In business, you are always presenting. It might be a big show for a bank to get a SBA loan. It could be a conference for a large group of potential clients. You are even presenting when trying to convince one person to embrace your ideas.
Presenting is an art that is based on science. We know the average attention span of a participant in a meeting – ten minutes. We know where the questions and answers part should go – at the end. We even have the calculated times to insert breaks – ten minutes for every hour. Where is the art then? It’s in how we present our information within the scientific boundaries ideal for maximum penetration of the participant’s brain.
When making PowerPoint slides, there is a saying that is both art and science: "Less is More." What does that mean; less relative to what? For someone who normally uses twenty bullet points per slide, it could mean only using ten. For someone who sticks to five, it could mean two. To figure it out for yourself, remember this point: The object of the game is not to create the best slides, but to create slides to get information to your participants in the best way possible. Not very pithy, but you know exactly what is meant.
What if you were about to go into a meeting and someone told you the presenter had over 100 slides to go through? Would your heart sink? Would you suddenly have a dying grandma to go tend to? If the presenter was Dick Hardt, then you would be in for a treat. His massive slide show is presented in fifteen entertaining and lively minutes.
What about a meeting where the presenter only had 10 slides? Would that make you feel less dread? It would probably depend on how long the presentation was going to be, right? Imagine ten slides over an hour. Brutal! Of course, you wouldn’t think so if the presenter was Guy Kawasaki, who only covers ten points written in huge letters and are only there to keep the participants orientated. With Guy, you always know where you’re at and where he’s going.
The point is, it doesn’t matter how many slides are in your "deck," it’s how you present them. Many or few slides can be good for short presentations. For longer shows, why not use both methods? Combine an overview of ten points, always going back to the main point page as often as possible to keep your participants oriented. Then for each point, you can do a few slides that emphasize your main sub-points, or do a running stream of consciousness with many slides. The few slides emphasize your message and the many energize your audience.
How you mix and match these two methods is up to you. It’s on the "art" side of PowerPoint presentations.
