Seeking Deck Design Tips and Best Practices for Effective Presentation

Shannon Howard · 2025-08-01 22:49:58.389123+00

Hi. I'm terrible at deck design. Does anyone have a resource with pointers and best practices? I know my story, key points, etc. but absolutely suck at visuals and layout.

Seeking Deck Design Tips and Best Practices for Effective Presentation | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

9 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Laura Adams
·
I usually start with the free templates here: https://www.presentationgo.com/ Sometimes, they help, and sometimes, I need to build something from scratch.
Ciana
·
I need this too. I have lots of thoughts and then my slides are too busy so any resources, templates, etc would be so helpful!
➕2
Aadhi
·
I’ve personally tried a few AI tools—Beautiful.ai, Pitch.com, Slidebean, and Canva—and they really help with design and layout. Worth checking out if you’re stuck on visuals!
Zylo - Amanda Peacock
·
Shannon Howard this wont help in the moment but I always grab slides of presentations that i actually like so when it comes time to put mine together, i can use them as reference/starting points. also if you're feeling stuck feel free to DM me, i'm normally pretty good with slides (for a non design person)
Shannon Abram
·
If you’re looking to increase your skills our team has take a bunch of the different Duarte courses and found them super valuable. https://www.duarte.com/training/#explore-training-courses (no affiliation, just found them helpful!)
❤️1
➕1
Heather Foeh
·
Two thumbs up for Duarte. I read a book by them waaaaaay back in the day before online courses were a thing and I learned a ton of great tips. My biggest focus: Less is more. People will either read or listen. If you want them to listen, don't put a lot of words on the slide. Give them an image that makes them curious and want to listen to you.
❤️1
Rose Fried
·
Love this question! Such a challenge for me!! I usually pull slides I like from coworkers decks and keep the layout but replace with my content. For important decks I am sharing with customers or my Execs, I have an internal ally (who was my boss for a short time) who is AMAZING at slides and gracious enough to do edits and final touches for me. I always send her swag when I have extra and try to give her shoutouts any time I have the opportunity.
Mary Green
·
I have infograpia, if you want something there.
Jeff Campbell
·
I'm a big fan of Gamma: https://gamma.app/
❤️1

Laura Adams
·
I usually start with the free templates here: https://www.presentationgo.com/ Sometimes, they help, and sometimes, I need to build something from scratch.
Ciana
·
I need this too. I have lots of thoughts and then my slides are too busy so any resources, templates, etc would be so helpful!
➕2
Aadhi
·
I’ve personally tried a few AI tools—Beautiful.ai, Pitch.com, Slidebean, and Canva—and they really help with design and layout. Worth checking out if you’re stuck on visuals!
Zylo - Amanda Peacock
·
Shannon Howard this wont help in the moment but I always grab slides of presentations that i actually like so when it comes time to put mine together, i can use them as reference/starting points. also if you're feeling stuck feel free to DM me, i'm normally pretty good with slides (for a non design person)
Shannon Abram
·
If you’re looking to increase your skills our team has take a bunch of the different Duarte courses and found them super valuable. https://www.duarte.com/training/#explore-training-courses (no affiliation, just found them helpful!)
❤️1
➕1
Heather Foeh
·
Two thumbs up for Duarte. I read a book by them waaaaaay back in the day before online courses were a thing and I learned a ton of great tips. My biggest focus: Less is more. People will either read or listen. If you want them to listen, don't put a lot of words on the slide. Give them an image that makes them curious and want to listen to you.
❤️1
Rose Fried
·
Love this question! Such a challenge for me!! I usually pull slides I like from coworkers decks and keep the layout but replace with my content. For important decks I am sharing with customers or my Execs, I have an internal ally (who was my boss for a short time) who is AMAZING at slides and gracious enough to do edits and final touches for me. I always send her swag when I have extra and try to give her shoutouts any time I have the opportunity.
Mary Green
·
I have infograpia, if you want something there.
Jeff Campbell
·
I'm a big fan of Gamma: https://gamma.app/
❤️1