Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Choose the correct number of slides based on design choices
• Method 2 of 3: Determine the correct number of slides based on the length of your presentation
• Method 3 of 3: Looking beyond canned answers to find the correct number of slides
• Tips
• Warnings

Whether you are a newbie with PowerPoint or a presentation professional, there is always a crucial question in developing your slideshow: How many slides will you be using? Thinking about the amount of time you have and the number of people you speak to is a reliable way to calculate the correct number of slides. Knowing good design choices and seeing your presentation as a unique product will free you from the feeling of being stuck with hard and fast rules of thumb regarding the "correct" number of slides.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Choose the correct number of slides based on design choices

1. Provide the right amount of information. PowerPoint presentations are useful for providing an overview, a general description of a particular topic. Your presentation should not become an encyclopedia. Don't overdo it by including every little detail, source, or fact that might be of interest to the topic you're presenting. Too much information will tire your audience and eventually a lot of people will be more interested in lunch than what you have to say.
   • Keep the presentation about you, not the slideshow. The slides are there to support what you have to say. They should only form part of your presentation, not the whole thing.
2. Divide complex slides into several simple slides. PowerPoint presentations are most effective and powerful when they are uncluttered and minimalistic. For example, if you have one slide with a heading 'Habitats' with three bullets, namely 'Forest', 'Desert' and 'Ocean' with a description of each habitat after it, it is best to assign three separate slides instead to the three different habitats, and provide an overview and image of each on the correct slide.
3. Use audiovisual support only where necessary. Your PowerPoint slideshow should always be designed to enhance your verbal explanation with visual imagery. Sometimes putting words on a screen works, but in general text should be limited. Do you need the images as a starting point from which to explain results, trends, predictions or specific results? Do you mainly use visuals to keep your audience engaged? Are they humorous and / or suitable for a variety of learning styles? These and other relevant questions should guide your decision-making when deciding on the appropriate number of slides for your presentation.
   • Go through your entire presentation and ask yourself if you really need a particular slide. If the answer is no, or if you find that you can also provide the info verbally, then omit the slide.

Method 2 of 3: Determine the correct number of slides based on the length of your presentation

1. Practice your presentation in front of a mirror or a small audience of friends and family before actually holding it. If, during testing, you notice that your time has passed before you have been able to deliver the entire presentation, you know that your presentation contains too many slides. Return to the drawing board to adjust the presentation accordingly.
   • If your presentation ends well before the deadline you were given, increase the amount of time you spend on each slide, or add additional slides to complement the info introduced in the presentation.
   • Get advice from family and friends during your test presentation. If they feel that there are too many or too few slides, or if they feel that certain sections of the presentation appear rushed or slow, adjust your presentation to correct these shortcomings.
2. Pay attention to the speed at which you speak. If you speak fairly quickly, you will be able to get through a large number of slides. If, on the other hand, you want to slow down, you will probably need a smaller number of slides. Use your speaking rate to determine how many slides your presentation can handle.
3. Don't use too many slides. If you have ten minutes to present, you may need more than sixty slides. On the other hand, you may not need more than ten slides. Whichever number you choose, don't take more slides than you can discuss in your allotted time.
4. Don't use too few slides. If you have a lot of info that can be used in your PowerPoint, or graphs, tables or images that could improve your presentation, use it. While you don't want to include so many slides that you can't cover them all in the allotted time, you shouldn't feel so constrained that you don't include valuable information or images in your slideshow.

Method 3 of 3: Looking beyond canned answers to find the correct number of slides

1. Don't listen to the experts. Everyone seems to have their own idea of ​​how many slides are sufficient. Some people think five slides are enough for thirty minutes, others think ten is enough for twenty minutes, and some think ninety or more is enough for twenty minutes. The fact is that every presentation is different and should be approached according to its own merits.
   • A well-known measure of PowerPoint presentations is the 10/20/30 rule. This rule dictates that you need about 10 slides for a 20-minute presentation, and that each slide uses a 30-point font. In other words, each slide is about two minutes long. Maybe the 10/20/30 rule will work for you. If this is not the case, it does not mean that you are using the wrong number of slides.
   • Others argue that an average slide should be shown on the screen for no more than two minutes, and perhaps no longer than 15 seconds.
2. Make sure the number of slides is appropriate for the subject. Some topics require a few slides and a lot of exposure. Other topics require many slides with only minimal explanation. For example, if your presentation is about a particular product or a beautiful landscape, many slides with photos may be more effective than a few slides with text. Think about how you can merge a number of slides with text into image slides with accompanying text, and vice versa.
3. Adapt your slideshow to your audience. If you are presenting very detailed or technical information to a group of people who are very familiar with the terminology and statistics you are presenting, you can include a lot of slides that you will go through quite quickly, but which are necessary to provide and provide support material. to show that you know what you are talking about. If you are presenting the same data in a high school economics class, you may need to shorten the slides and edit your presentation to put each concept in a language that a layman can understand.
4. Think about the location where you will be giving the presentation. If you are presenting in a large room as an auditorium, but you only have a small projection screen for your PowerPoint slides, then you should minimize the importance and number of slides and instead focus on the spoken aspect of your presentation. Likewise, if you are presenting outdoors or in a brightly lit environment, consider keeping the number of slides in your presentation to a minimum, as they may be difficult to see in the bright light.
   • On the other hand, if you are in a more intimate environment and can control the lighting, you may be tempted to use a greater number of slides. As always, however, don't feel compelled to use many slides just because you can.

Tips

• Treat each slide on its own merits. If a slide needs two minutes on screen, so be it. If it needs to be shown on the screen for ten seconds, that's fine too.
• If you have a slide without photos but with several bulleted points, each taking 15 to 20 seconds to explain, you may well spend over a minute on that slide.
• If your slide has embedded video, or if your points are spread across multiple slides, you can spend more time on each slide.
• Don't forget to practice with your audiovisual equipment before your presentation so that you know how to use it and that it is all working properly.
• Visual support doesn't always improve your presentation. Ask yourself if your presentation could just be a speech or needs a slideshow.

Warnings

• When you consider all these factors (detail, jargon, audience size and awareness, etc.), you find that the only short answer to "How many slides should I use" is "It depends."