Designing a presentation can be quite a challenge whether you're teaching in a hybrid model, homeschooling, or face-to-face classes.

Back to school season brings a whole new round of presentations to the table and everyone wants to give their best. Most educators want to connect with their classrooms and make distance learning interactive, not dull.

With the right tools and techniques, your slideshow presentation will be your best ally, and we'll show you how.

Be ready to surprise everyone, even during a virtual back to school night!

Download presentation templates for educators

Customize these templates to match your taste and style! Change font colors, slide length, and graphics to really bring your presentation to life.

‍For example, imagine you're working on a welcome presentation for your kindergarten classroom. In that case, you'll want to have a slideshow that's entertaining and colorful – We know kids can be a demanding audience.

1. Google Slides template featuring ‘Friendly Ones’ illustrations

An excellent deck for young students! This template includes a cheerful group of friendly faces to go with your work.

2. Google Slides template featuring  ‘Monsters’  illustrations

This template is your go-to option if you're teaching a lesson but want to make it fun and entertaining!

3. Figma presentation template featuring ‘Family Values’ illustrations

The design on this template is full of life characters to represent families and friends sharing special moments. It can be the perfect template to use for a meeting with parents.

4. Google Slides template featuring ‘Wormies’ illustrations

Give your presentation a twist with this funky set of illustrations full of the cutest and most colorful worms.

5. Google Slides template featuring ‘Happy Bunch’ illustrations

Happy Bunch is a collection of bouncy characters to create incredible compositions. Your students will love it! Use this template for your next lesson.

6. Google Slides template featuring ‘Croods’ illustrations

These modern looking illustrations will provide a clean and spacious design to your presentation. If you want a professional but appealing template, this is the one!

You've covered step #1. You have a template that's easy to edit and has a fantastic design that will work perfectly for back to school night.

Step #2 is to take your presentation to the next level. Check these following tips and what common mistakes to avoid.

Note: You can easily convert these templates from Google Slides to PowerPoint in a few clicks. Click here to learn how to convert Google Slides to PPTs.

Create an engaging presentation: Tips for fantastic teachers!

Slideshow presentations are one of the most common tools to explain a subject to any audience. It's a great visual resource for teaching, but it is not always easy nor fast to create a truly engaging presentation.

That's when templates come in handy. Using the correct slideshow templates helps you spend less time working on the design, allowing you to add your personal touch.

Presentation templates will help in a big way, but they won't get all the job done alone. You still have to include other strategies to communicate effectively with your students face-to-face or online. Help them stay engaged and on track for success!

1. Interact: Ask questions to your audience

Make your students part of the presentation. You don't have to explain all the content yourself. Ask your students questions to involve them in the learning process. Include polls, quizzes, or a short game during your presentation to help people participate.

2. Make it fun: Use humor to lighten the mood

Remember to smile, make eye contact, and tell some jokes – related to your topic. According to different studies, when you use humor, people are more likely to retain information.

3. Be you: Show your personality!

Include a brief introduction about yourself. It will help you break the ice, and you can show pictures of trips or hobbies you like.

A good option is to create an avatar to introduce yourself to new students or other teachers. You can create avatars for your students and include them in your presentation to meet with parents.

4. Add videos: Reinforce your message

Enrich your back to school presentation with a video. It's a great technique to refocus your audience and battle attention span. A short video can reinforce your message and generate emotional appeal. Remember that as an educator, you are guiding your students in the learning process. Let them observe, listen, participate, and be involved from start to finish.

5. Include visuals: Facilitate comprehension

Visual content is effective in our brains because that's how we're all wired. That's why it is easier to understand visuals versus text alone. Adding visual elements to your presentation is especially useful for increasing comprehension when talking to younger audiences or children.

Use icons, cartoons, infographics, or customizable illustrations to keep your students engaged.

With our free presentation templates, you can choose different designs for your back to school slideshow. Plus, you can customize the illustrations in the deck to match the subject of the lesson.

6. Tell a story: Make it memorable

Once you get your audiences' attention, make sure not to lose it. Remember to adapt your tone and take pauses. No matter the subject, your mission is to make your presentation relatable.

Tell a story with your presentation and act as the narrator. Create an environment that makes your students want to know what happens next.

3 Common presentation mistakes to avoid

You're almost ready to start your next presentation. But before we jump into the next section, let's review these typical mistakes we should all avoid.

The key is to balance the information and elements together.

1. Presentations with text, text, and more text

Adding too much information to your deck can be overwhelming for everyone. Make sure you reread your content. If something is not essential, remove it.

2. Don't forget your audience

Imagine you're presenting online on a Friday at 5:00 pm with teens. In that case, you'll have to be brief to keep their attention.

Don't forget you have a specific time to present. Always consider your audience's context. Confirm the day of the presentation, ages of the attendees, subject, activities, etc.

3. How many visuals are too many?

This one can be tricky! There's a fine line between engaging slides and overloaded slides. Using too many visuals can become distracting for your students since it's harder to focus on something in particular.

Benefits of creating an interactive presentation

By now, you have more presentation tricks under your sleeve. You've learned how to facilitate retention among your audience, how to use illustrations to gain attention, and what mistakes to avoid when presenting.

Now it's time to wrap up and see how all these previous elements will boost the impact of your presentation.

1. Increase participation

Personalization increases participation from your audience. You facilitate comprehension with minimal effort when presenting your content with key images, videos, or graphics.

Design apps like Blush help you make your presentation stand out and stick in your students' minds.

2. Improve engagement and retention

An interactive presentation involves students actively. This type of presentation helps your students internalize concepts and facilitates long-term retention.

3. Get instant feedback

Interacting with your students during the presentation allows you to get instant feedback from them. This way, you get to evaluate their comprehension of the subject.

Create an educational and entertaining presentation!

You don't have to be a designer or a tech expert to create an engaging presentation. We're here to make sure you delight the most demanding audiences. We work on the design so you can focus on your students.

With our simple-to-use templates, you'll have a stylish presentation ready for your next lesson. Don't forget to share your creations #MadeWithBlush!

With all the inspiration in your pocket, presentation templates in your hands, and your students awaiting, let the games begin, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

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