Recently, I visited an elite class of military officers who will spend the next thirteen months training on the most sensitive—and challenging—national security issues of our time. One of my books on communication skills is required reading in the class because crafting and delivering a compelling presentation is a key skill they’ll have to learn. In fact, they learn to sell their ideas in ten minutes or less.
“Why only ten minutes?” I asked one of the instructors.
“The generals, leaders and lawmakers these officers will be presenting to have a cascade of information coming at them from all directions. They need information fast. They don’t have the time to pour through hundreds of pages of documents or endless PowerPoint slides. Our officers will be expected to analyze a potential threat, develop a short presentation, deliver three possible plans of action, and make an argument for the best one, in their opinion. Condensing the argument into ten minutes makes it tighter, stronger, and easier for the listener to absorb.”
CEOs like 10-minute presentations
In general, people seem to like 10-minute presentations. I met an executive at Intel who told me about one of his first meetings with legendary CEO, Andy Grove.
“How long is this presentation?” Grove asked the speaker.
“Twenty minutes.”
“Give me the ten-minute version,” Grove responded.
The executive must have left a good impression because he grew within the company, but he never forgot the fear he felt when he had to cut down his presentation on the spot.
Billionaires like 10-minute pitches
An unusual pitch competition is held at Richard Branson’s home on Necker Island. It’s called The Extreme Tech Challenge. It begins months earlier as 2,000 entrepreneurs enter the competition. Among the entries, 10 finalists are chosen to pitch their startup ideas on stage at the giant CES conference in Las Vegas. The top three are invited to pitch to Branson and a panel of judges at Necker Island. You might think the tropical breeze would put them at ease, but it’s an intense competition for the finalists who might get investment and support from the billionaire entrepreneur.
Each speaker is given ten minutes to pitch their idea. One finalist—an eventual winner—once told me that a value proposition must be made clearly and quickly. “You must clearly explain why you’re making the product, what problem it solves, and why Branson should want to join the journey. If it’s not crystal clear in ten minutes, you’ve lost your audience.”
The 10-minute rule
What’s so special about ten minutes? University of Washington biologist John Medina has one of the best answers. In his book, Brain Rules, Medina observes that in a class of medium interest (not too exciting and not too boring), most students will mentally tune out at exactly ten minutes.
According to Medina, peer-reviewed studies confirm that people tune out of presentations before the first quarter-hour is over. “The brain seems to be making choices according to some stubborn timing pattern, undoubtedly influenced by both culture and gene. This fact suggests a teaching and business imperative: Find a way to arouse and then hold somebody’s attention for a specific period of time.”
Not long ago I heard from a professional named Claire. A millennial, born in 1981, Claire is striving to climb the corporate ladder at the financial insurance company where she works. Every year the firm holds a competition where sales professionals pitch new ideas to senior managers. They are given—you guessed it—ten minutes. The participants are scored on how innovative their idea is, and how well they tell the story behind their idea.
This is where Claire shines. She reads books, watches TED talks, and takes every opportunity to improve her presentation skills. In her first competition last year she wowed the audience. “People remembered my presentation even months later,” she wrote me. “This kind of recognition from bosses several levels up the totem pole simply would not have happened if I could not deliver an effective presentation.”
I received Claire’s note in November, 2016. Last week Claire wrote me again to say she’d been promoted a much larger, more important role in the company. This is going to make a positive impact to my earning potential,” she added.
Claire’s experience—as well as the Intel manager, the winner of Branson’s pitch competition, and the military officers in training—all remind me that the art of selling your idea in 10 minutes or less is a real career advantage. If you have twenty or thirty minutes for a presentation, that’s fine. But get to the point in the first ten minutes before your listener’s mind begins to wander.
Read on Forbes.com