PowerPoint Agenda Slide: What It Is & Easy Ways to Make One

If you’ve been creating Microsoft PowerPoint presentations for a while, you already know the benefits of starting with a good agenda.

As a presenter, it allows you to take control of the conversation from the very beginning. You’ll also have the ability to eliminate audience distractions by clarifying the meeting objective and pointing out when the audience can be expected to participate. This allows them to pay more attention to what you’re saying and less to when you’re going to answer certain questions.

In fact, according to Entrepreneur, meetings without effective agendas are simply time-wasters. When your audience doesn’t know what to expect they’ll be more likely to interrupt with questions and that’s a quick way to lose control.

Whether you’re presenting to clients, students, or colleagues starting a presentation with a solid agenda is always a good idea.

So, I’m sharing three types of PowerPoint agenda slides you can start creating today. I’ll also share the skill level needed for each and best practices for when each one is most effective.

Check them out and let me know which one you plan to use in the comments!

What is an agenda slide in PowerPoint?

When you’re creating a PowerPoint presentation, it’s extremely important to have an agenda slide. An agenda slide in PowerPoint is the first slide of your presentation.

This is the slide that tells your audience what you’re going to be talking about. It tells the audience what they are going to see and in what order. It is basically an outline of your presentation.

As a presentation creator, this can be a great slide to create when drafting a presentation. It can help to keep your presentation focused and on track.

By including an agenda slide, you’re helping your audience to follow along and understand the overall structure of your presentation. It also gives the appearance of a more professional presentation.

How do you create an agenda slide?

Hyperlinked Table of Contents Agenda Slide

Skill Level: Beginner

What it’s good for: This is ideal for presentations to leaders, executives, and similar “no-frills” types of audiences. This type of agenda provides clear, easy-to-follow navigation and is perfect for presentations of all kinds.

How it’s Done:

1. Create a simple numbered or bulleted list of agenda points to be included at the beginning of your presentation.
2. NOTE: This can be a list of each slide’s actual title, key takeaways, general concept(s) each slide covers. If you choose to focus on key takeaways or concepts, try to keep your descriptions clear and concise. Use the 5/5/5 rule as a guide, if needed.
3. Highlight the text of your first agenda item.
4. Right-click on the highlighted text and click Hyperlink.
5. Select Place in This Document and select the corresponding slide within your presentation.
6. Click OK.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for each item on the agenda.

Zoom Section Links Agenda Slide(for PowerPoint 2016 and later)

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate

What it’s good for: This works well for presentations with clearly defined sections and allows you to bounce between the topics when necessary.

How it’s Done: 

1. Once your PowerPoint is complete, navigate over to the slide preview panel on the left side of the screen and click on the space between the two slides where you want your first section to start. (Wherever you click, the section will include all slides that follow unless there is another section later in the presentation, then it will include all slides up until that point.) A line will appear to show where your new section begins.
2. Navigate to the Home tab at the top of the screen and click on Section, then Add Section.
3. Give the section a name.
4. NOTE: At this point, I like to create a slide that simply says the section name. It allows you to create more uniform section images later.
5. Click away from the section and it will automatically save.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 for any additional sections you wish to include.
7. Once all sections are complete, insert a new blank slide for your agenda.
8. Navigate to the Insert tab at the top of the screen and click the drop-down menu next to Zoom then click Section Zoom.
9. Select the sections you wish to include and click Insert.
10. The section images will automatically be added in a cascaded stack on the slide. Click away from the images and then click each one to drag and drop to the correct placement on the slide.

Visual Roadmap Agenda Slide

Skill Level: Advanced

What it’s good for: This is great for presentations geared towards interns, new hires, or presentations that focus on steps within a process or system.

How it’s Done:

1. Create a simple bulleted list of the sections to be included in your presentation.
2. With your text box selected, navigate to the Home tab at the top of the screen and click Convert to SmartArt and choose from the dropdown menu.
3. Once you select one of the options, a new menu will appear at the top of the screen. You can use this menu to preview other styles. I recommend selecting from the Process section. Some of my favorite types of SmartArt for this are Basic Process, Picture Accent Process, Alternating Flow, Basic Timeline, Basic Chevron Process, Vertical Chevron List, and Upward Arrow.
4. Depending on the chart you choose, you may also have additional space to include more details about each part of the presentation.
5. Adjust the shape colors, size, and style to match your presentation.
6. Additionally, you may want to link each step in the process to a section or slide. To create a linked shape, right-click the shape and click Hyperlink. Select Place in This Document, choose the appropriate slide and then click OK.

Is there an agenda template in PowerPoint?

If you’re looking for agenda slide templates, you might be wondering if PowerPoint has any available in the “Templates” section of the program.

Unfortunately, there’s not an standard agenda slide template in PowerPoint. However, you can reverse engineer your entire presentation if you start with an agenda before creating the rest of your slides.

With the PowerPoint Designer you can use the basic agenda slide template to automatically create each slide based on your agenda chosen items. Even better, the Designer incorporates design elements to make your slide and agenda items pop.

Save time and give it a try on your next presentation.

You might also be interested in: How to Track Changes in PowerPoint

Conclusion

Now you’ve mastered the basics when it comes to the often-overlooked PowerPoint agenda slide. If you are used to incorporating a basic agenda in your presentations then it’s time to up-level with hyperlinks! I’d love to know how you’re currently using agendas and which of these recommendations you plan to try. Comment below and let me know.

And remember, whether you add in an agenda that sweet and simple or something more advanced, simply making a habit of providing an overview of the presentation’s keys areas is good practice.

If you found these tips useful, download the free PDF so that you can follow the step-by-step instructions next time you’re creating a presentation. Request the free PDF download below!

Otherwise, click here to check out the rest of the PowerPoint Efficiency collection.