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Create Effective Presentation Outlines: A Step-by-Step Guide with Tips & Examples

What is a presentation outline .

A presentation outline is like a roadmap for organizing your thoughts and delivering your message smoothly during a presentation. It helps you structure your content logically, ensuring that your audience can follow along easily. By providing a clear framework, an outline enhances the clarity and effectiveness of your presentation.

Importance of Presentation Outline

1. Clarity and Focus

Using an outline keeps your presentation organized and focused, preventing you from going off track. It ensures that your presentation has a clear purpose and that all the information you share is relevant to your main points.

2. Logical Structure

A well-crafted outline ensures that your presentation flows logically, guiding your audience smoothly from one point to the next. This helps your audience follow your train of thought and understand your message more easily.

3. Enhanced Delivery

Having a clear outline can boost your confidence and make your delivery smoother. With a structured plan, you’re less likely to forget important points or ramble on, resulting in a more professional presentation.

4. Time Management

An outline helps you manage your time better by estimating how long each part of your presentation will take. This ensures that you stay within the allotted timeframe, keeping your presentation on track and engaging for your audience.

How to Build Strong Presentation Outline s?

1. Purpose of Presentation

Understanding why you’re giving your presentation is crucial for planning its structure. Identifying your goal means thinking about what you want your audience to get out of it. This clarity forms the basis of your whole presentation. There are six potential reasons you might be presenting:

Sharing information
Teaching something new
Making it enjoyable
Inspiring action
Convincing people of something
Motivating them

Thinking about your goal will help you make a presentation that really grabs attention. Answering these questions can help you figure out what your goal is:

What do I want people to learn or understand from my presentation?
How will my presentation make a difference to those listening?
What do I want people to do after my presentation?

Once you have the answers, you’ll have a good idea of what your presentation should cover and where to start.

2. Consider Color and Design

How you present your pitch matters just as much as what you say. Take a moment to think about the fonts and colors you’ll use on your slides. Research suggests that red can convey excitement and grab your audience’s attention, while white gives off a sense of simplicity and clarity.

3. Establishing Structure: Arrange Your Ideas in a Logical Order

When crafting your presentation, it’s important to structure your ideas in a clear and logical sequence. Start with an introduction to set the stage, followed by the main body where you delve into your key points, and wrap it up with a conclusion to summarize your main ideas.

4. Engaging Your Audience

When you’re getting ready for your presentation, think about how you can start off in a way that grabs everyone’s attention. You could ask a thought-provoking question, share an interesting story, or begin with a meaningful quote. The main thing is to get your audience interested right from the beginning and set the tone for the rest of your talk.

5. Adding Visuals

Give some thought to whether you want to include pictures, videos, or other visual stuff in your presentation. Even if your outline doesn’t mention exactly what visuals to use, you can suggest where they might fit in to help explain your ideas.

6. Encouraging Action

Come up with a clear and compelling message to encourage your audience to take action. Whether it’s encouraging customers to try out a new product or inviting people to join a demo, make sure they understand what’s in it for them. And if your presentation doesn’t really need a specific call to action, just wrap up by summarizing your main points and saying thanks for listening.

Alternatively, you can skip the hassle of crafting a presentation outline manually – try SlidesAI for seamless assistance .

women presenting in frint of business leaders

Strategies for Crafting an Engaging Presentation

1. Understanding Your Audience

Take some time to know your audience by researching beforehand. This helps you adjust your presentation to connect with them better.

2. Enhance with Quotes, Testimonials, or Data

Make your presentation more interesting by adding extra info like quotes, testimonials, or data. It can make your audience more engaged and reinforce your message.

3. Visualize Your Concepts

How you show your ideas matters a lot. Tools like SlidesAI can help you express your concepts clearly and effectively.

4. Highlight Key Takeaways

Figure out the most important points you want your audience to remember. This makes it easier for them to recall and understand your message.

5. Seek Feedback

Ask for feedback to improve your presentation. It’s a good way to make sure it connects better with your audience.

Presentation Outline Example

Topic: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Target Audience: College students

Time Limit: 15 minutes

I. Introduction (2 minutes)

Attention Grabber : Briefly discuss a real-life example of how social media can negatively impact mental health (e.g., cyberbullying, unrealistic beauty standards).

Introduce the topic : Clearly state the topic and its significance (e.g., “Today, I’ll be talking about the increasing impact of social media on mental health, particularly among young adults like yourselves”).

Preview : Briefly outline the key points that will be covered (e.g., “We’ll explore the positive and negative aspects of social media use, discuss common mental health concerns associated with it, and offer some tips for healthy social media habits”).

II. Main Body (10 minutes)

Positive aspects of social media:

Connection and community : Highlight how social media can help people connect with friends and family, build communities based on shared interests, and combat feelings of loneliness.

Information and self-expression : Discuss how social media can be a source of information, news, and inspiration, and provide a platform for self-expression and creativity.

Negative aspects of social media:

Social comparison and envy : Explain how constant exposure to curated online profiles can lead to social comparison, feelings of inadequacy, and envy.

Cyberbullying and harassment : Discuss the prevalence of cyberbullying and online harassment, their potential to significantly impact mental health, and the importance of online safety.

Addiction and anxiety : Explain how excessive social media use can lead to addiction, anxiety, and sleep disturbances.

III. Conclusion (3 minutes)

Summary : Briefly recap the key takeaways discussed in the presentation.

Call to action : Encourage the audience to be mindful of their social media usage and offer practical tips for developing healthy habits, such as setting time limits, curating their feed, and prioritizing real-life interactions.

Question and Answer : Allocate time for audience questions and address them thoughtfully.

This is just a sample outline, and you can adapt and modify it based on your specific topic, audience, and time constraints. Remember, a well-structured and engaging presentation will effectively communicate your message and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can ai help you create a presentation outline .

With the assistance of AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, crafting outlines becomes a breeze. Furthermore, you can utilize user-friendly online AI presentation tools such as SlidesAI to effortlessly generate your presentations.

Why is putting your outline on a slide a good idea?

Using a presentation outline can be helpful. It makes things clearer, boosts the speaker’s confidence, and helps manage information better. It also keeps the audience more engaged. But, if your presentation is fast-paced, casual, or focused on a specific area of expertise, you might want to keep the outline short and sweet. Just pick what works best for your situation and audience.

What is the format of the presentation outline?

There are various formats, but a common approach is using bullet points, numbered lists , or headings and subheadings. Choose the format that best suits your content and visualizes your information.

How can I adapt my presentation outline for different audiences?

Adapt your presentation outline by tailoring:

Content : Depth, complexity, and examples based on audience expertise.
Language : Formality, jargon, and storytelling to match audience and occasion.
Visuals : Complexity and style to suit audience understanding.
Delivery : Pace, volume, and even body language to audience energy.
Focus : Highlight information most relevant to specific interests.

How long should a presentation outline be?

There’s no set rule; it depends on the complexity of your topic and presentation length.

Can I use a mind map to create a presentation outline?

Yes, mind maps can be a good way to visually brainstorm and organize presentation ideas.

What tools can I use to create a presentation outline?

You can use pen and paper, a word processing software like Microsoft Word, or dedicated outlining tools. Presentation software like PowerPoint also offers built-in outlining features.

Save Time and Effortlessly Create Presentations with SlidesAI

How to Outline a Presentation: A Complete Guide From a Pro

Filed under: Public speaking articles , Speaking tips , Speech preparation

When you’re writing an important speech, you must start with a clear outline. However, I find that many speakers are uncertain of how to write a good outline for their presentation. This is why I decided to write a guide for you, in hopes that learning to perfect your outlines will help you give better presentations in the future.

How do you outline a presentation? Always start with your introduction and end with your powerful closing. Flesh out the body by listing topics in the order that you want to cover them in. Never skimp on the important details of your speech. Remember that an outline is only a draft.

I know at this point that you still have questions, and that you still be confused at how to write the best outline for your speech. But writing a good outline for your presentation does not have to be stressful! This is my complete guide from a pro for you, in hopes that you can take the stress out of this important step.

Table of Contents

How to Outline a Presentation

Outlining a presentation can be done with a regular piece of paper, or on a word processing program on your computer. If you are hosting a PowerPoint presentation, you may prefer to do the entire thing from the comfort of your computer. But if you do decide to write your outline on a piece of paper, make sure you use a pencil and eraser so that you can make changes as you go along.

The very first step in creating an outline is to ask yourself what the purpose of your presentation is.

Write your main message or a one-sentence summary of your thesis at the top of your outline when you get started. This may help you stay on task, and it will keep the purpose of your speech right in your eye’s sight. After all, you don’t want to stray too far off the main topic of your presentation !

Remember, a quality outline is meant to enhance the purpose of your presentation. If you do not write a proper outline, you may risk not properly conveying the right message to your audience.

Or you may even forget to cover essential points that you wanted to talk about. A thorough outline is especially important if you are planning to speak without notes.

You should remember to properly summarize what you want to say with every sentence of your outline. After all, this is not a full script, so a summary is all you really need. Remember to rehearse and practice with your outline, so that you can remember what you have written.

Start With a Strong Beginning

Your introduction is where you start strong by grabbing your audience’s attention from the very beginning. But if that makes you feel stressed out, just remember to stay calm! Creating a great first impression from the beginning of your speech is not as difficult as you might be worrying.

When you create a strong beginning, you should try some of the following:

Start with an attention-grabbing statement that captures your audience from the start. If you have a few ideas but are not sure what to use, try running your ideas by a trusted friend or mentor.
Give a strong signal that you are beginning your speech. You don’t want your audience unsure of whether you’ve actually begun or not.
Give the main thesis statement about the purpose of your presentation.
You could start by giving a brief preview of all of the things that you are going to talk about in the body of your speech.
Talk about your credentials at the beginning. However, you should make sure to find a way to do it that is entertaining. You don’t want to risk boring your audience from the very beginning of your speech!
Thank your audience from the very beginning! This is not only a good way to begin your speech, but a good way to end it, as well.
If there are any current events or famous historical events that relate to the purpose of your presentation, you can start by talking about these. However, pick only one so that you do not draw your introduction out too long.
Ask your audience a question at the beginning. You could draw out their interest by answering this question at a later point in your speech.
Whenever possible, make sure you begin your speech on a positive note . This sets a good tone for the rest of the presentation.
Start by telling a story that relates to your presentation. A good reason to start with a story is that it helps you form a strong connection with your audience from the beginning. Write some of the main details of your story in your outline so that you remember them.

Be reminded thought, that sometimes it is wise to write your introduction last as only you know what you’ll be introducing. This way, you’ll also avoid including something in your introduction that you won’t be actually talking about.

Once you have written out your introduction, you have completed the first step in creating an excellent outline for your presentation.

Create a Powerful Ending

In my experience, it can be easier to create ending before you flesh out the body of your presentation. However, it is up to you if you prefer to create your outline in a different order.

If you are a regular reader, you might have realized that I already posted an in-depth article here about how to end a presentation in a powerful way . Right now we are going to talk about the same thing in somewhat less detail.

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Just like with your beginning, make sure that you’ve made it obvious you are ending. After all, few things are more awkward than your audience sitting there long after you’ve finished, feeling confused about whether they should leave or not.

If the point of your speech is to motivate your audience to do something, you might consider ending your speech with a call to action . A call to action is simply an instruction that you give your audience about something you want them to do.

You could also potentially end your presentation with a powerful quote or an entertaining story . And if you have a unique tagline that exists to help promote your personal brand, consider ending with it.

But if you are planning to have a question and answer period at all, make sure you are not directly ending with one. Plan to wrap up your question and answer period before delivering your speech’s closing at the end.

This is because ending with a question and answer period is not only not memorable, but a negative question from an audience member can leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth . This is not the last thing you want your audience members to remember as they’re leaving!

And as always, you should thank your audience at the end of your speech. This will make them feel valued, and impressed with your gratefulness.

Flesh Out the Body of Your Presentation

So, you’ve got your beginning and ending all figured out, but now what else do you do with your outline? This is the stage where you work on the body of your speech. That is, you will want to think about what you want to say in between your beginning and end. Here are some speech writing tips I have written about previously.

Write the main points of your outline in order

It may be easier for you to write bullet points or even a numbered list. List your main points in order of what you want to talk about. If at first glance the topics don’t seem to flow, it is okay to re-arrange them.

You can also decide at this point if there is anything you want to add or subtract. If you feel like you’ve made a mistake, don’t worry! It is okay to make any changes along the way.

Add sub-points and transitions to your topics

Add sub-points to your main points in order to further flesh out your outline. Even if you want to keep it simple, sub-points may help you to stay on track and remember what you were going to say.

You can also add to the ideas that your main points present. Make sure that the transitions from one point to another flow smoothly from one thing to the next.

Don’t forget the essential details!

Are there any special details that you need to remember for your presentation? Put these in your outline so that you don’t forget them. This can include important names, dates, and locations that you need to remember.

Write down how long will it take

If your speech is supposed to cover a certain amount of time, try listing times for each of your main points. This may help you not go over or under your time.

Also, take a look at these articles:

11 Great Tips How to Write a Great Persuasive Speech
How to Deliver a Perfect Elevator Speech

How to Outline a PowerPoint Presentation?

You may be thinking that you don’t need an outline for your PowerPoint presentation. However, don’t rely on your slides alone ; you need a proper outline, too. An outline for a PowerPoint presentation should also include images that you intend to use for your slides.

Fortunately, the PowerPoint program itself also allows you to view an outline of your slides. This can help give you a visual of your overall presentation.

Remember, This is Only a Draft!

If your outline isn’t the way you want it to be, remember that it is only your very first rough draft. Your outline doesn’t have to be perfect, because it is not your final product. While you should work hard to make your outline as good as possible, you don’t need to stress about it.

And remember that if you finish your outline, and you are not satisfied with how it looks? It is okay for you to scrap it and start all over again. There is no reason that you should stick with an outline that you don’t feel confident about.

An outline is a great place to start whether you intend to read from a full script, read from cue cards, or speak without notes. If you are an avid reader of Speak and Conquer, you’ll remember that I recommend creating an outline in many of my articles.

Get Feedback From Others About Your Outline

There is no reason that you have to go any of this by yourself. If you have a friend or mentor who is experienced with public speaking , why not ask them to take a look at your outline for you? They may see something that needs to be changed that never even occurred to you.

You could also give a practice round of your speech in front of a friend, family member, or mentor. Give them a chance to make suggestions about whether or not there’s anything that you should change. After all, it’s better for you to realize if something needs to be done differently before the actual day of the presentation.

If you don’t have someone who you can rehearse in front of in person, try recording your presentation in front of a video camera . Show it to someone you trust via email or social media. If they have any suggestions for change, you can alter your outline accordingly.

Why is a Presentation Outline so Important, Anyway?

While reading this article, you may be wondering why you even need an outline for your presentation. This may be especially puzzling to you if you are planning to give a speech without notes . But I find that an outline can be incredibly useful no matter what kind of presentation you are planning to give to your audience.

Like I said before, the main point of an outline is to enhance the main purpose of your speech further. But I’m also going to give you a list of some more reasons why I believe an outline is absolutely essential.

Some other good reasons for creating an outline for your presentation are:

You will have an easy visual to look at the order of the topics you are talking about. This way, you can see if anything looks out of place.
The proper outline will help to keep your speech organized.
You will be able to look at the connections between your ideas . This may even help you realize you need to add or subtract certain things from your speech.
A good outline will help you remember to t ouch on every important point that you need to cover in your presentation.
Outlining helps you see whether or not your main points and sub-points flow smoothly . If you create your outline and realize that some of your points do not flow, you can easily re-write key parts.
Using an outline instead of a full script will give you more freedom to improvise during your presentation. This is why creating an outline is a great first strategy if you are speaking without notes, or trying to memorize a speech in a short period of time.
If you’re not sure where to start preparing for your speech, then writing a loose outline is a good first step to help you out.
Practicing with an outline will help enhance your memory about the main points and sub-points of your presentation.

No matter what kind of presentation you are planning to give, a solid outline with help you be prepared and ready to go.

Conclusion: How do you make an outline for a talk?

Today, I have compiled a thorough guide about writing a quality outline. We discussed creating a good beginning, ending, and body of your presentation. We have even talked about why a good outline is important, too. If you have any other tips to share about creating an outline for your presentation, make sure to share them in the comments section.

If you are looking to improve your public speaking and presentation skills, check out the rest of my articles on Speak and Conquer. The purpose of my site is to help you succeed in becoming a better public speaker. For example, I have covered popular topics such as how to memorize a speech in less than an hour , and how to use hand gestures effectively during a presentation .

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I have been teaching public speaking at Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences

Here, I am sharing the wisdom of how to cope in different public speaking situations.

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I have been teaching and blogging about public speaking since spring 2007. Here, I am sharing the wisdom of how to cope in different public speaking situations.

Send me an e-mail: [email protected]

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December 4, 2023

How to create a presentation outline (with examples)

Four methods to create a presentation outline and example outlines for inspiration

Co-founder, CEO

Like it or not, if you work in an office environment or go to school, you'll probably have to make a presentation at some point. But creating a great presentation can be challenging, especially when you're short on time or suffering from writers' block.

Luckily, there are lots of ways to get a head start on your presentation outline, and in this article we'll walk through four options for creating a presentation outline and show you several examples of great presentation outlines.

Why should I write a presentation outline?

An outline helps you organize your ideas in a clear and logical way . Instead of getting bogged down on details like formatting or word choice, an outline presents the overarching story of your presentation with just a few main points. This helps to make sure you have a cohesive narrative before you dive in to the nitty gritty work of wordsmithing individual bullet points or selecting the perfect slide theme.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it often is! But spending time writing a great outline will save you time and effort down the road because it will be easier to organize your work and create each slide when you understand how it fits in to the broader presentation.

Here are four ways you can get a start on creating your next presentation outline.

Method 1: Create your outline from scratch

Creating an outline from scratch may sound intimidating if you have never written a presentation outline before, but this is the most straightforward way to get started.

Start by jotting down the three main points you want to make in your presentation. Once you have your main ideas in order, write down a few supporting details and examples for each point.

Then, add an introduction (find an interesting image, quote, or question to help grab the audience's audience) and a conclusion (decide on the best way to summarize the takeaways from your presentation) to the outline, and you are ready to go.

This method is great for those who prefer to have complete control over their presentation and want to create a custom outline that works best for their needs.

Method 2: Create a presentation outline using an AI presentation maker

If you're short on time or looking for a quick way to get a first draft of a presentation outline that you can then refine, using an AI presentation maker is a great option.

Plus AI lets you type a short prompt like "Create a presentation that provides an overview of the Norwegian oil industry," and it will automatically generate an outline of a presentation for you. After Plus creates the outline, you can change the titles of slides, rearrange slides, and remove any pieces of the outline that are not necessary.

From there, once your outline is created, you can click the "Generate presentation" button, choose a template, and let the AI create the first draft of your entire presentation.

This method is a good option for those who want to create a polished presentation without getting stuck with a blank piece of paper. Instead, it frees you up to take a first draft presentation and customize it for your needs.

Method 3: Create a presentation outline using ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that can help with a wide variety of tasks - everything from acting as a therapist, to sharing recipes, to helping you come up with presentation ideas and creating content for a presentation .

To have ChatGPT help you generate a presentation, you can take two different approaches:

Use a custom GPT that has been trained to help people create presentations or
Ask the general ChatGPT interface to "Create a presentation outline for me on the topic of [XYZ]."

Both approaches will yield similar results, but a custom GPT like Plus AI presentation maker will be more fine-tuned to helping people create presentations. It will also provide additional functionality like providing a visual preview of the slides and feedback on how to improve your presentation.

Method 4: Create a presentation outline using a template

Last but not least, using a template is a good way to speed up the process of creating a new presentation outline. Similar to using an AI presentation maker, a template can give you a first draft of an outline that is easier to edit and refine than starting from scratch.

Presentation templates often come pre-designed with example text and images, so all you have to do is fill in your own content. For example, this TED Talk presentation template provides some instructions on how to create an outline for a TED Talk-style slide deck.

The secret to using this method is to find the closest template to the type of presentation you want to create. You should use detailed search terms to and look across multiple sites and resources to find one that matches the content and style that you would like.

Once you have your template, start by reviewing the overall outline or structure and tweak it to meet your needs. Then, you can fill in the specific content (e.g., text and images) with your materials to make it your own to quickly make a beautiful presentation.

Presentation outline examples

Basic presentation outline example.

Let's take a look at a presentation outline and accompanying notes for a persuasive presentation on encouraging people to meditate every day:

I. Introduction

Hook - find a striking image and tell a story
Thesis statement - everyone should meditate for 10 min per day

II. Main point 1 - Meditation is one of the easiest ways to improve your health

Physical health
Mental health

III. Main point 2 - Meditation is backed up by thousands of years of practice and research

One anecdote from antiquity
One anecdote from recent research

IV. Main point 3 - You can get started with meditation today

Basic technique
Tips for newcomers

V. Conclusion

Summarize key points
Call to action

As you can see, this is a relatively lightweight plan for the presentation, but it provides an easy-to-understand framework that we can fill in with slides.

There are rough notes on specific content for the different points in the presentation, but we don't need to write out everything in fine detail, just the broad strokes.

Pitch deck outline example

Now let's review an outline for a pitch deck that someone might use to present their startup idea to prospective investors. This is for a startup that uses autonomous food trucks to deliver meals to people's homes and workplaces.

I. Problem statement - "Food delivery sucks, and here's why"

Hook - pictures of typical food delivery headaches (e.g., late/no show, bad selection, etc)

II. Value prop - "FoodDrive revolutionizes the food delivery model"

Compare value chain of FoodDrive to traditional restaurant and delivery service
Show how $50 order gets allocated to different people

III. The product - "Customers love our trucks"

Picture of food truck and menu
Customer quotes and reviews

IV. Why now? - "Our self-driving technology is ready for prime-time"

V. Business model - "Each truck can generate $2-3M of revenue per year with a 60% gross margin"

Show high-level financial forecasts on unit basis

VI. Competitive landscape - "FoodDrive's closest competitors don't come close"

Comparison table with delivery services, in-house delivery, eating out-of-home, etc.

VII. Go to market strategy - "We've tested FoodDrive in 2 markets so far. Here's how we win in new markets"

Overview of social media strategy
Case study on new market launch

VIII. Team - "Our team has experience in autonomous vehicles, food delivery, and quick service restaurants"

IX. Traction - "We generate $5M of revenue per year with our 2 trucks, and we can ramp up new trucks immediately"

Show revenue growth chart with focus on time to ramp new trucks to productivity

X. Fundraising goal - "We are raising $50M to expand FoodDrive to 10 more markets"

Highlight key milestones we aim to reach with additional funding

Even though a pitch deck is a specialized type of presentation that often requires specific content, it's helpful to start with an outline to build out the 'story' behind the content. That way, you have a cohesive story rather than a set of disparate slides.

How can I create a presentation from an outline?

Once you have your presentation outline written, it's time to start writing your slides. Since you already know the main points you are trying to make in your presentation, the main decisions here are

What type of visual style you want to follow
How many slides you want in your presentation
How you will present or share the slides

To get a head start on creating a first draft of your presentation, you could enter your outline into an AI presentation maker.

This will provide a first draft of the slides so that you can focus on making sure they tell a cohesive story or tweaking individual slides to leave a memorable impression.

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Practical Presentation Outline Examples For Success (+ 8 Must Have Elements)

Jane Ng • 05 Apr 2024 • 6 min read

Looking for Presentation Outline Examples ? Do you want to take your presentations from mediocre to magnificent? The secret weapon in achieving that transformation is a well-crafted presentation outline. A clear and organized outline not only guides you through your content but also ensures your audience stays captivated throughout your talk.

In this blog post, we’re going to share practical presentation outline examples and 8 key elements for constructing your own outlines that will leave a lasting impression.

What is presentation outline, why is presentation outline important, 8 key elements of presentation outline , presentation outline examples, key takeaways , faqs about presentation outline examples.

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A presentation outline is a plan or structure that helps you organize and deliver a presentation or speech. It’s like a map that guides you through your talk.

It outlines the main points, ideas, and key elements you intend to cover during your presentation in a logical and organized sequence.
It ensures that your presentation is clear, logical, and easy for your audience to follow.

In essence, it’s a tool that helps you stay on track and communicate your message effectively.

A presentation outline is a valuable tool that enhances both the organization and delivery of your presentation.

It benefits you as a presenter by reducing stress and improving focus, while also benefiting your audience by making your message more accessible and engaging.
If you’re using visual aids like slides, an outline helps you synchronize your content with your visuals, ensuring they support your message effectively.
If you need to make last-minute changes or adapt your presentation, having an outline makes it easier to identify and adjust specific sections without overhauling the entire presentation.

Whether you’re giving a business presentation, a school lecture, or a public speech, an outline is a key element in ensuring your presentation’s success.

A well-structured presentation outline should include the following key elements:

1/ Title or Topic:

Begin your outline with a clear and concise title or topic that represents the subject of your presentation.

2/ Introduction:

Hook or Attention-Grabber: Start with a compelling opening statement or question to engage your audience.
Purpose or Objective: Clearly state the purpose of your presentation and what you aim to achieve.
Main Points or Sections : Identify the major topics or sections that you will cover in your presentation. These are the core ideas that support your thesis statement.

3/ Subpoints or Supporting Details:

Under each main point, list the specific details, examples, statistics, anecdotes, or evidence that support and elaborate on that main point.

4/ Transition Statements:

Include transition phrases or sentences between each main point and subpoint to guide the flow of your presentation smoothly. Transitions help your audience follow your logic and connect the dots between ideas.

5/ Visual Aids:

If your presentation includes slides or other visual aids, indicate when and where you plan to use them to enhance your points.

6/ Conclusion:

Summary: Recap the main points you’ve discussed during your presentation.
Include any final thoughts, a call to action, or a closing statement that leaves a lasting impression.

7/ Q&A or Discussion:

If applicable, mention when you’ll open the floor for questions and discussion. Be sure to allocate time for this if it’s part of your presentation.

8/ References or Sources:

If you’re presenting information that requires citations or sources, include them in your outline. This ensures you give credit where it’s due and can reference them during your presentation if needed.

Here are some additional tips for creating a Presentation Outline

Time Allocation: Estimate how much time you intend to spend on each section of your presentation. This helps you manage your time effectively during the actual presentation.
Notes or Reminders: Add any reminders, cues, or notes to yourself that will help you deliver your presentation effectively. These can include tips on delivery, body language, or specific points to emphasize.

Here are a few presentation outline examples for different types of presentations:

Example 1: Sales Pitch Presentation – Presentation Outline Examples

Title: Introducing Our New Product: XYZ Tech Gadgets

Introduction

Hook: Begin with a relatable customer problem.
Purpose: Explain the presentation’s goal.
Thesis: “Today, I’m excited to introduce our innovative XYZ Tech Gadgets designed to simplify your life.”

Main Points

A. Product Features

Subpoints: Highlight key features and benefits.

B. Target Audience

Subpoints: Identify potential customers.

C. Pricing and Packages

Subpoints: Offer options and discounts.

Transition: “I’m glad you’re interested in our product. Let’s talk about the different ways you can purchase it.”

Purchase and Support

a. Ordering Process
b. Customer Support
Recap product highlights and benefits.
Call to action: “Visit our website or contact our sales team to get your XYZ Tech Gadgets today.”

Q&A Session.

Example 2: The Evolution of Jazz Music – Presentation Outline Examples

Title: The Evolution of Jazz Music

Hook: Begin with a famous jazz quote or a snippet of iconic jazz music.
Purpose: Explain the goal of the presentation.
Thesis: “Today, we’ll take a journey through time to explore the fascinating evolution of jazz music.”

A. Early Origins of Jazz

Subpoints: African roots, New Orleans as a melting pot.

B. The Jazz Age (1920s)

Subpoints: Swing music, jazz legends like Louis Armstrong.

C. Bebop and Modern Jazz (1940s-1960s)

Subpoints: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, experimental jazz.

Transition : “Let’s now turn our attention to the diversity of jazz styles, which is as vast and complex as the history of the music itself.”

Different Styles of Jazz

a. Cool Jazz
b. Fusion Jazz
c. Latin Jazz
d. Contemporary Jazz

Influence of Jazz on Popular Music

Subpoints: Jazz’s impact on rock, hip-hop, and other genres.
Summary of the evolution of jazz music.
Call to action: “Explore the world of jazz, attend live performances, or even pick up an instrument to contribute to this ever-evolving art form.”

Presentation outlines are indispensable tools that can elevate your presentations from good to great. They provide structure, organization, and clarity, ensuring that your message reaches your audience effectively. No matter if you’re delivering an educational presentation, a convincing sales pitch, or an interesting speech, these presentation outline examples aim to offer you valuable information.

To take your presentations to the next level, leverage AhaSlides. With AhaSlides , you can seamlessly integrate interactive features into your presentation, such as spinner wheel , live polls , surveys , quizzes , and audience feedback features.

These interactive features not only enhance audience engagement but also provide valuable insights and real-time interaction, making your presentations more dynamic and memorable.

So, let’s explore our template library !

📌 Tips: Asking open-ended questions help you to create an outline for presentation easier!

What should a presentation outline include?

Title, Introduction, Key points, subpoints, transitions, visuals, conclusion, Q&A , and time allocation.

What are the 5 parts of a presentation?

Introduction, main points, visuals, conclusion, and Q&A.

How do you outline a project presentation?

Define objectives, list key topics, organize content logically, and allocate time.

Do you need an outline for a presentation?

Yes, an outline helps structure and guide your presentation effectively.

Ref: Indeed | EdrawMind

A writer who wants to create practical and valuable content for the audience

How to make a presentation outline: a step-by-step guide

Georgina Guthrie

April 07, 2021

Whether you’re building a house, baking a cake, or writing an essay — having all the necessary pieces in place before you begin will make the task much easier.

It may seem counterproductive to spend time sorting things out when you’re in a rush… After all, why spend time organizing when you could dive straight in? But the fact is, the opposite is true: Planning saves time, and the same goes for creating a business presentation. Start with a presentation outline.

A presentation outline is a bare-bones version of your talk. It should take the general direction of your pitch, plus summaries of your key points. Its purpose is to help you shape your thinking, organize your thoughts, and make sure your material is presented logically.

In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at what a presentation outline is, how storytelling can help engage your audience, and how to create a flawless outline of your own. Let’s get stuck in.

What’s the purpose of your presentation?

This is the foundation on which you will build your whole presentation — so make sure you know the answer to this question. A good starting point is to think about the overall purpose. There are six possible purposes your presentation might have:

Inspire action
Inspire or motivate

In a business setting, it’ll usually be ‘to inform,’ along with one or two others. If you’re there to talk about quarterly results, then you’ll want to inform and motivate. If you’re a business coach, your goals will likely be to inspire, motivate, and entertain.

Once you’ve worked this out, you’ll be one step closer to working out the purpose of your pitch. Here are some questions to help you find an answer to this question:

What do I want people to take away from my presentation?
How will what I talk about help others in the room?
What do I want people to do after my meeting?

Note down your ideas and start creating a topline summary of your presentation purpose. Summarize it into one or two sentences, then put that on your first slide. You can change it later, but this is a good starting point.

Create a story arc for your presentation

As humans, we love a good story. We’ve been doing it since, well, forever. The earliest cave paintings helped the painters and those who saw the paintings make sense of the world.

Interesting things happen when you start telling a story. Your brain’s auditory cortex (aka the bit that helps you listen) switches on. This helps you imagine the activities being described. Meanwhile, the frontal and parietal cortices are fired up, which helps us emotionally engage with what’s being said.

Stories have been, and will always be, a powerful tool for bringing people together. Great stories persuade and inform; the best stories inspire and stay with us. But we don’t often see this happening in the boardroom, where graphs and quarterly results preside.

Stats and numbers suck the life out of a presentation. We think these details will speak for themselves. But… they don’t because, well… they’re boring, and they make us switch off. If you want to inspire your audience, you need to weave those stats into a story . But where do you begin, and how do you start?

Storytelling isn’t something only a few select people are good at. Anyone can master the art with a little practice. It doesn’t even require heaps of creativity because the truth is, stories are formulaic, and once you’ve got the formula down, the rest runs on autopilot.

Let’s look at how to build your notes and ideas into a compelling story using one of the formulas below.

1.Fact and Story

Mixing storytelling with facts works in a kind of mutually supportive cycle. Facts add substance to the story; the story adds interest to the facts.

In this structure, you weave the two together and move back and forth between the two.

Start with a ‘what if’ question. For example, if you were pitching a vacuum cleaner, your initial sales pitch might be ‘what if you didn’t have to lose suction?’
From here, work in facts that illustrate the way things currently are. To continue with our example, it might be current stats on traditional vacuums losing suction. Keep alternating facts with fiction throughout the body of your presentation.
End on a high note that makes the listeners feel like they learned something and want to move to action because of it. For example, to invest in your new product, or to sponsor your new app .

2. The hero’s journey

From Odysseus to Chihiro , adventure stories typically feature a hero who goes on a journey fraught with peril and learns a vital lesson at the end of it. It’s a formula employed by thousands of writers — and you can draw from it to add some drama to your presentation.

This structure works really well for inspirational personal stories, or tales about a company from its humble beginnings to the success it is today.

Begin somewhere neutral. The situation is neither ideal nor unbearable.
Introduce a challenge — one that needs to be solved.
Present a worsening situation. The problem is being addressed, but things are still getting worse.
Talk about rock bottom. The situation seems impossible; there is apparently no way forward and all seems lost. Until…
Talk about a new discovery that offers hope.
Armed with your new abilities, you can tackle the issue head-on.
Talk about resolving the problem, but instead of returning to the way things were before, the hero (you) discovers an even better way of living.
Finish with a lesson, which you can share to inspire your audience.

3. The Pitch

The ‘pitch’ style of presentation is commonly used by salespeople. The goal is to show how a product or idea can help an individual overcome a hurdle toward a positive outcome. The story should be relatable, so the audience can picture themselves in the situation and, therefore, benefitting from the solution.

Start with a summary of the way things are in a way that’s easy to relate to.
Introduce the problem or hurdle that you need to solve. Make it relatable to further help your audience put themselves in the situation.
The solution: give your audience a glimpse into a possible solution.
The fork in the road: Give your audience a couple of options for solving the problem. Offer an average option first, then follow up with a better one.
Close: Choose the better option and explain why that’s the best one (and only real suitable choice).
Finish up by telling the audience exactly how to solve the problem, step by step.
But that’s not all: Before you finish, talk about extra benefits that extend beyond simply solving the problem. Finish on an uplifting high.

4. The explanation

This presentation format is for when you want to teach your audience something — whether that’s a process, a new skill, or a way to overcome a problem. It has similarities with the fact and story structure, insomuch as facts should weave into the story.

Explain how things are at the moment, what the goal looks like, and how you plan to get there. You can even start with a story to add emotional interest from the get-go.
Take your first step on the journey toward the final destination.
Add more steps that build on this.
Take a moment to recap on the points you’ve covered so far while tying them into the main point. This will help your audience visualize the ground you’ve covered and see where you’re heading.
Add the finishing pieces to the puzzle and lead your audience to the end.
By the end of your journey, your audience should feel as though they’ve learned something new.

5. The Opportunity

A close relative of the pitch, this three-part structure swaps a hurdle for an opportunity. Here, you want to show your audience that a problem they thought they had actually has an easy fix.

Start with the situation as it is now.
Next, add a ‘but’ — this could be a small hiccup that stops things from being as good as they could be. For example, our chocolate pudding company is doing really well. But we could be doing better if we changed supplier.
Talk about the opportunity, with as many facts and stats as possible to make it feel achievable and real.
Add a conclusion.
Explain why the product or service meets the challenges raised. Add more stats and facts to support your point.

How to plan your presentation

Now you’ve worked out your structure, it’s time to start building your presentation, pulling in all your points and forming them into a story.

Storyboarding is the best way to do this. Directors use storyboards to map out their films scene-by-scene — you’re going to use it to map out your presentation, slide-by-slide.

(Don’t worry, you can do stick people and squiggles if drawing isn’t your strong point.) Image Source

The trick here is to use broad strokes without adding too much detail. Make it too wordy and you’ll lose your top-level view, which is important for assessing the arc of your story. Ideally, have one or two sentences on each slide summarizing what each one will address.

You can do this with pen and paper, but when it comes to final drafts and editing, it’s a good idea to move your drawings over to a digital format. It looks far neater, and it means that if you need to change something, it’s as simple as deleting or editing a cell or slide rather than you having to start over.

Once you’ve got your rough storyboard more or less ready, it’s time to start building your presentation.

Your presentation outline

Using a presentation template will be a big help here. First, choose your template — then start adding pre-made slides according to your storyboard. For those who didn’t plan, this can be a bit of a nightmare that usually ends up with you shuffling slides around indefinitely. For those who planned, it’s simply a matter of putting all your hard work in place, then spicing it up with pictures, video, and audio.

Top Tip : If your slides are there to support your spoken words, try not to make them too wordy. Talking too much will distract your audience, whose attention will be split between what’s on screen and your voice. Instead, opt for images and video. If you’re sharing your presentation slides without presenting them, keep your communication simple and succinct. A wall of text is never engaging.

Finally, rehearse your presentation. According to experts, 10 is the magic number when it comes to practicing speeches . The more you practice, the better it’ll flow, the easier it’ll be for your listeners to get sucked into your story. And when it comes to persuading, inspiring, informing, or selling — having a captive and engaged audience is half the battle.

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How To Make an Effective Presentation Outline

Edraw content team, do you want to make presentation outline.

EdrawMind helps move ideas forward, faster and better. Learn from this complete guide to know how to make a perfect Presentation Outline. Just try it free now!

1. What is a Presentation Outline?

A presentation outline presents a comprehensive idea of what you plan to share with the audience. It is a synopsis of a talk, pitch, or subject matter under discussion. It serves as a guide for writing a paper, publishing a study, or building a presentation and enables you to structure your information in a way that is easy to understand. Making a presentation outline is similar to having all the necessary pieces in place before building a house. It may appear counter-productive to spend time and resources sorting things in the form of an outline. However, outlining saves time and gives clarity on a particular topic.

2. Why Should You Create a Presentation Outline?

A presentation outline assists you in preparing for your pitch or speech. It provides a clear path to take your audience from where it is to where you want it to be. It plays an important role in positively shaping people's perspectives about your planning and execution skills. There are several other advantages associated with creating a presentation outline which includes:

It helps in brainstorming your presentation and saves time by giving a clear idea of what you need to focus on.
It helps structure ideas so that they appear in a logical order.
It enables you to determine the main points you need to keep in your presentation.
You can categorize ideas into groups and create separate slides for each group for further clarity.
It helps you rehearse your presentation while going over the important points.
It provides a visual aid to help people understand your topic in a better way.

3. How to Create a Presentation Outline?

The following steps will help you create a presentation outline:

1 Considering the Purpose of Presentation

Determination of your presentation goal is fundamental to creating an outline. To find the purpose, you need to think about what you want from your audience. Finding this out will enable you to build your whole presentation. There are six purposes your presentation possibly have:

Entertaining
Inspiring to act

Considering the purpose will help you build an impressive presentation. The following few questions will enable you to figure this out:

What do I want people to take away or understand from my presentation?
How will my talk help those attending the presentation?
What do I want people to do after the presentation is over?

Answers to these questions will help you create a summary of your presentation and will serve as a fine starting point.

2 Creating Structure

Creating a structure implies considering where different points belong in your discussion and where to use the supporting material. There are three main components of a presentation:

Introduction

Structuring your points and arguments in these parts will enable you to transition from one part of the presentation to another without creating any trouble.

3 Using an Attention Grabber

Thinking about how you want to open your topic is an integral part of planning a presentation. If you want your audience to get engaged with what you are talking about, you can ask an interesting question, share a related story or quote something entertaining. It sets the tone for the rest of your discussion.

4 Considering Visual Content

You can add images, videos, or other visual content to your presentation to convey what you want to. It helps you to communicate emotions, excitement, passion, and experiences effectively. You can also focus on using different fonts and colors to make your presentation more interactive and interesting.

5 Including a Call to Action

A creative call to action will inspire your audience to take appropriate action. It will show what you want your audience to do after the presentation. Let your audience know what it will get from performing the required action.

4. How to Make a Presentation Outline?

You can make a presentation outline in the following two ways:

With PowerPoint and Word

1 creating an outline in word.

Open Word document.
Select View > Outline. This will automatically generate an outline and open the Outlining tools.
If there are headings in your document, you will witness those headings organized by level (from H1 to H9). If there are no headings in the document, the outline will appear as a bullet list. You can assign or edit headings, and heading levels. You can also set up the structure of your document.
Select a bullet item.
Select a heading Level 1 for slide titles, Level 2 for bullet points on that slide from the Outline Level box.
When the work is done, select Outline View to edit your document.
Select Save to save your document, name your file, and then select Save once more.
Select Close to close the document.

2 Importing a Word Outline into PowerPoint

Open PowerPoint and select Home > New Slide.
Select Slides from Outline.
In the Insert Outline dialog box, find and select your Word outline. Select Insert.

With EdrawMind

how to make a presentation outline step 1

5. Presentation Outline Template

This presentation outline template describes three components of the outline: The introduction, the main body, and the conclusion. The introductory part opens the topic with an attention grabber and summarises the importance of the topic and its relevance of the topic to the audience. It also includes learning objectives that points out what the audience is going to learn from this presentation. The main body part constitutes the main idea of the topic. This idea is substantiated by supporting material. The concluding part constitutes a summary of the topic discussed and what the audience learned from it. It reviews the main points and calls the audience to take appropriate action.

6. Key Tips for Creating a More Effective Presentation

Here are some important points to consider to create an effective presentation:

Know Your Audience. Get to know your audience by researching ahead of time so that you can make your presentation relatable.
Add Quotes, Testimonials, or Data. Adding additional information to your presentation can help you engage your audience better.
Visualize Your Ideas. The way you present your ideas is fundamental to the success of those ideas. EdrawMind helps you to create and present your ideas most effectively and efficiently.
Identify Key Takeaways from Your Presentation. It will enable you to recall, review, and reassert what you want to communicate with your audience.
Gather Feedback. Gathering honest feedback will help you make further improvements and adjustments to your presentation to make it more effective.

7. Key Takeaways

A presentation outline is a tool to communicate your ideas precisely. It helps you brainstorm and plan your presentation in a logical flow. Moreover, it helps to grab the attention of your audience by providing it with a visual depiction of what you are going to talk. If you want to create an impressive and creative presentation outline, EdrawMind will help you in this regard. It has a variety of functions and tools which enable you to create a dynamic outline suited to your topic. It enables you to brainstorm and present your ideas most effectively by using different diagrams, charts, graphs, clipart, etc. EdrawMind provides the best solution to your presentation problems.

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Present Like a Pro with a Well-Designed Presentation Outline

Whether you’re pitching a new idea to investors or putting together an inspiring talk for potential customers, you’ve got your hands full. Presenting is tricky. Like tightrope walking tricky.

First, you need to convey a huge amount of info to make an impact. And second, it’s too easy to lose your audience’s attention. One boring slide or organizational slip-up and your whole presentation might tumble to the ground.

But there is a way to balance informational depth with curiosity. If you plan ahead and start out with a clear, well-organized presentation outline, you can walk the presenter high wire. You’ll have a clear flow of ideas that carries your audience from start to end.

And the best part? No snoring. 😁 No one’s going to tune out when you have a captivating story to tell.

But just like creating your presentation design, making your presentation outline design is a process. It requires forethought, planning, and organization.

What It Takes to Design Visual Presentations with Impact

So what do you need to get started? Let’s look at what a presentation outline is, why it matters, and how you can create one.

What Is a Presentation Outline?

A presentation outline is the roadmap that guides your talk. It clarifies your main points, your structure, and the movement or flow of the underlying story. Critically, this is where you hone in on why this information matters to your audience and what you want them to take away from it.

Without a presentation outline, you might have the most compelling stats, facts, quotes, and illustrations in the world. But, no string to thread them all together.

This is why creating an outline – even a simple presentation outline design – should always be step one. 🤓 It’s a critical tool for marketing, sales professionals, motivational speakers, educators, entertainers, and anyone else who presents.

Whether you’re putting together an inspirational talk, a sales pitch, or internal training, an outline should always be your starting point. It’s the visual aid that will guide your talk and ensure your presentation resonates with your audience .

With a well-designed outline, there’s no way your presentation will go off track. That’s why so many brands and professionals turn to design services. Experienced designers know how to create a super-useful, easy-to-follow visual aid.

With a knockout outline design, you can say goodbye to pre-presentation jitters and hello to a captivated audience.

Want to present with confidence? Expert design services ensure your presentation is a success.

Why Create a Presentation Outline?

Okay, so I know what you’re thinking. Why should I create a full outline design? Won’t that take more time?

In the long run, no. Believe it or not, the better your outline design, the more time you’ll save. But there’s a bigger why behind creating an outline. Ultimately, it’s going to ensure your presentation is a hit.

Without it, you have something to share, but no guidelines to give your ideas and supporting points structure.

Here’s the thing: when you present – versus telling a story through written content or a video – you have to work harder to hold your audience’s attention. People are listening to your words .

You might have visual slides to accompany your talk. But if you lose them for even a moment , there’s no paragraph of text or video clip to fall back on. It’s just you, your slides, and them.

Also, everything happens in real-time. So there’s no assurance your audience is following you once you start talking.

That’s why you have to create your success guarantees beforehand. And the way to do this is with a simple, clear presentation outline.

Planning ahead with an outline helps you:

Establish your line of thinking. Your outline develops the form to hold your ideas in place and determines the shape of your thoughts.
Organize your points. You need to share your key points and details in a logical manner, and the outline empowers you to do this. Honestly, you can spend infinitely reshuffling your slides trying to figure out the best sequence to use without a premade outline.
Build the story. A good presentation has conflict, suspense, and resolution. The outline design is where you set up your story’s structure.
Increase confidence in your presentation. Planning ahead, you know your presentation has meaning: because you put in the hard yards to outline why your information matters. That lets you present with confidence.

How to Create a Presentation Outline in 7 Steps

There’s no one way to create an outline for a presentation. From visual-forward storyboards to descriptive text and everything in between, what works for you depends on the type of presentation and your personal preferences.

But no matter what direction you choose, there are a few key components you need. Let’s unpack what you should include in your outline.

1. Identify your purpose

The first part of your outline is the why. Why are you presenting this information?

To figure this out, name your goal. Here are some of the most common presentation goals:

Motivate an action
Inform or educate

Besides this overarching purpose, you need to get clear on your presentation’s underlying agenda. Here are some questions you can answer to help you dig further.

What do you want your audience to learn?
What are the key takeaways?
How will your presentation help them?
What action should they take or want to take when you’re done?

Once you answer these questions (the ones that are relevant to your presentation), distill your purpose into a one or two-sentence summary that you can fit on a single slide. This summary is the first part of your outline design.

2. Set up the structure

Okay, enough philosophizing about your purpose and goals. Time for the meat and bones of your presentation: the story structure. 😎

Storytelling is the best way to keep your audience hooked. Not just because your audience will relate to what you’re saying and form an emotional connection. A good narrative goes way further. It has the power to put you and your audience on the same wavelength .

That’s any presenter’s dream, but it’s real. A Princeton University research team found that the brain wave patterns of the listener and storyteller sync up during a story .

And the better your audience’s understanding, the closer the alignment, which is why it’s so critical to get your story structure right in your outline. The better you organize your structure, the easier it will be for your audience to follow along and absorb your main points.

So, how do you design an effective story structure? You follow a formula. Remember the plot formulas you learned in middle school English class? Hook and exposition, rising movement, climax, falling action, and resolution?

The formulas are slightly different, but the idea is the same. All you need to do is choose the best story formula for your presentation.

So, let’s dive in – here are the formulas you can use to create the story structure for your outline design:

a) The hero’s journey

The hero’s journey starts with the call to adventure and ends with the return. Along the way, there’s some sort of initiation through trials or challenges. When you create your presentation outline, your designer can make a storyboard or map out a chart of events showing how your hero moves through those stages, changes from the experience, and comes back with a solution or better say.

Let’s take a beverage company as an example for a presentation outline. They have a new, exciting product to introduce to the market – herbal coffee. 😮 It doesn’t have any caffeine but tastes like coffee. So it appeals to health-conscious consumers who are trying to limit their caffeine intake.

Now, the company has to convince its partners – the grocery stores and coffee shops that sell their products – to stock this new herbal coffee on their shelves.

So they need a compelling story that makes their new product out to be the next hot trend in the beverage world.

The company is the hero.
The call to adventure is the need to find a caffeine-free coffee alternative that people actually like to drink.
Next, the storyboard design shows all the obstacles they face on their quest – the search for the right ingredients and the challenges creating a product that tastes similar to coffee.
The company finally nails the perfect recipe. That’s the high point in the story arc.
Then, as they start selling it to customers, they realize it’s a bigger hit than expected. The storyboard might include slides of graphs or charts demonstrating these findings. Or maybe quotes from happy customers.
The outline ends with slides of content herbal coffee drinkers and projections for how popular this new drink will be. It’s positive, inspiring, and motivates the audience to contact a representative to learn more about getting this herbal coffee on their shelves.

When to use it

The hero’s journey is a good story structure when you’re talking about a company’s history, introducing a new product, or using a personal story in a motivational presentation.

b) The fact flow

This story structure uses a combination of hard facts and interesting story points.

In your presentation outline, you’ll flow back and forth between the two to keep the momentum going. It can go something like this:

📜 Story: What if you needed to cut back on coffee for health reasons, but you don’t want to give up on the comfort you get from your daily coffee ritual?

✅ Fact : 54% of coffee drinkers say that the caffeine in coffee makes them feel anxious, and 71% believe it impacts their sleep cycle.

📜 Story: NewX Drinks (our example company) traveled to France to find the best chicory, Finland for the most nutrient-rich chaga powder, and the mountains of China for naturally harvested cordyceps.

✅ Fact : Studies show that the ingredients in our herbal coffee can help raise energy levels without causing anxiety or dehydration.

Continue alternating facts and story points until your closing slides. Finish with a wrap-up of how noteworthy this new information is, and what your audience can do next to take action based on what they learned.

When to use it:

You can use this formula for almost any type of presentation. It’s a good fit when you have a lot of statistics, quotes, and other facts to weave into your presentation.

c) The how-to

When your presentation is educational, use the how-to story formula to organize your ideas.

The how-to is linear, which makes it perfect for when you are showing how to get from point A to point B.

The beginning of the outline design shows the current situation and your end goal. Then, your subsequent blocks or storyboard cells illustrate each step someone needs to take to get from that starting point to the endpoint, whether the objective is to learn a new skill or how to resolve a challenge.

For example, if you want to show your team how to protect their work devices from hackers, you can prepare a how-to style presentation to depict:

The current situation – existing cybersecurity threats
The end goal – a cyber-aware workforce
Steps to get there – different cybersecurity best practices, like multi-factor authentication and recognizing phishing emails, how to use them, and the impact taking these steps can have
Obstacles and challenges along the way – stats or case studies showing how sophisticated hackers are becoming and how complex the threat landscape is

Any time you want to demonstrate how to use a product, follow a process, or resolve a problem, you can use the how-to formula. It’s useful for employee training presentations and any scenario where you are teaching your audience how to do something.

d) The solution pitch

Want to make your solution seem irresistible to stakeholders? Use the solution-pitch formula to create a presentation they resonate with.

The goal here is to set up your storyboard so your audience can see themselves in the situation. They should walk away with a clear sense of the immense benefit they’re in for if they get on board with your idea or product.

Here’s how the formula works:

The first cell of your storyboard should lay out the initial environment and circumstances where the audience’s problem exists. You can use a fictional product user or a past client to set the scene.
Next, dig into the problem – why does your hero need to solve this problem? Why won’t it go away on its own, or what will they gain by overcoming it?
Build the story arc by hinting at a solution.
Create tension by offering different ways to solve the problem, presenting your idea or product as the best option.
Close with a deep dive into why this is the best choice, why that is, and how much better off your audience will be with this new product, investment, or idea in their court.

The solution pitch is a good fit for sales. But it’s not just useful when pitching to prospects. It’s also useful when trying to get investors or executive decision-makers on board with your great idea.

3. Expand with visual content

Visual content helps tell your story. Well-designed data visualizations, images, animations, and other visuals play several critical roles.

Holds the audience’s attention for longer
Creates emotional connections and makes your presentation more relatable
Further develops the points you make
Achieves a sense of consistency that makes it easier for your audience to follow along

So how do you pull all these benefits into your presentation?

You guessed it – by integrating your visual content into your outline design.

There are different ways to do this:

Include sketches or other starter visuals in your outline design. Then, your designers can create all of your visual content for your final presentation.
Show where you want your illustrations, photos, charts, and graphs to appear in your outline. Simply describe what you want and where they should go. With this approach, your designer can handle the visual aspects once you get your structure organized.
Start with professional-quality designs from the beginning and plug them into your outline. This approach lets you put all your images in their places when you’re still in the pre-planning phase so you can visualize how your elements will look side by side.

4. Establish your design guidelines

Another component to include in your outline is the design guidelines. Color palette, typography, font size, style – they should all be uniform throughout your presentation.

And they should match – or at least complement – your brand guidelines.

How to Create a Brand Style Guide that Supercharges Your Marketing Strategy

But don’t feel stuck with your brand parameters. Ultimately, you want the colors, fonts, and other elements to reflect the nature of your presentation’s content more than anything else. Then your brand guidelines can take a back seat through subtle details and the logo.

For example, if you’re presenting serious information and lots of data visuals – but your brand is bright and bubbly – you will probably want to tone down your presentation aesthetics.

You don’t want rainbows of colors and heavy fonts overwhelming the information you’re presenting. 🥴

Ready to create a presentation outline that puts your talk in the Presentation Hall of Fame? 😉 You handle the planning, we’ll do the design.

5. Weave in statistics, quotes, and testimonials

Hard facts will help to build trust. To beef up your presentation, be sure to weave these nuggets into your outline. Use statistics to back up your main points. Testimonials for validation. And quotes are perfect for slowing things down – they create space for pause and reflection.

Or as Turkish novelist and playwright Mehmet Murat Ildan says, “A very wise quote is a spectacular waterfall! When you see it, you feel its power!”

6. Time your talk

Even if you don’t have a time limit, your audience does have limited patience.

Decide how long your presentation will be – research says the perfect length is 20 minutes . Then, use your presentation outline to divvy up your main points so each one gets enough love.

If you find that you’re spending too much time on one point or another, lean more into your visual elements to tell your story. Design can get across more information in less time and with fewer words.

7. Finish with a call to action

And what about the end?

Your closing slides are not just a place to wrap things up and summarize your points. This is where you have your chance to lay out the next steps you want your audience to take.

Your call to action should clearly state what they can do next to get their hands on your product, benefit from your solution, join your cause, support your idea, or do whatever else you want them to do.

You also want to use emotion here. Whether you motivate with a sense of inspiration and excitement or compel with a sense of urgency, your audience should feel like they have to take your next step.

But they’re not going to feel motivated if you didn’t keep them interested along the way. This is why a well-organized, well-designed outline can make or break your presentation.

How to Pre-Plan Your Presentation

To pre-plan, prepare your outline. Then, perfect it, practice, and perfect some more. Let’s dive into the details:

First, put all your components together in your outline

There are three ways to build your outline format:

1. Text-only . Write out all your information and indicate where each slide starts and where you want your visuals to go. If your talk is short and doesn’t require a lot of supporting info, this can work.

The major downside with this presentation outline example is a lack of clarity. You can’t look at text notes and get a feel for how all your components flow or where you might have holes in your story arc.

2. Chart it . Put all your ideas, points, and visuals in bubbles, boxes, or other shapes. Give each content category – topic, key point, supporting info – a unique shape or color. That way, when you map out your presentation, you’ll see the structure clearly.

3. Storyboard . We recommend using a storyboard. You’ll be able to quickly see how your presentation unfolds. And, if you’re creating slides to show your audience, a storyboard lets you see how all your charts, visual design choices, and other elements will look together. Basically, a storyboard gives you the big picture.

Next up – perfecting

Once you have everything laid out, you can decide if you want to reorder your slides or refine any of your content.

Then, practice

Before designing the actual presentation, practice your talk. Find someone to present to and ask for their feedback. As you test-run your presentation while it’s in outline format, you might find that switching the sequence of a couple of slides, adding more supporting visuals, or even eliminating some content will elevate your presentation to super-star level.

And finally, pat yourself on the back. 😉 You’ve done an amazing job prepping. You’re ready to design an amazing presentation!

Need Help? Epiic Designers Make It Easy to Create Compelling Presentations

If you’re struggling to bring your ideas to life, we can help. So go ahead, crumple up your stick figure storyboard sketches and toss them in the bin. Say goodbye to stressful presentation planning, and get ready to deliver a talk that you feel 100% proud of!

With unlimited designs, you can get all the design work your heart desires – storyboarding, data visuals, presentation slides, and more. But your costs never change.

Sign up for a plan today and find out how much easier (and prettier!) your life can be with an epiic designer in your corner.

Apr 21, 2022

A content writer and editor for over 12 years, Brenna spends her days (and nights!) creating content to help brands better connect with their audience.

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Research Guides

Academic Presentation Skills and Tools

Basic presentation outline.

Understanding your audience
Define your goal & learning objectives
Images and Screencasts
AV and Animation Software
Website Creation
Active Learning
Visual Aids
Public Speaking
Library Resources

"Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you have told them“

The number of points in the body of your lecture can expand and contract as required.

average adult attention span is 15-20 minutes: divide the body of your talk into 15-minute sub-topics
give each sub-topic a short introduction, conclusion, and transition into the next sub-topic
vary the pace: for example, have question periods at the end of each sub-topic, or alternate 15-minute lectures with 15-minute interactive activities or audio-visual presentations

I. Introduction (2-3 minutes)

Opener Or Attention Getter
Significance of topic
Relevance to Audience
Thesis and Preview (Tell your audience “the big picture”; give them a roadmap to their learning)
Support material

(sign post - words that indicate that you are going to make a point - initially, finally, next.)

TRANSITION and CONNECTION

(sign post - words that indicate that you are going to make a point - initially, finally, next)

III. Conclusion (2-3 minutes)

Summary of topic and what was learned
Review the main points or your learning objectives
<< Previous: Define your goal & learning objectives
Next: Presentation Tools >>
Last Updated: Sep 28, 2023 2:18 PM
URL: https://libguides.tru.ca/presentation

Presentation Outline Example and Template

How to create a presentation Outline

A presentation outline is a roadmap to a more successful business pitch — a general plan that summarizes what you want to say to prospective customers, clients or investors. It lets you organize your thoughts, group ideas into main points and present your material logically. But what should you include in your slides?

We've compiled 11 tips for more effective pitch prep.

If you came here looking for presentation templates , here's an a couople of examples from of our most popular ones. If not, just carry on.

Browse our PRESENTATION TEMPLATES

What is a presentation outline.

An outline for a presentation is a helpful tool that organizes the main points and flow of the presentation. It acts as a guide for the presenter, outlining the order in which information will be presented and the main ideas that will be covered. A good outline should include headings and subheadings that outline the main topics and supporting details, ensuring a clear and logical arrangement of information. Creating a presentation outline helps the presenter stay organized and focused, and makes it easier for the audience to follow the content and understand the main concepts of the presentation.

11 tips to create more effective presentations

1. decide on a goal.

Image contains a person writing on a paper

Before you brainstorm, and before you scribble down any notes, come up with a goal for your presentation. What do you want your pitch deck to say to your audience? What message do you want to convey? What do you want it to achieve?

Perhaps you want your pitch to raise seed funds. Maybe you want to introduce a new product or service to customers. Whatever the reason for creating your pitch, decide on a specific, measurable goal. This will guide the rest of your preparation.

2. Create a Structure for Your Presentation

Every good presentation includes an introduction, main body, and conclusion. These three components form the "skeleton" of your presentation — the bare bones of your pitch. You don't need to think about all the small details at this stage — you can flesh out your presentation slides at a later date.

Your introduction is probably the most important part of your pitch. After all, you only have seven seconds to make a good first impression, according to research. Use your intro to introduce your brand, greet your audience and give a taster of what's to come.

The body of your presentation includes your main ideas and any supporting ideas. Use it to feature testimonials, financials and fundraising info, traction and milestones, and, of course, your marketing plan.

Finally, your conclusion summarizes all your points in a few slides. This should leave your audience wanting more.

3. Think About Visual Content

Image contains a phone over a laptop on the table

Visual content is an essential ingredient. The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than regular text, so including images in your pitch is a great idea. Don't forget about videos, either. Consumers are 64 percent more likely to purchase a product after watching an online video, making visual content a good choice if you want to generate leads and boost sign-ups.

The most successful pitch decks incorporate striking visuals. Others have fancy fonts and graphics. All of this visual content demands attention from your audience and creates a cool aesthetic that will help you outrank your rivals.

At this early stage of pitch deck preparation, you don't have to finalize the images you are going to include in your pitch. However, we think it's a good idea to point out where you are going to use images in your presentation. This way, you can organize your ideas and make sure everything flows properly.

4. Understand What Makes a Good Presentation — and a Bad One

No two presentations are the same. The most successful pitch decks, however, certainly have a lot in common. When creating your outline, discover what makes a brilliant pitch. The University of Hawaii says great presentations rarely cover more than five points. The University of Cambridge in England says there should be four key points in every 45-minute presentation.

Here at Slidebean, we think one idea per slide, good design, lots of images, and quotes all make presentations so much more interesting. We're not fans of the 'thank you' slide, though — the one that recognizes your audience for sitting through your presentation. It's completely unnecessary.

5. Include a Call-to-Action

A call-to-action is much better than a 'thank you' slide. This encourages your audience to take action after your presentation. When creating your outline, think of a short, snappy call-to-action that prompts a response. A call-to-action is your final chance to engage with your audience during your presentation. You might want to encourage people to sign up to your mailing list, for example. Alternatively, you can include a link to your website so people can download a trial version of your product.

"No matter what form your CTA takes, the most important aspect is the copy," says growth marketing expert Sujan Patel and Voila Norbert co-founder, writing for Forbes magazine . "You’re telling the visitor what you want them to do, so it needs to be persuasive. Remember, your audience is looking for an answer or a solution to a problem. Connect with them by telling them exactly what they’re going to get if they take action."

6. Identify a Solution to a Problem

Every day, more than 30 million presentations are created on PowerPoint alone. Then there are the hundreds of thousands of pitches designed in Keynote, Prezi, and Slidebean. With so many presentations out there, how do you inspire people to invest in your services? One way to create a successful pitch is to identify a solution to a problem that your audience might have.

Slidebean recently reviewed some of the best presentation examples from successful startups. Most of them provide solutions to common problems early on in their respective pitches. Customer messaging platform Intercom, for example, says analytics, customer base browsing, and customer research is the answer for businesses who find it hard to engage with customers. They include these solutions near the beginning of their pitch deck.

If you want to have a more successful presentation, think about solving problems in your niche when creating your outline.

7. Use Quotes, Testimonials and Statistics

Quotes from senior management help you convey abstract ideas and make your presentation more engaging. You should obtain any quotes you want to use in your presentation during the planning stage. Testimonials from customers and clients also prove popular. Research shows that positive reviews influence purchasing decisions and increase trust.

Finally, statistics add some depth to your presentation. Industry facts and figures back up any claims you make and increase engagement. Discover relevant statistics when creating your outline. You don't need to include any actual quotes, testimonials or statistics yet. Just jot down where you want to place them in your presentation.

8. Think About Color and Design

The way you present information in your pitch is just as important as the information itself. Now is the time to start thinking about the font/s you want to use or the color of your slides. Research shows that red conveys passion and excitement and catches the attention of your audience. White, on the other hand, conveys simplicity and purity.

Slidebean has a range of color palettes that transform the look of your slides. You can choose up to three color sets and play around with different text, backgrounds, and highlights.

9. Plan the Order of Your Slides

Think of your presentation outline template as a very rough first draft. Decide on what types of slides you want to use, and decide on a final running order. You might feature quotes early on in your presentation, for example, and leave testimonials until the end. Don't forget to include a slide with your contact details — website, phone number, address, etc. — and your brand values.

Your presentation outline should be a group effort, too. Ask your colleagues for input.

10. Identify Key Takeaways From Your Presentation

Your outline should include enough information so you can visualize what your final presentation will look like. Once you have finished your outline, read it back and identify the key takeaways from the document. Is the structure of your presentation clear, for example? Does it convey your brand message? Will it engage your audience?

Every slide in your presentation should achieve the goal you created at the beginning of your outline. If something isn't working, make changes. You might want to switch slides around or remove unnecessary information, for example.

11. Use a Presentation Template

Once you have completed your outline, it's time to start putting everything together. Yes, you could create a PowerPoint pitch deck from scratch, but this is often time-consuming and complicated. Instead, use a template, which provides you with all the presentation slides you need.

Here at Slidebean, we have presentation templates for business of all sizes, including startups and scaleups. You can create a professional pitch deck in just a few minutes by following the on-screen prompts. Everything's included — bullet points, graphics, headers, footers, and more. Take the time to plan your pitch to produce a powerful sales document that helps you communicate with your audience.

Once you have created your presentation outline template, sign up to Slidebean and design a pitch that provides you with a huge return on your investment.

Try Slidebean Templates

Startup vs Small Business: Main differences

13 Best Free Presentation Websites Alternatives to PowerPoint in 2023

How do Investors Make Money from Startups?

How to design a Pitch Deck for Investor?

Let’s move your company to the next stage 🚀

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The all-in-one pitch deck software 🚀

A pitch deck is the standard document used by startups to present their case to investors; it’s a brief deck of about 10 to 20 slides. See examples here.

Learn how to create a compelling slide deck for your startup. Explore how to use slide decks as aids for your presentation, and the most common uses for them.

This is a functional model you can use to create your own formulas and project your potential business growth. Instructions on how to use it are on the front page.

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Check spelling in your presentation Article
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Insert a linked Excel chart in PowerPoint Article
Add slide numbers, page numbers, or the date and time Article
Set text direction and position in a shape or text box Article

Create a PowerPoint presentation from an outline

If you've already jotted down an outline of your presentation in Word and now need a quick way to add it to your slides, you can import a Word outline into PowerPoint.

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Create an outline in Word

Select View > Outline . This automatically generates an outline and opens the Outlining tools:

If your document has headings (any heading levels from H1-H9), you’ll see those headings organized by level.

If your document doesn’t have headings and subheadings yet, the outline will appear as a bulleted list with a separate bullet for each paragraph or body text. To assign or edit headings, heading levels, and set up your document structure:

Select a bulleted item. Or press the Ctrl key to select several lines.

In the Outline Level box, select a heading Level 1 for slide titles, Level 2 for bullet points on that slide.

When finished or to edit your document, select Close Outline View .

If you need help creating an outline, see Create an outline in Word .

Save an outline in Word

To save your document, select Save , name your file, and then select Save once more. Select Close to close your document.

Note: Your Word document must be closed to insert it into a PowerPoint presentation.

Import a Word outline into PowerPoint

Open PowerPoint and select New Slide > Slides from Outline .

In the Insert Outline dialog box, find and select your Word outline and select Insert .

Note: If your Word document contains no Heading 1 or Heading 2 styles, PowerPoint will create a slide for each paragraph in your content.

Guidelines for importing an outline

PowerPoint can import an outline in .docx, .rtf, or .txt format.

If your outline is a Word document Apply a heading format to any text you want to include in a slide. For example, if you apply the Normal style to a block of text, Word won't send that text to PowerPoint.

If your outline is a .txt file Use indentation to indicate heading levels. Any unindented lines of text will become titles of new slides.

For PowerPoint to successfully convert your outline to slides, you must follow these guidelines:

If your outline is a Word document:

Apply a heading format to any text you want to include in a slide. For example, if you apply the Normal style to a block of text, Word won't send that text to PowerPoint

Save the Word document as an .rtf file. In PowerPoint for macOS, you can only import Word documents that are saved in Rich Text Format. Click File > Save As , and in the File Format box, select Rich Text Format (.rft) ).

If your outline is a .txt file: Use indents to indicate heading levels. Remember that any un indented lines of text will become titles of new slides.

Insert outline text into a PowerPoint presentation

In a new PowerPoint presentation file, click the first slide. Or, in an existing presentation file, click the slide that you want the outline to appear after.

On the Home tab, click the arrow next to New Slide , and then click Outline .

Locate the outline file (.rtf or .txt) that you want to insert, and then double-click it or click Insert .

New slides are inserted in the presentation based on the text in the outline file you selected. You are now ready to edit the slides and the presentation as you see fit.

Creating a presentation from an outline isn't support in PowerPoint for the web. It requires a desktop version of PowerPoint.

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Lesson topics

Client engagements, design & research, meeting & workshops, strategy & planning, brainstorming & ideation, present and organize with outlines.

Outlines are great for knowing exactly where objects are on the mural. Here’s how you can use this to efficiently convey the flow.

What is the outline?

When you’re planning a meeting or workshop, you may break your work into smaller sections. This is especially useful if you’re presenting content to your collaborators and want them to follow the conversation. If you think about your mural as a place to create a visual story, then the outline breaks the content into different chapters.

The outline is also great for navigating your collaborators around the mural. Every collaborator can click through the outline in a mural to move through these different chapters.

Create an outline

Facilitators on MURAL can create an outline for easy navigation. Here’s how to create an outline:

Multi-select an element or group of elements
Right-click and select add to outline
This will automatically be added to the outline area
Click the outline icon at the top right corner to view this new section.

When you build an outline, your participants will automatically see it in the mural. They can hide or bring the outline back into view at any time.

You can hide outlines by clicking the exit key on the top right corner of the canvas. With this, you will be able to move around your workspace on your own without problems.
Click on the outline icon on the top right corner to reveal it again.

Presenting with the outline

Guide your participants around the mural to share your work or tell a story. Presentation mode allows you to walk through content like a slideshow.

To start presentation mode:

Select any element or multi-select if you want to choose more than one element to add to an outline.
Right-click and select add to outline . You can view the list of items by clicking on the outline icon next to the activity feed.
To present your content, click the presentation icon at the top of the outline bar.
In the presentation view, your mural would let you navigate the screen like a slideshow. Click the < and > buttons at the bottom of the mural to navigate through the presentation.
To end the presentation, click the presentation icon once again. The mural will return to collaboration mode.

Hide and reveal elements with outline

Create focus during meetings and works by hiding and revealing content on the mural at the right moment. Hiding and revealing content helps simplify the experience for your participants when collaborating. Once you add content to the outline, here’s how you hide and reveal the content:

When you click on the eye icon, it automatically hides your elements. No one on the canvas will be able to see them.
Clicking on the eye icon again reveals your elements. You can do this at any time.

Link to a specific step in outline

Every area you add to a mural is included in the outline. Click on the bulleted list to access your mural. You can also get a participant to go to a specific section by linking them to the step. Here’s how. How to link to a step:

Where the step is, search for the options icon and click on this.
Click the three dots icon for this step

Select link to this step

Was this lesson helpful?

Hey team. Augstin from MURAL here and today I want to tell you a bit about our outline. The outline is an amazing feature that allows the facilitator off a canvas to simply organized and arranged the content that they have inside of the mural for much easier and smoother navigation, not only for them but for every single user that accesses the mural.

This is because the outline will always come up the moment that you access a new mural. You can see it right here on the right side of my screen. This column on the ride is the outline. As you can see, I have nine different steps added to it, so it also efficiently conveys the flow that you're supposed to follow.

Once you enter the mural, you know that you're supposed to start on welcome than what is MURAL, How is MURAL organized and so on. It's super easy to use it for navigation as well, because when you click on one of those steps that has been added to the outline, you'll be taken directly to that spot in an instant, so you can instantly follow every single one of those steps If you want to hide the outline because you already know how to navigate around the canvas and you know the flow that you're supposed to follow, you can simply hit the exit key here on the top right corner of the canvas, and you'll be able to move on your own without any problems.

If you want to see the outline again, then simply click on the outline icon on the top right corner of the screen to reveal it once more. This way, you know your way around the canvas and you know the flow that you're supposed to follow. I wanna tell you a bit about our hide feature. This allows you to hide and reveal steps that you previously added to the outline.

All that you need to do is simply hover over that step on the outline and you'll see this eye icon pop up. You can click on that to hide the elements, and now nobody inside of the canvas will actually be able to see them. You can click on the I again to reveal it at any point so everyone can actually pay attention to it.

This comes in very handy If maybe you want to keep the attention in one specific part of the canvas, you can hide the rest of the elements on the other sections that you have in your mural to make sure that nobody is drifting off or changing focus from section to section. You can reveal those steps as you go along to better run your session. Or maybe you have a big surprise planned out for the end.

You can hide that surprise so that it stays a surprise and reveal it when your session ends. That way, you can always end your sessions with a bang.

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COMMENTS

How to Write an Effective Presentation Outline
A presentation outline acts as a foundation for your speaking notes, allowing you to rehearse and prepare effectively. ... It can add meaning to your message, increase interest and invite the viewer to click and consume your content. Here's an example of a presentation outline with a colorful image that makes the slide pop.
How To Create an Effective Presentation Outline
Follow these steps when creating an outline for your presentation: 1. Consider the purpose of your presentation. When creating a presentation outline, determine your goal. To find this, think about what you want your audience to obtain or support after your discussion. For example, a nonprofit that builds wells for impoverished communities may ...
Create Effective Presentation Outlines: A Step-by-Step Guide with Tips
Make your presentation more interesting by adding extra info like quotes, testimonials, or data. It can make your audience more engaged and reinforce your message. 3. Visualize Your Concepts. How you show your ideas matters a lot. Tools like SlidesAI can help you express your concepts clearly and effectively. 4.
How to Outline a Presentation: A Complete Guide From a Pro
Flesh out the points and sub-points from your outline. Decide very early on if you want to give your speech with or without notes. Revise your drafts as much as possible until you have created a full speech. If you are going to speak with notes, write some of the information from your outline onto cue cards.
How to create a presentation outline (with examples)
Method 4: Create a presentation outline using a template. Last but not least, using a template is a good way to speed up the process of creating a new presentation outline. Similar to using an AI presentation maker, a template can give you a first draft of an outline that is easier to edit and refine than starting from scratch.
Practical Presentation Outline Examples For Success (+ 8 ...
This helps you manage your time effectively during the actual presentation. Notes or Reminders: Add any reminders, cues, or notes to yourself that will help you deliver your presentation effectively. These can include tips on delivery, body language, or specific points to emphasize. Presentation Outline Examples. Image: freepik.
How to make a presentation outline: a step-by-step guide
A presentation outline is a bare-bones version of your talk. It should take the general direction of your pitch, plus summaries of your key points. Its purpose is to help you shape your thinking, organize your thoughts, and make sure your material is presented logically. In this article, we're going to take a closer look at what a ...
A Guide to Presentation Outline [Infographic]
Presentation Outline. Introduction. Keep it under 5 minutes. Introduce yourself, your company, and the topic of discussion. Explain the significance and topic relevance. Specify your approach to the topic. Preview the main points or key idea. Make a transition to the main points. Main Body.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Effective Presentation Outline
A presentation outline is a tool that will help a presenter arrange the ideas and make the conversation flow logically to give an efficient and effective presentation. It may feel like wasting time planning the presentation when you could get started directly. But the facts and experience of great presenters in history give premises for the ...
How To Make an Effective Presentation Outline
A presentation outline presents a comprehensive idea of what you plan to share with the audience. It is a synopsis of a talk, pitch, or subject matter under discussion. It serves as a guide for writing a paper, publishing a study, or building a presentation and enables you to structure your information in a way that is easy to understand.
How to Write a Powerful Outline for a Presentation
Mind the structure. Creating a structure is essential for an informative outline in a presentation. Usually, presentation services provide the foundation of your presentation the three main parts: introduction, main part, and conclusion. Your goal is to hook the audience in your introduction and make sure you have caught their attention.
How to Create an Effective Presentation Outline
Structure Your Outline: Organize your main points into a logical flow. This typically follows a three-act structure: Introduction: Grab your audience's attention, introduce yourself and the topic, and clearly state your objective. Main Body: Present your key points in a clear and concise manner. Use storytelling techniques and visuals to ...
The Power of Structure: Creating an Effective Presentation Outline
rehearse your presentation well and remember the key takeaways to be shared with the audience. keep your content concise and to the point. connect with the audience in a meaningful manner. Creating an Effective Presentation Outline 1. Clarity of Purpose. Goal setting is the most crucial part of delivering a successful presentation.
How to Create a Presentation Outline
Once you answer these questions (the ones that are relevant to your presentation), distill your purpose into a one or two-sentence summary that you can fit on a single slide. This summary is the first part of your outline design. 2. Set up the structure. Okay, enough philosophizing about your purpose and goals.
What is the Outline?
An outline in PowerPoint has two meanings, that are related yet different: An outline is the structure and storyboard of your presentation - this is what you would typically call a presentation outline. Such outlines are needed for all presentation programs, and also for video editing and playwriting programs. An outline of a PowerPoint ...
Basic presentation outline
Basic presentation outline "Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you have told them" The number of points in the body of your lecture can expand and contract as required.
Presentation Outline Example and Template
A presentation outline is a roadmap to a more successful business pitch — a general plan that summarizes what you want to say to prospective customers, clients or investors. It lets you organize your thoughts, group ideas into main points and present your material logically.
How to Write Powerful PowerPoint Presentations Fast With Outlines
When you're creating a PowerPoint, writing a presentation outline first is the best way to break the project into easy-to-conquer tasks. 5. Open PowerPoint and Add Your Outline. Once you've finished writing your PowerPoint presentation outline, it's time to jump back to the app finally. You've laid the groundwork for writing a presentation rapidly.
What Are Effective Presentation Skills (and How to Improve Them)
Presentation skills are the abilities and qualities necessary for creating and delivering a compelling presentation that effectively communicates information and ideas. They encompass what you say, how you structure it, and the materials you include to support what you say, such as slides, videos, or images. You'll make presentations at various ...
What Is an Outline? (What To Include and How To Write One)
An outline is a guide you create when writing a paper, crafting a presentation or publishing a study that organizes and visually structures your information. It allows you to construct a linear plan for your paper by highlighting the key topics and ideas you plan to discuss. Compiling these topics in an outline can help you categorize and ...
Create a PowerPoint presentation from an outline
Import a Word outline into PowerPoint. Open PowerPoint and select New Slide > Slides from Outline. In the Insert Outline dialog box, find and select your Word outline and select Insert. Note: If your Word document contains no Heading 1 or Heading 2 styles, PowerPoint will create a slide for each paragraph in your content.
Present and organize with outlines
Right-click and select add to outline. You can view the list of items by clicking on the outline icon next to the activity feed. To present your content, click the presentation icon at the top of the outline bar. In the presentation view, your mural would let you navigate the screen like a slideshow. Click the < and > buttons at the bottom of ...