Putting a summary slide as page 1 in your PowerPoint presentation is tricky.
- A diluted and boring summary might turn the audience off (“let’s check email on my phone”)
- A summary chart might “give away the point” of your presentation too early
- Some presenters might get stuck on page one and tell the whole story without using any other slides (sometimes this can be a good thing, a presentation with PowerPoint)
A good page one is a slide that gives the audience some clue about what’s going to happen and presents an interesting teaser about what is to come.
Now that I come to think of it - a good summary chart is like a good headline
The following image (purchased from iStockPhoto) adds another possibility to presentation opening concepts I discussed before (here, here, and here). “Let’s fast forward to the end before diving in”. Shrink the image to one side of the screen and add your teaser in big-font-text
