how to write a summary of a presentation

30 Examples: How to Conclude a Presentation (Effective Closing Techniques)

By Status.net Editorial Team on March 4, 2024 — 9 minutes to read

Ending a presentation on a high note is a skill that can set you apart from the rest. It’s the final chance to leave an impact on your audience, ensuring they walk away with the key messages embedded in their minds. This moment is about driving your points home and making sure they resonate. Crafting a memorable closing isn’t just about summarizing key points, though that’s part of it, but also about providing value that sticks with your listeners long after they’ve left the room.

Crafting Your Core Message

To leave a lasting impression, your presentation’s conclusion should clearly reflect your core message. This is your chance to reinforce the takeaways and leave the audience thinking about your presentation long after it ends.

Identifying Key Points

Start by recognizing what you want your audience to remember. Think about the main ideas that shaped your talk. Make a list like this:

• The problem your presentation addresses.
• The evidence that supports your argument.
• The solution you propose or the action you want the audience to take.

These key points become the pillars of your core message.

Contextualizing the Presentation

Provide context by briefly relating back to the content of the whole presentation. For example:

• Reference a statistic you shared in the opening, and how it ties into the conclusion.
• Mention a case study that underlines the importance of your message.

Connecting these elements gives your message cohesion and makes your conclusion resonate with the framework of your presentation.

30 Example Phrases: How to Conclude a Presentation

• 1. “In summary, let’s revisit the key takeaways from today’s presentation.”
• 2. “Thank you for your attention. Let’s move forward together.”
• 3. “That brings us to the end. I’m open to any questions you may have.”
• 4. “I’ll leave you with this final thought to ponder as we conclude.”
• 5. “Let’s recap the main points before we wrap up.”
• 6. “I appreciate your engagement. Now, let’s turn these ideas into action.”
• 7. “We’ve covered a lot today. To conclude, remember these crucial points.”
• 8. “As we reach the end, I’d like to emphasize our call to action.”
• 9. “Before we close, let’s quickly review what we’ve learned.”
• 10. “Thank you for joining me on this journey. I look forward to our next steps.”
• 11. “In closing, I’d like to thank everyone for their participation.”
• 12. “Let’s conclude with a reminder of the impact we can make together.”
• 13. “To wrap up our session, here’s a brief summary of our discussion.”
• 14. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to present to you. Any final thoughts?”
• 15. “And that’s a wrap. I welcome any final questions or comments.”
• 16. “As we conclude, let’s remember the objectives we’ve set today.”
• 17. “Thank you for your time. Let’s apply these insights to achieve success.”
• 18. “In conclusion, your feedback is valuable, and I’m here to listen.”
• 19. “Before we part, let’s take a moment to reflect on our key messages.”
• 20. “I’ll end with an invitation for all of us to take the next step.”
• 21. “As we close, let’s commit to the goals we’ve outlined today.”
• 22. “Thank you for your attention. Let’s keep the conversation going.”
• 23. “In conclusion, let’s make a difference, starting now.”
• 24. “I’ll leave you with these final words to consider as we end our time together.”
• 25. “Before we conclude, remember that change starts with our actions today.”
• 26. “Thank you for the lively discussion. Let’s continue to build on these ideas.”
• 27. “As we wrap up, I encourage you to reach out with any further questions.”
• 28. “In closing, I’d like to express my gratitude for your valuable input.”
• 29. “Let’s conclude on a high note and take these learnings forward.”
• 30. “Thank you for your time today. Let’s end with a commitment to progress.”

Summarizing the Main Points

When you reach the end of your presentation, summarizing the main points helps your audience retain the important information you’ve shared. Crafting a memorable summary enables your listeners to walk away with a clear understanding of your message.

Effective Methods of Summarization

To effectively summarize your presentation, you need to distill complex information into concise, digestible pieces. Start by revisiting the overarching theme of your talk and then narrow down to the core messages. Use plain language and imagery to make the enduring ideas stick. Here are some examples of how to do this:

• Use analogies that relate to common experiences to recap complex concepts.
• Incorporate visuals or gestures that reinforce your main arguments.

The Rule of Three

The Rule of Three is a classic writing and communication principle. It means presenting ideas in a trio, which is a pattern that’s easy for people to understand and remember. For instance, you might say, “Our plan will save time, cut costs, and improve quality.” This structure has a pleasing rhythm and makes the content more memorable. Some examples include:

• “This software is fast, user-friendly, and secure.”
• Pointing out a product’s “durability, affordability, and eco-friendliness.”

Reiterating the Main Points

Finally, you want to circle back to the key takeaways of your presentation. Rephrase your main points without introducing new information. This reinforcement supports your audience’s memory and understanding of the material. You might summarize key takeaways like this:

• Mention the problem you addressed, the solution you propose, and the benefits of this solution.
• Highlighting the outcomes of adopting your strategy: higher efficiency, greater satisfaction, and increased revenue.

Creating a Strong Conclusion

The final moments of your presentation are your chance to leave your audience with a powerful lasting impression. A strong conclusion is more than just summarizing—it’s your opportunity to invoke thought, inspire action, and make your message memorable.

Incorporating a Call to Action

A call to action is your parting request to your audience. You want to inspire them to take a specific action or think differently as a result of what they’ve heard. To do this effectively:

• Be clear about what you’re asking.
• Explain why their action is needed.
• Make it as simple as possible for them to take the next steps.

Example Phrases:

• “Start making a difference today by…”
• “Join us in this effort by…”
• “Take the leap and commit to…”

Leaving a Lasting Impression

End your presentation with something memorable. This can be a powerful quote, an inspirational statement, or a compelling story that underscores your main points. The goal here is to resonate with your audience on an emotional level so that your message sticks with them long after they leave.

• “In the words of [Influential Person], ‘…'”
• “Imagine a world where…”
• “This is more than just [Topic]; it’s about…”

Enhancing Audience Engagement

To hold your audience’s attention and ensure they leave with a lasting impression of your presentation, fostering interaction is key.

Q&A Sessions

It’s important to integrate a Q&A session because it allows for direct communication between you and your audience. This interactive segment helps clarify any uncertainties and encourages active participation. Plan for this by designating a time slot towards the end of your presentation and invite questions that promote discussion.

• “I’d love to hear your thoughts; what questions do you have?”
• “Let’s dive into any questions you might have. Who would like to start?”
• “Feel free to ask any questions, whether they’re clarifications or deeper inquiries about the topic.”

Encouraging Audience Participation

Getting your audience involved can transform a good presentation into a great one. Use open-ended questions that provoke thought and allow audience members to reflect on how your content relates to them. Additionally, inviting volunteers to participate in a demonstration or share their experiences keeps everyone engaged and adds a personal touch to your talk.

• “Could someone give me an example of how you’ve encountered this in your work?”
• “I’d appreciate a volunteer to help demonstrate this concept. Who’s interested?”
• “How do you see this information impacting your daily tasks? Let’s discuss!”

Delivering a Persuasive Ending

At the end of your presentation, you have the power to leave a lasting impact on your audience. A persuasive ending can drive home your key message and encourage action.

Sales and Persuasion Tactics

When you’re concluding a presentation with the goal of selling a product or idea, employ carefully chosen sales and persuasion tactics. One method is to summarize the key benefits of your offering, reminding your audience why it’s important to act. For example, if you’ve just presented a new software tool, recap how it will save time and increase productivity. Another tactic is the ‘call to action’, which should be clear and direct, such as “Start your free trial today to experience the benefits first-hand!” Furthermore, using a touch of urgency, like “Offer expires soon!”, can nudge your audience to act promptly.

Final Impressions and Professionalism

Your closing statement is a chance to solidify your professional image and leave a positive impression. It’s important to display confidence and poise. Consider thanking your audience for their time and offering to answer any questions. Make sure to end on a high note by summarizing your message in a concise and memorable way. If your topic was on renewable energy, you might conclude by saying, “Let’s take a leap towards a greener future by adopting these solutions today.” This reinforces your main points and encourages your listeners to think or act differently when they leave.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some creative strategies for ending a presentation memorably.

To end your presentation in a memorable way, consider incorporating a call to action that engages your audience to take the next step. Another strategy is to finish with a thought-provoking question or a surprising fact that resonates with your listeners.

Can you suggest some powerful quotes suitable for concluding a presentation?

Yes, using a quote can be very effective. For example, Maya Angelou’s “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” can reinforce the emotional impact of your presentation.

What is an effective way to write a conclusion that summarizes a presentation?

An effective conclusion should recap the main points succinctly, highlighting what you want your audience to remember. A good way to conclude is by restating your thesis and then briefly summarizing the supporting points you made.

As a student, how can I leave a strong impression with my presentation’s closing remarks?

To leave a strong impression, consider sharing a personal anecdote related to your topic that demonstrates passion and conviction. This helps humanize your content and makes the message more relatable to your audience.

How can I appropriately thank my audience at the close of my presentation?

A simple and sincere expression of gratitude is always appropriate. You might say, “Thank you for your attention and engagement today,” to convey appreciation while also acknowledging their participation.

What are some examples of a compelling closing sentence in a presentation?

A compelling closing sentence could be something like, “Together, let’s take the leap towards a greener future,” if you’re presenting on sustainability. This sentence is impactful, calls for united action, and leaves your audience with a clear message.

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How to Summarize Presentations

Home >  How To Present >  How to Summarize

Does your audience seem lost during your long presentation? You can see this happening when you ask them to recall a point and they look blank.

Do they find it difficult to put your information in context?

Chances are you may not be summarizing your points frequently enough. We will see how you can summarize your presentation effectively to enhance audience retention.

Let’s start by asking a simple question:

When should you summarize your presentation?

Did I hear you saying, “Towards the end”?

Wrong! You would’ve lost your audience by then.

An effective presentation habit is to summarize at the end of every major point. It’s all the more important to do so, if your presentation is long and content-rich.

The logic behind summarizing your points:

Do you remember building a tower with playing cards when you were a child? Every time you added a new card on top, you carefully adjusted and aligned all the other cards under it. It helped you build a tall and stable tower.

The principle applies to your presentations as well. Every new point puts a strain on memory of what was covered earlier. Unless you summarize periodically, your audience can’t remember your points beyond a point (pun intended).

How to summarize your presentation in a structured way?

This simple structure allows you to refresh the memory of your audience periodically. It helps your audience to place new information in the right context. It lays the foundation for an effective ‘call to action’. Remember, the call to action and WIIFM has been set right at the start.

Example of an effective presentation summary:

A good summary is short and quick. Here is an example of a sales presentation summary:

“I understood that your main requirements in choosing a home loan are – interest rates, long tenure and high loan amount. So far, we saw how our scheme offers you a highly competitive rate and the longest tenure for your age. Now, we’ll talk about loan amount.”

This summary gives you a chance to showcase your main benefits over and over again- in a reassuring way. It maximizes your opportunity to win business in a sales presentation.  

Some creative ways to summarize your presentations:

Here are 3 creative ways to summarize your presentations.

1. Use a quiz format to summarize a training presentation:

There can be many variations to this. Some presenters choose to show just the title and ask the participants to recollect the content. Some choose to use fill in the blanks format or true/false format to test the memory. Whichever way you choose, summarize your training presentations frequently.

We have found Quizzes to be an extremely effective way to summarize in a training. That is why we put together 45 different types of PowerPoint Quiz templates in a pack. Just select the type of quiz and add your questions. You can find out more about the Quiz pack and download it here:

2. Use a mid-session Q & A to summarize your business presentation:

We’ve seen presenters disguise their summary like – “We’ve covered Point A, Point B, and Point C – are there any questions in what we’ve covered so far?”

This helps them recollect their main benefits without sounding repetitive or pushy.

3. Repeat some key images and terms from earlier points to serve as memory hook:

Repeating images and key terms on your slides help you recount your points automatically. So, constantly referring to your earlier segments is a useful practice.

Finally, to summarize this article on ‘How to Summarize’ your presentation…

• Summarize at the end of every major point.
• Use your agenda slide to serve as guidepost.
• Let your summary be quick and short
• Explore creative ways to recall your key points

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How to Summarize a PowerPoint Presentation: A Step-by-Step Guide

Summarizing a PowerPoint presentation is a skill that can come in handy in various situations. Maybe you’ve just watched a colleague’s presentation and need to report back to your team, or perhaps you’re studying for an exam and want to condense the material. To summarize a PowerPoint effectively, you’ll need to identify the key points, understand the presentation’s purpose, and distill the information into a concise format. By mastering these steps, you’ll be able to communicate the essence of any presentation to your audience efficiently.

Once you’ve summarized the PowerPoint presentation, you’ll have a handy reference that captures the main ideas and supporting details without the fluff. This summary can serve as a study aid, a quick refresher, or a tool to brief others who may not have the time to go through the entire presentation.

Introduction

Let’s face it, sitting through a lengthy PowerPoint presentation can sometimes feel like a chore, especially when all you need are the highlights. Maybe you’re a busy professional with back-to-back meetings, a student juggling multiple assignments, or just someone who values efficiency. Whatever the case, being able to summarize a PowerPoint presentation is a valuable skill that can save you time and keep you informed.

Why is this ability so important? For starters, it helps you to quickly sift through information and focus on what’s essential. In our fast-paced world, time is of the essence, and being able to distill a lengthy presentation into a few key points can be a game-changer. Moreover, it’s not only about personal convenience; summarizing skills are crucial when you have to convey the gist of a presentation to others. Whether you’re briefing a colleague, preparing notes for a study group, or delivering a report to a client, a well-crafted summary can make all the difference. So, let’s dive into the how-to of summarizing a PowerPoint presentation, shall we?

Step by Step Tutorial: How to Summarize a PowerPoint Presentation

Before we jump into the steps, let’s establish what we’re aiming for. A good summary of a PowerPoint presentation should capture the main ideas, the supporting details, and the presenter’s intended message, all while being brief and easy to understand.

Step 1: Review the Entire Presentation

Start by going through the entire PowerPoint presentation.

Reviewing the presentation in its entirety allows you to get a sense of the overall flow and the key themes. Pay attention to the title slides and the concluding slides, as they often contain the main message and summary points.

Step 2: Identify the Key Points

Look for the main ideas in each slide.

Each slide usually focuses on a single main idea. Look for bullet points, bolded text, or headings as clues to what the presenter considers important. Make note of these points as they will form the backbone of your summary.

Step 3: Understand the Purpose

Determine the purpose of the presentation.

Understanding why the presentation was created helps to frame your summary. Was it to inform, persuade, or instruct? Knowing the intent will guide you in deciding what details are crucial for your summary.

Step 4: Condense the Information

• Condense the information into a concise format.

Now that you have the key points and the purpose, start writing your summary. Aim to express the ideas as simply and clearly as possible, without losing the original meaning. If a slide’s content can be said in one sentence instead of three, do it.

Step 5: Review and Edit

Review your summary and refine it.

Go through your summary to ensure it’s coherent and that it accurately reflects the presentation’s content and purpose. Edit out any redundancies or unclear statements.

Additional Information

When summarizing a PowerPoint presentation, it’s essential to keep the audience in mind. Who will be reading your summary? What do they need to know? Tailoring the summary to the needs of your audience can make it more effective. Additionally, consider using visual aids from the original presentation, such as charts or graphs, if they help illustrate a point more clearly.

Remember, a good summary is not just a list of points but a coherent mini-version of the presentation. It should flow logically and be engaging to read. Lastly, practice makes perfect. The more you practice summarizing presentations, the better you’ll become at capturing the essence of the content. So next time you sit through a PowerPoint, why not give it a try?

• Review the entire PowerPoint presentation.
• Identify the key points in each slide.
• Understand the purpose of the presentation.
• Review and edit your summary.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the powerpoint presentation is very long.

Start by breaking it down into sections, and summarize each section before attempting to summarize the whole presentation. This will make the task more manageable.

Can I include quotes from the presentation in my summary?

Yes, but use them sparingly and only if they emphasize a key point effectively.

Should I use the same slide titles in my summary?

You can, but it’s not necessary. The aim is to capture the main ideas, not to replicate the presentation’s structure.

Is it okay to leave out examples used in the presentation?

If the examples are used to illustrate key points, briefly mention them. Otherwise, focus on the main ideas and leave out specific examples.

How long should my summary be?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but a good rule of thumb is to make it as brief as possible while still covering all key points.

Summarizing a PowerPoint presentation is an art and a skill that can be honed with practice. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or simply someone who values brevity, being able to condense information efficiently is incredibly valuable. Remember, the goal is to capture the essence of the presentation, not to replicate it.

Use your judgment to determine what’s essential and what can be left out. With the steps and tips outlined in this article, you’re well on your way to becoming an expert summarizer. So next time you’re faced with a lengthy presentation, don’t despair. Embrace the challenge and flex those summarizing muscles!

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas The Best Ways for Summarizing Business Presentations

The Best Ways for Summarizing Business Presentations

Two things are the easiest to lose when delivering business presentations. The first is the context, and the second follows very closely, to that, in the interest of your audience. The best way to avoid death by PowerPoint during a business presentation is to summarize your content smartly, in what we call a presentation summary . This article will explain some of the best ways to summarize business presentations using several methods.

Table of Contents

What is a Presentation Summary?

Why should you summarize business presentations, what should be included in the presentation summary, how to summarize business presentations, methods of summarizing different types of presentations, examples of presentation summary, final words.

A presentation summary is an essential part of a talk, providing a brief and clear overview of the main points and key takeaways for the audience. It condenses the speaker’s ideas and any critical conclusions or recommendations, so the audience can easily understand and remember the presentation.

You want to add a summary slide for your presentations for the following reasons:

• A presentation summary emphasizes the core message of a talk that you want your audience to take away.
• Presentation summaries provide clarity on complex information.
• A presentation summary allows you, the speaker, to refresh your audience’s memory and improve retention.
• Lastly, a presentation summary is a helpful reference for the audience to review the presentation’s key points.

Overall, a well-crafted presentation summary is a valuable tool for ensuring that the audience fully grasps and appreciates the presentation’s key messages.

Summarizing presentations, especially business presentations, can be a great way to connect with your audience by sticking to what matters and avoiding losing the translation context. Summarizing presentations can also have many other benefits that can really help you shine as a presenter and take off some of that public speaking anxiety. Below are a few reasons why you should summarize your business presentations.

To Make Content Easier to Explain

Every now and then, we see a presenter who likes to create text-heavy slides and a confusing monotone. Summarizing a presentation can help prevent some of these issues. While some people might have issues due to fear of public speaking, making things easier to explain can’t hurt your chances of delivering a presentation without alienating your audience.

To Make Content Easier to Follow

When a topic is too complex for an audience, it does not help to use jargon outside their area of expertise. This happens more often during business presentations than presenters tend to realize. For example, a presentation discussing a new production process might not be easy to understand for people from the finance or sales department. To make the presentation easy to follow for everyone, a diagram or summary of the process might be easier to explain.

Summarizing business presentations, be it in the form of bullet lists, highlighted keywords in small paragraphs, or focusing on visual aids, can be a great way to make your content easier to follow for your audience. To make your presentation have the required impact, such a summary might actually be necessary rather than an option. Otherwise, you may end up with death by PowerPoint.

To Avoid the Context from Getting Lost in Translation

It is arguably easier to follow a summarized version of the context rather than information that might be too much to handle for an audience. Something that many presenters can tend to forget is the attention span of the audience. Research suggests that the average audience attention span has greatly reduced over the past few years amidst a digitized world. A 2015 research by Microsoft highlighted how the audience could lose interest as quickly as 8 seconds. A second less than the goldfish! More recent research has produced similar results, blaming social media for declining attention spans.

Understanding the need to keep your audience interested can help a presenter summarize their slides to avoid losing the context. This is not necessarily linked only to attention spans, as presentations that are lengthy, dull, and lack stimulation can produce the same negative result. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize your context and keep your audience interested using eye-catching visuals, interactive presentation sessions, and at times, short breaks.

Here are the essential components of a good presentation summary.

1. Key Points of the Presentation

The purpose of a summary in a presentation is to reinforce the key message or messages you want your audience to take with them. Since this slide will serve as a quick reference to the main points of your talk, you want to condense the key points of your presentation into bullet points.

2.  Call to Action

A call to action in the presentation summary can help solidify the main points and key takeaways of the presentation while also motivating the audience to take action. It is especially important if the goal of the presentation is to inspire change or promote a product or service. Without a clear call to action, the audience may forget about the presentation and not take any further steps.

If you’re presenting complex information, adding visual aids may help simplify your message to something your audience understands and remembers. Studies have shown that people remember and understand information better in visual formats such as graphs, charts, or images. You could even create a video summarizing the main points of your presentation in a visually captivating way.

4. Contact Details of the Presenter

Including your contact details in a presentation or summary has many benefits. It makes it easy for the audience to get in touch with you after the presentation and shows that you are willing to engage with them. It may help strengthen your brand.

Now that you know why let’s take a look at how to summarize business presentations in a manner that can help keep your audience interested. To create a presentation summary, you can:

Identify the Main Points of Your Presentation

The central idea of the presentation’s summary slide should be the key message or takeaway that the presenter wants the audience to remember. To identify the essential points of a presentation, you can ask yourself:

• What is the problem my presentation is trying to address?
• What is my goal in delivering the presentation?
• What insights do I want to leave my audience with?

By considering these questions and analyzing the presentation’s content, you can determine the central idea or main point you should highlight in the summary slide.

Create an Outline

It is best to start by collecting your thoughts and outlining what you intend to present. You can take notes and create a sequence that best suits your presentation context. This will also make it easy for you to make your presentation. Starting from the basics to the conclusion. You can use a tool like ChatGPT, which relies on generative AI technology , to create your summary too.

Use Key Highlights in Slides

If you are confused about what content to include in your presentation summary slides, you can pick the key highlights of your presentation. For example, when discussing a business forecast, you can discuss the key trends briefly in your slides. A chart, diagram, or table with basic information can help explain the context quickly and easily.

Emphasize Important Bits of Data, Trends & Analysis

There are some ways you can highlight key aspects of your slides. This can include bullet lists, diagrams, or using a different color for important bits of text. For the latter, you can highlight the names of areas, important financial figures, or other important keywords or phrases to make it easy to present and explain your context. Doing so can also help you quickly recall important information and focus on it, without the need to read your slide to remember where to discuss next.

Use Self-Explanatory Visuals

In economics, students are taught the fundamental concept of unlimited wants and limited resources, often by visualizations. You might see a sketch of a dragon about to eat the whole planet in his hands, with the dragon labeled as ‘wants’ and the planet labeled as ‘resources.’  Visuals like these can help explain complex ideas in a single image. Presenters can use similar visualizations with the help of visual slides or infographics . Not only can such images be downloaded from various websites offering stock images, but you can also use readymade PowerPoint templates to edit and create something similar by labeling infographics and diagram slides.

Use Appropriate Layouts that Support Your Content

A presentation discussing critical issues, losses, and failure can fall on deaf ears if the severity of the issue isn’t explained with a bit of emphasis. Not only does the presenter need to ensure this in his/her tone but also in visuals. Using layouts with colors in red or graphics indicating danger or loss can be a way to edge the message in your audience’s minds visually. Similarly, when discussing rosy prospects, a layout that gives calming visuals can be effective.

Many presentations related to improving the environment and reducing pollution use green layouts to encourage the audience to adopt something visually depicted as desirable and healthy. Similarly, presentations about vacations and tourism often have visuals of sandy beaches, water bodies, and people having fun. The use of relevant visuals and layouts can help support your context without saying too much.

Use Speaker Notes to Support Your Presentation

If you’re worried about losing sight of important information without cramming text in your slides, you can use speaker notes. These are hidden notes that the presenter can see when presenting their presentation. You can learn more about using this feature from our guide about using and printing speaker notes in PowerPoint .

There are a number of methods to cut down on text to summarize your slides. Different types of presentations might need various techniques to do this effectively. Here are a few suggestions to help you summarize different types of presentations using various methods.

Dashboards for Data-driven Presentations

A little-known gem for presenters is the use of Dashboard slides. With Dashboard PowerPoint Templates , you can design data-driven presentations by adding various bits of information in a single slide. This might include tables, charts, diagrams, and clipart in a single slide, divided into various sections.

Quizzes for Informative Presentations

Making your context memorable for an audience can be easier by using interactive sessions. If you’re a teacher, trainer, coach, or giving a product demo, looking to help your audience remember important parts of information, you can use quizzes. The use of quizzes can also help keep your audience attentive and make the session fun for them.

Infographics for Depicting Trends and Complex Data

Infographics can help sum up complex information with visual aids. A diagram about user preferences over the past decade in the form of stats might seem boring. However, the same presentation summed up using infographics can help explain the trends easily. For this purpose, a PowerPoint Template with Infographics can be a great way of quickly designing slides with relevant information.

Timelines and Roadmaps

Timelines and roadmaps are often used to discuss project progress, historical context, and forecasts. Using them can be a good way to summarize lengthy details in the form of a few milestones, dates, and labels.

Business Diagrams that can Help Summarize your Slides.

Business diagrams can be another tool to summarize your presentation. Be it a SWOT or PESTEL analysis, sales funnel, or other business diagrams, you can easily incorporate the entire analysis or discussion using a single visualization.

Making Content Memorable

In a previous article about presentation tips , we mentioned the rule of three. This is an age-old rule implying that anything used three times is ‘perfect’ or memorable. You can use this rule by mentioning key highlights at the start, the middle, and the end of your presentation. Such as perhaps something that triggers a call to action. Similarly, you can repeat a word or phrase three times to make it memorable for your audience. Other techniques that you can use include the use of Rhetorical Triangle and the Zeigarnik Effect .

Sales Summary

Here’s an example of a basic presentation summary for sales, which discusses the sales performance of a diet food manufacturer.

The important figures are highlighted using a graph, which clearly shows the company’s sales trends within a year. Below the graph are the conclusions or the key contributing factors to the success.

The speaker also acknowledged the audience (the employees and stakeholders) and left them with a call to action by encouraging them to innovate more.

Customer Journey Summary

Here’s an example of a customer journey summary for presentations. The horizontal map presents each stage of the customer journey, allowing the audience to quickly grasp the overall flow of the service experience.

The conclusions, on the other hand, highlight the critical lessons from the customer journey example. They provide actionable insights for optimizing processes from marketing to product delivery.

Business Proposal Summary

Here’s an example of a summary slide for a business proposal presentation . It encapsulates the prospect’s pain points with visualizations to create urgency.

The presenters’ implementation plan quickly follows, outlining key strategies and activities to be undertaken. There are also quantifiable expected results, which add credibility to the proposal.

The summary slide ends with a polite encouragement for further discussions, leaving the prospect with the specific contact person.

Project Launch Summary

This slide shows what a project/product launch summary looks like. Using a simple three steps diagram, it maps out the timeline of the website development project. The summary slide includes the project’s key milestones — from its early stage and project launch date down to the evaluation — giving the audience a quick reference of the entire process.

Including the project goal sets a clear expectation for the stakeholders and encourages them to explore opportunities for the future.

When summarizing presentations, it’s good to consider what questions to raise or what pattern to follow to make your presentation sequential and memorable. You can look at the potential good questions to ask, and paraphrase to summarize content while using relevant visualizations and layouts. Whether you’re someone afraid of public speaking or an experienced presenter, knowing that your presentations are brief and to the point can give you a sense of calm. It can also help boost your confidence as you look to grab the valuable attention of your audience while keeping them awake amidst short attention spans and critical details tied to what you are presenting.

1. Key Takeaways Concept Slides for PowerPoint

Use this eye-catching template to summarize the key takeaways from your PowerPoint Presentation.

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How to Summarize a Presentation

How to structure a presentation.

Summarizing a presentation provides the opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the audience. The concluding remarks of a presentation are what usually sticks in the audience's head. At one level, the concluding remarks of a summary are like sound bites. They are short and condensed version of the the presentation. If someone missed the actual presentation and only heard the summary, they should have a good idea about the essence of the presentation.

Tell the audience that you are concluding the presentation. This sets the context for the summary and prepares the audience members for your concluding remarks.

Briefly summarize the primary points of the presentation. Avoid digressing into new information, arguments or points of view. Also avoid running a point into the ground that you have already discussed in detail during the presentation. The point of the summary is to remind the audience about the essential core of the presentation. Concentrate on the major ideas and the argument you made that supported the ideas..

Inform the audience about future work that you are interested in pursuing. The subject matter of a presentation usually has room for growth,development or elaboration. It is impossible to cover all of the bases in the time span of a presentation.

Conclude the summary be thanking the audience for listening. Tell the audience that you would be happy to respond to any questions they may having that relate to the presentation.

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Robert Russell began writing online professionally in 2010. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and is currently working on a book project exploring the relationship between art, entertainment and culture. He is the guitar player for the nationally touring cajun/zydeco band Creole Stomp. Russell travels with his laptop and writes many of his articles on the road between gigs.

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How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

Ashley Shaw

Have you ever recommended a book to someone and given them a quick overview? Then you’ve created a summary before!

Summarizing is a common part of everyday communication. It feels easy when you’re recounting what happened on your favorite show, but what do you do when the information gets a little more complex?

Written summaries come with their own set of challenges. You might ask yourself:

• What details are unnecessary?
• How do you put this in your own words without changing the meaning?
• How close can you get to the original without plagiarizing it?
• How long should it be?

The answers to these questions depend on the type of summary you are doing and why you are doing it.

A summary in an academic setting is different to a professional summary—and both of those are very different to summarizing a funny story you want to tell your friends.

One thing they all have in common is that you need to relay information in the clearest way possible to help your reader understand. We’ll look at some different forms of summary, and give you some tips on each.

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

How do you write a summary, how do you write an academic summary, what are the four types of academic summaries, how do i write a professional summary, writing or telling a summary in personal situations, summarizing summaries.

A summary is a shorter version of a larger work. Summaries are used at some level in almost every writing task, from formal documents to personal messages.

When you write a summary, you have an audience that doesn’t know every single thing you know.

When you want them to understand your argument, topic, or stance, you may need to explain some things to catch them up.

Instead of having them read the article or hear every single detail of the story or event, you instead give them a brief overview of what they need to know.

Academic, professional, and personal summaries each require you to consider different things, but there are some key rules they all have in common.

Let’s go over a few general guides to writing a summary first.

1. A summary should always be shorter than the original work, usually considerably.

Even if your summary is the length of a full paper, you are likely summarizing a book or other significantly longer work.

2. A summary should tell the reader the highlights of what they need to know without giving them unnecessary details.

3. It should also include enough details to give a clear and honest picture.

For example, if you summarize an article that says “ The Office is the greatest television show of all time,” but don’t mention that they are specifically referring to sitcoms, then you changed the meaning of the article. That’s a problem! Similarly, if you write a summary of your job history and say you volunteered at a hospital for the last three years, but you don’t add that you only went twice in that time, it becomes a little dishonest.

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

While in the longer work you are creating you might use opinion, within the summary itself, you should avoid all personal opinion. A summary is different than a review. In this moment, you aren’t saying what you think of the work you are summarizing, you are just giving your audience enough information to know what the work says or did.

Now that we have a good idea of what summaries are in general, let’s talk about some specific types of summary you will likely have to do at some point in your writing life.

An academic summary is one you will create for a class or in other academic writing. The exact elements you will need to include depend on the assignment itself.

However, when you’re asked for an academic summary, this usually this means one of five things, all of which are pretty similar:

• You need to do a presentation in which you talk about an article, book, or report.
• You write a summary paper in which the entire paper is a summary of a specific work.
• You summarize a class discussion, lesson, or reading in the form of personal notes or a discussion board post.
• You do something like an annotated bibliography where you write short summaries of multiple works in preparation of a longer assignment.
• You write quick summaries within the body of another assignment . For example, in an argumentative essay, you will likely need to have short summaries of the sources you use to explain their argument before getting into how the source helps you prove your point.

Regardless of what type of summary you are doing, though, there are a few steps you should always follow:

• Skim the work you are summarizing before you read it. Notice what stands out to you.
• Next, read it in depth . Do the same things stand out?
• Put the full text away and write in a few sentences what the main idea or point was.
• Go back and compare to make sure you didn’t forget anything.
• Expand on this to write and then edit your summary.

Each type of academic summary requires slightly different things. Let’s get down to details.

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

Sometimes teachers assign something called a summary paper . In this, the entire thing is a summary of one article, book, story, or report.

To understand how to write this paper, let’s talk a little bit about the purpose of such an assignment.

A summary paper is usually given to help a teacher see how well a student understands a reading assignment, but also to help the student digest the reading. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand things we read right away.

However, a good way to process the information is to put it in our own words. That is the point of a summary paper.

A summary paper is:

• A way to explain in our own words what happened in a paper, book, etc.
• A time to think about what was important in the paper, etc.
• A time to think about the meaning and purpose behind the paper, etc.

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

• A review. Your thoughts and opinions on the thing you are summarizing don’t need to be here unless otherwise specified.
• A comparison. A comparison paper has a lot of summary in it, but it is different than a summary paper. In this, you are just saying what happened, but you aren’t saying places it could have been done differently.
• A paraphrase (though you might have a little paraphrasing in there). In the section on using summary in longer papers, I talk more about the difference between summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Because a summary paper is usually longer than other forms of summary, you will be able to chose more detail. However, it still needs to focus on the important events. Summary papers are usually shorter papers.

Let’s say you are writing a 3–4 page summary. You are likely summarizing a full book or an article or short story, which will be much longer than 3–4 pages.

Imagine that you are the author of the work, and your editor comes to you and says they love what you wrote, but they need it to be 3–4 pages instead.

How would you tell that story (argument, idea, etc.) in that length without losing the heart or intent behind it? That is what belongs in a summary paper.

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

Sometimes, you need to write a summary for yourself in the form of notes or for your classmates in the form of a discussion post.

You might not think you need a specific approach for this. After all, only you are going to see it.

However, summarizing for yourself can sometimes be the most difficult type of summary. If you try to write down everything your teacher says, your hand will cramp and you’ll likely miss a lot.

Yet, transcribing doesn’t work because studies show that writing things down (not typing them) actually helps you remember them better.

So how do you find the balance between summarizing the lessons without leaving out important points?

There are some tips for this:

• If your professor writes it on the board, it is probably important.
• What points do your textbooks include when summarizing information? Use these as a guide.
• Write the highlight of every X amount of time, with X being the time you can go without missing anything or getting tired. This could be one point per minute, or three per five minutes, etc.

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

An annotated bibliography requires a very specific style of writing. Often, you will write these before a longer research paper . They will ask you to find a certain amount of articles and write a short annotation for each of them.

While an annotation is more than just a summary, it usually starts with a summary of the work. This will be about 2–3 sentences long. Because you don’t have a lot of room, you really have to think about what the most important thing the work says is.

This will basically ask you to explain the point of the article in these couple of sentences, so you should focus on the main point when expressing it.

Here is an example of a summary section within an annotation about this post:

“In this post, the author explains how to write a summary in different types of settings. She walks through academic, professional, and personal summaries. Ultimately, she claims that summaries should be short explanations that get the audience caught up on the topic without leaving out details that would change the meaning.”

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

Perhaps the most common type of summary you will ever do is a short summary within a longer paper.

For example, if you have to write an argumentative essay, you will likely need to use sources to help support your argument.

However, there is a good chance that your readers won’t have read those same sources.

So, you need to give them enough detail to understand your topic without spending too much time explaining and not enough making your argument.

While this depends on exactly how you are using summary in your paper, often, a good amount of summary is the same amount you would put in an annotation.

Just a few sentences will allow the reader to get an idea of the work before moving on to specific parts of it that might help your argument.

What’s the Difference Between Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Using Quotes?

One important thing to recognize when using summaries in academic settings is that summaries are different than paraphrases or quotes.

A summary is broader and more general. A paraphrase, on the other hand, puts specific parts into your own words. A quote uses the exact words of the original. All of them, however, need to be cited.

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t as all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.”

Let’s say I was told to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quote about this statement. This is what it might look like:

Summary: Thomas J. Watson said that the key to success is actually to fail more often. (This is broad and doesn’t go into details about what he says, but it still gives him credit.)

Paraphrase: Thomas J. Watson, on asking if people would like his formula for success, said that the secret was to fail twice as much. He claimed that when you decide to learn from your mistakes instead of being disappointed by them, and when you start making a lot of them, you will actually find more success. (This includes most of the details, but it is in my own words, while still crediting the source.)

Quote: Thomas J. Watson said, ”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” (This is the exact words of the original with quotation marks and credit given.)

Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the hardest parts about summarizing someone else’s writing is avoiding plagiarism .

That’s why I have a few rules/tips for you when summarizing anything:

1. Always cite.

If you are talking about someone else’s work in any means, cite your source. If you are summarizing the entire work, all you probably need to do (depending on style guidelines) is say the author’s name. However, if you are summarizing a specific chapter or section, you should state that specifically. Finally, you should make sure to include it in your Work Cited or Reference page.

2. Change the wording.

Sometimes when people are summarizing or paraphrasing a work, they get too close to the original, and actually use the exact words. Unless you use quotation marks, this is plagiarism. However, a good way to avoid this is to hide the article while you are summarizing it. If you don’t have it in front of you, you are less likely to accidentally use the exact words. (However, after you are done, double check that you didn’t miss anything important or give wrong details.)

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

Of course, when you are writing any summary, especially academic summaries, it can be easy to cross the line into plagiarism. If this is a place where you struggle, then ProWritingAid can help.

Just use our Plagiarism Report . It’ll highlight any unoriginal text in your document so you can make sure you are citing everything correctly and summarizing in your own words.

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

Along with academic summaries, you might sometimes need to write professional summaries. Often, this means writing a summary about yourself that shows why you are qualified for a position or organization.

In this section, let’s talk about two types of professional summaries: a LinkedIn summary and a summary section within a resume.

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. It offers you a chance to share a brief glimpse of your professional qualifications in a paragraph or two.

This can then be sent to professional connections, or even found by them without you having to reach out. This can help you get a job or build your network.

Your summary is one of the first things a future employer might see about you, and how you write yours can make you stand out from the competition.

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

• Before you write it, think about what you want it to do . If you are looking for a job, what kind of job? What have you done in your past that would stand out to someone hiring for that position? That is what you will want to focus on in your summary.
• Be professional . Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn has a reputation for being more formal. Your summary should reflect that to some extent.
• Use keywords . Your summary is searchable, so using keywords that a recruiter might be searching for can help them find you.
• Focus on the start . LinkedIn shows the first 300 characters automatically, and then offers the viewer a chance to read more. Make that start so good that everyone wants to keep reading.
• Focus on accomplishments . Think of your life like a series of albums, and this is your speciality “Greatest Hits” album. What “songs” are you putting on it?

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

Writing a professional summary for a resume is different than any other type of summary that you may have to do.

Recruiters go through a lot of resumes every day. They don’t have time to spend ages reading yours, which means you have to wow them quickly.

To do that, you might include a section at the top of your resume that acts almost as an elevator pitch: That one thing you might say to a recruiter to get them to want to talk to you if you only had a 30-second elevator ride.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, though, you might want to skip this section entirely and focus on playing up the experience you do have.

Outside of academic and personal summaries, you use summary a lot in your day-to-day life.

Whether it is telling a good piece of trivia you just learned or a funny story that happened to you, or even setting the stage in creative writing, you summarize all the time.

How you use summary can be an important consideration in whether people want to read your work (or listen to you talk).

Here are some things to think about when telling a story:

• Pick interesting details . Too many and your point will be lost. Not enough, and you didn’t paint the scene or give them a complete idea about what happened.
• Play into the emotions . When telling a story, you want more information than the bare minimum. You want your reader to get the emotion of the story. That requires a little bit more work to accomplish.
• Focus. A summary of one story can lead to another can lead to another. Think about storytellers that you know that go off on a tangent. They never seem to finish one story without telling 100 others!

To wrap up (and to demonstrate everything I just talked about), let’s summarize this post into its most essential parts:

A summary is a great way to quickly give your audience the information they need to understand the topic you are discussing without having to know every detail.

How you write a summary is different depending on what type of summary you are doing:

• An academic summary usually gets to the heart of an article, book, or journal, and it should highlight the main points in your own words. How long it should be depends on the type of assignment it is.
• A professional summary highlights you and your professional, academic, and volunteer history. It shows people in your professional network who you are and why they should hire you, work with you, use your talents, etc.

Being able to tell a good story is another form of summary. You want to tell engaging anecdotes and facts without boring your listeners. This is a skill that is developed over time.

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Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process. You can follow her on Twitter, or, if you prefer animal accounts, follow her rabbits, Audrey Hopbun and Fredra StaHare, on Instagram.

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How to Summarize a Presentation: 5 Easy Steps

Table of Contents

Introduction

Different people have varying needs for summaries. For a student, summaries are a great way to keep notes. They help them during their exam preparations.

In businesses, summaries are often required during executive meetings. Any kind of report, plan, or strategy could require an executive summary. This is also where summarizing presentations is required. In businesses, presentations are much more valuable and time-saving than a simple article or paper.  

The reason presentations are used is that they can, paired with images and graphs, effectively utilize the least amount of text. However, even these need to be summarized frequently because the executives do not have a lot of time to go through an entire presentation.In this post, we will check out some ways to summarize presentations.

Using a Tool

Not all people have the time to manually summarize a presentation. Businessmen, in general, are always short on time especially when they belong to large corporations. 

They can use summarizing tools to generate succinct summaries of presentations or plans/strategies. 

Summarizing tools are widely available on the internet. And a lot of them are free to use. A great text summarizer can summarize your content in the shortest possible time using the number of words you like.  Some summarizers come with the option of condensing the source material into a paragraph or a series of bullet points. Since there are a lot of tools to pick from, you can try out a few and use the ones that suit your needs best.

By Hand/Manually

Read and understand the presentation, segment the material into sections, identify key points, write the summary, compare to the original and revise.

Summarizing can be a difficult task depending on what kind of topic is being talked about or who is doing the summarizing. Some people have a way with words and they are naturally able to say things in a concise manner, while others have to learn how to do so.

Summarizing is a skill that is required in presentations and speeches. These are both mediums using which information and possibly new concepts are provided to the audience. At the end of both, a summary is required to nicely round up the entire topic. Using summarizing tools is an easier way as compared to manually writing a summary since they save a lot of time and effort.

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Design Ideas for your Presentation Summary Slide

November 7, 2017 - Dom Barnard

As mentioned in  this article , a summary slide will be more beneficial to your audience than a ‘Thank You’ slide. It gives the audience a chance to recap on the main points of the presentation and gives them areas to think about for any audience questions.

What should be included in the summary slide?

A summary slide should include the main points of your presentation which support the message you are trying to get across. You can also add your contact details, such as email address, as people are likely to photograph this slide which their mobiles to remind them of the presentation. Keep the summary slide up when you are going through the questions and answers session.

When going through the summary, briefly explain each point and if possible, highlight the summary point in a different colour when you are talking about it. This keeps it as simple as possible for the audience as their attention span will have reduced by  end of your presentation .

Design and content tips

MS PowerPoint offers  different well designed layouts for your summary slide, go to  Home  –  Slides Panel  –  Layout  and choose a suitable layout.

Another tip is to hyperlink the points in your summery slide, in case you are asked a question about one of the points and you want to quickly refer to that slide in more detail.

You can also include visual images in the summary if they were used earlier in the presentation. People are much better at remembering images than verbal information. When talking about a summary point, you can bring up an image from that section of the presentation to jog the audiences memory.

Some simple examples

Basic summary slide with main points and contact information on it. The key message of the presentation is highlighted on the right hand side.

This summary slide is a little more visual, with the key points still mentioned on the slide.

This diagram gives the audience a little more context to the information around it. The audience can see how this information leads to improving skills.

How to Create a Summary Slide in PowerPoint?

Creating a summary slide in PowerPoint is an essential part of putting together a presentation that grabs and holds your audience’s attention. Not only does it help to reinforce the key themes of your presentation, but it also serves as a powerful tool for summarizing complex information and data in an easy-to-understand format for your audience. In this article, we will explore the importance of a summary slide in PowerPoint presentations, how to plan and design an effective summary slide, and some best practices and tips for creating an engaging and informative summary slide.

Table of Contents

The Importance of a Summary Slide in PowerPoint Presentations

One of the key reasons why a summary slide is so important in PowerPoint presentations is its ability to reinforce the main themes and ideas of your presentation. By highlighting the most important points and takeaways, a summary slide can help to ensure that your audience remembers your presentation long after it is over. Additionally, a summary slide provides a clear and concise way to summarize complex data or information, helping to make your presentation more accessible and engaging for your audience.

Another benefit of including a summary slide in your PowerPoint presentation is that it can serve as a roadmap for your audience. By providing a clear overview of the topics covered in your presentation, a summary slide can help your audience to follow along and stay engaged throughout the entire presentation. This can be especially helpful for longer presentations or those that cover a lot of complex information.

Finally, a summary slide can also be a useful tool for reinforcing your call to action or key message. By summarizing the main points of your presentation and highlighting the key takeaways, you can help to ensure that your audience understands the importance of your message and is motivated to take action. This can be particularly important in business or marketing presentations, where the ultimate goal is to persuade your audience to take a specific action or make a purchase.

Understanding the Purpose of a Summary Slide in Your Presentation

Before you start creating your summary slide, it’s essential to understanding its purpose in your overall presentation. The summary slide is typically the last slide of your presentation, and it should summarize the most important points covered in your presentation along with a memorable final thought. For example, if you’re delivering a sales pitch, your summary slide should highlight the key benefits of your product or service and provide a clear call to action for your audience.

Another important aspect of a summary slide is that it helps your audience to remember the key takeaways from your presentation. By providing a concise summary of the main points, your audience is more likely to retain the information and be able to recall it later. Additionally, a well-crafted summary slide can also serve as a visual aid to reinforce your message and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Planning Your Summary Slide: What to Include and What to Leave Out

When planning your summary slide, it’s important to strike the right balance between including enough information to summarize your presentation effectively while also avoiding overwhelming your audience with too much detail. Some key elements to consider including in your summary slide include the main themes and ideas covered in your presentation, key data points or statistics, any notable quotes or testimonials, and a final call to action. However, be sure to leave out any extraneous information that isn’t directly relevant to your main message or themes.

Another important factor to consider when planning your summary slide is the visual design. Your summary slide should be visually appealing and easy to read, with clear and concise text and graphics. Use a consistent color scheme and font throughout your presentation to create a cohesive and professional look. Additionally, consider using visual aids such as charts, graphs, or images to help illustrate your main points and make your summary slide more engaging for your audience.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Summary Slide in PowerPoint

Creating a summary slide in PowerPoint is a straightforward process that can be accomplished using a few simple steps. First, choose the template or design for your summary slide. Most PowerPoint templates include a suitable summary slide layout, so you don’t need to start from scratch. Next, consider the key message and themes of your presentation and decide what information to include in your summary slide. Be sure to keep your text concise and focused, and use bullet points or other visual aids to help keep things clear and easy to understand. Finally, add any relevant images, charts, or graphs to your summary slide, and make sure to use fonts and colors that are consistent with your overall presentation design.

It’s important to note that the summary slide should be the last slide in your presentation. This slide should provide a quick overview of the key points and takeaways from your presentation. It’s also a good idea to include a call to action or next steps on this slide, so your audience knows what to do next. Remember, the summary slide is often the slide that your audience will remember the most, so make sure it’s clear, concise, and visually appealing.

Designing an Eye-Catching Summary Slide for Your Presentation

While the content of your summary slide is essential, the design also plays a crucial role in creating an engaging and memorable summary slide. To design an eye-catching summary slide, consider using bold colors and fonts, incorporating relevant images or graphics, and using animations or slide transitions to help emphasize key points. Remember to keep your design consistent with your overall presentation theme and style.

Another important aspect to consider when designing your summary slide is the placement of information. You want to make sure that the most important information is prominently displayed and easy to read. This can be achieved by using larger font sizes or bolding key words. Additionally, consider using bullet points or numbered lists to break up information and make it easier to digest.

Finally, don’t forget about the importance of white space. A cluttered summary slide can be overwhelming and difficult to read. Leave enough space between elements to create a clean and organized design. This will not only make your summary slide more visually appealing, but it will also make it easier for your audience to understand and remember the information presented.

Tips and Tricks for Creating an Effective Summary Slide in PowerPoint

When creating your summary slide, there are a few tips and tricks that can help you to ensure its effectiveness. First, consider using a strong headline or tagline that sums up the main message or takeaway from your presentation. Second, use bullets or numbers to break down complex information into manageable chunks, making it easier for your audience to understand. Finally, use visuals like images or charts to help illustrate your key points, making them more memorable and engaging for your audience.

Another important tip to keep in mind when creating a summary slide is to keep it simple and concise. Avoid cluttering the slide with too much information or unnecessary details. Stick to the most important points and use clear and concise language to convey your message effectively.

Additionally, it can be helpful to include a call to action on your summary slide. This could be a request for feedback, a call to visit your website or social media pages, or an invitation to continue the conversation after the presentation. Including a call to action can help to keep your audience engaged and interested in your message beyond the presentation itself.

How to Customize Your Summary Slide with Animations and Transitions

PowerPoint offers a wide range of options for customizing your summary slide with animations and transitions. Animations can be used to bring attention to key points or data, while transitions can help to create a seamless flow between slides. When using animations and transitions, be sure to use them sparingly and consistently throughout your entire presentation.

Best Practices for Using Images and Graphics on Your Summary Slide

Images and graphics can be powerful tools for enhancing the impact of your summary slide. When using images and graphics, be sure to choose visuals that are relevant to your presentation and that help to reinforce your main message or themes. Additionally, use high-quality images and graphics that are visually appealing and easy to understand for your audience.

Adding Charts and Graphs to Your Summary Slide: A Comprehensive Guide

If your presentation includes complex data or information, charts and graphs can be an effective way to present it in a clear and easy-to-understand format. When adding charts and graphs to your summary slide, consider using simple designs and labels that are easy to read and interpret. Additionally, be sure to only include the most important data points or information on your summary slide, leaving out any unnecessary information that could confuse your audience.

Creating a Memorable Conclusion with Your Summary Slide

The last slide of your presentation should leave a lasting impression on your audience. To create a memorable conclusion with your summary slide, consider including a final call to action or memorable quote that reinforces your presentation’s main message. Additionally, use images, graphics, or animations to help emphasize your main points and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

How to Use a Summary Slide to Engage Your Audience

A summary slide can also be an effective tool for engaging your audience throughout your presentation. By previewing your summary slide at the beginning of your presentation, your audience will have a clear understanding of what to expect and will be more engaged and attentive throughout the rest of your presentation. Additionally, use your summary slide to encourage audience participation by asking questions or soliciting feedback on your key messages.

Examples of Amazing Summary Slides: Inspiration for Your Next Presentation

Looking for some inspiration for your next summary slide? There are plenty of examples of amazing summary slides that you can draw inspiration from. Some great examples include TED Talks and other presentations from thought leaders in your industry. Take note of how they use visuals, text, and other design elements to create engaging and memorable summary slides.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Creating a Summary Slide in PowerPoint

When creating your summary slide, there are a few common mistakes to avoid. These include including too much information or detail, using fonts or colors that are difficult to read, and failing to use visuals or other design elements effectively. Additionally, be sure to proofread your summary slide carefully to avoid any spelling or grammatical errors that could detract from your message.

Wrap Up: Final Thoughts on Creating a Perfect Summary Slide in PowerPoint

Creating an effective summary slide is a crucial part of any PowerPoint presentation. By following the tips and best practices outlined in this article, you can create a summary slide that not only reinforces the key themes and ideas of your presentation but also engages and informs your audience in a memorable and effective way.

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How to Summarize a Presentation with AI

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Over the past ten years, I've created hundreds of presentations on PowerPoint (and sometimes on Google Slides) — and I know how important these are for different uses. Whether you want to give a speech, present a product, or share finances in a board meeting, everything is typically possible with a PowerPoint presentation. 

But there's no point in watching a two-hour-long presentation only to know it does not contain any relevant information, right? Thankfully, that's where summarizing a presentation can help. It's like creating a short description that reveals what the viewers can expect from the long slideshow. 

So, how to summarize a presentation , especially when you don't have enough time for it? In this guide, I'll reveal my tried and tested tips to create a short summary. 

What is a Presentation Summary? 

A presentation summary is a short, sweet, and meaningful version of the long video in which you introduce the different components of the presentation and a few key points that you’re talking about. 

In other words, it typically includes the main points or key takeaways that'll provide you with the gist of the presentation — without you having to watch the presentation from start to end. 

Here, you're not trying to convey the entire business strategy or selling points — instead, your goal here is to help the attendees understand the core concept of the presentation. 

How to Summarize a Presentation  

As a freelance writer who wears all the hats of the business, I try to save as much time as I can. As much as I value my time, I look for ways to save energy and effort for my audience. Writing a summary of lengthy videos , articles, documents, interviews , and presentations is one method to help everyone get all the important information in a clear and concise way. However, condensing all information into a few paragraphs (or one page) isn't an easy task. 

Here's the process I follow to summarize presentations in a few paragraphs. 

Identify the Main Goal 

People love free stuff — but only if it's useful. Nobody wants to waste their time and/or effort watching a presentation that does not have the information they need. That's why your first step is to identify the main goal or objective . Here, you'll need to tell them what the presentation is about, what it includes, and what the key takeaways are. 

Write the Summary 

Your ultimate goal is to write the key points in the most concise, easy-to-read way possible. Before you're tempted to include everything in the summary, know that viewers are looking for specific information before they watch the presentation. Tell them why they should spend time on the presentation and fearlessly let them know who the presentation is not meant for. 

Use Visual Aids

While summarizing the presentation, write as though you're talking to someone whose attention you don't want to lose. Get your ideas with the fewest, most effective words possible — but don't forget to add visual aids that keep the audience engaged. It's a great practice for every writer to help their audience not feel overwhelmed with a wall of texts. 

Include Examples and Quotations 

Any presentation is incomplete if you don't include proper examples and quotations. When you write the summary, allot some space for writing examples (two examples per page). Remember, holding onto the reader's attention is very important — and quotations can help you do just that. 

Example of a Presentation Summary 

The presentation summary begins with a hook that draws the audience in, helps them understand the value you offer, provides some proof, and finally ends with a strong CTA. It's relatively easy to incorporate these elements and create a summary. But if you're still finding it hard, here's a real-life presentation summary example for inspiration. 

Today, we are excited to share with you our new Product X — the future of eyewear technology. At Company X, glasses aren't just for style — but it's a combination of comfort, innovation, and productivity.  That's why we developed Product X, which combines two top technologies — AI and AR. The users reported a 20% boost in productivity and a 40% reduction in eye fatigue. It's now available for everyone — and anyone can place their orders on the website. 

Tips for Summarizing a Presentation 

Summaries can be incredibly effective for both hosts and audiences — only if you know how to craft attention-grabbing ones. Here, I'll show you how I summarize a presentation that gets positive responses from almost all the attendees. 

Use Simple Language 

The best presentation summary should be clear, concise, direct, and descriptive . Your main aim is to use simple language and give the attendees what they want. 

My best tip is to: write for your audience, not yourself — and, for this, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a specific audience as you write. 

Be Scannable 

Use bullet points, numbers, and/or bolding to make your summary skimmable and digestible — that emphasizes the key points. The success of the summary will depend upon making the presentation's key takeaways easy for your readers to quickly process the main points. 

Use AI Presentation Summarizer 

If you struggle to condense information into a basic, short summary, give Notta a try. Unlike nearly all other AI presentation summarizer apps on the market, Notta is a more accurate transcriber and summarizer that can condense long audio/video files into an informative summary. 

What I really found useful is Notta's ability to structure a summary into an overview, key chapters, and action items. You can even share this summarized version with the presentation attendees once the meeting is over — helping them understand what was covered in the presentation and what the next steps are. 

Try Notta - the best online transcription & summarization tool. Transcribe and summarize your conversations and meetings quickly with high accuracy.

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How to Do a Good Summary on PowerPoint? 

PowerPoint has become synonymous with presentations — it's a free tool where you can make a slide deck and collaborate with your team. A good summary on PowerPoint can attract more audience to your presentation and even help the attendees get more clarity. Here, I'll reveal the three pillars of writing a good summary. 

Include Key Points: The first thing is to write the key (or main) points in a concise and focused way. You can even use bullet points or some visual aids to keep things clear and uncluttered on slides. 

Identify & Summarize Each Section: If you're giving a lengthy presentation, I'm assuming you've categorized it into different sections. While summarizing, you'll need to focus on each section and identify the key takeaway from it. 

Highlight the Main Takeaway: If the presentation focuses on any problem and offers a solution, it's time to highlight it. As a presenter, you'll need to introduce the problem in the first line, followed by the solution that's offered in the presentation. 

Is There an AI that Summarizes PowerPoint Slides? 

Yes, there are many AI online summarizers that can summarize PowerPoint slides. Copilot in PowerPoint, for example, can read through the slides and provide a bulleted summary with key points. If you've pre-recorded presentation recordings, you are probably searching for a dedicated way to summarize the slides. 

Notta is one powerful and popular AI note-taking application — and, that too, for a good reason. There's a summarizing feature for almost imaginable purposes: just upload the presentation audio/video, and Notta will automatically transcribe the spoken words and then summarize the content. 

Key Takeaways 

Once you discover the power of summaries, the temptation to create summaries for everything is real. But this can leave you with a new problem: a lot of manual work. So, how to summarize a presentation without much time and effort? That's where the third-party AI summary generators make it easy for you.

Notta is an AI note-taking and AI presentation summarizer tool, especially for people who are not making presentations for fun. It comes with a free generous plan and affordable paid plans that help you record, transcribe, and then summarize media files (including presentations) — with high accuracy.

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How to Present to an Audience That Knows More Than You

• Deborah Grayson Riegel

Lean into being a facilitator — not an expert.

What happens when you have to give a presentation to an audience that might have some professionals who have more expertise on the topic than you do? While it can be intimidating, it can also be an opportunity to leverage their deep and diverse expertise in service of the group’s learning. And it’s an opportunity to exercise some intellectual humility, which includes having respect for other viewpoints, not being intellectually overconfident, separating your ego from your intellect, and being willing to revise your own viewpoint — especially in the face of new information. This article offers several tips for how you might approach a roomful of experts, including how to invite them into the discussion without allowing them to completely take over, as well as how to pivot on the proposed topic when necessary.

I was five years into my executive coaching practice when I was invited to lead a workshop on “Coaching Skills for Human Resource Leaders” at a global conference. As the room filled up with participants, I identified a few colleagues who had already been coaching professionally for more than a decade. I felt self-doubt start to kick in: Why were they even here? What did they come to learn? Why do they want to hear from me?

• Deborah Grayson Riegel is a professional speaker and facilitator, as well as a communication and presentation skills coach. She teaches leadership communication at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and has taught for Wharton Business School, Columbia Business School’s Women in Leadership Program, and Peking University’s International MBA Program. She is the author of Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life and the best-selling Go To Help: 31 Strategies to Offer, Ask for, and Accept Help .

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10 Tips for a Persuasive Presentation

Powerful presentation is persuasion. here's how to elevate your impact..

Posted May 11, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Presentations aim to effect change. It's essential to be clear about what change you want to see.
• Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience.
• Substance and style both matter to create an audience-informed communication experience.
• Persuasive presentations are relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant.

How many of us realize that giving a presentation or making a speech is all about persuasion , influence, and emotional intelligence ? Impactful presenters understand the power of empathy to understand and engage their audience, the efficiency and kindness of having a clear objective and message, and the importance of substance and style—all as a way to connect in a way that engages and inspires.

Much has been written on the power and behavioral science of persuasion, not least by expert Robert Cialdini. His bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion explains seven research-based universal principles of influence .

From my experience as a leadership coach working with thousands of people worldwide, I have compiled a list of ten essentials to elevate our presentation.

1. Maintain an "other" focus. What do you know about your audience and how can you find out more? Ask yourself what kind of a speaker will appeal to your audience, what arguments are likely to resonate with them, and what feelings you want to inspire so the audience will positively respond to your ask. If your audience is predominantly data-driven, you may want to use more evidence-based arguments. If the audience is mixed, a combination of data, authority, and storytelling may be more appropriate. Extend Daniel Goleman’s three types of empathy to gather intelligence , understand your audience, and tailor your intervention to connect more profoundly.

2. Determine a specific objective: Presentations aim to effect change in some way. What change do you want to see in your audience? Every presentation aims to change the audience in some way. For instance, gaining their approval for a certain investment, soliciting their buy-in for a change, or creating a sense of enthusiasm for an idea or initiative. The purpose of a presentation is to bring about change so make sure you are clear on what kind of change you want to bring about.

3. Design a grabber: Our attention spans have shrunk as we have more and more competing demands on our attention . If you want to get someone’s attention you need to grab it at the outset and try and hold on. You can do this in a number of different ways. Throw out a question that demands a response from the audience. Give a surprising fact or statistic, or quote from a well-known figure. Tell a story or an anecdote. A good grabber captures the attention of everyone there, and makes them focus on what you have to say.

4. Crystalize your message and construct your arguments : Your message is the heart of your speech. Craft a brief phrase that clearly defines your proposal in 10-12 words. For example, “This post is about crafting presentations that inspire and engage others to elevate their presentations.” Make it memorable by choosing inspiring words, symbols, catchy expressions, something that will remain in the audience's mind. As Brené Brown says: “Clear is kind,” and a clear message provides a path to develop your ideas.

When you have a clear and concise message, it helps you formulate your arguments. Think of developing your arguments using the rule of three —three compelling arguments to convince but not overwhelm your audience.

5. Prepare a call to action: Remember, we want to change our audience in some way, so we need to make our ask in a clear and concrete manner.

Consider your call to action in terms of what you want your audience to think/feel/do:

• Think—“I want you to think about how you can improve your presentations.”
• Feel—“I want you to feel enthusiastic and motivated so that you can elevate your power to persuade.”
• Do—“I want you to try out some of these tips and tools for yourself.”

6. Craft a memorable closing: Close the speech in an elegant and memorable way. We need people to remember what we've told them, so prepare it well. This is not the time to improvise. Try to connect your closing to your opening grabber, which makes the presentation more memorable. Good preparation means preparing everything to the very end—finish well.

7. Plan your delivery: A dynamic speaker draws listeners in by using vocal variety (tone, intonation, speed, volume, pace, pauses, silence) and body language (posture, gestures, expression, and movement) to highlight important points and hold the audience’s attention. Be intentional: How will you use your voice and your body to emphasize a thought or idea? Think about it: If you increased the time you spent on style or delivery by 20 percent, what would it mean for the impact you make?

8. Think about how you will engage your audience : You want the audience to feel considered throughout. Include pauses so they can process what’s being said; connect with individuals throughout the room and make deliberate eye contact while speaking, especially when delivering key points. Read and respond to the audience by changing how you deliver as you go based on the audience’s nonverbal communication .

9. Rehearse and Practice: Practice is one of the most crucial elements of presenting—and probably the most neglected one. If this is new to you start by reading your presentation in front of a mirror to get comfortable speaking your presentation. Next, video yourself and watch out for nervous or distracting habits to eliminate them and identify any areas where you can improve your delivery. If you are feeling brave, practice in front of an audience and ask for feedback.

10. Prepare your success rituals and mantra: Public speaking and/or stage fright can feel debilitating for some. Have your calm-down ritual prepared and ready to go before you start your presentation. This might be a certain gesture, a power pose, breathwork, or a mantra. Try this tip: Identify three adjectives to describe how you would like to show up during this presentation. This sets an intention and helps focus our cognitive and emotional resources on success.

Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience. They use this intelligence to carefully make choices about substance and style to create an audience-informed communication experience that feels relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant and creates a pathway for change.

Palena Neale, Ph.D. , is a women’s leadership coach, lecturer, and founder of unabridged, a boutique leadership development practice.

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2024 Kentucky Derby results, winner: Mystik Dan takes 150th Run for the Roses by a nose in epic photo finish

Trainer kenny mcpeek and jockey brian hernandez jr. also won the kentucky oaks on friday at churchill downs.

Mystik Dan has won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish. Mystik Dan just barely beat out Sierra Leone and Forever Young by a nose in a photo finish as all three reached the finish line.

This is now the 26th time that the Kentucky Derby has been decided by the length of a neck or less, and Mystik Dan reached the winner's circle in one of the most thrilling finishes in recent memory at Churchill Downs. 

Mystik Dan took the lead down the backstretch and it looked like no horse would be able to catch him, but that's when both Sierra Leone and Forever Young made their move. As Mystik Dan began to slow a bit nearing the finish line, the two horses -- seemingly pinned to one another -- made the hard sprint to the finish line and nearly stole the victory away.

Trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. also won the Kentucky Oaks on Friday at Churchill Downs, making them just the second tandem to accomplish the feat.

In the immediate aftermath of the race, McPeek gave all the credit to Hernandez. McPeek said Hernandez has flown under the radar for a while, but those days are gone now.

"Brian just did an amazing job," McPeek told NBC in a on-track interview. "Just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant jockey and ride. I mean, the draw helped us from the beginning. We talked about that. ... Brian is amazing. Probably one of the most underrated riders in racing, but not anymore."

Because of the razor-thin margin of victory, everyone had to wait several minutes for an official winner to be declared. Hernandez described that anticipation as "the longest few minutes I've ever felt in my life." Hernandez also said winning the Kentucky Derby fulfills a childhood dream for him.

"This is a lifetime achievement," Hernandez said. "This goes to our whole family. We've worked all our lives for this. It's hard to describe what kind of feeling this is. I told myself I was never going to step into the Derby winner's circle until I could do it on the back of a horse. To be able to live that dream from when I was a six-year-old kid riding my bike around my grandparents' farm telling them I was going to win the Kentucky Derby one day. Here we are."

Race favorite Fierceness started out strong, running with the leaders early. But down the stretch, he faded quickly to back and finished a disappointing 15th. 

Check out the full results below.  CBS Sports was with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the Kentucky Derby. Thanks for stopping by.

2024 Kentucky Derby payouts

3 - Mystik Dan  WIN:  $39.22  PLACE:  $16.32  SHOW:  $10.00 2 - Sierra Leone  PLACE:  $6.54  SHOW:  $4.64 11 - Forever Young  SHOW:  $5.58

$2.00 Exacta (3-2) $258.56 $1.00 Trifecta (3-2-11) $1,113.84 $1.00 Superfecta (3-2-11-4) $8,254.00

Complete results

1. Mystik Dan 2. Sierra Leone 3. Forever Young 4. Catching Freedom 5. TO Password 6. Resilience 7. Stronghold 8. Honor Marie 9. Endlessly 10. Dornoch 11. Track Phantom 12. West Saratoga 13. Domestic Product 14. Epic Ride 15. Fierceness 16. Society Man 17. Just Steel 18. Grand Mo the First 19. Catalytic 20. Just a Touch

The horses are making their way to the starting gate now. After all the pageantry, big hats, betting and mint juleps, there's nothing left to do but race and crown a new Kentucky Derby winner.

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