Course description

Do your slides look crowded, inconsistent or hard to read from the back of the room? This course shows you, step by step, how to design clear, professional presentations in any slide program, without design training.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and the steps work in any presentation software. You follow a charity's fundraising officer as he rebuilds his organisation's template, transforms a trustees' update, briefs volunteers online and prepares a 15-minute pitch to a grant panel, including the mistakes along the way. Every section has a worksheet, answers, a cheat sheet and ready-to-use templates and checklists.

What you'll learn

• Planning: your audience, one key message, a simple story structure, paper storyboards and timing.
• Layout: slide masters and layouts, grids and alignment, visual hierarchy, white space and consistency.
• Words: headline titles, cutting text, choosing fonts, sizes that read in a room, and speaker notes.
• Colour: building a theme, contrast and colour vision, and working with a brand template.
• Images and charts: photos with purpose, image rights and permissions, icons, diagrams, simple charts and honest numbers.
• Formats: animation with purpose, video, presenting online, and decks people read rather than watch.
• Finishing: accessibility, proofreading, rehearsing with your slides and being ready on the day.

The final project

You'll plan, storyboard, design and review a short presentation of your own, using a project brief and a deck review scorecard, and leave with a practice routine and a reusable template.

Who this course is for

• Anyone who makes slides at work: updates, reports, training sessions and pitches.
• Teachers, students, charity and public sector staff, and small business owners.
• People who can use their slide program but want their slides to look clearer and more professional.

How the course works

Read each lesson, then do the practical task on a presentation of your own using the templates in the practice pack. The course doesn't tie you to any one program. Go at your own pace and keep lifetime access.

What will I learn?

• Plan a presentation around your audience and one key message before you open the software
• Build a deck on slide masters and layouts so it formats itself and stays consistent
• Write headline titles and cut slide text down to what supports your talk
• Choose readable fonts, a colour theme with enough contrast, and work within a brand template
• Use photos, icons and diagrams legally and with purpose
• Turn numbers into simple, honest charts and readable tables
• Use animation, video and online sharing well, and make reading versions and handouts
• Make accessible slides, check and rehearse your deck, and review it with a scorecard

Frequently asked questions