Member Article

Don't write sub-titles: write headlines

With Dr Simon Raybould, Curved Vision Theatre

I’m usually a big fan of ‘signposting’ and – as a sub-title is a kind of signpost – I’m all in favour of subititles. They tell your audience where they are in the presentation so they can get on with the important job of actually taking on board what you’re saying.

However, I got some advice recently from a “professional PowerPointer” (imagine that on your CV!) which suggested that we shouldn’t think of slide titles as simply “titles to our slides” but as “headlines”. They cover the key concept of the slide in one simple sentence. That way the slide ‘real estate’ does double-service. That’s a good thing. Not only is that a huge advantage when you’re actually writing your presentation, but it is incredibly good practice at understanding what the presentation – and each individual slide – is about. If your slide doesn’t have a clear headline, you don’t have a clear slide.

The effects of thinking like this are surprisingly good but it takes a bit of getting used to – you have to remember to create a headline that tells your audience things (not you!). The way to get the hang of it is to simply use something like bdaily – try avoiding the headline and reading the story, and then create your own headline. Compare it to the real one, then look again at your headline and see if you can edit it down to fewer, more useful words.

This is such a powerful tip I wish I’d thought of it. Still, it’s one of the things we cover on our voice & presentation skills training courses so at least I can claim to use it! As always, send comments, questions and suggestions to me at sme@curved-vision.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .