Make universal changes quickly in PowerPoint

Do you spend a lot of time making your slides uniform in PowerPoint? If so, perhaps you’re not familiar with the Slide Master.

No, that’s not what people call me. It’s a feature that lets you edit all of the master slides in your deck. Then all slides based on the different types will be updated to match. Edit once, view everywhere that particular slide type is used.

This works in both PowerPoint 2007 and 2010. Go to the View tab and click the Slide Master button:

Now enter all of the things that you don’t want to have to change. This may include your team name on the title slide, font styles, layout, and any branding graphics you want to use as a background, across the top, or along the bottom.

Looking for a quick alternative or some ideas on alternative designs? Go to the Slide Master tab and click Themes:

Or, if you prefer to do your own customization, click Background Styles and really make the deck your own:

Whatever you choose, just don’t forget the rules of effective slide design.

Suzanne