How to make a presentation with effects in Google Slides

Adding Transitions

The first effect that you can add is slide transitions. A transition is how the current slide moves into the next one. Google slides have a few different transitions that you can use. These transitions are:

• Dissolve
• Fade
• Slide from right
• Slide from left
• Flip 
• Cube 
• Gallery

Depending on the style of the presentation, you can choose the transition style that best suits the content. You can also set transitions for each individual slide or all the slides, depending on the look you’re going for. 

Step 1: Create or Import your presentation

First, open or create the content of your presentation in Google Slides. Effects are always added last after the content has been added to the slides.

Step 2: Select the slide

Select the slide that you want to add a transition to. Click on ‘Transitions’ in the top toolbar with the slide open. The ‘Motion’ pane will appear to the right of your screen. Here you can see the current transitions and animations set for the slide.

Step 3: Choose the transition

Click on the drop-down list below transitions and select the transition you want to use. Once selected, you can click on the ‘Apply to All Slides’ button if you want to use this transition for all your slides. By not clicking on this button, the transition will only be added to the current slide.

Adding animations

Animations are another great way to add interest to a presentation. Animations are how specific objects move into the slide – these objects can be images, graphs and videos. Let’s take a look at how to add animations in Google Slides. Some of the available animations include:

• Appear
• Disappear
• Fly in (different directions)
• Fly out (different directions)
• Zoom in
• Zoom out
• Spin

Step 1: Select an object to animate

Click on the object you want to animate and right-click to open the drop-down list. In the drop-down list, click on ‘Animate’.

Step 2: Check the current animation

Once again, the ‘Motion’ panel will open to the right side of your screen. The bottom section, below ‘Transitions’, is where you’ll find the object animations.

Step 3: Choose the animation type

Click on the drop-down menu underneath ‘ Object Animations’ and choose the desired animation for the selected text or image.

Adding music or video elements

Music and video can also be great additions to a presentation when used appropriately. 

Step 1: Select the slide where you want to add the audio or video element

Select the slide where you want to add the audio or video element.

Step 2: Click on ‘Insert’

Click on ‘Insert’ in the top toolbar and select either video or audio.

Step 3: Add your audio or video

A window will open where you can choose which video or audio to add. If adding a video, you’ll also have the option to search YouTube for the relevant video.

Step 4: Adjust settings

Once selected, the video or audio will be placed on the slide. The audio will show with a speaker icon, whereas the video will be added as a resizable image that you can move around or adjust. You can change any settings on the right, such as what parts of the video or audio to play and when to start playing them. You can adjust these settings as needed to create the best effect.