A slide title has eight seconds and one job — to make the audience leave the slide with a position they can repeat. The corpus says most titles do not. They label, they describe, they decorate. What follows is a reading of what the few do differently — anatomy, verbs, anti-patterns, and the small set of moves you can steal.
GRNT's focus on full cycle returns results in a highly selective investment process
25. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
Examples of spatial maps for a given pair of biomarkers
Q: By 2026, how will your organization approach recruitment of top talent? Please select one response.
Deepen share of wallet by capturing collaboration opportunities across the firm
Q1'24 Y/Y REVENUE GROWTH
You can spend a long time arguing about whether a title is "action" or "descriptive". The more useful question — the one that decides whether the audience leaves the slide with anything — is whether the title makes a claim, or only names the topic. A label tells you where you are. A claim tells you what to think. They are not stylistic preferences. They are different jobs.
Names what the slide is about. Useful as a signpost; useless as an argument. The reader still has to do the work of figuring out what to believe.
A verifiable assertion about what the slide proves. The verb does work; the noun is specific; the audience leaves with a position they can repeat.
Past those two, a title can also be a question, a directive, a naked stat, a quote, a cover, or — most often — a vanity statement dressed up as one of the others. Each has its place. None of them substitute for a claim when a claim is what the slide needs.
What are the most noteworthy technologies?
Act On It: through an Effortless Enterprise Experience
($ in millions, except per share data)
Decades of aviation experience and entrepreneurial excellence
1 'cho'(trillion), 2 'cho'(trillion)
non-GAAP financial measures
The Storymakers method names three checks every title has to clear. They are short, they are uncharitable, and they are the difference between a slide that travels and a slide that stays in the deck. Read each gate alongside two passes and two fails from the corpus.
Read the title as if it were the lead of an article. If it carries enough specifics that an editor would let it run above the fold, it passes. If it reads as filler the reader skips, it fails.
A passing title leaves the audience knowing something they did not know — or with a question they want answered next. A failing title parks them.
A skim-reader in a noisy room has eight seconds. If the title can be read, parsed, and remembered inside that window, it passes. If they have to read it twice, it fails.
Vanity is not a writing style. It is a defensive posture — the writer hedging against accountability by saying nothing specific. The corpus has a clear vocabulary for this: a small set of words that show up over and over in titles flagged as vanity. Below is the cloud, then the named patterns the audience learns to ignore.
Action verbs — Driving, Shaping, Empowering, Unlocking — followed by an abstract noun. Sounds like motion. Feels like nothing.
Phrases that sound like value statements but commit to nothing measurable: "world-class", "passionate about", "deeply committed to". Could appear in any deck for any company. Therefore appears in too many.
Three or more buzzwords in a row — "synergistic AI ecosystem", "cloud-native blockchain platform". Looks decisive on a slide, vanishes on a transcript.
Single-word or short-caps "stamps" that mark a deck with corporate identity rather than make any specific claim.
Every claim title commits to a verb. The verb decides the temperature: positive verbs project growth, comparative verbs invite a benchmark, negative verbs accuse. Hover any verb to read it in action — the same word does very different work depending on what comes next.
Significant organic upside through reinvestment of cash flows...
Multiple Levers Drive Gross Margin Expansion
Sustained Long-Term Financial Performance
Phase 2: Clinically-Meaningful Responses in Heavily Pretreated Patients
Mall REIT Comp Tenant Sales Growth Positive in Q1'10
As our company has grown, so have our ESG initiatives and commitments
Our Genius Loyalty Program Delivers Value to our Customers (Travelers & Suppliers)
Creative Ad Formats That Deliver Results
Achieving 30% Margins Through Growth
Engaged Associates, Acting With Discipline, Are Key to Achieving Our Growth Targets
We will be greatly expanding our ecosystem of services for cell programmers running on the Ginkgo platform
Large and Expanding Addressable Market
Customers see significant improvement to their critical KPIs
YoY Improvement in Variable Margin(1) in 2Q'23
Location Divestitures Create Additional Avenue For Superficial Organic Growth
...creating five drivers accelerating growth
4D LiDAR Enables Broad Adoption in Industrial Automation
Livongo’s Data-Driven Insights Enable Better Outcomes…
Harvista™ Benefits: Firmness, Reduced Loss, Improved Size and Color
Medical-Grade Lifting Power
KORE's growth acceleration to ~$1B in sales
ArK is building a new connected data and financial platform to accelerate entrepreneurs' growth
Only three OSB operators in 10+ states; DraftKings live in more states than any operator
The Permian Basin is Leading the U.S. Shale Rebound, With Our Permian System Continuing to Outperform
A single account and wallet across all FanDuel products drives cross-sell
SUCCESSFUL EXECUTION OF "CLAIM 5" STRATEGY DRIVES STRONG SALES AND EARNINGS IMPROVEMENTS
Palm Economy is Supported by a Strong and Accelerating Developer Community
U.S. Exceptionalism Has Been a Persistent Theme, but for Good Reason
OUR BOLD, STRATEGIC ACTIONS ARE DRIVING SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS IN GREATER CHINA
CONSUMER LIFETIME PERFORMANCE OF EVERY COHORT DRIVING SIGNIFICANT RECURRING REVENUE
Diverse Business Mix Provides Stability
Build/Buy/Manage Strategy Provides Differentiated, Balanced, and Sustainable Growth
Powerful Cash Flow Generation
Positive Adjusted EBITDA generated in Q4 '22, and is projected to continue
Maintain balance sheet strength: net debt reduced by €1.7bn
Strong Presence in Emerging Markets
PRODUCTION VOLUME AT ALL TIME HIGH AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER
OUR AUDIENCE CANNOT BE REACHED ELSEWHERE
More effective working capital management could unlock almost $2 bn to return to shareholders
Platform businesses unlock massive value.
MaxCyte Enables Next-Generation Cell Therapies Across a Variety of Diseases
CanoPanorama : Platform Enables Strong Clinical Outcomes...
Asset quality remains solid
Recurrent Glioma Remains a High Unmet Need
BROS is a uniquely positioned growth company:
We Believe Stable, Agile Brands Will Be Best Positioned Moving Forward
Kizen Creates Faster Growth & Higher Profitability
GCP's product development process creates friction and unnecessary costs for the organization.
BHP's Consistent Outperformance Since Unification
Our asset quality over various credit cycles has consistently been better than our industry peers
U.S. Gasoline and Diesel Demand was Strong Through 2021, and 2022 is Expected to be Even Stronger
Commission Accruals Are Suspect
BEA's fee income is also below par – performance has at best been mixed
POOR OPERATING PERFORMANCE: REFINING COMMERCIAL
Remarkably little relevant industry expertise, numerous conflicts, questionable judgment
Actions Speak Louder Than Words: The CEO Seems to Lack Confidence In DuPont’s Share Price
COMPANIES FAIL TO RESPECT OUR PRIVACY
Audit Failure: TAL's Missing Related Party Disclosures
ELF's Holiday Album: Joy To The World, Produced By Movers+Shakers
Timeline: Reality vs. TAL’s Fiction
The Results: Significant Profit Declines
Declining earnings estimates
Strong engagement & utilization
III. Acutus's cardiac mapping is a massive technological leap from legacy high-resolution mapping modalities
"Bully breeds" most likely to be euthanized – and also largest share (~22%) of dog intake
De Novo Economics Are Highly Accretive & Predictable
3. Increased scrutiny post ZIRP & privacy changes
Asset productivity will increase significantly
THE COMPANY HAS NO SIGNIFICANT NEAR-TERM DEBT MATURITIES
TRACK RECORD OF FUNDRAISING SUCCESS WITH A LOYAL INVESTOR BASE
1. LARGE AND GROWING PORTFOLIO OF 3F BRANDS WITH GREAT POTENTIAL
All of the top 20 world economies have an established mobility super app.
FY 2022: continued strong financial performance
Continued strong user growth and high daily usage
Unique asset of 20,000+ global sports betting and iGaming specialists
New features leverage high-quality content
Achieving digital transformation remains elusive for organizations.
The big shop remains inefficient & arduous week-in, week-out
strong revenue growth since inception driven by average order value and order growth
Highly attractive upside for Getty Images at the “turn of a dial” driven by compelling unit economics
Resolution of two key national debates reduce uncertainty
Likelihood to eat and drink fewer dairy products
Merk's Biggest Concern Appears to Be the Fees Paid on the Fund's AUM
High growth economies can be technology-chaotic
Fresenius Helios – Powerful set of care provision assets
Westinghouse: Strong Financial Profile – Long-Term Relationships
$200B+ global opportunity, starting with 171M users with more digital ‘connections’ than they can manage
Substantial Market Opportunity in NTM for Oral EBO Once-a-Day dosing
Rapidly growing a seasoned team
National network growing to meet demand
Abbott's CGM FDA Approvals Have Not Been Kind To Dexcom's Stock Price
Currency Impact to Year-Over-Year Sub. Revenues
Enablers Require Additional Investment
Exhibit 36| Recommendations require community action
Ecommerce now a platform for intentional purchases
SMEs worldwide have become significant users of FinTech
Complementary Business Segments Address the Full Breadth of the EV Charging Opportunity
Fashion brands need to address the needs of the Silver Generation in order to capture their spend
Strong and diversified revenue opportunities for eCommerce growth
Attractive all-cash premium to market
Almost one-third of bankers still expect to increase their loan loss provisions ...
Turnaround of zinc refining plant on track; Expecting positive EBITDA in 2024
Building margins towards 2019 levels as we move through 2023
Founders build bad seed decks
Shift to Annual Subscriptions
Shift towards financial management excelling in both offense and defense
VENTURES PORTFOLIO GREW in Q1'23, ending with $3.4B FMV (+~$0.4B vs Dec-2022)
Wealth: Growth despite lockdowns, strong digital and sustainable ambitions with focus on HNW opportunity
Urgency for Digital Transformation Has Increased in Light of COVID-19
Full year 2024 adjusted EPS guidance increased to ~$9.20, not including additional 2Q - 4Q 2024 gains on sale
More than 70% of investments focused on electrification over the next five years
Increased Focus on Large Customer Opportunities
High sequence diversity supports patent estate expansion and differentiation
Major Discrepancy With Baker Hughes Reported Accounts Receivables Supports Our Case
Organic Growth Strategy Targeting +10 year mine life by Q3 2024(1)
Pipeline targets high unmet needs in rare, chronic and serious infectious diseases
Delivering improved revenue growth and margins
Delivering sustained and growing profitability, year over year
Ultomiris indication expansion will continue
M&A continues to be the primary exit route, while IPO value bumps up
For value-minded luxury customers, unique pre-owned goods make for smart purchases
TransMedics allegedly makes and controls the decision on whether an organ is accepted
The market demand for Squads is huge and someone is going to win this space.
Berkshire Grey – Why We Win
Symphony™ Aims to Transform Standard of Care with Rapid, Near-Patient Testing
Billions of Edge-AI devices are transforming life and industry
Benefitting from global presence of growing portfolio
MISSION CRITICAL ATIC SERVICES WILL BENEFIT FROM COVID-19 RECOVERY
20-30% of ITA synergies will be captured by end of 2025
Poised to Capture Market Share Consistent With First Scale Mover Advantage and Historical Share
Jeff went from 2 reps in the platform to 12, going to 20
Scaling Manufacturing, Optimized for Growth
BeautyHealth delivered strong top-line growth in 2022 and EBITDA in line with guidance
H1 2022: excellent first half for LVMH
...New Data Streams = Enhancing & Perhaps Accelerating Clinical Trials...
Positive momentum post announcement enhancing growth potential
Strategy Built for the Next Era of Alternatives
OUR AGREEMENTS ARE STRUCTURED TO ALIGN ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS WITH OUR PARTNERS
You Can See The Improvement In The Metrics
Respondents see transparent communications as key to incorporating ethical concerns
103% YOY revenue growth through H1 2021
Since our last Investor Day, we’ve achieved substantial growth and diversification across Blue Owl...
Kommunegrænserne udgør administrative skel der kan lede til suboptimale drifts- og anlægsmæssige dispositioner
Databases Bring Point-in-Time Queries to Stored Data; This Leads to a Giant Mess in Data Architecture
Differentiated approach compared to existing space-based communications
Differentiated approach compared to existing space-based communications
High Exposure to Patent Cliffs
We Believe ROAD Is A Roll-Up Facing More Pressures Than Investors Realize
Next Generation Store Favorable Customer Response
Simple Math Shows The Magnitude of Door-To-Door Sales Impact On The Industry
In the last 18 months we built the foundation
We started online and built a commerce platform that helps merchants sell everywhere their customers are
Q4 '21 CASE STUDIES: CASUAL GAINING TRACTION
We're Gaining Market Share
Payoneer is positioned to win
HONEST IS POSITIONED FOR WHERE THE CONSUMER IS GOING
Trial investigator #1 indicated additional fear about Vykat-induced diabetes
2) VW employees indicate internal skepticism of Quantumscape’s claims
Ceres Power Fuels Investors’ Illusions With Misleading Promises
NEW PARTNERSHIPS TO FUEL GROWTH
Reduce a title to its placeholders — {N}, {METRIC}, {REGION}, {TIMEFRAME} — and you can see the structural patterns the corpus uses repeatedly. They are organized below by what they do. Click any skeleton to see real titles that filled the slots.
{ACTORS} and {ACTORS} ×4,579 {ACTORS} of {ACTORS} ×2,865 {ACTORS} : {ACTORS} ×2,836 {N} / {N} ×2,279 {ACTORS} , {ACTORS} ×1,992 {ACTORS} a {ACTORS} ×1,571 {ACTORS} in {ACTORS} ×1,532 {N} / {N} ) ×1,436 ( {N} / {N} ×1,434 ( {N} / {N} ) ×1,395 {ACTORS} for {ACTORS} ×1,309 {ACTORS} . . ×1,276 {ACTORS} . . . ×1,272 {ACTORS} s {ACTORS} ×1,127 {ACTORS} {ACTORS} {ACTORS} ×955 . . {ACTORS} ×865 . . . {ACTORS} ×862 {ACTORS} with {ACTORS} ×824 {ACTORS} the {ACTORS} ×820 {N} , {YEAR} ×1,803 {TIMEFRAME} {YEAR} {ACTORS} ×1,265 {ACTORS} to {ACTORS} ×3,215 non gaap {ACTORS} ×2,049 {ACTORS} ( cont ×866 Not every slide is asking for a claim. A diagnostic slide should commit; an appendix shouldn't. Below is every slide function in the corpus, ranked by how often a strong title for that function turns out to be a claim. Read the chart as fit guidance, not as a rule.
Read the chart as a fit signal. When more than half of titles in a function are claims, the function is asking for one — the audience expects a verdict, not a label. Functions at the bottom (transitions, agendas, appendices) are doing different work.
Below is every anti-pattern the corpus produced enough of to be worth a card. Each is named — once you have a name for "the costume", you cannot accidentally write another costume — and each gets a one-line fix. Severity is a colour code, not a rule: a mild anti-pattern in the wrong place beats a severe one in the right one.
Action with nobody acting.
A title in motion — "Building", "Driving", "Unlocking" — but the audience cannot tell who is doing the action or what is being acted upon.
Fix. Name the subject. Say who is moving.
VOLUME AS AN ARGUMENT.
Setting the title in all caps to signal importance. Works once. Applied across a deck it reads as a printer with a stuck shift key.
Fix. Use sentence case and trust the typography to do the work.
Committed to excellence.
Phrases that sound like value statements but commit to nothing measurable: "world-class", "passionate about", "deeply committed to". Could appear in any deck for any company. Therefore appears in too many.
Fix. Rewrite the line so a competitor could not also publish it word-for-word.
Verbs without outcomes.
Action verbs — Driving, Shaping, Empowering, Unlocking — followed by an abstract noun. Sounds like motion. Feels like nothing.
Fix. Add the metric. "Driving growth" becomes "Operating margin expanded 240bps".
Two words. Stop. No context. Stop.
Fragmentary titles of one to three words ("Strategy", "Growth", "Update") that leave the audience to guess what they refer to.
Fix. Extend to a clause. Specify the strategy, the growth driver, the update window.
Three buzzwords in a trench coat.
Three or more buzzwords in a row — "synergistic AI ecosystem", "cloud-native blockchain platform". Looks decisive on a slide, vanishes on a transcript.
Fix. Pick the one word that carries the meaning and drop the other two.
(cont’d) — continuing what?
Titles that end in "(cont’d)" or "(continued)" without a clear anchor. The reader has to scroll back to recover the claim.
Fix. Restate the anchor. The audience will not flip backward.
Income Statement, Q3, FY24.
Titles that read as filing labels: "Income Statement and Guidance", "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP". Necessary in appendices. Surrender in the body.
Fix. In the body, lead with the takeaway. Move the filing label to a subtitle or footer.
Smells off, can’t name it yet.
Titles flagged as off but not fitting any named bucket. Typically idiosyncratic phrasing or template residue.
Fix. Read it aloud. If you would not say it that way to a colleague, rewrite it.
Subtitle says the title again.
Title and subtitle are the same line, lightly paraphrased. Two chances to commit, both spent on the same words.
Fix. Make one a claim and the other a scope, source, or qualifier.
Dressed as a claim. Underneath, a label.
Reads like a verb-led action title — "Driving Platform Adoption" — but commits to nothing the slide can prove. The sleeves of an argument with no body inside.
Fix. Replace the verb with a measurable outcome: what changed, by how much, for whom.
Mistakes were made.
Passive constructions hide the actor. Useful when responsibility is genuinely distributed — costly when the audience needs to know who does what.
Fix. Name the agent. Move the verb to the front.
Twenty-five words burying the lede.
Long, qualified, academic titles that pile clauses on top of clauses. The argument is in there somewhere; the audience left before finding it.
Fix. Cut to the headline. Move the qualifications to the subtitle or the body.
OUR VISION. MISSION. VALUES.
Single-word or short-caps "stamps" that mark a deck with corporate identity rather than make any specific claim.
Fix. If the section needs a marker, design a real divider. If it needs a claim, write one.
When a slide has both a title and a subtitle, you have spent two lines for one thought — twice. The corpus's strongest pairs split the work: title carries the verdict, subtitle bounds it (by time, sample, geography) or attributes it (to a source). The weakest pairs simply restate the same line.
It's about the journey, not only the outcome...
Title sets the position.
Activity Flow Analytics – Greater Accuracy through Context
Subtitle adds the second beat — context, mechanism, the so-what.
Title carries the headline; subtitle extends it with a second beat — context, mechanism, or a sharpened "so what".
For every descriptive title with enough underlying evidence in the slide, an editorial pass proposed an action rewrite. Below is a sample. The before is on the left, the after on the right, and a single line of commentary names what changed. Read for the move — the change is usually small, and almost always specific.
Recent Share Price Overview
Share Price Decoupling Signals Significant Undervaluation
What changed. Change from descriptive category to evidence-backed claim.
Expose contradiction slide
Margin Analysis: 1Q21 – 3Q22
Margin compression driven by rising medical costs and SG&A
What changed. Margin Analysis: 1Q21 – 3Q22 -> Margin compression driven by rising medical costs and SG&A
Analyze data slide
Our cloud-based software platform
Illustrating the Cloud-Based Software Platform Architecture
What changed. The cloud-based software platform features a unified product experience, journey builder, and robust APIs within a partner ecosystem.
Present solution slide
WE DO WHAT WE SAY WE WILL DO
Rocket Lab has achieved 100% of stated milestones across Launch and Space Systems since 2017
What changed. Replace empty platitude with verifiable track record of milestone execution
Show traction slide
Project objective and guiding principles
Improve Cost Structures by Adhering to Guiding Principles
What changed. Define Project Objective and Guiding Principles
Frame problem slide
In a massive, fragmented market...
Insurance Market: $X Trillion Opportunity for New Entrants
What changed. The insurance market is massive and fragmented, presenting a significant opportunity for new entrants.
Size opportunity slide
Progress Continues (4Q & Year Ended 9/30/22)
Sales and Share Buybacks Exceeded FY22 Targets
What changed. Replace vague progress statement with specific performance outcome.
Analyze data slide
WOLFORD BRAND KEY FINANCIALS
Wolford revenue grew 15% from 2020 to 2022 driven by channel expansion
What changed. Change from category label to evidence-based claim
Analyze data slide
These passed every gate: claim, evidence-bound, strong so-what, no anti-patterns, high confidence. They are not perfect — they are useful. Notice how they all do the same five things, and how rarely they reach for a clever phrase to do them.
Pops has overpromised and underdelivered on a partnership for its oncology asset nemvaleukin for years
Twentyeight Health provides a convenient, welcoming experience that is far superior to the status quo.
All major media outlets celebrate the Centennial with iconic feature stories about 100 years of Gucci
C15:0 is associated with lower risks of multiple chronic diseases
Rapidly Entering into New Addressable Markets
Automating behavior with AI-powered coaching
PrimeC Slowed the Loss of Physical Function vs. Placebo at 6-months
Bundling Is Another Major Trend Working Against Rollins: Want Gutter Services With Pest Control Bundling?
ASP increasing as companies budget for data science platforms and IT leadership drives purchasing
Targeting 30% EBITDA Flowthrough from 2022-2024
Nexi: The enduring Platform to power cash generation
Fluid retention is a mechanistic feature of VYKAT XR, not a bug.
Three quick reads on the surface mechanics of titles in the corpus: how many words they spend, what word they open with, and the modal verbs they reach for when they want to soften a commitment. Useful as a calibration check for your own deck.
Notice the verbs near the bottom and the section labels near the top — the corpus opens with "Appendix" and "Disclaimer" more often than with any verb.
will 3,447 can 2,346 should 1,083 could 894 may 879 would 805 must 377 might 102 shall 5 ought 2 "Will" leads. Watch for "may" and "could" in your own work — they signal a claim the speaker is not yet willing to commit to.
3.6% of titles open with a digit.
Lead-with-number is rarer than reputation suggests — the corpus prefers a noun start. When a number does open, it usually anchors a magnitude that the rest of the title interprets.
Everything here is observation: the corpus told us what good titles do by repeating itself a few hundred thousand times. The framework that names why they work — action title, so-what, the headline test, the forward test, the eight-second test — lives in the narrative concepts canon.