SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. The first two are internal — things about your organisation, product or project you can influence. The last two are external — things in the market, technology, regulation or competition that happen to you. Arranged in a two-by-two grid, they give a one-slide picture of a strategic position.
The grid is so familiar that audiences scan it in seconds. That is the advantage and the risk: a SWOT full of generic words (“experienced team”, “competition”, “digitalisation”) is scanned and forgotten. A useful one is specific, honest, and leads to a decision.
The structure of a SWOT slide
| Helpful | Harmful | |
|---|---|---|
| Internal (you control it) | Strengths: what you do better than others | Weaknesses: where you fall short |
| External (it happens to you) | Opportunities: trends or openings you could use | Threats: developments that could hurt you |
Keep that orientation — internal on top, external below; helpful on the left, harmful on the right. It is the convention, and changing it costs the audience time. Give each field its letter or name as a heading and three to five points.
Method 1: a SWOT grid from a table
A two-by-two table is the quickest grid that stays aligned when you edit the text.
Build a SWOT grid with a tableWindows and Mac
Insert a 2×2 table
On a Title Only slide choose Insert → Table and drag across two columns and two rows. Drag the table’s handles until it fills the area under the title.
Insert → Table, 2×2 Remove the table style
On the Table Design tab untick Header Row and Banded Rows, so all four cells are equal.
Table Design: Header Row and Banded Rows unticked Colour the fields
Click into each cell and choose Table Design → Shading. Use four tints of your theme colours, or two: one for the helpful column, one for the harmful.
Add the content
Type a heading in bold (“Strengths”) and the points under it. Set the cell margins under Layout → Cell Margins → Wide so text does not touch the edges.
Separate the fields
Select the table and set Table Design → Borders → All Borders with a white pen of 3 to 6 pt (Pen Weight, Pen Color), so the fields read as four tiles.
Method 2: four shapes or SmartArt
Shapes give you more freedom: rounded tiles, icons, a large letter in each corner. SmartArt has a ready matrix too.
Build a SWOT grid from shapesWindows and Mac
Draw one tile
Choose Insert → Shapes → Rectangle: Rounded Corners and draw a tile in the top-left quarter of the content area.
Insert → Shapes → Rounded Rectangle Duplicate and arrange
Press Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on a Mac) three times and drag the copies into a grid. Select all four and use Shape Format → Align → Distribute Horizontally and Distribute Vertically for even gaps.
Add a large letter
Insert a text box with “S” in each tile at 60 pt or more in the heading font, set to a lighter tint of the tile colour. It makes the grid readable at a glance.
Or use SmartArt
Choose Insert → SmartArt → Matrix → Basic Matrix (or Grid Matrix) for a ready-made grid. Type the four headings in the Text Pane; for the detail points, convert it with SmartArt Design → Convert → Convert to Shapes.
SmartArt → Matrix → Basic Matrix
A SWOT slide in Google Slides
Choose Insert → Table and a 2×2 grid, or Insert → Diagram → Grid for a ready layout of four boxes you then recolour. For a table, right-click a cell and choose Table properties to set cell colours, border colour and padding. Align tiles drawn as shapes with Arrange → Align and Arrange → Distribute.
What to write in each field
- Strengths: advantages you can prove — a figure, a customer, a patent, a cost advantage. “Repeat purchase rate of 41 %” beats “loyal customers”.
- Weaknesses: what customers, staff or numbers say you do worse. Be honest; a SWOT without real weaknesses loses the room’s trust.
- Opportunities: external changes you could use — a new regulation, a competitor leaving a segment, a channel growing. Name the change, not your wish.
- Threats: external changes that could hurt you — a new entrant, rising costs, a dependency on one supplier or platform.
The commonest mistake is mixing internal and external. “Strong brand” is a strength; “growing demand for sustainable products” is an opportunity, not a strength, even if it helps you. Ask of each point: could we change this tomorrow by our own decision? If yes, it is internal.
Example: an online shop for outdoor gear
| Field | Points |
|---|---|
| Strengths | Own repair service; 4.8 average rating; returns handled in two days |
| Weaknesses | Small range in winter gear; one warehouse; site slow on mobile |
| Opportunities | Second-hand gear demand; marketplaces opening to small sellers; outdoor clubs as partners |
| Threats | Large retailers discounting; rising shipping costs; dependence on one paid search channel |
From SWOT to decisions: the TOWS step
A SWOT describes; it does not decide. The follow-up slide that makes it useful pairs the fields into strategies, often called a TOWS matrix:
- Strengths × Opportunities: use a strength to seize an opening (repair service plus second-hand demand: a trade-in programme).
- Weaknesses × Opportunities: fix a weakness to reach an opening (mobile site before entering marketplaces).
- Strengths × Threats: use a strength to defend (ratings and service against discounters).
- Weaknesses × Threats: reduce exposure where you are weak and threatened (a second traffic channel).
End the section with one slide of three to five actions, each with an owner and a date. That is the slide the meeting will actually discuss.
Five ways a SWOT slide goes wrong
- Too many points. Ten items per field turn the grid into a wall of text. Keep the three to five that matter most and move the rest to an appendix.
- Words without evidence. “Good service” means nothing until it is “4.8 average rating from 2,000 reviews”. Put a figure or a source behind each strength and weakness.
- Only one perspective. A SWOT written by management alone misses what customers and frontline staff know. Ask both before you fill the grid.
- No time frame. Threats and opportunities change; say whether the analysis looks at the next year or the next five.
- No conclusion. A grid alone leaves the audience to draw its own. Always follow it with the strategic options or the decisions it leads to.
One more design point: the grid should look calm. Use the same font size in all four fields, the same number of points where you can, and colour that separates the fields without shouting — tints of one or two theme colours work better than four bright ones. Animate the fields one by one with an Appear or Fade entrance if you want to talk through each in turn.
Designs for this kind of deck
Every design brings its own colours, fonts and layouts to the whole deck.
SWOT slides in ExpertSlides
The ExpertSlides library has SWOT slides in dozens of arrangements — four tiles with large letters, a grid with icons, a matrix with the internal and external axes labelled, versions with a summary line — beside related formats such as matrices, risks, strategies and competitor analyses. Describe the company or project, or attach your notes or a market report, and ask for a SWOT: the AI picks a SWOT layout and writes each field from your material, keeping points short enough to fit.
In an open deck, “add a SWOT analysis slide after slide 3” works the same way, and “add the strategic options that follow from it” writes the next step. Every tile is an editable shape and text in the deck’s colours; in the PowerPoint export (Pro and Business) they stay editable shapes and text boxes.
More business formats are in our guide to planning slides and on the page about business presentations. Browse finished looks in Design Templates, or see how the AI presentation maker builds a deck from notes.
Questions, answered
How do I make a SWOT analysis in PowerPoint?
Insert a two-by-two table on a Title Only slide, remove the header row style, shade each cell, and type Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats with three to five points each. SmartArt, Matrix, Basic Matrix is an alternative.
Does PowerPoint have a SWOT template?
Search for SWOT under File, New to find templates, or use the SmartArt matrix layouts. Paste a template slide into your deck with Use Destination Theme so it takes your colours.
What is the difference between strengths and opportunities?
Strengths are internal advantages you control; opportunities are external developments you could use. Ask whether you could change the point by your own decision; if yes, it is internal.
What comes after a SWOT analysis?
A TOWS step that pairs the fields into strategies, then a slide of concrete actions with owners and dates.
Can ExpertSlides make a SWOT slide?
Yes. Its library has many SWOT layouts; describe the company or attach notes and ask for a SWOT, and the AI writes each field to fit. The slide exports as editable shapes and text.
