by Adam Noar

Having a cool PowerPoint template is CRITICAL if you want to have slides that will WOW an audience.

There are many different slide templates available online. Unfortunately, a good majority of these templates suck!

A well-crafted PowerPoint template has to get a lot of things right—from the fonts used in the slides to the graphics and colors in the presentation—and it’s by no means an easy feat.

If you don’t have the time to create your own template, or simply don’t want to create your own template, I recommend visiting Graphic River to purchase a pre-designed template that you can later customize with your own content and images.

Graphic River is essentially a marketplace for all things graphic related (templates, vector graphics, icons, fonts, etc.) and they sell professional presentation templates that are created by top graphic designers around the world. There are lots of different styles to choose from (over 2,000 templates and counting). And don’t worry… these PowerPoint templates look NOTHING like the boring templates that come with PowerPoint. Most of the good templates run around $15-$20 and you can be rest assured about quality because all of the templates submitted have to meet the high standards set by the Graphic River team.

The benefits of purchasing a professional PowerPoint template from Graphic River include:

Save Time – With a purchased template you can focus more on honing your message and less on building a template framework.

– With a purchased template you can focus more on honing your message and less on building a template framework. Elegant Design – The templates are clean, minimal, and look professional.

– The templates are clean, minimal, and look professional. Customizable – All the templates are easy to customize. Simply add your text and swap out any images/graphics you don’t want.

– All the templates are easy to customize. Simply add your text and swap out any images/graphics you don’t want. Customer Support – If you ever have any questions about the template you can leave a comment and the person who designed the template will get back to you fairly quickly.

– If you ever have any questions about the template you can leave a comment and the person who designed the template will get back to you fairly quickly. Designed for PowerPoint – The templates are designed to be edited in PowerPoint. No additional software needed.

– The templates are designed to be edited in PowerPoint. No additional software needed. Animations Included – For many of the templates offered, there are custom animations built into the template. If you don’t want the animations you can always remove them.

Note: Some of the PowerPoint slide templates are nicer than others, so make sure that you shop around. You can sort the templates by a number of different categories including: date, author, category, rating, sales, and price.

To save you time, I have reviewed and HANDPICKED some of the best templates from the Graphic River website. When you’re done checking these out I would love to know which one you like best! Seriously, leave me a comment! :)

Let’s get started!

Note: If you like any of these professional presentation templates, you can click on the template’s image (or click the link that says “Download Here”) to be taken directly to Graphic River to purchase the template. Many of the templates discussed are also available in Keynote (for Mac users).

The Six template is one of the best sellers on Graphic River and has over 4,600 sales to date.

It’s pretty easy to see why people gravitate towards this template. It has a modern and professional look which can be used across many different industries. There are a total of 45 slides to choose from and the template comes in 4 different color themes (including a dark version and light version).

One of the nice things about the Six template is that it has plenty of sleek and uncluttered-looking diagrams and charts.

A few other important mentions:

The template comes in both 4:3 and 16:9 format (i.e., Normal and Widescreen Mode)

Available in both PowerPoint and Keynote

Uses Novecento and Cantarell fonts

Download Here

If you are looking for a clean and creative business presentation look no further than the Probrand template. Probrand features 58 slides and comes with 4 different color themes. I would say the best part about this template is that many of the slides have a strong “sleek factor” to them, which almost makes the slides come across as “edgy.” This type of template would go great with any technology related presentations.

A few other important mentions:

16:9 format only

4 different color themes

Available in both PowerPoint and Keynote

Uses Oswald font

Download Here

Our team of Panda’s felt a strong yearning to create our own MAGICAL template that could take your presentations to the next level.

So after many a day and night of diligent work, many cups of coffee, and a veritable landfill’s worth of trash bins overflowing with scrapped designs, we have finally developed a professional presentation template that truly rocks!

A lot of love and tender care went into making each and every slide and we developed 200 UNIQUE slides for you to pick and choose from!! The possibilities are endless!

There are so many awesome features with this template including tons of sleek graphics and images, a clickable (choose your own adventure) “prezi like” table of contents, sleek animations and transitions, parallax scrolling, over 500 modern icons, beyond beautiful layouts, and much much more!

We get excited just thinking about it!

Download Here

Grid is another best-selling template with over 2,000 downloads to date. It features 32 modern yet minimalist slides, which leaves the slides feeling clean and uncluttered. It has a simple color scheme (blue and white), but you can choose among 6 other color options. With the Grid template your information will be displayed in a straightforward manner. The template is also a bit more conservative. Therefore, if you know your audience leans on the conservative (i.e., less edgy) side this template might be a great fit.

A few other important mentions:

4:3 and 16:9 format

There are custom animated pages included

Features a combination of Arial and Bebas Neue fonts (one of Presentation Panda’s favorite fonts)

Available in PowerPoint only

Download Here

Motagua is a sexy template that will enchant your audience with its clean and elegant design. Beyond its sleek looks, it’s easy to change colors and modify shapes, texts, and charts.

Motagua is a steal considering it provides over 400 unique and fresh slides! The presentation template has a “corporate” look to it, an excellent choice for marketing presentations. Lastly, it contains a large number of graphics, stock photography, and custom illustrations which makes it stand out from all the rest. Motagua has that “universal classiness” that fits well for all presentations.

A few other important mentions:

4:3 and 16:9 format

60 different color themes

Available in both PowerPoint and Keynote

Download Here

Corporate is a clean and modern looking template with plenty of ready to use vector graphics, infographics, charts, tables, diagrams, maps and more. Almost all of the graphics follow a “flat” design style, and few are 3D. There are 119 slides included so there is plenty to pick and choose from here!

A few other important mentions:

4:3 and 16:9 format

22 different color themes

Available in both PowerPoint and Keynote

Uses Roboto font

Download Here

The Retro presentation template may not have the “corporate” look that some of the other templates have, but it does have a certain uniqueness that makes it stand out. As the name suggests, all the slides have a “retro” look and feel, which puts a smile on many people’s faces. Who doesn’t love the retro look these days?!?

The Retro template comes with 21 slides, and all of them are extra easy to edit. This cool looking PowerPoint template might be exactly what you need to make a strong impression.

A few other important mentions:

16:9 format only

4 different color themes

Uses Seaside Resort font

Download Here

The Premium International template is nothing short of premium. It features 56 uniquely designed slides that were created with full vector objects to allow for easy recoloring and rebranding.

What’s notable about this template is that it includes a lot of graphics that are layered on top of stock images which gives it a clean and modern look. On top of that, all the charts and diagrams have a simple look to them which makes them easy to scan.

Lastly, if you need to show maps in your presentation, this template has plenty of them!

A few other important mentions:

4:3 and 16:9 format

7 different color themes

Available in PowerPoint only

The images in the presentation are not included (due to copyright restrictions)

Uses Helvetica Light font (already installed on most computers)

Download Here

Similar to the “Grid” PowerPoint template, the Business Plan template has a minimal look that will go well with all types of presentations. The slides are clean and simple looking, which allows it to be used in many different industries. For example, this presentation could be used for real estate market review as much as it could be used for education and training.

If you’re looking to make a strong professional impact, go with this PowerPoint template. It has a very clean, formal look that is perfect for your next big presentation.

A few other important mentions:

4:3 and 16:9 format

3 different color themes

Available in PowerPoint only

Uses Calibri (already installed on most computers) and Open Sans

Download Here

The Zero template features over 200 slides of handcrafted awesomeness.

It features a bold color scheme (6 colors) that allows you to present a data-heavy talk in a way that is colorful and interesting.

The template also features a nice combination of flat and 3D diagrams. I typically recommend staying away from 3D in presentations (especially for charts), but the occasional 3D diagram can stand out as long as the information within the diagram is easy to scan.

Note: When deciding between flat design or 3D design just make sure your slides look consistent. Too much switching back-and-forth between the two styles can be distracting.

A few other important mentions:

The template comes in both 4:3 and 16:9 format

There are 7 color themes to choose from

There are custom animated pages built into the template. If you don’t want the animations you can always remove them.

Uses Lato font

Download Here

The Ever template packs a lot of color and unique looking illustrations to keep your audience entertained. This unique PowerPoint template features 200 slides which can be used across a wide range of businesses. Probably the coolest part about this PowerPoint template is the fact that many of the slides have been designed in a Prezi like format where the slide design continuously bleeds onto the next slide (creating a seamless transition to the next slide).

A few other important mentions:

4:3 and 16:9 format

60 different color themes

Available in both PowerPoint and Keynote

Uses Calibri Nevis Raleway and Source Sans Pro fonts

Download Here

Conclusion

Most of the PowerPoint templates available on the internet are pretty lousy. Fortunately, there are some good resources available for finding good ones such as Graphic River.

If you really want to make your PowerPoint presentation stand out from all the rest, then a professionally designed PowerPoint Template from Graphic River is essential.

Furthermore, downloading a pre-designed PowerPoint template can SAVE YOU A DECENT AMOUNT OF TIME when designing your presentation.

I hope you’ve found these PowerPoint templates helpful in terms of understanding what a good template looks like. As mentioned earlier, all the templates here are available for download on the Graphic River website.

Regardless of whether you are going to download a pre-designed PowerPoint template or make your own keep in mind that your presentation’s design needs to be SIMPLE. In other words, the template should not distract the audience in any way. Here are three important things to keep in mind:

Consistency is key. Make sure all of your colors, fonts, font sizes, and graphical treatment stays consistent throughout the entire slide deck.

Delete or hide distracting elements that are not essential to the key point you are making on the slide.

Less is more. Enough said!

Here is my question for you …

Which of the templates mentioned in this post do you like the most?

Sound off in your comments below… And please remember to be specific as possible.

Also, do you have a friend that is currently creating a new presentation and could benefit from learning about these cool looking PowerPoint templates? If so, send them a link to this blog post right now. I’m sure, they will return the favor to you one day!

Finally, if you enjoyed reading this post, please remember to like and share using the sharing icons to the left.

Hungry for information on how to create awesome PowerPoint templates? Here are a few suggested posts:

SLIDEDOC PowerPoint Templates by Nancy Duarte … A Game Changer?

5 Tips For Designing A PowerPoint Template That Doesn’t Suck