How can you determine the ideal amount of text on a slide?

In my experience slides need to act as a precursor to the detailed discussion we intend to have with the prospect. So it needs to give pointed information and at the same time no to be so restrictive that prospect doesn’t relate to it and ends up finding it vague.

The litmus test for me is that if someone with the same background can understand what i want to say via visual represntation only or does some additional text needs to be there for guiding the audience. The Ideal way would be minimal text. Less is better so as to avoid the audience from being distracted on reading the slide then listening to the speaker.

Knowing the Audience is of utmost Importance. As the speed of the pitch, the concepts to be covered, the Impotance on certain aspects would vary. For eg. If I know i shall be meeting the senior management, I know I have first 10-15 mins to impress only. So i focus on Big picture & avoid transaction focus. If I know Im meeting middle management or the people using the product, I would focus on how using my product would help resolve some of their key issues.

My opinion here is that irrespective of the Medium, the Slides itself should be self explanatory. If the speaker is going to read & repeat whats written on the slide, the audience will loose interest quickly. Hence ceratin key words would be fine but the story building and the impact shall be given while presenting but data wise, the slide needs to be impactful enough on its own.

There are 2 contrasting views on the designing on the slide which actually depend on the Topic. 1. Concise or Compact View: Here a speaker would like o bombared all the info in one single slides using various section. Here typically usage of text would be apt along with diagrams. 2. Distributed View: Here the Speaker would like to use multiple slides to explain the same concept & take their time on each slide. So Depending on your Audience & prupose the Slide needs to be designed. Always think from the prespective of your audience. As an part of the audience how would you like the data to be presented.

This article treats slides as documents to be read. Presentation slides should be visual support for the message, not the message itself. What you SAY should convey the meaning, supported with visuals that are compelling, clear, and easily consumed. Text that reflects what you're saying is essentially your speaker's notes thrown on the screen. Try dropping most text from the slides you use while presenting. That helps your audience focus on what you say and how you say it. Exceptions: > Broad titles or headlines (if any) > Labels on charts > Quotes