PowerPoint Tips - How Much Is Too Much to Put on 1 Slide?

Whether you're a PowerPoint newbie or a seasoned pro, you've probably asked yourself this question at one point or another: how much is too much for one slide? Here's the definitive answer.

It depends.

Oh, sorry, did you think there would be a clear, cut-and-dried answer, like "400 characters" or "800 pixels"? Unfortunately, there's not one definitive answer. The best amount of information to include on each slide depends on a number of things.

Consider the following factors:

1 - How big is your audience?

2 - How big is the screen or viewing surface you're projecting images on to?

3 - How detailed is the material you're presenting?

4 - How is the room designed? How close are people sitting and does everyone have an equally good view of what's being projected?

Generally speaking, a slide featuring a block of text should include no more than 1-2 sentences. A slide that uses bullet points should include no more than 5 or 6 bullet points, with no more than 2-3 words following each bullet.

Remember, your slides are designed to support your verbal presentation, not replace it. So there's no need to include everything you plan to say on each slide. If you did, the slide would become a distraction instead of an enhancement.

Now, if images are the compelling factor in your presentation, then you would want to include less words on your slides and more images. After all, a picture is worth 1,000 words.

One image per slide is generally plenty, unless you are making a side-by-side comparison, in which two images would work. If this is the case, it's best to make the images the same size (dimensions) as it provides the easiest comparison viewing.

Larger audiences will rely on your slides more heavily, because they can't all see you (the speaker) as easily. More detailed material requires more slides with small amounts of information on each slide. Highly detailed slides are not ideal for larger groups, smaller screens, or odd room layouts.

If you must provide detailed information in a less than ideal setting, consider creating handouts for participants to follow along and take with them. Post a recycle box or bin for folks to recycle papers they don't intend to keep for future reference.

No matter how much you ultimately put on each slide, you'll definitely want to have a slide show projector handy to support your presentation.

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Thinking Outside the Box With Widescreen in PowerPoint

Sometimes it pays to think outside the box. Take a typical PowerPoint presentation. A blank page slide will be set to default as landscape, with sizes in proportion to most screens. However, there is nothing to stop you creating a slide show entirely in portrait format if this lends itself better to your delivery. When presenting a continuation of portrait images, for example, you can select the portrait set up for your slides. The images don't have to be sized into landscape shapes, or have floating space around them which might spoil the effect of the composition.

For the majority of presentations, it is best to use the portrait mode only when the end results dictates - for example if you are printing the slides on transparency masters for use in an overhead projector or if you are presenting on a screen with portrait orientation.

In PowerPoint 2007 changing from landscape to portrait is easy. On the Design tab, locate the Slide Orientation and change from landscape to portrait - it's as simple as that. But what if the new shape means that there's wasted space on each side of the screen? Simply locate the Page Set Up option in the same group, and alter the size of your pages, or slides, to fit the screen you are using.

With PowerPoint 2007, you have the option not only to change the orientation of a slide, but you can also determine the size of a slide. This is especially useful when presenting in widescreen. As the widescreen plasma screen becomes a permanent fixture in today's conference and boardrooms, it's a good idea to make use of the function in your PowerPoint presentation. Widescreen has also become the most popular choice for new laptops. It follows, then, that PowerPoint presentations are now being created in widescreen format, too.

Widescreen refers to the shape of the screen - and is usually expressed as a ratio of width to height. Standard televisions and most computer screens use a 4:3 aspect ratio. HDTVs use a 16:9 ratio, and widescreen laptops are usually 16:10.

But it's not just a question of keeping up to date with the latest hi-tech; widescreen also has many advantages that give your presentation the edge. Widescreen enables you to use all the space on your screen and means there's more room on the slide for your information - think about comparing data over two columns on one slide, for example. Not only does the extra space on each slide mean that there is more space for your text and graphics, but the whole effect is less cluttered. And the futuristic cinematic shape also adds another dimension to your slide show. Widescreen is one of the newest forms of presentation display and demonstrates that you, too, are keeping up with what's new.

When you access the Page Setup dialog box in PowerPoint 2007, you are able to have extra control over the page set up for your presentation. The controls in the dialog box - for example the Slides sized for drop down list - help you set the size of your slides based on how you plan to present them. The most common choice is to present the slides on a standard computer screen, which has an aspect ratio of 4:3. Other options on this drop-down list include different screen ratios, suitable for wide-screen displays, standard sized paper and even 35-mm slides. A Custom option lets you set any width and height.

There's also the option to alter the width and height of your slides and a numbering option for each slide. The Page Setup lets you set the orientation to portrait or landscape. You can decide on a setting for slides, handouts and notes.

A word of warning: it's best to make the change to widescreen format before creating your presentation. If there is any chance that you might have to show your presentation in widescreen, therefore, it is a good idea to set this up prior to adding any information to your slides. Making a change to the setup of the slides at a later time can cause your data to be stretched and distorted on the screen.

Although most laptops and presentation projectors are not widescreen, you can still deliver you presentation in widescreen format. PowerPoint 2007 has the flexibility that allows you to fit your slides to the available screen space. It's a bit like watching a widescreen film on a standard television screen, when the letterbox format displays black bars at the top and bottom.

If your presentations are not time-tied and are going to be used in the future, it is a good idea to begin creating any slide shows in the widescreen format. Get thinking outside the box and give your presentation that extra edge.

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on powerpoint london, please visit http://www.microsofttraining.net

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Presentations - The Single Most Powerful PowerPoint Slide You Can Use

PowerPoint problems run rampant in presentations, from busy, overdone slides that are impossible to read to poor usage where the speaker talks to the slide or blocks the screen. While there are lots of ways to improve slide quality and enhance PowerPoint usage, there is one little known, but powerful, strategy that can improve any PowerPoint presentation and put the focus more on the speaker, where it belongs. 

This wonderful strategy is... the black slide.

Keep in mind, the objective of visuals is to complement what you're saying, to help the audience understand or remember a point. So it stands to reason that if your visuals are purposeful, then you won't have a visual up all the time. In fact, you don't need a visual up to relate an anecdote or have interaction with your audience. Neither is a visual necessary to set the stage or to wrap up or to signal the start of Q&A.

Enter, the black slide. A black slide makes the screen go dark. Wherever you insert one into your PowerPoint presentation, there will be nothing on the screen. This enables you to tell that story or give that example or make that transition without the distraction of purposeless visual. And you now have the focus on you (which is ideally where it should be!).

Don't know how to create a black slide? Not surprising, since PowerPoint has no vested interest in helping you NOT use a slide! Here are some basic instructions (this is for PowerPoint 2007 -- every version is a little different; the key is to find the "Format Background" function):

 -Create a new slide and right-click on it

 -From the options that come up, click on: "Format Background"

 -In the box that comes up, select:

    1. Solid Fill

    2. Hide Background Graphics

    3. Color: Click on the down arrow and select black

 -Click Apply (NOT Apply All!)

Your slide will now be black and when projected in a room, will simply look like there's nothing on the screen. A great opportunity for the speaker to capture the focus!

There is another trick that will create a dark screen. If, while you're in "Slide Show" mode, you hit the "B" key on your keyboard, your screen will go dark. When you hit it (or the mouse or the arrow or enter key) again, the visual you had darkened will come back up. (Please note that this feature works only in "Slide Show" mode.) Now, before you get all excited and think, "Great! I'll just use the 'B' key to go to blank in between some of my slides," let me offer a word of caution.

First of all, the thing about the "B" key is that when you hit it the second time to get out of the black slide, it doesn't advance to your next slide. The visual you had up before the black slide will reappear. So it's going to be awkward to have to bring up your previous slide before you can go to your next one. Secondly, what do you think the likelihood is that you're going to remember to hit the "B" key after certain visuals? It's risky to rely on your memory. It's much simpler to just insert a black slide when you don't want anything on the screen.

Final suggestion, always end on a black slide. This is a nice way to end your presentation-nothing on the screen to distract from you during your close or the Q&A session. I recommend you create one instead of relying on PowerPoint's version...  You may have noticed it has the tiny type on it that says, "End of slide show. Click to exit." Not a big deal, but I have seen speakers who, moving in front of the projector with this slide up, had that white type run across their shirt or their face. It can be a little distracting. Leave your black slide there and don't exit the "Slide Show" mode until you are completely done with your presentation. If you exit Slide Show before you're done, the audience has to look at the "Slide Sorter View" of your program, which is busy and distracting.

The black slide is the single most powerful slide you can use in PowerPoint. Use it often!

Barbara Busey, president of the training firm Presentation Dynamics, has been a professional speaker, trainer and author since 1990. She does training and speaking on the "dynamics" of how people "present" themselves, is the author of the book, "Stand Out When You Stand Up," and is the creator of The Compelling Speaker, a unique presentation skills training program that combines advance audio CD instruction with a hands-on, ultra participative workshop. She now offers the Compelling Speaker Certification, a turnkey system -- complete with training content & technique, business strategies, and marketing guidelines -- that positions communicators to make a living training other business professionals to become more compelling speakers. Go to Compelling Speaker Certification to see her video, listen to her audio, and learn when the next Certification training is.

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