How to Create a Presentation in Google Slides [A Detailed Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
Nicholas, one of our clients, asked us a simple but important question while we were making his presentation in Google Slides. He asked,
“If Google Slides isn’t as strong as other tools, how do I still make a professional presentation on it?”
Our Creative Director answered in one line,
“By working around its limits, not within them.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on countless presentations throughout the year and in the process we’ve observed one common challenge: people assume all presentation tools are equal. They are not. Google Slides is convenient, accessible, and free, but it’s far from perfect. If you’re expecting advanced design capabilities, seamless animations, or brand-level control, you’ll quickly hit walls.
That said, we get it. Sometimes Google Slides is the only option because your team collaborates in real time, your company has strict IT rules, or you just want something cloud-based and simple.
So, in this blog we’ll show you how to create a presentation in google slides even with its limited toolkit, and still walk away with a clean, professional-looking presentation.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
How to Create a Presentation in Google Slides (The Right Way)
Most people make the mistake of opening Google Slides too early. They rush straight into choosing a template, clicking through the default themes, and typing random content onto slides. It feels productive at first, but it always leads to a messy, disjointed deck. If you want your presentation in Google Slides to look professional and actually persuade your audience, you have to slow down at the start. Structure first, design later.
We’ve broken the process into clear steps based on how we actually approach client decks. Follow this, and you’ll avoid the most common mistakes we see in DIY presentations.
Step 1: Nail Your Core Message Before You Touch a Slide
Think of your presentation like a movie. No director starts filming without a script. Yet in presentations, people jump straight into design mode without knowing their story.
Before opening Google Slides, ask yourself: What’s the one thing I want my audience to remember when this presentation is over? That’s your core message. Write it down in one sentence. Not a paragraph. Not a vague idea. One clear sentence.
For example:
If you’re pitching investors: “We are the only logistics startup reducing delivery times by 40% using AI-driven routing.”
If you’re doing a sales pitch: “Our solution helps mid-sized companies cut payroll errors by 80%.”
If you’re giving an internal update: “Our Q3 growth is ahead of target, and here’s how we’re preparing for an even stronger Q4.”
This single line will act as your North Star. Every slide you create should support or reinforce that line. If a slide doesn’t connect to it, delete it.
Step 2: Build a Simple Storyline
Once you have the core message, think of your slides as chapters. A good presentation flows like a story. It starts by setting the stage, introduces the problem, presents your solution or idea, backs it up with evidence, and then closes with impact.
Here’s a structure we use often with clients:
Hook – Grab attention in the first one or two slides. State the problem, ask a provocative question, or share a striking fact.
Problem – Lay out the challenge your audience faces. Make it relatable.
Solution – Introduce your idea, product, or plan. Connect it directly to the problem.
Evidence – Prove it works. Use data, case studies, testimonials, or examples.
Vision – Paint the bigger picture of what happens if they say yes.
Call to Action – Tell your audience exactly what you want them to do next.
If you outline your presentation in this sequence first, your deck will feel intentional instead of random.
Pro tip: Don’t write full sentences in your outline. Just bullet out ideas. Google Slides is not a Word document. You’ll refine the wording later.
Step 3: Open Google Slides and Start With a Blank Theme
Here’s where most people go wrong. They open Google Slides and immediately pick one of the default themes. Don’t do that. The preloaded themes are overused, uninspired, and they scream “I didn’t care enough to design this properly.”
Instead, start with a blank theme. White background, no pre-set fonts, no automatic colors. Think of it as an empty canvas. From here, you’ll build a clean, customized look that feels intentional and not like every other generic Google Slides deck.
Step 4: Set Up Your Brand Fonts and Colors
Google Slides does not have the flexibility of PowerPoint when it comes to custom fonts. But you can still work around it.
Fonts: Choose no more than two. One for headings, one for body text. If your company has brand fonts that are available in Google’s font library, use them. If not, pick clean, modern ones like Montserrat, Lato, or Roboto. Avoid playful fonts unless your brand personality truly calls for it.
Colors: Set up your brand colors in the theme. Go to Slide > Edit theme > Colors. Add your primary brand color, one secondary color, and a neutral (like black, dark gray, or navy). Don’t overload with six or seven colors. Three is more than enough.
By doing this upfront, every time you add a shape, text box, or chart, the default styling will already be aligned with your brand. You won’t waste hours fixing mismatched colors later.
Step 5: Design Layouts, Not Just Slides
Another trap is designing each slide from scratch. It’s inefficient and inconsistent. A better way is to design layouts first.
For example, create layouts like:
Title slide with background image
Section divider slide with bold headline
Text + image split slide
Full-width data chart slide
Quote slide
Call-to-action slide
Once you set these layouts, you can duplicate them and just swap the content. It’s the same trick agencies use to design faster while keeping decks consistent.
Step 6: Keep Text Minimal
Here’s the golden rule: if your audience can read your entire slide while you’re still talking, you’ve lost them. Google Slides makes it too easy to dump text into bullet points. Resist that urge.
Stick to:
One idea per slide
No more than 6-8 words per line
Plenty of white space
Instead of paragraphs, use visuals, icons, or bold headlines. Let your spoken words carry the details. Your slides are the supporting act, not the script.
Step 7: Use High-Quality Visuals (Not Stock Clip Art)
Google Slides has a basic image search built in, but it pulls generic, overused stock images. If you want your presentation to stand out, invest in better visuals.
Options you can use:
Free high-quality sources like Unsplash or Pexels
Custom icons from sites like Flaticon
Screenshots of your product or service in action
Simple data visualizations made with Google Charts or imported from Excel
Make sure images are full-bleed (edge-to-edge) or neatly aligned. Nothing looks sloppier than a pixelated image floating in the middle of a slide.
Step 8: Be Smart With Animations
Animations in Google Slides are very limited. You get basic fades and slides, nothing close to what PowerPoint offers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Simple transitions are often more professional than flashy ones.
Here’s what works:
Fade in for text or images
Slide in for section headers
Appear for bullet points (sparingly)
Avoid spinning, bouncing, or any effect that feels like a children’s cartoon. Your audience should be focused on your message, not on distracting movements.
Step 9: Build for Collaboration
One genuine strength of Google Slides is collaboration. Use it.
Turn on comments so teammates can give feedback directly on specific slides.
Use version history so you can always roll back if someone makes a mess.
Share view-only links when you don’t want others editing.
This makes it easier to manage feedback loops without drowning in email attachments.
Step 10: Rehearse With Your Slides, Not Against Them
Once your slides are ready, practice with them. Notice where you rely too heavily on the screen. Notice where you talk too much because the slide says too little. Adjust accordingly.
Your goal is balance. The best presentations feel like a dance between the speaker and the slides. If your slides can stand alone without you, you wrote too much. If your audience is lost without your words, you wrote too little.
Step 11: Export Smartly
When you’re done, don’t just hit share and hope for the best. Depending on your audience, you may need different formats.
For live presentations: Present directly from Google Slides in Chrome for smooth performance.
For clients or investors: Export as a PDF for a polished, non-editable handout.
For offline use: Download a PowerPoint file as backup in case internet fails.
By preparing multiple formats, you avoid last-minute technical headaches.
What to Watch Out for While Designing a Presentation in Google Slides
Even if you follow best practices, Google Slides comes with a set of roadblocks you should be prepared for. Knowing them upfront helps you plan around them instead of being blindsided mid-project.
Font Limitations
Google Slides only allows fonts from its own library. If your brand uses custom fonts, you won’t be able to use them directly. This often creates inconsistencies between your official brand materials and your presentation.
Limited Design Flexibility
Compared to PowerPoint, you don’t get granular control over spacing, alignment, or object formatting. Small things like customizing graphs or creating complex layouts can feel frustratingly rigid.
Animations and Transitions Are Basic
If you want dynamic storytelling with advanced animations, Google Slides will disappoint you. You’ll have to stick to simple fades and slides, which can feel restrictive for more creative presentations.
Offline Access Issues
While Google Slides technically has offline mode, it’s unreliable. If you’re presenting somewhere with spotty internet, always keep a PDF or PowerPoint version downloaded.
File Size and Media Handling
Large videos or high-resolution images don’t play well inside Google Slides. You may run into lag, broken playback, or quality loss. Embedding media is smoother in other tools.
Overused Templates
Because Google Slides is free and widely used, its default templates are everywhere. Using them makes your deck look generic and forgettable.
The key here is not to expect Google Slides to be something it isn’t. Anticipate these limits, work around them, and you’ll still end up with a clean, professional deck.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.