The TED-Style Deck

5 *Critical* PowerPoint Laws Top TEDsters Use

By Devin D. Marks | Published Feb 14, 2025

These PowerPoint laws worked for my client with 49-million views on TED.

It is an all-time TOP 10 TED Talk.

And guess what...?

While Dr. Robert Waldinger shared Harvard research from an enormous data set...

Not a single slide included a graph, statistic, or pie chart. No bullet points either.

He scrupulously followed these rules.

Consider doing the same.

They work wonders!

1. Don’t use fonts, animation, and transitions.**

Just as “over-fonting” is a mistake in PowerPoint design, so too is the trap of jazzing up a presentation with flourishes.

→ Keep the design super simple.

** Kudos to Brant Pinvidic and his book, The 3-Minute Rule for this inspiring insight set. (pp. 188-193)

2. Slides are only for critical or key elements.

You don’t need a slide for everything you say. Use PowerPoint only for thoughts that really need to be seen. Have a reason for each slide and each thing on the screen.

→ Draft the entire presentation script without PowerPoint. Then ask what slides are absolutely necessary.

3. Max out the word count at 10 per slide.

Simple phrases and sentences only. The shorter, simpler the better. And if you can swap words with an image, do so.

→ Small words. Short phrases.

4. No more than five slides per 3 minutes.

Even better: 10 total for the entire preso! If you follow the first 3 commandments, this’ll be easy-peasy. Anything more than that ratio and you’re giving a slide show and not a presentation.

→ Forego slides entirely.

Think Sir Ken Robinson and Brené Brown here — not a slide in either Top 10 TED Talk!

5. Your deck is not your handout.

Make different slides for your PowerPoint and handouts. Your deck is there to help you; your handout reviews and reinforces what you’ve already said.

→ The leave-behind is optional.

If you use one, design it as a single front-back page. It is an explanatory tool for sharing with someone who never heard the talk.

Hint: If you must, this is where the statistics and charts belong.

DEVIN D. MARKS is known as The TED Talk Whisperer. His firm, CONNECT to COMPEL, has served 100s of TED, TEDx, and short-talk speakers — including Harvard’s Dr. Robert Waldinger for his all-time Top 10 TEDx Talk. The result: 100s of millions of views for clients. He helps niche experts, authors, and leaders spread world-changing ideas. 

You can reach Devin at 617.804.6020, or DM him here. His newsletters are here.

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