diff --git a/R/revealjs_presentation.R b/R/revealjs_presentation.R
index f641284..75d6c23 100644
--- a/R/revealjs_presentation.R
+++ b/R/revealjs_presentation.R
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@
 #' Content of speaker notes
 #' :::
 #' ```
-#' to create notes only viewable in presentation mode.
+#' to create notes only viewable in presentation mode. Notes placed before
+#' the first heading are attached to the title slide.
 #' 
 #' On mobile browsers (touch devices), a button next to the fullscreen
 #' toggle overlays the current slide with its speaker notes (plus the slide
@@ -55,7 +56,8 @@
 #' 
 #' This means Marc Kupietz will need 30 seconds for that slide. For talks
 #' presented by a single speaker, the speaker code can be omitted:
-#' `<!-- 00:30 -->`.
+#' `<!-- 00:30 -->`. Comments placed before the first heading are applied to
+#' the title slide.
 #' 
 #' Typically you start from a known total time budget and adjust the
 #' individual slides to it. You can set this budget yourself with the
@@ -408,6 +410,7 @@
   # timer of the notes plugin) and reporting per-speaker totals
   post_processor <- function(metadata, input_file, output_file, clean, verbose) {
     lines <- readLines(output_file, warn = FALSE, encoding = "UTF-8")
+    lines <- merge_title_slide_notes(lines)
     result <- apply_timing_attributes(lines)
     comments <- attr(result, "comments")
     if (nrow(comments) > 0) {
diff --git a/R/slide_timing.R b/R/slide_timing.R
index 560716d..7fbc976 100644
--- a/R/slide_timing.R
+++ b/R/slide_timing.R
@@ -138,6 +138,52 @@
   ifelse(is.na(speaker), "(unnamed)", speaker)
 }
 
+# Timing comments and ::: notes blocks written before the first heading do
+# not land on the title slide: pandoc puts them into an otherwise empty
+# phantom slide right after it. Merge such a phantom slide -- consisting of
+# nothing but notes, timing comments, and whitespace -- into the title
+# slide, so that notes and timing can be given for the title as well.
+merge_title_slide_notes <- function(lines) {
+  title_open <- grep('<section class="title-frame"', lines)
+  if (length(title_open) == 0) {
+    return(lines)
+  }
+  title_open <- title_open[1]
+  title_close <- which(lines == "</section>")
+  title_close <- title_close[title_close > title_open][1]
+
+  phantom_open <- grep("^<section", lines)
+  phantom_open <- phantom_open[phantom_open > title_close][1]
+  if (is.na(phantom_open)) {
+    return(lines)
+  }
+  phantom_close <- which(lines == "</section>")
+  phantom_close <- phantom_close[phantom_close > phantom_open][1]
+
+  inner <- lines[(phantom_open + 1):(phantom_close - 1)]
+
+  # the phantom slide is only merged if it has no visible content beyond
+  # notes, timing comments, and whitespace
+  aside <- grep('<aside class="notes">', inner)
+  aside_end <- grep("</aside>", inner)
+  in_aside <- if (length(aside) > 0) {
+    unlist(Map(":", aside, aside_end[aside_end > aside][1]))
+  }
+  content <- seq_along(inner)
+  content <- content[!inner %in% ""]
+  content <- setdiff(content, c(grep("<!--", inner), in_aside))
+  if (length(content) > 0) {
+    return(lines)
+  }
+
+  moved <- inner[nzchar(trimws(inner))]
+  append(
+    lines[-(phantom_open:phantom_close)],
+    moved,
+    after = title_close - 1
+  )
+}
+
 # Convert timing comments into data-timing attributes on the enclosing
 # <section> elements of a rendered reveal.js HTML document. Returns the
 # modified lines invisibly along with the extracted comments as attributes.