By Dominic Colenso
Whether you are leading a team or pitching a startup, presentations can be a gift or a curse. The good news is that all ‘blockbuster’ presentations follow the same pattern – a simple formula we can use to turn complex ideas into a clear, compelling story: the 20:70:10 rule.
Whether you are leading a team or pitching a startup, presentations can be a gift or a curse. Done well, you engage your audience, elevate your status and build momentum. Done badly, you lose people, damage your reputation and leave a trail of confusion behind you.
Too many leaders start by emptying their ideas straight into PowerPoint. They build slide after slide of bullet points and data, then hope the audience will somehow join the dots. But that’s not how you earn attention or trust.
I learned this early in my career as an actor on stage and screen. When you go to the cinema, time disappears. If the film is good, you never check your watch or your phone. You’re pulled into the action. You want to know what happens next. That’s the level of engagement we should be aiming for whenever we present too.
The good news is that all blockbusters follow the same pattern. A simple formula we can use in business presentations to turn complex ideas into a clear, compelling story.
Introducing the Blockbuster Formula
In my book Cut Through I talk about the difference between a blockbuster and arthouse films, because the distinction applies just as much to presentations as it does to cinema.
Blockbusters are designed to be easy to watch. The story flows. One scene leads naturally to the next. You know who you are following and what they are trying to achieve. Think Bond, Harry Potter, Star Wars or almost any Marvel film. You settle into your seat and you are drawn in straight away. Afterwards it is easy to tell someone what the story was about. It sticks.
Arthouse films take a different path. They jump around. They play with time, perspective and theme. They ask you to work hard to keep up. There is nothing wrong with that in the cinema, but in a business setting it’s a problem. Many presentations fall into the arthouse trap without meaning to. Lots of ideas. No clear flow. A narrative that darts back and forth until everyone is struggling to follow along.
Your goal as a presenter is almost always to be more blockbuster. You want your audience relaxed, engaged and following your train of thought without effort. You want them to walk away able to repeat your key points in their own words. That is how ideas land and decisions get made.
So how do you create that feeling? You start with the simple three act structure that sits beneath almost every commercial success.
The Setup is where you establish the context. It gives your audience a clear sense of where they are and why they should care. You introduce the situation, the stakes and the direction of travel. If people don’t understand the purpose at the start, nothing that follows will land.
The Confrontation is the heart of the story. This is where tension builds. Problems surface, solutions are tested and your main message unfolds step by step. In a presentation this is where you make your argument. The evidence, the insight, the analysis. This middle section does the heavy lifting.
The Resolution ties everything together. You bring the threads back together and give the audience a sense of what happens next. In a business context that means finishing with clarity. A decision. A recommendation. A call to action. This is the moment the audience remembers, which is why rushing it is such a costly mistake.
Once you understand this shape, the next step is to allocate time to each act. In the film world the pattern is consistent. Roughly twenty percent of the running time on Setup, seventy percent on Confrontation and ten percent on Resolution. I call this the 20:70:10 ratio and it maps perfectly to presentations.
If you have thirty minutes to speak, you do not have thirty minutes of content. You have six minutes to set the scene, twenty-one minutes to develop your argument and three minutes to close. The moment you divide your time like this everything snaps into focus. You cut the fluff. You prioritise what matters. You stop rushing the ending and you show your audience that you know exactly where you are taking them.
This is why the top presenters feel different. They have learned to think like storytellers, not slide builders. Once you adopt the same approach, your audience will feel the difference immediately.
Putting 20:70:10 into Practice
Knowing the formula is one thing. Using it under pressure is another.
Start by getting clear on your total time, then subtract the Q&A. Too many presenters forget to do this and end up squeezing their conclusion into the final minute. Once you know how long you actually have to speak, divide it using the ratio. This instantly gives you a clean structure to work within.
Now map your ideas into the three acts. What belongs in Setup? What earns a place in Confrontation? What you are asking for in the Resolution? Anything that does not fit can become a handout or follow up. The point isn’t to cram everything in. It’s to make the journey as easy and engaging as possible.
Finally, practise it out loud. Time each section. Notice where you repeat yourself or drift into unnecessary detail. Sharpen the message. When you do this, your presentation stops being a data dump and becomes an experience your audience want to follow.
The 20:70:10 formula forces you to think like a storyteller. It encourages you to focus on what matters and to leave out what doesn’t.
So, the next time you stand up to speak, ask yourself a simple question. Are you asking your audience to survive an arthouse experiment, or are you giving them a blockbuster experience that carries them from start to finish with clarity and ease? When you choose the latter, everything changes. Decisions get made faster. Ideas land more cleanly. And your impact grows.
Dominic Colenso
