After offering basic themes, Google Slides now has templates that "help users build presentations much faster."
In Google Slides, the building blocks of a presentation are:
Templates are "pre-designed collection of slides with a combination of: Themes, Layouts, Backgrounds, Fonts, Color schemes, and Sample or placeholder content."
...they help users overcome the blank canvas and spend less time on design by enabling them to dive straight into crafting compelling content that is visually cohesive and professional.
Next to the 'plus' button/menu in the toolbar, you'll find a new one for "Templates." Insert > Templates also works to bring up a sidebar with the various options: Investor pitch, Class overview, Workshop facilitation, Photo album, Sales pitch, Company overview, Professional development, Educational games, Class project, Product overview minimal, Lesson, Design project, Course overview, "Portfolio, bold," Options proposal, Game night, Conference event, Strategy plan, and more.
In all, they're grouped around business, education, and collaboration use cases:
Google says it will add "even more high-quality Slides template options in the coming months." You can "choose to insert all slides or just the ones you need before personalizing the template with your own content."
This is rolling out over the coming weeks to "all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts."