Why action titles matter
A topic title tells the audience what a slide is about. An action title tells them what to think about it. Read only the action titles of a good deck, top to bottom, and you have its whole argument: the reader who skims gets the point, and the slide body only has to prove one sentence.
The checker looks for the signs of a sentence that makes a claim. It is a quick screen, not a judge of whether the claim is true or the slide proves it. For the method in full, with a checklist and the ghost deck technique, read how to write action titles.
Example: topic labels rewritten
Before
Customer churn
After
Churn doubled to 6% a month after the price change, almost all of it in the Starter plan
Before
Market overview
After
The mid-market segment is growing twice as fast as enterprise and has no clear leader
Before
Should we enter Brazil?
After
Brazil is worth entering in 2027, starting with São Paulo, where demand is proven
Before
Next steps
After
Approving the pilot this month keeps the Q2 launch on track
Questions
An action title is a full sentence at the top of a slide that states the slide's main conclusion, such as “Q3 revenue grew 18%, driven by enterprise renewals”, instead of naming its subject, such as “Q3 revenue”. Consulting firms use them so a reader can follow the argument from the titles alone.
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Arcdeck writes the whole storyline as action titles first, then every slide with charts and speaker notes, and exports editable PowerPoint and PDF.
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