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Google Slides ~ My 5 favorite tips!

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Google Slides

Google Slides is an amazing presentation creator.  If you are still using PowerPoint, DON'T!  With Google Slides' opportunity of anywhere/anytime access and sharing capabilities, it is all you need to present your information in an engaging slide presentation.

After facilitating Google Bootcamp with teachers in my district for 4 days, I'd like to share out my favorite 5 Google Slides tips that I shared with them.   

1.  Crop an image to a shape...
  • Insert your image onto a slide
  • Click on the image so it is highlighted.
  • Click on the little arrow next to the crop icon.
  • Choose the shape, callout, etc. that you'd like your image to be cropped to.
  • And you're done!
  

2.  Slides Carnival
  • Can't find a template in Google Slides that excites you?  Then go to Slides Carnival to find more.  Just make a copy of any of the templates on the site.  Re-name them (put the word template in your name so you don't forget it's a template), and use it over and over again.  You can even start a new presentation and import that theme instead of making a copy of your template each time you want to use it.
3.  Link to other slides in your presentation.  
  • Ever wonder how Jeopardy templates work?  Well, shapes (for buttons) were created or text was written and links were created to make those shapes or words link to other slides in the presentation.  I found this Jeopardy template by Eric Curtis for Jeopardy.  Just make a copy of it to use it, and definitely give Eric a shout-out if you use it.  But, don't forget to try making your own interactive slide presentations by using the insert link option and link to other slides in your presentation.
4.  Edit Master
  • Once you have a theme for your presentation, try editing the "Master" to give you more customizable options for your theme.  To get to this option, just click on the word "Slide" in the top menu and choose "Edit Master".  Here you can change the fonts, colors, sizes, etc. and make your theme your own.
5. And finally, the new Q&A option in Google Slides...
  • The new Q&A option is just like having your own back channel (such as Today's Meet or Backchannel Chat) going on while you present your lesson.  I think this option still needs a little more tweaking before it will be totally awesome, but it is still awesome.  I would like for there to be an option to just click on something while you are in presentation mode to see the questions coming in, or the option to have the Q&A window now show on the screen, but only show on the teacher's computer.  Right now the presentation and Q&A are in two separate windows with no ability to see the questions without going to the separate window and showing that on the screen.  Yes, you could use your "freeze" button on your interactive white board, but that takes extra time.  There's also the Extend option for interactive whiteboards that support that option.  But, if Google could somehow do it without having to use one of those other options, it would definitely qualify as "Totally Awesome to the MAX"!  You should still try this new Q&A option to see how you like it and to give students the opportunity to ask questions throughout the presentation without actually having to speak outloud.
I'm at the ISTE 2016 conference this week and am hoping to learn even more tricks and tips to share.  If you have a favorite tip for Google Slides, be sure to comment below! 






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