PowerPoint Presentation: 12 Things to Include in Your Next Slide Deck

What to include in your PowerPoint presentation

A strong, effective PowerPoint presentation should include the following components.

1. Who you are

When you’re presenting to a new audience — at an industry conference or during an investor pitch — a proper introduction matters. Use an early slide to briefly explain who you are and why you’re qualified to speak on the topic. Include relevant experience, notable achievements or your connection to the subject.

Your audience should understand who you are before you move into the substance of your presentation.

2. Your logo

You may include your business logo on the introductory slide, but it’s smart to keep it visible throughout the deck.

If you’re presenting on behalf of your company, add the logo to each slide. Rather than dropping it in manually every time, use PowerPoint’s Slide Master to place it once and let the format carry through the rest of the presentation.

That repetition helps your brand stay top of mind long after the presentation ends.

With Slide Master in PowerPoint, you can make style changes that apply to all slides in your presentation. (Source: Microsoft)

3. An agenda

Include an agenda slide right after your introduction. This slide should outline the sections of your presentation in order so your audience knows what to expect. An agenda also keeps you on track. It acts as a simple blueprint while you’re building your slides and delivering the presentation.

4. A clear road map

If your presentation outlines a project, strategy or business plan, include a road map slide. This slide typically highlights major milestones, key deliverables and timelines so your audience can see how the plan unfolds from start to finish.

For example, a product launch presentation might map out development phases, marketing rollouts and quarterly goals. A strategic update might show where the company stands now and what happens next.

A road map slide gives stakeholders a visual snapshot of the path forward — not just what you’re discussing, but where it’s headed.

5. Engaging visuals

Slides shouldn’t be wall-to-wall text. PowerPoint gives you room to use product images, charts, infographics and short video clips instead. When the visuals support what you’re saying, your slides feel lighter, and your audience isn’t stuck reading ahead.

That said, quality matters.

“Images, infographics and charts should drive home key points, not overwhelm your audience,” said Smita D Jain, a personal empowerment life coach and TEDx speaker. “For complex data or statistics, keep it simple by using clear, easy-to-read charts. Focus on the most impactful data that supports your narrative, and avoid cluttering slides with excessive figures.”

Fortunately, you don’t have to design every layout yourself. PowerPoint includes built-in templates with placeholders for images, graphs, tables and video, which can help you keep your slides clean and consistent.

6. Updated data

There’s nothing wrong with reusing a solid presentation. Just don’t assume last year’s numbers still tell the right story. If your PowerPoint includes statistics, industry trends, details about your business or other data points, double-check the numbers before you present. Make sure revenue figures, timelines and market data reflect the current year, not last quarter’s version of events.

7. The answer to “So what?”

Even if your presentation is clear and well organized, it won’t land if your audience doesn’t see why it matters. That’s where business storytelling comes in. Every slide should answer the unspoken question: So what?

Jain explained that structuring your presentation as a story with a clear arc can naturally lead to that answer. “Build your presentation around a narrative,” she advised. “Start with an engaging hook, build momentum with well-organized points and finish with a strong call to action. The story should guide the visuals, not the other way around.”

If you’re stuck shaping that arc, tools like PowerPoint’s Copilot can help you outline sections or refine transitions, but the core message still needs to come from you.

Ashwin Ramesh, a TEDx speaker and CEO of the marketing software company Synup, also encourages presenters to think in terms of a beginning, middle and end that build toward a solution.

“Storytelling leaves the listener remembering your message long after you have finished speaking,” Ramesh said. “Using facts and figures is great, but it’s always the stories that resonate most with people.”

8. Key takeaways

Highlight your main points at the end of your PowerPoint — or, for longer presentations, at the end of each section. A simple recap slide reinforces what matters most and gives your audience something clear to walk away with. Defining those takeaways during the outlining stage can also make it easier to shape the rest of your slides.

9. An objection slide

Think ahead about the questions or concerns your audience may raise and address them directly. Adding a slide that tackles common objections lets you speak to difficult topics on your terms instead of reacting on the fly. This level of business transparency also shows you’re not avoiding the hard parts of the conversation.

10. A call-to-action slide

Before you wrap up, decide what you want your audience to do next. Should they approve a budget, schedule a follow-up meeting or rethink a current strategy? Use a final slide to clearly spell out the next steps so no one leaves wondering what happens now.

11. Contact information

Include your contact information on the final slide so people know how to follow up. Some audience members may want to ask additional questions, request materials or continue the conversation afterward. Leaving your information visible makes it easier to build relationships and strategic partnerships that can turn into future opportunities.

12. Extra slides

Your presentation should stay focused, but detailed questions often come up during Q&A. Keep a few extra slides in an appendix with supporting data, complex charts or deeper explanations. You can pull them up if needed without crowding your main deck or stretching the session past its time limit.

Do’s and don’ts of PowerPoint presentations

As you develop your PowerPoint presentation, here are some key do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.

Do tell a story and be relatable.

As Jain and Ramesh explained, strong presentations follow a narrative arc. That structure keeps the experience engaging and makes it easier to connect with your audience. A short, relevant personal story can go a long way.

“Including a brief story or experience that connects with your audience will make your presentation more engaging and humanize the content,” Jain said.

Ramesh noted that word choice also matters. “I [have] found that using personal and relatable language — like ‘you,’ ‘we,’ ‘imagine’ and ‘picture this’ — can be a great way to engage your audience,” he said. “In terms of connecting with emotions, I prefer using words like ‘overwhelming,’ ‘terrific’ and ‘excited,’ to name a few.”

Do use speaker notes to your advantage.

While your audience sees only the slide in front of them, Presenter View lets you keep speaker notes visible on your private screen. Use that space to jot down key statistics, reminders, anecdotes or transition phrases that don’t belong on the slide itself.

Any speaker notes you add while building your presentation will be visible to you in “Presenter View” but will not be seen by your audience. (Source: Microsoft)

Do keep your slide backgrounds subtle and consistent.

A background or color scheme that’s too bold or busy can strain the eyes and pull attention away from your message. Make sure there’s enough contrast between the background and text so your audience isn’t squinting to read each slide. PowerPoint includes built-in themes designed with readability in mind, or you can create a custom template that fits your brand.

Jain stressed that consistency matters when designing custom templates. “Maintain consistency in your design elements — fonts, color schemes and slide layouts,” she advised. “It creates a professional, polished look and allows the audience to focus on the message rather than distractions.”

Do have a backup plan.

Technical glitches happen, even to the most prepared speakers. Save a copy of your presentation to the cloud and keep another on a USB drive. It also helps to export a PDF version of your slide deck. A PDF can save you if the display computer doesn’t have the right fonts or the correct version of PowerPoint.

Don’t read your slides word for word.

Your slides should back you up, not do the talking for you. If you read them word for word, the energy in the room drops and people start reading ahead instead of listening. Keep the on-screen text brief and use it as a cue. Then expand on the key points in your own words so your audience hears your insight, not just what’s already on the slide.

Don’t go too fast.

It’s easy to feel like you need to rush through a packed slide deck just to cover everything. Resist that urge. When you speed up, your audience doesn’t have time to absorb what you’re saying.

Aim for a steady pace, especially if you tend to talk quickly. Slowing down may feel uncomfortable at first, but it makes your presentation easier to follow. If you’re unsure how you sound, PowerPoint’s Speaker Coach feature can help you practice and flag pacing issues before you present.

Build in short pauses between slides so the information has time to land. A few seconds of silence gives people space to process both what they’ve seen and what they’ve heard before you move on.

PowerPoint’s Speaker Coach feature lets you rehearse your presentation and receive feedback on how to improve your pacing, word choices and more. (Image: Microsoft)

Don’t go overboard on transitions and effects.

It can be tempting to add slide transitions and sound effects for some visual excitement. However, these special effects rarely enhance your message and can be distracting or gimmicky. Additionally, PowerPoint presentations with effects tend to run more slowly than those without them, particularly if you’re presenting on a different computer than the one used to create the slide deck.

Keep it simple. A basic transition like “Fade” gets the job done without turning the slide change into an event — and it’s far less likely to cause problems when you plug into someone else’s system.

Don’t include too much information.

Your audience shouldn’t spend the entire presentation reading. When slides are packed with text, people either skim ahead or check out entirely. Keep each slide centered on one clear idea.

If you need to share dense data, reference it briefly and provide the full details in a handout or follow-up document instead of cramming everything onto the screen.

Ready, set, present

A PowerPoint presentation can be a compelling and effective tool when the visuals are sharp and the delivery feels natural. A clear thread running through your slides matters just as much as the design — and so does knowing what to leave out. When the story builds naturally and the slides aren’t overloaded, your audience can stay with you instead of trying to keep up.

Following presentation best practices will ensure you create better-looking slides while helping you win buy-in, move projects forward and create real momentum for your business.

Max Freedman contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.