What Should a Company PowerPoint Template Come With?

A PowerPoint template must not be just a number of well-designed slides. Not at all.

See, when a proper PowerPoint template (or a presentation template in that sense) needs to be created, it needs to be created with the end users— the company’s employees — in mind! This not only means that there should be more than a starting and an ending slide in that template, it means that the template needs to come together with a few more “goodies”. Let me make a few suggestions which all come from our work with our customers.

Here is what a PowerPoint template should come with:

• Master slides — a number of slides that reflect the most commonly used presentation cases in the company
• Guidelines and example slides —these may be in the form of instructions, separate PowerPoint file with slides, a webpage or a combination of those, showing how to make the best possible use of the template
• Additional training materials — these may be how-to videos, prerecorded trainings and sometimes interactive documents created with tools different than PowerPoint
• A creative library — photos, illustrations, icons and other media files selected and prepared in such a way(all icons in all of the brand’s colors, for example) that when used, they not only save the look and feel of the template, but enhance the speaker’s slides
• Launch plan — this is an important one — this is the plan on how you are going to introduce the PowerPoint template to your company. Creating a proper presentation template takes a lot of time and effort and it needs to be presented well. There must be a meeting — in-person or an online such for everyone to ask any questions that may arise. At 356labs we also do 1 bonus thing — we offer a free workshop to the company during which we “onboard” the employees with the new template.

Do you see the difference between a proper PowerPoint template and a file with 2 slides — a beginning and an end slide? I hope so. I really hope so.

Your PowerPoint template is an important thing! Do it right and watch your company’s presentations flourish! Do it wrong, however, and lose a lot more — brand identity, productivity and communication effectiveness.

In case you found out that your PowerPoint template is not a proper PowerPoint template, we would be happy to help at contact@356labs.com. However, please feel free to contact any other presentation experts, but insist on getting the above because I guarantee that this “method” is “The method” to change the level of your company’s presentations and achieve more with every single one of them.