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A PowerPoint design course teaches your staff to build clear, professional, on-brand slides, covering layout, visual hierarchy, charts, slide masters, branding and delivery, not just where the buttons are. At BOTI these design skills are taught in our PowerPoint courses, part of the Microsoft Office and computer skills training courses, and can be tailored to your brand for in-house groups. BOTI does not run a separate course called “PowerPoint design”. The closest match is Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners to Advanced (2 days).
Courses on this topic at BOTI today
- Microsoft PowerPoint Advanced (1 day)
- Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners to Advanced (2 days)
- Professional Presentations Course (2 days)
At your offices anywhere in South Africa, live online or at a BOTI venue.
See all Microsoft Office and Computer Skills coursesGet a quote for your teamLearning on your own? Self-paced e-learning from R595 (excl. VAT) · Ask your employer to pay
This article is for HR or L&D leads, business owners and department managers whose teams pitch to clients, report to the board or present internally, and whose slides let them down. It covers what the training teaches, who it suits, how it is delivered, the accreditation position, and how the spend fits into your skills-development planning. You can request a quote for your team at any time.
The business problem: your slides are working against you
In most South African organisations, everyone can open PowerPoint, but few people have been taught to design a slide. The result is a familiar and costly pattern:
- Walls of text that the presenter reads aloud while the audience tunes out.
- Cluttered, inconsistent layouts that make a capable team look amateur in front of clients.
- Unreadable charts that hide the very number the slide exists to make.
- Off-brand decks where every department uses different fonts, colours and logos.
Each weak deck has a real cost. A muddled pitch can lose the deal, a confusing board report erodes confidence, and a sales presentation that buries the value proposition wastes the meeting you worked to get. Knowing the software is not the same as designing with it.
PowerPoint design training closes that gap. It teaches the design principles, structure and software techniques that turn raw information into a clear, persuasive deck, so your team’s ideas land and your brand looks consistent.
Who this course is for
This is corporate training for organisations developing their own staff and teams:
- Sales and business-development teams who pitch to clients and need decks that hold attention.
- Managers and executives who present to the board, exco or staff and want their message to carry.
- Marketing, communications and bid teams producing client-facing and tender presentations on brand.
- Finance, operations and project teams turning data and reports into slides a non-specialist can follow.
- Administrators and EAs who build decks for leadership and need them right the first time.
No design background is required. The training assumes basic familiarity with PowerPoint, then focuses on the design and communication skills most users never learn. It suits beginners building good habits and experienced users who want to work to a professional standard. Complete beginners can start with Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners (1 day).
What the PowerPoint design course covers
The training is hands-on: delegates rebuild and improve real slides on their own laptops, working from your content where possible. A typical outline:
| Module | What your team learns |
|---|---|
| 1. Design principles for slides | The fundamentals (contrast, alignment, white space and consistency) that separate professional decks from amateur ones. |
| 2. Visual hierarchy and layout | Guiding the eye to the one thing that matters on each slide, using size, position and emphasis. |
| 3. Less text, more impact | Replacing paragraphs with headlines, key points and visuals so the slide supports the speaker instead of competing with them. |
| 4. Colour, fonts and branding | Building an on-brand look (corporate palette, font pairing and logo use) that stays consistent across the team. |
| 5. Slide masters and templates | Setting up reusable templates and master slides so decks are fast to build and uniform by default. |
| 6. Charts and data visualisation | Turning numbers into clear, honest charts that make the point at a glance, and stripping out the clutter that hides it. |
| 7. Images, icons and SmartArt | Using visuals, icons and diagrams professionally, at the right resolution and without cliché. |
| 8. Animation and transitions | Purposeful, subtle motion that aids understanding instead of distracting from it. |
| 9. Delivering with confidence | Presenter view, notes, pacing and handling the room so the design works live. |
For in-house bookings, the outline is tailored to your sector, your brand guidelines and the presentations your team builds: pitch decks, board reports, training material or tender submissions. Delegates leave with improved versions of slides already on their desks. Teams that already know the basics can focus on templates, masters and advanced features in Microsoft PowerPoint Advanced (1 day).
Want this scoped to your team and your brand? Phone 011 882 8853 or use the BOTI booking page. You can also ask BOTI to help you set out simple layout, colour and chart rules that your team can apply to every deck.
Why slide design is a high-return skill to train
Presentation design looks like a soft skill, but the return is concrete:
- It protects revenue. Client-facing pitches and tenders are won and lost on clarity and credibility, and the deck is the first thing the buyer judges.
- It saves time. A team working from proper templates and master slides builds decks faster and spends less time reformatting.
- It scales. One trained group sets a standard the whole organisation can follow, so every department’s slides look as if they come from the same company.
- It carries over. The same principles improve reports, proposals and internal communication, not just slideshows.
Design is only half of a strong presentation. For the speaking side, the Professional Presentations Course (2 days) works on structure, voice and handling questions.
Delivery formats
You choose the format that fits your team:
- In-house at your premises, built around your own brand, templates and real decks.
- At BOTI’s venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, for teams that prefer to train away from interruptions.
- Live online with a facilitator. This suits distributed and multi-branch teams, is fully hands-on and involves no travel.
Because in-house and online sessions can run for any location, head-office and branch teams can reach the same standard.
Accreditation
BOTI (Business Optimization Training Institute) is a QCTO-accredited Skills Development Provider and a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor. Its PowerPoint courses are practical professional skills programmes, and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance. Attendance is documented cleanly so the training can be recorded in your Annual Training Report (ATR).
Note: the National Certificate: IT End User Computing (SAQA ID 61591) closed to new learners on 30 June 2026.[1] Only learners already enrolled may complete it. BOTI has applied to the QCTO for accreditation of the End User Computing skills programmes (Basic, Intermediate and Advanced). Enrolment opens only once that accreditation is confirmed. You can register interest on the Basic End User Computing skills programme page.
Funding: skills development budget and B-BBEE
Spend on PowerPoint and Microsoft Office training can support your compliance and transformation planning as well as team capability. As general guidance only:
- The Skills Development Levy (SDL) is 1% of the leviable amount (total remuneration). Employers whose leviable amount over the next 12 months will not exceed R500,000 are exempt.[2]
- Training delivered to your staff is captured in your Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR). The mandatory grant, 20% of levies paid, is paid back when the WSP/ATR is submitted by 30 April and your levies are up to date.[3]
- Under the generic B-BBEE Codes, the skills-development target is measured against the leviable amount, not payroll. The overall target is 6%: 3.5% on learning programmes for black people and 2.5% on bursaries for black students at higher education institutions.[4] Sector codes may differ, and no particular score is guaranteed.
For tender readiness, public procurement still runs under the PFMA, the MFMA, the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act and the Preferential Procurement Regulations, 2022, which score “specific goals” set by each organ of state. The Public Procurement Act 28 of 2024 never came into force. On 17 September 2026 the Constitutional Court declared it invalid.[5] Parliament may pass a new procurement law. A clean training record supports both your scorecard and your bid documentation. This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Confirm the specifics with your SETA, Skills Development Facilitator or B-BBEE verification professional.
Why BOTI
BOTI offers 450 courses, and its clients include Sasol, Glencore and the City of Johannesburg. We deliver practical training for whole teams, in-house, at our venue or live online, focused on skills your people can use the next morning.
PowerPoint design often fits alongside related Microsoft Office and communication training:
- Microsoft Office All-in-One: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote: a 5-day course covering the core Office applications for whole teams.
- Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners to Advanced: broader PowerPoint skills from the basics through to advanced features.
- Excel training courses: for the data and charts your team brings into its presentations.
- Report Writing Course: to sharpen the message before it reaches a slide.
- Corporate training programmes and short courses: group delivery built around your own brand and decks, with clean attendance records.
Not sure where to start? Our team can map a learning path from PowerPoint design through to wider Microsoft Office and data skills to fit your structure.
Frequently asked questions
What is a PowerPoint design course?
A PowerPoint design course teaches staff how to build clear, professional, on-brand presentations. It covers design principles such as visual hierarchy, layout and white space, plus practical techniques for templates, slide masters, charts, images, branding and delivery. The focus is on communicating a message so slides support the presenter. At BOTI these topics are taught in the Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners to Advanced and Microsoft PowerPoint Advanced courses, using your team’s real decks where possible.
Who should attend a PowerPoint design course?
Anyone in your organisation who builds or presents slides. That includes sales and bid teams pitching to clients, managers and executives presenting to the board or staff, marketing and communications teams producing client-facing decks, and administrators or EAs who prepare presentations for leadership. It works for beginners and for experienced users who want a professional standard.
Can a PowerPoint design course be run in-house and tailored to our brand?
Yes. BOTI runs training in-house at your premises, at its venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or live online for distributed teams. In-house bookings are tailored to your brand guidelines, templates and the presentations your team actually builds, so delegates leave with improved versions of decks already in use.
Do delegates need PowerPoint experience before attending?
Basic familiarity with PowerPoint helps, but no design background is required. Tell BOTI your team’s starting point and it will recommend the right level, from Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners for new users to Microsoft PowerPoint Advanced for experienced users.
Is the PowerPoint design course accredited?
No. BOTI’s PowerPoint courses are practical professional skills programmes, and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance. The training can still be recorded in your Workplace Skills Plan and Annual Training Report.
Request a quote
Stop letting cluttered slides undersell good ideas. The BOTI course for this topic is Microsoft PowerPoint Beginners to Advanced, which in-house groups can tailor around slide design and their own brand. Request a quote and a BOTI consultant will scope the programme around your team, brand, group size and delivery format. Call BOTI on 011 882 8853 or email [email protected]. Training runs in-house at your premises, at BOTI’s venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or live online. This course is not accredited. It is delivered as a professional skills programme, and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Sources
- National Certificate: Information Technology: End User Computing (SAQA ID 61591) – SAQA, 2026.
- Skills Development Levy – South African Revenue Service (SARS), 2026.
- Mandatory Grants – Health and Welfare SETA (HWSETA), 2026.
- Codes of Good Practice on B-BBEE: Code Series 300, Statement 300 – Skills Development (Government Gazette 42496) – Department of Trade and Industry, 31 May 2019.
- Godongwana notes Constitutional Court judgment on Public Procurement Act – SAnews (South African Government News Agency), 18 September 2026.