PRESTO: the 200 second presentation with 10 slides, for 20 seconds each

Recently I found out that there was an even briefer slide presentation format than either  Pecha Kucha or Ignite. Pecha Kucha uses 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each (while Ignite uses 15 seconds). PRESTO, which means to PRESent your TOpic, uses just 10 slides (or half the time for Pecha Kucha).

Jeane Trojan also has blogged about this format being called a Mashup, and given six tips for using it. Five Mashup events have been held at the Hub in Prague. I’m not sure which name really came first, PRESTO or Mashup.

The 200-second presentation time (3-1/3 minutes) is curiously close to the typical length of a 45-rpm single record from Top 40 (Contemporary hit) radio.

If you have heard about Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule for venture capital presentations, then you know he suggests using 10 PowerPoint (or Keynote) slides in 20 minutes (or less). The PRESTO format calls for presenting slides at 6 times the rate he suggests.  

Before you construct a PRESTO you also need to know your speaking rate. Suppose that it is 120 words per minute, or 2 words per second. If you spoke without pausing, then you only could expect to say 40 words while each slide was being shown. This means that visuals will be used rather than text.

There also could be an even briefer format with 150 seconds, at 15 seconds per slide (and only about 30 words per slide). That might be called a half-Ignited presentation, but  it deserves a more clever name.

The image of magician Zan Zig is from an 1899 poster.