Creating the Key Takeaway Slide of Your Presentation [Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 14 hours ago
- 7 min read
Here's something nobody tells you about presentations: your audience will forget 90% of what you said before they reach the parking lot.
Not because they're stupid. Not because they weren't paying attention. But because you just dumped forty-seven slides of information into their brains like you're filling a bathtub that doesn't have a plug.
As presentation experts, we've seen the same tragedy play out repeatedly. Someone spends weeks crafting the perfect deck. They nail the data. The visuals are clean. The delivery is smooth. Then they end with a whimper, a generic "Thank You" slide, or worse, a key takeaway slide so cluttered and forgettable that it might as well say "Please forget everything you just heard."
So, we'll cover why the key takeaway slide is important, how to make one and also look at a case example.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
Most People Don't Know What a Key Takeaway Slide Is
Most key takeaway slides are just bad bullet-point lists with a different name.
Someone puts up a slide titled "Key Takeaways" and lists seven different points, each with sub-bullets, packed with jargon, desperately trying to summarize everything they just said.
That's not a key takeaway slide. That's a desperate attempt to convince yourself that all forty slides were necessary.
Here's the real issue: a key takeaway slide isn't about YOU and what YOU said. It's about THEM and what THEY need to remember when they're making a decision three days from now.
We confuse comprehensiveness with clarity.
We think more information equals more impact. So, we cram everything in, terrified that if we leave something out, our audience won't "get it."
The opposite is true. The more you put on your key takeaway slide, the less anyone takes away.
Think about the last ten presentations you sat through. Can you remember the key takeaway from even one? Probably not. Because the presenter never gave you one clear thing to hold onto.
What's at Stake? Your Entire Presentation Lives or Dies Here
When you screw up your key takeaway slide, your audience walks away confused about what action you want them to take. When Monday morning comes and they're deciding which projects to prioritize, they can't remember why yours mattered.
That's a lost sale. A rejected proposal. A missed promotion.
Presentations don't end when you stop talking.
Your audience talks to other people. They forward your deck. They reference your ideas in meetings you're not in. But if they can't articulate your main point clearly, your message gets diluted or forgotten.
When you can't distill your own message into one clear takeaway, you signal that you don't understand what matters. You look uncertain. Unfocused.
The more senior your audience, the more this matters. CEOs don't have time for ambiguity. They need to know exactly what you want them to remember and why it matters.
The Key Takeaway Slide is About Decision-Making, Not Information
Stop thinking about your key takeaway slide as the end of your presentation. Start thinking about it as the beginning of your audience's decision-making process.
When someone sits through your presentation, they're collecting impressions and data points. The real processing happens later; when they're alone, trying to figure out what to do with what they learned.
Your key takeaway slide is their anchor point for that process.
Three weeks later, your deck is sitting in a crowded inbox. Someone who wasn't at your presentation opens it and skips straight to the end. If your key takeaway slide is clear, they understand your message instantly. If it's not, they close the deck and move on.
The best presenters can articulate their key takeaway before they've even built the rest of their deck. They start with the ending because they know exactly what they want their audience to believe or do. Then they build backward.
Everyone else builds forward, hoping they'll figure out the main point along the way. They rarely do.
Creating Your Key Takeaway Slide: The Process
Step 1: Start With the Decision
Before you touch your deck, answer this: "What decision do I want my audience to make after this presentation?"
Not "What do I want them to know?" but "What do I want them to DO?"
Write it down. One sentence. If you can't answer this, you're not ready to build your key takeaway slide yet.
Step 2: Identify Your One Provable Claim
What's the one claim that supports that decision? Not three claims. One.
Ask yourself: "If they remember only ONE thing from this presentation, what would make them most likely to make the decision I want?"
Use specific numbers or outcomes whenever possible.
Step 3: Connect to Their Pain or Gain
Translate your claim into their language. What does this mean for their specific situation?
Formula: "[Your claim] + which means + [their outcome]"
Example: "Our AI tool processes claims 3x faster than your current system, which means your team can handle the holiday surge without hiring seasonal staff."
Step 4: Design for Scanning
Your headline (main claim) should be the biggest text on the slide. Readable from the back of the room.
Your supporting text (the "why it matters") should be smaller but scannable. Short phrases, not long sentences.
Your next step should be visually distinct—different color or inside a box.
Use visual hierarchy:
Top: Main claim in large, bold text
Middle: "Why it matters" in medium text
Bottom: Clear next step, visually emphasized
Step 5: Test It
Show your key takeaway slide to someone who didn't see your presentation. Wait five seconds. Take it away.
Ask them: "What did that slide say?"
If they can't repeat back your main claim, simplify.
Step 6: Cut Everything Else
Look at your slide and ask: "Does this specific word help my audience make the decision I want?"
If no, delete it. Be ruthless.
We've never seen a key takeaway slide that was too simple. We've seen thousands that were too complicated.
Case Example: How One Key Takeaway Slide Changed a $2M Decision
A mid-sized software company pitched to a Fortune 500 manufacturer for three months with no traction. Their original key takeaway slide had six bullets covering "improved efficiency," "scalable architecture," and "24/7 support." Generic and forgettable.
We rebuilt their deck around one insight: the manufacturer's production line shut down for 47 minutes every time their current software crashed. Those shutdowns cost them $18,000 per hour.
New key takeaway slide:
Headline: "Zero unplanned shutdowns in 18 months across 12 production facilities"
Context: "While your current system averages 2.3 crashes per week costing $960K annually, our clients run continuously because our redundant architecture eliminates single points of failure."
Next Step: "Let's schedule a technical review with your operations team next Tuesday to map your specific failure points."
Two weeks later, they closed a $2M deal.
What changed? Not their product. Not their pricing. Just their key takeaway slide.
The COO later said: "Every vendor was pitching efficiency and features. You were the only ones who talked about our actual problem in terms we could measure. When I presented to my CEO, I literally used your slide."
That's what a good key takeaway slide does. It becomes the language your audience uses to sell your idea internally.
FAQ: "But I Have Multiple Takeaways"
If everything is important, nothing is important. Your refusal to prioritize isn't protecting your message—it's diluting it.
"But our solution has three core benefits."
Pick the one that matters most to this specific audience. The other benefits can support your main point throughout the presentation, but your key takeaway slide needs one focus.
"My stakeholders expect a comprehensive summary."
Your stakeholders expect clarity and impact. Give them one powerful takeaway and they'll be more impressed than if you give them seven weak ones.
"What if different people in the audience care about different things?"
Then you're giving the wrong presentation. A good presentation is tailored to a specific audience with specific priorities. If your audience is too diverse, you need multiple presentations.
"Can't I just have multiple points on my key takeaway slide?"
You can, but you're choosing to be forgettable. Your audience will pick their own favorite from your list, which means different people will walk away with different takeaways. You've lost control of your message.
One key takeaway slide with one clear message means everyone leaves with the same understanding.
3 Elements of a Good Key Takeaway Slide
Every key takeaway slide that works contains three elements.
Element One: A Single, Specific Claim
This is your one sentence. The thing you want them to remember above everything else.
"We can help you grow" is too vague. "Our platform reduced customer churn by 34% in three comparable companies" is specific.
The test: if someone can't repeat your claim back to you after reading it once, it's not clear enough.
Element Two: The "Why It Matters" Anchor
Connect your claim to your audience's actual priorities. Why should they care?
Not "this is innovative technology." Instead: "this cuts your time-to-market in half, which means you can beat your competitors to the next product launch."
One is about your features. The other is about their success.
Element Three: The Clear Next Step
What do you want them to do with this information? Be specific.
Not "let's discuss further." Instead: "Schedule a 30-minute call to map your current process" or "Approve the pilot program for Q1."
Vague next steps are how good presentations die. Clear next steps are how they turn into action.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.
How To Get Started?
If you want to hire us for your presentation design project, the process is extremely easy.
Just click on the "Start a Project" button on our website, calculate the price, make payment, and we'll take it from there.
We look forward to working with you!