📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓
In this article
If the audience can read your slide faster than you can speak, they stop listening. If they can’t read it at all (16 pt paragraphs), they stop looking. Good slides support what you say; they don’t replace it.
Headline titles
A title like “Costs” or “Q3 Sales” tells people the topic. A headline tells them the point:
| Topic title | Headline title |
|---|---|
| Why Chennai | Slow delivery is losing us southern dealers |
| Costs | Chennai costs Rs 2 lakh a month and pays back in 14 months |
| Southern sales | With Chennai, southern sales grow about 70% by Q4 |
Read only the titles in order: they should tell the whole story. Check with View › Outline.
One idea per slide
If a slide makes two points, split it. Slides are free; attention isn’t.
Fewer words, bigger type
- Body text 24 pt or larger; titles 32–40 pt.
- 3–5 short points, not sentences. Cut words like “in order to”, “it should be noted that”.
- Replace a list of numbers with one chart (Lesson 4), a process with a diagram (Lesson 5).
Detail goes in the notes
Everything you want to say but not show goes in the Notes pane under the slide (View › Notes). You’ll see it in Presenter View (Lesson 7), and readers of the PDF can print Notes Pages.
Answer first
Busy audiences want the conclusion before the evidence. Structure: (1) the recommendation and what you need, (2) why, (3) evidence, (4) next steps. Don’t make the CFO wait until slide 14 to learn you need Rs 30 lakh.
Reading decks vs speaking decks
A deck emailed instead of presented needs more words to stand alone. Keep those in a separate version or in notes, rather than cramming your speaking slides.
Where beginners go wrong
| Habit | Fix |
|---|---|
| Reading slides aloud | Fewer words on screen; say the rest |
| Title = topic | Title = the point |
| Shrinking text to fit | Split the slide |
| Conclusion at the end | Lead with it |
Practice
Download the practice deck below. Rewrite the text-heavy slides with headline titles and short points. The first slide lists your tasks.
📎 Practice files for this article
- 📙Lesson 2 practice deckRewrite the pitch deck slides with headline titles and short points.⬇ PPTX · 39 KB
Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.
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