Write slide text people can read — PowerPoint

Slides are meant to be glanced at, not read like a letter. By the end of this page you will know how much text belongs on a slide, how big it needs to be, and why cramming your whole speech onto the screen actually makes you a worse speaker.

A slide is a signpost, not a script. When you put every word you plan to say onto the slide, two bad things happen at once: the audience starts reading ahead of you instead of listening, and you start reading the slide out loud instead of talking to the room. The slide's job is to remind everyone, including you, what the current point is, in a handful of words.

A useful rule of thumb is one idea per slide and no more than about six bullet points, each one a short phrase rather than a full sentence. If you find yourself writing a bullet that needs its own bullets underneath it, that is usually a sign the slide is trying to do two jobs and should become two slides. Text size matters just as much as word count: anything smaller than 24 point is hard to read from the back of a room, and if you have shrunk the font to make everything fit, that is Powerpoint quietly telling you there is too much on the slide.

A crowded slide vs. a readable one. The body box on this slide is trying to hold seven bullets at once. 1 — the status bar names the current layout, which is where you would check the slide is set up as Title and Content before trimming the list down.

Too many bullets to skim
One idea belongs here
1Layout name shown here

Try it yourself

Open a slide with a bulleted text box and count how many bullet points are on it.
Counting first, before editing, shows you objectively whether the slide is overloaded rather than relying on a feeling.
If there are more than six bullets, or any bullet runs to a full sentence, split the content: move the extra points to a new slide using Home > New Slide.
Two clear slides communicate faster than one crowded one, even though it feels like 'more slides' is worse.
Select the bullet text, go to Home, and check the font size box. Increase it to at least 24 point.
This is the smallest size that stays legible on a screen from a normal meeting-room distance.
Rewrite each bullet as a short phrase (three to seven words) rather than a sentence, cutting words like 'the', 'that' and 'in order to' where you can.
Short phrases work as prompts for you and headlines for the audience; full sentences invite people to read instead of listen.
Read the slide back with fresh eyes and ask: could someone glancing at this for three seconds get the point?
Three seconds is roughly how long an audience member's eyes rest on a slide before returning to you, so that is the real test.

Words people use

Bullet point

A short line of text marked with a dot or dash, used to list ideas rather than write them as full prose.

Placeholder

The dashed box already on a slide layout that says things like 'Click to add text' — you type directly into it.

Font size

How big the letters are, measured in points; 24pt is a sensible minimum for slide body text.

Autofit

A Powerpoint feature that shrinks text automatically so it fits the box — useful for small overflows, a warning sign for large ones.

Once this habit sticks, writing slides gets quicker, not slower. You stop trying to capture every thought in text and start trusting yourself to say the rest out loud, which is usually a more confident and natural way to present anyway.

Check yourself

If you can say yes to each of these, you are ready for the next lesson.

I know why a slide should not contain a full script.
I can keep a slide to one idea and around six bullets or fewer.
I can check and increase font size so text stays readable, at least 24 point.
I can turn a long sentence into a short bullet phrase.