Creating business presentations can be a time-consuming and challenging task, especially when working with unfixed templates. Poor visual consistency, resulting from a lack of brand identity, can lead to decreased attention and focus from the audience. To tackle this issue, top performers systematically implement best practices in creating custom presentation templates.
A custom business presentation template is a set of master slides with guidelines and a range of slide layouts that are both inspiring and aligned with the brand. The key characteristic of a fixed template is its reusable nature, which ensures consistency across all presentations.
When it comes to choosing the right template, it's imperative to pick a format based on the purpose of the presentation. For internal presentations, use a 4x3 aspect ratio template, while for important presentations, such as competitive bidding, a widescreen 16x9 template is recommended.
The key ingredients of a fixed presentation template include:
1. A clear title slide with a headline, logo (preferably vector or high-quality .png file), and optional extra information such as presenter name and date.
2. An executive summary that focuses on the most important messages and is easy to read.
3. An agenda slide that outlines the contents of the deck and helps the audience track the status of the presentation.
4. Text layouts that show relationships through words and emphasize key statements with a strong background color.
5. Quantitative charts that show relationships among data points.
6. Conceptual charts that show non-quantitative relationships.
7. A sign-off page that ends a section of the presentation and can include conclusions, recommendations, or next steps.
By having a fixed template with all the above elements in place, anyone working on the deck can create professional business slides with ease and consistency. Implementing custom presentation templates is the secret to achieving a consistent brand identity and maximizing the impact of your business presentations.
