Instead, why not start with a blank page and then let your creativity dictate what belongs on the page? Aside from perhaps your contents and summary slides, you should aim to have no more than one icon per slide – just as you’d have no more than one image per slide. There’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t feel constrained by these default settings. By default, PowerPoint expects you to use bullet points, which is why it appends them to all new slides. Now we’re onto your slideshow proper and, whaddya know, there’s scope for more icons. Instead of filling an entire page with dense text, how about tiling it with half a dozen large and colourful icons (preferably from the same set, so that it looks cohesive)? We’ll wager that a handful of distinctive icons would be far more visual and memorable than the same number of drab bullet points. Next up, you might have a contents page if your slideshow is extensive. A super-sized icon could take the place of text or imagery, or at the very least accompany it, crystallising your topic in the minds of all present. Icons can have a multitude of uses in a PowerPoint presentation, with the very first instance where you could justifiably using one being your title slide. Of course, icons and images aren’t mutually exclusive by all means use them alongside one another or interchangeably if the setting calls for it.

Icons cut through the clutter, representing the same concept but without all the game show host smiles and team leaders high fiving each other around the whiteboard. Stock photos can run the risk of being seen as cheesy and inauthentic. It’s easy to see how powerful icons can be and their potential for visually summarising key points in your slideshow. Why the fascination with icons? Because an icon takes a concept, sometimes an extremely abstract or complex concept – planet earth cloud computing – and distills it down to a single colour shape. How to use icons in your PowerPoint presentation Great looking icons are, well, iconic but you still need to be smart about when and where you use them in your presentation.

Otherwise, you and your audience will rapidly get sick of them. But like being given the keys to a sweet shop, you’ll need to exercise self-control. There’s an icon for everything and there are seemingly few situations where icons can’t be used. Icons to demonstrate that you’re a proud Linux user and would like the world to know about it. Icons to represent that you thumbs up something. Icons to represent that you heart something. They cling to every website you visit and they stare back at you from every app you scroll past on your smartphone. Read on to learn how to use and where to find free icons for PowerPoint presentations. They’ll enhance your message, bolster your branding and add loads of style points. Add a dash of flair to your next PowerPoint presentation by using icons.

Powerpoint icons