Choosing Presentation Title

Choosing Presentation Title– a detail interpretation of the dilemma!

While you prepare for a presentation, be it a corporate or casual presentation, how much time do you spend in choosing presentation title? Well, I can bet it is not even half of the time actually needed. We often think about how the title of a presentation is going to affect the whole presentation, no? But in reality, a title causes more stir among the minds of the audiences than you can ever imagine. A title is the first impression of your presentation, and sometimes it can be the last impression as well.

Titles are important. Whether you are a newspaper editor or an author of any book, the title is the first indication of your hard work towards any writing piece. The title sells first and after that person only get interested in your detailed content, isn’t it? And if the title seems boring or seems to be too vague to interpret anything real to you, will you ever be attracted to that particular book? No, I guess. This mind trick also works in the same way for presentations as well. So, here in this article, we will discuss the importance of choosing a significant title, how to choose, and the side effects of your choice. Let us follow up.

Why Choosing Presentation Title is Important

There exist many people who can write pages after pages flawlessly but struggle over carving out the perfect title for the content. The title is the dilemma that can tear apart a good content easily. But you may ask how a title can be so important for a presentation? Well, here, we will discuss why.

• Defining the body– A title of a presentation represents the body of the presentation. It’s the first step where you summarise the whole concept of the presentation, which is explained in details over the slides of the presentation. Thus, the right title helps to define the body of a presentation. Choosing a wrong title can define the content in a wrong light which can make the whole point of a presentation ultimately.
• Engaging the audience– Another importance of choosing the right title for your presentation is engaging the audience. It is not easy to attract the attention of the audience and keep them engaged until the end of the last slide. And that task gets more real when you start with a wrong title. Thus, the right title is the perfect start to keep your audience engaged.
• Better explaining process– Not only the title makes it easier for the audience, but it also makes it better for the presenter to explain the whole content. The right title answers several questions on its own. So whenever you are stuck in the middle of your presentation, you can always refer to the title and get your problems solved easily.
• The theme– The title of a presentation not only defines it, but it also sorts out into the right theme. People do not always remember the whole presentation, but they always remember the theme of the presentation. So, if you pick up the wrong title for your presentation, people will get the wrong theme, and the whole point of a presentation will be ruined.

Elements of Perfect Presentation Title

Before we cut to the chase of how to choose the perfect presentation title, we need to dig a little more and get some more details. Before you can choose the perfect title for your heaps of slides, you need to know the five important elements without which a title is incomplete. Let us have a look.

1. Relevancy: The first and the most important element of any title is relevancy. A title of any content, book, blog, or presentation should have relevance to the actual content. It should not go completely out of the orbit of the body of the presentation. It should be related in a clever way to the presentation so that you can catch the instant attention of the audience.
2. Suspense: If you are going to reveal everything in the title itself, people will pay very little attention to your slides. You have to put the title in such a way that it holds suspense and draws the curiosity of the audiences.
3. Expectations: The third element of a title is expectations. You have got to put the title in such a way to make an environment that the presentation is going to solve a problem. This expectation element in a title keeps an audience hooked throughout a whole presentation session.
4. Brevity: The 4th element of choosing the right title is brevity. Thus, you do not need to put an elaborate title; rather, you need to make it short. Keep it short and simple– this is one of the important elements while you are choosing a title. No one shows interest in reading a big and clumsy title; rather, a short, comprehensive title attracts more attention.
5. Tone: And the last most important element of a title is the tone. It is not easy to put the right tone through text message written on your slide, but it is the most important part of choosing the right title. How you are conveying your tone through the title of your presentation decides how you are going to keep the tone throughout the whole session.

If your presentation title meets up with these five important elements, you can be assured of the first good impression. But how you are going to keep these five elements perfectly intact so that one does not contradict other? Let us find out.

How to Choose Presentation Title

It is not easy to carve out the perfect title for your presentation slides, but it is not that harder also. Title of a presentation is something that will naturally flock to you; rather, you need to follow through a particular procedure to get it out from your brain chamber. How to do that? Let us get the steps here.

1. Brainstorm Ideas– This is the first ever stage of writing any title. Keeping in mind the theme of your presentation, you need to brainstorm ideas abruptly. The best way is to write down every other word that comes to your mind related to your presentation topic. Arrange these words in a different permutation-combination manner to get a conclusive result.
2. Take help of Google– The brainstorming process in enough to get you into the theme of your presentation topic. Once you are into your theme, you need to Google words and phrases related to your presentation topic. For example, if you are going to present a corporate presentation, you can use words like sale, proactive, prioritize, Synergy, Paradigm Shift, etc.
3. Convey the message– Now you must have a particular message to convey through your title, which can comprehend the topic of your presentation. For example, the gist of your topic is how to increase the sale of such and such sector. You need to take the gist and inspect carefully which words or parts can be replaced with better-structured words. Or you can also search for short ‘one-word substitute’ for your title too.
4. Make it exciting– Keeping it short and simple is great but do not cut off the exciting material from your title. Do not restrict your presentation title in two words only because that just steals away all the curiosity and excitement. Again, do not make it too long to read. Add descriptive words but always keep the balance in a perfect proportion.
5. Make it easy to remember– As I have said earlier, after the end of a presentation, people carry the essence of it. And in most of the cases, the essence is hidden under the title of a presentation. So, if you want your audience to remember the title of your presentation; make it easy to remember.
6. Start with a question mark– People always love mysteries and question marks. It not only boils up to the curiosity, but it also makes a presentation better in many ways. And if your presentation is going to solve a particular problem of any corporate sector or any social sector, it is best to start your title with a ‘how’ or ‘what’ remark.
7. Strong and vivid language– The use of strong and vivid language is the utmost importance while you are working for your title. Use strong yet known words because if your audiences do not know the meaning of a word which has been used in your title, it will go in vain. Thus, use words that are widely used in your sector.
8. Readout repeatedly– There’s no other way to correct your title than reading it out loud, repeatedly. Whether you read it out alone or in the presence of your friends, it needs to be heard. In this way, you can easily find out the faults.

Conclusion

Try to keep all these points while writing down the title for your presentation, and you will be able to make that perfect first impression. Good luck!