I follow the 10/20/30 rule.
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html#axzz0dpTWbmE5
Really, a presentation is about hook, not detail. Detail can come
before or after. Keep your audience interested in YOU, keep them from
reading the slides, keep yourSELF from reading the slides, and hook
them well. The info absorption can happen with handouts that they can
take back to their offices after you're done with the QA.
While I don't share Guy Kawasaki's exact reasoning for advocating the
10/20/30 rule, I spent way too many hours of my life in boring, long,
overly-detailed presentations and left each one tired and eager to
just go home. I advocated this approach heavily at my last employer
and managed to get a few people to see the value, and they saw their
presentations become vastly more effective.
Now, what scares the crap out of me most about your question is that
you're asking about time per slide in a PPT presentation for a
day-long training session. I'd be afraid students brains would turn to
jello and even start fermenting before the day was over! Definitely
keep PPT to a minimum in a training environment and focus on engaging
the classroom. The worst thing you could do is give them a warm, dim
environment to ferment away into a PPT coma. Space the PPTs out
between QA and other interactive sessions, follow 10/20/30 for each
presentation, and provide details in a training book that they can
take with them and digest in detail later.
A co-worker asked me if there is some established target for how much time to
spend on each slide in a PowerPoint presentation. We're working on a training
presentation for clients to introduce a new technology/product line. I'd be
interested in what the group has to say about the number of slides per hour
and the ideal number of slides per session (assuming training is going to run
for most of a day). If you have any suggestions for pacing, suggested length
of each session, or any other helpful guidelines, I'd value your input.
--
Bill Swallow
Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
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