I’ve always felt that overloaded Powerpoint slides are a very poor way to gain attention, make sales, and instruct an audience.
Here are some good – and very brief! – guidelines, from Sales and Marketing magazine:
Pass It On: Brevity Sells
March 26, 2007
“A lot of people confuse a PowerPoint presentation with a report,” packing too much information onto too many slides, says Michael McLaughlin, principal at Mindshare Consulting, a business consultancy in Portland, Ore. Want more compelling PowerPoint slides? Then keep the following in mind.
Less Is More
Keep text to a minimum—a few words on a slide is plenty. The emphasis should be on the salesperson, not the slide.
Pictures Are Powerful
Images often evoke a far greater response and remain in a prospect’s mind much longer than words.
Keep It Brief
The longer the presentation and the more slides flashed in front of an audience, the more likely they are to zone out as time goes on. Use the PowerPoint as more of a background piece to stimulate dialogue, rather than the centerpiece of your presentation.
Amen to all three points!
This reminds me of a medical advisory board meeting I helped prepare some years ago. We suggested 20 slides, but the product manager increased the number to 65! Imagine how difficult it was to keep an audience of OB/GYNs sitting still for 65 slides.
Guy Kawasaki offers similar advice with his 10/20/30 rule. No more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes, and no fonts less than 30 points. (http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html)