Action titles: how to write slide headlines that tell the whole story

What an action title is

An action title is a full sentence at the top of a slide that states the slide's main conclusion. A topic title tells the audience what the slide is about. An action title tells them what to think about it.

The body of the slide (the chart, table or bullets) then exists to prove that sentence. If the chart shows something the title does not claim, or the title claims something the chart cannot support, the slide is broken. Action titles are also called headline titles, assertion titles or takeaway titles. The idea is the same.

Why consultants use them

Strategy firms adopted action titles because their decks are read by senior people who skim. A partner or a CFO will often read only the titles, turn to the slides they disagree with, and stop. If the titles carry the argument, the deck still works under that kind of reading.

• They force the author to decide what each slide means. You cannot write an action title for a chart you have not understood.
• They make the argument checkable. A reader can disagree with a sentence; nobody can disagree with “Market overview”.
• They survive forwarding. A deck sent on to someone who missed the meeting still makes its case without a presenter.
• They expose padding. A slide that cannot earn a takeaway sentence usually belongs in the appendix.

The rules of a good action title

1. One takeaway per slide. If the title needs “and” to join two unrelated points, split the slide.
2. A full sentence with a verb. “Strong Q3 growth” is a label; “Q3 revenue grew 18%” is a claim.
3. Two lines or fewer at the title size you use, which usually means 15 words or fewer.
4. Specific numbers, names and time frames wherever you have them. “Costs fell” is weaker than “Unit costs fell 12% after the move to the Lyon plant”.
5. Active voice, with the actor first when the actor matters: “Three competitors cut prices in Q2”, not “Prices were cut in Q2”.
6. Supported by the slide body. Every part of the title should be visible in the evidence below it.

The test: if someone read only this title, would they know what you want them to believe? If not, it is still a topic title.

Before and after: 8 rewrites

Each rewrite below takes a common topic title and turns it into a claim the slide can prove. The numbers are illustrative; the pattern is what matters.

How to write an action title, step by step

1. Look at the evidence first. Read the chart or table and note the one thing it shows most clearly.
2. Write that observation as a plain sentence, without polishing: “Sales in the north went down a lot this year.”
3. Apply the “so what” test. Ask why the audience should care, and keep asking until you reach something that bears on a decision: “Northern sales fell 22%, the only region to decline.”
4. Add the specifics: the number, the segment, the time frame, and the cause if the slide shows it.
5. Cut it to two lines. Remove hedges (“it appears that”), filler (“as we can see”) and anything the chart cannot support.
6. Check the fit. Does the slide body prove every part of the title? If not, change the title or change the evidence.

The “so what” test is the step people skip. An observation such as “Revenue was $41M in Q3” is accurate but inert. An insight such as “Q3 revenue beat plan by $3M on enterprise renewals” tells the reader why the number matters. Aim for the insight, but never claim more than the data shows.

The ghost deck: write the headlines before the slides

The most effective way to write action titles is not one slide at a time. Consultants often start a project with a ghost deck: a skeleton presentation with an action title on every page and an empty or sketched body underneath. The titles state the team's current hypothesis. The empty bodies show which analysis each claim still needs.

1. Write the answer you expect to give in one sentence. That becomes the executive summary.
2. List the 3 to 5 points that would have to be true for that answer to hold. Each becomes a section.
3. Under each point, write the action titles of the slides that would prove it, as if the analysis were done.
4. Sketch what each slide body would need: a bar chart of churn by plan, a table of costs by site.
5. Read the titles alone, in order, as if they were the paragraphs of a memo. Fix any jump in logic before you build anything.
6. Do the analysis, then rewrite each title to match what the data actually shows.

The read-through in step 5 is the real test of a storyline. If the titles, read aloud in sequence, make a coherent argument, the deck works. If they read like a list of unrelated facts, no amount of design will fix it. The ghost deck also saves time: it shows which charts you need before anyone builds the ones you do not.

A ghost deck is a hypothesis. When the analysis contradicts a title, change the title, not the data.

Common mistakes

• A topic dressed up as a sentence. “This slide shows our Q3 results” has a verb but no takeaway.
• Two messages in one title, joined by “and” or a semicolon. Split them across two slides.
• Titles that run to three or four lines. Move the detail into the body or a footnote.
• Vague words such as “significant”, “strong” or “various” where you have a real number.
• Claims the chart does not show. If the title says “because of onboarding”, the slide must show the link to onboarding.
• A different style on every slide. Keep the same sentence case, punctuation and length throughout.
• Forcing action titles onto the agenda and section dividers. Those pages are navigation and can stay short.

Action title checklist

• Is it a full sentence with a verb?
• Does it state one conclusion, not a subject?
• Does it fit on two lines?
• Does it include the most important number, name or date?
• Does it pass the “so what” test for this audience?
• Does the slide body prove every part of it?
• Read in sequence with the other titles, does it move the argument forward?