How many times in your presentations did you include an agenda slide? Do you remember what items were in your agenda? I have seen some that were very brief and others that were quite detailed ranging from 6 to 10 lines with sub-lines indented below a couple of the main lines.

How much time do you usually spend on the agenda slide during your presentation? Should the agenda be a part of your introduction or should it be separated. This consideration although is trivial to many, it is however an important part of your presentation and needs to be considered when you are designing your presentation if you intend to use an agenda slide.

The agenda slide serves as an overview to the whole presentation. It gives the audience a snapshot of what you will be presenting and prepares their minds to accept the detail information. Because the agenda slide is part of your presentation, it also has to be Sticky.

There are many interesting ways to present the agenda slide besides the conventional bulleted list. Here are a couple of suggestions to help you create the difference.

Random Image Block

This method will be effective if there are not more than 4 items on your agenda slide. Select an appropriated image for each agenda item with the item text attached either below or beside the image. The image block is then positioned randomly on the slide.

Organised Grid

As its name suggests, the items in the agenda are position on the slide in an organised manner conforming to a grid. The recommended number of agenda items in this format is between 4 – 6 items.

The Octopus (or Star)

The Octopus format allows up to a maximum of 8 items on your agenda slide with the heart of the Octopus being the organization logo or the main theme of the presentation. A minimum of 4 items is required for this format to be meaningful.

Roadblocks

This format is generally good if your agenda is presented in text only with items in short phrases. Items are position in a mixture of horizontal and vertical text blocks that meets each other forming a roadblock grid.

Angled Text

Useful if you only have 4 or fewer items in your agenda. Add an appropriate image to represent the theme of your agenda group either on the right or left side of your slide. Next, position the agenda items (in text) slightly rotated to achieve an interesting effect.

Single Image with Random Text

This is another format that you can try if you have selected a single image as the theme of your presentation and your agenda items are generally in very short text (not more than 3 words for each item). You can place the image in the center and scatter the agenda items around the image.

We also shouldn’t spend too much time on the agenda slide or attempt to provide too much detail when speaking on the agenda slide. Give enough information to keep the audience wanting to know more and stay with you throughout the presentation.

Keep the agenda slide simple. If there are too many items in your agenda, consider summarizing and regrouping to make it simpler. If you have a long agenda, try to present the agenda in parts. You don’t have to show everything at the beginning of your presentation. You can reveal the second half of your agenda after you are done presenting the content of your first half. As a rule of thumb, do not have more than 5 items in the agenda slide. This will keep things simple and make it easier and interesting to introduce on your agenda. Always remember that people can only remember simple things and the best way to introduce your agenda is to ensure that it is simple.