Fight Me: More Slides Are Better
Some years ago, someone must have come from a long, boring meeting in which many suffered “death by PowerPoint.” We’ve all been there. Unfortunately, in an attempt to keep this from happening again, some very bad rules were drawn up.
There are lots and lots of rules around number of slides, words, and font size, but probably the most famous is the 10/20/30 rule from Guy Kawasaki, which says that no deck should contain more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes, and contain no text smaller than 30 points. Wow.
Mr. Kawasaki meant well, I'm sure, but this rule has led to so many incredibly bad meetings, largely because what most people have taken away from this is that you should have no more than 10 slides. Long forgotten is the prescribed length of the meeting, and few remember how large the text should be.
The result is fewer slides, packed with enough text to get through an hour-long meeting. Or, just as bad, sparse slides that do little to guide or reinforce what's being said. And there's often a level of pride or even smugness at having so few slides.
This brain-numbing meeting was brought to you by the idea that fewer slides was better than more. In an age when everything is going video. And learning is becoming more interactive. Right.
Here's the problem.
Most trainers know—by experience or education—that people learn in three ways:
- Auditory (someone talking through a presentation)
- Visual (someone showing slides)
- Kinesthetic (hands-on/learning by doing)
There's no "or" between those bullets, they're "ands."
The best presentations, training courses, or classroom sessions contain all three of these things—not only so that everyone gets the information in the way that works best for them, but also so you’ve driven home your point in more than one way. I can’t imagine a world in which this would be controversial.
Now imagine you’re in a meeting in which someone has followed one of those misremembered slide-limiting rules, and what’s on screen rarely changes. You and I have been in LOTS of meetings where the slide doesn’t change for, what, five minutes? Ten? Never? For all that time, you received information only by desperately trying to stay focused on the unrelenting talking, with little to no visual reinforcement of the key points.
You and I have been in LOTS of meetings where the slide doesn’t change for, what, five minutes? Ten? Never? All with little to no visual reinforcement of the key points.
This brain-numbing meeting was brought to you by the idea that fewer slides was better than more. In an age when everything is going video. And learning is becoming more interactive. Right.
The intent was good for all of these rules, but they all have been misused and applied far too broadly.
Want my rules? Tough, you’re getting them anyway:
- Meetings should be as short as possible and be limited as few points as needed but with as many slides as necessary to reinforce the key points (key points only)
- You should do everything in your power to create a presentation that engages people, and that can include:
a. Talking – Two-way communication is way (way, way) better than lecturing.
b. Eyeball treats – Keep the text limited and readable, but reinforce key points, and make it graphically interesting.
c. Activity – Ask yourself if there’s anything you can do that will help people learn and get them doing something. Anything at all.
In other words, engage, entertain, involve.
If you want to get your message across, think outside the slide. But when you do use slides, don’t focus on limiting how often your audience gets a something new to look at. It’s such a waste.
Now, still wanna fight? Meet you in the comments.