Approximately 30 million PowerPoint presentations were unleashed on audiences in 2010, according to the Think Outside the Slide website. If all of those presentations were combined into one, only one aspect would keep them from running together like a nightmarish electronic slide show – title slides. Title slides, while not required, separate PowerPoints from each other, and may contain far more than just titles.
Definition
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A title slide in PowerPoint can take on many different definitions, but in most cases, it is the first slide in the slide deck and appears in the PowerPoint workspace when that presentation is opened. By default in PowerPoint, the title slide offers two text boxes for a title and subtitle. Like the opening credits of a movie or flyleaf of a book, the title slide sets the pace for the ensuing presentation.
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Options
A PowerPoint creator has a lot of freedom with a title slide. A title slide isn't even required – users may click on and delete the slide from the slide deck at any time, move it to a new place or add text boxes and images to turn it into something entirely new. While keeping the slide as a title slide, users also have options. The "Home" tab offers controls to change the title slide's font's colors, size and positioning, while the "Insert" tab allows users to add pictures, graphics and even video and audio to the title slide.
Benefits
The most obvious benefit of using a title slide is letting viewers know what they're about to see/learn. Consider a title slide like a cover to a book or report – it "announces" what the slide show is about. The title slide is an ideal place to stake a claim for your work, by adding contributors' names to the "Click here to add subtitle" text box already included on the slide. A title slide is also like a landmark. When scrolling through and reshuffling the slide deck through the "View" tab, the easy-to-pick-out title slide lets presentation creators where to place slide number one.
Add-Ons
A PowerPoint title slide may have the word "title" in its title, but users aren't restricted to just typing a presentation name and creator in the two text boxes offered by the slide. All PowerPoint slides are customizable, including the title slide. To grab attention from an audience right off the bat, consider adding a background theme, color or pattern from PowerPoint's "Design" tab. Another option is to "brand" the slide with a company logo. PowerPoint also offers animations and transitions, such as fade-ins and wipe-outs, which, if used sparingly, may also garner attention for a title slide.