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How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

08.09.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

When creating presentations, it is particularly important that they are well organized and have a consistent structure.

A logical structure helps the audience to follow you and to remember the core information as best as possible. It is also important for the presenter, as a good presentation structure helps to keep calm, to stay on the topic and to avoid awkward pauses.

But what does such a structure actually look like? Here we show you how to best organize your presentation and what a good structure looks like.

Plan your presentation

Before you start creating your presentation, you should always brainstorm. Think about the topic and write all your ideas down. Then think about the message you want to communicate, what your goal is and what you want your audience to remember at the end.

Think about who your audience is so that you can address them in the best possible way. One possibility is to start your presentation with a few polls to get to know your audience better. Based on the results, you can then adapt your presentation a little. Use the poll function of SlideLizard and have all the answers at a glance. SlideLizard makes it possible to integrate the polls directly into your PowerPoint presentation which helps you to avoid annoying switching between presentation and interaction tool. You can keep an eye on the results while the votes come in and then decide whether you want to share them or not.

• an informative
• an entertaining
• an inspiring
• or a persuasive presentation?

Typical Presentation Structure

The basic structure of a presentation is actually always the same and should consist of:

Introduction

Make sure that the structure of your presentation is not too complicated. The simpler it is, the better the audience can follow.

Personal Introduction

It is best to start your presentation by briefly introducing yourself which helps to build a connection with your audience right away.

Introduce the topic

Then introduce the topic, state the purpose of the presentation and provide a brief outline of the main points you will be addressing.

Mention the length

In the introduction, mention the approximate length of the talk and then also make sure you stick to it.

The introduction should be no longer than two slides and provide a good overview of the topic.

Icebreaker Polls

According to studies, people in the audience only have an average attention span of 10 minutes, which is why it is important to increase their attention right at the beginning and to arouse the audience's interest. You could make a good start with a few icebreaker polls for example. They lighten the mood right at the beginning and you can secure your audience's attention from the start.

For example, you could use SlideLizard to have all the answers at a glance and share them with your audience. In addition, the audience can try out how the polls work and already know how it works if you include more polls in the main part.

Get to know your audience

As mentioned earlier, it is always useful to think about who your audience actually is. Ask them questions at the beginning about how well they already know the topic of your presentation. Use SlideLizard for this so that you have a clear overview about the answers. You can use both single- and multiple-choice questions or also open questions and display their results as a WordCloud in your presentation, for example.

Include a quote

To make the beginning (or the end) of your presentation more exciting, it is always a good idea to include a quote. We have selected some powerful quotes for PowerPoint presentations for you.

Present your topic

The main part of a presentation should explain the topic well, state facts, justify them and give examples. Keep all the promises you made earlier in the introduction.

Length and Structure

The main part should make up about 70% of the presentation and also include a clear structure. Explain your ideas in detail and build them up logically. It should be organized chronologically, by priority or by topic. There should be a smooth transition between the individual issues. However, it is also important to use phrases that make it clear that a new topic is starting. We have listed some useful phrases for presentations here.

Visualize data and statistics and show pictures to underline facts. If you are still looking for good images, we have selected 5 sources of free images for you here.

Focus on the essentials

Focus on what is most important and summarize a bit. You don't have to say everything about a topic because your audience won’t remember everything either. Avoid complicated sentence structure, because if the audience does not understand something, they will not be able to read it again.

Make your presentation interactive

Make your presentation interactive to keep the attention of your audience. Use SlideLizard to include polls in your presentation, where your audience can vote directly from their smartphone and discuss the answers as soon as you received all votes. Here you can also find more tips for increasing audience engagement.

Repeat the main points

The conclusion should contain a summary of the most important key points. Repeat the main points you have made, summarize what the audience should have learned and explain how the new information can help in the future.

Include a Q&A part

Include a Q&A part at the end to make sure you don't leave any questions open. It's a good idea to use tools like SlideLizard for it. Your audience can ask anonymous questions and if there is not enough time, you can give them the answers afterwards. You can read more about the right way to do a question slide in PowerPoint here.

Get Feedback

It is also important to get feedback on your presentation at the end to keep improving. With SlideLizard you can ask your audience for anonymous feedback through star ratings, number ratings or open texts directly after your presentation. You can then export the responses and analyse them later in Excel.

Presentation style

Depending on the type of presentation you give, the structure will always be slightly different. We have selected a few different presentation styles and their structure for you.

Short Presentation

If you are one of many presenters on the day, you will only have a very limited time to present your idea and to convince your audience. It is very important to stand out with your presentation.

So you need to summarize your ideas as briefly as possible and probably should not need more than 3-5 slides.

Problem Solving Presentation

Start your presentation by explaining a problem and giving a short overview of it.

Then go into the problem a little more, providing both intellectual and emotional arguments for the seriousness of the problem. You should spend about the first 25% of your presentation on the problem.

After that, you should spend about 50% of your presentation proposing a solution and explaining it in detail.

In the last 25%, describe what benefits this solution will bring to your audience and ask them to take a simple but relevant action that relates to the problem being discussed.

Tell a Story

A great way to build an emotional connection with the audience is to structure a presentation like a story.

In the introduction, introduce a character who has to deal with a conflict. In the main part, tell how he tries to solve his problem but fails again and again. In the end, he manages to find a solution and wins.

Stories have the power to win customers, align colleagues and motivate employees. They’re the most compelling platform we have for managing imaginations. - Nancy Duarte / HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

Make a demonstration

Use the demonstration structure to show how a product works. First talk about a need or a problem that has to be solved.

Then explain how the product will help solve the problem and try to convince your audience of the need for your product.

Spend the end clarifying where and when the product can be purchased.

Chronological structure

When you have something historical to tell, it is always good to use a chronological structure. You always have to ask yourself what happens next.

To make it more interesting and exciting, it is a good idea to start by telling the end of something and after that you explain how you got there. This way you make the audience curious and you can gain their attention faster.

Nancy Duarte TED Talk

Nancy Duarte is a speaker and presentation design expert. She gives speeches all over the world, trying to improve the power of public presentations.

In her famous TED Talk "The Secret Structure of Great Talks" she dissects famous speeches such as Steve Jobs' iPhone launch speech and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. In doing so, she found out that each presentation is made up of 4 parts:

• What could be
• A moment to remember
• Promise of “New Bliss”

Related articles

About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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A podcast is an audio or video contribution that can be listened to or viewed via the Internet. Podcasts can be used for information on specific topics but also for entertainment.

Slide Master

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a  great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information  40% more accurately  than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

• Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
• How  knowledgeable the audience  already is on the given subject
• How much interaction you want from the audience
• Any time constraints there are for your talk
• What setting you are in
• Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

• What is your presentation’s aim?
• Who are the audience?
• What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on  How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

• Introduce your general topic
• Explain your topic area
• State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
• State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
• Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
• Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

• The length of the talk.
• Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
• If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a  sales pitch  may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

• Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
• Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
• Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
• Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

• Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
• Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
• Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
• Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
• Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to  ask any questions  they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

• Explain why the product is valuable.
• Describe why the product is necessary.
• Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
• Demonstrate the product  to support what you’ve been saying.
• Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

• Briefly frame the issue.
• Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
• Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
• Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating  stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success  webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

• Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

• Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
• Rebut your opponents’ solutions  – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
• After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done  using speech transitions  which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

• Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
• First, let’s begin with…
• I will first cover…
• My first point covers…
• To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

• In the same way…
• Likewise…
• Equally…
• This is similar to…
• Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

• What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
• What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
• How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
• What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

• Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
• For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
• You discuss your second point from the centre again.
• You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
• The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

• An intro slide outlining your ideas
• A  summary slide  with core points to remember
• High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

• Don’t over fill them  – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
• A picture says a thousand words  – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
• Make them readable  – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
• Don’t rush through slides  – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a  10-20-30 rule :

• There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
• The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
• The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

• 7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
• 11 design tips for beautiful presentations
• 10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices.  Clean transitioning between speakers  is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

• Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
• Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
• Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
• The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO  Eric Schmidt  demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and  practising your talk  beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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How to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Table of Contents

This is the main part of your presentation, which should keep the promises you made in the introduction. This is where you explain your topic and present all your information. 

Depending on the nature of your presentation, divide it into segments/points. Arrange your points in a logical order and then provide information to support each of them. There are many different ways to organize your key points, for example:

• Number your points according to their priority (1, 2, 3, …)
• Place the points in a time frame (past, present, future)
• Use narration (tell a story from beginning to end)
• Present the points with a problem-solution dynamic (state a problem, describe its impact, offer ways to solve the issue)

A good conclusion summarizes the key points you made or highlights what the audience should have learned. It clarifies the general purpose of your presentation and reinforces the reason for viewing it. Here are the slides you may want to include:

• Summary. List what goals your audience have achieved, what knowledge they got, and how this information can help them in the future.
• Conclusion. Here you can thank your audience for viewing the presentation.

Tips for Structuring a Presentation in PowerPoint

Now that you know which parts a typical presentation should consist of, let’s see how to structure it in PowerPoint. 

1. Combine slides into sections

When working with a large PowerPoint presentation (PPT), you can create sections that can be collapsed and expanded. This will help you keep presentation slides organized and facilitate navigation in editing mode. To do that, follow these steps:

• To shift a section, right-click on its name and use the Move Section Up and Move Section Down options.
• To collapse or expand a certain section, click on the collapse icon to the left of the section name. You can also minimize and maximize all sections at once by right-clicking on the section name and choosing Collapse All or Expand All .

As well, you can access these settings by choosing Slide Sorter under the VIEW tab.

This kind of segmentation is a great way to overview the logical flow of your slides all at once and see if there are any changes required. For example, you may decide to break one slide into two or three, or the other way around.

2. Use the Outline View

One other way to structure a PowerPoint presentation in the editing mode is to use Outline View . You can choose it from the VIEW tab.

This view doesn’t display sections, but it shows the title and main text of each slide, which can give you a quick overview of the presentation contents. Here you can go through the entire text and edit it instantly. You can also work with text (on the left) and slides (on the right) simultaneously, as the latter is shown on the right side of your screen.

Note that, to be displayed in an outline, text needs to be typed in a text placeholder, not a text box . A text placeholder is a box with the words “Click to add text” or “Click to add title”, and it appears when you choose a standard layout.

You can also use Outline View to promote bullet text to titles and the other way around. To do that, right-click on a relevant title or text and select the Promote or Demote options.

Be attentive about demoting a title, as this will delete the original slide and move its title and text to the adjacent slide.

PowerPoint only allows users to promote and demote text, not entire slides. Therefore, there’s no possibility to change the hierarchical order of slides.

3. Create a table of contents

All the aforementioned tips help you organize a presentation when formatting it. However, it’s crucial that your viewers can easily navigate through entire presentation too. One sure way to provide them with this opportunity is to create an interactive and structured table of contents.

Though there’s no native automatic outline in PowerPoint, it can be created manually:

• Press Ctrl+A to select all the names, and Ctrl+C to copy them. 
• Then Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied titles on the desired slide. In case there are too many titles and they don’t fit onto a single page, you can divide the table of contents into two columns or place it on two slides.

You’ll need to repeat this procedure to link all the chapters to corresponding slides. For more information, read this step-by-step guide on how to add a hyperlink in PowerPoint .

Now all the chapters can be accessed from a single table of contents, which is very convenient. However, you will also need to link them back to that unifying page. You can do this by inserting an Action Button on every slide of your presentation in Slide Master mode:

Now there is a single page from which all the other pages can be easily accessed. As well, it’s possible to go back to the table of contents at any time with the intuitive Home button.

Depending on the size of your presentation, the time it takes to create an interactive outline may vary, as you will need to add hyperlinks to every chapter manually. Be aware that if you rename a slide or simply delete it, these changes will not be automatically registered in the table of contents. For example, if you delete a slide, its title will still be displayed in the table of contents, but clicking on it won’t lead the viewer to another point in the presentation.

This is what our sample presentation looks like:

A Better Way to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Creating a table of contents manually might be fine for a small presentation, but if you have 122 slides, it would require too much time and energy to do so. That’s why, instead of manually creating a table of contents, we took advantage of iSpring Suite and simply enabled the automatic outline.  

iSpring Suite

Fully-stocked eLearning authoring toolkit for PowerPoint. No training required to start!

Note: iSpring Suite turns slides into HTML5 format, so your audience can view them online, right in their browsers. 

As you can see, the new presentation has a pop-up outline and a navigation panel, which make it possible to move to any slide at any time without leaving the slide show mode. 

How to set up navigation

To create navigation in your presentation, follow these simple steps:

• Get a free trial of iSpring Suite.

• When you’ve configured the Slide Properties settings, click on Save & Close in the upper-left corner.

How to configure an outline

Whereas PowerPoint requires the outline to be designed manually, iSpring Suite has already prepared it for you. At the same time, you don’t have to stick with the standard outline template, as you can easily customize the player’s final look and feel:

We recommend leaving Enable Search marked, as this will allow viewers to search for any content at any time, including the texts on the slides. This is especially useful for large presentations with a lot of text.

If you have previously arranged slides into multiple levels in the Slide Properties, then leave Multilevel outline marked. That way, the outline will display the nesting structure of the presentation, facilitating navigation. You can learn more about the other outline options here .

• When you have finished configuring the player, click on Apply & Close in the upper-left corner.
• Now you can publish your enhanced presentation either to HTML5, to make it easily accessible via browser on any device, or MP4 video format. If you’re going to upload your presentation to an LMS, you can publish it to any eLearning format: SCORM, AICC, Tin Can, or cmi5. 

While a standard PowerPoint slideshow is straightforward and limited, iSpring Suite saves viewers from having to follow a strict slide order. An interactive and searchable outline allows non-linear navigation, where any information can be accessed at any time at a glance.

Also read : → How to Convert PowerPoint to MP4 Video

Also read : →  How To Record Presentations With Audio

Another perk

iSpring Suite comes with Content Library , which provides a great collection of presentation templates and allows you to create professional-looking presentations in a matter of minutes. Each template includes basic course elements: a title slide, a table of contents, chapters, a timeline, and info slides. Organize them in the order you prefer, populate them with your texts and images, and your presentation is ready to go.

We hope this article will help you develop an ideal structure for your PowerPoint presentation and do this quickly and easily. Captivate your audience with a powerful and persuasive presentation!

Do you have any other insights on how to simplify PowerPoint slides design? Please share them in the comment section. We’d like to hear from you. 

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Content creator:

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

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Article • 10 min read

How to Structure a Presentation

Choosing the best format for your audience.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Have you ever sat through a rambling, disorganized presentation? If so, you probably found it hard to follow what the speaker was saying.

When presentations don't flow well, it's easy for audiences to get lost. This is why it's important to think carefully about the structure and organization of your presentation.

In this article, we'll explore some common structures that you can use next time you speak in front of other people.

The Importance of Structure

Without a defined structure, your audience may not be able to follow your presentation. When this happens, your opportunity is lost, the communication fails, and your reputation takes a hit. For example, if your aim is to persuade people, you'll want to use a different approach from the one you'd use if you wanted to demonstrate how a product works.

Many factors can influence your choice of structure, but the most important consideration is your presentation's purpose or goal. You need to identify what you want to achieve – do you want to inspire, motivate, inform, persuade, or entertain people?

Your audience's needs also affect the structure you choose. For example, those who are new to your topic need more background information than people with more expertise and experience. So, in this case, you'd want to choose an approach that gives you ample time to explain the context of your subject, as well as to reinforce your main points.

Structures to Consider

Below, we outline several structures that you can use to organize your presentation.

1. Open – Body – Conclusion

The Open – Body – Conclusion approach is one of the most practical structures you can use for presentations. (Click here to download a worksheet that helps you use it.)

People often call it the "tell 'em" approach, because you:

• Tell audience members what you're going to tell them (introduction).
• Tell them (body).
• Tell them what you told them (conclusion).

This structure is simple, effective and easy to remember. Its repetitive nature allows you to reinforce your points, which helps others remember them. It is also flexible: you can adjust the introduction and body to persuade, motivate, educate, or entertain them.

One downside, however, is that repetition can quickly bore people. The approach is also "old hat" to many, which can cause them to lose interest. If you choose to use it, balance repetition with plenty of interesting facts, images, anecdotes, or stories to hold your audience's interest.

Let's look at each stage of the Open – Body – Conclusion structure in detail and discuss the elements that you need to include in each. We'll start with the body, rather than the introduction, because the rest of your presentation will be based on that.

The body of your presentation needs to contain your key points. You should present these in a logical order, so that your audience can follow them easily.

Keep in mind that the body should comprise a limited number of ideas: the more you try to include, the fewer people will remember. A good guide is to cover three to five main points, but no more.

When organizing your ideas, use the chunking principle to put the information into specific units. This will make the concepts easier to grasp, and help people remember what you have told them.

Make sure that you back up your main points with facts. Use good information-gathering strategies in your research, and consider citing the sources that you use. To add credibility to your presentation, consider using the following information to support your ideas:

• Data, facts or statistics.
• Images or diagrams.
• Stories and examples.
• Quotes or testimonials from experts or industry leaders.

Reliable sources will strengthen your credibility , and build trust with your audience.

Your opening, or introduction, has two main purposes: to grab your audience's attention, and to cover the key points that you intend to talk about.

Instead of telling people what you plan to say, you can use a different approach and explain why they are there. What will they learn from your presentation, and how will the content benefit them?

It's also important to get their attention right from the beginning. You can do this in several ways:

• Tell a story.
• Ask a rhetorical question.
• Play a short video.
• Make a strong or unexpected statement.
• Challenge your audience.
• Use a quotation or example.
• Appeal to people's self-interest.
• Request a specific action.
• Use suspense.

If you plan to answer questions at the end of your presentation, it's a good idea to mention this in the introduction, so people don't interrupt you mid-flow.

Many presenters overlook the importance of a conclusion – but the statements you finish with are what many audience members will remember best.

With the "tell 'em" approach, your conclusion summarizes the main points in the body of your presentation. If you want people to take action, be specific about what you want them to do.

Think carefully about how you want them to feel once you've finished; your conclusion is a great opportunity to reinforce this. Why not inspire them with a great story, a quote or a compelling call to action?

2. The Sandwich Approach

The Sandwich Approach is a variation of the Open – Body – Conclusion structure. This three-part structure covers:

• Advantages and/or benefits of your message or idea.
• Risks and concerns.
• How the benefits manage or eliminate those risks.

This approach is effective when you want to persuade audience members, or change their minds.

Having evidence to support your position is critical. However, factual data and reams of spreadsheets and charts are not highly persuasive. What people respond to is "vivid" evidence that brings your concept or argument to life.

To brush up on your persuasion skills, look at The Rhetorical Triangle . This tool asks you to consider your communication from three perspectives: those of the writer, the audience and the context. It's a method that builds credibility, and helps you ensure that your arguments are logical.

3. Monroe's Motivated Sequence

Monroe's Motivated Sequence is another good structure to use when you need to motivate or persuade. This sequence consists of five key steps:

• Getting your audience's attention – Use an interesting "hook" or opening point, such as a shocking statistic. Be provocative and stimulating, not boring and unemotional.
• Creating a need – Convince the audience there's a problem, explain how it affects them. Persuade them that things need to change.
• Defining your solution – Explain what you think needs to be done.
• Describing a detailed picture of success (or failure) – Give people a vision; something they can see, hear, taste, and touch.
• Asking the audience to do something straight away – Get them involved right from the start. If you do this, it's then much easier to keep them engaged and active in your cause.

4. Demonstration Structure

Use a simple demonstration structure when you are unveiling a new product or service.

Start by explaining why the product or service is so good. What makes it special? What problem will it solve for people?

Next, demonstrate what it does. How you do this will depend on your product but, whatever you do, make sure it works! Bring any important points to the audience's attention and provide helpful tips, where appropriate. Show them the results, and finish by giving them useful information, a good understanding of your topic, and something to remember.

Don't get too wrapped up in the detail; remember to keep it simple. Your presentation will be more powerful and your audience will remember more if you highlight just a few of the most important features. This will whet their appetite, and leave them wanting to know more.

5. Opportunity, Benefits, Numbers Structure

The Opportunity, Benefits, Number (OBN) structure is useful when you face busy people who want to hear what you have to say in the shortest time possible.

To use this structure, give audience members a quick summary of the opportunity that they need to consider, and outline the benefits that they can expect. Then, show them the numbers that back up your claims. [1]

For example, imagine you are explaining why your company should implement a new performance management system. First, you might give some background on the proposal – for example, you want to drive a high-performance culture. Then, you could explain the benefits, such as improving organizational performance and profits. Finally, you could compare the cost of bringing the system in with the predicted return on investment, based on a similar system at another organization.

Presentations that lack a clear flow are confusing and ineffective. This is why it's important to pay careful attention when choosing the most appropriate structure.

Different structures fulfill different purposes. Before you begin, think about why you are giving your presentation. Do you want to inform, persuade, inspire, or entertain your audience?

The most common structure for presentations is Open – Body – Conclusion. This is often effective because it gives you the opportunity to repeat your key points a number of times. However, other structures can be more appropriate, depending on the circumstances, such as when you're trying to persuade an audience, demonstrate a product, or provide information in the most time-efficient way.

Download Worksheet

[1] Martinuzzi, B. (2013). '11 Ways to Structure a Knockout Presentation,' from American Express OPEN Forum [online]. Available here . [Accessed 7 August 2014.]

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How to Make a Stunning PowerPoint Title Slide (in 5 Minutes)

This is the best PowerPoint title slide tutorial on the Web. Period.

In fact, you’re going to learn a simple, 3-step process to designing gorgeous and professional presentation cover slides that get your point across. In 5 minutes top.

Let’s dive right in…

How to Make a PowerPoint Title Slide

⚠ Ground Rule :

Anyone, including your grandma, should be able to understand what your PowerPoint title slide is going to be about.

Here’s a concrete example:

In this cover slide, we quickly understand that the presentation will be covering details ( very  likely tips) on how to build a successful team for your startup.

The 3-Step Process to Making Great Cover Slides

Every presentation title slide has 3 “ingredients”.

Here they are:

👉 The background (your visual, or the color you’ll be using in your background) 👉 The lay-out (where and how you position the different elements in the slide) 👉 The text (usually, a headline and a sub-headline that wrap up what the presentation is about)

The process we’re about to follow will address how to deal with each of these elements.

Let’s do it!

Step 1 : Pick Your Title Slide Background 

Welcome to Step 1 😀

Here, you basically have two options to chose from:

1) Using a plain color for your slide background ( super easy) 2) Using a visual

As you’ve guessed, the first option is the quickest one. And it doesn’t require any brain work at all. So we’re going skip it and cover directly how to proceed with the second option.

If you want to design a cover slide that’ll grab people’s attention, you need to start with asking yourself this simple question:

What’s my presentation topic?

Answer using this formula:

Here are a few examples:

My presentation is about [ our yearly financial report ]. So the topic is [ finance ]. My presentation is about [ power supply dynamics ]. So the topic is [ power supply / engineering ]. My presentation is about [ our client’s social media strategy ]. So the topic is [ social media / marketing ].

See where I’m going?

Now that you have a clear topic for your presentation, you’re going to associate that topic with specific keywords. The point here is to find out keywords we’ll be using as search terms when looking for visuals online.

Topic: SEO services Related elements: Computer (or web traffic, web page, graph)

Topic: Consulting firm business proposal Related elements: office building (or business people, meeting, investors)

Now that you have a few keywords for your cover slide, you’re going to be looking for a relevant visual.

Beautiful, Free Photography Resources

Pexels  (my favorite’s, lots of visuals) Burst (solid) Gratisography  (crisp, fun) Death to the stock photo   (a bit of everything) Startup stock photos  (genuine-looking) Unsplash  (nature related) Little visuals  (like Unsplash) Pic jumbo  (urban-related mostly)

More resources here

First, check out the results.

Then, select one picture that closely relates to the identified keyword. If you’re struggling with choosing between various visuals, then ask a few colleagues which one they prefer and go for the most popular option.

✅ Search keywords that directly relate to your topic in order to find a relevant visual for your cover slide (e.g. finance -> “money”, “charts”, social media -> “phone”, “people”) ✅Download visuals in high resolution (this is especially important if you’re presenting on a screen). ✅ To save time in the future, create a folder on your desktop. Anytime you stumble upon a great visual, just add it to your folder (get more tips just like this one  right here ).

Step 2 : Chose the Lay-Out For Your Text

Now that you’ve found a visual that fits with your presentation topic, it’s time to decide which lay-out you will use to display the title of your presentation on your cover slide.

There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to deciding which lay out you’re going to use. I recommend you to make sure there’s the minimum amount of text possible on your cover slide for three reasons:

👉It’s easier to design a good looking introduction slide when there’s not too much text 👉No one want to be bothered by a wall of text straight off the bat 👉You need to be able to wrap up what your presentation is going to cover in a clear and concise way

Your title slide shouldn’t have more than a headline (that resumes the content of your deck in a sentence), a name (yours or the one of your company), and a logo or a date.

With that said, on top of choosing your lay-out, you’re going to have to chose whether you want your text to appear directly on top of your background or not. Here’s a simple rule you can follow:

⚠ For plain color backgrounds :  add your text on top of the background or integrate it on top of a rectangle/rounded shape ⚠ For visual backgrounds : to make sure your text can easily be read by your audience, add a shape on which you will display your title text

Of course, you can select other shapes such as these ones:

You can also customize your text bar playing with both color and transparency.

Adding transparency allows people to see the whole visual behind. But use it with care: your first priority is to get readers to feel comfortable when looking at your slides.

Contrast is the king . Dark shape = light/flashy colors for the text. Light shape = dark colors for the text.

Step 3 : Integrate Your Title Text 

I recommend that you create one text box per line. You’ll be able to customize both font size and overall style easier. Either align the text (to the left, the right or the center) for maximum coherence.

Here are three simple techniques you can use to create contrast and maximize the visual impact of your text:

Use Different Font Sizes to Create Hierarchy

Modifying the font sizes is a great way to control the hierarchy within your title slide. Plus, it helps your audience to immediately identify the important content from the less important one.

Now, the great news is that you can apply this technique on all types of slides. And it works  especially well  on cover slides.

Here’s an example:

Modify The Color of Specific Keywords

Changing the color of specific keywords you want to highlight is another great way to control the hierarchy (and contrast) within your slide.

Here’s an example:

Change the Typography of One Part of Your Text

On top of changing the color, you can also change the typography (a.k.a. the font) of a specific part of your text to draw attention toward it. You can combine this technique with the previous one for even more impact.

On this slide, we’ve used a different font for the “an amazing” text. On top of this, we’ve modified the color and embedded a rounded shape in the back.

Change the Color of the Shape On Which You’re Putting Your Text

This is another great and powerful way to create beautiful title slides for your presentations:

Free & Creative Font Resources

The top 10 fonts web designers love  (free and paid) Font Squirrel  ❤ Fonts2U Dafont

You can even add emojis to your cover slide text !

Get all your emojis here , and paste them directly in your text box.

⭐ Want to speed up your cover slide design process? Download this Cover Slide Template  where I’m sharing the cover slide text lay outs I’ve used in this article.

C ase Study : How I Made The Cover Slide Below

Step 1 : find a visual related to the topic covered.

Finding  the right image  is the key step of your presentation title design process.

Here, I wanted to illustrate what a great cover slide can look like. So I started to think: “Well, what do I mean by great… How can I show what a great cover slide means?”

And then I came up with words that are tied to the emotion I want to convey:

“Gorgeous” “Beautiful” “Stellar”

BOOM! I got it.

The keyword “stellar” that just translated perfectly what I wanted to communicate.

So then, I headed over to  Pexels   and typed “stellar”. But no free resource came up, so I tried “sky” instead (pro tip: head over to  Thesaurus  to find synonyms):

Got my visual.

Now, it’s time to move on to step 2.

Step 2 : Chose the Text Lay-Out 

I opted to place the text in the center of the image. I decided not to use a rectangle shape to put my text on. Why? Because the visual was pretty plain itself and it was easy to read my text on top of it.

If you can’t read the text easily on your cover, add a rectangle shape in between your visual and the text.

Step 3 : Add the Text 

I used a font called Forte for the “Cover slide” part.

For the word “cover slide”, I customized the text style with shadows (select the text -> click right > “format text effects…”) and play with the options until you get something that satisfies you.

Are You Spending a Lot of Time to Make Presentations? 

For less than the price of a movie ticket, you could get immediate access to dozens of designer-made, beautiful slides at a fraction of what a designer would charge you (for just an hour of work).

If you want to make presentations that people will remember, then you should consider PPTPOP’s getting pre-built, fully editable template kit. Use it to:

• Present clean slides that grab – and keep – people’s attention
• Confidently expressing ideas, concepts and messages with visual elements.
• Wow your prospects, get them to walk away knowing you’re the pros and eliminating other options.

Create gorgeous slides that get their message across in a fraction of the time it normally takes.

Recommended For You

How to Pitch an Idea: 21 Powerful, Science-Backed Tips

Presentation Skills: 50 Tips & Examples to Improve Yours

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Structure of a presentation

Supporting Study 

Your go-to for support options, study resources, fun stuff and general help with being a student at UTS.

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A presentation:

• has an introduction, body and conclusion
• may include visual aids
• is usually followed by questions and discussions
• may also have a handout for the audience to take away.

Introduction

• The introduction should orient the audience to your subject and purpose. To capture interest and set up rapport, it should tell the audience what to expect.
• Be sure to carefully define the central point (or thesis) that is the basis of your talk and ensure that your supporting argument or information relates closely to it.
• If you are not proceeding from an already written assignment, it might help to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped, with the content coming out of the funnel. See the diagram below:

Useful language for presentations

Staging the introduction.

The body of the presentation should meet the promises of purpose and information made in the introduction.

The structure of the presentation is crucial.

Whether you organise:

• chronologically,
• by priority,

the body of your talk must proceed logically. The main points should be brought out one by one, with concise and relevant supportive evidence, statistics or examples and verbal ‘signposting’ of your progress through your argument or report.

You could present each important idea or point several times in different ways, because a listening audience needs several opportunities to fully absorb meaning.

You need to state clearly the links between your ideas and always signal when the next point is coming. If you think something is particularly important, say so and why.

If you don’t have a written assignment, it will help to think of your main points as paragraph topic sentences, each of which needs to be followed by supporting sentences and a conclusion.

Staging the body of your talk

Group presentations.

It may be that you are making a presentation as part of a group. Essentially the same information applies to group presentations as individual ones. It is important that they are logical and well structured as well as professional and meaningful. It is also doubly important that the group rehearse and practise together several times to ensure the presentation runs smoothly on the day.

Handing over to a co-presenter

Your talk may involve several speakers in your group presentation. You need to manage the handover smoothly and professionally, for example:

“I would like to conclude my discussion/report at this point and hand over to my partner/colleague XYZ who will examine/discuss/report the area/topic/perspective of…”

Similar to a written assignment, the conclusion again states your main points and what has been learned or shown but you also may raise implications inherent in the findings and offer creative recommendations.

Staging the conclusion

Back to top

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.

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Laura M. Foley Design

Cheat Death by PowerPoint!

How to create an effective title slide in PowerPoint

April 10, 2013 by Laura Foley 5 Comments

Presenters often overlook a valuable opportunity to connect with their audience: their title slides.

Think about it. Your title slide is up there on the screen while you wait for the audience to arrive and find their seats. It might be onscreen while you’re being introduced by your host. Your title slides can be very effective billboards for you, but only if you design them well.

The most important elements of a title slide

Since title slides are usually on display for a while before a presentation, you want to make sure that they’re doing a good job of marketing you, your topic, and your company. Always include the following elements on your title slides:

• Title of presentation, with a subtitle if the presentation’s title is unclear
• Contact information (email address, Twitter account, website, etc.)
• Company logo

Providing this information on the title slide tells the audience what they’re about to hear, who’s responsible for the presentation, and how to get in touch with you if they need to.

Simple title slides

Let’s look at a typical title slide for a corporate presentation:

• There is too much text on the slide and it’s all competing for our attention.
• The abundance of Facebook logos distract viewers from the logo of the presenter’s company.
• That subtitle looks more like a paragraph.
• You don’t have to point out the organization to which your audience belongs. The audience already knows what company they work for.
• You also don’t have to tell them what day it is.

Here’s how I would redesign this slide while remaining true to the template:

• The multiple Facebook logos have been replaced by an image that appears to be on a computer screen. Because I chose the typographic Facebook logo, it doesn’t compete with the presenter’s company logo.
• The presenter’s name appears to be a window on a computer screen, and his email address and Twitter name have been provided.
• The company logo is now on the top of the slide, giving it the most importance.
• The subtitle has been shortened from 19 words to four.

Animated title slides

Sometimes your subject matter will lend itself to a more interesting approach to your title slides. Animating a title slide can be a great way to provide contact information, to invite people to subscribe to your blog or newsletter, or to introduce opportunities for audience participation. The animation reveals information a little at a time, creating anticipation and interest.

We begin with a plain, unimaginative title slide:

Wake me when it’s over

ZZ ZZZZ ZZ ZZ ZZ … snork! Wha…what? I’m awake, I’m awake. I wasn’t sleeping!

The title and subtitle are fine, but, again, the remaining text doesn’t tell the audience something they don’t already know. And the layout is totally boring.

Now you’re talking!

Click on the video link below to see how the animations play on this title slide. I’ve sped up the animation for this demo, but if this slide were actually being used in a presentation I’d wait a couple of minutes between animations.

Presenting this information in the form of sticky notes is a good idea for this particular subject because they are used to organize thoughts and messages. They are often overused, being pasted on top of one another until their original purpose of organization is lost. Take a look at the image below, which is what the audience would see after the animations have played out.

This slide tells the audience who the presenter is, provides a personalized greeting, and includes four calls to action, including an opportunity for an audience member to win a prize. This last bit will keep people interested and engaged in the presentation, because everybody likes getting something for nothing!

What are of your ideas for creating more interesting, informative title slides?

• Directories

Structuring your presentation

Having worked out your key message and main points, the next stage is to structure the content of your presentation. Just like other forms of academic writing, a presentation can be divided into three parts: an introduction detailing the purpose and structure of the talk; a body covering the main points; and a conclusion summarising and highlighting the significance of your talk. A template for your talk is given in the Presentations structure document. 

Introduction

You may wish to capture the audience's interest and attention with a story or commentary on a current development that raises an important question / problem / dilemma. Or, you may first wish to frame your talk with brief context / background, and then swiftly transition into a concise explantion of the issue / problem or debate that your key message addresses. In either case, the next step in your introduction is to clearly state the purpose or key message of the talk, for example using the following prompts.

• 'Today I would like to talk about a highly contested issue...'
• 'This question is central to understanding...'
• 'I will make the case that...'

If necessary, limit the scope of the presentation:

• 'Although there are several theories, this talk will only focus on two ...'
• 'focuses only on the private sector as opposed to the public sector ...'
• 'Implementation, rather than policy formation, will be considered ...'

Signpost the structure/approach of the talk:

• 'My case is based on three main points. Firstly...The second point is that...This will then lead me to...Finally...'

This part of the talk provides the support for your main message. You should discuss each of your main points in a clear and logical order. As you do, be sure to explain how these points relate to each other and your key message:

• 'Turning to the next point...'
• 'Another important consideration is that...'
• 'Having examined...I'd now like to talk about...'

All necessary concepts and terms need to be defined and explained before being used. Examples can be used to effectively illustrate your points.

Signpost that you have reached the end of the talk:

• 'In conclusion...'
• 'I'd like to finish by...'

Summarise the key points covered. In the process, remind the audience of the significance of the topic, the aims of your talk and demonstrate how you have met the aims. Thank the audience for their attention and invite them to comment or ask questions.

Acknowledging others ideas

As with all academic work, if you use other people's ideas, images, data etc, then you must appropriately acknowledge it in your presentation. You do this through your spoken words or supply references on your visual aids. In text references can be kept brief to enable the audience to read. You should also include a reference list slide at the end of your presentation. See referencing resources for more information.

Working with visual aids >>

Presentations

Working with visual aids

Delivering the presentation

Reference Documents

• Simple presentation template (DOCX, 64.34 KB)
• Detailed presentation template (DOCX, 66.58 KB)

Use contact details to request an alternative file format.

• ANU Library Academic Skills
• +61 2 6125 2972

"Title Slide" - Start with a Bang! - Part 1

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• Lesson resources Resources
• Quick reference Reference

About this lesson

We will create an eye-catching title slide using the title slide layout. Then, we'll create a title slide manually from a blank slide using text boxes and basic shapes.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ PowerPoint presentations from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Quick reference

Slide 1: title slide - start with a bang.

Every presentation should start with a bang! Create an engaging title slide to get others interested in the topic using modern design techniques. 

When to use

Every presentation should contain a title slide so the audience or the reader understand the subject matter, the purpose or the goal. 

Instructions

Creating the title slide background.

• Click the File tab and select New . 
• Choose Blank presentation . 

By default, the title slide layout is applied. We want to create a title slide from scratch so we need to change the slide layout to Blank. 

• From the Home tab, in the Slides group, click Layout . 
• Choose Blank . 

Inserting a background image

Add a high quality image to the slide background. The image might be from an approved company image repository, from an online source or one of your own. Be mindful of copyright prior to using images in a PowerPoint presentation especially if it is for commercial use.

For high quality, free images, refer to lesson '2.02 Resources and Inspiration'. In this presentation, all images have been downloaded to a local folder from the website www.pexels.com . 

• From the Insert tab, in the Images group, select Pictures . 
• Choose From this device . 
• Browse to the folder where the image is stored. 
• Select the image and click Insert . 

Cropping and Filling

Most images we insert won't fit the slide size exactly. To avoid stretching or distorting the image by dragging the resize handles, we need to use a technique called Crop and Fill. This ensures that the image will maintain it's aspect ratio. 

• Click on the picture. 
• From the Picture Format tab, in the Size group, click the lower-half of the Crop button. 
• Choose Fill from the menu. 
• Drag the black handles that appear around the picture out to fill the white space. 
• Click the lower-half of the Crop button again and choose Fill from the menu. 

Using Transparant Shapes

Background images look very effective but it can sometimes be hard for the text on top to stand out. Most images contain a multitude of colors and you may find that both dark and light text get's lost in the background image.

One way to have a nice background image and striking text is to overlay a shape and take the transparancy down so the images shows through but contrast is greatly improved. 

• From the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click the lower-hald of the Shapes button. 
• Choose the rectangle shape. 
• Draw a rectangle over the background image so it completely covers it. 
• From the Shape Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click Shape Fill . 
• Choose Purple, Accent 5, Darker 50%  from the palette. 
• Right-click on the shape. 
• Select Format Shape from the contextual menu. 
• From the Shape Options tab, in the Fill group, adjust the Transparancy to 27% .  

Hints & tips

• Think before you start to create a presentation about fonts, color and layout. The title slide will essentially dictate the style of your entire presentation.
• Remember to check the copyright for all images used in a PowerPoint presentation. 
• 00:04 Now that we've learned some of those essential skills in PowerPoint,
• 00:07 it's time to start building our own slide deck.
• 00:10 And the way that this is going to work is that in each lesson of this section,
• 00:15 we're going to build a different side, and
• 00:18 we're going to learn different techniques as we go through.
• 00:21 And we're going to start out with the title slide.
• 00:24 And what you can see on the screen here, is the title slide in its finished state.
• 00:29 So this is how I'm going to start each lesson, I'm going to show you, and
• 00:33 then we're going to walk through together how I created this.
• 00:36 And I will say because we do have a lot to cover, I am going to be moving reasonably
• 00:40 quickly, so please pause the video whenever you need to.
• 00:44 So this presentation that we're creating is for a learning and
• 00:48 development company called Landco.
• 00:50 And this is a really young cool modern company, so
• 00:53 we want our PowerPoint presentation to reflect that style.
• 00:56 This title slide looks clean, it looks effective, and
• 00:59 hasn't taken too much effort to achieve.
• 01:02 So if you want to see how I put this together,
• 01:04 then carry on watching this video.
• 01:06 So for all of these lessons I'm going to start from a blank presentation,
• 01:09 I don't need slide ideas, so let's close down that pane straightaway.
• 01:13 And you can see that I have some placeholders on here because
• 01:18 this is a title slide.
• 01:20 Now whilst I am creating a title slide, I don't really want these placeholders
• 01:24 because we're going to build one from scratch.
• 01:26 So let's first of all change our layout just to blank,
• 01:30 to remove those placeholders.
• 01:32 The first thing I want to do, is insert a high quality image in the background,
• 01:38 and the image that our company likes to use is an image of mountains.
• 01:43 And I showed you in a previous lesson where to go to find really high quality
• 01:47 resources, so things like images, and all of the images that I'm going to
• 01:52 be using in this section are from the website pexels.com.
• 01:55 Now I'm not going to run through the process of downloading,
• 01:58 because we've already been through that.
• 02:00 But suffice to say, that I've jumped onto that website,
• 02:03 I've downloaded the image that I want to use into the Downloads folder on my PC.
• 02:07 So now when I'm in PowerPoint, I can say insert, and in the images group,
• 02:12 click the pictures drop down, and I can choose where my image is stored.
• 02:18 So for me, that is on this device, and
• 02:20 you can see the image sitting there in my Downloads folder.
• 02:24 So let's select and click on Insert, to put that image into the presentation.
• 02:28 Now as usual, design ideas has popped up on the right hand side, and
• 02:32 I'm not really going to be using that too much.
• 02:35 So I am going to show you how you can suppress this pane because it does
• 02:38 get a little bit annoying if you're not using it.
• 02:42 For the time being, I'm just going to close it down.
• 02:44 Now what you'll notice about this image that I've inserted, is that it doesn't
• 02:48 take up the entire slide, I have two white borders running down the outside.
• 02:53 And people tend to do all kinds of weird and wonderful things,
• 02:56 in order to get this image to fill the slide.
• 02:59 One thing that they tend to do is drag these resize handles out,
• 03:03 which ends up making the image look stretched.
• 03:06 So let me show you the preferred way of doing this.
• 03:10 CTRL+Z a couple of times to undo,
• 03:12 click on the picture, and jump up to the picture format contextual ribbon.
• 03:18 Over in the size group, we have the crop button and
• 03:21 from here, you want to select fill.
• 03:24 That's going to give you those black fill handles around the outside,
• 03:28 and all you need to do is drag them to fill in the white space.
• 03:33 Now nothing happens at this moment, it's just going to drag those handles out.
• 03:38 But once you have them positioned, if you then jump back up to crop,
• 03:42 clicking on the lower half of the button, and select fill, PowerPoint is going to
• 03:46 fill that entire space with your image whilst maintaining the aspect ratio.
• 03:51 So it's not going to look stretched either horizontally or vertically.
• 03:55 Essentially what it's doing there is a zoom in, so
• 03:58 you might find that you lose a little bit of picture around the outside.
• 04:02 But in general, this is a nicer way of doing things.
• 04:06 If I want to reposition this and show a bit more of the picture, I can.
• 04:10 Once you're happy with the placement, just click the top half of the crop button,
• 04:15 to set that fill.
• 04:16 Now that I have that image on my title slide,
• 04:19 I could choose to add some text on the top.
• 04:22 But the problem with that,
• 04:23 is that when you're using images that are quite high contrast,
• 04:26 the text can tent to blend into the background, it's not as easily readable.
• 04:31 If I was using white font, it would blend in with the clouds.
• 04:34 If I had a darker font, it wouldn't stand out so
• 04:37 much against the mountain background.
• 04:39 So a way to get around this is to put a transparency over the top.
• 04:44 Now there are a few different techniques you can use, but
• 04:47 by far the one that I prefer is using shapes.
• 04:49 Because I find it a lot easier to control the transparency level with a shape.
• 04:54 So let's jump up to insert, go to our shapes gallery, and
• 04:58 from here I'm going to pick the rectangle tool.
• 05:02 My cursor changes to a small cross, which means I can then just drag over this
• 05:06 image And let go.
• 05:11 Now that I'm clicked on a shape essentially,
• 05:14 I have the shape format ribbon showing at the top.
• 05:17 And I have my shape fill and shape outline options.
• 05:22 Now I don't want this image to be blue, I want it to be that nice purple color.
• 05:27 Now if I click on shape fill,
• 05:29 I don't have that purple color in my color palette at the top.
• 05:34 And that is because the colors that you see here underneath theme colors
• 05:38 are defined by the theme that you're using in PowerPoint.
• 05:41 Now I don't want to get too much into themes at the moment, but I do need to
• 05:45 change my theme here to pull up the palette of colors that I want to use.
• 05:48 So I'm going to go across to the Design tab, and
• 05:51 in this gallery is where you'll find all of your inbuilt themes.
• 05:56 Now currently, I'm just using the standard office theme, but
• 06:00 what I want to use is this one down here.
• 06:02 This is basically the color palette that I've designed this presentation with,
• 06:07 click to select.
• 06:07 And now when I go back to shape format, you'll see when I click shape fill,
• 06:11 you can see that my theme colors have changed to this muted palette.
• 06:16 So now let's select this purple color, and I want to make sure that I don't
• 06:20 have an outline around the outside of my shape, so no outline.
• 06:25 Now in order to adjust the transparency on this shape so that I can see the picture
• 06:29 peeking through, I need to right click the mouse, and jump down into format shape.
• 06:34 Because this is where we're going to find all of
• 06:36 our more advanced shape formatting options.
• 06:39 I'm going to expand the fill group, and
• 06:42 then right at the bottom I have a transparency slider.
• 06:46 And you'll notice as I slide it up and down, it shows more or
• 06:50 less of that image through.
• 06:52 And this is the reason why I like this technique,
• 06:54 because you have a lot of control.
• 06:57 So I'm going to set this transparency to 27% ,and then close down my
• 07:01 format shape pane.
• 07:04 That's the end of part one,
• 07:08 this lesson continues in part two.

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PowerPoint title slide explained (it’s not what you think it is)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• November 29, 2023

What is a title slide in PowerPoint, and is it the same thing that you think it is? This is a tricky topic if you are an analyst, associate, or keeper of your team’s PowerPoint presentation, when it comes to managing the headers and footers in your presentation.

That’s because the Header and Footer dialog box (pictured below), has the following option that will throw you for a loop.

If you don’t understand what PowerPoint considers as the title slide of your presentation, it is easy to accidentally mess up the headers and footers in your presentation, creating an embarrassing disaster that you will be stuck trying to troubleshoot and fix.

This can be the same issue you find in your client decks, so it’s good to know how to fix this.

Table of Contents

What is a title slide.

A title slide in PowerPoint (as humans think of it as) is either the slide that is named “title slide” in your presentation, or the slide that looks like a title slide. Common elements include a large title, a subtitle, some kind of graphical element, etc.

This is where you type the title and subtitle of your presentation, add your name, your presentation topic, the date and time, or whatever other elements you want to display on the first slide of your presentation. Typically, this is the slide you put up first to let your audience know they are attending the correct meeting.

Unfortunately, this is not how PowerPoint defines it. Read the next section to see why your instincts might lead you astray.

What PowerPoint considers your title slide

The title slide in PowerPoint (as PowerPoint thinks of it as) is simply the first slide layout of your presentation. This is true whether it is named “title slide” or whether it looks like a title slide. PowerPoint is just a program. So, whatever the first slide layout is in your presentation is, is what PowerPoint defines your title slide as.

Notice in the picture above, that there is a different slide in the first position of otherwise the same exact PowerPoint template. In both cases, the first slide is what PowerPoint uses as the title slide when determining where to place your headers and footers.

The problem with example 2 in the picture above, is that if you select “don’t’ show on title slide” in the Header and Footer dialog box, then none of your slide numbers, date and time, and/or your footers will display on the Title and Content layout in your presentation. I guarantee this is not what you want.

Arranging a layout so it becomes your title slide

If the wrong slide is in the first position of your PowerPoint presentation, you will need to navigate to the Slide Master view to fix it. In short, all you need to do is move your actual title slide into the first position on your slide master, so that both you and PowerPoint are on the same page.

To rearrange a slide to be your title slide in PowerPoint, simply:

• Click the View tab
• Select Slide Master View
• Click and drag your desired Title Slide into the first position

By dragging your preferred slide into the first position on your Slide Master, automatically designates it as the Title Slide in PowerPoint. That means you won’t have any header or footer issues moving forward.

NOTE: For help adding and troubleshooting slide numbers in PowerPoint (which can be tricky), see our guide on adding slide numbers to PowerPoint .

Title slide examples

If you are looking for inspiration for your own presentations, below are three different examples from the default PowerPoint templates that come with the Microsoft Office Suite. All these templates include color variations too, giving you a variety of options to work with.

To find these default PowerPoint templates (or themes) and their color variations, simply:

• Click the Design tab
• Select a Theme
• Choose a Variant of that theme

The variant options represent different color combinations and/or design elements of the base theme you chose, giving you a different look and feel for your title slide, divider slides, and the other content container slides in your presentation.

PowerPoint Template Help: If you don’t want to use the default PowerPoint templates, you can buy a professional PowerPoint template online ( see my guide here ). Alternatively, if you are willing to invest the time, you can create your own PowerPoint template from scratch ( see my guide here ).

1. Integral template

The integral template focuses on a blue and white design element at the top, with the title and subtitle of your presentation at the bottom of the slide. That said, you can add any other elements you like. This template also includes seven other color options including green, red, yellow, solid colors etc.

2. Circuit Template

The Circuit PowerPoint template includes a blue gradient background, with some circuit like design elements on the left side. The left side of your title slide is a great place to add your own company branding, or elements from your industry. This template includes three variations, including green, red, and black.

3. Vapor Trail Template

The Vapor Trail PowerPoint template is a bit more artsy than the other two. This includes wavey colored lines, giving it a more modern and artistic look and feel. Like the other templates, the default title slide only includes a title and subtitle, but you can add any other elements you need for your own presentation. The Vapor Trail template also includes three additional colors: green, pink, and orange.

You now know more about what a title slide is than most professionals (even those that have been using PowerPoint for years). This is a nuance of PowerPoint that specifically relates back to getting your headers and footers to properly display throughout your PowerPoint presentation. So, if you are an investment banking analyst, associate, or that is constantly updating large decks, this is something you will want to properly nail dwon.

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas Writing Catchy Presentation Titles: Proven Techniques You Should Know

Writing Catchy Presentation Titles: Proven Techniques You Should Know

It’s easy to overlook or give less attention to presentation titles, especially if you have limited time to assemble your material. You may rather prioritize other aspects, such as gathering information, creating slides, or rehearsing the delivery. Yet, hastily choosing the headline for your presentation is a blunder you wouldn’t want to commit.

First impressions – last, and that also applies when presenting. Engaging presentations begin with engaging titles and opening slides. If your title is sloppy, your audience will think your presentation is your best. This article will discuss what makes a good presentation title and how you can create it.

Table of Contents

The Anatomy of a Good Presentation Title

Presentation titles styles, tips for creating catchy presentation title, frequently asked questions on presentation titles.

A good presentation headline or title serves two purposes: practical and creative.

The practical purpose of a presentation title is to provide a clear and concise description of the content. It helps set the expectations of your audience, allowing them to anticipate what they will learn or gain from the presentation.

On the other hand, the creative aspect is one thing that charms your audience. An intriguing or thought-provoking title can pique the audience’s curiosity and motivate them to attend the presentation through and through. It generates interest and makes them eager to learn more.

As the presenter, you should strive to find a title that strikes the right balance between informative and engaging. It must go beyond mere description, as a descriptive title may fail to stand out or engage your audience. On the flip side, an overly clever title may sacrifice clarity and fail to encapsulate the content of your presentation accurately.

1. Surprise

Using startling statements or unexpected facts can effectively capture the audience’s attention. When something unexpected is presented, it naturally piques curiosity and leaves a lasting impression.

So, if you come across a fact, statistic, or quote about a topic that truly surprised you, work on it and make it your headline. Chances are, such information will likewise come as a surprise to your audience. Of course, you must ensure that the surprise element is relevant and contributes to the overall message you aim to deliver.

Example: Neil Patel, an online marketing expert, delivered a compelling piece titled “90% Of Startups Fail: What You Need To Know About The 10%”. The title contains an element of surprise, which suggests that most startup companies don’t survive. Within the article, Patel presented advice for startups to avert failure.

2. Intrigue

Ever wonder why you can’t seem to resist Buzzfeed headlines? That’s right; they are often intriguing and clickbaity. This technique also works on presentation titles.

Intrigue headlines capture attention and generate interest in presentations. They can create curiosity, engage the audience, and make your presentation stand out.

When crafting an intriguing headline, you may use thought-provoking questions or vague statements that spark the audience’s interest and, at the same time, clearly convey the topic of your presentation.

Example: Susan Colantuono’s Ted Talk, entitled “The career advice you probably didn’t get,” exhibits intrigue. The title immediately piques curiosity by suggesting that the presentation will provide unconventional or lesser-known career advice that the audience may not have received. This creates a sense of anticipation and motivates individuals to attend the presentation to discover what unique insights or perspectives will be shared.

3. Benefit or Value

Presentation titles that make clear claims about something’s worth may be more engaging than just stating it. When your audience knows exactly what’s in the presentation, they will likely lean in and listen.

The idea is to communicate right off the headline the main advantage the audience will gain from engaging with the content. You don’t have to include the entire proposition, but you may convey the essence of the value proposition to generate interest among the audience.

Example: Lawrence Ong’s “Break The Cycle: How To Gain Financial Freedom” clearly states the benefits of attending the presentation in the headline. It positions itself as a source of knowledge for building wealth and suggests that listening to the talk will equip the audience with the lessons they need to achieve their desired financial independence.

4. Wordplay 

Using wordplay in presentation titles can be a clever way to add flair to your presentation title. Playing with words can evoke emotions like humor and curiosity, which engages the audience from the start. It stands out from more specific titles, making people pause and take notice.

There are several types of word plays that you can incorporate into your presentation title, like puns, double-meaning words, metaphors , and rhymes. The idea is to strike the right balance so that the playfulness doesn’t overshadow the clarity and relevance of the title. The wordplay should align with the topic and purpose of your presentation while adding a touch of creativity.

Example: Steve Jobs’s keynote speech 2001 introducing the original iPod with the title “1000 songs in your pocket” is an excellent example of wordplay used in a presentation headline.

The wordplay in this example contrasts the figure “1000”, a substantial quantity, and the phrase “in your pocket,” representing portable space. By combining these elements, the presentation title effectively communicated the storage capacity and convenience of the device playfully and memorably.

1. Keep It Short

A strong presentation title conveys the main topic using a few words. Short statements are more likely to impact the audience immediately, and their brevity makes them easily understood and remembered, leaving a lasting impression.

How short is short? The ideal length for headlines on PowerPoint slides is 6-14 words, and this range helps ensure that the title of your presentation carries the message you want to get across without wordiness.

2. Use Concrete Language

Using concrete language in your presentation title is an effective way to make it more compelling. Concrete language has persuasive power as it clarifies your presentation title and makes it relatable to the audience.

Some powerful words you can inject into your headlines are adjectives, action words, and actual figures. So, instead of “Optimizing Business Processes,” you can say “Cut Costs by 20%: Streamlining Operational Efficiency”.

3. Use Technology or AI

Crafting a catchy presentation headline is hard enough – all the more when you have to fit it into little words. If you find yourself stuck in this task, there are available technologies that can help you generate title ideas for your presentations.

SEMRUSH, in particular, has an AI title generator that suggests headlines for content based on your prompts. You may also use ChatGPT for your presentations in a similar way.

However, we only suggest using these tools to speed up your brainstorming process, as repurposing those presentations into blog posts implies the risk of a site penalty for AI-generated content by Google. Reviewing and refining the generated headline to ensure it aligns with your specific presentation and captures the essence of your message is important.

4. Use Proven Formulas

Another way to speed up the process of generating title ideas presentation is to use proven formulas. Like your typical math equation, these formulas provide a framework to adapt to your specific presentation and audience. You can use them as a starting point to experiment with different combinations of words to create a headline that captures the gist of your piece,

Here are some presentation title formulas you can use:

• How to [Desirable Outcome] in [Specific Time Frame]
• Discover the [Number One] Secret to [Desirable Outcome]
• The [Adjective] Way to [Desirable Outcome]: [Unique Approach/Method]
• Are You [blank]?
• Unlocking the Secrets of [Topic]: [Key Insight/Strategy]”

Q1: What is the purpose of a catchy title in a presentation?

A: The purpose of a catchy title in a presentation is to grab the audience’s attention and, at the same time, communicate the main idea or focus of the talk.

Q2: How do I create a catchy title for my presentation?

A: Creating a catchy title involves balancing creativity, clarity, and relevance. Finding the right balance between description and creativity allows you to create a catchy title that generates interest without sacrificing clarity.

Q3: What are some tips for making a title stand out?

A: To make a title stand out, clearly describe the content while engaging the audience’s curiosity. Additionally, use concrete language and keep it short.

Q4: Can a title be too long for a presentation?

A: Yes. Keep presentation titles concise and to the point, as longer titles can be harder to read, remember, and fit on slides effectively.

Q5: How does a title affect the overall success of a presentation?

A: The title serves as a hook that entices people to attend the presentation and creates a positive first impression. It may be the first and last chance to convince your audience to lend their ears.

Q6: Are there any specific formats for presentation titles?

A: No, there is no specific format for presentation titles, but there are approaches that can make it more effective. You can use descriptive words, wordplay, figures, or surprising facts.

There are infinite ways to make your presentation title catchy, and this article presented some of the proven techniques that work. In creating an attention-grabbing title, ensure your main message is not overshadowed or lost. Keep it relevant, concise, and clear!

Once your compelling headline is ready, designing your opening slide will be next.

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Presentation Skills, Presentation Tips Filed under Presentation Ideas

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The 3 parts of a presentation: introduction, main part, closing part

The task of each part for the presentation structure.

A successful business presentation requires careful planning and structuring. In this article, we will look at presentation structure, focusing on the three parts: Introduction, main body, and conclusion of a presentation. We will explore what each part does and specific tips to help structure these parts of the presentation in the best possible way.

Part 1: The introduction of a presentation

Part 2: The main part of a presentation

Part 3: The conclusion of a presentation

A successful presentation needs a well-structured agenda. It helps your audience to keep track and follow the content of the presentation. The agenda ensures that all important aspects of a topic are covered in the presentation.

An attractively designed and worded agenda can also help to capture the audience’s attention right from the start and get them excited about the presentation. For example, the agenda can be designed using images, language, or terminology that is specific to the audience’s goals and interests. In this way, the presenter signals that they value the audience’s time and interest and are tailoring their presentation to meet their needs. Read more about the importance of the agenda in presentations and learn how to use action titles profitably as well.

Part 1: the introduction of a presentation

1. Greeting:

With a friendly greeting, you create a positive atmosphere right from the start. You give the audience the opportunity to arrive, get quiet and collect themselves and signal that it’s about to start. This phase is important to establish the audience’s concentration.

2.  Introduction:

Briefly introduce yourself and your organization. Give an overview of who you are and what your role is in your organization. By doing this, you will give your audience direction and reinforce your expertise and credibility at the very beginning of the presentation.

3. Objective:

Briefly outline the topic of your presentation and explain what you hope to accomplish with the presentation. Make sure the goal of the presentation is clear and concise.

4. Context:

Explain the context in which the presentation will take place. Why is the topic important? Why is it relevant to the audience? Here you should also make sure that you connect with the audience and tailor your presentation to their needs and interests.

After the introduction, you should have achieved the following with your audience:

• The audience is focused
• They know who you are and that you bring expertise to the topic
• It knows what the presentation is about and why it is worth paying attention.

Part 2: the main part of a presentation

The main part is the most important part of your presentation from a content point of view. Here you present your information, argue for your position, try to convince the target audience or bring them to a decision. In short, the middle section is the heart of your presentation. It should be structured in a logical and comprehensible way and should be consistently oriented towards your presentation objective. The biggest challenge is to make the main part compact and not to ramble too much, but still not to make any jumps in content where you might lose your audience. Ideally, when building the main body, you follow the thought processes your audience might have and answer any questions that might pop into your target audience’s head. Of course, this requires a good knowledge of your target audience and also some experience. If you have given similar presentations before, you should take into account insights you can derive from audience reactions or questions, for example, when building your next presentation.

The main part should make up about 75% to 80% of the total duration of the presentation. These are our tips for the main body:

1. Precise headings:

Make sure the main body is clear and logical and use precise headings. They will ensure that your audience can follow your arguments. Headings that are to the point also help the speaker, for example, when you want to jump back and forth within the presentation.

2. Key messages:

Present your core messages and arguments in a logical order. Make sure to support your arguments with examples and facts to strengthen your position. Report from the field to show that you understand the needs of your target audience.

3. Visualization:

Make sure you make your information easy to grasp quickly. Whenever possible, you should make use of visualizations. Diagrams, icons, and images are quicker to grasp than columns of scrubs, and you’ll stick in their minds. Your audience is more likely to remember a good picture than the text on your slides.

After the main part, you should have achieved the following with your audience:

• The audience has understood your information and your arguments
• You have answered or anticipated your audience’s most important questions and objections
• The audience has recognized the relevance of the topic for their own needs and requirements
• The audience is ready to take the next step toward your goal.

The closing section is the last part of your presentation and gives you the opportunity to emphasize your message once again. It’s not just about leaving a strong impression. The conclusion of your presentation determines whether you have achieved your presentation goal. Were you able to find supporters for your topic? Were you able to bring about a decision? Were you able to win a new customer? In order to be able to measure the achievement of your objectives, it is important to be specific at the end of your presentation. Depending on the goal, you can give an outlook here, agree on next steps or deadlines, or already distribute tasks. Use all possibilities for a binding exit and a concrete connection. Make sure that your topic is thought about further, a project is pursued or a collaboration is started. Otherwise, unfortunately, your presentation will be forgotten very quickly or other topics will push in front of it.

The conclusion of your presentation should be about 10% to 15% of the total duration of the presentation and include the following elements:

Summarize the most important points of your presentation again in a short and concise way. This will remind the audience of the key messages and strengthen your overall impression.

2. Call-to-action

Conclude your presentation with a call-to-action that fits your presentation objective. Ask the audience to make a decision, buy a product, or schedule a follow-up appointment with you. This will create commitment and ensure that your presentation objective is achieved.

Give an outlook on future developments or projects. Show the next steps or point out follow-up topics. By doing so, you show that you know the processes and are also an expert for the next steps and implementation.

4. Thank you

Conclude your presentation by thanking the audience. Show your appreciation for the interest and time the audience invested in your presentation. You can also include your contact information and offer to answer questions or provide further information. The thank you note should come from you in person; you don’t need a slide for that. Also read our tips for PowerPoint closing slides .

• The audience follows your recommendation.
• It acts in the sense of your presentation goal.
• Your presentation is remembered and you are set with the audience as an expert on the presentation topic.

You can find many more very helpful tips on presentation structure in our blog articles on the golden thread of your presentation and presentation structure .

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Perfecting Your Presentation Title Slide

October 17, 2014 / Blog

We’ve been told not to judge a book by its cover, but first impressions are still hard to shake off. It’s in our nature to form hasty opinions. Whether we’re faced with new people or experiences, the first few seconds always matters. This is especially true in the world of business, considering how everything there moves at such a fast pace. If you really want your presentations to count, you have to do more than prepare yourself for audience scrutiny. You also need to prepare one of the first things your audience will see—your presentation’s title slide.

Here are three things to remember for a perfect presentation title slide:

1. Come up with a memorable title

Like with books and movies, the title of your presentation is extremely important. It will help your audience gauge what your presentation is about, allowing them to decide whether or not it’s worth their time. In a just a few words, the title should be able to embody the main theme and message of your presentation. It should also be unique and memorable. As Sims Wyeth writes ,

You can afford to jazz up your titles a bit. A good title sets the audience abuzz as it anticipates being entertained or intrigued. And the speaker can come back to the title throughout the talk if it serves as a theme. People may not leave humming the melody, but they might leave remembering the theme–which is a feather in the cap for any speaker.

Here are a few suggestions by Wyeth:

• “The Budget Surplus and the Bush Administration: or Gone With the Wind.”
• “Creating Customer Loyalty: From Here to Eternity.”
• “Comparative Online Dating Outcomes: or The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.”

While these title might seem a bit cheeky, they can a bit of fun and creativity to your presentation. Instead of going with something that’s straightforward, try to think of an analogy or metaphor that can best describe your main message. As always, tailor your content to the expectations of the audience. Choose your title wisely, and make sure it blends well with the crowd you’re addressing.

2. Include an evocative image

A descriptive and memorable title isn’t enough. To make sure your title slide stands out, you will also need evocative imagery. As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  A single image or illustration is enough, as long as it echoes the theme of your presentation. Together with your title, the picture should be able to create an instant connection with the audience.

Take this example from the SlideGenius portfolio :

Notice how the picture can already tell a bit of a story. Always go for visuals that will instantly make a connection with your audience, especially for the title slide.

3. Add your logo

You can also use it in place of listing down your name and company position, cutting down the amount of text in your title slide.

Whatever you decide, keep in mind that your brand should always be perfectly integrated in your presentation deck .

If books are judged by the cover, presentations are judged by the title slide. Presentation expert Scott Schwertly writes, “Approach your title slide like a handshake: it should be firm, straightforward, and give your audience an idea of the kind of character they are dealing with.” Don’t neglect the title slide when you prepare to make a positive first impression.

READ MORE: 

• Even Great Presentations Don’t Always Get This One Detail Right – Inc.
• 5 Rules for Title Slides – Ethos5

Featured Image:  Abhijeet Rane via Flickr

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How to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

No matter how sleek or beautiful your slide decks appear, your presentation won’t be a success if it fails to adhere to a sound and proper structure, throughout. This is why it’s worth taking some time to learn how most effective presentations are structured.

And what could be a better way to understand the right way to design your presentations than learn it from a presentation company ? In this article, we share the standard structure of an effective PowerPoint presentation, in addition to some practical tips on how to implement this structure technically, using PowerPoint.

What Is the Standard Presentation Structure?

A decent presentation always has an important story to tell and, just like any other narration, it primarily consists of three basic sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Introduction

The first section in your presentation should be an introduction. It should set the tone for your entire presentation and explain to the audience what they can expect from your presentation. Here are some of the slides you may want to add in the introduction section: 

• The title of the presentation
• The objective(s) of the presentation
• A table of contents

As you can guess, this will be the main section of your presentation, where you explain your topic of concern. Break down your content into bite-sized points, arrange them in a logical order, and then present all the information you would like to share with your audience, in order to support each of your points.

This section is to summarise all the key points or highlights from your presentation. Share with your audience how this information will help them in the future. Finally, thank the audience for viewing your presentation.

Tips for Structuring a PowerPoint Presentation

Now that you know what sections a typical presentation consists of, let’s take a look at how to structure it effectively in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Create slides and edit them in Outline View

It’s always a good idea to structure a PowerPoint presentation while in the editing mode. To do this efficiently, go to the ‘View’ tab and select ‘Outline View’. It will show you the title and main text section for each slide, and let you edit the text, while also providing an overview of the presentation’s content.

TIP: You can also use the Outline View to select a section of bullet text and promote it to slide titles, and vice versa. To do this, right-click on a relevant piece of text or title and select ‘Promote’ or ‘Demote’.

Arrange slides into sections

If you are developing a large PowerPoint presentation, it’s best to organise it by clubbing multiple slides together into sections that can be easily collapsed and expanded, whenever required.

• To create a new section, go to the list of slides, and right-click on the slide from where you want a new section to begin. 

From the drop-down menu, select ‘Add Section’ and assign a name to the section.

• To re-order the sections, right-click on the section name and click ‘Move Section Up’ or ‘Move Section Down’.
• To expand or collapse a section, click on the icons for the same on the left of the section name.

TIP: You can also access these settings by going to the under the ‘View’ tab and choosing Slide Sorter.

Create a well-organised table of contents

The aforementioned tips will help you organise a presentation’s content. However, it’s also crucial that your audience can navigate through your presentation with ease. This is why it’s always a good idea to create a structured and interactive table of contents, and place it near the beginning of the presentation.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Go to the title slide or a blank slide and insert the table of contents.
• Switch to ‘Outline View’, right-click on the outline pane, and click ‘Collapse’. Then, click ‘Collapse All’ to display only the titles.
• Select all the slide titles, copy them, and paste them on the desired slide.
• Select the title of the first slide and right-click on it. Then, click on ‘Link’.
• In the window that opens next, select ‘Place in This Document’ (from the left-hand menu), select the corresponding slide for the selected title, and click OK.

Repeat this procedure for the remaining titles and link them to the corresponding slides.

Wrapping Up

There you have it! There are many more tips to come, so, if you are interested to learn more about presentation design, don’t forget to check out our future blog posts.

Want to take your online presentation game to the next level? Contact us today!

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5 Rules for Title Slides

• By: Scott Schwertly

“ It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles .” – Niccolò Machiavelli

It’s the presentation equivalent of a first impression, so why do people spend so little time making it fantastic? Let’s take a moment to establish some do’s and dont’s for the first thing your audience notices: the title slide.

1. One Title

Your presentation isn’t a Hollywood movie on its fifteenth sequel, so make sure your title is short and singular. One phrase or word is all it takes to reduce text and keep your audience from the intangible fear that they are about to experience the PowerPoint version of War and Peace.

2. Revisit Your Theme 

3.   Keep It Secret

Don’t reveal your hand before the presentation begins by explaining everything your audience is about to see on the title slide. Instead, keep them guessing before you launch into all of the details. A title slide needs to set the tone, not act as an appendix or film credits.

4.  No Names

And speaking of credits, try to avoid putting your name or any of the speaker’s names on the title slide along with your clean-looking (hopefully) one-word title. If the speakers are prepared, they will either introduce themselves or be introduced.

5. Logo Rules

Logos have a little bit more freedom than speaker’s names, because they are visual representations of your company, and not paragraph-long eyesores. If you have some design flexibility, pull colors from the logo to use in the title slide. Also, be mindful of how the logo is sized to fit on the screen: it really shouldn’t take precedence over the theme/title of the rest of your speech. And finally, never use a logo that isn’t the highest resolution possible; a blurry image is not what you need on Slide 1.

Approach your title slide like a handshake : it should be firm, straightforward, and give your audience an idea of the kind of character they are dealing with. Spend as much time working on your title slide as you would any other first impression.

Question: How can you improve your presentation’s title slide? 

Scott Schwertly

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Open Access

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

• Kristen M. Naegle

Published: December 2, 2021

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
• Reader Comments

Citation: Naegle KM (2021) Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Comput Biol 17(12): e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554

Copyright: © 2021 Kristen M. Naegle. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The author has declared no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554.g001

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:

• Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
• Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
• Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
• In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:

• Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
• In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
• Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.

• View Article
• PubMed/NCBI
• Google Scholar
• 3. Teaching VUC for Making Better PowerPoint Presentations. n.d. Available from: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/#baddeley .
• 8. Creating a dyslexia friendly workplace. Dyslexia friendly style guide. nd. Available from: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide .
• 9. Cravit R. How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible. 2019. Available from: https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/ .
• 10. Making your conference presentation more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. n.d. Available from: https://vocaleyes.co.uk/services/resources/guidelines-for-making-your-conference-presentation-more-accessible-to-blind-and-partially-sighted-people/ .
• 11. Reynolds G. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. 2nd ed. New Riders Pub; 2011.
• 12. Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd ed. Graphics Press; 2001.

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Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics

• What kind of titles were used on the slides?
• Do you remember any of them?
• Were there titles like “Background”, “Research Study”, “October Sales”, and “Conclusions”?

If you are nodding to that last question (and most people reading this will be), you already know that most slide titles are pretty mundane: they are quickly written and quickly forgotten.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Slide titles can help communicate your message , and set the context of the slide for your audience.

In this article, we discuss five simple guidelines you can use to quickly improve your slides, and see how these guidelines apply to slide examples .

• Slide Titles
• Slide Fonts
• Slide Charts
• Rule of Thirds (Layout)
• Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity
• Slide:ology
• Presentation Zen
• Clear and to the Point

Slide Title Guidelines

These guidelines are easy to follow. Once you are aware of them, you will find that they are almost second nature.

• Slide titles should convey your main point as an assertion . Avoid using topics or labels as titles such as “Background”, “Research Study”, “Sales”, and “Conclusions”. Titles like this are weak and do little to help your audience understand the slide. Titles written as clear assertions provide meaning for your audience which is elaborated upon with the visual in the body of the slide (chart, photograph, diagram, table, etc.) and also with your verbal delivery.
• Slide titles should be crisp, not wordy. Titles should fit on one line (or, at most two lines). Spend the time to distill the essential meaning into a short, clear statement.
• Slide titles should be larger than any other text on the slide . In every medium where text is present, size conveys importance. (Think of posters, newspapers, books, reports, and even web pages like this one.) Large text is perceived as more important than small text. Since your slide title conveys your main point, you should make it the largest text on the slide. (I typically use 44 point text for titles.)
• Slide titles should be consistently located. In English and other left-to-right languages, the best place for the title is in the upper-left of the slide. That’s where your audience will glance first, before exploring the rest of the slide. If you choose to go against this guideline, be sure the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. (Beware placing title text along the bottom of a slide. In many presentation venues, your audience will have difficulty seeing the bottom edge of your slides due to heads of people in front of them.)
• Slide titles should be easy to read. Don’t make your audience struggle. Use a clean font and a color with strong contrast so your title can be read and understood at a glance.

If you follow the guidelines above, your audience will understand the purpose of the slide. This will help them as they view and study the evidence you have provided to support the assertion in the body of the slide.

Exceptions to the Guidelines

“ Slide titles should convey your main point as an assertion. ”

Like nearly all speaking guidelines, there are exceptions. In this case, there are many situations where you can safely ignore one or more of the guidelines above:

• title slides, agenda slides, transition slides, housekeeping slides;
• quotation slides (the main idea is the quotation, and so a separate title is rarely helpful);
• setup slides which are employed as part of a sequence (e.g. the first slide might pose a problem or ask a rhetorical question, while the follow-up slide may have the solution as an assertion);
• artistic slides; and
• any other slide where a title is not warranted or perhaps even detrimental

Further, the guidelines above don’t apply if you are using an irregular presentation format, such as the Lessig Method .

These guidelines do, however, apply to the majority of normal “body” slides that are used in business, scientific, and classroom presentations. In most cases, if your slide has a title, it should follow the guidelines.

Proponents of Assertion Slide Titles

Michael Alley and Melissa Marshall offer comprehensive coverage  of the benefits of assertions for slide titles. They have conducted research studies which show that students perform better after receiving presentations designed using the assertion-evidence method (as compared to traditional “topic”-titled slides). Their site also includes resources for instructors who teach this approach to slide design.

Olivia Mitchell provides an accessible overview of the assertion-evidence style.

Cliff Atkinson, author of  Beyond Bullet Points :

Writing headlines in the form of complete sentences imposes a discipline on your ideas by forcing you to turn them into coherent thoughts and remove any ambiguity. […] The point of the headline is to help your audience understand your point as efficiently as possible.

Slide Examples

Below I’ve given seven pairs of slides (taken from my PowerPoint design course), where the only difference is the slide title.

• The left slide uses a “topic” or “label” title.
• The right slide uses an assertion for a title to convey the primary meaning to the audience.

Slide Example #1

• The title on the left (“Sensory Perceptions”) is the topic being discussed.
• However, the title on the right makes the two-step process much clearer (stimuli must be [1] perceived and then [2] processed)

Slide Example #2

• The title on the left adds no value. The slide is obviously about text sizes.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — that text readability is a critical factor to consider.

Slide Example #3

• The title on the left is a weak topic, but leaves the audience wondering: is it good to decorate your text or not?
• The title on the right is a forceful assertion that is reinforced by the slide evidence.

Slide Example #4

• The title on the left describes what is being charted. That’s helpful, but is something that the presenter could explain.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — the new safety policies are working!

Slide Example #5

• The title on the left establishes two chart options, but leaves the audience wondering which is better. While the “Do” label suggests line charts are better, it’s not clear why.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — line charts do a better job illustrating data trends than bar charts.

Slide Example #6

• The title on the left gives the topic, but no meaning.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — that diagram labels should be placed in close proximity to the objects they label.

Slide Example #7

• The title on the left is a form of rhetorical question. That’s not a bad idea, although it would be more effective if the presenter asked the rhetorical question before displaying the slide on the right…
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — that photographs should be chosen over clip art. This assertion doesn’t say why… that’s part of my verbal delivery.

Summary of Slide Title Guidelines

If you follow these guidelines, your slides will provide effective support for your presentation.

• Slide titles should convey your main point as an assertion.
• Slide titles should be crisp, not wordy.
• Slide titles should be larger than any other text on the slide.
• Slide titles should be consistently located.
• Slide titles should be easy to read.

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13 comments.

Andrew, Excellent topic to address. Still I meet with much resistance from graduate students in my workshops when confronted with the assertion-evidence slide. Why? Because they’ve seen nothing else. And many of their supervisors say the “old way is the only way”. Thanks, John Kluempers (Germany)

True… “Old way is the only way” thinking often blocks progress.

Another great article Andrew…keep up the good work. It is always a pleasure to read your stimulating take on the art of presenting…

Andrew, loved reading this article. PowerPoint abuse is something we’ve all seen and dealt with. However, proper teaching, like this, can vastly improve the quality of our meetings.

Andrew, Thank you for your article. You have brought together compelling examples to support your argument. One hidden advantage to creating assertion headlines is the effect that creating such a headline has on the speaker. We have found that speakers creating such headlines are more focused in their speaking and will eliminate extraneous details from the body of the slide that do not contribute to the assertion (or message). Best wishes, Michael Alley (Penn State)

Since I began using assertions on slides years ago, I have experienced the positive effect you refer to, Michael. The assertions habit has helped me clarify [1] my overall message, [2] the visual on the slide, and [3] how I deliver it.

Thank you Andrew. I don’t know how you keep coming up with topics, but well done. This is a great idea. I hadn’t thought about it but it makes so much sense.

Great article Andrew. I especially like if somebody provides real examples (don’t/do). I personally do not like 2 lines titles, so I would not recommend those. Based on my experience nobody reads such a long titles. I also recommend using info graphics on the slides. It is a great way to explain your message using minimum amount of words.

Andrew, I’m interested in your thoughts on the timing of *when* to display the assertion as you talk, and to what degree it might “steal the thunder” from the speaker.

Below, I discuss a related topic (namely how to stick to just 1 idea per slide) and I use this example of a (spoken) sentence to illustrate a point: “Our solution has 3 benefits, which are that it’s usable, reliable, and scalable.” In the context of an assertive title, to me it seems “Our solution has 3 benefits” would be good, because it asserts the main point yet also intrigues listeners about what the benefits *are* – so people stay focused to find out. A more thorough title of “Our solution is usable, reliable, and scalable” would be a more memorable and meaningful takeaway, but I believe would also cause people to tune out to the speaker because he or she is relegated to backing up what the slide says, instead of vice versa. http://remotepossibilities.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/minimise-blur-firstframework-part-1m/#one_thought

I think the people at M62 are wary about titles, as #2 on their list of 10 “presentation myths” is: “Slide titles should summarise the content of the slide”: http://www.m62.net/presentation-theory/presentation-best-practice/10-presentation-tips-that-suck/

What’s your view on those examples?

Andrew, I couldn’t agree more – many of us have sat through terrible presentations with no content. For me, the worst ones are always presentations where the you’re left wondering what on earth the key message is. Using titles like this is a great idea.

Great suggestions, Andrew.

Coincidentally, I’m developing a PPT presentation right now. Your column has caused me to review some of my headlines. Plan to make them stronger!

– Tom

Thank you for sharing these clear, simple, and persuasive examples. While many engineering and science students and professors use this approach, I suspect that many other students (high school and university) could benefit by choosing this powerful technique.

I would additionally add that assertive slide titles are even MORE important when you aren’t actually presenting your slides, and instead are passing them around as a proposal or client deliverable.

Use the title to tell your audience EXACTLY what your point is, don’t make them guess or try and figure it out.

Thanks for the great post!

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Presentation Skills

9th - 12th grade.

23 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

• 1. Multiple Choice Edit 1.5 minutes 1 pt When giving a presentation in front of an audience you should do all of the following except for: A. Speak loud and clear B. Provide handouts if needed C. Dress professionally D. Look at your screen and not the audience
• 2. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt To whom should a presentation be aimed? The highest authority in the room, regardless of where they are The entire audience The people in the closest rows Your best friend in the room
• 3. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Where should you look while presenting? At the board -- that's where the audience is looking At your notes so you get the info correct In the eyes of random people in your audience At the chins of individuals in your audience
• 4. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Why should you keep text to a minimum on slides? So the focus is on you as the speaker To help make your presentation longer So the pictures are easier to see To make sure the audience can read everything you have to tell them
• 6. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Information in your presentation should be organized. True False
• 7. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Your presentation should consist of title slide, ______, body, and _______. objects and summary opinions and paragraphs objectives and summary options and pages
• 8. Multiple Choice Edit 20 seconds 1 pt _______ is a good font size for headers. 18pt. 11pt. 16pt. 32pt.
• 9. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Which of the following is not an easy to read font? Sego Script Times New Roman Calibri Arial
• 10. Multiple Choice Edit 20 seconds 1 pt It is a good idea to read to your audience when presenting. False True
• 11. Multiple Choice Edit 20 seconds 1 pt You should have only _____ lines with ______  per line for each slide 7 by 8 8 by 7 7 by 7 6 by 7
• 12. Multiple Choice Edit 20 seconds 1 pt Generally there are no more than ______ colors on one slide. 1 2 3 4
• 13. Multiple Choice Edit 20 seconds 1 pt You should use a lot of animations and sound in your presentation to keep your audience engaged. True False
• 14. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt You should always add pictures to your presentation even if it doesn't have anything to do with your presentation. False True
• 15. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt What is the last Rule of Thumb when creating an effective presentation? Organize your information Spell check your presentation Keep it simple Minimize text on slides.
• 16. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt You should use ________ and graphs as visuals for data Spreadsheets Tables Charts
• 17. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt What type of software is used to produce a slide show?    Database Desktop publishing Presentation Word processing
• 18. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt During the creation of a slide show, the teacher has asked you enter each slide from the top. What special effect is needed? Animation Transition Audio Graphics 
• 19. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt When presenting, you should show enthusiasm for your topic or creation True False
• 20. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt When presenting, your poise should be: nervous and angry confident and relaxed annoyed  shy
• 21. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt When presenting, it is important to articulate and use a loud, clear voice.   True False
• 22. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt You can be loud without shouting.   True False
• 23. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt It is Okay to mumble... this encourages your audience to really listen and pay attention True False

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