Keynote Template — Complete Guide

Keynote is a stage-lit invitation template for conferences, summits, product keynotes, awards nights and company all-hands. Your invitation opens like the moment before the show: a lighting rig sweeps its beams over a giant title slide with your event name on it, a broadcast-style lower third shows the date and the venue, and the heads of the front row sit in silhouette at the bottom of the stage. Every section below is the next slide of the deck, and the reply is a conference badge on a lanyard.

This guide covers how Keynote looks, the options unique to it, how to apply it to your event, and how it lays out each section of your invitation.

Keynote is available on every plan, Free included.

For an overview of the template gallery and the picker, see How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation.

What makes Keynote different

Standard templates change colours and fonts over the same shared layout. Keynote replaces the layout itself: its own cover, its own closing slide, and a purpose-built treatment for each section.

Signature design elements

• A title slide under the lights — your event name set big on a 16:9 screen (a vertical title card on phones), your cover photo behind it or, without a photo, a glowing brand-coloured orb with light rings. Spotlights hang from a truss and sweep slowly across the stage
• A broadcast lower third — the weekday, date and time on a brand-coloured tag, the venue beside it, straddling the bottom of the screen like a live TV caption
• Slide numbers — the cover reads "01 / 12" with a presenter-style progress bar, every section is introduced by its slide number, and the closing slide is the last one of the deck
• A pre-show countdown — the holding screen before a keynote: big tabular figures, a drifting glow and a "Please take your seats" line with a blinking on-air dot
• A conference badge for the reply — a printed badge on a lanyard with your event on a coloured band, the guest's own name set big, a holographic seal and a role strip ("Attendee"), next to the registration desk
• Conference-app details — the itinerary as an agenda with day tabs and session cards, gifts as a partner wall, the venue as a floor-plan card and your event details as an attendee guide
• Two typefaces — a technical grotesk (Space Grotesk) for the slide titles, numbers, labels and buttons, and a clean sans (Manrope) for everything guests read

When to choose Keynote

Keynote suits events with a stage in them:

• Conferences and summits — the agenda, venue and attendee guide sections are built for them
• Product keynotes and launch nights — try the violet or electric accent on the midnight stage
• Awards nights and galas — the gold accent on the graphite stage
• Company all-hands, offsites and kick-offs — the white stage is bright and daylit
• Milestone birthdays thrown as a "keynote" — the copy is playful enough to carry it

If you want a technical drawing look, try Blueprint. For a travel theme with a boarding pass, try Departures. For a modern, typographic editorial look, try Folio.

Applying Keynote to your event

1. Open your event, click Invitation in the sidebar, then the Invitation tab
2. In Design Template, click Change template if the gallery is collapsed, and find Keynote (it is in the Corporate category of the Designs group)
3. Optional: press Try it on to see Keynote with your own invitation details in the live preview — nothing is saved until you press Use this design
4. Or click the Keynote card to apply it straight away
5. Open Keynote options to adjust the template-specific settings described below. Changes save automatically

Keynote works on every plan. On free events a small "Made with Fotify" badge appears in the bottom corner of the invitation; any paid plan or an active subscription removes it.

Switching to another template later is non-destructive: your event content stays exactly as you entered it, and your Keynote options are kept in case you switch back.

Keynote options

Keynote has nine options of its own. They take the place of the standard colour and font controls, which Keynote doesn't use.

1. Stage

The room the keynote plays in. Every stage is tuned so text stays easy to read.

• Midnight (default) — a dark blue-black auditorium with cool spotlights
• Graphite — a warm charcoal hall with tungsten-coloured spotlights
• White stage — a bright, daylit stage with white slides and light grey silhouettes

2. Brand accent

The one brand colour on stage: the buttons, the lower third's date tag, the badge band, the slide-title underline and the glow around the screen.

• Electric blue (default)
• Signal red
• Volt green
• Award gold
• Launch violet

3. Spotlights

On by default: beams of light hung from a truss sweep slowly over the title slide and the closing slide. Turn it off for an evenly lit stage. The beams stay still for guests who have reduced motion turned on.

4. Slide numbers

On by default: "01 / 12" on the cover with a progress bar, the slide number between sections and "12 / 12" on the closing slide. Turn it off and the sections are separated by a plain hairline instead.

5. Cover line

The small line above the title on the cover slide — for example "Annual all-hands" or "Product Summit 2027". Leave it blank to use the default ("You're on the guest list").

6. Presented by

The company, team or host presenting the event, printed under the title as "Presented by Northwind Labs". Leave it blank to hide the line — Keynote never guesses a presenter from your other details.

7. Hashtag or event code

A hashtag or short code such as "#Summit27". It appears in the top corner of the cover, on the closing slide and on the badge, and is printed down the lanyard strap. Leave it blank to hide it; the strap then shows your event name.

8. Badge role

The role printed on the strip at the bottom of the conference badge — for example "VIP", "Speaker", "Crew" or "Press". Leave it blank to use the default ("Attendee").

9. Closing slide

The headline of the last slide. Leave it blank to use the default ("That's a wrap. See you in the front row."). Try "Thank you. Questions?", "Doors open at 6pm" or "See you on stage".

Every piece of text Keynote prints on the invitation — section titles, "Please take your seats", "Save my seat", "Register by", the badge role, the button labels and the closing slide — can also be rewritten directly on the page: switch the live preview into edit mode and double-click the text. Section titles you have already set in their own settings (story, countdown, gifts, where to stay, getting there, FAQs) are edited in place the same way.

How each section is treated

Cover

The cover replaces the standard header:

• The rig — a truss of lamps across the top with spotlights sweeping over the stage (option 3)
• The top bar — your hashtag (option 7) and the slide counter (option 4)
• The title slide — cover line (option 5), your event name set large, and "Presented by" (option 6). Your cover photo fills the slide behind the title; without one, a glowing orb in your accent colour
• The lower third — the weekday, date and time on the accent tag, and your event location beside it
• Save my seat — a button that jumps to the RSVP section, with "Register by" and your RSVP deadline under it
• The front row — silhouettes of the audience along the bottom of the stage

The time follows the Show time setting of your invitation's cover. On a save-the-date, the button is left out.

Message

"Opening remarks": your invitation message on a slide with a microphone cue, behind an accent rule. The first paragraph is set larger, like the speaker's opening line, and anything you put in italics or bold is highlighted in your accent colour.

Countdown

The pre-show holding screen: days, hours, minutes and (optionally) seconds in big figures with blinking separators, a slowly drifting glow, and a "Please take your seats" line with an on-air dot. On phones the figures sit in a two-by-two grid. When the countdown ends, your completion message is shown instead (or "We're live").

Gallery (Carousel)

"Highlights reel": your photos as a slide sorter — 16:9 thumbnails with their numbers under them, in a row you swipe sideways. Arrow buttons appear when there are more photos than fit.

Story

The roadmap: every milestone is a stop on one timeline (across the slide on wide screens, down it on phones) with a glowing node, the year set big, the full date, the title, the description and the photo when there is one. Your story subtitle appears under the section title.

Location

The venue card: on one side the map in a screen frame when your location has one, otherwise a wordless floor plan of an auditorium (a lit stage, the seating and one seat picked out in your accent colour — it is decoration, not your real room). On the other side your address set big, your directions and an Open in Maps button.

Itinerary

"The agenda": each dated day opens on a Day 01 tab with the date beside it, then the entries run down a track like conference sessions — the time in big figures, a glowing node, and a session card with the event, the place as a room chip and the note as the abstract.

Gifts

The partner wall: every registry, monetary option, charity and wishlist item is a tile, with the name set like a sponsor's wordmark and an icon for its kind. Payment details sit in a chip that wraps cleanly, even for long wallet addresses, with a Copy button beside them. Group labels ("Registries", "Contributions", "Charity partners") only appear when you offer more than one kind of gift.

Event Details

"Attendee guide":

• Dress code as a feature card with an accent edge: your dress code title set big, your description, suggested and avoided colour swatches, and notes
• Where to stay as hotel cards: name, address, distance and price chips, promo code, notes, a Book button and a tap-to-call phone number
• Getting there as route rows with an icon per kind of transport and the cost in a chip
• FAQs as an accordion: guests tap a question to open its answer

Save the Date (Calendar)

"Hold the date": a calendar-app tile with the month on your accent band, the day set huge and the weekday, next to the event title with its date, time range and place, your calendar note, and Google, Apple (downloads the calendar file) and Outlook buttons.

RSVP

"Claim your badge": a conference badge hangs on a lanyard beside the registration desk. The badge shows your event on the accent band, the guest's own name set big (or "Your name here" on a shared link), a Registered tick once they have accepted, a holographic seal and the role strip (option 8). The desk holds the reply form: attend and decline as two big keys, clean fields and a full-width submit button. Your RSVP deadline appears under the section title. On a save-the-date, the desk shows the save-the-date note instead of the form.

Closing

The last slide of the deck under a single spotlight: your closing headline (option 9), the event name in your accent colour, the date and place, your hashtag, the "12 / 12" slide number and a Back to the first slide button, with the front row in silhouette below.

Sections without a bespoke layout

These sections use Fotify's standard layout, restyled to match Keynote:

• Photo upload, QR code, Table assignment, Playlist, Sub-events, Special treatments and custom sections

Each becomes a slide: the same numbered slide break above it, a slide panel in your stage colour, grotesk titles, accent buttons and clean fields. The QR code sits on a white plate so it always scans, seat badges use your accent colour, and custom HTML sections are shown on a white panel so embedded content stays readable on the dark stages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is Keynote only for tech conferences? A: No. Pick the stage and accent that fit — gold on graphite for an awards night, white for a daytime all-hands — and rewrite the cover line and closing slide. It works for any event with a stage, and even for a milestone birthday thrown as a "keynote".

Q: Where does the name on the badge come from? A: It is the name of the guest the invitation was sent to — each guest sees only their own name. On a shared registration link there is no guest yet, so the badge shows "Your name here" (you can rewrite that line in edit mode).

Q: Where do the "Presented by" line and the hashtag come from? A: Only from the Presented by and Hashtag or event code options. Keynote never fills them in from your other details; if you leave them blank, they are hidden.

Q: Is the floor plan my real venue? A: No. It is a decorative illustration of an auditorium, shown when your location has no map. The address, directions and the Open in Maps button next to it are your real venue details.

Q: Will the moving spotlights bother guests who are sensitive to motion? A: No. The beams, the countdown glow and the swinging badge only move for guests whose device allows animations; with reduced motion turned on, everything stays still. You can also switch the spotlights off entirely (option 3).

Q: Does Keynote work in right-to-left languages? A: Yes. In Hebrew and Arabic the layout mirrors: the lower third, the roadmap, the agenda track and the arrows all move to the other side.

Q: Can I use custom RSVP fields with Keynote? A: Yes. Custom fields (dropdowns, dates, checkboxes, file uploads and so on) pick up Keynote's clean fields and small capital labels automatically.

Next steps

• See How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation for the template gallery and how to try a design on before applying it
• Compare the other designs: Blueprint for a technical-drawing look, Departures for a travel theme, Folio for a modern typographic look, or Studio to compose your own design with the AI Design Studio
• Running a conference or corporate event? Read about Fotify for corporate events, conferences and Match & Connect networking

Need help? Get in touch through the in-dashboard help widget.