presentation slide layout design

Find the perfect PowerPoint presentation template

Bring your next presentation to life with customizable powerpoint design templates. whether you're wowing with stats via charts and graphs or putting your latest and greatest ideas on display, you'll find a powerpoint presentation template to make your ideas pop., presentations.

Help your data, insights, and recommendations make a statement with beautiful and easily customizable presentation templates.

Certificates

Celebrate accomplishments big and small with customizable certificate templates. From gift certificates to awards for finishing a course or training, find a template that highlights their accolades.

Boost visibility for your show, project, or business with easily customizable poster templates. Find templates for all your promotion needs and make them uniquely yours in a flash.

Keep track of whatever you need to in style. From personal planning to promotional calendars, find templates for every kind of project and aesthetic.

Infographics

Say more with less using helpful and easily customizable infographic templates. Add clarity to business presentations, school projects, and more with these helpful templates.

Start with the best PowerPoint templates

Elevate your storytelling

Tips, tricks, and insider advice from our business and design experts

A quick way to create beautiful, powerful PowerPoint presentations

Create captivating, informative content for PowerPoint in just a few minutes—no graphic design experience needed. Here's how:

1. Find the perfect PowerPoint template

2. Customize your creation

3. Show it off

Let's create a powerpoint design, frequently asked questions, where can i find slide templates and themes that i can customize.

To find customizable slide templates and themes, you can explore the business presentations templates or search by PowerPoint templates . Once you find a template that resonates with you, customize it by changing its color scheme, add in your own photos, and swap out the font.

How do I use pre-made PowerPoint templates?

After you've chosen a PowerPoint template to use, customize it. Explore [design tips] on how to customize a deck that resonates with your brand while putting emphasis on the topic at hand. Play with other design elements, like photo shapes, to make each slide unique.

How can I make or edit my own custom PowerPoint templates?

Start from scratch by creating your own PowerPoint template . Follow tips for designs and business presentations so that your unique template is cohesive and relevant to your brand. Incorporate your brand's color scheme and graphics so that all your slides aren't text only.

What kinds templates can I get online for PowerPoint?

You can get PowerPoint templates that have modern designs, animated ones, or even hand-drawn art in each slide. The color schemes range from bold to subtle. Each template's slides are also organized based on what you may want to include in your presentation . You can use the template as a starting point and customize its specific details from theme.

Popular categories

Home PowerPoint Templates Layout

Slide Layout Templates for PowerPoint and Google Slides

Download PowerPoint Slide Layout designs with creative backgrounds and slide templates that you can use to decorate your presentations. These PowerPoint layouts are appealing enough to capture your audience’s attention and simple to edit for complex or straightforward slide designs. They are easy to download, and you can quickly edit the placeholder that comes with your presentation content. It saves time, energy, and resources.

Featured Templates

Creative Rhombus Infographic Slides for PowerPoint

Strategy Layout PowerPoint Template

Modern Quote Slide PowerPoint Template

Creative Business Layout Template for PowerPoint

Latest templates.

10-Item Layout PowerPoint Template

Small Business PowerPoint Deck

Ultimate Professional PowerPoint Template

Clean Professional Vertical Layout for PowerPoint (Blue)

Simple Corporate PowerPoint Template

Presentation Content Slides for PowerPoint

Simple Thank You Slide Designs for PowerPoint

Modern Gradient Backgrounds for PowerPoint

Editable Low Poly Backgrounds for PowerPoint

Modern Cropped Images Design PowerPoint Templates

Colorful Origami Design Layout for PowerPoint

Presentation Template for Business Deck

Slide Layouts are PowerPoint built-in slides that you can modify to meet your specific needs. You can also share your custom layouts with others. These layouts help you maintain consistency in your PowerPoint presentations. You can achieve that with the help of our pre-designed Layout Slides. These slides were professionally designed considering the use of colors, fonts, styles, icons, and other elements that make them applicable across industries. The Strategy Layout PowerPoint Template allows you to create an unconventional yet elegant presentation. Any type of classification, strategy, or procedure can be displayed using the template. It is best suited for marketing or strategy presentations.

These templates are available in various colors, fonts, icons, images, diagrams, and other elements. You can use the layouts in multiple ways, which means you can use the layout slide to conclude any presentation in both a formal and informal setting across industries. They are all Mac and Windows compatible. These PowerPoint templates are compatible with both Mac and Windows computers. They are also compatible with Keynote, Office365, and Google Slides. Use any of these slide layouts to captivate your audience and end your presentation with applause.

The Slide Layout templates are easy to download, ready to use, and 100% editable. It helps users across various organizations maintain their brand image by providing constant presentations, like the organization’s color, fonts, logo, etc… You can always select from our Slide Layouts to make your presentation simple, quick, and visually appealing. The elements used for these templates are carefully selected, which you can change to your preferred color and edit the placeholder to your desired text.

What is a PowerPoint Layout Template?

Powerpoint layouts are simply “ready-to-use” slide templates, combining different fixed objects and pre-defined editable elements. A properly constructed Powerpoint layout allows you and your team to keep a consistent look in all your presentations, simply and quickly.

What are the types of slide layouts?

In PowerPoint, you select a layout from a menu and then insert your text and graphics. To begin, there is a Title slide, followed by a general Title and Content layout, a side-by-side Comparison layout, and a Picture-with-Caption layout. These help you visually communicate and engage your audience without hassle.

What are the benefits of Layout Slides?

Layout slides are an effective tool for both individuals and organizations. It helps users to maintain the following:

• It allows user consistency which causes audience clarity.
• It helps keep the organization’s identity through the personalized and balanced artistic direction.
• It enables users to do more in less time because it easy-to-use

However, designing a layout slide from scratch might seem complicated, but with the help of our pre-designed layout slide, which is downloadable, you can also edit it.

How to change the layout of a slide on PowerPoint?

Choose the slide for which you want to change the layout. Go to Home, then click on the Layout icon. Choose the desired design from the ones that pop up. The layouts include text, video, picture, chart, shape, clip art, a background, and other elements.

Download Unlimited Content

Our annual unlimited plan let you download unlimited content from slidemodel. save hours of manual work and use awesome slide designs in your next presentation..

Slide Layouts in PowerPoint – Everything You Need to Know!

By: Author Shrot Katewa

If you want to make great presentations, and you are not a design wizard, slide layouts can come in really handy! It is a great place to start designing your presentation. If you are beginning your journey with PowerPoint, you may wonder, what is slide layout in PowerPoint?

Slide Layouts in PowerPoint are pre-created slide designs that allow you to quickly and easily add text, headings, images, tables, etc. By default, PowerPoint provides 9 slide layouts (including a blank slide). PowerPoint also allows you to easily add, edit and delete slide layouts.

So, where can you find these slide layouts? How do you format them? Well, in this article, I will share with you all the basic details that you need to know in order to get started with using and understanding the slide layouts in PowerPoint!

So, let’s get started!

1. What is a Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

A slide on PowerPoint can contain several elements including text, shapes, tables, images, headers, footers. In fact, there may be more than one same type of element present on a single slide. When you start creating a presentation, you are basically using some of these elements to share an inspiring story or an important piece of information.

However, the aesthetics of the slide are determined by how well you lay out these elements on the slide. If you have fairly good design skills, you will easily be able to create an aesthetically pleasing slide! For the rest of us, slide layouts are the way to go!

In Microsoft PowerPoint, a “Slide Layout” refers to the way certain elements (such as text box, image, table, etc) are arranged on the slide. A slide layout is a pre-designed slide format with placeholders that allow you to add text, images, and other elements quickly to the slide.

Using slide layout and master slides, you can also control the color scheme of the presentation, type of fonts, effects, background, headers, footers, and other aspects of presentation design.

This functionality in PowerPoint that allows various pre-created designs to be added to a presentation is often leveraged by corporations. Organizations often create templates and not only control the way presentations look and feel, but also save time for their employees by providing them with various slide design options out of the box!

Pre-set slide layouts are amazing as they allow you to create or use PowerPoint presentation templates. These are pre-designed slide bundles that not only look great on a presentation even when used by a non-designer but also save time for the user of these templates.

For this article, I will be using one of the presentation templates from Envato Elements . With Envato Elements, you get access to thousands of presentation designs with unlimited downloads so you never run out of options again. Plus, you get free previews so you know exactly what you’re getting before buying! It is also very affordable.

2. Where is the Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To get quick access to the different layouts of your PowerPoint presentation, click on the ‘Layout’ button in the ‘Slides’ section of the ‘Home’ tab . By clicking on the ‘Layout’ button you will see the various slide layouts present in your presentation.

How to Access Slide Layouts in PowerPoint?

To get complete access to all the Slide Layouts in your PowerPoint so that you can edit them, you have to go to the ‘Master Views’ section under the ‘View’ tab. The whole process is described in the steps mentioned below.

Step-1: Go to the ‘View’ Tab

The first step is to go to the ‘View’ tab which is the second to last tab in the ribbon of your PowerPoint.

Step-2: Go to the ‘Slide Master’ view

In the next step, all you have to do is click on the ‘Slide Master’ view option in the ‘Master Views’ section which is located in the ‘Views’ tab.

By clicking on the ‘Slide Master’ viewing option, you will be taken to the Slide Layout view of the PowerPoint presentation.

Related Article – Slide View Options in PowerPoint! [A Complete Guide!]

Here, you will notice that the menu options change. Furthermore, you now have access to the different shape, image and text placeholders present on the slide. You will be able to move these placeholders and get complete access to the slide layout.

3. How to Change the Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

You can change the Slide Layout of a slide in your PowerPoint presentation by using the Quick access ‘Layout’ option in the ‘Home’ tab of the ribbon. The process is described in 2 easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the Slide first

At first, you have to go to the slide you want to change the layout of and then click on the ‘Layout’ button in the ‘Slides’ section of the ‘Home’ tab. This will open a drop-down menu of all the slide layouts in your presentation.

Step-2: Click on Layout and Select a Different Layout

After clicking on the ‘Layout’ button, from the drop-down menu, simply select the layout that you want the slide to change into and the layout of that slide will be changed instantly.

4. How to Apply Slide Layout to All Slides? 

Applying slide layout to all slides could mean a couple of things –

• You want to make a change that applies to all slide layouts OR
• You want a specific slide layout to be applied to all slides.

Whatever the case may be, we shall understand both in greater detail below –

4.1 How to Make a Change that Applies to All Slide Layouts

There are certain changes that you sometimes need to apply to all slides. For instance, adding a slide number, adding a company disclaimer, or a company logo.

To apply a change to all slide layout, you will have to edit the ‘Master Slide’ .

You will first need to access the “ Master Slides ” using the “ Slide Master View “. To do that, simply click on “ View “, then click on “ Slide Master “. (as described in the previous sections)

It is the first slide in the ‘Slide Master’ view option which you can find, as discussed earlier, in the ‘Views’ tab.

By applying a change to the ‘Master Slide’ the change will be added to all the other slides in the presentation as well. After going to the ‘Slide Master’ views, follow the simple steps described below.

In the following example, I’m going to add a “Star” (that shall act as a logo) to the top-right corner of the master slide.

Step-1: Apply the change in the ‘Master Slide’ layout.

To apply slide layout to all the slides, make the change that you want to have on the ‘Master Slide’ . In this case I have added a star on the top right corner of the Slide.

Step-2: Send the applied changes to the background

To keep the change, you have made on the background of every slide as a layout, ‘Right click’ on the objects and click on the ‘Send to back’ option from the drop-down menu.

That way, the object will be applied to the background of all the slides and the texts will be visible on top of the logo or the element added.

4.2 How to Apply Specific Slide Layout to All Slides?

If you want to apply a particular slide layout to all slides, follow the below mentioned steps –

Step 1 – Select All Slides

The first step is to select all the slides. To do that, first click on any one slide. Then, press the “ Ctrl+A ” (Cmd+A for Mac) key combination on your keyboard to select all slides.

Step 2 – Change the Slide Layout

The next step is simply choosing the layout that you want to apply to all slides. To do that, first click on “Home”. Then, click on “Layouts” and choose a layout from the array of slide layouts presented by PowerPoint.

As soon as you select a slide layout, PowerPoint will apply it to all slides.

5. What is the Default PowerPoint Slide Layout? 

The default PowerPoint Slide Layout is the style of layout that the Microsoft PowerPoint software provides you out-of-the-box when you open a new PowerPoint file.

The default layout consists of 9 styles of slides which are:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Tittle Only
• Content with Caption
• Picture with Caption

6. How to Edit Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To edit a slide Layout, you have to use the ‘Slide Master’ view as discussed earlier in the article and follow the simple steps given below.

Step-1: Go to the layout you want to change in the ‘Master Slides’ view

The first step is to go to the ‘Slide Master’ view in the ‘View’ tab and click on the Layout that you want to edit.

Step-2: Make the preferred edits to the layout

Now, all you have to do is make the preferred edits in the selected layout. After making the edits, the element of the layout will be changed accordingly in the ‘Layout’ option in the ‘Slides’ section of the ‘Home’ tab and all the slides that are using that layout.

Related Article – How to Edit Background Graphics Using Slide Master in PowerPoint!

7. How to Create a New Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To create a new slide layout in PowerPoint, go to the ‘Slide Master’ view in the ‘Views’ tab in the ribbon and follow the 2 easy steps described below.

Step-1: Click on the position where you want to add the new slide layout

At first you have to click on the position where you want to add the new slide layout in the ‘Slide Navigation’ bar.

Step-2: ‘Insert Layout’ button at the ‘Edit Master’ section.

After you have clicked on the position where you want to add the new slide layout, all you have to do is click on the ‘Insert layout’ button located in the ‘Edit Master’ section of the ‘Slide Master’ view.

7b. How to Insert a Blank Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To insert a blank slide layout in PowerPoint, add a new layout and follow the simple steps given below.

Step-1: Select all the elements in the new slide layout

After inserting a new slide layout, select all the elements that are on the slide layout. You can do that by holding the ‘Left’ mouse button at one corner of the slide and dragging the selector cursor over all the elements of the slide.

Alternatively, you can also ‘left click’ on the elements one by one while holding the ‘Ctrl’ button on your keyboard or click on one of the elements in the slide layout and press the ‘ Ctrl + A ’ buttons on the keyboard of your computer.

Step-2: Delete the elements or object present on the slide

Finally, delete all the elements that you have selected on the new slide layout. You can do that by clicking on the ‘Backspace’ button or the ‘Delete’ button on the keyboard of your computer while keeping all the elements of the new slide layout selected. That way, the new slide layout will be blank.

Step-3: Rename the Slide Layout and Exit Slide Master

The last step is to rename the slide master so that you can easily identify the newly created slide layout in the layout menu. Once that’s done, simply click on “ Close Master View ” to exit the slide master.

8. How Many Types of Slide Layouts are There in PowerPoint?

In PowerPoint, there are 16 different types of slide layouts that you can apply to your presentation. All 16 of these layouts are divided into 4 categories. The categories and types of slide layouts is listed below.

• Title and Text
• Title and 2 Column Text
• Blank 
• Content 
• Title, Text, and Content
• Title and Text over Content
• Title and Content over Text
• Title, Text, and ClipArt
• Title, Text, and Chart
• Title, Text, and Media Clip
• Title and Table
• Title and Diagram or Organization Chart
• Title and Chart

More PowerPoint Related Topics

• How to Use a Presentation Clicker to Deliver Presentations Effectively!
• How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint? [Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial!]
• How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? A Helpful Resource!
• How to Convert a PowerPoint to PDF? [A Simple Guide!]
• PowerPoint vs Google Slides: Which is Better? [ULTIMATE Test!]
• How to Change Bullet Style in PowerPoint? A Complete Guide

Credit to psh.vector (on Freepik) for the Featured Image of this Article

Create professional slide layouts with Designer

Designer improves slides for Microsoft 365 subscribers by automatically generating design ideas to choose from.

While you're putting content on a slide, Designer works in the background to match that content to professionally designed layouts.

Get design ideas

The first time you try out Designer, it may ask your permission to get design ideas for you. If you want to use Designer, select Turn on .

To learn more, see the Microsoft Privacy Statement .

Once you've turned on "connected experiences," PowerPoint automatically shows you design ideas when you're creating your slides. Over time PowerPoint learns from your experience using design ideas and shows you design ideas at the appropriate time. 

Scroll through the suggestions in the Designer pane on the right side of the window.

Click to select the design you want, or else close the window. If you select one of the ideas, your slide is changed accordingly.

You can also select another idea from the pane or go back to your original slide design: Press Ctrl+Z to undo a design change you've just selected.

What Designer gives you:

A title-slide photo and a design scheme

When you start a blank presentation and enter words on the slide, Designer recommends high-quality photos that reflect the slide text, plus a design scheme with colors that complement the photograph you choose. All the slides in the presentation will fit together visually.

Professional layouts

Designer detects pictures, charts, or tables on a slide and gives you several suggestions for arranging them in a cohesive, attractive layout.

More visuals, less text

Too much text on your slide? Designer can turn text such as lists, processes, or timelines into an easily readable graphic.

Bulleted lists get suggestions for an icon to accompany each bullet item. If you don't like a suggested icon, just select it and use our on-the-spot replacement button:

Illustrations

Designer watches for key terms and concepts that it has illustrations for, and it shows you those illustrations in various layouts. The Illustrations are from the Microsoft 365 icons library.

Designer and "ink"

(Only for Microsoft 365 subscribers) Designer recognizes when you draw or write with ink, and it incorporates that content into the design ideas it shows you.

Turn off Designer

If you don't want Designer to automatically offer suggestions:

On the File menu, click Options .

In the PowerPoint Options dialog box, click the General tab on the left, then scroll toward the bottom and clear the Automatically show me design ideas check box.

Requirements

Requirements for designer on windows.

Ask for design ideas any time by choosing Design > Designer on the ribbon.

The first time you try out Designer, it asks your permission to get design ideas for you. If you want to use Designer, select Turn on or Let's go .

Once you've turned on intelligent services, PowerPoint automatically shows you design ideas when you add photos to your slides.

You can also select another idea from the pane or go back to your original slide design: Press ⌘+Z to undo a design change you've just selected.

SmartArt graphics

Designer can turn text such as lists, processes, or timelines into an easily readable SmartArt graphic.

If you don't want Designer to offer suggestions:

On the PowerPoint menu, select Preferences .

Under Authoring and Proofing Tools , select General .

In the General dialog box, under PowerPoint Designer , clear the Automatically show me design ideas check box.

• The Designer button is grayed out

If you can see the Designer button in PowerPoint but it's grayed out, it means:

You aren't connected to the internet, or

A slide isn't selected. (This can be the case when multiple slides are selected in the slide thumbnail pane in Normal view, or when the focus in the thumbnail pane is between two slides. It also is the case when the focus is in the Notes pane or you are in Slide Show view rather than Normal view.)

The Designer button isn't there

Designer is a feature for Microsoft 365 subscribers. If you don't see the Designer button, you're using an older version of PowerPoint for Mac, rather than PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac.

Requirements for Designer on the Mac

PowerPoint shows design ideas for your slide.

If you can see the Designer button in PowerPoint but it's grayed out, it means that someone else is currently also editing the slide:

If you're co-authoring a presentation with someone else and more than one person is actively editing a single slide at one time, Designer won't give design suggestions on that slide.

However, as soon as there's only person editing the slide, Designer will begin offering design suggestions again once that person does an action (such as adding a photo) that Designer can respond to.

Requirements for Designer on PowerPoint for the web

Ask for design ideas any time by choosing Design > Design Ideas on the ribbon.

Scroll through the suggestions in the Design Ideas pane on the right side of the window.

The Design Ideas button is grayed out

If you can see the Design Ideas button in PowerPoint but it's grayed out, it means you aren't connected to the internet.

Requirements for Designer on iOS

Requirements for Designer on Android

Requirements for Designer on Windows Mobile

Troubleshooting.

• Which problem are you having?
• I don't see the Designer button
• I clicked the Designer button, but no suggestions are offered

Design ideas are only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers

On desktop versions of PowerPoint, only subscribers get design ideas. You can try or buy a subscription here .

On PowerPoint for the web, design ideas are available to everyone.

One Microsoft 365 subscription package doesn't include design ideas: Office 365 Germany Germany .

Turn on the Office connected experiences

To use Designer, make sure that Office "connected experiences" are turned on:

Go to File > Account , and under Account Privacy select Manage Settings .

See Enabling and disabling intelligent services for more information.

An administrator may have turned off Designer

Designer is a feature for Microsoft 365 subscribers, but some organizations turn off the feature. If you have an Microsoft 365 subscription but don't see the Designer button, ask your IT department.

Reinstall Office to get subscriber features

If you've upgraded from Microsoft 365 to an Microsoft 365 subscription, you need to uninstall Microsoft 365 and then reinstall in order to get the subscriber features. See the instructions in these articles:

Uninstall Office from a PC or Uninstall Office 2016 for Mac

Reinstall Microsoft 365

Restart the app to get Designer

Sometimes users find that the first time they start PowerPoint after installing Microsoft 365, the Designer button isn't available. Restarting the app fixes this problem.

If there are no design ideas available for you, a few things might be the cause. First of all:

Make sure you're connected to the Internet. Designer goes online to get its design ideas.

Use a theme that comes with PowerPoint (not a custom theme or one that you've downloaded from elsewhere).

Following are other problems and how to solve them:

No design ideas for slides with pictures

Make sure your slide has either the Title or Title + Content slide layout applied.

Don't use any additional objects or shapes on the same slide as your photo.

Use a maximum of four photos (.jpg, .png, .gif, or .bmp) per slide, and make sure they're larger than 200 x 200 pixels in size.

No design ideas for process-based slides

Make sure your slide has the Title + Content slide layout applied.

Don't use any additional photos, objects, or shapes on the same slide as your process text.

Because Designer is a relatively new service, it is still learning new tricks. If Designer can’t generate high-quality options for you, it won’t show any options at all. We're working hard to be able to generate great design ideas for more varieties of your content.

And of course, if you don’t find Designer useful, you can turn it off by going to File > Options > General , and then clearing the box that says Automatically show me design ideas .

Someone else is editing

No design ideas for slides that have shapes or text boxes.

Designer isn't able to suggest design ideas when a slide has a shape or text box drawn on it. You can have photos and you can have text in a placeholder.

You aren't connected to the internet , or

A single slide isn't selected . This can be the case when multiple slides are selected in the slide thumbnail pane in Normal view, or when the focus in the thumbnail pane is between two slides. It also is the case when the focus is in the Notes pane or you are in Slide Show view rather than Normal view.

Combining colors in PowerPoint: Mistakes to avoid

Format the background color of slides

Start with a presentation template

Need more help?

Want more options.

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Microsoft 365 subscription benefits

Microsoft 365 training

Microsoft security

Accessibility center

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Ask the Microsoft Community

Microsoft Tech Community

Windows Insiders

Microsoft 365 Insiders

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

Manage Cookies

Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.

Show cookie providers

• Google Login

Functionality Cookies

These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.

Performance Cookies

These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.

• Google Analytics

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.

• Google Tag Manager
• Infographics
• Daily Infographics
• Graphic Design
• Graphs and Charts
• Data Visualization
• Human Resources
• Training and Development
• Beginner Guides

Blog Graphic Design

31 Powerpoint Presentation Design Tips, Ideas [with Examples]

By Sara McGuire , May 03, 2023

What’s worse than sitting through a boring presentation? Being the one to deliver a boring presentation. Presentation templates to the rescue!

Say goodbye to typical, boring PowerPoint slides, too. Instead,  create a presentation that will make a lasting impression with presentation templates like this one to engage your audience:

Just so you know, some of our templates are free and some require a small monthly fee to use. Signing up to Venngage is always free.

In this post, I’ll show you how to create a presentation that will not only grab the attention of your audience but hold onto it as well.

This post will offer tips for creating different types of presentations , including:

• Pitch decks
• Elearning slides
• Class presentations
• Webinar presentations
• Marketing presentations

I’ll also give you design tips to customize our presentation templates.

Click to jump ahead:

• Dedicate each slide to only one topic
• Start with presentation templates
• Don’t overburden your slides with text
• Establish a visual hierarchy on your slides
• Pick a visual motif that runs throughout your presentation templates
• Visualize data using charts and infographics
• Create custom illustrations using icons to help tell stories
• Highlight important information using big, bold colorful text
• Alternate between different slide layouts to keep your audience engaged
• Add a progress tracker to your presentation slides
• Download your presentation as a PDF

The example above shows how you can customize our templates and export them directly to PowerPoint. Click any of the presentation templates on this page, sign up for free and you’ll enter Venngage’s online presentation maker tool. It’s a drag and drop editor that anyone can use.

Design a presentation that engages your audience

Think about the last boring presentation you sat through:

• What did the slides look like?
• Did they have a bland color scheme?
• Were there too many points (or worse, paragraphs) crammed onto one slide?
• Were the charts and diagrams clunky and hard to understand?

When people see the same old boring PowerPoint themes, there’s a good chance they’re going to lose focus.

Rich media, like video, matters more than ever and there’s no better way to stand out than by creating creative and engaging visual content . If you want to really capture your audience’s attention, you need to design creative presentations , like this one:

That means incorporating eye-catching images, effective data visualizations, and bold typography into your slide decks.

This onboarding presentation, for example, strategically uses bright icons and illustrations to make the material more engaging. This is especially important when presenting to new hires, who are likely dealing with information overload on their first day. 

In this particular case, a more visual approach is not necessarily a matter of aesthetic preference, but a decision that can make your presentations more likely to stick. Pro Tip: Venngage has over 40,000 icons and illustrations you can use to spice up your presentations!

Need something more geared towards speaking? Our keynote presentation templates are all the rage.

11 tips to hold your audience’s attention

Many Venngage users have mentioned that they’re always looking for ways to make presentations more engaging. But most of them don’t have any formal design experience.

If you’re in the same boat, don’t worry–this guide is for you. You can also check out this video for all the highlights:

Here are my top tips for designing a presentation with impact:

1. Dedicate each slide to only one topic

Just as it’s important for your slides to not be cluttered, it’s also important for your slides to be cohesive.

Keep each slide focused on just one topic. The topic of each slide should be clearly stated in the slide title.

For example, this presentation template covers different ways to be creative. Each individual slide covers one approach:

This simple, straightforward slide pattern will help the audience follow along without any confusion.

Or take this presentation template that introduces some of this year’s biggest business trends. Rather than listing multiple trends on one slide, each trend is fleshed out in its own slide:

As a presenter, keeping your slide topics organized will help you organize your thoughts as well. Each new slide will signal a new topic.

2. Start with presentation templates

Before jumping into the other tips, let’s set the foundation.

You’ve decided to create something a little more interesting than a standard PowerPoint theme–good on you! But that doesn’t mean you have to start completely from scratch.

Instead, you can give yourself a head start by using creative presentation templates, like this one:

Or this one:

While most PowerPoint themes are fairly limited in how much you can customize them, freeform presentation templates will give you the freedom to alter the design as much as you want.

For example, let’s take this template:

I used Venngage’s My Brand Kit tool to efficiently apply our brand color palette to the Uber template in one click:

There are a ton of creative presentation templates. You can take a look at them in our presentations templates library .

Cool? Now let’s talk presentation design.

3. Don’t overburden your slides with text

Even if you decide to ignore most of the other tips in this guide, don’t skip over this one. This is presentation design 101.

When you flip to a slide covered wall-to-wall with text, there’s a good chance your audience is going to think:

• I don’t want to read all of that.
• This presenter isn’t well-prepared.

In fact, a study published in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly found that anxious presenters tended to use more text on their slides, usually because they used their slides as speaking notes.

Instead of using a bunch of text, look for ways to present information visually charts and infographics .

For example, this slide template uses brief text and some simple icons to summarize the presentation :

This startup pitch deck makes use of evocative images, icons and big text to help present its ideas:

4. Establish a visual hierarchy on your slides

When you flip to a new slide, your audience will be seeing it for the first time. Their eyes are going to naturally be drawn whatever the focal point on the page is.

The focal point is the most dominant area on your slide–the point that draws the most attention.

You can create a hierarchy of information on your slide by making the most important information the focal point of your slide. In most cases, the focal point will be the slide title, or a particular visual, or an important phrase or number.

There are a few ways you can create a visual hierarchy on your slides.

You can bold important phrases, like the word “Facebook” in this slide:

Icons also help to establish a reading order. They draw your eye from point to point. Placing icons beside headers and important points will make them stand out from the other information on the slide.

Icons can also be used to indicate where a new point begins:

Color selection can also be used to establish a visual hierarchy. Take a look at how the colorful blocks in this slide help to make the slide titles pop:

Your eyes are drawn first to the title text, then to the supporting information beside it.

5. Pick a visual motif that runs throughout your presentation templates

You can use visuals to pull your presentation design together and make it cohesive. Picking a visual motif will allow you to use consistent visuals throughout your presentation.

A visual motif is a repeated pattern, design, or image. In your presentation design, a motif can take many forms.

When it comes to infographic color selection , one of the simplest approaches is to use a consistent color motif (or color scheme). That could mean using one or two colors for all of your headers, background and borders.

For example, this presentation template uses two shades of purple for a modern design:

But combining different colors and patterns can also make for a more interesting design. For example, this presentation template uses a blue stripe motif to link the slides together visually:

You could also use a recurring shape or image, like the circle image frames in this presentation template:

Or you could use a motif that reflects the theme of your presentation. For example, this presentation template uses a recurring cloud motif throughout the presentation to reflect the “dream” theme of the brand:

This is a case where starting with a presentation template can really come in handy, because the template will already have a motif. Look for presentation templates with a motif that fits your topic and brand.

6. Visualize data using charts and infographics

Replacing text with visuals is one of the best ways to prevent your slide design from becoming cluttered. Charts and infographics present information in an engaging, digestible way.

I won’t go into too much detail here about what types of charts you should use for what data. We’ve got an in-depth guide to picking charts for that.

But I’ll give you a few ideas for some types of charts and infographics that work well in presentations.

Related : How to Make Better Infographics for PowerPoint

If you want to visualize steps in a process, the history of something, or a roadmap, use a timeline.

This slide template uses a simple timeline with complementary icons to emphasize each date:

To compare amounts or sizes, a bubble chart can help drive the point home:

Learn how to customize this template:

To create an infographic for geographic and demographic information , a map can make a big impact on your audience:

A classic pie chart or bar graph should be easily understood by your audience, provided you’re following  chart best practices .

This presentation template uses a bar graph, a pie chart and a line graph to show different metrics:

If you can, mix up the types of data visualizations you use. This will help prevent your audience from getting bored.

Those are just a few different ways you can use charts to visualize. For more ideas, check out our guide to picking the best charts for your data .

7. Create custom illustrations using icons to help tell stories

Custom illustrations are one of this year’s  biggest graphic design trends . They’re fun, quirky, and more exciting than a boring old stock photo.

Creating your own illustrations for social media graphics might seem like a costly and time-consuming undertaking. And it can be. But I’m going to offer you a hack:

Use icons to create illustrations.

You can arrange icons together to create a scene–like the pieces of a puzzle. (Venngage offers over 40,000 icons, so finding an image shouldn’t be too hard!) 

For example, this real estate presentation template uses icons to illustrate each real estate hack:

When picking ico ns or symbols for your illustrations , make sure that the icon style you use is consistent. For example, this presentation template uses line art icons for a scribbly youthful look:

For more ideas, read our guide to creating icon illustrations .

8. Highlight important information using big, bold colorful text

Returning to the idea or focal points on your slide: emphasize a key number or phrase when creating a persuasive presentation using big, bold text in a contrasting color.

This will communicate to your audience that if they take away one thing from your slide, it should be that piece of information.

For example, this presentation template uses bright colored font in several sizes larger than the rest of the text to emphasize important numbers on each slide:

But you could also pick one color to emphasize key information with. That way, your audience will catch on to the pattern and look for that color in upcoming slides.

Take a look at how this presentation uses teal to contrast with the other text and emphasize information:

9. Alternate between different slide layouts to keep your audience engaged

You may be tempted to use the same slide layout throughout your entire presentation–either for consistency or because you’re not sure how else to design your slide.

The problem is, using the same slide layout over and over again won’t do much to excite your audience.

There are other ways you can create consistency throughout your presentation, while also using different slide layouts–like through a visual motif.

For example, this presentation template uses five different slide layouts. The consistent color scheme, image style and font style pull the presentation together.

To come up with different slide layouts, try dividing your slide into columns. This can make it easier to arrange the elements in your slide.

This can make it easier to arrange the elements in your slide.

10. Add a progress tracker to your presentation slides

Creating a sense of forward movement will help keep your audience engaged.

Similar to how you would put the chapter title at the top of the pages in a book, you can track the progress of your presentations in your slides. This will let your audience know what stage you’re at in your presentation. Your audience will also be able to refer to the sections in your presentation more easily afterward.

That said, pacing your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides also adds brownie points to your presentation. Check out the top qualities of awesome presentations and learn all about how to make a good presentation to help you nail that captivating delivery.

A simple progress bar at the bottom of your slide shouldn’t distract too much from the rest of your information.

11. Download your presentation as a PDF

It’s common for audience members to request a copy of your presentation for their reference. Make sharing your presentation easy by exporting it as a PDF or zipped file.

Now that you’re equipped with some fundamentals of presentation design, the best way to learn is by doing. It’s also the perfect time to upgrade your presentation skills  while you’re thinking about it too!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

More presentation templates and design guides:

• 120+ Best Presentation Ideas, Design Tips & Examples  (+ Presentation Templates!)
• 12 Business Pitch Deck Templates and Design Best Practices to Impress Investors
• 5 Foolproof Presentation Layout Ideas  (+ Presentation Templates!)
• How to Get Featured on the Front Page of SlideShare [Infographic]
• What Is A Webinar & How Do They Work? [Beginners Guide]

120+ Best Free PowerPoint Templates (PPT) 2024

Not everyone can afford to buy premium PowerPoint templates to create their slideshows. But, that doesn’t mean you have to settle for a default template. There are dozens of incredible free PowerPoint templates to try out!

A great thing about the design community is that there are designers out there who willingly share their amazing work for free of charge, including gorgeous free PowerPoint templates.

To help you save some money, we scoured the web and handpicked a collection of the best free PowerPoint templates with modern and professional designs that you can use to make various types of presentations. Good luck with your presentation!

Just looking for a stylish free Powerpoint Template? No problem. Let’s dive into our collection of the best free PowerPoint templates!

How Does Unlimited PowerPoint Templates Sound?

Download thousands of PowerPoint templates, and many other design elements, with a monthly Envato Elements membership. It starts at $16 per month, and gives you unlimited access to a growing library of over 2,000,000 presentation templates, fonts, photos, graphics, and more.

BeMind Minimal Template

Mystify Presentation

Ciri Template

Explore PowerPoint Templates

What Type of Free PowerPoint Template Do You Need?

We’ve broken our collection down into different categories, so you can quickly find just the right PPT template for your project! Almost of all of these PPT templates are free, but at the start of each section you’ll see one or two premium ones, just so you have that option to choose as well.

• Professional PowerPoint Templates
• Business PowerPoint Templates
• Animated PowerPoint Templates
• Modern PowerPoint Templates
• Creative PowerPoint Templates
• Pitch Deck PowerPoint Templates
• Medical PowerPoint Templates
• Teacher & Education PowerPoint Templates
• Church & Christian PowerPoint Templates
• Infographic PowerPoint Templates

Free Professional PowerPoint Templates

Selfone – free professional presentation template.

Selfone is an amazing presentation template that features lots of useful slides with professional and modern designs. There are 32 unique slides in this template and it’s ideal for making various types of slideshows for businesses, brands, and creatives. It comes in PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides formats too.

Free Consulting Presentation PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is great for creating presentations for consultants. It features a set of modern and stylish slides featuring image placeholders, shapes, and editable graphics.

Free Geometric Professional Presentation Template

The colorful geometric shapes are what make this PowerPoint template one of the best on our list. This template is also available in Google Slides and Keynote formats. And you can use the free version of the template to create a basic slideshow for your professional project.

Ash – Free Professional PowerPoint Template

Ash is a modern and stylish PowerPoint template featuring a dark color theme. This template is made with professionals in mind and it’s especially suitable for event and product presentations. The free version of the template can be used to create a simple presentation.

Free Artificial Intelligence PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is ideal for making professional presentations for showcasing startups, ideas, and products related to artificial intelligence. The template features 7 unique slides with creative charts, timelines, and more.

Free Tech Slides PowerPoint Presentation Template

You can use this PowerPoint template to design attractive slideshows for technology-themed presentations. It comes with 10 different slide layouts with gradient colors, editable shapes, and text. You can also download it in Google Slides format.

Hendrix – Free Dark Professional PowerPoint Template

Another free and professional PowerPoint template with a dark theme. This template comes in both PowerPoint and Google Slides versions. You can easily customize the slide layouts to create various types of presentations.

Pro Portfolio PPT Template

Every business needs a presentation template for showcasing their portfolio. This PowerPoint template is perfect for that task. It comes with 50 unique slides featuring a minimalist design that effectively highlights your portfolio in every slide. The template also includes editable vector graphics, infographics, and icons.

Aesthic – Free Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

It’s hard to believe that this PowerPoint template is free to download. The modern and unique design of this presentation gives it a truly professional look. It’s perfect for creating presentations for showcasing your portfolio, creative projects, and more.

Dolor – Free Professional Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template also comes with modern and professional slide design. It uses a perfect combination of visuals and minimalism to create a very attractive slide layout. You can use it for free with your creative projects.

Kitulah – Free Dark Professional PowerPoint Template

The dark color theme of this PowerPoint template adds an elegant look to this entire presentation design. It’s perfect for creating slideshows for modern brands and startups.

DSGN – Free Lookbook Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with 90 unique slide layouts you can use to make slideshows for creative portfolios, photography, and fashion related presentations. The template is also available in 5 color schemes and it’s free to use with your personal projects.

Enable – Free Modern PowerPoint Template

Enable is a modern PowerPoint template featuring a set of minimal slide designs that are most suitable for making creative and business-related presentations. The template comes with an easily editable design and image placeholders for easily replacing the images.

Look – Free Fashion PowerPoint Template

Look is an elegant PowerPoint template that features a highly visual design that’s most suitable for making fashion and photography related presentations. The template includes 55 unique slides and comes in two different colors.

Free Creative Portfolio PowerPoint Template

If you’re looking for a stylish PowerPoint template to create a simple portfolio to showcase your work and services, this free template is perfect for you. It includes 20 unique slides that are designed to make highly visual slideshows filled with large images.

Project Proposal – Free Professional PowerPoint Template

This is a professional PowerPoint template you can use for free to create proposals for various client and freelance projects. This template includes 19 unique slides with an icon pack, illustrations, and much more.

Resume Presentation – Free PowerPoint Template

This minimal PowerPoint template is ideal for showcasing your portfolio and resume. It comes with 14 unique slides with editable vector graphics and image placeholders. The template is available in Google Slides version as well.

Free Modern Portfolio PowerPoint Template

Another free portfolio PowerPoint template with a set of creative slides. This template also includes 20 unique slides with editable layouts, image placeholders, icons, and much more.

Wagner – Free Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

Wagner is a multipurpose PowerPoint template that comes with a modern and stylish design that allows you to design all kinds of presentations. Each slide in the template is fully customizable and features editable vector shapes and elements as well.

Minimal – Simple Free PowerPoint Template

This minimal free PowerPoint template is perfect for crafting slideshow for presenting personal portfolio as well as creative agency presentations. The template is fully customizable as well.

Xara – Free PowerPoint Template

Xara is a modern PowerPoint template most suitable for making minimal slideshows for business and corporate presentations. It includes 9 unique slides with editable layouts, graphics, and charts.

Red White – Free PowerPoint Template

Red White is a modern free PowerPoint presentation template you can use to make slideshows for businesses, brands, and creatives. The template includes 30 unique slides with editable designs.

Free Business PowerPoint Templates

Free retro pixel business powerpoint template.

This is a free PowerPoint template that comes with colorful and creative slide designs inspired by retro-themed pixel graphics. It includes many stylish slide designs with dark color themes for creating attractive presentations for business meetings.

Free Geometric Shapes Marketing Plan for PowerPoint

This free PowerPoint template comes with a set of slides full of colorful geometric shapes and patterns. It’s designed with marketing agencies in mind and you can use it to create attractive marketing plans for your business meetings.

Free Content Strategy Meeting PowerPoint Template

Create the perfect presentation for your content strategy meetings with this free PowerPoint template. It includes many beautiful slide layouts featuring gradient color backgrounds and image placeholders. You can fully customize each slide to your preference.

Free Abstract Shapes Business PowerPoint Template

You can download this PowerPoint template for free to create modern business presentations. It has a set of minimalist slides featuring abstract shapes with rough textures.

Free Morph Business Plan PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with more than 40 slides featuring modern backgrounds and trendy content layouts. It’s especially perfect for creating business plan slide decks and presentations.

Free Company Profile Powerpoint Template

This free company profile PowerPoint template provides a comprehensive overview of your organization in a 20-slide presentation. Designed to showcase a brand’s identity, it covers the company’s journey, from establishment to its current successes, capturing its mission, vision, and values. With customizable slides, the template features a Presentation Agenda, Financial Reports, Business SWOT Analysis, Gantt chart, various graphical charts, and a Company Timeline.

Cranford – Free Business Presentation PPT

Cranford is a free PowerPoint template that includes a set of professional slide layouts. It’s most suitable for making modern business and agency slideshows. It comes in Google Slides and Keynote formats too.

Howard – Free Business PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is also available in multiple formats. You can use it to create presentations for small businesses as well as corporate brands. There are 8 unique slides in this template.

Merville – Free Business PowerPoint Template

Merville is a free PowerPoint template that includes very professional-looking slides. It has highly visual slides with easily editable designs. The template is suitable for all types of business presentations.

Free Business Meeting PowerPoint Template

This is a creative PowerPoint template that comes with a set of beautiful slides. There are 24 unique slides in this template with editable graphs, timelines, mockups, and more. It’s available in Google Slides version too.

Free Creative Agency PowerPoint Template

This is a huge PowerPoint template that includes more than 100 different slides. Of course, the full version comes at a price. But if you scroll all the way down on the page, you’ll find a free version of the template that’s also pretty great for making a simple business presentation.

Free 2022 Marketing Plan Infographic PowerPoint Template

This is a must-have presentation template for marketing agencies and businesses. It includes creative infographic slides you can use to showcase your marketing plan and the performance of your campaigns. It includes 32 slides and it’s available in Google Slides format too.

Free Electric Scooter Company Profile PPTX

This free PowerPoint template is ideal for making company profiles. It’s especially perfect for making company profile presentations for startups and modern brands. The template includes 28 fully customizable slides with free icons and graphics.

Free Human Resource Meeting PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with a set of professional slide designs you can use to create presentations for human resource meetings for all kinds of businesses. There are 24 unique slides included in this template and it comes in Google Slides format as well.

Free Gradient Corners Business PowerPoint Template

The elegant design of this PowerPoint template makes it a perfect choice for making business presentations. The template features 7 unique slides with colorful blue gradient corner designs.

Free Simple Business Executive PowerPoint Template

You can use this free PowerPoint template to make simple presentations for corporate brands and businesses. The template includes 8 editable slides with professional layouts. It comes in Google Slides version as well.

Digital Marketing Strategy PowerPoint Template

Using a creative and bold design in your PowerPoint slideshow is a great way to capture attention and make your presentation stand out. This beautifully designed PowerPoint template will help you achieve that goal. It comes with more than 40 slides that feature a unique design made specifically for marketing presentations. It’s also available in 2 different color themes.

Bara – Free Modern Business PowerPoint Theme

Bara is the perfect free PowerPoint template for creating business presentations. It features a modern design and comes with easily editable slide layouts. In addition, it’s available in Keynote version as well.

Clifton Free Business Presentation Template

This modern and free presentation template comes in multiple formats. You can use it to create a stylish presentation to promote business services, brands, and products as well.

Barnwell Free Business Presentation Template

Barnwell is a simple yet effective presentation template for creating business and agency slideshows. This template comes in multiple formats including PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

Free Onboarding Meeting PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is perfect for creating a presentation for your new hire onboarding meetings. It includes 33 different slide layouts with easily editable designs. The template comes in the Google Slides version as well.

Free Multipurpose PowerPoint Presentation Template

You can use this PowerPoint template to design clean and minimalist presentations for various business meetings. It includes 27 different slide designs you can customize to your preference.

Free Construction & Real Estate PowerPoint Template

If you’re preparing a presentation for a construction project or a real estate property, this PowerPoint template will come in handy. There are 19 unique slides in this template made specifically with construction and real estate businesses in mind.

Future – Free Business PowerPoint Template

A simple and clean PowerPoint template for making professional and business presentations. This template comes with 25 unique slide layouts featuring minimalist designs. Each slide is fully customizable and features master slide layouts as well.

Business Plan Free Powerpoint Presentation

This free PowerPoint template is a great choice for making slideshows for presenting your business plans and strategies in meetings. It includes 20 unique slides. You’ll need to signup for a free account on the website to download the file.

SEO Proposal – Free PowerPoint Template

This creative PowerPoint template is designed specifically for digital markers and agencies. You can use this to craft an effective slideshow that wins over your marketing clients. It’s free to download and use.

Conference Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

This is a pitch deck PowerPoint template featuring a set of slides made for designing slideshows for business and conference presentations. It includes customizable vectors, diagrams, shapes, and lots more as well.

Annul Report – Free Business PowerPoint Template

A free business PowerPoint template you can use to create annual report presentations for various projects and companies. This template includes 22 unique slides with easily customizable layouts.

Beexey – Free Business PowerPoint Template

Another modern PowerPoint template specially made for businesses and agencies. This template features 20 unique slides with icons, editable graphics, and animations.

Vision – Free Business PowerPoint Template

Vision is a modern PowerPoint template you can use to design business and corporate presentations. The free template comes in multiple styles and color versions, which you can download individually to your preference.

Casper – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

Casper is a creative and minimalist PowerPoint template you can use to create presentations for startups and personal portfolios. The template includes 60 unique slides featuring transition animations, infographics, and more.

Minta – Business Free PowerPoint Template

Minta is a free PowerPoint template most suitable for making slideshows for presentations related to business and marketing. It comes with 21 unique and customizable slides in widescreen layout.

Business Report Free PowerPoint Template

Business Report is a professional PowerPoint template featuring 40 unique slides. The template is available in 5 color schemes and in both animated and static versions.

Annual Report – Free PowerPoint Template

Another great free PowerPoint template made specifically for making annual report presentations. It’s most suitable for corporate and business presentations. The template is free to use with personal and business projects.

Window – Free PowerPoint Template

Window is a creative and minimalist PowerPoint presentation template most suitable for startups and creative agencies. The template comes with 25 unique slides filled with stylish designs and its available in 5 pre-made color schemes.

Modern Business Free PowerPoint Template

This is a free PowerPoint template you can use to craft a slideshow for a modern small business or a startup. The template features 12 unique slides featuring retina-ready and beautiful designs.

Seattle – Simple PowerPoint Presentation Template

Seattle is a clean and simple PowerPoint presentation template that includes a set of unique slides featuring stylish graphics, shapes, and elements. You can easily customize the template to your preference as well.

Free Animated PowerPoint Templates

Shining – creative animated powerpoint template.

Shining is an animated PowerPoint template that comes with 30 unique slides. The slides are available in 5 different color schemes. It also features master slide layouts, animations, editable graphics, illustrations, and much more as well.

Lookbook – Free Pastel PowerPoint Template

Lookbook is a colorful free PowerPoint template that features a set of creative slides with attractive pastel colors. This template is perfect for showcasing professional and agency portfolios. All the slides can be easily customized to change colors as well.

Voodoo – Free Animated PowerPoint Template

VooDoo is a highly professional PowerPoint template that features more than 10 unique slide designs, which feature transition animations and much more. It’s also available in both light and dark color designs.

Dark Red – Free Elegant Black Powerpoint Template

This professional, yet free, PowerPoint template comes with an elegant color theme that effectively highlights its content. The template is free to download and can be customized to your preference.

Stasia – Free PowerPoint Template

Stasia is a creative and free PowerPoint template you can use with your creative and professional presentations. It comes with 13 unique slides featuring editable graphics, charts, and lots of other elements.

Free Modern PowerPoint Templates

Free modern & minimal powerpoint template.

You can download this PowerPoint template for free to make beautiful slideshows for company profile, portfolio, and various other professional presentations. It includes 30 unique slides with animations and transitions.

Slide Pro – Free Modern Presentation Template

The minimal and clean design of this presentation template makes it an ideal choice for modern brands and design agencies. The template has 30 different slides with editable graphics and image placeholders.

Free Project Proposal PowerPoint Presentation Template

Design professional-looking project proposals that win clients using this free PowerPoint template. It features 85 different slides with fully customizable layouts. The template includes transition animations as well.

UNCO – Simple Modern PowerPoint Template

This modern business PowerPointe presentation template comes with more than 60 unique slides filled with editable vector shapes, graphics, icons, and so much more for making attractive presentations for all kinds of businesses. The template also includes lots of charts and graphs you can use to visualize data and make more compelling arguments.

Pale Dawn – Free Modern Fashion PowerPoint Template

Pale Dawn is a very modern PowerPoint template you can use to craft presentations to promote fashion and lifestyle products. The template comes with lots of customizable slides in PowerPoint and Keynote formats.

Mass Media – Free Agency Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template is made specifically for marketing and media agencies. The template includes 25 unique slide layouts featuring editable shapes, colors, and fonts. It’s available in Google Slides version as well.

Heimat – Free Modern Business Presentation Template

If you’re looking for a simple PowerPoint design with a minimal content layout, this template will come in handy. It lets you choose from 33 unique slides for crafting attractive presentations for showcasing projects and plans.

Born-Ink – Free Modern Event PowerPoint Template

Featuring 10 unique slide designs, this modern PowerPoint template will allow you to design effective presentations for creative agencies as well as fashion brands. The template is free to use with your personal projects.

XGDragon – Modern Presentation Template

This free template comes with lots of unique slide designs for promoting modern brands through creative design. The template is ideal for creating a lookbook-style presentation and it’s free to use with commercial projects.

Minimalistic – Free Clean PowerPoint Template

A highly minimalist and clean PowerPoint presentation that’s most suitable for making creative and professional slideshows. The template features an easily editable design, changeable colors, and editable vectors as well.

Air – Clean Free PowerPoint Template

Air is a minimal and free PowerPoint template featuring creative slides full of images and icons. It includes 60 different slides in Full HD resolution. All of the graphics and shapes in the template are also editable as well.

Neue Free Minimal PowerPoint Template

Neue is a free PowerPoint template with a minimalist design. This makes it a perfect choice for crafting creative and business presentations. The free versions of the template include multiple slides you can use with your personal projects.

TAHU – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with a set of creative slides you can use to design professional and business presentations. It includes many different types of slides for crafting effective slideshows, including slides for showcasing services, timelines, portfolio, and more.

Clean – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

Just as the name suggests, this free PowerPoint template features a minimal and clean design with lots of white space. It’s perfect for making professional slideshows with a content-focused design. The template is easily editable as well.

Duotone – Modern Free PowerPoint Template

Duotone is a modern and colorful PowerPoint template that features a set of attractive slides with a creative duotone color effect. This template is most suitable for making presentations for creative brands and professionals. It’s available in both PowerPoint and Keynote versions and includes 18 unique slides.

London – Minimal  Free PowerPoint Template

London is an elegant and a minimalist free PowerPoint template that comes with 21 unique slides with easy to customize drag and drop image placeholders. You can use this template to make all kinds of business and creative presentations.

Modern Minimal Free Powerpoint Template

This free PowerPoint template includes a set of creative slides featuring colorful designs. You can easily customize all the slides in the template however you like to change fonts, colors, and images as well.

Style – PowerPoint Presentation Template

Style is a PowerPoint presentation template designed for making lookbook-style slideshows for showcasing fashion designs. It’s perfect for promoting fashion catalogs. The template is free to use with your personal projects.

Free Creative PowerPoint Templates

Color fun – creative powerpoint template.

Just as the name suggests, this PowerPoint template comes filled with colorful slides that will allow you to design unique and cheerful presentations to showcase your products, designs, and ideas. The template includes 50 unique slides with unlimited color options to customize the design however you want.

FUN Tastic – Free Creative PowerPoint Template

This bright and colorful PowerPoint template offers a great set of slides for you to create more fun and entertaining presentation. It includes lots of creative slide designs in Full HD resolution. And you can customize them to your preference as well.

Free Neomorph PowerPoint Template

If you’re a fan of the Neomorphism design trend, this PowerPoint template is a perfect match for you. It features a bold slide design with shapes, buttons, and icons inspired by Neomorphic design. The free version of the template includes 10 unique slides.

GMTRY – Free Geometric Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template features one of the most creative slide designs on our list. The creative use of geometric shapes to design its colorful and attractive slides is simply perfect. The template is free to use with personal projects.

Curato – Free Creative Portfolio PowerPoint Template

A bright and colorful PowerPoint template filled with shapes and styles. It’s perfect for showing off your best work in a portfolio. The template includes 37 unique slides with easily editable layouts.

Emotion Flashcard – Free Creative PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with a set of creative and fun slides. It uses a lot of emoticons throughout the presentation to help you discuss emotions and mental health in a very creative way.

Kental – Free Minimal PowerPoint Template

Kental is another free PowerPoint template that comes with colorful slide design. All of the slides in this template features pastel colors and comes with master slide layouts as well. This template is most suitable for creative fashion and design presentations.

Free Giant Doodles Newsletter PowerPoint Template

Filled with lots of colorful doodles and illustrations, this PowerPoint template comes with 28 creative slide layouts you can customize however you like. It’s available in Google Slides version as well.

Free Creative PowerPoint Presentation Template

This is a free demo for a premium PowerPoint template. It includes several creative slides you can repurpose to create your own unique presentations.

Free Stylish Botanical PowerPoint Template

The nature-inspired botanical theme gives this presentation template a very unique look and feel. It’s perfect for creating presentations for modern fashion and lifestyle brands.

Colors – Stylish Free PowerPoint Template

Just as the name suggests, this free PowerPoint template comes with a beautiful set of slides filled with lots of colors. It’s ideal for making creative slideshows for event and entertainment related presentations as well as many others. And it includes 60 creative slides.

Happy Holi – Creative Free Powerpoint Template

Happy Holi is a beautiful and creative PowerPoint template that comes with a colorful set of slides. Despite being named after a festival, the slides in the template feature a multipurpose design you can use to craft business, creative, and many other professional presentations.

Every – Clean & Simple PowerPoint Template

Every is an elegant PowerPoint template featuring modern slide designs. It comes in both PowerPoint and Keynote file formats. Each template includes 15 unique slides in Full HD resolution.

Creative – Free Minimal PowerPoint Template

This minimalist PowerPoint template comes with a creative design making it a great choice for presenting your personal portfolios and professional work. The template features drag and drop image placeholders and editable objects.

Mifridix – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with a beautiful and feminine slide design. Which makes it the perfect choice for crafting presentations for fashion brands, beauty products, and others.

BRONX – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

Bronx is a creative PowerPoint presentation template that includes a modern and customizable design. You can use this template to create presentations with PowerPoint, Keynote, or even Google Slides.

Free Pitch Deck PowerPoint Templates

Free powerpoint pitch deck template.

You can use this PowerPoint template for making creative pitch deck slideshows. It includes colorful slides with cool illustrations and shapes to give each slide a unique look and feel. There are 19 unique slides and they come in Keynote format as well.

Sales Pitch Deck Free PowerPoint Template

Create a bold and professional pitch deck for your agency using this free PowerPoint template. It has 20 unique slides with free fonts and icon packs. The template is especially suitable for real estate agencies.

Free PowerPoint Pitch Deck Infographics

You can use this free PowerPoint template to showcase stats and data related to your product launches. It includes 32 infographic slides with various styles of layouts. They are all fully customizable.

Free Corporate Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

This pitch deck presentation is made with corporate brands and agencies in mind. It features a set of professional slides with easily editable layouts. There are 20 unique slides in this template.

Free Business Opportunity PowerPoint Pitch Deck

You can create an attention-grabbing pitch deck to present your business ideas and startups with this free PowerPoint template. It features 12 unique slide layouts with beautiful gradient designs. And the template can be easily customized to your preference.

Pitch Werk Template

Pitch Werk is a creative PowerPoint template featuring a set of stylish slides made for modern startups. It includes more than 100 unique slides which are also available in 5 different premade color schemes. The template also comes with lots of useful elements such as pricing tables, device mockups, maps, and much more.

Sneakers Shop – Free PowerPoint Pitch Deck Template

If you’re working on a pitch deck for a sneaker startup or even an eCommerce store for a fashion product, this template is perfect for creating a winning presentation. It includes 32 unique slides.

Comersa Free Pitch Deck Presentation Template

Comersa PowerPoint template comes with a designed made specifically for crafting slideshows for business-related presentations. The template is available in PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides versions as well.

Pitch Deck – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

This is the perfect free PowerPoint presentation template you can use to create pitch decks for startups, creatives, and freelancers. The template includes 22 unique slides and it’s available both with and without slide animations.

Free Conference Pitch Deck Powerpoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is perfect for making a pitch deck for speeches and presentations you give at events and conferences. The template features a set of easily editable slide layouts with modern designs.

Free Medical PowerPoint Templates

Free mental health workshop powerpoint template.

You can create an effective presentation to promote good mental health in the workplace with this free template. It includes 22 unique slide layouts you can use to showcase the importance of maintaining good mental health and suggest your ideas in meetings.

Modern Medical PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with 30 unique slides featuring clean and modern designs. It also lets you choose from 5 different premade color schemes for designing various styles of slideshows. It’s perfect for making presentations for all kinds of businesses and events.

World After Corona Virus – Free PowerPoint Template

If you’re working on a presentation to talk about the recent global pandemic, this template will help you design a more compelling slideshow. It includes 31 unique slide layouts with editable graphics and icons.

Free Mental Health Thesis Presentation Template

This is the perfect presentation template you can use to talk about mental health topics. It features 23 unique slides with easily editable designs. The template is also available in Google Slides version.

Free Medical Presentation Template

This is a multipurpose PowerPoint template you can use to create different types of presentations related to medicine and medical facilities. The template includes editable graphics and master slide layouts as well.

Medical – Free PowerPoint Template

If you’re working on a presentation for a medical related business or brand, this free PowerPoint presentation template will come in handy. The template includes 30 unique slides filled with plenty of image placeholders and graphics.

Clinical Case – Free Medical PowerPoint Template

This free and creative PowerPoint template comes in both PowerPoint and Google Slides versions. It includes 24 beautiful slide designs filled with colorful illustrations and content formatting.

Healthcare Center – Free Medical PowerPoint Template

Healthcare Center is a professional and free PowerPoint template designed for medical centers and healthcare businesses. The template includes 23 unique slide design you can use to create an effective presentation.

Free Teachers & Education PowerPoint Templates

Free social studies for elementary powerpoint template.

This educational PowerPoint template is designed for making presentations for educating social studies subjects. The template includes 35 different slides with colorful designs that will easily attract the attention of your students.

Free Elementary School PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template features the perfect design for making fun educational presentations for kids. It’s designed for showcasing different types of stones and it comes with lots of colorful illustrations. There are 35 different slides in this template.

Free Chinese Language Day PowerPoint Template

Use this free PowerPoint template to teach the Chinese languages to kids. It features a beautiful slide design filled with adorable illustrations and colorful shapes. There are 35 unique slides included in the template with fully editable layouts.

School Bundle – Free Education PowerPoint Template

If you’re looking for a creative PowerPoint template to grab the attention of your students during presentations, this free template is for you. It features a creative design across 15 different useful slide layouts.

Daniel’s Thesis – Free Education PowerPoint Template

This colorful and creative PowerPoint template is perfect for creating attractive presentations to showcase your thesis, assignments, projects, and much more. The template features 24 unique slides filled with colorful graphics, shapes, and elements.

Academy at the City – Free Education PowerPoint Template

A professional PowerPoint template for promoting your school, academy, and institutions. While the template is designed with education establishments in mind, you can use it to create business presentations as well. The template includes 24 unique slides.

Education – Simple PowerPoint template

This is a professional PowerPoint template that includes 30 unique slide designs. Each slide is also available in 5 different color schemes. It also features editable vector graphics, image placeholders, and icons for crafting entertaining presentations more easily.

Math Lesson – Free PowerPoint Presentation Template

This free and creative PowerPoint template is designed for teachers for making their lessons look more engaging and fun for students. The template comes packed with creative illustrations and graphics as well.

E-Learning – Free Teachers PowerPoint Template

Another free PowerPoint template that’s most suitable for making presentations to promote your online learning programs and courses. The template comes with 17 unique slide layouts that you can easily customize to your preference.

Master’s Thesis – Free Education PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with 12 unique and editable slides you can use to effectively showcase and present your thesis projects to an audience. The template is also available in Google Slides version as well.

Free Interactive Education PPT for Teachers

This PowerPoint template is designed with teachers in mind. It features 44 different slides you can use to create various educational presentations for classes. The slides are fully customizable and include graphs, charts, and infographics as well.

Online Notebook – Free Education PowerPoint Template

A free PowerPoint template you can use to create a notebook-style presentation. Both teachers and students can use this template to create notes for classes and subjects. There are 30 slide layouts in this template.

Free English Language Grammar Rules PPT

Grammar can be a boring subject to talk about. But with this colorful PowerPoint template, you can present your lessons in a more entertaining way. It includes 41 unique slides filled with adorable illustrations.

Colorful Light Bulbs Free Education PowerPoint Template

This colorful PowerPoint template has lightbulbs all over the slides. You can use it to create presentations to teach various subjects and topics. There are 39 slides in this template. And it’s available in the Google Slides version as well.

Free Church PowerPoint Templates

Free christian church powerpoint template.

A beautiful presentation template made with churches in mind. It has 20 unique slide layouts with colorful and minimal designs. The template is ideal for showcasing your Christian Church projects.

Free Church Conference Powerpoint Template

A modern and elegant PowerPoint template designed specifically for making presentations for church events and conferences. The template comes with 23 slide layouts with easily editable designs and image placeholders.

Religion Lesson – Free PowerPoint Presentation

A free PowerPoint template designed for educating students and audiences on various religious topics. It can also be used to deliver religious speeches and presentations as well. It includes 17 unique slides. Even though the template features slide designs with multiple religions, you can easily replace the images of your choice as well.

Free Infographic PowerPoint Templates

8 free charts powerpoint templates.

This template includes 8 customizable charts infographics for you to use in your presentations. The template includes pie charts, bar charts, and infographics too. It’s also available in Excel format.

12 Free Infographics Slides for PowerPoint

There are 12 different infographic slides to choose from in this PowerPoint template. They are ideal for both business and research presentations. The template is free to use.

Free Internal Motivation Infographics PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template includes 31 unique slide designs with infographics. They are designed for visualizing stats and information for motivating your teams and employees.

The Power of Feminism Infographics PowerPoint Template

You can use this free PowerPoint template to create attractive infographic slides to promote the power of feminism. It includes more than 30 unique slide designs. And you can customize them in Google Slides as well.

PPTx Infographics

This Powerpoint presentation template also includes 50 unique infographic slides. The slides are also available in light and dark themes as well as unlimited color options for customizing the shapes, text, and icons of the slides.

Epsilon – Free Business PowerPoint Template

Epsilon is a free PowerPoint template made for small businesses. You can use it to create powerful business presentations using its slides full of charts and graphs. The template can be easily customized with multiple color options and icons.

Free Business Infographics PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with lots of editable infographics you can use to visualize your data. The template includes 8 unique slide designs that are easily customizable. It’s also available in Google Slides version as well.

TechRepublic

Account information, share with your friends.

10 slide design tips for producing powerful and effective presentations

Your email has been sent

This article is also available as a PDF download .

By Garr Reynolds

#1: Keep it simple

PowerPoint uses slides with a horizontal, or Landscape, orientation. The software was designed as a convenient way to display graphical information that would support the speaker and supplement the presentation. The slides themselves were never meant to be the star of the show. (The star, of course, is your audience.) People came to hear you and be moved or informed (or both) by you and your message. Don’t let your message and your ability to tell a story get derailed by slides that are unnecessarily complicated, busy, or full of what Edward Tufte calls “chart junk.” Nothing in your slide should be superfluous, ever.

Your slides should have plenty of white space, or negative space. Do not feel compelled to fill empty areas on your slide with your logo or other unnecessary graphics or text boxes that do not contribute to better understanding. The less clutter you have on your slide, the more powerful your visual message will become.

#2 Limit bullet points and text

Your presentation is for the benefit of the audience. But boring an audience with bullet point after bullet point is of little benefit to them. Which brings us to the issue of text. The best slides may have no text at all. This may sound insane given the dependency of text slides today, but the best PowerPoint slides will be virtually meaningless without the narration (that is you). Remember, the slides are meant to support the narration of the speaker, not make the speaker superfluous.

Many people often say something like this: “Sorry I missed your presentation. I hear it was great. Can you just send me your PowerPoint slides?” But if they are good slides, they will be of little use without you. Instead of a copy of your PowerPoint slides, it is far better to prepare a written document that highlights your content from the presentation and expands on that content. Audiences are much better served receiving a detailed, written handout as a takeaway from the presentation, rather than a mere copy of your PowerPoint slides. If you have a detailed handout or publication for the audience to be passed out after your talk, you need not feel compelled to fill your PowerPoint slides with a great deal of text.

We’ll talk more about this in the delivery section below, but as long as we are talking about text, please remember to never, ever turn your back on the audience and read text from the slide word for word.

#3: Limit transitions and builds (animation)

Use object builds and slide transitions judiciously. Object builds (also called animations), such as bullet points, should not be animated on every slide. Some animation is a good thing, but stick to the most subtle and professional (similar to what you might see on the evening TV news broadcast). A simple Wipe Left-to-Right (from the Animations menu) is good for a bullet point, but a Move or Fly, for example, is too tedious and slow (and yet, is used in many presentations today). Listeners will get bored quickly if they are asked to endure slide after slide of animation. For transitions between slides, use no more than two or three types of transition effects and do not place transition effects between all slides.

#4: Use high quality graphics

Use high quality graphics, including photographs. You can take your own high quality photographs with your digital camera, purchase professional stock photography, or use the plethora of high quality images available online. (But be cautious of copyright issues.) Never simply stretch a small, low-resolution photo to make it fit your layout–doing so will degrade the resolution even further.

Avoid using PowerPoint Clip Art or other cartoonish line art. Again, if it is included in the software, your audience has seen it a million times before. It may have been interesting in 1993, but today the inclusion of such clip art often undermines the professionalism of the presenter. There are exceptions, of course, and not all PowerPoint art is dreadful, but use it carefully and judiciously.

I often use images of people in my slides, as photography of people tends to help the audience connect with the slide on a more emotional level. If the photographic image is secondary in importance, then I decrease the opacity and add a Gaussian Blur or motion filter in Photoshop. If the photographic image is the primary area I want the audience to notice (such as a picture of a product), then the image can be more pronounced and little (or no) text is needed.

#5: Have a visual theme but avoid using PowerPoint templates

You clearly need a consistent visual theme throughout your presentation, but most templates included in PowerPoint have been seen by your audience countless times (and besides, the templates are not all that great to begin with). Your audience expects a unique presentation with new (at least to them) content; otherwise, why would they be attending your talk? No audience will be excited about a cookie-cutter presentation, and we must therefore shy away from any supporting visuals, such as the ubiquitous PowerPoint Design Template, that suggests your presentation is formulaic or prepackaged.

You can make your own background templates, which will be more tailored to your needs. You can then save the PowerPoint file as a Design Template (.pot) and the new template will appear among your standard Microsoft templates for your future use. You can also purchase professional templates online.

#6: Use appropriate charts

Always be asking yourself, “How much detail do I need?” Presenters are usually guilty of including too much data in their onscreen charts. There are several ways to display your data in graphic form; here are a few things to keep in mind:

Pie charts. Used to show percentages. Limit the slices to 4-6 and contrast the most important slice either with color or by exploding the slice.

Vertical bar charts. Used to show changes in quantity over time. Best if you limit the bars to 4-8.

Horizontal bar charts. Used to compare quantities. For example, comparing sales figures among the four regions of the company.

Line charts. Used to demonstrate trends. For example, here is a simple line chart showing that our sales have gone up every year. The trend is good. The arrow comes in later to underscore the point: Our future looks good!

In general, tables are well suited for side-by-side comparisons of quantitative data.

However, tables can lack impact on a visceral level. If you want to show how your contributions are significantly higher than two other parties, for example, it would be best to show that in the form of a bar chart (below). But if you’re trying to downplay the fact that your contributions are lower than others, a table will display that information in a less dramatic or emotional way.

#7: Use color well

Color evokes feelings. Color is emotional. The right color can help persuade and motivate. Studies show that color usage can increase interest and improve learning comprehension and retention.

You do not need to be an expert in color theory, but it’s good for business professionals to know at least a bit on the subject. Colors can be divided into two general categories: cool (such as blue and green) and warm (such as orange and red). Cool colors work best for backgrounds, as they appear to recede away from us into the background. Warm colors generally work best for objects in the foreground (such as text) because they appear to be coming at us. It is no surprise, then, that the most ubiquitous PowerPoint slide color scheme includes a blue background with yellow text. You do not need to feel compelled to use this color scheme, although you may choose to use a variation of those colors.

If you will be presenting in a dark room (such as a large hall), a dark background (dark blue, gray, etc.) with white or light text will work fine. But if you plan to keep most of the lights on (which is highly advisable), a white background with black or dark text works much better. In rooms with a good deal of ambient light, a screen image with a dark background and light text tends to washout, but dark text on a light background will maintain its visual intensity a bit better.

Learn more:

• PresentationPro.com has some great Flash tutorials, including one on color.
• Go to the CreativePro.com to learn more about color.
• Dummies.com has a good short article on how to use the Color Schemes in PowerPoint.

#8: Choose your fonts well

Fonts communicate subtle messages in and of themselves, which is why you should choose fonts deliberately. Use the same font set throughout your entire slide presentation and use no more than two complementary fonts (e.g., Arial and Arial Bold). Make sure you know the difference between a serif font (e.g., Times New Roman) and a sans-serif font (e.g., Helvetica or Arial).

Serif fonts were designed to be used in documents filled with lots of text. They’re said to be easier to read at small point sizes, but for onscreen presentations, the serifs tend to get lost due to the relatively low resolution of projectors. Sans- serif fonts are generally best for PowerPoint presentations, but try to avoid the ubiquitous Helvetica. I often choose to use Gill Sans, as it is somewhere in between a serif and a sans-serif font and is professional yet friendly and “conversational.” Regardless of what font you choose, make sure the text can be read from the back of the room.

#9: Use video or audio

Use video and audio when appropriate. Using video clips to show concrete examples promotes active cognitive processing, which is the natural way people learn. You can use video clips within PowerPoint without ever leaving the application or tuning on a VCR. Using a video clip not only will illustrate your point better, it will also serve as a change of pace, thereby increasing the interest of your audience.

You can use audio clips (such as interviews) as well. But avoid using the cheesy sound effects that are included in PowerPoint (such as the sound of a horn or applause when transitioning slides). The use of superfluous sound effects attached to animations is a sure way to lose credibility with your audience.

#10: Spend time in the slider sorter

According to the Segmentation Principle of multimedia learning theory, people comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments. By getting out of the Slide view and into the Slide Sorter view, you can see how the logical flow of your presentation is progressing. In this view, you may decide to break up one slide into, say, two or three slides so that your presentation has a more natural and logical flow or process. You’ll also be able to capture more of the gestalt of your entire presentation from the point of view of your audience. You will be able to notice more extraneous pieces of visual data that can be removed to increase visual clarity and improve communication.

Garr Reynolds is currently Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University, where he teaches Marketing, Global Marketing, and Multimedia Presentation Design. Garr is active in the Japanese community and can often be found presenting on subjects concerning design, branding, and effective corporate communications. In addition to his Web site , he maintains a blog, Presentation Zen , which offers insights into professional presentation design.

Subscribe to the Executive Briefing Newsletter

Discover the secrets to IT leadership success with these tips on project management, budgets, and dealing with day-to-day challenges. Delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays

Create a TechRepublic Account

Get the web's best business technology news, tutorials, reviews, trends, and analysis—in your inbox. Let's start with the basics.

* - indicates required fields

Sign in to TechRepublic

Lost your password? Request a new password

Reset Password

Please enter your email adress. You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password.

Check your email for a password reset link. If you didn't receive an email don't forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support .

Welcome. Tell us a little bit about you.

This will help us provide you with customized content.

Want to receive more TechRepublic news?

You're all set.

Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye out for a confirmation email from our team. To ensure any newsletters you subscribed to hit your inbox, make sure to add [email protected] to your contacts list.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

Partner Center

Got any suggestions?

We want to hear from you! Send us a message and help improve Slidesgo

Top searches

Trending searches

41 templates

el salvador

32 templates

49 templates

21 templates

16 templates

28 templates

Simple Presentation templates

A clean, simple slide design can help you deliver your message straight to your audience without distractions. make good use of these google slides themes and powerpoint templates and create engaging presentations..

Minimarket Business Plan

Download the Minimarket Business Plan presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. Conveying your business plan accurately and effectively is the cornerstone of any successful venture. This template allows you to pinpoint essential elements of your operation while your audience will appreciate the clear and concise presentation, eliminating any potential misunderstandings....

Elegant Education Pack for Students

The way in which we study has changed drastically in the last year, that's why we need to be more organized than ever. In Slidesgo we want to help your students and have designed this elegant template full of resources for your classes. We added everything you could possibly ask...

Minimal Hepatitis Clinical Case

Give your clinical case presentations a modern and elegant touch with this minimalist design with watercolor strokes. We have prepared lots of medical resources so that explaining complicated concepts is very easy for you, and even more easy for your audience to understand. In addition, this template is completely editable,...

Minimalist Business Slides

Minimalism is an art style that frees the canvas and that lets the content stand out for itself. It’s a way of conveying modernism, simplicity and elegance and can be your best ally in your next presentation. With this new design from Slidesgo, your business presentations will be as professional...

Premium template

Unlock this template and gain unlimited access

How to Find the Antiderivative of Simple Polynomials

Download the How to find the antiderivative of simple polynomials presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and teach with confidence. Sometimes, teachers need a little bit of help, and there's nothing wrong with that. We're glad to lend you a hand! Since Slidesgo is committed to making education better for...

Simple Blackboard Background

Wipe off the chalkboard and get ready to prepare your classes! Write your ideas, draw some doodles and put your thinking cap on with this cool template for Google Slides and PowerPoint.

Bee Pattern Campaign

Download the Bee Pattern Campaign presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. Improve your campaign management with this template that will definitely make a difference. It will empower you to organize, execute, and track the effectiveness of your campaign. Enriched with innovative resources, it facilitates seamless communication, meticulous planning, and provides...

Pricing Strategies Proposal

Download the Pricing Strategies Proposal presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. A well-crafted proposal can be the key factor in determining the success of your project. It's an opportunity to showcase your ideas, objectives, and plans in a clear and concise manner, and to convince others to invest their time,...

Wind Energy Supplier Pitch Deck

There are so many reasons to shift to renewable energy: it’s better for the environment, it can also be cheaper to produce, it contributes to making your company carbon neutral… take all of those ideas and present them with a pitch deck like this one. After you’ve added all the...

Watercolor Conference Style Presentation

Download the Watercolor Conference Style Presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and start impressing your audience with a creative and original design. Slidesgo templates like this one here offer the possibility to convey a concept, idea or topic in a clear, concise and visual way, by using different graphic resources....

The Pygmalion Effect in the Classroom

Download the The Pygmalion Effect in the Classroom presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and teach with confidence. Sometimes, teachers need a little bit of help, and there's nothing wrong with that. We're glad to lend you a hand! Since Slidesgo is committed to making education better for everyone, we've...

Post Merger Integration

Download the Post Merger Integration presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and take your marketing projects to the next level. This template is the perfect ally for your advertising strategies, launch campaigns or report presentations. Customize your content with ease, highlight your ideas and captivate your audience with a professional...

Cost Reduction in Manufacturing Industry Pitch Deck

Download the Cost Reduction in Manufacturing Industry Pitch Deck presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. Whether you're an entrepreneur looking for funding or a sales professional trying to close a deal, a great pitch deck can be the difference-maker that sets you apart from the competition. Let your talent shine...

Automotive Industry in Social Media

Download the Automotive Industry in Social Media presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. How do you use social media platforms to achieve your business goals? If you need a thorough and professional tool to plan and keep track of your social media strategy, this fully customizable template is your ultimate...

Elegant Lines Pitch Deck

Trying to convince some investors or partners to believe in your new project? With the elegance and sobriety of this new template, you won't have problems achieving that. The name says it all: the template contains lines, elegance and the ideal layouts for a presentation. The backgrounds are gray, a...

Internship Report

Download the Internship Report presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. The world of business encompasses a lot of things! From reports to customer profiles, from brainstorming sessions to sales—there's always something to do or something to analyze. This customizable design, available for Google Slides and PowerPoint, is what you were...

Download the CSR Report presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. The world of business encompasses a lot of things! From reports to customer profiles, from brainstorming sessions to sales—there's always something to do or something to analyze. This customizable design, available for Google Slides and PowerPoint, is what you were...

Elegant Bachelor Thesis

Present your Bachelor Thesis in style with this elegant presentation template. It's simple, minimalist design makes it perfect for any kind of academic presentation. With an array of features such as section dividers, images, infographics and more, you can easily create a professional and creative presentation that stands out from...

• Page 1 of 215

New! Make quick presentations with AI

Slidesgo AI presentation maker puts the power of design and creativity in your hands, so you can effortlessly craft stunning slideshows in minutes.

Register for free and start editing online

• Data, AI, & Machine Learning
• Managing Technology
• Social Responsibility
• Workplace, Teams, & Culture
• AI & Machine Learning
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Big ideas Research Projects
• Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy
• Responsible AI
• Future of the Workforce
• Future of Leadership
• All Research Projects
• AI in Action
• Most Popular
• The Truth Behind the Nursing Crisis
• Work/23: The Big Shift
• Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader
• Measuring Culture

The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

• Past Issues
• Upcoming Events
• Video Archive
• Me, Myself, and AI
• Three Big Points

How to Create Slides That Suit Your Superiors: 11 Tips

When you’re pitching ideas or budgets to execs in your organization, you need to deliver slides that fit those particular people just right. This checklist identifies the key considerations.

• Workplace, Teams, & Culture
• Leadership Skills

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images

I recently interviewed 20 of my customers, all in senior roles at Fortune 100 companies, and asked them their biggest pain point in presenting to higher-ups and even colleagues. What I heard consistently was that it can feel like Goldilocks bouncing from one option to the next, testing to figure out what’s “just right.” Does the audience want deep reports? Sparse slides? Something in between? Like … what?

Teams often come to presentation meetings with vast amounts of backup content just in case an exec wants to take a deep dive on any given point. There’s often a struggle to anticipate every direction attendees might want to go. It’s frustrating, and it’s not efficient.

Get Updates on Transformative Leadership

Evidence-based resources that can help you lead your team more effectively, delivered to your inbox monthly.

Please enter a valid email address

Thank you for signing up

Privacy Policy

There are many ways to build slides. I’m not just talking about crafting them well versus poorly. I’m talking about all of the important decisions regarding how to organize them, how much text to use, when to lean into a chart, the best ways to use bullets and color, and whether to include an appendix with additional information. Before you make your next proposal or request of the executive team, use this list of 11 tips for your next set of slides as a guide.

Four Things You Must Have in Every Exec’s Slides

Before we drill down into the harder aspects, the ones where your executives’ tastes may vary widely, let’s quickly cover four aspects that you can consider the building blocks — the basics you should never proceed without.

Start with an executive summary. Begin the slide deck with a tight executive summary that follows a three-act structure. First, start with stating the current realities. Second, clearly state the problem or opportunity your idea addresses and its potential impact. Third, explain how your recommendation solves the problem or exploits the opportunity and the next steps you’re proposing.

Have a logical organization. The arc of the deck — the package from beginning to end — should make sense. If your audience reads only the headline of every slide, the order should be coherent and make most of the case for you. The content below each slide’s headline must support the statement made in the title. Remove everything that doesn’t support your point; as writers will tell you, you sometimes need to “kill your darlings” when you’re editing.

Begin the slide deck with a tight executive summary that follows a three-act structure.

Make it skimmable. Help your audience to quickly grasp the point without getting bogged down in details. Create a clear visual hierarchy. Guide the reader’s eye through the content: Use bold headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break down information into digestible pieces. Highlight key takeaways or conclusions in a different color or font size to draw attention to these critical points.

Focus on concise insights. Succinct statements with clear insights are everyone’s jam. Every slide should serve a purpose and contribute directly to the decision-making process. Distill complex information. Don’t use 100 words when 20 words will nail it. If you’re having difficulty trimming, consider using company-approved AI tools to help you take out the fluff.

Five Preferences to Confirm With the Person You Want to Reach

Now we’ll delve into what your particular audience does and does not want. If you haven’t yet, start by asking the person you’re presenting to what they generally prefer. They probably know themselves well but have not been asked to articulate how they like to receive information.

Ask how dense is too dense. Some executives prefer detailed slides with comprehensive data. Others favor a more high-level approach. You’re weighing how to balance informative content with readability, ensuring that slides are not overloaded yet are sufficiently detailed to support decision-making.

Confirm the delivery format and timing. Some execs like information presented to them. Others prefer a pre-read of the material followed by a discussion. I always recommend our tool Slidedocs (I’ve written a free e-book on them), which are visual documents using both words and images. The templates help presenters organize their thoughts into a document for a pre-read or a read-along. They are designed to be skimmable and able to travel through your organization without the help of a presenter.

I’m a huge fan of pre-reads and prefer to use my time in meetings to ask questions and build alignment. If your audience didn’t review your material in advance, ask at the top of the meeting whether they would like you to present it or would prefer to read through it and then discuss it.

Find out how much data visualization they prefer. Charts, graphs, photos, and illustrations often communicate complex data more clearly than words alone. When execs can see what you’re saying, they often can better understand the impact of your idea. Does the exec want to understand exact numbers? Bar charts allow them to move their eyes across a series of specifics. Does the exec want to know the shape of a trend over time? Line charts can show the pattern. (See “Classic Charts Communicate Data Quickly.”) Some prefer charts with annotations that draw attention to what you think is the most important point. Others want to make their own conclusions from the data.

One of my clients, the CEO of a massive commercial real estate company, doesn’t want anything visualized. He prefers numbers, only in a table, and only in two colors — black and red. You might think this is archaic. But the fact that he’s clear to his teams about what he wants takes all the mystery out of how to communicate with him.

When the stakes are high, have a conceptual thinker help with diagrams and concepts. If you don’t have one on your team, and when it’s high stakes, find an internal designer to help you or hire one. You can’t afford to have the baby (your idea) thrown out with the bathwater (terrible slides).

Identify which details need spelling out. How well do the people you’re presenting to know the landscape and function of the company and products you’re talking about? For example, if your engineering team threw a slide into a deck about an issue that requires executive approval, do the execs all speak geek? Or do you need to explain the technology so that they will really understand the ask? Either eliminate internal jargon and acronyms or unpack those bits, especially if your proposal deeply involves expertise outside of the executives’ domain.

Ask whether appendices will be useful. When you’re organizing a presentation, you often troll data, read through complicated reports, and even hire external experts to figure out what’s best for the company. Do your execs want access to that supporting data? You can add a document to the end of the presentation as an appendix to show all of the data and source material. This allows the main content of the slides to remain focused and accessible while still providing comprehensive background information for those who want more.

Two Tips to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Getting materials in place is the biggest step. They will be your best tools for selling your ideas. But there are two extra areas to pay attention to as a presenter: how you handle questions and how you use every experience to improve.

Anticipate questions, and practice your answers. Before you have your meeting, gather a small team to challenge every point you make. Invite colleagues you trust to role-play as “a rapidly inquisitive exec” or “the doubting naysayer exec” so you are prepared to present your idea well. They’re gonna grill you, and practicing will help you remain unruffled when it happens.

Related Articles

Ask for feedback after the presentation. Establish a feedback loop with those you presented to. Ask what worked well and how you can improve. If attendees don’t have the time, find people who have had their ideas funded and talk to them about what they did that worked. Advice and some perspective will help you nail your performance even better next time.

Empathetically understanding your audience members and how they process information, whether it’s executives or peers, sets up your ideas for success. Clarity creates efficiency. When a presentation fits just right, you’ve given your great thinking the best chance of moving through your organization and having maximum impact.

About the Author

Nancy Duarte is CEO of Duarte Inc. , a communication company in the Silicon Valley. She’s the author of six books, including DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story (Ideapress Publishing, 2019).

More Like This

Add a comment cancel reply.

You must sign in to post a comment. First time here? Sign up for a free account : Comment on articles and get access to many more articles.