So how many slides should you put in a PowerPoint presentation? I know some of you want a very firm answer like seven or 10. It's really not that simple. Here's the bigger test I would give you for each slide you have asked yourself, does this slide make my idea more memorable than me simply saying it? And does this slide make my idea more understandable than simply saying it? If you can't get a yes answer to both of those things, you should probably throw the slide away.

Now, having said that, I've seen people who only have two or three slides in a presentation, and the presentation was awful because there was nothing interesting or memorable in the slides, nothing that enhanced it at all. I've also seen speakers, well known sales expert Jeffrey Gitomer, for example, I've seen him give a presentation with 120 slides. It was a great presentation. Now it wasn't necessarily great because of the slides, but the slides didn't bring him down. Your focus should not be the number of slides your focus should be what are the ideas you have to communicate to this audience now? How can you use every tool possible to make these ideas more understandable, more memorable.

One tool is by telling a story, another tool, giving an example. Another tool, a handout before or after the presentation. Another tool is a visual that you display on a PowerPoint slide and other tool could be a prop. So focus on what the real goal is communicating your ideas, then use all the tools available. If you do that, the number of slides will take care of themselves.