Walpole Public Schools

I'm a big fan of Google Slides. I use it for so much, even though I rarely actually present much these days. They're great as index cards, brainstorming devices, and freeform docs with complex layouts. I did a whole "12 Days" email about it!

Day 5! I'm sure you remember?

But every once in a while, I need a Slides deck for a real presentation, and I want it to look good. Like, with nice colors, cool but legible fonts, nice layout, etc. I know just enough about graphic design to be unhappy with ugly slideshows, but not enough to know how to make them better. Google Slides has some nice themes built in, but they all kind of look default, you know?

That's why I use Slides Carnival! Slides Carnival is a site full of gorgeous SlideShow themes designed by professional graphic designers who were tired of seeing the same old slideshow designs. There are 200, completely free slideshow themes that you can use and they're compatible with both Google Slides and PowerPoint!

The selection process is pretty sweet, too. You can browse for themes by style ("elegant," "playful," "inspirational") or by color (like, "I need an orange template)!

Each theme comes with several slide layouts, fonts, color schemes, and a big set of useful icons. 

1. Visit SlidesCarnival.com and browse to an interesting theme. Each theme will have some preview slides, so you can get an idea if you like it.
2. Under "Download this template," click "Google Slides" (or "PowerPoint" if you're still using MS Office)
   • Your first time downloading a theme, it will ask for permission to connect to your Google Drive. You can accept this request.
3. A complete new Slides deck with the theme is created and placed in your Google Drive.
4. Duplicate and edit any of the slides, arrange them in any order, and then delete the slides you don't need.

What about your old slide decks? You can still use SlidesCarnival! 

1. Download the theme, as above
2. Open your old Slides deck
3. Go to Slide > Change Theme.
4. In the bottom right, click Import Theme, and choose your new downloaded SlidesCarnival file.
5. Go through the deck and tweak the formatting, making sure the fonts and sizing match

Next time you are creating a Slides deck for a presentation, class, or whatever, consider heading over to SlidesCarnival and impress your audience!
PS - Hopefully this email is useful, but I know it's not as funny as some of my others, so as a reward for your patience, here's a gif of a panda playing in the snow
Tom