What is the 6-7 Rule in PowerPoint?

When it comes to making professional and engaging presentations in PowerPoint, there are different rules to follow. These rules are provided by communication and presentation experts who know how to engage the audience.

The 6-7 rule is quite popular in PowerPoint among other rules. What is the 6-7 rule in PowerPoint, and how does it help in your presentations?

Viewers have short attention spans, and if you throw too much information at them, they will instantly lose interest in your presentation. You have to be smart about content delivery so that you deliver the most valuable information without them losing interest.

What is the 6-7 Rule in Presentations?

Different experts follow different approaches, and the 6-7 rule suggests that an ideal PowerPoint presentation should have 6 words per line and a maximum of 7 lines per slide. This is the ideal amount of data a normal viewer can consume without distractions.

• Each line should not have more than 6 words
• Each slide should not have more than 7 lines

The idea behind the 6-7 rule in PowerPoint is to prevent information overload. PowerPoint presentations are a visual aid, so you need to keep them that way. More text does not add value to the content delivery.

A slide is supposed to have headings, bullet points, images, and other easy-to-process pieces of information. Adding too many long paragraphs and essays won’t do any good for your presentation.

Benefits of the 6-7 Rule in PowerPoint Presentations

You are not always bound to abide by this rule, but results show that PPTs following the 6-7 rule offer more value and also keep audiences engaged. Would you want your audience to get bored?

If the answer is no, then you should use the 6-7 rule in PowerPoint or other similar rules that work for a specific audience and topics. Here are some practical benefits of using this simple approach for your PowerPoint presentations.

1.     Improved Readability

Viewers are not there to read the slides only; they want to listen to you, what you have to say, and what you convey. Large amounts of text can be difficult to read, especially in larger rooms or on smaller screens. Keeping slides concise ensures everyone can easily follow along.

The slides are there to assist you with the presentation. The slides can have infographics and visuals that you cannot verbally describe. What’s the point of writing a detailed description of any point that you can easily narrate with more detail on the stage?

2.     Keep Audience Engaged

Making an amazing presentation is not the real talent, but keeping it engaging enough is the real challenge. Many presenters think that value-adding content is enough to keep the audience engaged. This does not work well for every presenter.

Audiences may lose interest if slides resemble pages from a textbook. Minimal text allows the presenter to interact more naturally, rather than reading word-for-word from the slides.

3.     Support Visual Communication

You need to convey a message in the slide that requires some text, an image, and a few infographics. Do you think writing an entire essay on the slide with images and charts will be a good way to communicate? You should keep text short so that viewers can easily focus on the visuals.

Limiting text encourages the use of visuals such as images, icons, graphs, or charts, which often communicate ideas more effectively than words.

4.     Enhance Retention

Studies show that people remember information better when it is presented in small, digestible chunks. The 6-7 Rule helps in breaking down information into bite-sized points. It is easier for the human mind to process and remember visuals than text.

The 6-7 rule in PowerPoint optimizes your presentation in a way that you have enough room for images and visuals without compromising on the inclusion of important text and information.

Create PowerPoint
Slides with AI

Build AI-powered presentations from
any prompt, doc, or video

Start for free

6-7 Rule isn’t a Strict Law

Although the 6-7 rule in PowerPoint is a good way to optimize your content delivery, you cannot apply it to every presentation. Some slides may benefit from fewer words or more visual elements, while others may require a bit more explanation.

You should focus on maintaining the balance between text, visuals, and other elements of the slides. You should use the rule as a guideline, but adapt it based on the complexity of your topic, audience needs, and presentation style.

Insider Trick to Make Professional PowerPoint Presentations

6-7 rule and many other similar rules are there to help you make professional and visually attractive presentations in PowerPoint. But honestly, you can easily keep track of these rules while making presentations.

What if we could suggest an amazing AI tool for PowerPoint where you don’t need to worry about any such rule or law? Yes, there is an AI add-in for PowerPoint that can generate professional PowerPoint presentations without any manual editing or layout designing.

Make Engaging Presentations with Twistly

Twistly integrates AI into PowerPoint so that users don’t have to switch tabs or use 3^rd party tools to create AI slides, write content, and generate AI images. With Twistly, you have all these resources in PowerPoint.

This tool offers a dedicated pane in PowerPoint where you can make magic happen. With simple, natural language instructions and prompts, you can create engaging PowerPoint presentations, just like a custom ChatGPT for PowerPoint.

All AI PowerPoint templates in the Twistly library are designed by experts, and every presentation generated with Twistly ensures the highest retention rate, maximum engagement, clear delivery of the message, and a clear call to action for the audience.

Final Verdict

The 6-7 rule in PowerPoint limits 6 words per line and 7 lines per slide. This rule ensures maximum readability and user engagement. But for a new user or someone who makes PowerPoint presentations more often, following these rules can be a little bit tricky.

Instead of comparing every slide against this rule, speed up the workflow with Twistly. Install the AI add-in now and start making professional presentations with your own ChatGPT for PowerPoint.

What if you did not like the tool? Nothing to worry about as Twistly offers a free trial version, no credit card required. Go ahead and download Twistly for free, now.

Create PowerPoint Slides with AI

Build AI-powered presentations from 
any prompt, doc, or video

Start for free