Create a design template

Start with a blank presentation or a presentation based on a design template that is close to the desired appearance.

Switch to the Slide Master view and configure the color schemes, background, and placeholders. Repeat on the Title Master view.

Add other objects (e.g. logos, etc.) to the masters. Right-click each object, choose Order and choose the appropriate layer, e.g. Send to Back.

If you want the design template to contain multiple masters, insert and customize additional slide-title master pairs. You will want to be sure to preserve the masters, so that they are not automatically deleted if no slides are using the template.

Sometimes, you might want boilerplate slides in a templates, that is slides that are configured and formatted for a specific purpose. If so, create those slides now.

At this point, the presentation should be more or less complete.

Click the Color/Grayscale button and choose Grayscale. Look at each master and each slide and, if the appearance is not satisfactory, right-click the object, point to Black and White, then experiment with options to find the most desirable effect.

Delete any unnecessary slides. In many cases, you will delete all slides, so that your template includes only the masters. The formatting and layout of the presentation will then reflect what you configured on the masters. If you created boilerplate slides, then those slides should not be deleted.

Switch to Normal view.

If you did not have boilerplate slides, you will have deleted all slides and at this point, an empty slide will appear. This is correct.

Choose File → Save As.

In the Save as type list, select Design template (*.pot).