Why You Should Stop Building Slide Decks First — And Start With a Story Instead

You’ve been asked to give a presentation. The date is set. The clock is ticking.

And what do most people do next?

• Dive into old slide decks

• Salvage reusable charts, data, and visuals

• Struggle to prune them

• Add new slides

• Rearrange endlessly

• Realize the deck is still too long

Sound familiar?

This is the wrong starting point.
It produces a collage of disconnected slides—not a persuasive message.

Mini-Summary:
Starting with slides creates confusion, not clarity. A strong presentation starts long before the visuals.

Before touching PowerPoint, ask:

“What is the single, essential message I want the audience to believe when I finish?”

This requires:

• Clear thinking

• Strategic choice

• Deep understanding of your listeners

There may be many attractive messages—but only one can be the anchor.

To identify it, you must know who will be in the audience:

• What companies are attending?

• What roles do participants hold?

• What is their pain point or motivation

• What outcome do they care about most?

Your message is not what you want to say.
Your message is what the audience must hear.

Mini-Summary:
Your first task is clarity of message—not slide creation.

Slides encourage presenters to think in terms of data, charts, and information.
But data is:

• Inert

• Hard to visualize

• Easy to forget

• Often meaningless without context

That’s why storytelling is the superior organizing framework.

Stories:

• Give data meaning

• Provide context and colour

• Make complex information relatable

• Anchor the message emotionally

For example, saying:

“Sales dropped 12%.”

…is forgettable.

Saying:

“It was a scorching August afternoon when our CFO walked into the emergency meeting and laid a document on the table—12% decline circled in red.”

…creates a vivid mental picture.

Mini-Summary:
Data informs; stories persuade. Use stories to bring information alive.

People struggle to relate to:

• Large numbers

• Percentages

• Spreadsheets

• Measurements

But people can instantly relate to:

• Human experience

• Emotion

• Context

• Specific moments

A classic example:
Australians once measured driving distance in “stubbies” (small bottles of beer)—a humorous but very relatable unit of time.

Your audience doesn’t remember:

• “8 kilometres”

• “37% increase”

• “1.8x ROI”

But they remember the story behind those numbers.

Mini-Summary:
Stories translate abstract data into relatable human meaning.

In online meetings, slides shrink you into a tiny box in the upper corner of the screen.
This severely weakens:

• Connection

• Presence

• Executive impact

• Brand impression

I recently coached a senior executive preparing for a global leadership presentation.
Her goal:

• Increase visibility

• Strengthen credibility

• Position herself for a major global role

But if she used 20+ slides, she would:

• Appear small

• Lose eye contact

• Let the slides dominate

• Minimize personal presence

Instead, we eliminated most slides.
This allowed her to:

• Look directly into the green dot

• Fill the screen

• Build a human connection

• Make leadership presence the centrepiece

Mini-Summary:
On video, slides dilute your power—fewer slides means greater executive presence.

Start with vivid scene-setting:

Time:
“It was three years ago, in the middle of a heavy New York snowstorm…”

Place:
“Outside the Rockefeller Center…”

People (preferably recognizable):
“I bumped into Warren Buffett, wrapped in a long coat and scarf…”

Now your audience has a:

• Visual image

• Emotional context

• Mental movie

• Real sense of presence

No slide required.

Mini-Summary:
Great stories create instant mental imagery—and eliminate the need for most visuals.

Slides are useful when they are:

• Simple

• Visual

• Symbolic

A single photograph with zero text can:

• Anchor a point

• Create atmosphere

• Support your narrative

Unlike spreadsheets, graphs, or data tables, a full-image slide takes one second to process—leaving the audience free to focus on you.

Mini-Summary:
Use minimalist images to support your story—not to replace it.

Every presentation is a brand moment.

When you:

• Start with slides

• Deliver a data-dump

• Hide behind visuals

• Speak from a tiny video square

…you weaken your brand.

When you:

• Start with message clarity

• Build around a story

• Reduce slides

• Maximize presence

• Speak to the audience, not the screen

…you strengthen your:

• Leadership credibility

• Communication authority

• Personal brand

• Professional reputation

Mini-Summary:
A storytelling-first approach elevates your brand and makes your message unforgettable.

• Never start presentation prep with slides. Start with the core message.

• Know your audience before designing content.

• Use storytelling to turn data into meaning.

• Reduce slides—especially in virtual presentations.

• Use vivid scenes and known characters to paint mental pictures.

• Treat every presentation as a moment to strengthen your brand.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.