There are probably 100 reasons why your idea or business is awesome, but audiences only remember a few points after a short presentation or pitch. In this lesson, let's look at best practices for creating presentation slides consistently and with impact. 


Presentations need a clear storyline or agenda broken into easily digestible sections. Visuals can then be used to support your narrative and emphasize points. This is the grid. Grid view is a great place to organize individual pages. You can add, duplicate, or delete pages. Ten slides is an optimal number for most short presentations or pitches. A good rule of thumb is one page, one point.


A slide, therefore, expresses one idea. Don't crowd your slides with multiple ideas; it will confuse your audience. Some ideas may take more than one slide to express a point, and that's fine. There, that's looking better. 


Another essential tip is to show, not tell. This means wherever possible, use visuals to tell the story instead of text. In the Elements tab, you'll find photos, graphics, or even charts to visualize data. Graphs and charts help make complex statistics and data seem simple and much easier to remember.


An opening slide might contain the title of your presentation along with some brief company details such as a logo or your name. You could also consider using a welcome slide so there's something on the screen when people enter the room or join a virtual presentation early. An agenda or table of contents will give the audience an overview. It'll grab their attention and persuade them it's worth sticking around for.


The ending slides might contain a summary of the main points and your contact details. This is an instance where showing a lot of text and bullet points is acceptable. Keeping this visible during Q&A sessions will help audiences think of questions to ask and help them retain the information. This slide could even be sent around after the presentation. Rather than using a thank you slide, consider leaving your audience with something thought-provoking like a quote. Thank you should come out of your mouth at the end of the presentation with a smile.


Let's face it, memorizing a 45-minute presentation word-for-word can be overwhelming and time-consuming. That's why Presenter Notes are so handy. They give helpful cues for the talking points, and when in Presenter View, you'll be able to see what slides are coming up next.


Here are a few tips on what to include in presenter notes: short prompts with main ideas or messages to keep the presentation on track. Story reminders help presenters recount stories naturally without sounding like they're being read from a script. Be sure to distinguish it's a reminder rather than a statement to be read out loud. Notes only appear in the presenter window, not the audience window, so write things you'll understand at a glance. It doesn't need to make sense to anyone else unless you're putting the presentation together for someone else. You can also edit the presenter notes from here too for quick changes on the fly.


Canva is a powerful presentation tool when you're designing your next presentation. Remember to follow the basic rules like one page, one point, and show, don't tell, to create beautifully simple and engaging slides that keep your audience hooked.