words for 30 minute presentation

30-minute Presentations: Write and Deliver (Ultimate Guide)

Hrideep barot.

• Presentation , Public Speaking

Most of the time we find that presentations are doable. But 30-minute presentations? now that sounds scary. 

But it doesn’t have to be. 

Believe it or not, presentations have been an important part of our lives. From presenting our assignments in front of the entire class to presenting new developments and strategies to our organization’s heads; presentations unlike our exes are here to stay. 

Just like any other presentation, 30-minute presentations serve the purpose of introducing a new product, idea, or study to a group of individuals. 

It might be easier to gauge how to give a 5- 10 minute presentation but when it comes to 30 minutes, there are a few questions that need to be answered.

How many slides and words to include in a 30-minute presentation?

Ideally, a 15-30 slide presentation along with a 3000–6000-word speech should be sufficient to give a 30-minute presentation. 

We know that the range is quite large, so how would you know what works best for you?

It is quite simple. Assess your pace of presenting. 

Find any small speech on google or any other source, and record yourself presenting it as if you were giving the presentation in front of your audience. Once you are done, go back to the recording and check 2 things to understand your pace of presenting.

• How much time did it take for you to present the speech?
• Approximately how many words were you able to speak per minute?

You can follow the same activity to understand how many slides you should include in your 30-minute presentations.

So, for example, if it takes you 2 minutes on average to explain one slide, then 15 slides would be good for your 30-minute presentations.

A few Quick Tips before jumping into how to write and deliver 30-minute presentations.

Quick Tips for 30-minute Presentations

• Keep your presentation simple and understandable.
• Make your presentation both informative and eye-catching or aesthetic.
• Avoid adding unnecessary slides or lengthy points to your slides.
• Don’t face your back to the audience.
• Don’t read from your slides.
• Interact with the audience rather than simply talking for 30-minutes straight.

Now that we have understood some Dos and Don’ts of making a presentation, we can go ahead with our task of writing 30-minute presentations

Writing 30-minute presentations

Writing for 30-minute presentations is a 3 step process.

Let’s try to understand it better with this flowchart

Ideation is the very first and the most crucial step in writing any speech or presentation. 

Are you making a presentation for a job interview? Or a conference? Have they given you any broad topic? Is there anything specific that must be included in the presentation? What is something you have immense knowledge about? or find immense interest in talking about?

Answering all these questions will help you come up with a few possible topics for your presentation. 

Now let’s say you have come up with 3 topics and If you would like to present, how do you choose one out of these?

It is simple yet a little tricky. Pick a topic that is closest to serving your purpose for presenting. 

Your purpose is the answer to why you are presenting what you are presenting?

A few possible purposes of presenting could be,

• To share a new point of view on a popular topic
• To share new findings of a study
• To make others understand the emergency of a situation
• To motivate others to take action on some matter
• To market your new product

And much more. 

In short, Ideation is answering the questions of what is your presentation all about and why are you presenting that specific topic to the audience?

Next, we move to research for presentations

Research forms the core of your presentation. A well-researched presentation would have points to back, opinions to state, and data to show . But an effective presentation is not just well researched. The idea of putting across a new point of view is what makes it unique and effective. 

You can no doubt go to google, pick out the first couple of website links and make a presentation out of that information. Or you can do a google search , and understand what information is already out there and what isn’t. You can then proceed to give your insights or opinions on the points that have either not been discussed or discussed without much attention.

Another point to note is to screen out all the information while researching that doesn’t add any value to you and thus your audience. You can do that by finding information that suits your purpose of presenting the topic and screening out all others. 

You can also do a comparative analysis . If your purpose is to motivate your employees to do a certain task within a time limit, you can research how other organizations had completed a similar task with proper coordination among employees. 

This will make your presentation less predictable and more interesting. 

In short, there are 3 things to keep in mind while researching

• Understand what is out there and isn’t
• Give your unique Point of View
• Add content that adds value to your audience or aligns with your purpose of presenting the topic

Check out the short video below to understand the best ways to research for presentations. 

Structuring your presentation 

Once you are done researching, you’ll have some basic pointers that you feel are important and must be included in your presentation. 

You can divide your presentation into various segments for structuring the presentation. Two of the best ways to structure your presentation have been given below

The most basic structure for any presentation involves 3 segments 

3 segment presentations

• Introduction for 5 minutes 
• The main body for 20 minutes 
• And Conclusion for 5 minutes 

We have all been taught the 3 segment structure of presentations since our school days. It includes introducing the topic than talking about the main body which forms a huge chunk of 30-minute presentations. The last step includes concluding your presentation within the last 5 minutes.

It is simple, easy to execute, and something the audience would likely be expecting .

• 2-5 minute introduction
• 15-minute presentation
• 2-5 minutes conclusion
• 10 mins discussion

4 segment presentations are a little more interesting from the audience’s point of view as they too get a chance to contribute to your presentation by directly participating during the last few minutes. 

It is engaging and gives you enough time to explain. 

For this you can also use the 10/20/30 Rule which means using 10 slides, presenting for 20 minutes, and containing no font size less than 30. The rest 10 minutes can be used for a Q&A session.

The formats discussed above were the most basic ways you can tackle 30-minute presentations. However, you are free to add 5, 6, or even 7 segments to your presentation, whatever you feel is more comfortable for you. 

For a proper guide on how to segment your presentation into more than 4 parts, Check out 5 ways to tackle a 30-minute presentations .

Delivering 30-minute presentations

You can have a perfectly written and on-point presentation but if you somewhere are not able to deliver it effectively, then you might not be doing justice to your presentation. 

When it comes to 30-minute presentations, one thing that you must keep in mind is that you have enough time in your hands to elaborate on points from a speaker’s perspective But from an audience’s perspective, that would mean listening continuously to someone present for 30 minutes straight. 

So to avoid presenting to an unhappy audience, the very first point in delivering 30-minute presentations effectively is to, 

1. Interact with the audience

Ways in which you can interact and engage the audience is to add a quick question or a quiz or even polls .

Asking questions can be done in two ways, one wherein you expect the audience to answer your question and the other when you want the audience to think about the question you just asked, not expecting an answer from them. 

So an example of the first situation would be, “What is one thing that makes you anxious about public speaking?”  while that of the latter would be “Have you ever wondered that maybe you aren’t inherently bad at public speaking but just afraid of failing at it?”

2. Use Props

Make use of props if your presentation allows you to do so. Props make it much easier to understand any concept . They also help in keeping the audience’s attention on you.

An example of this would be If your presentation is about the launch of a new product, then the product itself can be a prop.

But that was just an example. Literally, anything can be used as a prop. Set your creative mind free to find a unique and innovative prop idea for your next 30-minute presentation.

3. Add quotes, stats, and tables 

Adding quotes by famous personalities, or stating statistics and tables instantly make our presentation more credible. It is also something different for the audience to look at than merely a few bullet points on the screen or us, the speakers on the stage.

The last point which can improve the delivery of your presentation is when you add humor to it. A non-offensive joke or dig at oneself can easily make people laugh. However, do not overdo self-deprecating jokes or pick on audience members.

These are general points that you can include while delivering your presentation, there are a few other variables that come into the picture when you are delivering a presentation in a group setting or in an online setting . 

30-minute Group Presentations

Group presentations can turn out to be either a wonderful experience for you or a messy one. They require more attention to transition, fair distribution of work, and an immense amount of practice and coordination among the group members . 

To give an epic group presentation one of the first major tasks is to identify the strengths of each group member . You might find that someone is a little shy while presenting but has more knowledge about a certain sub-topic. Or someone else who has an immense experience in public speaking and can confidently deliver the presentation without knowing the topic in its entirety. 

Thus, identifying the strengths of members and distributing the presentation accordingly can help strengthen the group’s presentation overall. 

Transitions are another point that requires dedicated effort from the group members. How many times has it happened that after one speaker is done speaking, there is a minute or 2 of awkward silence as the transition of speech from one person to the other hasn’t been worked on properly and so the other person has no clue when to begin. 

To avoid such chaos and waste of time, make sure the flow of your presentation is known to each member. You can do that by following the CIIH method 

CIH stands for Conclusion, Intrigue, Introduction, and Handover. 

An example of this is given below:

Thus we can understand how your diet has a huge impact on how you feel and your mental health overall (Conclusion). But Another thing that plays a crucial role when we talk about the impact of lifestyle on mental health is exercise (Intrigue). To enlighten us on how exercising can affect your mental health, I’d like to call my team member Xyz, who also happens to be a fitness trainer and mental health advocate (Introduction). Xyz ? (Handover)

Check out our blog How to present with a group (14 expert tips) for some quick tips for your upcoming group presentation.

One of the best group presentations you can find on youtube is the one given by a team of Harvard MBA students on the topic of Delivering successful team presentations. 

Check it out to observe how transitions can be used in groups and also to understand more about delivering excellent group presentations.

30-minute Online Presentations

Online presentations are one of the most convenient ways to present your topic. But again there are some dos and don’ts that you must keep in your mind while delivering online presentations to make them effective. 

1. Avoid distractions

When you deliver an online presentation, be it from your home or your workplace, try your best to avoid any distractions. By distractions we mean close your doors to avoid anyone from entering your room; close your windows to avoid the traffic or construction noise to ruin your presentation.

2. Screen share your presentation

If possible, try to screen share your presentation yourself rather than having someone else do that for you. But if you can’t, then make sure to let the person know exactly when to change the slides so as to avoid wasting everyone’s time.

Another thing to keep in mind while presenting is to stop sharing your screen once you are done!

3. Keep your camera on

Keep your camera on while presenting even if it isn’t mandatory. The reason is quite simple, You are not in front of the audience which already makes it easier for them to drift in their thoughts. Imagine their level of boredom while seeing a blank screen and listening to a 30-minute presentation! The least you can do is to have your camera on.

4. Engage your audience

Online presentations make it so much easier to engage your audience. You can share a link to some google form, take an online poll, ask them to join a link for a quick quiz or even share a youtube video link. 

If the presentation is in a group setting, then you can also ask one of the members to stay active in the live chat section to clarify your audience’s doubts as soon as you can. 

To know more about engaging an audience in online presentations, check out this short video on 7 Effective ways to engage a virtual audience.

30-minute Presentations for Job Interview

Besides the points discussed above in the blog, Job interview presentations would require you to look into a couple more things. 

One of the first things is to research the panel. Check out who is going to assess you. Once you have some information about them, research these individuals. Try to find out the areas they have worked in, the research they have contributed to, the big projects they have managed, and anything else that helps you understand their career trajectory. 

The second thing to keep in mind is to understand that even though the presentation is to understand your achievements and assess your presentation and people skills, you are still being assessed on why you will be the right candidate for that particular post. 

So, make the presentation about yourself in a way that would be beneficial to the organization . 

Treat your slides like sign boards on roads , enough to get people’s attention but not enough to distract them from driving, in our case the presentation. Keep it simple. Make sure to reveal only the information which is required. 

If you want an example to see how you can make a presentation for your job interview then check out  Example Presentation For Job Interview .

How many times should you practice for a 30-minute presentation?

One thing that stays common to all presentations is the amount of time you practice. 

Practicing 4-5 times should be good enough to give a good presentation. However, the more you practice, the more you get used to the content of your presentation, and the better you might be able to deliver it on stage.

So, try to practice as much as you can , be it in front of people or by recording yourself. Ask for feedback or assess the recording yourself to see where you can improve . 

But what happens when you have no time to practice or worse even no time to prepare for your presentation? 

Don’t worry we’ve got a solution for that as well.

Giving 30-minute presentations without any preparation

A few quick steps that you can take a look into to prepare a presentation when you barely have any time left. 

Writing a 30-minute presentation last minute

Don’t write the speech word for word.

Try to jot down what points you want to include in your presentation rather than spending tons of your time coming up with a speech for your presentation.

Another reason to avoid writing an entire speech a couple of hours before presenting is that you don’t have enough time to practice which will make it difficult for you to memorize the speech in time . Thus, increasing your probability of going blank on stage. 

Structuring your presentation without any preparation

Follow simple structures that will help you recall all the information within a short span of time. 

A couple of ways in which you can structure your presentation or sections of your presentation are:

1. Problem-Solution

As the name suggests introduce a problem, elaborate on it, and then provide a solution to that problem. 

2. PREP model

A very effective way of structuring presentations is to use the PREP model which stands for Point, Reason, Example, Point. 

In simple terms, introduce a point, elaborate on it, give an example to support your reason and then restate the point to conclude

Delivering presentation without any preparation

There are 3 things you must focus on while presenting

Make use of functional hand gestures which means supporting what you speak with gestures that indicate the same thing. An example would be moving your hand diagonally from the bottom up to show an increase in sales with the coming-in of the festival sale.

If you have no control over your expressions, then you might not have to worry a lot about them while presenting as you are already good at them. The only thing would be to ensure that you are not overdoing your expressions .

On the flip side, if you find it difficult to express anything through your face, then you can try to keep a warm welcoming smile on your face to not scare off your audience members.

Maintain decent eye contact with your audience members. But if maintaining eye contact is not your thing or you don’t feel confident to do it, then you can look into the space between two audience members . You can also look at their foreheads or chin to avoid looking into their eyes while at the same time giving an illusion that you are good with eye contact. 

Check out our blog on How to Prepare for a Speech How to Prepare for a Speech When You Have No Time to Prepare? for a more detailed understanding of the topic.

Best 30-minute presentations

1. simon sinek.

Simon Sinek is famous for his motivational talks and presentations. In one such presentation, He talked about how “Most Leaders Don’t Even Know the Game They’re In.”

The presentation is amazing because of his outstanding way of presenting and his use of hand gestures. He also makes use of an audience member’s phone as a prop to prove his point.

Beginning his presentation with “I’m embarrassed of my career” he makes the audience wonder why would someone so successful ever say that?

He also makes use of humor throughout his presentation . One such example was when he was explaining how putting phones on the table sends a message that the other person isn’t as important to you. he says “And by the way, putting your phone upside down is not polite” which has the viewers laughing to this day.

2. Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson talks about Where can hunger for Discovery take us. The reason why I believe it is a wonderful 30-minute oral presentation is because of the way he keeps his audience engaged throughout . He makes them laugh every now and then.

He takes a poll and asks the audience members to raise their hands if they believe they possess those skills. And he also asks them rhetorical questions .

Topics for 30-minute Presentations

Most common 30-minute presentation topics.

• Population Explosion
• plastic recycling and its importance
• Global warming
• Soil Conservation
• The 3R’s Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce
• The harmful effects of eating junk
• Climate crisis
• The hunger crises
• The rising gap between rich and poor
• Water pollution
• Are we prepared for the next pandemic?
• Industrial pollution
• How to deal with pollution
• Sustainable Fashion
• The Brain Drain problem

Interesting 30-minute Presentation Topics

• Evolution of the concept of marriage
• RBI and the Rasputin of India
• Women who built nations
• Cryptocurrency: The Future of Money!
• Cashless economy
• Inside the world’s biggest slums
• Cybersecurity: not so safe after all.
• Secret societies and their secrets
• Rainbow company logos in June
• Hustle Culture: Pros and Cons
• Cyber-terrorism: The use of the Internet for terrorist purposes
• Ethics of human cloning
• Influence of media on innovation in technology
• Spiritualism: a mere trend or a belief
• IOS vs Android

30-minute Presentation Topics for College students

• Paperless school environment
• Everything you need to know about the Bermuda Triangle
• Try Offline, Buy Online
• Peer Pressure vs Parental Pressure
• Death of print media by internet
• Academic pressure and the rise in teen suicides
• Is a college education worth it?
• Influence of pop culture on youngsters
• Robot communication
• Risks of online dating
• Role of media in creating unrealistic body standards
• Sex Education in Schools
• Is following your passion a practical decision?
• School shooting: Are the children really safe?
• Normalizing mental health disorders

30-minute Presentation topics for Professionals

• Job vs Starting up
• Ethics of Business
• Is work-life balance a myth
• Impact of employee satisfaction on the productivity of the organization
• A rise in Work from home jobs
• Will AI make you jobless?
• The fast-changing career fields
• The need for upskilling employees
• The big resignation
• Pros and Cons of Capitalism
• Toxic work environment
• Importance of people skills in the workplace
• How to avoid information theft
• Evolution of Entrepreneurship
• Success stories of Family-owned businesses

Final Words

Presentations are an interesting and creative way of introducing any new product, idea, or opinion to your audience.

30-minute presentations award us enough time to cover all important points. However, understanding your audience’s stance and interacting with them can prove to be an effective way of presenting.

For 30-minute job interview presentations, it is important to research well or know enough about the panelists. Also maintaining your professionalism and selling the panelists how you can be an asset to the company can help you ace your job interview presentation.

Lastly, there are no set rules for writing and delivering presentations. So you can make the presentation in any way that you feel suits your interests best.

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• Presentation Hacks

5 Ways to Tackle a 30-Minute Presentation

• By: Amy Boone

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech is one of the most famous presentations in US history. It’s a message we still need just as much in 2020 as we did in 1963 when it was delivered. But if you had to guess how long this famous speech delivered to nearly 250 thousand people was, what would your guess be?

17 minutes. That amazing speech lasted less than 20 minutes. Most TED talks of today last between 10-18 minutes. What’s the secret?

While there is no one right length or no one right structure, there are some strategies that great speakers use. Since most presentations usually fall somewhere around 30 minutes, we’ve developed 5 strategies for planning out your typical 30-minute presentation. They range from 3 segments to 7. Segments are audience attention units. With each segment, you allow your audience a chance to reset and refocus.

Option 1: 3 Segments

• 5-Minute Intro
• 20-Minute Body
• 5-Minute Outro

This option is perhaps the most classic format: an intro, a body, and an outro or conclusion. You’ll notice that none of the segments in our plans spend over 20 minutes on the same thing. There’s a reason for that. Research has shown that most people can pay attention for about 18 minutes until they start to tune out. In fact, the TED organization won’t let anyone (no matter how famous) speak for more than 18 minutes. Others say you can safely speak on one thing for about 20 minutes , but no more than that. After 20 minutes, the audience needs a change, a transition, or something different to essentially reset their attention span.

Option 2: 4 Segments

• 15-Minute Body
• 10-Minute Discussion

This option allows for one third of the total presentation time to directly involve the audience. The presentation is compacted down to a brief intro, a 15-minute message, and a brief outro before allowing 10 minutes for audience involvement. How you handle the 10-minute discussion time is up to you. You might use that time for a traditional question and answer session in which you open up for the floor for questions. On the other hand, you might use that 10 minutes to allow audience members to break into small groups and discuss the presentation content.

Option 3: 5 Segments

• 10-Minute Point 1
• 3-Minute Transition
• 10-Minute Point 2

This option works well if you have 2 significant points you need to get across to your audience. Don’t fall into the trap that every presentation needs to have 3 main points. It doesn’t. This belief probably harkens back to our days of learning the 5-paragraph essay format for developing a clear message. If you use this format, pay special attention to that 3-minute transition, especially if points 1 and 2 are heavy or hard to process. That little “brain break” will give your audience a chance to come up for air before diving back down into the more serious content.

Option 4: 6 Segments

• 2-Minute Intro
• 8-Minute Point 1
• 5-Minute Group Discussion
• 2-Minute Transition
• 8-Minute Point 2

This option has 6 segments and works well if you’d rather give short presentations followed by group “break-out” sessions. In this option, you aren’t asking the audience to listen to you talk for more than 10 minutes at a time. And with the frequency of transitions between segments, it’s easier to keep the audience focused and engaged than it would be for a presentation in which you are talking the whole 30 minutes.

Option 5: 7 Segments

• 1-Minute Transition
• 8-Minute Point 3
• 2-Minute Outro

This option will work best for you if you have 3 points to cover. The main content is broken down into three 8-minute chunks with transitions coming in between each point. It is crucial that these transitions feel different than the content of your points. They have to stand out and feel like a break. You could use these transitions to make your audience laugh, or ask for a show of hands, or use presentation media like short video clips to give them a break from listening to you. The presentation will feel monotonous if your audience doesn’t recognize and feel all 7 of the different segments.

You can use these as templates and adjust them accordingly to meet the needs of your presentation context and your audience. Just make sure you break things up so that you aren’t asking your audience to pay attention to any one thing for more than 20 minutes at a time.

We love learning and sharing presentation strategies whether new or old. Check out our full line of presentation resources now.

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Do you wonder how long it takes to deliver your speech?

This website helps you convert the number of words into the time it takes to deliver your speech, online and for free. This tool is useful when preparing a speech or a presentation. The number of minutes you will take is dependent on the number of words and your speed of speech, or reading speed.

Note: This calculator provides an indication only.

Enter details below

The overview below provides an indication of the minutes for a speech (based on an average reading speed of 130 words per minute):

• Words in a 1 minute speech 130 words
• Words in a 2 minute speech 260 words
• Words in a 3 minute speech 390 words
• Words in a 4 minute speech 520 words
• Words in a 5 minute speech 650 words
• Words in a 10 minute speech 1300 words
• Words in a 15 minute speech 1950 words
• Words in a 20 minute speech 2600 words
• How long does a 500 word speech take? 3.8 minutes
• How long does a 1000 word speech take? 7.7 minutes
• How long does a 1250 word speech take? 9.6 minutes
• How long does a 1500 word speech take? 11.5 minutes
• How long does a 1750 word speech take? 13.5 minutes
• How long does a 2000 word speech take? 15.4 minutes
• How long does a 2500 word speech take? 19.2 minutes
• How long does a 5000 word speech take? 38.5 minutes

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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How to Choose the Right Number of Slides for a Powerpoint Presentation

Last Updated: July 12, 2023 References

Choosing the Right Number of Slides Based on Design Choices

Using time to determine the right number of slides, moving beyond formulaic answers to finding the right number of slides.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 220,233 times. Learn more...

• Keep the presentation about you, not the slideshow. [2] X Research source The slides are there to support what you have to say. They should be just one part of your presentation, not the whole thing.

• Go through your entire presentation and ask yourself if you really need a given slide. If the answer is no, or if you find you can deliver the info verbally instead, eliminate it.

• If your presentation ended well before the time limit you’ve been given, try to extend the amount of time you spend on each slide, or add extra slides to expand on the info introduced in the presentation.
• Solicit advice from family and friends during your practice presentation. If they feel there are too many or too few slides, or if they feel certain sections of the presentation felt rushed or slow, adjust your presentation to correct these deficiencies.

• One well-known formulation for PowerPoint presentations is the 10/20/30 rule. This rule dictates that you should use about ten slides for a twenty minute presentation, and each slide should utilize thirty point font. In other words, each slide should be about two minutes in length. [8] X Research source Perhaps the 10/20/30 rule works for you. If it does not, don’t feel as if you’re using the wrong number of slides.
• Others argue that an average slide should be onscreen for no more than two minutes, and can be onscreen for as little as 15 seconds. [9] X Research source

• If, on the other hand, you’re in a more intimate environment and can control the lighting, you might be inclined to utilize a greater number of slides. As always, however, don’t feel obligated to use many slides just because you can.

Community Q&A

• If your slide has embedded video, or you aren’t using one slide for each point of your presentation, you can spend longer on each slide. [11] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Treat each slide on its own merits. If one slide needs to be onscreen for two minutes, so be it. If it needs to be onscreen for ten seconds, that’s fine too. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you have a slide with no pictures but several bullet points, each of which you intend to talk about for fifteen to twenty seconds, you might spend well over a minute on that slide. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• When you take all of these factors (detail, technicality, audience size and awareness, etc.) into consideration, you can see that the only short answer to "how many slides should I use" is: "it depends." Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ http://www.virtualsalt.com/powerpoint.htm
• ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-06-01/how-to-powerpoint-like-a-pro
• ↑ http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/7-design-tips-for-effective-beautiful-powerpoint-presentations
• ↑ http://www.mrmediatraining.com/2011/03/10/the-five-most-common-powerpoint-mistakes/
• ↑ http://www.free-power-point-templates.com/articles/how-many-slides-for-a-30-minute-presentation/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/ppt/20071016041310_686.ppt

About This Article

1. Break complex slides into several simple slides. 2. Include audio and video support only as needed. 3. Time your presentation. 4. Match the number of slides to the subject matter. 5. Tailor to your audience. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How many slides for a 30 minute presentation

considering 1-2 minutes per slide, for a clear and engaging 30-minute presentation would be ideal

Sanskar Tiwari

• Define Your Purpose: Before you even open your presentation software, clearly understand why you're giving this presentation. Is it to inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire? Knowing your purpose will guide your content and tone.
• Set Objectives: Outline specific goals you want to achieve with your presentation. What should your audience take away from it? Having clear objectives ensures your content is focused.
• Audience Analysis: Understand your audience's demographics, interests, and expectations. Tailor your message to resonate with them. Consider what questions they might have and address them in your presentation.
• Logical Organization: Create an outline that organizes your content logically. Start with an introduction, followed by main points, and conclude with a summary or call to action. Each point should flow naturally into the next.

• Rehearse: Practice your presentation multiple times to become comfortable with the content and pacing. This reduces anxiety and boosts confidence during the actual presentation.
• Focus on Delivery: Pay attention to your tone, speed, and pauses. Speak clearly and avoid monotony. Use your voice to emphasize key points.
• Content Conciseness: Review your content for unnecessary details. Aim for conciseness and clarity. Each slide or point should contribute to the overall message.
• Seek Feedback: Consider seeking feedback from colleagues, friends, or mentors. They can offer valuable insights and suggestions for improvement.

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How to Effectively Manage Time During a Presentation? Short and Long Ones!

Slides are one of the best ways to engage an audience and nail a presentation. Nowadays, people use the most efficient and practical skills to make the slides clear, easy to understand. However, most people struggle to plan and manage time in their presentations.

How Many Slides are Suitable for Finishing a Presentation on Time?

The general rule says 1 to 2 slides per minute. However, it is critical to note that the presentation’s number of slides will vary according to the topic complexity, audience, available time, presentation structure and format, and goal. Good planning, rehearsal, and delivery skills are essential!

To be more specific, if you have too many slides in a presentation at the range of 3 to 15 minutes, you will end up confusing your audience or spending a significant part of your time explaining the slides. It does not mean you have to prepare a lot of information and squeeze it into few slides, and the best practice is to summarize your content to understand it easily.

From 25 minutes to 60 minutes, you can make a considerable number of slides. Some experts recommend 1 to 2 slides per minute, but as I said before, it will depend on the topic. Imagine that one of your slides contains graphs about some work you have been doing that can take more than 2 minutes, and it is important to explain it in detail to the audience.

It all starts with planning, researching, organizing all the collected data, prioritizing your key points, and making a structure. After this exercise, it will be easier to know how many slides you will have according to your given time.

To sum this up, there is no exact rule to set a number of slides for a given time frame, and it will vary according to the topic, your research, and your presentation skills. All you have to do is to balance the slides with your speech and time.

How many Slides for a 3-minute Presentation?

For a 3-minute presentation, the presenter should use four slides. Depending on how the slides are structured, 15 seconds to 2 minutes can be spent on each slide.

What really matters is not the amount of the slides but the quality. You can make three powerful slides and nail your presentation or make 5 with too much content and ending up having a boring presentation.

A good practice for a 3 minutes presentation is to keep it clean and straightforward. Keep in mind that slides are more engaging with visuals rather than texts. And on your speech, be as brief as possible, make a 15 to 20 seconds introduction, and do the same on the conclusion.

How many Slides for a 5-minute Presentation?

Five minutes is enough time to deliver your message and engage your audience with content that is straight to the point. The only thing you need to do is keep in mind that every second of your time counts a lot for your presentation.

How many Slides for a 10-minute Presentation? 

The Rule of Thumb for a 10-minute presentation is having 10-12 slides. Presenters with good skills use up to 30 seconds per slide to keep it nice and engaging. This time frame is suitable for elaborately introducing the subject or topic, diving deep into it, and highlighting the key points.

According to your topic, you can even make eight slides considering the fact that slides are only the guide of your presentation. That is why it is essential to make an excellent structure to organize your content on the slides properly; this will help you to put aside unnecessary data and focus only on what is essential for the audience.

How many Slides for a 20-minute Presentation?

According to  Guy Kawasaki , a 20-minute presentation should have ten slides where each slide utilizes a 30 point font. Using this rule of 10/20/30, the speaker would spend up to 1 minute per slide, which gives time for even allowing 1 or 2 questions from the audience.

To structure a 20 minutes presentation using the rule of 10/20/30 from  Guy Kawasaki , you have to use the first slide to introduce your subject, case study, or others, and from the second slide, start diving deep until you get to the conclusion.

In some cases, each slide has a different theme, and you will need to approach them differently. Having different themes per slide will require you to summarize each slide’s content in under a minute.

Although the Rule of Guy Kawasaki is suitable for a 20-minute presentation, you can set your own number of slides according to your subject and how much time you spend on a single slide as long as you deliver the message properly and engage your audience.

How many Slides for a 25-minute Presentation?

For a 25-minute presentation, the general rule is to use 20 to 30 slides. By spending up to two minutes per slide and focusing on the main subject, the speaker can keep the audience engaged for this period of time. 

Kawasaki believes that a human being can comprehend at least ten concepts in a meeting. In other words, you have to include in your topic or subject up to ten themes to be discussed. Any More than that can make your audience get confused or bored.

In this given time frame, you now have the opportunity to interact more with the audience, start with a quote, let them raise some clarification questions, and get more involved with them. 

How many Slides for a 30-minute Presentation?

Experts recommend 30 to 40 slides to make a memorable presentation. With 30 minutes, the presenter has more options compared to when the given time frame is short. Consider making the content as straightforward as possible. Also, make two paragraphs per slide at the most.

This technique will allow the audience to read all the information on the slide easily and quickly and move to the next one alongside you. If you add too much content on one slide, the audience will likely read something that you are not explaining yet or the opposite.

But you can make more than 40 slides and still have a memorable presentation in just 30 minutes, and I will explain to you how. Well, if you want your audience to understand clearly each content of your slide, make it one paragraph or one sentence, and use more visuals.

Using this method, you will spend 1-2 seconds per slide, and the audience will understand way better seeing the visual (which counts more than text). The explanation is gradual from the beginning to the end.

How many Slides for a 45-minute presentation?

As a general rule, for a 45-minute presentation, between 20 and 50 slides would grant a memorable presentation. Spending 1-2 minutes per slide, the speaker will have time to make a great introduction, interact more with the audience and have a questions and answers session.

A 45-minutes presentation is in the range of long times ones, and in these cases, you have to use the slides very carefully, making them proportional to your presentation time. Consider having a wristwatch to control your time.

A good practice is to use the slides only to guide your speech during the presentation, but you will need to master them. Rehearse the most important of each slide to make sure you spend the right time, or even less. This time management will give you an advantage because you will have enough time to make a great conclusion.

How many Slides for an hour Presentation?

Experts recommend 30 to 60 slides for a 60-minutes presentation. This period of time gives the speaker two main options: summarize the content in 30 slides or make a structure that allows one theme per slide. These two options also give more time to interact with the audience make a great introduction and conclusion.

Both of them are OK. But there are aspects that you have to consider; if you are preparing few slides, you will need to train how to summarize content to make sure you don’t spend too much time explaining all the points or having your audience stuck on reading your slide. 

And if you are planning to make one theme per slide to facilitate the understanding to the audience, make sure you spend 30 seconds at the most. But also consider having black screen slides to make pauses or small breaks and entertain or reengage your audience.

How many Slides for a 90-minute Presentation?

A 90-minutes presentation should have not more than 60 slides. In this situation, the speaker will need to know how to keep time on presentations. Experts recommend up to 2 minutes per slide, but depending on how the presentation is flowing, spending more than 2 minutes per slide is possible.

If you fail to make these pauses to double-check if the audience is on the same page with you, you will be running a risk of going back from almost the end of the slides to the first ones to explain something that the audience did not get very well.

How many Slides for a two-hour presentation?

A two-hour presentation would need 60-80 slides to deliver the message memorably. Some experts recommend one theme per slide to make it clear and easily understandable. Keep in mind that a presentation this long requires careful planning and a very well-organized structure.

Generally, a presentation with more than one hour of duration is for professional speakers who can deal with time management. The best way to not have your audience boring is to use the method of one idea per slide; it will make them easily understand each part of your content.

How many Slides for 2+ hours presentations?

Presentations with more than two hours should have not more than 80 slides. Long presentations with over 2 hours, the speaker can organize the information in order to spend 2-3 minutes per slide. 

120+ minutes is considered an extended time frame; a good practice is to keep the slides brief and clean to ensure your audience won’t get exhausted.

What are the skills needed to Deliver Long Presentations or Speeches?

For long presentations, several skills are required to ensure successful delivery, such as:  

• Time management;
• Engaging the audience
• Solid posture
• Good eye contact
• Controlling your voice, and more. 

All these skills will keep your audience engaged and entertained, and make sure you reserve 15-20 minutes for questions and answers after a long presentation or speech.

How to keep time in your presentation?

First of all, to have complete control of your time on stage, you have to write the schedule of time you will spend on each part of your presentation, something like setting time for your opening, how long time you will spend on the introduction, how long time you reserve for questions and answers, etc.

Make sure you start your presentation on time. If you fail this step, then everything that comes ahead may also delay and end the presentation after the scheduled time. You also need to plan how long your speech will take and have a clock to control it.

Planning is also crucial to keep time on your presentation. The main thing in the plan to deliver your message is the structure of your content. A good structure will allow you to know how much time you will spend on each point.

I have an excellent article with  a guide for outlining your speech , which should help you nail this part of the process. A  good speech outline  is key in managing presentation time.

And last but not least, you need to rehearse before you go on stage. It will allow you to know how much time you need for the presentation and practice to see if you need to remove or add something to your presentation to make it perfect.

Why do people usually fail to finish a presentation within the stipulated time?

Generally, people fail to finish a presentation on time because they do not make a good plan, underestimate rehearsing, and fail at an impromptu delivery attempt at the last minute. What commonly happens is that people make too many slides and fail to go from one to another on time. The rule of thumb says that 1-2 minutes per slide is enough using standards.

Another session that makes speakers fail to finish the presentation in time is the question and answers. This mistake happens when the speaker does not practice enough or predict questions that may come and end up thinking about the answer when the question is raised.

Not setting time for each session of your presentation also makes you not finish on time. This mistake will cause you to take longer at one point or another, especially if you don’t have a clock to keep track of the time.

How to keep your Presentation Brief and Clear

To keep a presentation brief and clear, organize your content to be only one theme per slide. To be more specific, consider having one paragraph or idea per slide, one that is concise, straightforward, and should also include minimalist visuals. 

The design is also essential to help you get a clean design. Choose a layout that comfortably suits your text and image. Another detail is the color, which has to be neutral to help the reader focus on the content only. 

For More Tips on Designing and Nailing a Presentation, open the recommended articles below.

Designing a Killer Presentation in 8 Steps

Planning and performing a presentation that meets expectations and involves the public requires a lot of care. The details involved in holding a talk will be super important to ensure her success and approval from those who participated. Therefore, we have prepared a post with a few crucial steps that you should follow to organize…

What Makes a Great Presenter? 9 Key Qualities to Look for!

Want to Stand Out? 15 Key Tips for an Awesome Presentation

In conclusion, the number of slides a presentation should have for a given time depends on who is presenting and the topic or subject. And also, it varies according to the methods that you use to deliver your message. As long as it reaches the audience properly and on time, the number of slides should be the least of your concerns. 

But you can follow the standards that some experts recommend for a presentation from 3 minutes to 120+ minutes. For example, Guy Kawasaki recommends the rule of 10/20/30 for a 20 minutes presentation. This rule of thumb allows you to have ten slides to be presented in 20 minutes, and the font should be 30 points. 

This example shows that you can follow the standards and still have a successful presentation. the main thing you have to do, is a good planning, a good structure, and make your content brief and clear, that will help them understand and enjoy your presentation 

References and Further Reading

How to Create a Killer 5-Minute Presentation (hubspot.com)

How Many Slides For A Whatever-Minute Presentation? (slidecow.com)

https://www.soappresentations.com/how-many-slides-should-be-used-for-a-60-minute-presentation/

The ideal number of slides for an hour-long presentation, and other thoughts on preparing slides | I’d Rather Be Writing Blog (idratherbewriting.com)

Presentation Slide Counts (duarte.com)

3 Ways to Choose the Right Number of Slides for a Powerpoint Presentation (wikihow.com)

Brevity, Clarity and Wit: 10 Commandments for a 10-Minute Talk | Cath Lab Digest | HMP Global (hmpgloballearningnetwork.com)

How Many Slides to Use For a 5, 10, 15+ Minute Presentation (tutsplus.com)

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint – Guy Kawasaki

How Many Slides to Use in a Presentation? 5 Tips | Design Shack

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• How many words per minute in a speech

How many words per minute in a speech?

A quick guide for slow, average and fast rates of speech.

By:  Susan Dugdale  

If you're preparing a speech or presentation with a strict time limit it’s useful to have an estimate of the number of words you’ll need to fit the number of minutes you've been given.

And it's even more useful to have those guidelines before you rush into writing, only to discover when you’re done, you’ve written far too much. Something I used to do on a regular basis! (And then, I had the tedious job of pruning to fit.)

What's on this page:

How many words are there in a 1-minute speech, how many words are there in a 2-minute speech, how many words are there in a 3-minute speech, how many words are there in a 4-minute speech, how many words are there in a 5-minute speech, how many words are there in a 6-minute speech, how many words are there in a 7-minute speech, how many words are there in an 8-minute speech, how many words are there in a 9-minute speech, how many words are there in a 10-minute speech, how many words are there in a 15-minute speech, how many words are there in a 20-minute speech, how many words are there in a 25-minute speech, how many words are there in a 30-minute speech.

• How to calculate your own speech rate: 2 easy methods
• How many pages is a 4, 7 or 20-minute speech?     

About this quick reference guide

The following table (below) shows the average number of words spoken per minute for speeches from 1 to 30 minutes long. It's a quick reference guide: one only intended to provide general information.

Who, and what, is truly average?

An average word count for any timed speech (one minute, two minutes, three, four, five, six...or more, minutes) is impossible to give. As there really is no such thing as an average person, who uses an average rate of words per minute when they speak.

We are individuals: each of us different. Speech patterns and speech (speaking) rates vary considerably between person to person for a great many reasons. The best you’ll ever get is an educated guess.

Use as an estimate: test yourself to be sure

That aside, the following estimates will give you a handy indication of the number of minutes it takes to say x number of words depending on whether you talk at a slow speed, a medium speed or you're one of the world's fast talkers.

(And, no, it's never a good idea to gabble at a mile a minute to fit everything you've prepared into the length of time you've been given!)

To be absolutely sure what you've done will fit the time allocation you've been given it's a good idea to test yourself to establish your own speaking rate or speed of speech .

How many pages is a 'x' minute speech?

Multiple variations on the question how many pages are needed for a speech are frequently asked. For instance:

• How many pages is a 4-minute speech?
• How many pages is a 7-minute speech?
• How many pages is a 20-minute presentation?

Unfortunately, the answer is not simple. Calculating the number of A4 pages of text you need for a speech of any number of minutes long is tricky for two reasons.

How many words are on an A4 page?

The first reason is that the number of words on an A4 page depends on how the page has been formatted. The answers to the questions below make a very big difference to the total number of pages needed to print a speech.

• What is the font family being used? (Different fonts take up differing amounts of space because of the shape/design of their characters.)  
• What is the size of the font? (The font size you're reading right now is 20px.)
• What is the spacing between each of the letters in a word?
• What is the spacing between each line of text? Is it single spacing, 1.5 or double line spacing?
• What spacing has been set for paragraphs?
• What size have the margins of the page been set at?
• Are there headings? Sub-headings or lists?

On average if the font is plain, (sans-serif, without embellishment), like Arial or Verdana, its size is set for 12px, and the line spacing is set for 1.5, then a page may have between 400-500 words on it.

Speech rate changes how we calculate the number of words we need

The second reason why using the number of pages to gauge how long a speech will take to deliver is problematical is because we speak at different rates. 

A 500-word page may take someone speaking at very slow rate 4 minutes to get through.

Another person, who has a much faster speaking rate, may take about 2.5 minutes to deliver exactly the same text.

Using the number of pages as a guide for a speech that has to fit a time limit is completely unreliable.

If you need to use a 'guesstimate' use the speech rate table below. Forget about counting the pages! 

If you are a slow speaker, less than 120 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 120 - 160 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 160 - 200 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 240 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 240 - 320 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 320 - 400 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 360 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 360 – 480 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 480 - 600 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 480 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 480 – 640 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 640 - 800 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 600 words,

If you speak at an average speed between: 600 – 760 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 760 - 1000 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 720 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 720 – 960 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 960 - 1200 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 840 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 840 – 1120 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 1120 - 1400 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 960 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 960 – 1280 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 1280 - 1600 words.

If you are a slow speaker less than 1080 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 1080 – 1440 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 1440 - 1800 words.

If you are a slow speaker a little less than 1200 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 1200 – 1600 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 1600 - 2000 words.

If you are a slow speaker, a little less than 1,800 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 1,800 - 2,400 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 2,400 - 3,000 words.

If you are a slow speaker, a little less than 2,400 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 2,400 - 3,200 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 3,200 - 4,000 words.

If you are a slow speaker, a little less than 3,000 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 3,000 - 4,000 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 4,000 - 5,000 words.

If you are a slow speaker, a little less than 3,600 words.

If you speak at an average speed between: 3,600 - 4,800 words.

If you are a fast speaker between: 4,800 - 6,000 words.

Return to Top

Find out more about speech rate

• How to calculate your own words per minute speech rate - two easy methods
• The factors influencing a faster rate or slower rate of speech
• How to develop an ideal rate of speech : one matching content, speech purpose and your audience: six exercises for flexible speaking rate

Words per minute calculator

Lastly here's the link to a useful online words per minutes calculator . Once you've completed your speech enter the total number of words, and select whether you want it to give you an average for a minute of your speech at a slow rate, average or fast rate. Again, it's a 'guesstimate'. ☺

The only really safe way to find out whether your speech fits your time allocation is to say it aloud at an ideal rate or pace: one taking into account the content, and the audience who is going to listen to it, while timing it.

(Use the record function on your phone. It will assist in lots of other ways too! You'll hear where you need more vocal variety, where your pronunciation is blurred ...and, so on. It's super helpful.)

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How Many PowerPoint Slides Should You Use in a Presentation?

Instead, you want to figure out what you want to say first . Then, after you have designed a great presentation, go back and figure out what visual aids you will need to better make your key points. The main rule of thumb is to provide only the number of slides that you absolutely need and absolutely no more than that.

So in this session, I’m going to cover a few examples for the right number of slides needed in short presentations, the long presentation, the best way to give corporate presentations.

The Max Number of Slides for a 15-Minute Presentation (or Less.)

Instead, especially for short talks, the first thing you want to do is make a list of the most important items that need to be covered in your presentation. Then, rank these items based on their list of importance. As you go down the list, you should notice that the level of importance for each item drops exponentially as you go down the list. So, instead of covering all of the items, just cover the three (or five) most important items in your presentation.

On your first slide, give an overview of all of the points. Just list them out for the audience so they can see what you will be covering. Then, create a separate slide for each of the three (or five) main points. Finally, on your last slide, just copy the content from your first slide and your introduction now becomes a nice conclusion as well.

By the way, for most business presentations, if you can deliver the important things in a 10-minute speech, you will be loved. If you require a 30-minute presentation time, the audience will like you about three times less.

For more details about how to design presentations or to use our helpful online presentation generator click here.

What If You Have an Hour-Long Talk? How Many Slides Do You Need?

Start with an introduction slide with an overview of all five bullet points. On your internal slides, just cover the single main idea for each bullet. You will have five internal slides. Then, end with your summary slide with the main concepts one more time. This repetition of the main concepts will increase the audience’s retention of the material. For the more seasoned presenter, you can use just three main bullet points but add an extra relevant story to each point. The more that you use this technique the easier you will find it to fit your content into the correct presentation length.

For instance, if you find yourself rushing at the end without enough time to finish, you can give fewer details in your stories. If you finish early, you can add more details into your examples and stories.

For a 60-minute presentation, use five bullet points and seven slides . This time insert a couple of different stories as evidence of each bullet point. I like to use the “bad example/good example” technique. On each of the internal slides, give your audience an example of yourself or someone else who did the opposite of the point. Then, follow up with a good example.

The “Bad Example/Good Example” Technique.

If I were to use the technique to prove the point that you need seven slides for an hour presentation, I could use the following…

Bad Example : A few years ago, I went to a three-day seminar where the presenter taught about how to market to universities. On the first morning, his team gave each of us a three-ring binder with hundreds of pages. I was actually pretty excited as I scanned the binder. It was full of a ton of great information. During the first hour, the speaker gave us over 50 great tips and techniques. In the next hour, he covered another 50. He did this over and over for two and a half days. Because I am a public speaking

However, a better example is…

Good Example : A few weeks ago, a long-time client asked me to design a custom workshop for his team. He had a team who were working on a project that had been discontinued. So, he wanted to help the team members have an easier time getting rehired elsewhere in the company. We created a short class for them on how to do well in a job interview. I started by making a list of the most important items they would likely want to know. Art the top of the list was how to reduce nervousness. I spent the first few minutes covering details on how to do this. Second, I gave them a simple process to help them answer questions with credibility. Finally, I gave them a list of questions they would likely be asked. I could have covered hundreds of other tips. However, these were the things that would give them the most bang-for-their-buck.

How Many Slides for a Longer Presentation

Basically, if you design a 120-minute PowerPoint presentation, start by creating two 60-minute presentations. Then, just insert a short break in between each session. When I created the two-day Fearless Presentations ® class, I didn’t start with two days of content. On the contrary, I started with an outline of the “most important” items just like what I suggested you do in your 15-minute presentation.

Here is the list that I started with:

• How to Reduce Public Speaking Fear.
• Designing Short Impromptu Speeches.
• How to Create a Presentation that Is Easier to Deliver.
• Adding Energy and Enthusiasm to Boring Topics.
• Ways to Add Impact and Interactivity to a Presentation.

If I wanted to, I could deliver the entire content of this speech in an hour-long keynote. I’d just need to insert a few examples for each point. That is pretty easy. However, if I want to turn the list into a 2-day seminar, that is pretty easy as well. I’d start with the first point, “How to Reduce Public Speaking Fear.” This becomes the topic of a new one-hour presentation. I use the same technique. “What is the most important thing I can teach the audience about reducing nervousness? What is the second most important thing? And the third thing?”

Basically, the entire two-day class is just a collection of five shorter presentations. In my entire slide deck, I use about 30 different slides in two full days.

The Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki created an interesting PowerPoint rule for entrepreneurs coming to him for venture capital. He calls it his 10/20/30 PowerPoint Rule . This general rule is what he requires presenters to use when they come to him for help. Basically, he noticed that presenters spend too much time blathering about unimportant things. So, he gave them a guide and set time limits for each presenter.

• 10 PowerPoint Slides
• 20-Minute Presentation
• 30 Point Font

Obviously, he created these criteria for a certain type of presentation. However, his logic is sound. In fact, the only thing I might argue with him about is the 10 slides rule. Kawasaki says, “Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting.”

Let me reiterate that. A normal human being cannot comprehend. He doesn’t say retain. The average person can comprehend more information than he or she can retain. For instance, if I read an entire book on accounting, I might comprehend all of the content. However, because the book covers so many concepts, I’m likely to retain only a few. Knowing this, reduce your number of slides and you will increase retention of your important points.

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How Many Slides For A 30-Minute Presentation

Table of contents.

Do you have a presentation coming up that’s 30 minutes or less? You may be asking yourself, how many slides for a 30 minute presentation are needed?

It’s widespread in many companies to only have 30 minutes to present , with a few minutes added on for questions and ideas from your audience about moving forward. 30 minutes may seem like a lot of time for you when you are looking over your slides in preparation, but it’s also important for you to look at how many slides you are preparing for a longer presentation while still keeping the audience engaged with the material you are presenting.

In this article we explore whether there is a set amount of slides required for a presentation of a certain length, or not!

Are There Slide Rules For Presentations?

Some argue that there are slide rules that should be strictly adhered to, to create an effective, impactful presentation in your allotted time without using too much information. One of the rules is the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint, coined by Guy Kawasaki , which is a general rule that can be followed. The idea behind this is that a PowerPoint presentation should have only 10 slides, last 20 minutes or less and use a font that is 30 points or above so the audience can read along.

However, if we all followed the same format it would be difficult to truly stand out and make an impact which we dive into this more further in the article. Our recommendation is to connect with a presentation consultant who will treat your case individually and suggest the right course of action for your unique situation.

What If I Can Present To My Audience Members In Less Than 30 Minutes?

If you can use visual aids, keep your presentation simple and your talking about the important parts in under 20 minutes and have 30 minutes to present, you should ask yourself if you can make a more effective presentation by including your audience. Telling your story in a presentation is critically important , but keeping your audience engaged is critically important too.

Here are 10 helpful tips on making your presentations interactive.

How Many Slides for a 15-Minute Presentation?

You can have anywhere from 10 slides to 30, it all depends on how many words you have on each slide, and the amount of time that you spend speaking about each slide. Fewer slides aren’t bad, just plan to spend more time and great detail on each slide. Short presentations can still keep an audience’s attention, regardless of how much time you’ll use. Make sure you use the key message to deliver your point with lots of practice. It really all depends on the purpose of the presentation and what you want it to achieve.

How Many Slides for a 10-Minute Presentation?

A typical rule for a 10-minute presentation is ten slides, and using between 30 seconds to a minute on each slide. You’ll want to focus on your speech while being aware of the time limit that you are working with. Bullet points are a useful tool for a good presentation, so you keep the audience from feeling overwhelmed by too much information on your slides.

How Many Slides for a 5-Minute Presentation?

When choosing the number of slides needed for a 5-minute presentation, it’s similar to a 10-minute presentation. You’ll want to aim for a slide a minute, as you have time limits. Anywhere from 2 slides to 5 slides with the 30-point font size or above within 5 minutes when you practice is what you should go with during your presenting time.

Time Allocation Is Of Critical Importance

By practicing ahead of time, you’ll know how much time you need per slide. Your message is the key, regardless of whether you have five minutes or a 30-minute presentation . For example, it’s key to not spend the entirety of your thirty-minute presentations only speaking on one slide, and missing the rest of the slides that you created. The quality of your presentation comes down to time allocation, and knowing how much time you’ll need per slide will set you up for success.

So, How Many Slides Do You Really Need?

You need as many slides as you need for you to be able to fully present your topic and keep your audience engaged. Whether it’s a single slide, two slides or five slides, make sure you are getting your point across in however many slides you think you’ll need. Your storytelling is the most important because it’s your idea that is being shared!

No Matter The Number Of Slides, You're The Secret Sauce

You are the secret sauce that brings the whole presentation together. Your message can be the answer to a problem, or you can bring an example to the table, the main point of your 15-minute presentation or however long you’ll need is how you’ll present. It doesn’t come down to the presentations, or the number of slides you have, it matters that you are the one who is presenting the slide because you will bring it all together as the presenter.

But We Can Help You Stand Out Visually

Our concluding thoughts, not every slide is created equal.

More isn’t necessarily better and having too many slides is definitely a bad thing as it dilutes the impact your presentation will have.

You may be asking yourself, how many slides are for a 30-minute presentation, but don’t overthink it? Go with the amount that you’ll need to present your idea, because no slide show is created equal. You may only need the one slide or you may need a multiple. Just make sure you leave lots of time to answer questions from your audience, after all you need to keep them involved!

With all the above being said, we only speak from experience. There is no right or wrong way, there is your way which will depend on a multitude of factors. You really should connect with a presentation design specialist who will guide you after collecting information.

Looking For A Presentation Design Company? Look No Further

Are you overthinking your next presentation? Considering m aking your own presentation, perhaps a short presentation or some corporate presentations and don’t know where to start on how many slides you should have?

We’ll help with your allotted time, keep it your own slide and keep you from feeling overwhelmed. We are the presentation geeks after all , here to help you with your presentation design, layout and any other questions you may have to help you succeed.

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How to create a great 30 minute presentation with two great tools

May 27, 2023 | Training Delivery , Training Design

Creating a 30-minute presentation is easy! How do I know? Well, I’ve probably created hundreds by now, and am still learning new tricks every time I do it. There are two fantastic tools to help you create a dazzling, interesting and above all – engaging – presentation. 

These two tools are:  Microsoft PowerPoint  and  Canva

Using PowerPoint requires careful planning and effective use of your time. Here’s a step-by-step guide that I run through each time to create an engaging presentation – followed by two  Pro Tips : 

• Define the objective: Determine the main goal of your presentation. Identify the key message or takeaway you want to deliver to your audience. They won’t pay attention if they don’t know why they’re there.
• Outline the content: Create a clear and logical structure for your presentation. Divide it into sections or key points that support your main objective. This will help you stay organised and ensure a smooth flow of information.
• Keep it concise: Since you have a limited time frame, it’s essential to keep your content concise and focused. Avoid including excessive details or overwhelming your audience with too much information. Stick to the most relevant and impactful points.
• Plan your slides: Decide on the number of slides you want to include. As a general guideline, aim for approximately one slide per minute. This will give you enough time to discuss each slide without rushing. Use slide titles and bullet points to guide your audience through the presentation.
• Create visually appealing slides: Use an appropriate design theme and select colours that are visually appealing and consistent with your topic. Avoid cluttered slides and keep the text minimal. Utilize high-quality images, charts, graphs, or diagrams to enhance understanding and engagement.
• Craft a compelling opening: Grab your audience’s attention right from the start. Consider starting with a thought-provoking question, a relevant quote, a surprising statistic, or a compelling story. Clearly state the purpose of your presentation and what the audience can expect to gain from it.
• Present your main points : Divide your presentation into the key points or sections you outlined earlier. Allocate sufficient time to each point, ensuring that you cover them adequately without rushing through. Support your points with clear explanations, examples, or evidence.
• Use visuals effectively: PowerPoint offers a range of visual tools that can enhance your presentation. Incorporate visuals such as images, charts, graphs, or videos to illustrate your points and make them more memorable. Ensure that the visuals are relevant and directly support your message.
• Engage the audience: Involve your audience throughout the presentation to maintain their interest. Encourage participation by asking questions, facilitating discussions, or conducting brief interactive activities. This can help create a more dynamic and engaging experience.
• Summarise and conclude: Towards the end of your presentation, recap the main points you covered. Reinforce your key message and provide a concise summary of the insights or takeaways. End with a strong conclusion that leaves a lasting impression on your audience.
• Prepare for Q&A: If time allows, allocate a few minutes for questions and answers. Anticipate potential questions related to your topic and be prepared to address them. If you receive questions that you cannot answer on the spot, promise to follow up afterward.
• Practice and time yourself: Rehearse your presentation multiple times to familiarise yourself with the content and flow. Pay attention to your timing to ensure that you stay within the 30-minute limit. Practice will also help you refine your delivery and build confidence.
• Remember to use PowerPoint as a tool to enhance your presentation rather than relying solely on it. Your spoken words and delivery should be the main focus, while the slides serve as visual aids. Aim for a balance between your verbal presentation and the supporting visuals to create an engaging and effective experience for your audience. 

PRO TIP   # 1  – Recently, I’ve started to use the ‘insert’ > ‘cameo’ feature to show my face to participants as I speak. It beats having my face off to the side or completely obscured by the slides. 

  PRO TIP   # 2  – If you’re presenting virtually (Zoom/Teams/Google meet etc) – then consider using many more animations to keep your audience’s attention on the important points of your presentation. Keep an eye on our YouTube channel for tutorials about this in coming weeks. 

Canva can be an effective and visually appealing way to engage your audience. In addition to the basic preparation required for any presentation, here’s a few steps specifically addressing the features of Canva: 

• Determine the objective: Just like using PowerPoint, there’s no ‘point’ if you haven’t got a clear message.
• Plan your content: Canva allows you to easily add, move and play through the slides you create. This is a handy feature as you’re trying to determine the best order for your content.
• Select a template : Canva offers a wide range of presentation templates to choose from. Browse through the available options and select a template that aligns with your topic and desired visual style. This will provide a consistent design throughout your presentation. We’re not all design experts – so utilise this feature and only change things you need to in order to maintain your organisation’s design philosophy/templates.
• Customise the template: Once you’ve selected a template, personalize it to fit your content and preferences. Customize the colors, fonts, and layout to match your branding or the overall theme of your presentation. Ensure that the design elements enhance readability and visual appeal.
• Create clear and concise slides: Since you have a limited timeframe, keep your content concise and focused. Avoid overcrowding your slides with excessive text. Instead, use bullet points, short phrases, or impactful quotes to convey your message effectively.
• Utilise visuals : Canva allows you to incorporate visuals such as images, GIFs, mp4 files, icons, charts, and graphs into your presentation. Choose relevant visuals that enhance understanding and engagement. The visuals are usually of a very high quality and are therefore visually appealing. Again, use the gifts provided by the experts!
• Present main points: Divide your presentation into sections based on the key points or sections you outlined earlier. Allocate sufficient time to each point, ensuring that you cover them adequately without rushing. Support your points with clear explanations, examples, or evidence. Canva allows you to set timings for each slide. This can help you plan how long each slide will be visible and hence, help you keep to the 30 minute presentation length.
• Use animation and transitions wisely: Canva offers animation and transition effects that can add a dynamic element to your presentation. This is vital in virtual presentations, but can be distracting in real-life deliveries. Balance the use of animations with your knowledge of the presentation environment. 

As a professional, you only need tips and ideas to spark your creative flair. I hope this set of steps and tips has done just that! See you soon, and please help us out by subscribing to our YouTube channel :  https://www.youtube.com/SpecTrainingPtyLtd

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How Many Slides for a 30 Minute Presentation

Last updated on May 25th, 2023

30 minute presentations are very common in different situations and scenarios. Some business meetings are arranged for 30 minutes only, and then the PowerPoint presenter can eventually be available for questions or to exchange ideas with the audience. Also, during a presentation in the classroom, a 30 minute presentation is good to leave more space for other student presentations during the same day. This way, many groups can perform the presentation in a single day.

But the question here is, how many slides for a 30-minute presentation? And of course, it is not an accurate answer since every slide and presenter is different and it could take less or more time. But as a rule of thumb, we can get some estimates about how many slides to include in 30 minutes PowerPoint presentation .

Let’s start thinking on this idea. If we have to perform a presentation in 30 minutes and we want to make it on time, let’s imagine every slide should take 2 minutes as most. Then, using 15 slides we’ll be able to present it in a timeframe of 30 minutes.

As a rule of thumb, consider:

• Estimate how much time do you require to present your slides in average and add 30 more seconds to the result.
• Then divide 30 minutes by the time spent on a single slide.
• The result will give you an idea about how many slides for 30 minutes.

Why are we adding 30 more seconds to every new slide? It is very common that we as presenters underestimate the length in minutes for a slide, so by adding a few more seconds for every slide, we’ll be safe in the total presentation time.

Why 30 minute if you can present it in 20 minutes and using less slides?

Alternatively, suppose you need to wrap a presentation in 5-minute presentation, 10-minutes or 20 minutes. In that case, you should be aware that are some well-known methodologies, rules and frameworks that are interesting to know in advance. For example, 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint is a rule that  Guy Kawasaki is evangelizing and that is a very simple concept.

10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

by using 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint for example, you can make less boring presentations, with only 10 slides and no font smaller than thirty point.

How many words to include in a 10 minute presentation speech?

There are many different classifications and estimates, but as a general rule, presenters can consider a speech takes 100 to 200 words per minute. Having this in mind, how many slides should we use in a 10-minute presentation ? The answer is simple, a 10-minute presentation would require between 1000 to 2000 words.

Similarly, if you have a 30 minutes presentation, it would take between 3000 and 6000 words.

The 5 by 5 rule in PowerPoint

There are many other rules that can help to estimate the time taken by presenters to deliver a speech. For example, the 5 by 5 rule in PowerPoint is a rule that will keep your audience from feeling bored and overwhelmed. In this rule, you should keep the text on each slide reduced at the minimum. Keep it short and straight to the point. For example, in the 5 by 5 rule, you can spend up to 5 words per line of text, 5 text lines per slide.

To keep your audience from feeling overwhelmed, you should keep the text on each slide short and to the point. Some experts suggest using the 5/5/5 rule for presentations : no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, or five text-heavy slides in a row.

If you need to prepare a presentation of a different length, then our other guides can help you. For example, in How Many Slides for a 45 Minute presentation can help to decipher how many slides to include in a longer presentation, which is sometimes useful for trainings and courses.

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How Many Slides Do You Need For A 30-minute Presentation?

by Helen Iwata | Oct 30, 2018

Have you ever wondered what is the perfect number of slides for a 30-minute presentation? Maybe your company has guidelines around how many PowerPoint pages to prepare based on the time you have? Perhaps you’ve heard of time and number stipulations in Pechakucha or the 10/20/30 rule for presentations?

Let’s look at those first before I give you my answer.

What is PechaKucha?

PechaKucha is a presentation style developed in Tokyo in 2003 as a way for young designers to give concise presentations to showcase their work and to network at a special event. The format is 20 image slides (not text!) and 20 seconds per slide, which totals 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

What is the 10/20/30 rule for presentations?

The 10/20/30 rule is a format introduced by Guy Kawasaki for venture capitalist pitches. You have 10 slides (one for each of 10 topics relevant for venture capitalists) for a presentation of no more than 20 minutes with a font size no smaller than 30.

Guy favors the 10/20/30 rule because he was bored by long-winded, text-heavy presentations. But I’m sure he didn’t mean that every business presentation needs to follow those rules. More likely, he’s making a point to encourage people to rethink their PowerPoint.

So here’s my answer. Unless you’re participating in PechaKucha or pitching to Guy Kawasaki,  it’s MEANINGLESS to determine your number of slides based on the time for your presentation .

The slides are “supporting” materials in a business presentation. They are to support your message. Your message and how you communicate it determine how many slides you need.

For example, you may flash multiple slides onto the screen in succession and the audience understands the message in an instant.

Or you may show an image or a chart and walk your audience through what they see, so that they can gradually absorb the message.

There is no correlation between your presentation time and the number of slides.

What if you don’t use PowerPoint?

You may not even need slides. Here are two other options:

A flipchart – The image with this post shows a speaker, James Wedmore, at a business conference I attended in California. Notice that he’s engaging the audience by keeping eye contact (not turning to read his own text-heavy slides, as we sadly often see in business presentations here in Japan) and he’s supporting his message by illustrating it step by step on the flipchart. His message was clear and compelling (even if, as he admitted, his drawing skills aren’t outstanding!).

No supporting materials – When I coached 29 speakers for a corporate client’s regional conference earlier this year, I had the pleasure of dining with audience members (my client’s clients). When I asked which presentation they found most engaging and persuasive, the majority named the same speaker. He was the only one who had not used any slides or other supporting material. He had simply stood on stage and spoken from the heart.

So, next time you’re preparing your business presentation, think carefully about what will support you.

5 steps to prepare your presentation slides

• Ask yourself whether you really need slides
• Structure your presentation
• Identify what slides you need to support your message
• Create the slides
• Review the slides and ask yourself whether each is essential

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How Many Words Are in a 30 Minute Long Speech?

Answer: At the normal speaking rate of 130 words per minute (wpm), a 30 minutes long speech will have about 3,900 words .

Speech and publication coach Daphne Gray-Grant  found that, on average, people speak at a rate of 125 to 150 wpm so a 30 minutes long speech uses between 3,750 to 4,500 words.

You can use our word counter tool to see how long on average your text will take to speak.

How can you measure your spoken words per minute?

To quickly know what your speaking rate is, write a 650-word essay and then get out a stopwatch. Time how long it takes you to speak all of the words in the essay.

Once you’ve finished, divide the word count (650 words) by the number of minutes in decimals (30 seconds = 0.5 minutes) and you’ll get an estimate of your words per minute speaking rate.

For example, if it takes you 4.5 minutes to speak 650 words, you would do 650 divided by 4.5 and get 144 words per minute.

Word Count per Speech Length

To quickly find out how many words a typical speaking length requires, see the table below. You can quickly map word counts to typical speaking rates:

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How long will it take to read a speech or presentation?

Enter the word count into the tool below (or paste in text) to see how many minutes it will take you to read. Estimates number of minutes based on a slow, average, or fast paced reading speed.

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Words To Time Converter

Estimate how many minutes your speeches, presentations, and voice-over scripts will take based on your words per minute rate!

Words per Minute: 183

How To Convert Words to Minutes Using This Tool?

If you have a certain number of words or a piece of text you want to time, you can either type in the word count or paste the text into the provided area. This tool will then calculate how long it would take to read that text out loud.

The talk time estimate is calculated using the average speaking speed of adults, which is determined to be 183 words per minute based on scientific studies. If you’re interested in how long it would take to read silently, it’s estimated at 238 words per minute ( This data is also backed by research )

You can adjust the slider to change the words per minute value, which will affect the talk time estimate. However, the silent reading time estimate remains fixed at 238 words per minute. 

For ease of use, we’ve also provided reference points for slow, average, and fast reading rates below the slider.

To begin anew, simply click the ‘clear text’ button to erase the content and restore the slider back to its original setting of 183.

I. Who is This Words to Minutes Converter Tool For?

If you are a student wondering how long is my essay or you’ve been tasked with writing a speech and need to know how many words to aim for and how many minutes will it take to deliver or perhaps you are a podcaster, just starting out, who wants the ability to easily synchronize music and spoken word without having to painstakingly calculate seconds between them, then this words to time converter (or speech time calculator-you may call it if you are a public speaker) is precisely for you! 

From now on, instead of spending long hours in front of the computer trying to figure out how many seconds it takes for one phrase or section of dialogue to end and another to begin, you can let our innovative tool do all the work and convert your text to time quickly and accurately. With this powerful tool at your disposal, whether you’re giving a TED talk or just need to nail a business presentation, your life will become a little bit easier.

So keep reading to learn more about what this fantastic words to minutes converter has in store for public speakers, aspiring students, and professional radio producers alike!

Whether you want to read the text silently or speak aloud, you can use this tool as both:

• Reading time calculator
• Talk time calculator

II.I Explanation of the Reading Time

Reading time refers to the duration it takes for an average person to read a written text silently while still comprehending its content. Based on an extensive analysis of 190 studies that involved 18,573 participants , research conducted by Marc Brysbaert in 2019 suggests that the typical silent reading speed for an adult individual is approximately 238 words per minute .

To convert word count to read time for a specific text, you can do so by dividing the total word count of the text by this established value of 238. Here is the mathematical equation for determining the duration of reading time in minutes:

Reading Time = Total Word Count / 238

II.II Explanation of the Speech Time

Speech time refers to the duration it takes for an average person to read a text out loud. Based on data from 77 studies involving 5,965 people , it’s been found that most adults read aloud at a speed of approximately 183 words per minute ( research conducted by Marc Brysbaert in 2019 ). To figure out how long it will take to read a specific piece of text aloud, you can divide the total number of words in the text by this average rate of 183 words per minute.

Of course, it’s important to note that talk time can vary depending on factors such as clarity of speech, pauses for emphasis, and use of visual aids. However, using this tool for converting the number of words to minutes can still provide a helpful guideline for planning and practicing your presentation. By having a better understanding of speech rates, you can ensure that your message is delivered effectively and efficiently.

III. Benefits of Using a Words to Time Converter

Time management in presentations.

Effective time management during presentations is crucial to ensure the audience remains engaged and the information is accurately conveyed. This is where our speaking time converter comes in handy. By using this tool, presenters can easily determine how many words they need to include in their presentation to stay within the allotted time frame.

Not only does it help with time management, but it also ensures that the pacing of the presentation is consistent, making it easier for the audience to follow. With the use of this tool, presenters can confidently deliver their presentations without the worry of running over time or rushing through it.

Estimated speech time for public speaking

Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, especially when you have too little or too much information to fill your time slot. You wonder only if there were an accurate public speaking time calculator available so that you could be able to allocate the appropriate amount of time to each section of your presentation, ensuring that you cover all the necessary points without rushing or going over time. 

Effective pacing is key in ensuring your message is delivered with clarity and impact.

Most public speakers target an average of 130-150 words per minute for their spoken content, meaning you should aim to limit your speaking time to roughly one minute per 130-150 words. While this may take some practice to achieve, the end result is a confident, well-timed delivery that keeps your audience engaged from start to finish.

Remember, in public speaking, less is often more—take your time to breathe and emphasize key points. Your audience will appreciate your thoughtful and measured approach. For that, you can use this tool and adjust your words to speech time.

Accurate estimations for audiobooks and podcasts

As more and more people turn to audiobooks and podcasts for their entertainment and information needs, accurate estimations of listening time have become more important than ever. After all, there’s nothing worse than settling in for a quick listen only to find yourself trapped in a story that goes on for hours longer than you anticipated.

That’s why it’s great to see publishers and podcast producers taking estimated reading time seriously, providing listeners with the information they need to choose the right content for their schedule. Whether you’re looking for a quick listen on your daily commute or a lengthy distraction for a lazy Sunday afternoon, accurate estimations using this speaking time calculator make it easier than ever to find the perfect content.

IV. Some Popular Speech Times

V. conclusion.

As the world becomes more fast-paced, time is a precious commodity. Determining how long your script will take to read, whether for a presentation or a video, can make a significant difference in engaging and retaining your audience’s attention.

That’s where our Words to Time Converter comes in handy. It’s a valuable tool for anyone working in various professions, from broadcast journalists to teachers to executives. No matter the industry, time is of the essence, and knowing how long your speech or presentation will take is crucial for effective communication.

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Kate Middleton 'Wrote Every Word Herself' in Speech Revealing Her Cancer Diagnosis, Source Says

The Princess of Wales shared her health news in a video released on Friday

BBC Studios

Kate Middleton 's announcement revealing her cancer diagnosis came from the heart.

“She wrote every word herself,” a palace source confirms to PEOPLE of the Princess of Wales' video speech, which was released on Friday and filmed two days prior in the gardens of Windsor Castle.

A family friend adds, “She wrote the words herself, delivered it personally and wanted to decide when the time was right to hit the world with this news.”

On Friday, Kate, 42, shared her cancer diagnosis in an emotional video message . She said she received the diagnosis following her abdominal surgery in January after post-operative tests "found cancer had been present” and is now in the “early stages” of treatment.

Prince William is said to be “extremely proud of his wife for the courage and strength she has shown not just this week, but since her surgery in January," a royal source says.

The insider added that William, 41, is protective of his family, stating, “Now more than ever he’s focused on ensuring his wife has the privacy she needs to fully recover and that his children are shielded from the understandable interest in the news that has been shared.”

On Saturday, the Prince and Princess of Wales said they were grateful for the wide support they’ve received following the princess’ cancer diagnosis announcement.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said in a statement that Kate and William "are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the U.K., across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ message."

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

"They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time," the spokesperson added.

In her speech on Friday, Kate began by thanking well-wishers for their support over recent weeks.

She then called her diagnosis a "huge shock" and said that she and William "have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family," referring to their three children: Prince George , 10, Princess Charlotte , 8, and Prince Louis , 5.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage?  Sign up for our free Royals newsletter  to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Princess Kate added that "it's taken us time to explain everything" to their kids "in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be okay."

The royal concluded her speech by acknowledging those also dealing with cancer. "At this time, I am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone." she said.

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Like a Phish concert but with more grievance, this is what it's like at a Trump rally

Danielle Kurtzleben

A couple kisses while waiting for the start of a campaign rally with former President Donald Trump on March 9 in Rome, Ga. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

A couple kisses while waiting for the start of a campaign rally with former President Donald Trump on March 9 in Rome, Ga.

At 6:30 a.m. it was still dark in Rome, Ga. But people had been lined up for a long time already, still nearly 12 hours before Trump was set to take the stage at another of his rallies.

Some had waited all night amid the crowd-control gates, in the bottom level of a downtown parking garage. At the very front of the line, Sharon Anderson waited under a blanket on a camp chair.

She told me this was her 50th rally. Why does she attend so many?

"I want to show my support for the best president in the history of this nation," she explained.

Anderson and some friends were all wearing tops styled to look like baseball shirts, with a big "47" on the back (for Trump's quest to be the 47th president) and "FRONT ROW JOES" on the front. Those "Joes" are a team of Trump superfans who get right up front at rallies.

I asked Anderson how she would describe a Trump rally to someone who has never been to one.

"Oh, it's very uplifting, encouraging, exciting," she said. "You just can't describe it verbally."

Many Americans won't share her experience — or her view — and will instead witness Trump events through viral clips of his at times violent, anti-democratic rhetoric — for example, his recent dehumanizing language about migrants and comments about a "bloodbath" should Joe Biden win a second term.

And that's important. But nine years in, these surreal events say so much more about the continued Trump phenomenon.

A Trump rally has the feel of an all-day pep rally mixed with a megachurch service — except with Trumpism as the religion. The rallies are places where a movement largely defined by grievance can be together, away from opponents — not to mention assertions that Trump lies and is harmful to democracy.

They are places to see that for many Americans, Trumpism isn't just about politics; it's a core part of their identities.

Trump supporters hold images of Laken Riley before he speaks at a rally in Rome, Ga., on March 9. Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Trump supporters hold images of Laken Riley before he speaks at a rally in Rome, Ga., on March 9.

Families, fandoms, and 'FJB'

Not far away from Sharon — maybe 20th in line — Lauren Tucker waited. She and her mother traded off holding their place in line overnight. This would be her first rally.

"Everybody here, all the people that were in line before us, they have been so amazing all night long. And they told us exactly what to expect. They helped us get our little buttons and they've just been wonderful," Tucker exclaimed. "It's almost like a little family."

Tucker is the mother of six, and her 6-year-old son played on a tablet next to her.

"It was very important for me to have my kids be here because this is something that, A, they're going to remember, and, B, this is going to be talked about for years," she said. "For the next hundred years, this is going to be talked about. And my kids will be able to say, 'Hey, I was there. My mom took me to that. I saw that man.'"

Tucker was wearing red white and blue eyeshadow and an American flag cowboy hat.

And this is a hallmark of Trump rallies: people dress up for them in a way they don't for other politicians.

Merch sellers like Amber Johnson add to a growing sea of Trumpwear. Johnson is a Trump supporter herself — she calls herself a "Republican Mississippi hippie" — and compares the rallies to rock concerts. She speaks from experience.

The merch at a Trump rally varies widely, with people procuring it from street vendors as well as all over the internet. Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The merch at a Trump rally varies widely, with people procuring it from street vendors as well as all over the internet.

"It's kind of the same vibe. So I followed Dead & Company and Phish around all summer, and now I'm out here doing the same thing, but selling political merchandise," she said with a laugh.

And this is one way to understand what makes Trump such a singular phenomenon. His fans aren't just out to hear a political message; they're participating in a fandom — a political version of Deadheads or Parrotheads.

Then again, there's a combativeness at a Trump concert that doesn't exist at a Phish concert — or at a Biden event, for that matter.

One man nearby sold t-shirts printed with vulgar, sexually explicit statements about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi. Among Johnson's tamer shirts was one that read, "If you don't like Trump, then you probably won't like me, and I'm OK with that."

Another read "FJB," where the JB stands for Joe Biden and the F is an expletive.

Young conservatives have grown up in Trump's Republican Party. Now, it's time to vote

Carli Godfrey is 16 and came with her grandmother, in matching t-shirts. She read the defiant phrase written across their chests: "I'm still a Trump girl. I make no apologies."

I asked Godfrey what that means – does she think people want her to make apologies? She answered that even in uberconservative northwest Georgia, her politics differ from some of her peers'.

"Being in high school, some people are like, 'Why are you doing that?'" she said, referring to her Trump fandom. "I mean, a lot of people — this is going to sound really sad, but a lot of people don't stand for [the] flag. But I do. I always will."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got a hero's welcome at the Rome rally, which took place in the heart of her congressional district. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got a hero's welcome at the Rome rally, which took place in the heart of her congressional district.

The grievance of the underdog

The aggressive merch suggests that wearers expect, even relish, opposition. And Trump rallies have perhaps a more confrontational feel than ever, amid his four indictments, and his insistence that he won in 2020. All the voters I asked about 2020 also think Trump won that election. He didn't.

Midmorning, a few hundred deep into the line, Angie Patrick had just helped a friend wriggle into a new t-shirt reading "God, Guns, and Trump". Patrick said me she has her own way of fighting for the former president.

Conservatives are warning about noncitizens voting. It's a myth with a long history

"I'm a digital warrior. That means sharing things that perhaps maybe the mainstream media doesn't necessarily share with the public," she explained.

She mentioned multiple conspiracy theories she believes in and said she had been kicked off of Twitter 31 times (pre-Elon Musk's tenure, that is).

To Patrick, Trump is beleaguered and bullied...but also massively powerful. It's a careful needle he has managed to thread with his followers.

"I think he's beaten the odds. And I like an underdog," she said. But she quickly added, "although I don't think Trump is an underdog. I think he's definitely the front dog."

Toby Keith's 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue' lives on in MAGA country

A lot of Trump's supporters themselves feel like underdogs.

By mid-afternoon, people were taking their seats in the city arena. One of them, college student Zachary Wright, said he feels economically strapped, but also feels marginalized culturally.

"If the economy keeps on getting worse and worse and worse, then how much is it going to cost for my kids to get lunch? And not only that, what's so frustrating is that the leftist wing focuses so much on minorities that it feels like me as a white man, that I am the minority."

We versus 'they'

All afternoon, people queued for concessions and restrooms, chatting with their fellow Trump disciples.

But the mood darkened as Trump's opening act took the stage — a run of right-wing politicians. Their message was that the Trump movement has an endless string of enemies outside the arena.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example, repeatedly referenced a nameless "they."

"We said build the wall. And they were offended. We said back the blue and they were offended, right?" she added, as the crowd started booing in agreement.

The crowd turns to taunt the press during Trump's speech in Rome. Danielle Kurtzleben/NPR hide caption

The crowd turns to taunt the press during Trump's speech in Rome.

At a Trump rally, even the rioters who attacked the capitol on Jan. 6 are recast as victims of anti-Trump forces.

"Ladies and gentlemen," an announcer's deep voice boomed over dramatic music. "Please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6 hostages."

Lately, Trump takes the stage after a recording of the national anthem sung by those jailed for that attack. While Trump's indictment for his actions on Jan. 6 looms over his campaign, he also embraces that day. Indeed, he has said he plans to pardon many of the convicted rioters .

Trump started speaking in Rome at around 6:00 p.m., about an hour late. He would remain on stage for nearly 2 hours — long even for a Trump rally speech.

As usual, the demonization of undocumented immigrants was a key focus and drew loud cheers.

"What Joe Biden has done on our border is a crime against humanity and the people of this nation for which he will never be forgiven. We're going to fix it. We're going to fix it fast. We're going to have the largest deportation in history," he said, to thunderous applause.

Now that he's the presumptive nominee, Trump readies next campaign: who will be VP?

Even when his particular wording doesn't make headlines, Trump's speeches are full of false — and sometimes strange — rhetoric about migrants.

"They always say suburban housewives, they want something that's very important: security," he told the crowd. "They don't want illegal immigrants coming into our country. They don't want illegal immigrants knocking on their front door and saying, 'I'm going to use your kitchen, and I'm going to use your bedroom, and there's not a damn thing-' And that's the nice ones, okay?"

The speech went beyond immigration though, meandering toward many more of trump's grievances — yes, against Joe Biden, but also Fulton County, Ga., prosecutor Fani Willis, N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, Megyn Kelly and Martha Stewart...to name a few.

In addition, he praised Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

After it all, the evening ended with a familiar benediction: "We will make America great again."

Just outside, Tynisha Williams said she had a great time. She added — paradoxically — she thinks Trump's divisiveness will unify the U.S.

"It's time for the kid gloves to be taken off," she said. "You need to know the hard truth. And the hard truth is we need to come back together as a country. We need to get this country back together. And we got to unite. We gotta make this country great again, as simple as that."

It's not clear how Trump would unite the nation, however. A week later, at another rally, he would say that some undocumented immigrants aren't people, whipping up another firestorm of controversy.

Trump says some migrants are 'not people', and warns of 'bloodbath' if he loses

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Trump’s Warning of a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses

More from our inbox:, orli and the fox, it was ‘poisoning,’ not an ‘overdose’, class-based admissions.

To the Editor:

Re “ Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses ” (nytimes.com, March 16):

In a campaign speech in Ohio on Saturday, former President Donald Trump said that if he didn’t get elected, “it’s going to be a blood bath for the country.”

His warning was not a prediction. This was a brazen threat: If the election disappoints Mr. Trump and his followers, they will revolt. Mr. Trump might be increasingly inarticulate, but the peril is clear in his own words.

In Trump v. Anderson , the Supreme Court recently dodged the question of whether Mr. Trump’s behavior before and on Jan. 6, 2021, made him an insurrectionist within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. After Saturday’s speech, further evasion will be unconscionable. Mr. Trump’s use of the phrase “blood bath” was not exaggeration for effect or bombast. It was simple menace, a direct step toward sedition. American democracy’s future is at stake.

Mr. Trump has effectively secured a major party’s nomination for president. It will soon be up to the voters to recognize the risk and prevent a reign of terror. The whole world is watching.

Steven S. Berizzi Norwalk, Conn.

Mr. Trump, I heard your words about a “blood bath.” How am I to interpret this?

You later claimed that you meant the auto industry. Now Mr. Trump, I don’t think that impassioned remark of yours about a blood bath was about cars. I suspect you know it wasn’t.

I look around at my neighborhood and think “blood bath” if you lose the election. We are a 50/50 community. Half for you and half not. So will there be a blood bath on the streets of El Dorado Hills, just 20 miles from California’s state capitol, if you lose? Are there Pretorian-style guards in my neighborhood just waiting for the phone call? Ready to drag my disabled daughter and me out of our home into our street to kill us?

What’s your plan, Mr. Trump? And spare the con man’s best comeback, “wait and see.” Blood bath. That is quite an expression.

Christine BauerEl Dorado Hills, Calif.

I will not be threatened. The threat by Donald Trump that if he is not elected, “it’s going to be a blood bath” demonstrates definitively, undeniably and unequivocally that he is not fit to be president of the United States.

That The New York Times failed to make this threat its lead story does a grave disservice to our nation.

Joan Kass Chilmark, Mass.

Had President Biden told the world that we should expect a “blood bath” if he loses the election, as Donald Trump did in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, there would have been clamoring of outrage and denunciation by his Republican opponents. Where is the outrage about Mr. Trump’s use of such language? Where are the voices of reason and restraint?

No Republican dares to criticize their fearless leader. Their profiles in cowardice are an appalling sight for all the civilized world to see.

When will our populace come to their senses? Conscientious, civilized people everywhere must reject this irresponsible bombast.

Mr. Trump is recklessly endangering every man, woman and child in our nation. He has gone too far and must be stopped.

H. James Quigley Jr. Laguna Woods, Calif.

Au contraire, Mr. Trump. If you lose this year’s November election, there will be dancing in the streets and champagne corks popped “the likes of which you’ve never seen.”

You can bank on it.

Lois Berkowitz Oro Valley, Ariz.

Re “ What Does a Year Mean to a Grieving Parent? ,” by Sarah Wildman (Opinion guest essay, March 17), about the first anniversary of the death of her daughter Orli:

At sunrise this morning, a fox crossed the road before me. She turned, studying me, and I felt the stir of the new day’s magic. A few hours later, I read Ms. Wildman’s essay, with the digital headline “‘If You See a Fox and I’ve Died, It Will Be Me.’”

I was struck by the coincidence of having just seen “a bright young fox” and reading Ms. Wildman’s brilliant and moving story. It seemed right to thank her for this gift: Orli’s bright young spirit flowing from her mother’s aching heart onto the page.

I wish I had met Orli. We would talk about foxes, look at fox photos, read passages from fox books. We would have shared how one day a fox came to us and never left, as Orli came to me through her mother’s story, how we each came to love foxes, as Orli herself will forever be loved, a beautiful child who is at last free to roam the bright universe.

Ellen Thornton Atlantic Beach, Fla.

Re “ In Fentanyl Deaths, Victims’ Families Say Word Choice Matters ” (front page, March 11):

The heartbreaking story of 19-year-old Ryan Bagwell’s death further underscores the urgent need to reshape the narrative around drug-related fatalities. The distinction between “overdose” and “poisoning” is not semantic; it reflects the profound impact on families and caregivers grappling with loss.

Moreover, the stigma associated with “overdose” compounds the pain for grieving families. It unfairly implies personal responsibility and addiction, perpetuating harmful stereotypes. We must recognize that victims like Ryan were unsuspecting casualties, not willing participants in their demise.

Family caregivers who tend to their loved ones as they struggle with health challenges, including addiction, understand the severity of this crisis. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid exponentially more potent than heroin , is ravaging communities nationwide with a disproportionately higher lethal impact in American Indian, Alaska Native and Black populations .

Its presence in counterfeit pills poses lethal risks, as evidenced by Ryan’s case. The term “poisoning” rightly emphasizes the victimhood of those unknowingly exposed to this deadly substance.

In addition to diligent medication management to prevent accidental exposure to potent substances like fentanyl, the front lines of this crisis require comprehensive tools, including access to all F.D.A.-approved agents that reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, to respond in the event of a fentanyl poisoning.

Marvell Adams Jr. Baltimore The writer is the C.E.O. of the Caregivers Action Network.

Re “ What the Future of Admissions at Elite Schools Might Look Like ,” by David Leonhardt (The Morning, March 3):

In the wake of court decisions whittling away affirmative action, it is becoming known that class-based admissions policies can help maintain racial diversity at elite colleges.

SAT scores, when used properly, can help admissions officers identify minority applicants who show great potential for academic achievement. The test itself was designed to combat exclusion at a time when Ivy League schools had restrictive quotas on minority applicants.

Overcoming disadvantage is a legitimate criterion for admission and essential to efforts to diversify the student body.

Max Herman Jersey City, N.J. The writer is an associate professor of sociology at New Jersey City University.

Watch CBS News

Balance between fighting misinformation and protecting speech on social media gets more complicated

By Lesley Stahl , Aliza Chasan , Ayesha Siddiqi, Kate Morris

March 24, 2024 / 7:30 PM EDT / CBS News

As the U.S. 2024 presidential election gets underway, social media companies are caught in an unenviable position: trying to stop the spread of misinformation while also facing more and more allegations of censorship.

Claims of censorship online have, in some cases, stymied efforts to combat false election news shared online. The problem is not unique to the U.S.: high-stake elections are being held in dozens of countries around the world this year and some worry that misinformation could influence the results.

"Half of the world is voting this year and the world could stick with democracy or move toward authoritarianism," Darrell West, a senior fellow of technology innovation at the Brookings Institution, said. "The danger is, disinformation could decide the elections in a number of different countries."

How combating misinformation online has changed in recent years

Academic researchers began working closely with social media platforms after evidence surfaced of Russian interference in the 2016 election.  

Big tech companies have wrestled with keeping false and harmful information off their platforms for years. They've suspended and banned accounts. The companies have removed or labeled posts deemed "misinformation," sometimes adding warnings.

Fighting misinformation became a key tenet of the internet as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Robert Kennedy Jr. was temporarily banned from Instagram after posting false coronavirus vaccine claims.  Over on Twitter, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was suspended after she claimed COVID vaccines and masks didn't work.

Misinformation continued to spread online during the 2020 election. 

"We were very specifically looking at misinformation about election processes, procedures and election results," said Kate Starbird, a professor at the University of Washington and a leader of the Election Integrity Partnership, a group she helped launch in 2020. "If we saw something about that, we would pass it along to the platforms if we thought it violated one of their policies."

Researchers flagged a November 2020 tweet saying that election software in Michigan switched 6,000 votes from Trump to Biden. Twitter labeled the post with a warning.

Starbird said her research has found that more misinformation is spread by conservatives. 

"Not just our research, research across the board looking at the 2020 election found that there was more misinformation spread by people that were supporters of Donald Trump or conservatives," Starbird said. "And the events of January 6th kind of underscore this."

But some researchers like Starbird, who says she received a death threat for her work on misinformation, have stopped communicating with social media platforms. 

Confronted with criticism from conservatives, who claim their views were being censored, and because of cost-cutting, social media platforms began downsizing their fact-checking teams.  

Why some in Congress say combating misinformation is stifling freedom of speech

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, argues that tech companies shouldn't remove most of what they call misinformation. 

"I think you let the American people, respect the American people, their common sense, to figure out what's accurate, what isn't," Jordan said in an interview.

While Jordan acknowledges there is misinformation online, he sees a bigger problem in what he views as an attack on First Amendment liberties. His committee last year produced a report that concluded there was a "censorship industrial complex" where the federal government and tech companies colluded with academic researchers to disproportionately silence conservatives — an allegation that Starbird vigorously denies. 

Jordan said her group has unfairly flagged posts, such as one by Newt Gingrich, who in 2020 tweeted: "Pennsylvania democrats are methodically changing the rules so they can steal the election."

Jordan also complains that government officials put pressure on social media companies directly. 

"You can't have the government say, 'Hey, we want you to do X,'" Jordan said. "Government who has the ability to regulate these private companies, government which has the ability to tax these private companies."

Katie Harbath, who spent a decade at Facebook working on the company's policies around election misinformation, said the platforms have their own First Amendment rights.

She said that while she was at Facebook, it was not unusual for the government to ask the company to remove content, something she said was appropriate as long as the government is not coercing. 

"Conservatives are alleging that the platforms were taking down content at the behest of the government, which is not true," Harbath said. "The platforms made their own decisions."

Many times, the companies pushed back. In 2019, a doctored video of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was posted online, slowed down to make it seem as if she was slurring. The video stayed up because it didn't violate Facebook's policies, Harbath said. 

"She was definitely not pleased," Harbath said of Pelosi. 

Court battles over misinformation, free speech online-  

The conservatives' campaign faced a setback at the Supreme Court on Monday when a majority of the justices seemed poised to reject their effort to limit attempts by the government to influence social media.

In other cases, the court will look at laws passed in Texas and Florida to determine whether tech companies are like news organizations —with a First Amendment right to control who and what information appears on their sites— or like telephone companies, entities merely transmitting speech.

If those state laws are upheld, the platforms could be forced to carry hate speech and false medical information, some warn. West, the senior fellow of technology innovation at the Brookings Institution, said the clash over what's true is fraying our institutions and threatening democracies around the world.

"The toothpaste is out of the tube and we have to figure out how to deal with the resulting mess," West said.

One of America's most recognized and experienced broadcast journalists, Lesley Stahl has been a "60 Minutes" correspondent since 1991.

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What is Good Friday? What the holy day means for Christians around the world

Christians around the world observe Good Friday two days before Easter, but what is it, and why do they commemorate the holy day?

The holiday is part of Holy Week, which leads up to Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday kicks off the series of Christian holy days that commemorate the Crucifixion and celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection.

"Good Friday has been, for centuries now, the heart of the Christian message because it is through the death of Jesus Christ that Christians believe that we have been forgiven of our sins," Daniel Alvarez, an associate teaching professor of religious studies at Florida International University, told USA TODAY.

What is Holy Saturday? What the day before Easter means for Christians around the world

When is Good Friday?

Good Friday is always the Friday before Easter. It's the second-to-last day of Holy Week.

In 2024, Good Friday will fall on March 29.

What is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the day Christ was sacrificed on the cross. According to Britannica , it is a day for "sorrow, penance, and fasting."

"Good Friday is part of something else," Gabriel Radle, an assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, previously told USA TODAY. "It's its own thing, but it's also part of something bigger."

Are Good Friday and Passover related?

Alvarez says that Good Friday is directly related to the Jewish holiday, Passover.

Passover , or Pesach, is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.

"The whole Christian idea of atoning for sin, that Jesus is our atonement, is strictly derived from the Jewish Passover tradition," said Alvarez.

How is that possible?

According to the professor, Passover celebrates the day the "Angel of Death" passed over the homes of Israelites who were enslaved by the Egyptians. He said that the Bible states when the exodus happened, families were told to paint their doors with lamb's blood so that God would spare the lives of their firstborn sons.

Alvarez says this is why Christians call Jesus the "lamb of God." He adds that the symbolism of the "blood of the lamb" ties the two stories together and is why Christians believe God sacrificed his firstborn son. Because, through his blood, humanity is protected from the "wrath of a righteous God that cannot tolerate sin."

He adds that the stories of the exodus and the Crucifixion not only further tie the stories together but also emphasize just how powerful the sacrifice of the firstborn and the shedding of blood are in religion.

"Jesus is the firstborn, so the whole idea of the death of the firstborn is crucial," said Alvarez.

He adds that the sacrifice of the firstborn, specifically a firstborn son, comes from an ancient and "primitive" idea that the sacrifice unleashes "tremendous power that is able to fend off any kind of force, including the wrath of God."

Why Is Good Friday so somber?

Alavarez says people might think this holiday is more depressing or sad than others because of how Catholics commemorate the Crucifixion.

"I think [it's] to a level that some people might think is morbid," said Alvarez.

He said Catholics not only meditate on Jesus' death, but primarily focus on the suffering he faced in the events that led up to his Crucifixion. That's what makes it such a mournful day for people.

But, the professor says that Jesus' suffering in crucial to Christianity as a whole.

"The suffering of Christ is central to the four Gospels," said Alvarez. "Everything else is incidental."

According to the professor, statues that use blood to emphasize the way Jesus and Catholic saints suffered is very common in Spanish and Hispanic Countries, but not as prevalent in American churches.

Do you fast on Good Friday?

Father Dustin Dought, the executive director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, previously told USA TODAY that Good Friday and Ash Wednesday are the two days in the year that Roman Catholics are obliged to fast.

"This practice is a way of emptying ourselves so that we can be filled with God," said Dought.

What do you eat on Good Friday?

Many Catholics do not eat meat on any Friday during Lent. Anything with flesh is off-limits. Dought says this practice is to honor the way Jesus sacrificed his flesh on Good Friday.

Meat that is off limits includes:

Instead, many Catholics will eat fish. According to the Marine Stewardship Council , this is allowed because fish is considered to be a different type of flesh.

Contributing: Jordan Mendoza ; USA TODAY

Pope Francis skips Good Friday event to preserve his health ahead of Easter, Vatican says

Pope Francis has skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum to protect his health, making a last-minute decision that added to concerns about his frail condition during a particularly busy period.

Francis had been expected to preside over the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, a procession intended to re-enact Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

But just as the event was about to begin, the Vatican announced the pope would instead be following the event from his home at the Vatican.

"To conserve his health in view of the vigil tomorrow and Mass on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis will follow the Via Crucis at the Colosseum this evening from the Casa Santa Marta," a statement from the Vatican press office said.

While Francis also skipped the event in 2023 because he was recovering from bronchitis and it was a particularly cold night, his decision to stay home this year suggested his plans had changed suddenly.

The 87-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been battling what he and the Vatican have described as a case of the flu, bronchitis or a cold all winter long.

For several weeks he has occasionally asked an aide to read his speeches aloud, and he skipped his Palm Sunday homily altogether.

The decision to stay home appeared to have taken place at the very last minute: Francis's chair was in place on the platform outside the Colosseum where he was to preside over the rite.

His close aide, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, was on hand and moved the television screen around on the platform so Francis would have a better view of what was going on inside the Colosseum itself.

But at 9:10pm, five minutes before the official start of the procession, the Vatican press office announced on Telegram that he wouldn't attend, and the chair was quickly taken away.

His absence was noted with concern but understanding among some of the estimated 25,000 pilgrims who packed the area for the torchlit procession.

"I think of course it causes concern for the people who make sure that he is doing well, but he must have his reasons for the decisions that he makes," said Marlene Steuber, who was visiting from Costa Rica.

"Still, I think that people are involved and very blessed and happy to be here and experience these events here in Rome."

Brian Hopp, a visitor from Chicago, noted that Francis had his health challenges this year.

"I definitely don't think it was a decision taken lightly. I think a lot was taken into it and I think he probably prioritised his health for Easter, which I think is a very responsible thing to do," Mr Hopp said.

"I know he has been going through a lot this year, so I don't expect him to be able to make every event."

Francis had appeared in good form earlier in the day for a Good Friday liturgy in St Peter's Basilica, though he remained mostly seated and it was not a particularly taxing event that required him to speak at length.

On Thursday, he left the Vatican to preside over the Holy Thursday foot-washing ritual at a Rome women's prison.

While he performed the rite from his wheelchair, Francis appeared strong and engaged with the inmates, even giving a big chocolate Easter egg to one woman's young son.

On Saturday, he is scheduled to preside over a lengthy evening Easter Vigil in St Peter's, one of the most solemn events in the liturgical calendar.

He also is due to preside over Easter Sunday Mass in the piazza and deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and the World) speech rounding up global crises and threats to humanity.

In addition to his respiratory problems, Francis had a chunk of his large intestine removed in 2021 and was hospitalised twice last year, including once to remove intestinal scar tissue from previous surgeries to address diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall.

He has been using a wheelchair and cane for over a year because of bad knee ligaments.

In his recently published memoirs, Life: My Story Through History, Francis said he wasn't suffering from any health problems that would require him to resign and that he still has "many projects to bring to fruition".

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