Creating presentations with Canva won’t take much time thanks to its free templates and tools. But to impress your audience, you’ll need to follow some of these tips and ideas.
Canva is one of the most downloaded apps on the internet, both on computers and mobile devices. It’s also a go-to tool for design, accessible to everyone . In just minutes, you can edit and retouch a photo , create a logo , an infographic , a diagram , or a presentation , prepare your content for social media , and even edit video . In this article, we’ll focus on creating presentations with Canva , one of the most popular tasks. At first glance, it seems easy enough. But if you want to go beyond a standard presentation, you’ll need to put in a little more effort.
Presentations have been around for decades, just like email or PDFs. They’re one of the most common formats for communicating ideas in a structured and visually appealing way , especially when you need to impress and persuade an audience . These days, presentations can be in person or digital, live or pre-recorded. And throughout your life, you’ve almost certainly given or will give several presentations: as a student or teacher in school, college, or university; in workshops and training sessions; in work meetings to convince your bosses, colleagues, or clients; at weddings and family events; as a resume; or even as a creative proposal for photographers, artists, or designers. The list goes on and on.
Presentations are a format that’s also very successful online. Webinars and online seminars are based on this type of communication. So are online courses and workshops , which you can find on YouTube and adult learning platforms. Even social media is full of slideshows and videos in presentation format. You’ll find them on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn , and even TikTok . So the competition is fierce . Creating presentations with Canva is easy. But making that presentation successful will take more time.
What you’ll find on Canva
Its creators define Canva as “an online design and publishing tool whose mission is to put the power of design within everyone’s reach, so that anyone can design whatever they want and publish it wherever they want.” And by design, we mean any combined graphic and textual content. Even audiovisual. In any format, physical or digital. You’ll find few limits in this tool, designed to be intuitive and accessible to any type of user. Here’s everything you’ll find to create presentations with Canva :
- More than 1,000 types of designs , including different types of presentations.
- Over 1.6 million free templates .
- More than 4.7 million free photos, videos, audios and other graphic resources .
- Animations, transitions , and interactive elements for presentations.
- Offline presentation mode .
- You can record your own voice to create a video of your presentation or as a voice-over .
- It allows you to work on the presentation in collaboration with up to 10 people .
- When finished, save the presentation online or export it to PPTX, PDF, JPG and PNG .
In addition to all the resources you’ll undoubtedly use, Canva stands out for its modular editor , organized into columns or sections. The preview is the most important part and takes up the most space. From there, everything you need is in the left-hand column. Organized into sections and subsections, any element you want to add to your presentation is right there. Drag and drop to add it. And if you don’t like it, remove it and try again with another. When you’re ready, you can see how your presentation looks .
Tips for giving successful presentations
Before you dive into creating presentations with Canva, it’s a good idea to learn some basic tricks that are usually found in every presentation guide. Let’s look at what a presentation should and shouldn’t have to be successful . It’s not an exact science, but by following these tips, you’ll create more digestible, engaging, and effective presentations.
- One idea per slide . Presentations should be brief and direct. Less text will give you more visual impact.
- The 6×6 rule . Some recommend a maximum of 6 lines of text per slide, and 6 words per line. This will prevent the audience from reading instead of listening to you.
- Visual hierarchy . Play with font sizes for titles, subtitles, and text.
- Use consistent design and colors . Keep the colors to a minimum. And don’t change them mid-presentation. The visual aspect of the presentation is also important.
- Use high-quality images . Avoid pixelated, generic, or decorative images. The image should communicate as much as the text. You can also use charts and other graphic resources.
- Start with a hook . You need to win over your audience. So try to grab their attention in the first 30 seconds. Use a question, an interesting fact, or a short anecdote.
- Design for your audience . It’s a common mistake to design for ourselves. But you should focus on who your audience is, how to reach them, and how to keep them from getting distracted.
- The importance of rehearsing . If you’re going to present your work live, make sure you practice. Keep track of the time, record yourself to analyze it later…
- A good start makes a good end . The ending is important too. The last slide should summarize the presentation, deliver a key message, or include a call to action.
Create presentations with Canva, step by step
To start using Canva, you have two options. First, open your browser and go to its official website . There, you just need to log in or create a new account . The process is free. And to make things even easier, you can use your Facebook, Apple, or Google ID. Or, if you prefer, download the Canva app ( Windows , Mac , Android , iPhone, and iPad ). You’ll also need to log in or create an account as soon as you open the app.
Once you’re in Canva, and after indicating that you want to create a presentation , the first step is to choose a template . Even if you want to design your presentations with Canva from scratch, selecting a template will help you become familiar with different ways of arranging elements on the slides. It will also allow you to customize the style or color palette of your presentation, letting you focus on the content of the slides. And don’t worry about the template; you can later change it completely, add and remove slides , and so on.
Second step: customize your design . This is the most time-consuming part, as it basically involves adding everything you want to communicate in your presentation: text, images, videos, links, charts, and any other element that adds value. Here you can also decide if you want effects for the slide transitions . You can also change the background, rearrange the elements in your preferred order, and much more. Be thorough.
Canva presentations to go
When you’re finished, you can save, share , or do whatever you like. When you create presentations with Canva, they’re saved to the cloud by default. You get 5 GB of free storage. Saving is automatic, so you don’t have to do anything. If you want to save the presentation to your device or share it, tap the Share button and choose Download to save or one of the many other available options. You can publish the presentation on social media, on your website, print it, or share it via a link.
And if you need to give a presentation in public, you can do so from Canva using the Present button . Choose Full screen and go ahead. Or, if you prefer the presentation to advance slides automatically, choose the Autoplay option . Keep in mind that you can present offline. But you’ll need to enable that option before you start your talk.
On the other hand, if you want to record the presentation to publish it on YouTube or save it as an MP4 video, click on Present and Record . This will allow you to record your voice and/or face while showing the slides one by one. Your presentation will have a wider reach than if you present it live or publish it as a PDF or PPTX (PowerPoint) file .
