I'd like to share an interesting story with you. Last week, I was asked to create a presentation for a client. This client was quite important to our company, and unfortunately viewed branding as simply sticking a Logo on every page. Not only did they want one presentation, they wanted it in two forms:
one with light backgrounds that would be affordable to print and one with dark background that they would project. In the past, they had created two separate talks both of which had to be maintained separately. Since, we only had the budget for producing one talk, I was more than a little upset. However, before starting I applied some of the principles I'd learned about branding:

• Create a color scheme for each presentation deciding how each color will be used, and for what, and be consistent in its use.
  
• Decide on graphics and layouts for each of the ideas, and then stick to the same kind of visual representation for distinct concepts through-out the talk. This will enable the graphics to enhance the audiences comprehension of the presentation.

I was surprised that using these principles that I was able to produce the two needed presentations more quickly than I had budgeted for producing just one. Yes, following sound branding principles does save time (and sanity.) The clients were absolutely thrilled with the final product