How many slides should you have? Or rather, how many are you supposed to have in a PowerPoint? People ask me this all the time, and the honest answer is: it does not matter in the slightest. Asking how many slides a presentation needs is a bit like asking how many pages a book should have. The number tells you nothing.
What matters enormously, on the other hand, is the amount of information on each slide. Here you should always strive for minimalism. No full sentences, and a maximum of around six points or objects per slide. That is the number to obsess over, not the total in your deck.
If you want proof that the count of slides is beside the point, watch Dick Hardt deliver his talk Identity 2.0. He races through a remarkable number of slides, each one clean and simple, and the effect is spellbinding rather than exhausting. It is one of the finest demonstrations you will find that the secret was never in how many, but in how little you put on each one.
Want to become a better presenter?
This is a short piece from David's knowledge bank. To go deeper, the best places are a keynote, a course, or one to one coaching.