How Many PowerPoint Slides Do You Need for Your Presentation?
/How many PowerPoint slides should you include when preparing for a presentation?
And the answer is… as many as you need!
You may have heard all kinds of suggestions. Some experts might say you should have a specific number of slides per minute. However, this isn’t the best way to approach your presentation. If you want to create an engaging presentation, you must change your outlook on presenting.
Here are the 4 factors that impact how many PowerPoint slides you will need for your presentation.
4 Factors that Impact How Many PowerPoint Slides You Need
Only Have One Idea Per Slide
Great presentations are not measured by the number of slides. Memorable presentations are engaging and insightful. The speakers often have excellent storytelling skills and give the audience a clear call to action. Before you count the number of slides, you must present with a strong foundation.
Forget the 10/20/30 rule (10 slides, delivered in 20 minutes, with a minimum font size of 30). Your PowerPoint slides should not be measured by time per slide. Instead, there is one big factor that can impact how many slides your presentation has.
And that is the complexity of your ideas.
The more complex your idea, the more slides you will need to clearly convey the points you are trying to make. You might wonder, “How many PowerPoint slides do I need for a complex idea?”
The practice is to limit yourself to one idea per slide.
As you design your PowerPoint slides, ask yourself, “What is the one thing I want my audience to take from this slide?”
That way, as you transition from slide to slide, your audience will easily follow you from idea to idea. If you put too many ideas into your presentation, you might confuse your audience. If they are confused, they might even stop listening entirely!
Don’t count your slides. Make each slide count.
Cut, Cut, and Cut!
The best way to ensure you have the right number of slides for your presentation is only to include absolutely necessary information. If there’s content that doesn’t add value or support your main points, then leave it out. Typically, people put too much information into one slide which leads to confusion.
Reduce your content and text until the message is crystal clear. The audience should not have to read so many slides to understand your point. Your slides should aid their understanding.
Don’t make your audience work hard during your presentation. Instead, help them by providing a smooth transition from one slide to the next.
Make Use of Visuals
Focus on how visuals can help to convey your main message points. When it comes to text on PowerPoint slides, less is more. The challenge with having too much text is that it takes your audience’s attention away from your presentation. Instead of listening they will be reading your slides.
That is why visuals can help you with your presentation. By using pictures, diagrams, graphs and other visuals, you can convey more information to your audience faster. In fact, studies have shown that the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text.
Consider Your Audience
When creating your PowerPoint slides, be sure to consider your audience’s needs. Ensure that your text is correctly sized at a minimum of 28 point font and is easy to read.
In addition, here are a few questions to consider when you speak to your audience
How experienced is your audience with your topic?
What is their level of expertise with the topic?
Do they have any prior knowledge about the topic, or are you introducing something new to them?
What actions do you want them to take at the end?
Coaching and Training for Business Presentations
When it comes to delivering memorable presentations, it boils down to the basics. You may quickly go over one slide and spend more time on another. Therefore, there is no rule for having a specific number of slides per minute.
If you want to discuss your organisation’s (corporate, NGOs, Associations and Universities) Public speaking or Presentation skills needs, I offer free 30-minute consultations through my site. I’d love to meet you.