When creating a PowerPoint slide presentation, you should avoid “information overload.” In that, you don’t want to overwhelm the audience with too much information or distract from the message with too many graphics, transitions, or animations. How many words do you think should be the limit per slide? And why? Should you use a single or multiple transitions for your PowerPoint presentation? When can animations be used on a slide to help to enforce a message? When can they be a hindrance?
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Hi Sharon,
It is usually a bad idea to overwhelm an audience with too much text on a slide or with too many photos, transitions, and animations. Used correctly, these features will enhance your presentation. I suggest you visit the Microsoft PowerPoint Facebook page. You can interact with other PowerPoint users and share tips and tricks for presentations. They can probably answer many of the questions that may come up as you work on your presentation.
You can also check out the Microsoft Office help page to learn more about the various features of PowerPoint.
I hope this helps!
Isabella
MSFT Office Outreach Team
There is no specific answer to your question; you should run the presentation and decide by yourself if if item is really needed and has its ‘usefulness’.
Or I would just say that the answer is in your question:
"Wen creating a PowerPoint slide presentation, you should avoid “information overload.” In that, you don’t want to overwhelm the audience with too much information or distract from the message with too many graphics, transitions, or animations."
…and that it pretty clear – isn’t it?
Same as writing a resumé; you can read a 1000 books on how to write the best cv, but in the end, it’s your call on how it will look and on how you want to present things.
But all in all, think of PP slides as flash cards with just highlights and/or important facts/data.
Don’t write long text or many lines, paragraphs or even more than just a few words sentences.
Personally, I don’t mind page transitions or little short animations of PPS; something like a scrolling in text when moving to another bullet point. But I just cannot stand seeing something permanently flashing or scrolling on the page. I’ve seen things like a dog chasing is tail or a cat plaing with a ball on presentations before and it drove me nuts; almost as much as the Microsoft’s stupid animated paperclip they had in Word at some point.
For every item of the presentation, ask yourself: is this really useful or helpful to pass my message on?
Finally, use and trust your own judgment and place yourself as the viewer when reviewing your document and you will become a PPS expert in no time!