Use a professional template

WebReach is an internet search engine company based in Miami. Their product is a lot better than their presentation. This "Before" slide features basic talking points in Arial font set against a flat yellow background.

The same slide with a template makeover. This background is from Digital Juice’s Presenter’s Toolkit. We simply imported it into PowerPoint and added a horizontal rectangle at the top with a 60% transparency plus a red line. The yellow is more saturated and the texture gives it a far more dynamic look. We’ve inserted a new logo, and changed the Arial font to Arial Narrow. The content is the same…just a new background to give it some sizzle.

As an added effect, we worked in Photoshop to create a left-side arc using 4 blended images, and turned down the color saturation of the grouped layer. We copied and pasted this arc layer into a new file and saved it as a transparent PNG file and imported into PowerPoint.

Here’s a slide from Oracle, the database company. A flat white background and a corporate branding restriction put limits on what we could do.

So our enhancement maintained the red bottom bar, but through Photoshop, we integrated some digital ones and zeros to convey a feeling of technology and depth. The subtle digital ones and zeros in the background also add some depth and help the graphic stand out better. And the simple rectangular box adds margins and visual space. Again, the same content…just improved through a template.

We created a template in Photoshop, added her logomark, created a graphic bar at the top, and added an illustration to support the text. Illustrations are better for abstract concepts and helps set a warmer mood than a traditional photograph.