read on for the best creative presentation ideas .

2. Identify one core message to center your presentation design around

We know from David Paradi’s survey that audiences are easily overwhelmed with lots of text and data, especially when presentations are long.

(You when you see a presentation with lots of text and data and it’s long)

So unlike in a white paper , report , or essay , you can’t expect to tackle many complex ideas within a single presentation.

That would be a recipe for disaster.

Instead, identify a single central message that you would like to communicate to your audience. Then build your presentation around that core message.

By identifying that core message, you can ensure that everything you include in your presentation supports the goal of the presentation .

As seen below, a great presentation tells you exactly what you’re going to learn (the core message), then gets right to the facts (the supporting information).

To ensure you create an asset that’s clear, concise, impactful, and easy to follow, design your presentation around a single core message.

3. Create a strong presentation outline to keep you focused

Think of your outline as a roadmap for your presentation. The outline will shape the  presentation structure  and guide you through your content. Creating a strong presentation outline straight away helps make sure that you’re hitting all of the key points you need to cover to convey a persuasive presentation .

Take this presentation outline example:

• Introduction and hellos
• Vision and value proposition
• Financial profit
• Your investment
• Thanks and questions

These are all things that we know we need to talk about within the presentation.

Creating a presentation outline makes it much easier to know what to say when it comes to creating the actual presentation slides.

You could even include your presentation outline as a separate slide so that your audience knows what to expect:

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

4. Eliminate any information that doesn’t support the core message

Next, use that core message to identify everything that doesn’t belong in the presentation.

Aim to eliminate everything that isn’t immediately relevant to the topic at hand, and anything remotely redundant. Cut any information that isn’t absolutely essential to understanding the core message.

By cutting these extra details, you can transform forgettable text-heavy slides:

Into memorable slides with minimal text:

Here’s a quick checklist to help you cut out any extra detail:

Get rid of:

• Detailed descriptions
• Background information
• Redundant statements
• Explanations of common knowledge
• Persuasive facts and figures
• Illustrative examples
• Impactful quotes

This step may seem obvious, but when you’re presenting on a topic that you’re passionate about, it’s easy to get carried away with extraneous detail. Use the recommendations above to keep your text in check.

Clarity is key, especially if you’re presenting virtually rather than in-person. However, Lisa Schneider (Chief Growth Officer at Merriam-Webster) has had plenty of experience making that adjustment. She recently shared her tips for adapting in-person presentations into virtual presentations on Venngage that you can check out. 

Watch: How to design a presentation [10 ESSENTIAL TIPS]

5. Use text to reinforce, not repeat, what you’re saying

According to presentation guru  Nancy Duarte , your audience should be able to discern the meaning of your slides in 6 seconds or less.

Since your audience will tend to read every word you place on each slide, you must keep your text to an absolute minimum. The text on your slides should provide support for what you’re saying without being distracting.

Never write out, word for word, what you’re going to be saying out loud. If you’re relying on text to remember certain points, resist the urge to cram them into your slides. Instead, use a tool like Venngage’s speaker notes to highlight particular talking points. These can be imported into PowerPoint — along with the rest of your presentation — and will only be viewable to you, not your audience.

For the actual slides, text should only be used to reinforce what you’re saying. Like in the presentation design below, paraphrase long paragraphs into short bulleted lists or statements by eliminating adjectives and articles (like “the” and “a”).

Pull out quotes and important numbers, and make them a focus of each slide.

6. Design your presentation with one major takeaway per slide

As I mentioned above, audiences struggle when too much information is presented on a single slide.

To make sure you don’t overwhelm your audiences with too much information, spread out your content to cover one major takeaway per slide.

By limiting each slide to a single simple statement, you focus your audience’s attention on the topic at hand.

My favorite way to do this is to pick out the core message of whatever I’m talking about and express it in a few keywords, as seen in this presentation slide below.

This helps ensure that the visuals remain the focus of the slide.

Using the text in this way, to simply state a single fact per slide, is a sure-fire way to make an impact in your presentation.

Alternatively, pull out a significant statistic that you want to stick in your audience’s minds and make it a visual focus of the slide, as seen in this popular presentation by Officevibe .

This might mean you end up with a slide deck with a ton of slides. But that’s totally ok!

I’ve talked to many professionals who are pressured by their management teams to create presentations with a specific number of slides (usually as few as 10 or 15 slides for a 30-minute presentation).

If you ask me, this approach is completely flawed. In my mind, the longer I spend sitting on a single slide, the more likely I am to lose the interest of my audience.

How many slides should I use for a 10 minute presentation?

A good rule of thumb is to have at least as many slides as minutes in your presentation. So for a 10 minute presentation you should have at least 10 slides .

Use as many slides as you need, as long as you are presenting a single message on each slide, (as seen in the lengthy presentation template below). This is especially important if you’re presenting your business, or delivering a product presentation. You want to wow your audience, not bore them.

7. Use visuals to highlight the key message on each slide

As important as having one major takeaway per slide is having visuals that highlight the major takeaway on each slide.

Unique visuals will help make your message memorable.

Visuals are a great way to eliminate extra text, too.

You can add visuals by creating a timeline infographic to group and integrate information into visual frameworks like this:

Or create a flowchart  and funnels:

Or by representing simple concepts with icons, as seen in the modern presentation design below. Using the same color for every icon helps create a polished look.

Using visuals in this way is perfect for when you have to convey messages quickly to audiences that you aren’t familiar with – such as at conferences. This would also make the ideal interview presentation template.

You can alternatively use icons in different colors, like in the presentation templates below. Just make sure the colors are complimentary, and style is consistent throughout the presentation (i.e. don’t use sleek, modern icons on one slide and whimsically illustrated icons on another). In this example, presentation clipart style icons have been used.

Any time you have important stats or trends you want your audience to remember, consider using a chart or data visualization to drive your point home. Confident public speaking combined with strong visualizations can really make an impact, encouraging your audience to act upon your message.

One of my personal favorite presentations (created by a professional designer) takes this “key message plus a visual” concept to the extreme, resulting in a slide deck that’s downright irresistible.

When applying this concept, don’t fall into the trap of using bad stock photos . Irrelevant or poorly chosen visuals can hurt you as much as they help you.

Below is an example of how to use stock photos effectively. They are more thematic than literal and are customized with fun, bright icons that set a playful tone.

The content and visual design of a presentation should be seamless.

It should never seem like your text and visuals are plopped onto a template. The format and design of the slides should contribute to and support the audience’s understanding of the content.

8. Use scaffolding slides to orient your audience and keep them engaged

It’s easy for audiences to get lost during long presentations, especially if you have lots of slides. And audiences zone out when they get lost.

To help reorient your audience every once in a while, you can use something I like to call scaffolding slides. Scaffolding slides appear throughout a presentation to denote the start and end of major sections.

The core scaffolding slide is the agenda slide, which should appear right after the introduction or title slide. It outlines the major sections of the presentation.

At the beginning of each section, you should show that agenda again but highlight the relevant section title, as seen below.

This gives audiences the sense that you’re making progress through the presentation and helps keep them anchored and engaged.

Alternatively, you can achieve a similar effect by numbering your sections and showing that number on every slide. Or use a progress bar at the bottom of each slide to indicate how far along you are in your presentation. Just make sure it doesn’t distract from the main content of the slides.

You can imagine using this “progress bar” idea for a research presentation, or any presentation where you have a lot of information to get through.

Leila Janah, founder of Sama Group, is great at this. Her  Innovation and Inspire  talk about Sama Group is an example of a presentation that is well organized and very easy to follow.

Her presentation follows a logical, steady stream of ideas. She seems comfortable talking in front of a crowd but doesn’t make any attempts to engage directly with them.

9. Use text size, weight and color for emphasis

Every slide should have a visual focal point. Something that immediately draws the eye at first glance.

That focal point should be whatever is most important on that slide, be it an important number, a keyword, or simply the slide title.

We can create visual focal points by varying the size, weight, and color of each element on the slide. Larger, brighter, bolder elements will command our audience’s attention, while smaller, lighter elements will tend to fade into the background.

As seen in the presentation template above, this technique can be especially useful for drawing attention to important words within a long passage of text. Consider using this technique whenever you have more than 5 words on a slide.

And if you really want your audience to pay attention, pick a high-contrast color scheme like the one below.

When picking fonts for your presentation, keep this technique in mind. Pick a font that has a noticeable difference between the “bold” font face and the “regular” font face. Source Sans Pro, Times New Roman, Montserrat, Arvo, Roboto, and Open Sans are all good options.

The last thing to remember when using size, weight, and color to create emphasis on a slide: don’t try to emphasize too many things on one slide.

If everything is highlighted, nothing is highlighted.

10. Apply design choices consistently to avoid distraction

Audiences are quick to pick out, and focus on, any inconsistencies in your presentation design. As a result, messy, inconsistent slide decks lead to distracted, disengaged audiences.

Design choices (fonts and colors, especially), must be applied consistently across a slide deck. The last thing you want is for your audience to pay attention to your design choices before your content.

To keep your design in check, it can be helpful to create a color palette and type hierarchy before you start creating your deck, and outline it in a basic style guide like this one:

I know it can sometimes be tempting to fiddle around with text sizes to fit longer bits of text on a slide, but don’t do it! If the text is too long to fit on a slide, it should be split up onto multiple slides anyway.

And remember, a consistent design isn’t necessarily a boring one. This social media marketing presentation applies a bright color scheme to a variety of 3-column and 2-column layouts, remaining consistent but still using creative presentation ideas.

11. Split a group presentation by topic

When giving a group presentation it’s always difficult to find the right balance of who should present which part.

Splitting a group presentation by topic is the most natural way to give everybody the chance to attempt without it seeming disjointed.

When presenting this slide deck to investors or potential clients, the team can easily take one topic each. One person can discuss the business model slide, and somebody else can talk about the marketing strategy.

Top tips for group presentations:

• Split your group presentation by topic
• Introduce the next speaker at the end of your slide
• Become an ‘expert’ in the slide that you are presenting
• Rehearse your presentation in advance so that everybody knows their cue to start speaking

12. Use a variety of page layouts to maintain your audience’s interest

Page after page of the same layout can become repetitive and boring. Mix up the layout of your slides to keep your audience interested.

In this example, the designer has used a variety of combinations of images, text, and icons to create an interesting and varied style.

There are hundreds of different combinations of presentation layers and presentation styles that you can use to help create an engaging presentation . This style is great for when you need to present a variety of information and statistics, like if you were presenting to financial investors, or you were giving a research presentation.

Using a variety of layouts to keep an audience engaged is something that Elon Musk is an expert in. An engaged audience is a hyped audience. Check out this Elon Musk presentation revealing a new model Tesla for a masterclass on how to vary your slides in an interesting way:

13. Use presentation templates to help you get started

It can be overwhelming to build your own presentation from scratch. Fortunately, my team at Venngage has created hundreds of professional presentation templates , which make it easy to implement these design principles and ensure your audience isn’t deterred by text-heavy slides.

Using a presentation template is a quick and easy way to create professional-looking presentation skills, without any design experience. You can edit all of the text easily, as well as change the colors, fonts, or photos. Plus you can download your work in a PowerPoint or PDF Presentation format.

After your presentation, consider summarizing your presentation in an engaging manner to r each a wider audience through a LinkedIn presentation .

14. Include examples of inspiring people

People like having role models to look up to. If you want to motivate your audience, include examples of people who demonstrate the traits or achievements, or who have found success through the topic you are presenting.

15. Dedicate slides to poignant questions

While you might be tempted to fill your slides with decorative visuals and splashes of color, consider that sometimes simplicity is more effective than complexity. The simpler your slide is, the more you can focus on one thought-provoking idea.

16. Find quotes that will inspire your audience

A really good quote can stick in a person’s mind for weeks after your presentation. Ending your presentation with a quote can be a nice way to either begin or finish your presentation.

A great example of this is Tim Ferriss’ TED talk:

Check out the full talk below.

17. Emphasize key points with text and images

When you pair concise text with an image, you’re presenting the information to your audience in two simultaneous ways. This can make the information easier to remember, and more memorable.

Use your images and text on slides to reinforce what you’re saying out loud.

Doing this achieves two things:

• When the audience hears a point and simultaneously read it on the screen, it’s easier to retain.
• Audience members can photograph/ screencap the slide and share it with their networks.

Don’t believe us? See this tip in action with a presentation our Chief Marketing Officer Nadya gave recently at Unbounce’s CTA Conference . The combination of text and images on screen leads to a memorable presentation.

18. Label your slides to prompt your memory

Often, presenters will write out an entire script for their presentation and read it off a teleprompter. The problem is, that can often make your presentation seem  too  rehearsed and wooden.

But even if you don’t write a complete script, you can still put key phrases on your slides to prompt jog your memory. The one thing you have to be wary of is looking back at your slides too much.

A good presentation gets things moving! Check out the top qualities of awesome presentations and learn all about how to make a good presentation to help you nail that captivating delivery.

Audiences don’t want to watch presentations with slide decks jam-packed with text. Too much text only hurts audience engagement and understanding. Your presentation design is as important as your presentation style. 

By summarizing our text and creating slides with a visual focus, we can give more exciting, memorable and impactful presentations.

Give it a try with one of our popular presentation templates:

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