January 13th, 2010
One of the most important rules in creating a powerful PowerPoint presentation is simple: don’t put everything on a slide.
Remember that audiovisuals are meant to support and enhance the verbal delivery of your presentation – not to serve as a visual replacement of it. Each slide should contain only bullet points to keep your audience focused and allow you to speak without relying heavily on printed notes. Displaying only a bullet point requires your audience members to listen to your speaking voice in order to grasp each key point, yet the projected display stimulates and satisfies their need for visual interaction.
When you remember to focus on only the key points of your presentation, it becomes easy to streamline your PowerPoint presentation.
How many slides should you have?
The answer depends on several factors, including:
1 – the length (duration) of your presentation
2 – the amount of technical terms, required data displays, comparative data, and new concepts being introduced
3 – the level of audience participation you’re planning
4 – the diversity of the information being presented
Generally speaking, you should have no more than 2-3 slides per five (5) minutes of presentation. So a 30-minute presentation shouldn’t need more than 18 slides altogether, and many presentations of this length could get by on fewer slides.
As a general rule, you will want to group similar bulleted points together on the same slide, and always give each chart or graph its own slide, unless you are comparing side-by-side data that fits easily and legibly on a single slide.
If in doubt, leave it out. And at the end of your presentation, it’s a good idea to include a summary slide that features the key takeaway points of your presentation. Leave your audience with a visual representation of your most important points.
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