You may have heard that PowerPoint animations are best to avoid. Thats not without good reason, as weve all sat through presentations that included too many animations that threaten to give the audience motion sickness!

Building great PowerPoint animations is about creating a sense of flow in your presentation. The goal of using animations is to smoothly introduce content in a sequence thats visually appealing to audiences. PowerPoint animations that bring content together in a logical method are more impactful to an audience than non-animated versions.

PowerPoint is a powerful supporting tool for speakers when you use its features. And its even more potent when you use simple and complementary transitions. In this round-up piece, youll see top tips for PowerPoint animations, and templates that help you bypass the work of creating animations from scratch.

The Best Tips to Use Animations in PowerPoint

Animations have something of a bad reputation when it comes to PowerPoint presentations. They certainly have the potential to be abused, with so many objects flying around a slide that they detract from your slide content.

But when you know how to use animations, they can be one of the most powerful presentation tools to support your speaking. To use PowerPoint animations correctly, stick to these three principles while designing your next presentation:

• Use animations to reveal a key point – great presentations feature a “punchline” that youll unveil after sharing the supporting ideas. Use animations to bring those ideas onto the slide canvas while introducing them with a speaking point.
• Use simple animations – PowerPoint has a variety of animations, and theyre not all created equally. Generally, its best to use simple animations like fades or dissolves and avoid the more bombastic animations like spins and star effects that serve as a distraction.
• Use fewer animations – when it comes to PowerPoint animations, the secret is to use them sparingly. Remember, the purpose of a presentation is to capture and hold your audiences attention. With too many moving objects, your audience wont know where to focus and will quickly tune out.

Follow these three principles and youre on your way to building an animated PowerPoint presentation that stands out from its static counterparts. Now, lets look at templates that already have the animations built for you.

10 PowerPoint Templates with Advanced Animations

Luckily, building these PowerPoint animations doesnt have to be hard. By using a template that is pre-animated, you wont waste your time adding and re-sequencing animations from PowerPoints menu. Using an animated PowerPoint template frees up time to focus on your content and prepare for the speaking engagement instead.

The best part of these animated PPT templates is that they go above-and-beyond PowerPoints built-in animations. Graphic and motion designers built these templates by layering PowerPoints animation together into something far better than any of Microsofts animations.

1. Alaska Presentation

Alaska is the perfect example of using PowerPoint animations to add tasteful motion to your next presentation. With clean, minimal design, this multipurpose animated PPT template is the ideal choice for an upbeat presentation. Featuring 70+ unique slides, you have plenty of flexibility to re-use this presentation on future deck for branding consistency.

2. Lite

Custom animations far exceed PowerPoints native options, and the LITE template is an excellent example of how to implement them. For a well-polished presentation, the creative, simple design of this animated PPT template makes it an excellent choice. Each objects animation is totally customizable, and this PowerPoint template includes illustrations, gallery and portfolio slides, price list, and device mockups to show your ideas in action.

3. Creative Project PowerPoint Template

This animated PowerPoint template shines in any setting, whether your presentation is in front of your colleagues at the office, or in front of a crowd at a speaking engagement. The animations in this PowerPoint presentation template strike the balance between eye-catching and complementary to the content. Use it to make an impact with motion in your next PowerPoint presentation.

4. Socran

If your presentation needs a bit of smooth animation to spice up your content, Socran might just be the best fit. This animated PowerPoint template will help you attract your audience and keep them engaged with your stories and ideas. Socran is the ideal implementation of using animation to focus on crucial points so that your content takes center stage. The easily editable format of this template is great for beginners, thanks to its easy-to-customize animation steps.

5. Anime

Anime is the best PowerPoint template for when each part of your message needs to capture your audience’s attention. This modern, well designed animated PPT template features 150+ total slides with 5 premade colors, and over 30 customized slide designs, each with their own unique slide animations.

6. Lander

Set your ideas in motion with Lander and its custom animations. This animated PowerPoint template makes for an interactive and stylish presentation. Lander will fit in a variety of settings, featuring 22 premade colors and bright and dark layouts that would be suitable for creative careers and startups. This simple to use animated PPT template will help you deliver your content with a sense of motion that captivates an audience.

7. The Fashion Powerpoint

Fast fashion dominates the industry, and it shows that consumer attention spans have never been shorter. Its no wonder that an advanced template like this one with slick animations is built to capitalize on trends. This animated PPT template includes animation for each object and transition effects for each slide, as well as easily editable object vector shapes. Also included are slides for your company profile, a lookbook, and charts and graphs editable in Excel.

8. Business Animate Powerpoint Presentation

Looking for a fun and creative animated PPT template to keep your audience engaged with your presentation? The Business Animate PowerPoint Presentation template is the one for you. Simple, easy to edit, and fully animated, this PowerPoint template is one of the leading choices for your next business presentation. Use the animations to draw attention to your top business points and capture the audience.

9. Serikat

If you want a template that uses custom animations, Serikat is one of the best ways to add animations that your audience has surely never seen in PowerPoint. Your inspiring ideas are put in motion with the ready-made, cool presentation slide animations in Serikat. This animated PowerPoint presentation will drive an interactive slideshow presented with style and clarity through its 40 unique slides and multiple style options. Each slide tells your story with your branding in mind.

10. Kiran

Animation doesnt have to compete with minimalist design principles, and thats illustrated with a template like Kiran. Its an ideal PowerPoint template for those introducing, promoting, and marketing a product or event. This animated PowerPoint template includes 46 slides, each with custom-sequenced animations that are easy to customize. The animation and transitions in this lookbook/magazine style PPT template make this an excellent choice for your presentation.

How to Use Animated PowerPoint Templates (and Where to Download Them)

If youre accustomed to using PowerPoint for presentations, youre likely familiar with the built-in animation options. Its pretty easy to select an object, add an animation, and stage it onto the slide.

But these animations arent the only way that you can create motion in your presentation. The templates in the featured section above have advanced animations that go above and beyond PowerPoints built-in options. Thats because theyre built by PowerPoint pros that spend time meticulously sequencing together animations to create eye-catching effects.

All of the advanced PowerPoint templates that you saw in this round-up are available via Envato Elements, an all-you-can-download subscription service that features thousands of PowerPoint templates. With a single subscription to Elements, you can sample and use as many PowerPoint presentation templates as you need.

Animated PowerPoint templates feature far more fluid effects than you can build yourself with PowerPoints built-in animation options.

The beauty of using a PowerPoint template is that it doesnt compete with creativity. You can use the template as a starting point, but customize it to match your presentation concept. Just open the template, add your ideas in the placeholder boxes, and you can quickly create an attractive animated PowerPoint presentation.

For presenters, Elements includes many extras that can make your next slide deck a success. Not only do you have access to thousands of PowerPoint templates, but youll also unlock content that complements your slides, like stock photos, graphics, icons, and more.

Remember: animations should serve to highlight your most important content. When used properly, you can use them to animate ideas at pivotal moments to drive your point to an audience. Use them sparingly and on your most important details, and your finished presentation is sure to capture the crowd.