Less is more. When preparing slides for PowerPoint, consider using only a word or two to emphasize your main points.
Recently I attended a three hour workshop on a topic that interests me a great deal. Even though the presenter was glued to the computer from which the slides were being projected, her remarks on the topic — when she wasn’t reading from the slides — were pretty engrossing.
But it was hard to take notes. The font for the slides was small, presumably to fit words into the slide. It would have been so much easier to follow the presentation had each point been compressed on the slide to one or two words. With a lot of words on each slide, it was increasingly difficult for me to tease out the main point.
For example, instead of a bullet point that read, “Search engine optimization is important for bloggers who want to attract readers”, the bullet point could have read simply “Search engine optimization”. Instead of “Organize each post so that the main idea is easy to find”, “Organize” or “Main idea” would have worked just fine.
Trust your listeners to take notes. Or if you don’t trust them, present them with notes you’ve prepared after your presentation. Filling a slide with words will only confuse and perhaps annoy.
When it comes to choosing words for your slides, less really is more.
