[Misty]

Hello

My husband needs to do a 30-minute presentation as part of a job interview, could anyone tell me how many slides would be acceptable in such a presentation?

Thank you

[donabel_beltran]

It really depends on the subject matter. As a general rule, however, consider the "7 +/- 2" Rule of chunking/grouping information. People can only take 5-9 items at a time (without a break).

[theflyingbeagle]

Hi,

As Donabel said, it does depend on the subject matter. However, I normally work on the rule that each slide will cover about 2 - 3 minutes.

[KnowItAll]

The better the public speaker, the fewer the slides.

As a rule .... I'd do about one slide with just bullets for every 5-10 minutes and then chalk-talk content on the slide on a seperate whiteboard.

People fall asleep if they can read everything you have to say on the slide in 30 seconds and then have to listen to you drone on for several minutes.

Also, don't forget to take printed copies of the slides and give them to the audience AFTER the presentation is over.

[hullexile]

people vary but about 2-5 mins per slide. As it is just a presentation (by which I mean people do not need to remember it or learn new facts) then I would go for fewer slides. Do a couple of practice runs before but do not learn it of by heart as this can come across as stilted.

[nation]

Good advice already. I had to do a presentation to senior management when I got my last job in London which went successfully. How he approaches it is really dependant on what the motive behind the presentation is i.e. is he to give a presentation on a case study problem, is he to give a presentation on what he can offer the firm, is he to give a presentation being a psuedo job tender for a potential client ......? This, along with the intended audience, will dictate the number, content and level of detail of the slides. Just like any work scenario there's no one bog stock answer, how he prepares for the presentation is dependant on the circumstances surrounding the presentation.

[Football16]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

The better the public speaker, the fewer the slides.

As a rule .... I'd do about one slide with just bullets for every 5-10 minutes and then chalk-talk content on the slide on a seperate whiteboard.

People fall asleep if they can read everything you have to say on the slide in 30 seconds and then have to listen to you drone on for several minutes.

Also, don't forget to take printed copies of the slides and give them to the audience AFTER the presentation is over.

I have given and received lots of PowerPoint presentations so can see the issues from both sides.

This above is great advice except for the very last point which used to drive me absolutely nuts as a corporate VP when a consultant would come in to make a presentation and give out copies only at the end.

Some say give copies out after the presentation to prevent people from reading ahead. To me, courtesy works the other way. Give it out before you start and the recipients can make notes on it as the talk proceeds especially in the situation described above.

I do client presentations now as a consultant and usually give the slide handouts with say 6 or 9 slides (check they are readable) to a page while working from the laptop on a screen.

The other good bit of advice is not to rely on the laptop and projection equipment working and make sure you have handouts or overheads or all of them in case of a breakdown of sorts.

More important than the number of slides is the design of the presentation with a great opening and summary at the end that invites comments or questions and discussion. If there is not time for discussion at the end based on what they want to happen, show how you would have run a discussion or q and a session.

[KnowItAll]

This above is great advice except for the very last point which used to drive me absolutely nuts as a corporate VP when a consultant would come in to make a presentation and give out copies only at the end.

Yeah .. I agree .. it is audience specific and also specific to a presenter.

I prefer (and doubt you can change my opinion on this) to have informal presentations and give a handout to remind people who fell a sleep ...

[Misty]

Thanks guys

My hubby has done a ton of these before for work but this is a very complex subject they have asked him to address for the interview hence the questions. Content etc is not a problem it was just if there was an acknowledged number of slides per time frame.