How to make a Google presentation

You have recently been asked to make a presentation in support of a work or educational project and at the same time, you have been advised to do so through the online productivity suite made available by Google.

You have already heard several times about this platform and in particular about Google Presentations, the solution of the “big G” alternative to the famous Microsoft PowerPoint, but in fact, it is the first time you use it: it is essential for you to make a good impression by preparing some perfect, orderly and impactful slides, and you would like to be able to refer to a guide that exposes you all the steps necessary to fulfill this task in the best possible way.

Well, if that’s the case, know that you’ve come to the right place! This tutorial is in fact designed specifically to show you how to make a Google presentation by showing you all the steps to prepare the document, organize it properly and enhance it with quality graphics and multimedia elements. How do you say? Can’t wait to get started? Perfect, then focus on the following and put it into practice. I just have to wish you good reading and good work!

Index

• How to make a Google presentation
  • From PC
  • From smartphones and tablets
• How to make a perfect Google presentation
• How to make a presentation on Google Meet
  • From PC
  • From smartphones and tablets

How to make a Google presentation

One of the most interesting aspects of the Google suite is undoubtedly that of being able to work on a project being able to have a very useful free cloud space of 15 GB offered by the Google Drive service, in which to store all the files necessary for its completion.

The basic service is free and is immediately accessible following the activation of a Google account, but you can optionally choose to join the advanced work tools offered by the Google Workspace plans, which allow you to better synchronize group work and facilitate communication between team members, with prices starting from € 4.68 per month per user (there is also a free 14-day trial to test the services).

It also offers an ideal base for starting a work project, thanks in particular to the presence of functions dedicated to the production of different types of digital documents, including presentations and compatibility with multiple operating systems in both desktop and mobile environments. . In the next paragraphs, therefore, I will show you how to process a presentation starting from the Google Drive cloud.

From PC

If you intend to work on your Google presentation from PC, first you need to connect to the main page of Google Drive and press the Go to Drive button: on the next page you will be prompted to authenticate by choosing your Google account. Then, you will have to enter the relative password and click on the Next button.

From the main Drive screen, then press the New button, at the top left, and select the items Google Slides> Blank presentation from the menu that opens.

A new page will open with the first slide of the new document in the center of the screen. At the top, however, there is the toolbar that shows a subset of the main functions, which varies according to the type of element selected: for example, you will notice that while you are working on the text you will have the related formatting functions available, while for the graphic elements will display special tools dedicated to images.

First you should define the style and layout of the first slide. If you wish, you can refer to a preset theme: on the right panel you can find several, easily imported with a simple click on the element.

Subsequently, you can define the way in which the elements are arranged in the slide, by pressing on an empty area of ​​the same, pressing on the Layout item in the toolbar and choosing from the menu below the one that you think is most functional for its purpose.

If you also want to customize the background, instead, click on the Background item that appears in the aforementioned bar and, from the screen that is proposed to you, choose whether to change the color using the palette that appears after clicking on the relative button, or whether to insert a ‘image.

In the latter case, click on the Choose an image button, then in the following screen define the source among the options Upload (to upload an item from the PC), Camera (to take a photo with the computer’s webcam), Via URL ( i.e. inserting a link to a web page), via Google Photos, Google Drive or Google Image Search

Now let’s move on to the ways in which it is possible to insert additional elements within the presentation: click on an empty area of ​​the slide, then press on the Insert item (at the top) and, from the contextual menu, click on one of the many options proposed between Image, Text Box, Audio, Video or Shapes, just to name a few examples.

As for multimedia content, you will be offered the possibility to define the source of the image, video or audio, in a similar way to what was seen previously for background images, with some differences relating to the type of content: for movies, for example, press the Insert> Video option and you will also have a feature dedicated to importing from YouTube.

For other types of content, such as shapes, lines or graphics, you can draw on the catalog and dedicated functions made available by the service. By going to the Insert> Shapes menu, for example, it is possible to select different types of elements, such as arrows or symbols, while clicking on Table you will see a convenient form in which to immediately define the number of rows and columns to be applied.

A separate discussion must be made for the text boxes. You will have noticed that on the first slide two text fields have already been prepared specially formatted for the insertion of a title and a subtitle: by pressing inside them you can edit them and type the text you want. To insert other text go to the Insert menu > Text box, then press on the point of the slide where you want to apply it to generate a new one.

By clicking on the edges of the box you can select the element and, by acting on the anchor points, you will be able to change its size (just hold down the left mouse button and drag it outwards or inwards). When you notice that when you pass the cursor the latter becomes a cross, instead, you can move the whole box to another position on the slide. These procedures are valid for repositioning and resizing all objects placed on the slide.

Finally, to add a new slide to the presentation, click on the [+] symbol, at the top left, or on the arrow next to it to directly choose a new layout.

Do you want to enrich your presentation with special effects, able to capture the attention of your interlocutors? If so, I suggest you add transitions and animations to your slides. Transitions are visual effects that occur as you move from one slide to the next, while animations are motion effects that characterize the appearance of an object in your presentation.

So, to activate a transition, select the slide from the preview panel on the left, then press the Transition item in the toolbar: a section called Action will appear on the right and underneath there will be the Slide transition option enhanced with the None option. . Press in the drop-down menu below and choose the effect you prefer, then define its speed by moving the indicator that appears below.

For animations, on the other hand, click on the element you want to apply them to and, again from the Action panel on the right, click on the Add Animation item under the Object Animations section . You will see two fields: by clicking on them you can view the respective drop-down menus with which to define both the type of effect and the activation mode. Pressing the Play button will display in real-time all the actions set on the current slide.

Once you have composed all the slides of your presentation you can view a preview by pressing the Start Presentation button, at the top right. If you want to download a copy of the document, click on the File> Download menu and choose the type of file you consider most suitable (eg PPTX ).

Finally, if you want to share the slides, the Share button has been set up at the top right: by pressing it you will be given the opportunity to enter the email addresses of the recipients and select the mode of participation by choosing between the roles Editor, Viewer or Commentator. Once pressed on the Send button, they will receive an invitation in their indicated mailbox.

From smartphones and tablets

Do you need to work on the go and, therefore, would like to understand how to make a Google presentation from smartphones and tablets? No problem: the Google Presentations app, in fact, allows you to create simple but effective slides even from mobile devices, but I must inform you that some features, such as animations and transitions, are not applicable in this mode.

To begin with, if you do not have the service in question on your device, you can easily download and install it on Android and iOS / iPadOS terminals, by clicking on Install / Get from the links mentioned above (on Apple devices, verification of identity via Face ID may be required. , Touch ID or Apple ID password ).

Once this is done, launch the Google Slides app, log into your Google account, then press the (+) symbol, in the bottom right, and tap the New Presentation option, to create a blank presentation, or Choose a template, to create a presentation starting from a template, then choosing its name.

The first slide will be automatically created in a standard format, but if you want to change the theme you can do it immediately by pressing on the three dots (top right) and choosing the Change theme option: you will be shown different models that can be easily applied on the preview.

To add an element to the slide, on the other hand, press the [+] button at the top right, then select the type of object by choosing between Comment, Text, Image, Shape, Line, Table or Link. For example, if you intend to insert a photograph, click on the wording Image, then choose the From photos option to access the archive available on your device, from which you can select the item to upload.

Alternatively, you can also take a photo directly by pressing the From Camera option: you will be prompted to allow the app access to this feature and just press the Allow button to start it.

All the added elements will then be modifiable in various ways: for example, you can change their size by tapping on the content to select it and thus make the edges delimited by the various anchor points visible, which will allow you to increase or decrease them with a movement of the finger. extension. By keeping the center of the object pressed, however, you can easily move it by dragging it to another position on the slide.

Furthermore, depending on the type of element selected, an additional bar will be shown at the bottom containing dedicated editing tools, all of which can be activated on the respective icon: for text boxes, therefore, you will have specific text formatting tools available, while for images you will see others useful for adjusting brightness, contrast, transparency, borders and colors.

To insert written content in a text box, you need to press twice inside it, in order to activate the keypad that will allow you to edit the words. Finally, to add a new slide, press the icon at the bottom right that shows the symbol of a slide with the [+] symbol inside and choose its layout from the models proposed in the next screen: you will notice that in a special panel, at the bottom, will show the order of all the slides created so far, which you can then select to be able to open them in editing mode.

If you want to view the entire presentation before sharing it, all you have to do is press the ▶ ︎ button, at the top, and then select the word Start presentation on this device. Finally, to finish the job, press on the three dots (top right) and select the Share and export option, then, from the following menu, press the Save as item and choose the format that you consider suitable for the document (eg. PPTX ), which you will confirm by touching the OK button.

If you wish to share the presentation with other people, you will also find the relative Share option: an email invitation will be generated in which you must fill in the To field by entering the recipients and add any message in the field below. Sending will be completed by pressing the arrow, to the right of the message field, and confirmed with the Share button.

How to make a perfect Google presentation

In the previous chapters, I showed you the basic operations to create a presentation using the basic features offered by Google services, but if you want to make your slides really special and capture the attention of those who will view it, it is important to follow some guidelines to make the more interesting and inspiring slides.

It is not particularly difficult, in fact, to understand how to make a perfect Google presentation: here is a list of some details to which it is good to pay particular attention.

• Presentation size– is the first essential element to consider. According to the resolution of the screen on which it will be displayed, it is possible to define the most suitable aspect ratio ( 4: 3 , 16: 9 or 16:10 ) through the menu File> Page setup from the computer.
• Add multimedia content– the presence of videos, images and audio files is of particular importance within a presentation, as they allow you to more effectively illustrate each idea, reinforcing the visual impact and maintaining a high level of attention. Obviously, they must be integrated in a coherent way with respect to the content, without excesses that would produce the opposite effect.
• Using graphs– the graph is a concise and visually effective way to synthesize different types of concepts: it is, therefore, preferable to insert them (where possible) in place of written content that is too long and difficult to follow.
• Insert add-ons– if you want to understand how to make a presentation on Google beautiful also aesthetically, you need to know that there are several add-ons that you can easily install to increase the productivity of your slides. Just click on the Add-ons menu > Install add-ons to access a vast catalog of plugins that allow you to improve the various graphic and functional aspects of your slides.
• Import additional themes– do you want to make your presentation particularly original? You will be pleased to know that there are many themes, even free ones, that you can easily import from external sites such as Slidesplanet as an alternative to the preset templates offered by the Google service.

How to make a presentation on Google Meet

The productivity services developed by Google are particularly functional thanks to the different modes of interaction they offer. I showed you, in the previous chapters, how to create a Google presentation starting from the Drive service, but it is also possible, for example, to use the Meet video conferencing platform to show slides during a virtual meeting.

If, therefore, you are interested in understanding how to make a presentation on Google Meet, in the next paragraphs I will show you how to do this both from PC and from mobile.

From PC

Google Meet is the famous platform for online meetings which, as you may already know, can be used from a PC both by connecting to the dedicated page via browser and through the appropriate extension for the Google Chrome browser.

If, therefore, during a video call on Meet from a computer you need to start a presentation, I want to immediately reassure you that the procedure to follow is really very simple. In fact, you just need to start the presentation on your browser and then press the button with an arrow inside a box at the bottom.

You will be shown different sharing modes: I recommend that you opt, in the case of a Google presentation, for the One tab option, which is more suitable for playing animations, videos and effects and select the browser screen with the slide, which you can then show attendees on the Share button. To end the presentation you will only have to press on the word Stop presentation at the top right.

More details and insights are available in my tutorial on how to present on Google Meet.

From smartphones and tablets

Are you on the move and worried that it is not possible to make a presentation on Google Meet from smartphones and tablets? Don’t worry, the sharing features are also present in the Meet app.

First of all, if you haven’t already done so, in this guide you will find instructions for installing the Meet app. Also in this case I suggest you start the presentation in advance; after connecting to the meeting, then, press the three dots icon, at the bottom right, press the Share screen option and then tap on the item Start sharing.

You will be informed, through a specific screen, of the fact that sensitive information could be transmitted during the streaming: press on the Start Now item. At the end, you will only have to tap on the Stop sharing button, to stop the presentation. Read more here.