How To Create PowerPoint Presentations

Independent consultants frequently ask how to create PowerPoint presentations. This resource includes PowerPoint templates and themes that you can download and customize.

We’ve also included hundreds of examples of various types of PowerPoint presentation slides — including bar charts, pie charts, scatter plots, data maps, concepts, and more — used by major consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, and BCG, as well as other companies.

Function: Structural Components

The following PowerPoint presentation slides provide basic organizational structure to the presentation.

Section divider

Elements slide

Icons

Function: Text

The following PowerPoint presentation slides function to convey information through text.

Executive summary

Table of words

Description slide

Statements slide

Key points diagram

Table of words

Features list

Quotes slide

SWOT analysis

Checklist

Four categories

Problem-solving checklist

Problem statement

Problem definition worksheet

Stakeholder analysis

Word cloud

Statistics table

Function: Quantitative Information

The following PowerPoint presentation slides are those that express quantitative data that can be counted or measured in numerical values.

Bar Charts

A bar chart displays rectangular bars, usually horizontally. Subtypes include: Clustered Bar (comparing two or more data points within each category), Stacked Bar (Bar is divided up into two or more components), or 100% Stacked Bar (each bar represents 100%).

Below you will find our PowerPoint templates of bar charts that you can customize for your use. Click on any chart image to go to a page with the full-size template download and examples of how that chart has been used by others.

Simple bar chart

Stacked bar chart

100% stacked bar chart

Clustered bar chart

Waterfall bar chart

Bar chart with words

Column Charts

Data that’s arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in a column chart. A column chart typically displays categories along the horizontal (category) axis and values along the vertical (value) axis. .

Below you will find our PowerPoint templates of column charts that you can customize for your use. Click on any chart image to go to a page with the full-size template download and examples of how that chart has been used by others.

Simple column chart

Stacked column chart

100% stacked column chart

Clustered column chart

Waterfall column chart

Vertical dot chart

Grouped column chart

Multiple column chart

Pyramid column chart

Combination chart

Mekko chart

Density chart

Population pyramid

Heat map

Percentage breakdown

Histogram

Line charts

Data that’s arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in a line chart. In a line chart, category data is distributed evenly along the horizontal axis, and all value data is distributed evenly along the vertical axis.

Below you will find our PowerPoint templates of line charts that you can customize for your use. Click on any chart image to go to a page with the full-size template download and examples of how that chart has been used by others.

Growth curve line chart

Vertical line chart

Data over time line chart

Peak line chart

Arrow line chart

Multiple line chart

Evolution line chart

Radial line chart

Line chart

Pie charts

A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice is proportional to the quantity it represents.

Below you will find our PowerPoint templates of pie charts that you can customize for your use. Click on any chart image to go to a page with the full-size template download and examples of how that chart has been used by others.

Simple pie chart

Doughnut chart

Multiple doughnut chart

Harvey ball slide

Wheel chart

Area charts

Data that’s arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in an area chart. Area charts can be used to plot change over time and draw attention to the total value across a trend. By showing the sum of the plotted values, an area chart also shows the relationship of parts to a whole.

Below you will find our PowerPoint templates of area charts that you can customize for your use. Click on any chart image to go to a page with the full-size template download and examples of how that chart has been used by others.

Simple area chart

Proportional area chart

Rectangle area chart

Scatter charts

A scatter chart has two value axes: a horizontal (x) and a vertical (y) value axis. It combines x and y values into single data points and shows them in irregular intervals, or clusters. Scatter charts are typically used for showing and comparing numeric values, like scientific, statistical, and engineering data.

Below you will find our PowerPoint templates of scatter charts that you can customize for your use. Click on any chart image to go to a page with the full-size template download and examples of how that chart has been used by others.