Adding animations and transitions to your Google Slides presentations can help captivate your audience and make your content more dynamic and engaging. Animations allow you to emphasize important points, reveal information sequentially, and guide the viewer through your presentation.
When used effectively, animations can be a powerful presentation tool. However, it’s important not to overdo it. Too many animations can be distracting and even annoying for your audience. The key is to use animations sparingly and intentionally.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to add professional animations to your Google Slides, including:
- Benefits of using animations
- Types of animations
- Best practices for using animations
- Step-by-step tutorial on adding animations
Benefits of Using Animations in Google Slides
Here are some of the key benefits of using animations in your Google Slide presentations:
1. Engage your audience
Subtle yet compelling animations captivate viewers and encourage them to pay closer attention to your content. Animations add energy and dynamism that static slides simply cannot achieve.
2. Emphasize key points
Strategically reveal bullet points, graphs, images, and other elements to highlight the most important pieces of information you want your audience to remember.
3. Show progression
Demonstrate a process over time by animating elements sequentially. For example, you can illustrate the step-by-step growth of a company.
4. Direct focus
Draw attention to a particular part of the slide, eliminating distractions. Zooming in on a specific data point guides your viewer.
Types of Google Slides Animations
Google Slides offers a wide variety of built-in animation effects to choose from. Here are some of the most popular options:
Entrance animations: Elements fade, fly, bounce, or zoom onto the slide.
Emphasis animations: Elements grow, shrink, pulse, or change color.
Exit animations: Elements disappear off the slide in various ways.
Motion path animations: Elements follow custom trajectories across the slide.
Shape change animations: Morph one shape into another.
In addition to these preset options, you can set precise timing, triggers, and sequence ordering for animations.
Best Practices for Animations
When adding animations to your Google Slides, keep these tips in mind:
Use animations sparingly
Only animate the most important elements. Every animation should have a specific purpose.
Be consistent
Use the same style of animations throughout your presentation. Mixing many different types can feel disjointed.
Keep it simple
Avoid excessive “twirling and bouncing.” Subtle motions are classier and more professional.
Time animations carefully
Ensure your animations fit smoothly within the flow of your verbal presentation.
Preview thoroughly
Test your animations under presenter view to catch any potential issues.
Step-by-Step Tutorial: Adding Animations in Google Slides
Ready to animate your next presentation? Here is an easy walkthrough:
1. Open your Google Slide presentation
Go to Google Slides and open the presentation you want to add animations to.
2. Select an element
Click on the text box, shape, image, chart, or other object that you want to animate.
3. Open the animations panel
In the menu, click Insert > Animations. Alternatively, right-click your element and select Animate.
4. Pick an animation
In the animations panel, select your desired animation from the dropdown menu.
5. Customize the animation
Adjust settings like duration, delay, trigger, and sequence order.
6. Preview the animation
Click Play to preview how your animation will look.
7. Add more animations (optional)
You can insert multiple animations on one slide element. Simply select it again and add another animation.
Be creative and have fun bringing your presentations to life! Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions.
