Headline test
The headline test is a single check:
If a reader skimmed only the action titles, in sequence, would the deck's argument arrive intact?
A deck that passes the headline test respects the audience's time and survives forwarding. A deck that fails it requires the speaker in the room.
How to run it
- Copy every slide title into a list.
- Read it cold, with no slide bodies.
- Ask:
- Does it open with a clear position?
- Do the titles advance the case in order?
- Does each title state an insight, not a topic?
- Does the last title close the loop?
If yes to all — passes. If any fails — the deck has topic titles hiding as headlines, or the order is wrong.
What it diagnoses
- Action title quality. Titles that describe instead of assert.
- Sequence quality. Right titles, wrong order — the case does not build.
- Pillar coherence. Titles inside a pillar that do not belong together.
- Missing beats. A jump in logic between two titles tells you a slide is missing.
Why it matters
Decks live a second life outside the room. Forwarded as PDF, pulled apart for an email, screenshotted into Slack. The action title is what survives. The body is decoration during forward.
A deck whose action titles do not tell the story is a presentation, not a document. That is fine if you will always be in the room. It is a liability if you will not.
Failure modes
- Headline-clean but body-wrong. The titles read perfectly; the bodies do not prove them. Worse than fail — actively misleading.
- Headline-rich, deck-rich. Both work. Aim here.
Canonical phrasing
The action titles are the deck. The bodies are the proof that the action titles are not lying.