How Many Slides Is Too Many? The Real Question Every Presenter Should Be Asking

Are you asking the wrong question about your presentations? In this Quick Fix episode of Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling, host Stéphane Lagresle reveals why "How many slides should I have?" is the wrong question, and what you should be asking instead.

THE PROBLEM:

You open PowerPoint. You start adding slide after slide. Before you know it, you've got 40 slides for a 20-minute presentation.

But here's the thing: you don't have a presentation. You have a pile of information with no story holding it together. Your audience is lost because information without story is just noise.

This is the slide dependency problem. Your slides have become your script instead of supporting your story.

THE FRAMEWORK:

Using a powerful movie analogy, Stéphane introduces The One Test and The One Rule, two simple frameworks that will transform how you build presentations:

THE ONE TEST: Can you tell your story without the slides? If a massive technical failure happened and you couldn't show any slides, could you still deliver a compelling narrative? If not, you have a slide dependency problem.

THE ONE RULE: Every slide must do two things: (1) Move your story forward, AND (2) Get your audience closer to the goal you've defined (using the Empathy Map from Quick Fix #1). If a slide doesn't do both, it doesn't belong in your deck.

YOU'LL LEARN:

→ Why the number of slides doesn't matter—the story does
→ How to break free from slide dependency and build narrative-driven presentations
→ The two-part test every slide must pass to earn its place in your deck
→ Why information without emotion doesn't create retention (and how to fix it)
→ Real client transformation: from 30+ slides to 15 slides—and winning the contract
→ When to use slides and when to "kill the slide" for maximum impact
→ How to apply the Empathy Map framework to presentation design

TACTICAL TAKEAWAY:

Stop asking "How many slides do I need?" Start asking "What story am I telling?"

THE PRINCIPLE: Information without emotion doesn't create retention. Learn how to create emotional moments around critical information so your audience actually remembers what matters.

Perfect for:

• Automotive sales and business development professionals
• B2B technology sales teams and account managers
• Product marketing and sales enablement leaders
• Startup founders and executives pitching investors
• Engineers and technical professionals presenting to non-technical audiences
• Anyone who presents complex solutions to customers

Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling is the premier podcast for automotive innovation leaders, revealing the human stories behind technological breakthroughs. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, Founder of The Storytelling Tribe and creator of the Automotive-Grade Storytelling™ methodology.

Connect: TheStorytellingTribe.com | LinkedIn: @SLagresle

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.