How Many Slides Should You Have? How Many Slides Do You Need? (Flashback Friday #23)

On Fridays, we dip into the Six Minutes article archive in search of one of the most memorable articles. We’ll dust it off, shine a light on it, and consider it from a new perspective.

This week, we also spotlight recent releases that may help you enrich your public speaking library.

Resources for Speakers – Public Speaking Books

Check out these recently released public speaking, communications, and training books:

• Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo
• How to Argue With A Cat: A Human's Guide to the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs
• Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks
• Manage Memory for Deeper Learning: 21 evidence-based and easy-to-apply tactics that support memory while learning and beyond by Patti Shank
• How to Create a $1,000,000 Speech by Judith Briles

Today’s Flashback Article

This week, we’re reaching back to December 2011 to find out how many slides you should have for your next presentation.

This article was written in response to a question from a Six Minutes reader:

Can you provide some guidance on deciding how many slides should be in my PowerPoint presentations? I’ve read that you shouldn’t have too many slides because it distracts from the speaker. But I’ve also read that having lots of slides keeps the presentation fast-paced and prevents boredom. What’s right? How many PowerPoint slides should I have?

Since that day 6.5 years ago, I’ve received this question dozens of times via email and during presentation design courses that I teach. What do you think? Cut slides to avoid distraction? Or add slides to keep your presentation from being too boring. Or could there be a different rationale completely?

Read the full article, view the related 2-minute video from the creative geniuses at Duarte which is guaranteed to make you laugh, and share your insights about the optimal number of slides:

• How Many Slides Should You Have? How Many Slides Do You Need?