Create a Concept Map in PowerPoint

It’s estimated that 65 percent of humans are visual learners. That goes without saying that it is often easier to explain complicated concepts with visual aids than text. That’s where a concept map comes into play. In this Slidesgo School tutorial, we’ll teach you how to make a concept map in PowerPoint.

During a presentation, you only have a limited amount of time to capture and maintain your audience’s attention, and complicated ideas can be difficult to explain. Concept maps help to visualize information, making it easier to consume. In simple terms, concept maps are diagrams that portray the relationships between various ideas.

Creating the Main Concept or Idea

• Open your PowerPoint presentation.
• Navigate to the slide where you want to create the concept map.
• Select “Oval” from the Drawing section and drag it to create a circle that will represent the main idea of your concept map. For proper alignment and placement, use the vertical line running across the slide as a reference.

Pro tip: Hold Shift while dragging to create a perfectly rounded circle. 

• Style your circle with the options “Shape Fill” and “Shape Outline.” For a smooth look, stick with theme colors and make the circle’s borders transparent by selecting “Shape Outline” and choosing “No Outline.”

Creating Related Concepts (Nodes)

• Select the circle to copy and paste it (Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V).
• To edit its size, hover your cursor over any of the dots located at the four corners until your cursor turns into a double-headed arrow, indicating that you can resize the circle.
• Click on a dot and drag it inward to make the circle smaller. Since a concept map portrays hierarchy and the relationship between elements, we will create smaller circles for secondary concepts.
• Position the new circle below the main circle. Congratulations, you’ve created the first secondary concept (node)!

• Copy and paste the smaller circle to create additional related nodes.
• Move the second node slightly above the main idea using PowerPoint’s visual guides (indicated by red lines) to help you align objects.

Pro tip: PowerPoint’s guidelines include an option to place multiple objects equidistant from one another, marked by a red double arrow. Use this feature to ensure that nodes are properly aligned and equidistant from the main concept. 

• To replicate more nodes, group them together by selecting the two elements and then selecting Arrange → Group in the Drawing section. Any edits made from this point forward will apply to both simultaneously.

• Copy and paste the grouped nodes and position them on the opposite side of the main concept for a balanced look.

Pro tip: Continue utilizing PowerPoint’s visual guidelines to position the second pair of nodes equidistant from the main circle as the first pair, observing the red double-headed arrows. 

• Lastly, replicate the grouped nodes one final time to create the last pair of nodes for the concept map.
• Rotate them to position them horizontally underneath the main concept by selecting Arrange → Rotate → Rotate Right 90º.

Pro tip: An easier way to rotate objects is to click on the pair of grouped nodes to bring up a circular arrow at the top. Click and drag this arrow to rotate the object. Holding down Shift while rotating allows for 15-degree increments, requiring six rotations for a complete 90º turn. 

Connecting Related Concepts

• To begin connecting ideas, select “Line” from the shapes box in the Drawing section. Click and drag while holding down Shift to create a perfectly straight line.
• Place the line in the middle of the main circle.
• Click on “Shape Outline” to style your line, editing its weight and color (it’s recommended to continue using the theme’s color palette for consistency). By default, lines created in PowerPoint are quite thin, so increase the weight to enhance visibility.

• Connect your main and secondary ideas (nodes) with new lines. You should start to see your concept map taking shape. These lines represent the relationships between the main and secondary ideas.
• Use lines to connect secondary ideas that are related. For example, connect the nodes in each pair that share a common theme.

Adding Titles to the Nodes

• To label the nodes, double-click on the circle and start typing.
• Style the text by selecting it to access style options (Font, Font Size, Font Color, Alignment, etc.) and formatting options (Bold, Italic, Underline).
• Remember to keep your text centered for a cleaner appearance while maintaining consistency with the slide’s theme colors and styles.

Adding Descriptive Texts to a Concept Map

• To add text, click on “Insert” in the menu bar and select “Text Box.” Click and drag to create a text box.

• Write your text to describe the relationships between the nodes or provide additional context.

• Style your text as desired, but it’s best to stick to the slide’s main colors and fonts. Aim to keep your text concise, as too much text can clutter a concept map.

• To add more text boxes, simply copy and paste the one you’ve created. For this concept map, we’ll need three text boxes for the three main relationships.

• Align the text boxes on the sides of the concept map to the left and right, keeping the bottom text box centralized.

Adding Visual Details to a Concept Map

If you want to use additional icons, you can download them from Flaticon. After saving them, select “Insert → Pictures” to import them into your presentation. Resize the icons as needed and position them within the circles. 

Related tutorial: How to add and modify icons in PowerPoint

Pro tip: You can find a variety of extra icons in all of Slidesgo’s PowerPoint templates, located after the thank you slide.

• Open any of our PowerPoint templates and go to the icons slide.

• Copy (Ctrl + C) the icon you wish to use.

• Return to the slide where you want to paste your icon (Ctrl + V).

• Resize the icon by dragging its corners while holding down Shift to maintain its proportions.

• To change the icon’s color, select it and click on “Shape Fill” or “Shape Outline” in the Drawing section.

• You are now at the final step. To complete your concept map, copy and paste any additional icons you’d like to incorporate. As always, continue using the main theme colors and styles, and position the icons in the center of the circles for a cleaner look using PowerPoint’s visual guidelines.

Related tutorial: How to Arrange and Align Elements in PowerPoint

There you have it: a concept map created from scratch! While this process is straightforward, you can also utilize Slidesgo’s ready-made templates that you can easily customize and edit. Here are some of our most popular designs.