One of their most common questions about webinars is about the number of slides in an "ideal" webinar.
As you might imagine, this is one of those "How long is a piece of string?" questions, where the only logical answer is, "It depends".
That's true, but I can give you two guidelines to help you find the right answer for your webinars.
First, most webinar presenters use too few slides. Keep in mind that in a webinar, your slides are not just visual aids; they are the visuals! Even if the audience can see you on video, they will get most of their visual information from your slides. It's exactly the other way around in a good face-to-face presentation, where you are the main visual, and your slides are just visual aids.
OK, so I'm saying you should add more slides, right? Yes. So... how many more?
Here's the simple rule of thumb: What they see on the screen should match what you're saying.
In other words, you want the audience to get (in essence) the same message, whether they are seeing it on the screen or hearing it through their speakers.
I don't mean this literally! I'm not saying they should be able to get the entire message from either the screen or the speakers. I'm saying they should match.
For example, let's say you're presenting a one-hour webinar, and you follow the classic structure of three main points, with each point having three sub-points. That gives 9 "points" in total; and allowing time for an introduction and conclusion, each of those 9 points takes approximately 5 minutes.
You should not have just one slide for each of those points. Having the same slide on the screen for five minutes is way too long. That's a sure-fire way to lose your audience (Even if you don't lose them completely, they will quickly realise they can be doing other things while listening to your webinar - so you won't have their full attention).
Instead, consider what you're going to say about each of those 9 points, and design slides to match. You might end up with 4-5 slides, or one slide that builds up gradually over the five minutes. In rare cases, you might need 10 slides for that point (if, say, you'll be talking about a lot of examples). In even rarer cases, you might decide that just one slide is the right option for this point (if, say, you're telling a long story).
It's up to you, but remember the rule of thumb: What they see on the screen should match what you're saying.
Gihan Perera is the author of "Webinar Smarts", the smart way for professional speakers, trainers, thought leaders and business owners to deliver engaging and profitable webinars. If you want to know how to reach the world with mic, screen and mouse, visit http://webinarsmarts.com/ for your copy.
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