Concept Map About PowerPoint: Concepts, Links and Example

Published October 16, 2026 · Updated October 16, 2026 · 7 min read · by the Sakura5 team

A concept map about PowerPoint puts “Microsoft PowerPoint” at the top and links it to five or six core concepts — presentations, slides, content, design, animation, and delivery — with a labelled arrow on every line, so each connection reads as a sentence: “PowerPoint creates presentations,” “presentations are made of slides,” “slides hold text, images and charts.” Those linking words are what make it a concept map rather than a list of features.

This is a common assignment in computer studies and ICT classes, and it is also a useful exercise for anyone training staff on the software. Most submissions lose marks for the same reason: they look like a menu tree, with Home, Insert and Design boxes hanging off the centre and no explanation of how anything relates to anything else.

Below: why the menu-tree approach fails, the concepts and linking phrases worth using, a step-by-step build, a timed worked example for a Year 9 assignment, how to draw the finished map inside PowerPoint itself, and answers to the questions teachers get asked most.

Why a menu tree is not a concept map

The easiest way to start is to open PowerPoint and copy the ribbon tabs onto paper: File, Home, Insert, Design, Transitions, Animations, Slide Show, Review, View. It feels thorough. It is actually a map of the interface, and it answers the wrong question. A concept map is supposed to show what the software is for and how its ideas depend on each other.

Three problems show up in nearly every menu-tree map:

• No propositions. A line from “Insert” to “Picture” says nothing. A line labelled “adds” from “slide” to “image” says something you can check.
• Mixed categories. Tabs, tools and outcomes end up at the same level, so “Design tab” sits next to “audience” as if they were the same kind of thing.
• No cross-links. The interesting part of PowerPoint is how pieces interact — a theme controls fonts on every slide, speaker notes support delivery, not the screen. A tree cannot show that.

Joseph Novak, who developed concept mapping, describes the method as concepts joined by linking words to form propositions, arranged from general to specific, with cross-links between branches as the sign of real understanding. His guide, The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct Them, is the reference most teachers mark against. If the difference between the two formats is fuzzy, our comparison of concept maps and mind maps covers it in detail.

The concepts and links worth putting on the map

Start with a focus question, because it decides what belongs. For most assignments it is some version of “What is PowerPoint and how does it help someone communicate?” Then work from general to specific.

• Top concept: Microsoft PowerPoint.
• First level: presentation, slides, content, design, animation, delivery.
• Second level: slide layouts and slide master under slides; text, images, charts, video and SmartArt under content; themes, fonts and colours under design; transitions and animations under animation; Slide Show mode, Presenter View and speaker notes under delivery.
• Endpoint: audience. Almost everything eventually points here, which is the point of the software.

Good linking phrases are short verbs: creates, is made of, controls, adds, moves between, guides, is shown to. If you cannot think of a verb for a line, the two concepts probably should not be connected.

How to build a concept map about PowerPoint

1. Write the focus question at the top

One sentence, above the map. Every concept you add should help answer it. “Recording a slideshow as a video” is a real feature, but if the question is about communicating with a live audience, it can stay off.

2. List concepts before drawing anything

Write fifteen to twenty nouns on a scrap page. Nouns, not verbs and not menu names: “transition,” not “Transitions tab.” Then rank them from most general to most specific. This ranked list becomes your layout.

3. Place the general concepts first

PowerPoint at the top, the six first-level concepts in a row beneath it, specifics below those. Leave space between columns — you will need it for cross-links later.

4. Label every line

Draw arrows and write a linking word on each one before adding more concepts. Read each proposition aloud. “Slide master controls slide layouts” is true and useful. “Design has themes” is true but lazy; “themes set fonts and colours for every slide” says more.

5. Add at least three cross-links

Look for concepts on different branches that affect each other. Speaker notes (delivery) are written beside slides. Animation can distract the audience. Charts (content) inherit colours from the theme (design). Cross-links are where the marks are.

A worked example: Year 9 ICT, 25 minutes

Amira has a homework task: a concept map about PowerPoint, A4 landscape, due Monday. The rubric awards marks for hierarchy, labelled links and cross-links. She has 25 minutes on Sunday evening. Timed, this is what it looks like.

Minutes 0–5: draft the hierarchy. Rather than staring at a blank page, she types “Microsoft PowerPoint — concepts for a beginner” into Mindmap AI and gets a first-draft map. It comes back with branches for creating slides, adding content, design, animations, presenting and sharing. She deletes “sharing” because her focus question is about presenting to a class, and renames “creating slides” to “slides.” Five first-level concepts.

Minutes 5–10: fill the thin branch. Presenting has only two nodes. She taps it, asks the app to expand it, and keeps Presenter View and speaker notes, dropping two she cannot explain in her own words. She asks it to explain Presenter View on the map, reads the answer, and rewrites the node as “Presenter View: notes only you see.”

Minutes 10–12: check the order. She switches to outline view and reads the map top to bottom as a collapsible list. Eighteen concepts total. Animation and transitions are under two different branches; she merges them under “animation.”

Minutes 12–22: draw it with links. The app gives her a mind map, which has no labelled links, so this is where the concept map actually gets made. On paper she copies the hierarchy and writes a verb on every line: 17 linking phrases. Then she adds three cross-links — theme styles charts, speaker notes support delivery, too much animation distracts the audience.

Minutes 22–25: read every proposition aloud. Two fail: “slides is content” becomes “slides hold content,” and a line from “design” to “audience” gets the label “keeps attention of.” Done, with a structure she can defend if the teacher asks about it.

The split matters: the AI draft saved her the blank-page problem, but the linking words and cross-links — the part the rubric grades — were her own thinking.

Drawing the finished map inside PowerPoint

Plenty of teachers ask for the concept map to be made in PowerPoint, which neatly doubles as practice with the software. SmartArt is the wrong tool here: its hierarchy layouts cannot carry labels on lines or draw cross-links. Use shapes instead.

1. Set the slide to 16:9 or A4 under Design > Slide Size, depending on how it will be submitted.
2. Insert a rounded rectangle for each concept. Format one, then use Format Painter so the rest match.
3. Join concepts with Elbow Arrow Connectors from Insert > Shapes. Let them snap to the shape’s connection points so they follow when you move boxes.
4. Add a small text box on each arrow for the linking word. Use italics so links read differently from concepts.
5. Draw cross-links in a dashed line style so they stand out from the main hierarchy.

Keep concept text at 14 pt or larger. If eighteen concepts will not fit, that is a sign the map needs trimming, not smaller fonts. The same shape-and-connector technique is covered step by step in our guide to making a spider diagram in PowerPoint.

FAQ

What should be the main concepts in a concept map about PowerPoint?

Use PowerPoint as the top concept and five or six first-level ideas: presentation, slides, content, design, animation and delivery. Put specific features such as slide master, themes, transitions, charts and Presenter View beneath them, and finish with the audience as the concept most links point toward. Avoid using ribbon tab names as concepts.

What linking words should I use?

Short verbs that make each line a readable sentence: creates, is made of, contains, controls, sets, adds, moves between, supports and is shown to. Read every proposition aloud. If it does not make a true statement, change the verb or remove the line. Every connection on a concept map needs a label.

Can I make a concept map with a mind map app?

You can use one for the drafting stage. A mind map app like Mindmap AI is quick for building and reorganising the hierarchy, and Pro can generate a first draft from a topic. It will not label links or draw cross-links, so add those yourself on paper or in PowerPoint once the structure is settled.

How many concepts should the map have?

Fifteen to twenty concepts is a comfortable range for a single page or slide. Fewer than ten usually means the map is missing a level of detail; more than twenty-five usually means feature names have crept in. Aim for at least three cross-links between different branches, since those show understanding most clearly.

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