Determining Projection Screen Size?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rikk
  • Start date Start date
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Rikk

I have a room 40x40 with 40 people seated watching a PP Presentation. Is
there conventional wisdom on how big the projection screen should be for a
room and group size? Can someone point me toward a resource. I will need to
rent/buy the right screen.

Thanks.

Rikk
 
Figure 1" of screen for every person. 40 People = 40"
Screen minimum.
· 24 pt. Font. Minimum on instructor led
· Make sure you have a graphic on every slide
· No more than 6 words, 4 lines
· Don't hold a slide longer than 45 seconds
· Single idea per page
· Maximum of 2 fonts and 2 sizes of font per slide

Reference: ASTD 2004
 
I have to disagree with most of what the ASTD has said here. It encourages
people to stop thinking about what needs to be said in the presentation and
instead focuses them on following a set of (overly stringent) guidelines.

Since the original poster is looking for size information, I recommend they
check out this PPT FAQ entry:
How big should text be?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00125.htm

As to the other "guidelines", use graphics where they are needed and add to
the message. Use animations, sounds, movies, etc. in the same manner. Put
the amount of text on the screen that the participants can see and read
easily, without it distracting them from your message. Spend the time on
each slide that you need to in order to explain the content and get your
message across.

Want more? Check out my book: Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint. I may not be the
ASTD, but I have been doing this long enough to know what works.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived


Figure 1" of screen for every person. 40 People = 40"
Screen minimum.
· 24 pt. Font. Minimum on instructor led
· Make sure you have a graphic on every slide
· No more than 6 words, 4 lines
· Don't hold a slide longer than 45 seconds
· Single idea per page
· Maximum of 2 fonts and 2 sizes of font per slide

Reference: ASTD 2004
 
I need a resource, website, formula or advice on the physical size of a
projection screen in a room of give size and seating. Use of Graphics, Size
of Text and other design issues are not what I am looking for. I appreciate
your offers of information but I have ample resource for what you are
offering.

40" Inch is too small. The 60" I have is too small also. Before I rent or
buy, I would like to find out what size screen I need to accomplish my
purpose.

Thanks for the help.
 
Rikk,
I put this in the other post, but it was kind of buried. You should check
out this PPT FAQ entry:
Since the original poster is looking for size information, I recommend they
check out this PPT FAQ entry:
How big should text be?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00125.htm

While the title talks about text size, there is information in that FAQ
entry on what is called the "8H" rule. It is a good way to figure out how
big hour screen should be.

A quick check of Google found these references also:
http://www.presentersonline.com/technology/projector/throwdistance.shtml
(What you want is at the bottom of the page)
http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-screensize-article.htm

http://www.screens4u.com/default.asp?pg=screensize

Post back and let us know if any of those get you further.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived
 
40" Inch is too small. The 60" I have is too small also. Before I rent or
buy, I would like to find out what size screen I need to accomplish my
purpose.
Click to expand...

That'd depend on your purpose. ;-)

If you need to show single, full-screen letters, you can get by with a very
small screen. If you need to make legal documents legible to audience members
seated in the back row, they probably don't make a screen that big.

The link that Kathy mentioned goes at the problem from the opposite direction:
Given a screen and room of given sizes, how much stuff can you put on the
screen. The same rules work the other way round: given a certain amount of
stuff on the screen, how big does the screen need to be.

Here's the link again:

How big should text be?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00125.htm


--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
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