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Canva for Academic Presentations and Posters: Presenting

This guide provides an overview of using Canva, a web-based graphic design program, to create scientific and academic presentations and posters.

Standard Presentation

To launch your live presentation, click Present in the upper right corner.

present key

Select "Standard" and click "Present." Your presentation will begin.

image of the standard presentation selection and the present key

To advance to the next slide, click on the RIGHT side of the slide. To go back to the previous slide, click the LEFT side of the slide.

To LEAVE the presentation, hit the ESC key on your keyboard.

Setting up Automatic Play

To set up automatic play (so that your presentation advances automatically), first Set the timing for each slide (and check the "Apply to all pages" box).

Next, click Present then select Autoplay, then Present.

In the example above, the presentation will advance to the next slide every 4 seconds.

 

 

 

Magic Commands

"Magic Commands" are keyboard shortcuts that insert fun graphics during your live presentation.  Here are the shortcuts:

  • Letter B to blur the current slide
  • Letter C for confetti rain
  • Letter D for a drumroll animation
  • Letter M for a mic drop animation
  • Letter O for floating bubbles
  • Letter Q for quiet
  • Letter U for curtain call

To see these in action, watch the video below:

Using "Canva Live" for Real-Time Interaction

Invite your audience to interact with you during your presentation! You can do this by activating "Canva Live."

During your presentation, click on the button on the bottom right that looks like a radio signal (it's called "Interactive Q&A with Canva Live").

image of canva live

Click "Start new session."

image of canva live

Now ask your audience to visit canva.live and enter the code at the top of your presentation screen. Once in, they will be able to ask questions, submit comments, answer polls, etc. You can control whether your audience sees the comments or not.

image of website link and access code

Sharing, Downloading, and Saving

You have many options for getting your presentation "out there." You can share your design with team members, share on social media, or download in various formats (even PowerPoint format).

Presenter View

Presenter view allows you (the presenter) to see your notes while you are giving your presentation. The audience sees the full screen. This works best when you are using a projector.

To ADD NOTES to your slides, open Presenter Notes by clicking the "Notes" icon on the bottom left of your editing workspace. 

Click on the slide you want to add notes to, then type your notes in the area on the left. Your notes will be saved automatically.

 

screen shot of notes area

 

Click Present, select Presenter View, then click Present again.

screen shot of presenter view drop-down menu

Your audience will see the Standard full-screen presentation, and you will see the slides with notes.