5 x 5 presentation

• Interactive Presentation

5/5/5 Rule | How and Why to Use It with Best Examples in 2024

Ellie Tran • 05 April, 2024 • 9 min read

So, how to avoid bulky slides? Put a finger down if you have… 

• …done a presentation in your life.
• …struggled with summarising your content 🤟
• …rushed while preparing and ended up throwing every single bit of text you have on your poor little slides 🤘
• …made a PowerPoint presentation with loads of text slides ☝️
• …ignored a display crammed with text and let the presenter’s words go in one ear and out the other ✊

So, we all share the same problem with text slides: not knowing what’s right or how much is enough (and even getting fed up with them sometimes). 

But it’s no longer a big deal, as you can look at the 5/5/5 rule for PowerPoint to know how to create a non-bulky and effective presentation.

Find out everything about this type of presentation , including its benefits, drawbacks and examples in the article below.

Table of Contents

• What is the 5/5/5 rule for PowerPoint?
• Benefits of the 5/5/5 rule
• Cons of the 5/5/5 rule

Frequently Asked Questions

More Tips with AhaSlides

• Types of presentation
• What is 7x7?
• 10 20 30 Rule

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

What Is the 5/5/5 Rule for PowerPoint?

The 5/5/5 rule sets a limit on the amount of text and the number of slides in a presentation. With this, you can keep your audience from being overwhelmed with walls of text, which can lead to boredom and searching elsewhere for distractions.

The 5/5/5 rule suggests you use a maximum of:

• Five words per line.
• Five lines of text per slide.
• Five slides with text like this in a row.

Your slides shouldn’t include everything you say; it’s a waste of time to read out loud what you’ve written (as your presentation should only last under 20 minutes ) and it’s incredibly dull for those in front of you. The audience is here to listen to you and your inspiring presentation, not to see a screen that looks like another heavy textbook. 

The 5/5/5 rule does set boundaries for your slideshows, but these are to help you keep your crowd’s attention better.

Let’s break down the rule 👇

Five words on a line

A good presentation should include a mix of elements: written & verbal language, visuals, and storytelling. So when you make one, it’s best not to centre around the texts only and forget everything else.

Cramming too much information on your slide decks doesn’t help you at all as a presenter, and it’s never on the list of great presentation tips . Instead, it gives you a lengthy presentation and disinterested listeners.

That’s why you should only write a few things on each slide to trigger their curiosity. According to 5 by 5 rules, it’s no more than 5 words on a line.

We understand that you have a bunch of beautiful things to share, but knowing what to leave out is as important as knowing what to put in. So, here’s a quick guide to help you do this with ease.

🌟 How to do it:

• Use question words (5W1H) - Put a few questions on your slide to give it a touch of mystery . You can then answer everything by speaking.
• Highlight keywords - After outlining, highlight keywords that you want your audience to pay attention to, and then include them on the slides.

Take this sentence: “Introducing AhaSlides – an easy-to-use, cloud-based presentation platform that excites and engages your audience through interactivity.”

You can put it in fewer than 5 words in any one of these ways:

• What is AhaSlides?
• Easy-to-use presentation platform.
• Engage your audience through interactivity.

Five lines of text on a slide

Text heavy slide design is not a wise choice for a fascinating presentation. Have you ever heard of the magical number 7 plus/minus 2 ? This number is the key takeaway from an experiment by George Miller, a cognitive psychologist.

This experiment implies that a human’s short-term memory typically holds 5-9 strings of words or concepts, so it’s hard for most ordinary people to remember more than that in a really short period of time.

That means that 5 lines would be the perfect number for an effective presentation, as the audience can grasp important information and memorise it better.

• Know what your key ideas are - I know you’ve put tons of thought into your presentation, and everything you’ve included seems so vital, but you need to settle on the main points and summarise them in a few words on the slides.
• Use phrases and sayings - Don’t write the whole sentence, simply pick out the essential words to use. Also, you can add a quote to illustrate your point instead of throwing everything in.

Five slides like this in a row

Having a lot of content slides like this can still be too much for the audience to digest. Imagine 15 of these text-heavy slides in a row - you'd lose your mind!

Keep your text slides to a minimum, and look for ways to make your slide decks more engaging.

The rule suggests that 5 text slides in a row are the absolute maximum you should make (but we suggest a maximum of 1!)

• Add more visual aids - Use images, videos or illustrations to make your presentations more diverse.
• Use interactive activities - Host games, icebreakers or other interactive activities to connect with your audience.

Instead of giving your audience a lecture, try brainstorming together to give them something different that helps them remember your message longer! 👇

Benefits of the 5/5/5 Rule

The 5/5/5 not only shows you how to set a boundary on your word counts and slides, but it can also benefit you in many ways.

Emphasise your message

This rule ensures that you highlight the most critical information to deliver the core message better. It also helps to make you the centre of attention (instead of those wordy slides), which means the audience will be actively listening and understanding your content better.

Keep your presentation from being a ‘read-out-loud’ session

Too many words in your presentation can make you dependent on your slides. You’re more likely to read that text out loud if it’s in the form of long paragraphs, but the 5/5/5 rule encourages you to keep it bite-sized, in as few words as possible.

Alongside that, there are three no-nos you can gain from this:

• No classroom vibe - With 5/5/5, you won’t sound like a student reading everything for the whole class.
• No back to the audience - Your crowd will see your before more than your face if you read the slides behind you. If you face the audience and make eye contact, you’ll be more engaging and more likely to make a good impression.
• No death-by-PowerPoint - The 5-5-5 rule helps you avoid common mistakes while making your slideshow that can make your audience tune out quickly.

Reduce your workload

Preparing tons of slides is exhausting and time-consuming, but when you know how to summarise your content, you don’t have to put too much work into your slides.

Cons of the 5/5/5 Rule

Some people say that rules like this are made up by presentation consultants, as they earn a living by telling you how to make your presentations great again 😅. You can find many similar versions online, like the 6 by 6 rule or 7 by 7 rule, without knowing who invented stuff like this.

With or without the 5/5/5 rule, all presenters should always strive to reduce the amount of text on their slides. 5/5/5 is pretty simple and doesn’t get to the bottom of the problem, which is the way you lay out your content on the slides.

The rule also tells us to include, at most, five bullet points. Sometimes that means filling a slide with 5 ideas, which is way more than the widely held belief that there should be only one idea in a fall. The audience might read everything else and think of the second or third idea while you’re trying to deliver the first one.

On top of that, even if you follow this rule to a tee, you might still have five text slides in a row, followed by an image slide, and then a few other text slides, and repeat. That’s not appealing to your audience; it makes your presentation just as stiff.

The 5/5/5 rule can sometimes go against what is considered good practice in presentations, like having visual communication with your audience or including some charts, data , photos, etc., to illustrate your point clearly.

The 5/5/5 rule can be put to good use, but it does have its own pros and cons. There is still a bit of a debate here on whether it’s worth using, but the choice is yours. 

Alongside using these rules, check out some tips to help nail your presentation.

Engage your audience better with your slides, learn more on AhaSlides interactive features today!

• AhaSlides Random Team Generator | 2024 Random Group Maker Reveals
• AI Online Quiz Creator | Make Quizzes Live
• What is a Rating Scale? | Free Survey Scale Creator
• Host Free Live Q&A with AhaSlides
• Reveal top 12 Free Survey Tools in 2024

How to reduce text-heavy slide design?

Be concise at everything like minimizing texts, headings, ideas. Instead of heavy texts, let's show more charts, photos and visualizations, which are easier to absorb.

What is 6 by 6 rule for Powerpoint presentations?

Only 1 thought per line, no more than 6 bullet points per slide and no more than 6 words per line.

A lifelong learner, a traveller and content creator eager to explore the best of both worlds: the real and virtual one full of interactive activities with AhaSlides.

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

More from AhaSlides

The 5/5/5 Rule for Presentations: How to Use it and Examples

Last updated on June 21st, 2024

In today’s fast-paced world, delivering effective presentations is more important than ever. Whether you are presenting to colleagues, clients, or conference attendees, the ability to communicate your message clearly and concisely is essential.

One proven method for creating visually appealing presentation slides is the 5/5/5 Rule. This rule is designed to streamline the presentation design process and keep your audience engaged. By following the 5/5/5 Rule, you’ll be able to create presentation slides that are both visually appealing and informative, leading to more successful presentations.

What is the 5/5/5 Rule?

The 5/5/5 Rule is a simple yet powerful guideline for creating presentation slides that are easy to understand and visually engaging. The rule breaks down into three components:

5 words: Limiting 5 words per line

When creating slide templates, it’s essential to prioritize readability. By limiting the number of words on a single line to five, you ensure that your text is easy to read and comprehend, even from a distance. This constraint forces you to be concise and choose your words carefully, ultimately leading to clearer and more effective communication.

The first “5” in the 5/5/5 Rule also encourages presenters to use succinct, powerful language. By condensing your message into a few essential words, you increase the likelihood that your audience will remember and understand the key points of your presentation.

5 lines: Limiting lines of text per slide

Too much text on a single slide can overwhelm your audience, making it difficult for them to process and retain the information being presented. By limiting the number of text lines to five, you reduce the cognitive load on your audience, allowing them to focus on the most important aspects of your message.

Visually appealing slides are crucial for keeping your audience engaged. When you limit the number of text lines on a slide, you create more white space, which can make your presentation slides look cleaner and more professional. This increased visual appeal can help maintain your audience’s attention and contribute to the overall success of your presentation. You can combine this idea with the rule of threes for presentations .

5 slides: Limiting consecutive slides with text

To keep your audience engaged, it’s important to break up long stretches of text-heavy slides. By limiting the number of consecutive slides with text to five, you encourage the use of visuals, multimedia, and other forms of content that can help maintain interest and enhance understanding.

Incorporating visuals such as images, infographics, charts, and videos into your presentation can help illustrate complex concepts and reinforce key points. You can separate essential parts of your presentations into different topics, then keep up to 5 slides in each section. Following the third “5” of the 5/5/5 Rule ensures that your presentation is balanced, engaging, and informative.

Benefits of the 5/5/5 Rule for Presenters

Implementing the 5/5/5 Rule in your presentation design process can lead to several benefits, including:

1. Enhanced audience focus

By reducing the amount of text on your slides and incorporating more visuals, you can help your audience focus on the essential aspects of your message. This focused attention can lead to increased understanding and retention of your presentation’s key points.

2. Improved information retention

When you simplify your slides and present information in a clear, concise manner, your audience is more likely to remember what you’ve shared. The 5/5/5 Rule helps you distill complex ideas into easily digestible slides, increasing the likelihood that your audience will retain the information long after your presentation has ended.

3. More effective communication

The 5/5/5 Rule encourages presenters to be mindful of their audience’s needs and attention spans. By following this guideline, you can communicate your message more effectively, making it easier for your audience to understand and engage with your content.

4. Reduced cognitive load

Limiting the amount of text on your slides and interspersing visuals helps reduce the cognitive load on your audience. When they are not overwhelmed by information, they can better process and remember the key points of your presentation.

How to Implement the 5/5/5 Rule in your own Presentations?

To incorporate the 5/5/5 Rule into your presentation design process, consider the following steps:

1. Analyzing your content

1.1 Identifying key points. Before you start designing your slides, take the time to identify the most important points of your presentation. This process will help you determine what information to include on your slides and how to structure your content effectively.

1.2 Simplifying complex ideas. Once you have identified your key points, consider ways to simplify and distill complex ideas into easy-to-understand concepts. This will make it easier for your audience to grasp your message and increase the likelihood that they will retain the information.

2. Designing your slides

2.1. Emphasizing brevity and clarity. As you design your presentation slides, focus on keeping your text concise and clear. Use the 5x5x5 Rule to guide you in limiting the amount of text on each slide, prioritizing readability and visual appeal.

2.2. Using visuals and multimedia effectively. Incorporate visuals, such as images, graphs, and videos, to support your message and engage your audience. Be mindful of the third “5” in the 5/5/5 Rule, and ensure that you break up long stretches of text-heavy slides with visually appealing and informative multimedia content.

3. Balancing text and visuals

3.1. Knowing when to break the rules. While the 5/5/5 Rule is a helpful guideline, it’s essential to recognize that there may be instances when it’s appropriate to deviate from it. Depending on the complexity of your topic or the needs of your audience, you may need to adjust the rule to suit your specific situation.

3.2. Tailoring your approach to your audience. Consider the preferences and expectations of your audience when designing your slides. Some audiences may appreciate a more text-heavy approach, while others may respond better to visuals and multimedia. Be flexible and adapt your presentation design to meet the needs of your audience.

Relevant Facts Related to 5/5/5 Rule for Presentations

• Attention spans: According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013, which is shorter than a goldfish’s attention span (Microsoft, 2015). The 5/5/5 Rule for presentation helps presenters deliver information concisely, catering to these shorter attention spans and improving audience engagement.
• Information overload: A study by the University of California, San Diego, estimated that the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data daily (Bohn & Short, 2009). The 5/5/5 Rule for presentation design helps presenters avoid overwhelming their audience with excessive information, allowing them to focus on key points and better retain the presented content.
• Visual learning: According to research, 65% of the population are visual learners (Bradford, 2016). By implementing the 5/5/5 Rule, presenters can create a balanced mix of text and visuals, enhancing understanding and information retention for a majority of the audience.
• Presentation effectiveness: A study from the University of Tennessee found that presentations using visual aids were 43% more persuasive than those without (Vogel et al., 1986). By limiting consecutive text-heavy slides, the 5/5/5 Rule for presentations encourages the use of visual aids, which can improve the overall effectiveness of a presentation.
• Cognitive load: Reducing cognitive load by simplifying information is an essential aspect of effective instructional design (Sweller, 1994), also relevant with the ADDIE model . The 5/5/5 Rule addresses this by limiting words per line and lines per slide, making it easier for the audience to process and retain the presented information.

The 5/5/5 Rule is a powerful presentation design tool for creating visually appealing and effective presentation slides. By limiting the amount of text on your slides, incorporating visuals and multimedia, and tailoring your approach to your audience, you can improve the overall success of your presentations. As you embark on your next presentation design process, consider implementing the 5/5/5 Rule to enhance your PowerPoint slides or Google Slides, and make your message more engaging and memorable for your audience.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Sign up to our newsletter

We will send you our curated collections to your email weekly. No spam, promise!

PRESENTATION DESIGN

PowerPoint 101: The 5/5/5 Rule

When it comes to presentations, we believe that content should drive design. That is, the way that you structure and organize your presentation should follow the needs of the content, rather than a rigid structure.

But this is a lot of work, and isn’t always easy, particularly if you are still learning the ropes of presentation design and storytelling. That’s where rules come in. If you’re struggling to get started, or are unsure of how best to structure a PowerPoint presentation, rules can offer an easy on-ramp to help you get going. And the 5/5/5 Rule is both one of the simplest and most effective.

What is the 5/5/5 Rule

The 5/5/5 Rule explains what it is right in the name: when creating slides for your presentation, use at most:

5 words on a single line

5 lines of text on a single slide.

5 slides that apply the first two rules in a row

Now, let’s take a closer look at each part of the rule, and see how it helps build a better presentation.

Presentations are multi-dimensional. They rely on a combination of written words, spoken language, and visual storytelling to effectively communicate information. So if you are writing out lengthy, complete sentences in order to make sure that “all the information is there,” you are missing the point (and the value) of PowerPoint.

By applying the “5 words per line” rule, you’re ensuring that your writing stays sharp and clear, and that the audience is focused more on you than on the screen. As we noted in our blog 3 ways to up your PowerPoint game , too much content can actually lead to less information retention, which is very counterproductive.

When we are designing PowerPoints for clients, we have our own general rule we try to follow: one idea per slide .

That’s because people tend to think of a slide as a single unit of content. This tells the brain to keep those ideas together, creating associations between bits of info and helping us to cement them in our minds. And if a seminal piece of neuroscience is true, we can hold “ seven, plus or minus two ” pieces of short-term information in our brains.

By limiting yourself to 5 lines of text, not only are you helping to make your presentation more effective, you’re also helping your audience to internalize more of the information your trying to share.

(No more than) 5 slides that apply the first two rules in a row

If you followed the first two rules to the letter on every slide in your PowerPoint, you could still have way too much content for an effective presentation. So if you catch yourself relying too heavily on the first two 5’s, you should take a step back and look for ways to vary your content.

This could mean trimming back certain slides to reduce the amount of content, adding in more images/infographics, or simply removing some slides altogether.

When to use the 5/5/5 Rule

The purpose of this rule isn’t to blindly apply it to every PowerPoint you make. Rather, it’s to force you to take a step back and carefully consider each slide you’re creating for it’s content as well as keep the audience’s considerations front and center.

It’s also a great way to outline your content. If you’re ever feeling stuck on how to get started with a big presentation, creating content within the 5/5/5 Rule can help you to structure your presentation just enough that you can ignore the rule.

• Pitch Decks
• Storytelling

Related Posts

Embedding Fonts in PowerPoint: Not just for PCs any more!

The Curse of Knowledge: Or, how to “know your audience”

How to Create the Perfect Infographic

Let us help with your next presentation

From branded templates to keynote talks, our designers can help you with any presentation challenge.

• 0 Shopping Cart $ 0.00 -->

PowerPoint 101: Best tricks to use the 5/5/5 Rule

PowerPoint 101: B est T ricks to U se the 5×5 PowerPoint rule. When creating a PowerPoint presentation, there are many elements that we can use to optimize our slides. Some rules can help us structure and organize our production better.

If you find creating a PowerPoint presentation challenging, use the rules! Rules are the easiest way to create a compelling presentation with accurate information, such as the 5/5/5 rule, which is one of the simplest, and in this post, we will give you the best tips for its use. But first, we must tell you what the 5×5 PowerPoint rule is.

What is the 5/5/5 R ule?

As its name suggests, the 5/5/5 PowerPoint rule follows the following aspects:

• Five lines of text per slide.
• Five words on one line.
• Only five presentation slides should contain the two rules in a row.

For a better understanding, let’s see in detail what each rule consists of:

Five L ines of T ext per S lide

When designing a PowerPoint presentation for your business, you must have one idea per slide. Why? People typically view a slide as a single unit of content, which tells the brain to keep those ideas together by creating bits of information that will consolidate in our minds. Going by neuroscience, we all have limits in information processing capacity.

For this reason, by limiting a text to 5 lines and helping your presentation have better results, your audience can internalize the information you plan to share.

Five W ords on O ne L ine

When you apply this rule, you can ensure that you will include clear writing and the audience will focus more on you and not on the screen.

Remember that a presentation with much content leads to less retention of information, which is ultimately very counterproductive for your company.

Only Five S lides S hould C ontain the T wo R ules in a R ow

Therefore, you can revise to vary your content even if you have used the previous rules.

What do we mean by this? You can trim the information on some slides to reduce the written content and add more images, charts, and infographics.

In some cases, you can also remove some slides if they are not needed.

What are the B enefits of the 5/5/5 R ule?

Highlight your message

As a rule, the essential information gets highlighted to convey the main message.

It also helps make this information the center of attention so that the audience actively listens and understands the message.

Reduce Y our W orkload

Avoid M aking Y our P resentation S ound like “ R eading A loud.”

You will always rely on PowerPoint slides when you add many words to your presentation . You will likely read all the text that appears, while the 5/5/5 rule will keep it short by cutting down as many words as possible. This way, you will not look like a student reading a presentation in the classroom. Much less, the audience will only see your back while you turn to see everything your slides say.

What are the C ons of the 5/5/5 R ule?

In effect, this rule tells us that we should add a maximum of five bullet points, which means that we should add five ideas on a slide. Many prefer to believe that one idea per slide is better. The reason is that the audience may be reading the other ideas while you are just presenting the first one.

Also, if you follow this rule to the letter, you can end up with five text slides in a row, including an image slide and then other text slides, and repeat. Usually, this is not the most attractive thing for your audience.

In many cases, the 5/5/5 rule can go against what should be good practice in presentations . For example, include photos, graphics, or other elements. Even have visual communication with your audience.

How A bout the 5/5/5 R ule for PowerPoint P resentations?

If you need a PowerPoint presentation to tell the story or show the products or services of your company, at BluCactus, we can help you. PowerPoint presentations have many benefits, and we can create a design that fits your goals and personalized information. Contact us right now to tell you more about this service that works within any marketing strategy and for any business model.

To stay up to date with everything related to digital marketing, we invite you to subscribe to our weekly newsletter .

You might also like

Leave a Reply

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Marketing Agency

We are a marketing agency from Dallas, TX, that serves customers throughout the United States nationwide. It does not matter whether you are in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, or even in New York, we can help you.

Privacy | Contact | Blog

Visit our sites:

• BluCactus Canada
• BluCactus UK
• BluCactus India
• BluCactus Mexico
• BluCactus Brazil
• BluCactus Deutschland
• BluCactus Nederland 
• BluCactus Italia
• BluCactus España
• BluCactus France
• BluCactus Nigeria
• BluCactus South Africa

+1 469 225 4080

Our Services:

• Presentation Design Services
• Presentation Design New York
• Presentation Design Chicago
• Presentation Design Los Angeles
• Presentation Design Houston

Brilliantly

Content & links.

Verified by Sur.ly

Contact us!

or fill out the form below for your free quote today.

Business Email*

What type of presentation are you interested in?

Portfolio Pitch Deck Timeline/Roadmap Ignite Pecha Kucha Product or Service Catalog Corporate Presentation Corporate Template Elevator Pitch

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Your Phone (required)

Your Country --- Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belau Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao S.A.R., China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Palestinian Territory Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Martin (Dutch part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia/Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom (UK) United States (US) United States (US) Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (US) Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Samoa Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Your Message

What services are you interested in?

E-Commerce Website SEO PPC Social Media Marketing Email Marketing Branding Marketing Strategy

Send us the following information and we will contact you

Your email (required)

Phone (required)

Area of ​​interest Undecided Graphic Design Community Manager Accounts Operations Copywriting Analytics Audiovisual Production Human Resources and Administration Public Relations SEO Web Design Sales Fashion Marketer

City of interest Indistinct Homeoffice Dallas

Availability Full Time Professional Practices Freelancing

Photo of you (required) Curriculum Vitae (doc, docx, pdf) (required)

LinkedIn profile

Link to your Portfolio (Optional)

Your Portfolio (PDF) (Optional)

What is your salary expectation in USD per month?

Tell us about yourself

Send us to our email the titles you have in mind and our team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

ALL FOR FREE!

Your titles*

Do you like our work? Want to get in touch? Use the form below!

Your Email*

Your Phone*

• About Deck Sherpa
• Why Deck Sherpa
• Sherpa Wisdom

Breaking Down the 5/5/5 Rule in PowerPoint Presentation Design

5/5/5 Rule Design PowerPoint Presentation Presentation Design Team Presentation Designers

Creating a successful and effective PowerPoint presentation is a skill that is extremely valuable in any professional environment. Whether you are a student or a corporate executive, the ability to craft a visually appealing and informative presentation can be essential in order to effectively communicate your message. While most people understand basic presentation design, corporate presentations require a more in-depth approach. Thankfully, there is a simple rule that can make creating an effective presentation much easier. The 5/5/5 rule in PowerPoint presentation design is an easy-to-follow formula that will help to ensure that your presentation is well-organized, concise, and engaging. You’ve already heard of Guy Kawasaki and his 10/20/30 rule which we covered in our previous article - The Importance of the 10/20/30 Rule for PowerPoint Presentations . In this article, we will explore the 5/5/5 rule and its practical applications.

The 5/5/5 Rule Explained

When it comes to creating a PowerPoint presentation, it’s important to remember that less is often more. While it’s tempting to include every piece of information and visual design element available, this almost always backfires. Too much clutter and a busy design can overwhelm your audience, making it difficult for them to stay focused on the content. This is where you should consider using the 5/5/5 rule in PowerPoint presentation design. This rule provides a simple way to design slides that will capture and keep the audience’s attention.

All you need to know and remember are these 3 key points:

Stick to putting down only 5 words on a single line

Stick to having no more than 5 lines of text on a single slide, stick to putting in only 5 slides that apply the first two rules in a row.

Let’s explore these in a little more detail so that you can go about creating simple yet effective PowerPoint presentations.

Whenever you create a PowerPoint presentation, it’s important to remember that the goal is to communicate your message or information to a large audience. You must keep in mind that merely throwing every bit of information you have onto your slides is not going to have desirable results. Not only will it look cluttered and disorganized, but it can also make your presentation less effective and less memorable.

The key to delivering an effective presentation is to keep it concise, organized, and visually appealing. This is why the old adage of "less is more" is so important. By limiting yourself to only five words per line on your slides, you ensure that the information on each slide is sharp and clear and that the audience is focused on you rather than the screen.

Using only five words per line also ensures that your audience will be able to quickly absorb and understand the information being presented. Keeping your slides simple also makes your presentation look more professional and organized, which will leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Creating a PowerPoint presentation can be a tricky task. You have a limited amount of time to convey a message or communicate information. Therefore it's essential to be able to convey your message in a crisp and concise manner so that your audience is able to easily understand it. Unfortunately, when there’s a lot of material to be communicated, the tendency is to cram each slide with information, which is an ineffective approach.

The average person is only able to retain between seven and nine pieces of short-term information in their brains at one time. If a slide contains more than this, the audience won’t be able to retain any of the information. This is why it’s important to limit the information to no more than 5 lines of text per slide. This will make the information on each slide easier to understand, absorb, and retain.

Not only that, but it will also help your audience to focus better on the information you’re sharing. The fewer words and points on each slide, the easier it will be for your audience to keep track of and stay engaged. You can also add visuals or videos to break up the monotony of text slides, as these can be more effective in communicating your message.

By keeping a few simple guidelines in mind, you can ensure that your PowerPoint presentation design is effective, thus conveying the message or information you want to get across. Limiting yourself to 5 lines of text per slide, and adding visuals and videos can help your audience to stay engaged and understand the information better.

Presentations are often most effective when they are concise. The 5/5/5 rule in PowerPoint presentation design is a popular way to ensure that presentations stay on track and remain engaging. The rule states that each slide should have a maximum of 5 words per line, with just 5 lines per slide, and there should be no more than 5 slides in total.

For larger organizations, however, this rule can be difficult to follow. It can actually be tricky to limit the number of slides to just 5. However, it’s still possible to create an effective presentation by ensuring that the content is relevant and easy to understand. It may be necessary to trim back some of the slides to reduce the amount of content and make the presentation more concise. Here's a small tip: if you want to make the presentation more engaging, use visuals such as images, infographics, graphs, and charts in place of certain slides.

Ultimately, the 5/5/5 rule in PowerPoint presentation design is a great way to keep presentations focused and engaging. Unfortunately, larger organizations may not be able to adhere to it strictly. However, if they can ensure that the content is relevant and easy to understand, these organizations can still create effective presentations without having to stick to the rule.

Utilizing the 5/5/5 Rule in PowerPoint Presentation Design Effectively

You can definitely use the 5/5/5 rule to create effective presentations, but don't blindly use it. Depending on the audience, purpose, and size of the presentation, the number of slides and content can vary greatly. Therefore, it is important to consider what information is actually necessary for the audience. This rule is, in fact, a great way to create basic presentations and structure larger presentations. When you use it, you ensure that you provide the audience with the content necessary for a great experience.

Overall, our presentation design team at Deck Sherpa is committed to creating effective and impactful presentations for our clients. We know how to apply the 5/5/5 and 10/20/30 rules to create effective presentations that will make a lasting impression. If you're interested in learning more about our services or have any questions, please visit our website or contact us for a quote . Give us a call at 1800 121 5955 (India), or even WhatsApp , to speak to someone from the team. We look forward to helping you create a powerful and impactful presentation.

Related Posts

Unlocking business success with professional presentation design services, 8 simple powerpoint presentation etiquette rules you need to follow, 15 important reasons why companies need presentation designers.