Agenda slides don’t get enough credit, given the important role they play at the very beginning of your talk or presentation.
Whether you’re planning a speech that is short or long, professional or personal, letting your audience know what you’ll talk about and what they can expect is vital. Not only does a good agenda help your audience understand where they are during your presentation as an orientation tool, but it’ll help you clarify your structure as you put the agenda together.
We can all agree on one thing: nobody wants to listen to a winding, long-winded presentation without structure or organization.
So let’s go through the different types of agenda slides you can choose from that best fit your presentation.
Simple List Agenda
We’re big fans of a minimalist, clean and clear agenda slide that contains a simple list and no other frills. The purpose of this kind of agenda slide is to include a list of your main topics or sections. Don’t include too many or the list will get too long: stick to main sections only.
This type of agenda slide works well for formal business presentations or time-sensitive meetings. Choose this type of layout if you’d like to keeps things clear and focused with minimal distraction.
Number Based Agenda
This type of agenda slide gives you a chance to spell out exactly how many sections you have in your presentation. It can help your audience feel better prepared for what’s to come and to keep better track of where you are in the presentation as you go through each section.
This type of agenda slide works well in both formal and informal meetings. It’s especially useful in settings where you’d like your audience to follow along step-by-step and makes it easy to reference specific parts later in the presentation. It can also give your content a sense of momentum and as you progress along.
Agenda Slide With Image
When you use an agenda with an image, you can style it to match your topic. For example, it can be tech-inspired, journey themed, or have a picture of your colleagues. These types of agendas are perfect for inspiring or storytelling presentations or for company or industry-specific pitches.
Their real strength is that they engage your audience even more and really strengthen the narrative of your story or your brand tone.
Detailed Agenda
A detailed agenda gives each section a short explanation or sub-points so your audience knows exactly what to expect. This type of slide is especially helpful for training sessions, strategy meetings, or for decks that are meant to be read, rather than delivered live, because of the dense nature of the slide.
In our example below, the slide also has a sidebar that states the meeting purpose up-front. The strength of this layout is in setting clear expectations up-front, which works well for audiences who value structure and depth.
Timeline Agenda Slide
A timeline agenda is laid out along a timeline or progress bar or in a sequential way. This approach is great when you’re presenting roadmaps, project kickoffs, or strategy sessions.
When you choose this approach, you help your audience understand the sequence of each section or phase of your presentation, which will ultimately help them to understand and retain your information better.
Grid or Block Agenda Slide
This agenda slide has a grid layout where each agenda item is in its own block or card. This works best for short agendas of no more than four to six items and is a very visual way to organize your structure.
By using a grid approach, you can give each agenda section different types of content or labels. You can give each section a number or icon, a title, a description, or even a time duration: whatever works for you. In our example below, we give each grid a number, horizontal line, heading, and description. Change it up to fit your own needs!
Speakers List Agenda
You may need an agenda with speaking times or durations if you have multiple presenters. An agenda with speaker times shows not only what’s coming up but when each segment or presenter will appear, or, if you’re not as rigid with timing, how long each segment will be. It’s great for events, panels, and team meetings with multiple contributors.
This format builds trust by helping your audience manage their time and gives speakers a clear sense of their place in the schedule and how long their portion should be.
Highlight-As-You-Go Agenda
A highlight-as-you-go agenda is as an underused, but incredibly useful, navigational tool. It acts as a live agenda tracker, allowing the presenter to indicate exactly where they are in their presentation as they move along. Just place the agenda slide, with the correct CURRENT item highlighted in between each presentation section as a divider slide.
This agenda style is perfect for longer presentations where users can lose track of what’s been covered and how long they have to go, as well as for virtual presentations, where the audience may become distracted and come back at a later time, wondering what they’ve missed.
It’s also perfect for dense presentations that require the absorption of a lot of information.
Additional Presentation Resources
If you need even more inspiration, check out our agenda slide layouts.
In addition to agenda slides, we offer full business presentation templates that are ready for download and customization.
We also offer individual slides, such as overviews, team slides, tables, bullet points, image grids, and more. These are ideal if you already have a company or personal deck with your own brand and styling, but need that critical additional slide to plug in.