The judges saw some great template ideas in this contest, and after reviewing the entries had a few quick tips for template authors that could take their templates to the next level.

Use Themes

Consider using theme colors to format more of the content so that others can easily customize the template by changing the color scheme. To learn about working with themes, check out this demo: Add colors, fonts, and effects with PowerPoint 2007 themes.

Use Custom Placeholders

You might also want to create the text and picture elements using custom placeholders on the slide layout rather than using standard text boxes and pictures. For example, if you use picture placeholders for the image buttons, others can easily replace the image without changing the button shape. For help using custom placeholders, see the article Add one or more content placeholders to a layout.