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PowerPoint & Academic Poster Presentations

Getting Started with PowerPoint

Basic Tasks for Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

  • If you are new to using PowerPoint, consider using this quick start guide from Microsoft to get started with your project.

Getting Started with PowerPoint

  • This guide from University of Michigan includes information about creating a new presentation, and also changing backgrounds, adding images, printing your slides, and more.

Visual Presentations

  • If you plan to include visuals like photos or other images, consider reading this short tutorial about how to make the most out of your presentation.

Slide Design + Graphics

There are many templates available online to help make your presentation more visually appealing and to organize your information.


Slides Carnival offers free, easy-to-access templates for presentations, without having to make an account or register. You can even search by color or theme if you have general idea in mind.


Slidesgo includes free and paid templates, for PowerPoint and Google Slides.

This guide from Ohio Wesleyan University provides information about how to find images and use them in your presentation, and how to cite them properly.

General tips for including photos and images in your presentation:

  • Make sure that any images are large enough for your audience to see, including any text on graphic organizers or charts.
  • Ensure that the image you choose makes sense and connects to the content in your presentation, or it could become distracting for your audience.
  • Use a solid color and neutral background behind your image.
  • Use photos and images that are high-quality and do not appear blurry or pixelated when used on a large scale.

Remember that photos and images should add value to your presentation, and not be a distraction from your message or a replacement for quality text.

Canva is a online platform that allows you to create graphics for print or digital use, marketing materials, documents, infographics, and more. Canva offers a free membership that includes many templates and design options. Canva also has a wide variety of editable PowerPoint and Google Slides templates. Create an account and save your work to edit from any browser.

Piktochart is an online tool that can help you create infographics and other diagrams to use in a PowerPoint, on a poster, or in print.

Bubbl.us helps you create concept maps and mind maps that you can add to your presentation or poster.