some suggestions (#3)

* Instead of \usepackage{colortbl} it is better to load beamer with \documentclass[xcolor={table}]{beamer}. This will avoid possible option clashes

* These packages are not necessary, beamer loads these packages automatically. In this case this is not really a problem, but in general I would avoid loading packages again that are already loaded by beamer because users might be tempted to specify additional package options there which will result in option clashes

* Instead of \usepackage{parcolumns} and \usepackage{multicol} I would urge to use beamers own column mechanism. This will provide better support for overlays etc.

* \usepackage{url} is also not really necessary as beamer already loads hyperref

* \usepackage{caption} is normally also not necessary because beamer provides its own mechanism to adjust the appearance of captions

* removed duplicate libraries

* I would suggest to move \title etc. before \begin{document} to make sure that it can be used for meaningful pdf meta data. This would also avoid the warning in the log file...

* the \\ at the end of items are not necessary and might mislead users to use them for linebreaks

* the \\ at the end of items are not necessary and might mislead users to use them for linebreaks

{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/main.tex

@@ -1,23 +1,15 @@
 {% raw %}
 
-\documentclass[compress]{beamer}
+\documentclass[compress,xcolor={table}]{beamer}
 
 \setbeamersize{text margin left = 2.5em}
 
 \usepackage{tipa}
 \usepackage{tikz}
 \usepackage{lmodern}
-\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
-\usepackage{colortbl}
 \usepackage{epstopdf}
-\usepackage{parcolumns}
 \usepackage{listings}
-\usepackage{color}
-\usepackage{url}
-\usepackage{caption}
 \usepackage[abs]{overpic}
-\usepackage{multicol}
-\usepackage{xcolor}
 \usepackage{minted}
 
 \definecolor{dkgreen}{rgb}{0,0.6,0}
@@ -77,7 +69,7 @@
 
 \usetikzlibrary{positioning}
 \usetikzlibrary{arrows}
-\usetikzlibrary{arrows,decorations.pathmorphing,through,backgrounds,positioning,fit,petri}
+\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathmorphing,through,backgrounds,fit,petri}
 \usetikzlibrary{shapes,shadows}
 \usetikzlibrary{shapes.multipart}
 \usetikzlibrary{calc}
@@ -108,7 +100,6 @@
 
 \beamersetuncovermixins{\opaqueness<1>{25}}{\opaqueness<2->{15}}
 
-\begin{document}
 
 {% endraw %}
 
@@ -131,14 +122,20 @@
 
 \usebackgroundtemplate{\centering\includegraphics[width=\paperwidth]{logos/mycompany-logo-watermark.png}} 
 
+\begin{document}
 \begin{frame}
   \titlepage 
 \end{frame}
 
 \begin{frame}{\contentsname}
-\begin{multicols}{2}
-\scriptsize\tableofcontents
-\end{multicols}
+\begin{columns}[onlytextwidth]
+\begin{column}{.48\textwidth}
+\scriptsize\tableofcontents[sections=1-1]
+\end{column}
+\begin{column}{.48\textwidth}
+\scriptsize\tableofcontents[sections=2-2]
+\end{column}
+\end{columns}
 \end{frame}
 
 \begin{frame}

{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/section1.tex

@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ \subsection{Subsection a}
 {{cookiecutter.project_short_description}}
 
 \begin{enumerate}
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
 \end{enumerate}
 \end{frame}
 
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ \subsection{Subsection b}
 \begin{frame}[label=sectionb]
 \frametitle{subsection b title} 
 \begin{enumerate}
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
 \end{enumerate}
 \end{frame}

{{cookiecutter.repo_name}}/section2.tex

@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@ \subsection{Subsection d}
 \begin{frame}[label=sectiond]
 \frametitle{subsection d title} 
 \begin{itemize}
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
-\item Bla bla bla.\\
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
+\item Bla bla bla.
 \end{itemize}
 \end{frame}