My Top 6 Presentation Template Websites

My Top 6 Presentation Template Websites

30 May 2021

I've always been very obsessed with making presentation slides. Finding the right template will always be my top priority (other than the content) and I believe that "wowing" your audience with engaging slides is important. 

Gone are the days when slides strictly consisted of white/black background with dull font colours (the worst when they're in red over a black background). Today, your audience appreciate not just your content and what you have to say, but also if your slides are visually pleasing and engaging. 

I have used several platforms to get my presentation templates from, most you can easily download to edit on Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint. 

Here are My Top 6 Presentation Template Websites:

1. slidesgo

A great website for anyone to find free and premium presentation templates and other graphic resources such as infographics. You can filter out the array of beautiful templates by colour and style. For the time being, there are 6 kinds of presentation templates you can find here:

• Education
• Business
• Marketing
• Medical
• Multipurpose
• Infographics

Check out their "Recent" or "Popular" slides for the latest and trendiest templates!

2. powerpointify

Another favourite would be powerpointify. I think they have more variety of slides for different purposes such as creative, pitching, business reports, technology, etc. There is a mix of "outdated" looking slides here but you don't have to look far for some surprisingly pretty ones too.

 

3. PresentationGo

If you're looking for more options to spice up your slides, search for PresentationGo. You're not only spoilt with beautiful presentation templates, there are also charts and diagrams, vectors, texts and tables, as well as other graphics to choose from. All the designs are versatile and you can access the files through Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint. 

4. SlidesCarnival

SlidesCarnival is a good alternative if you're looking for quick, simple and colourful templates to create your slides. All the templates here can be downloaded on both Google Slides and PowerPoint. 

5. Canva

This is a MUST-GO-TO platform if you loveeee pretty templates for all occasions and purposes. I'm not just talking about presentation slides but also posters, social media thumbnails, Instagram story templates, etc. There are plenty of elements or graphic resources you can use to add to your selected template to include your own touch to your slides.

Perhaps this isn't something new, you can now add animated stickers and simple transition effects to your slides for free. I had religiously used Canva back when I was doing my masters degree and occasionally received compliments for my presentation slides.

6. SlidesMania

I recently discovered this platform and the presentation templates hereeeee are *insert chef kiss*.

There are dozens of interactive presentation templates to download (accessible on Google Slides and PowerPoint), as well as designs for weekly planners, certificates, adorable icons, games and more. I didn't have the opportunity to use the resources here before but I definitely would give it a go the next time I'm called to present.

Honourable Mention

SlideModel.com

Now if you're an avid presentation slides user and looking for something a little more premium, you can also try SlideModel.com. It's a great option if you prefer to create slides on Powerpoint because through this platform, you can get access to not just PowerPoint templates, but also different kinds of diagrams (I'm obsessed with limiting as many words on my slides as possible), shapes, diagrams and illustrations to spice things up, and even templates for maps, tables and charts.

📢 Other tools you can check out:

• Flaticon for free vector icons

• GraphicMama - a compilation of the trendiest presentation templates

• Pinterest

🎓 Graduating Again!

🎓 Graduating Again!

28 August 2020

 

Nearing the End of My Master's Degree

Nearing the End of My Master's Degree

1 July 2020

📧 6 Tips to Spring Cleaning Your Email Inbox

📧 6 Tips to Spring Cleaning Your Email Inbox

27 March 2020

😭 RELATABLE Postgrad Struggles (YouTube Edition)

😭 RELATABLE Postgrad Struggles (YouTube Edition)

8 March 2020

Hello everyone! This will be a super short post from me but I'm ECSTATIC to share something amazinggggg with you. I recently joined Aiman (@AMN MHD) in one of his new YouTube videos and it's up on YouTube RIGHT NOW. We talked about our struggles being postgrad students based on our own experience completing our masters degree. It has its own pros and cons, but for this video, we focused on the less talked-about side of the postgrad life because we felt that not everybody know what they're signing up for before they applied for masters. Because we certainly did not.

OF COURSE, we're not discouraging anyone from continuing their studies but we felt that it's important to know what you can expect once you're a postgrad student.

Go and click on Aiman's YouTube video now and support his growing channel! Thank you for supporting us!

📺 Aiman's YouTube Channel: @AMN MHD

💃 November 2019 Wrap Up

💃 November 2019 Wrap Up

28 November 2019

It's been a couple of months of mostly involving me coming back here and ended up empty-handed, not quite sure of what to write next. I've been around of course, just blogwalking from one blog to another but I didn't manage to light up any hints of inspirations to write one of my own. It's been like that for almost FOUR WHOLE MONTHS. And now that I have dared to spell that out, the guilt does without a doubt bear a heavy weight on me.

That being said, a lot has happened since then and now I'm ready to pour it all out. The best way to do that? Summarise them all in the most acceptable and coherent way possible - a list. 

Now making a list is a completely new thing for me. I'm fairly sure I haven't ever posted a monthly wrap up or anything of the sort in my blog. Let's be real here, there can be days, weeks or months when nothing out of the ordinary happens and worth to write about. When we're talking about my life in particular, the closest thing that's exciting or unique is playing with my cat, Leo or having those super rare weekends when I literally just not do anything. And take a break, whatever that means. 

Well, that is until just lately.

1. Recited some of my poems for the first time in public.

Open Mic Night was organised by SSAUM or the Sudanese Association in University Malaya. I found their event poster by chance as I was scrolling through Instagram (nothing new here) and I had this weird need to JOIN IN. Not as an audience but an actual performer. I've made tons of poems of my own for the past few years and my only readers comprise of my friends on Instagram. I wanted to see what reactions my poem can gather from a crowd. Would they like it? How would I be like standing on a stage reciting my poems, word by word out loud? The thought itself almost drove me nuts because I was battling with my inner self that joining in was a good idea and that I wasn't going to combust and die of fright at the front. That it was also chance I never thought I needed.

Turns out it was probably the best decision I've ever made. Although I couldn't come up with freshly written poems to fit with the theme that night, I think the audience (who were so supportive by the way) loved it. I even made one new friend who approached me and gushed over my poems and wanted to read them for herself from my notes! If another similar opportunity were to come my way again, I'd definitely sign up without a second thoughts. The experience really does feel magical.

2. Just barely surviving through my master's degree (ongoing).

I'm still furthering my studies in UM and trying to survive my third semester in ONE piece. It's currently Week 11 which means I have approximately 4-5 weeks left to get everything done. Procrastination is no longer a choice available for me or just about anyone to choose  and the only thing we can do is to face the music and march to our deaths. Things will only get uglier from now on. I can feel it in my bones.  

3. Watched Frozen 2. I know, I must have been possessed.

This has been by far the least expected thing I thought I would do. If I had told the younger me back in 2013-2014 that I would pay to sit and watch the second installment of the movie... she would have buried me alive. I was basically (and still is) not a fan of the movie, especially the first one. Even as a teen, I felt that it lacks a solid plot, the characters are a little hard to like and the crazy fan-base just throws me off entirely. However, after seeing the second movie trailer released on the Internet and seeing how hopeful everyone was about it, I was... intrigued. Well, maybe that isn't the most accurate word to use but it did linger in my mind for a while. Elsa was just super badass doing her stuff out there and Olaf??? He was comical! I gave Frozen 2 a solid 8.5 stars because it really did get me hooked. 

4. Welcomed my old favourite hobby - watching anime!

Perhaps this may be of a surprise to some people, but I'm quite a huge fan of anime and mange. Before there were K-Dramas and Netflix, I spent a huge chunk of my childhood pouring through anime (my first watch was Fruit Basket!). I haven't watched much of them since school and only until recently did my interest piqued again through honestly AMAZING anime shows like The Rising of the Shield Hero, Demon Hunter, The Promised Neverland, Fate/Stay Night series, etc. 

 

5. Grew a horrible sleep routine and now trying to fix it back.

Feeling mostly sleep deprived during my waking hours is not what I thought I would consider as part of my monthly wrap up but it is significant enough to make it to the list. I'm very much aware of how much I'm pushing my sleeping schedule limits these days and it has reached to a point that its becoming a typical routine for me. I stay up late into the night and wake up early 4-5 hours later. Over time, it does wear me down fast and so to counter the problem, I'm currently trying to lessen the hours I spend to work at night so that I have more time to take a decent amount of quality sleep. I'm done waking up to feeling grouchy and sluggish every day. And not to mention, EYEBAGS?? No magical concealer in the world can hide them now.

6. Been doing my everyday makeup in the dark for the past 1 month. I'm officially an owl now.

I... don't even know how to begin to explain why this happens but it's exactly what it says. I'm now an expert in doing makeup in the dark with zero to minimal lighting because the lamp in my room has been burnt out for about a month. Fixing it would require not just the technical knowledge needed to connect the necessary wires to a new bulb, but also the agility and courage to climb up a ladder and stay balanced throughout the whole procedure. I should also mention to you that the ceiling is wayyyyyyy up high and out of reach for most people with my height plus ladder. 

I'm not sure if it'll ever be fixed but I have my ways of getting things done even without the lighting.

7. Subscribed to an AMAZING new podcast programme - The Happiness Lab.

  

This may be one of the most pleasant new things I've managed to pick up this month - subscribing to podcast shows! I've discovered that I prefer listening to talks and conversations than to music in the mornings when I'm bustling about to get ready for class. Personally, it sort of warms up (theoretically speaking) my social battery so that I'm more motivated to actually socialise on my own free will. It's a huge help for me to build that right mood to start my day and the best part is, I actually learn a lot from some of these shows.

One of my favourites so far would be listening to The Happiness Lab by Dr. Laurie Santos who shares on the latest scientific discoveries and stories about happiness. Because it's about science, it might scare a few of you off because it's not everybody's cup of tea to having to listen to heavy stuff so early in the day. Well, it did catch me by surprise by just how casual and easy to follow the whole show is. The best part? The topics just get to me and my favourites that I have just recently listened to this week include: 

• You Can Change
• A Silver Lining
• Mistakenly Seeking Solitude

I've also received suggestions to listen to other podcast shows too like Ear Biscuits which I'll give a try soon! If you have some recommendations of your own to share with me, leave them in the comment section! I'm so new to listening to podcasts.

8. I'm suddenly super obsessed with ASMR videos because they work for me!

Okay, remember that I mentioned how I've been struggling to get some sleep lately? I found that some particular ASMR videos work wonders to lull me to sleep for hours. In fact, I've even curated a special playlist with video selections that I think work best for both during my assignment sessions and sleep. You can check them out right here.

It's funny how I used to think that I was on the wrong side of YouTube whenever I watched some of these videos. These days, they're a life saviour for stubborn sleepless people like me. 

9. Learnt that teeth retainers should be worn FOR LIFE. 

YES, THAT'S RIGHT. Teeth retainers are meant to be worn for the rest of your life, especially for those of us who used to have braces. I didn't even know about this until one unexpected day later when I came across Suraya's blog post, How I Spent Over RM10k During My Braces Journey. I was petrified. Suddenly my whole five years of teeth-retainer free days came spiraling down in front of my eyes in one big mess. In that same week I discovered to my horror that my teeth may have possibly been moving around in the five years I allowed it to roam free, I booked for an appointment to make new teeth retainers at the UM Dental Clinic (my old one is long gone) and I'm now waiting for the mould to be ready by next week.

I can't imagine how painful it'll be to wear a teeth retainer again after all these years but at this point, pain is the least of my worries. I just want to be in the best of shape. Haha!

This post has finally come to an end along with my current updates on things I've done this month. I hope you like it as much as I do and I'm looking forward to what next month has to offer (psssst Big Bad Wolf Bookfair!!!). Until then, see you next time!

🤷 [College Stuff] Blog Hiatus: Sis, What Happened to You?

🤷 [College Stuff] Blog Hiatus: Sis, What Happened to You?

1 October 2019

What did happen to me? I'm still a bit confused and dazed myself as to everything that had happened this month. I also think that it's been about that same amount of time I was last seen alive and well in this blog. Time just has a way of dragging you away to deal with your life commitments and by the time you're here, in this blog, you don't know WHERE to even start.

I'm currently a Master's Degree student at the University of Malaya and being in my 3rd semester now, things have started off pretty fast. No, scratch that, it's been pretty much BULLET-TRAIN-SPEED STYLE lately. Yes, we did get a little break from that crazy haze season about two weeks ago and our lecturers converted our usual lectures to e-learning mode. BUT there was just as much work as any other normal day. It didn't help either that that "time of the month" decided to drop by and say hello PLUS being sick that entire specific week (first time this year). At the end of all that, nobody blamed me for questioning for the hundredth time, "Why me." I was in such a sorry state. haha!

However, things have drastically slowed down since then. I'm at my 4th week in the semester and I'm adapting to the class setting a lot better. Keeping up with weekly lectures and assignments is bearable now that I have organised everything in a systematic planner. As far as I can tell, I haven't slowed down in committing to each recorded task. I have to be this meticulous with planning my time because I'm such a worrywart when things abruptly pop up and I don't know where to include it in my daily plans of tasks/commitments.

I'll update more soon, perhaps over this weekend as I'll be off joining a few events here and there. Let's just all PRAY that I'd remember to take pictures so that I have some colourful content to add in this lonely blog of mine. Until then, thanks for reading!

😱 I'm going to puke but hey, the semester is over!

😱 I'm going to puke but hey, the semester is over!

1 June 2019

My assignment partner and I have just submitted our final assignment due for the semester and I'm still having a hard time to accept the fact that WE ARE FINALLY FREE. I hadn't had a good break or much time for myself in so long that I've forgotten how to even chill and relax. Even while I was taking my time binge-watching on Netflix all afternoon today, there was still this annoying nagging voice telling me that I have work waiting for me when I didn't. I guess it takes some time to let the "Last Week Adrenaline" rush to die down a little before I can just laze around and actually enjoy my break.

And talking about breaks, here is the best part about it. It's three freaking months long because the next upcoming semester starts in September which means THIS GIRL CAN REALLY REALLY REST UP. I can finally do all the things I've been putting on hold just so that I could focus on acing my classes this semester and come out in one piece... and let's not forget, staying sane too. Because let me tell you, IT WAS TOUGH.

When people tell you Master's is hard, they honestly weren't joking. I appreciate that they don't sugarcoat their words but I still wish I was more prepared for this semester. But who am I kidding, that's what I've been telling myself every semester since foundation year but seriously though, you will never be truly prepared. You just need to have some grit, a good strong gut, awesome support group, time your procrastination hours and never ever forget that you can break down and have a good cry when things get too overwhelming. I had many of those this semester but I had so much support from my parents and mum's ulam keeping me healthy, my super fun classmates and kind words from Rino that I could finally even be here. I thought I couldn't get through it but I'm so glad that I kept trying anyway.

I haven't really thought about what I will be doing this break but I do know that I don't want to slack and sleep away through the precious three months that I have. I mean, let's admit this together, you will never have a break this long in your life ever again, especially once you've left the studying life for good and embrace the adulting life. I want to start drawing and sketching like how I used to, reading books all day, playing with my cat Dessi till I wear myself out, learning to make a new dish in the kitchen without ruining dinner for the entire family and actually head outside in the garden because I haven't done that at all since we moved in to our new home. I can't wait to be human. That's all that I'm saying.

Oh, and since we were on the topic of books, I have two in particular that I would love to finish. They're both classic literature novels (no surprise there) and I really want to tick them off my TBR list just so that I can brag and say "I'VE READ TWO BOOKS SO FAR THIS YEAR". I used to read so much back then, easily finished a book in two days but I rarely have time to even hold one let alone read a couple of lines. But I got time now so I'll take it slow and enjoy what I have. 

I've recently watched this interesting YouTube video (can't remember what's it called but I'll get back on this ASAP) on how to read books with limited time. You basically just need to read a book or listen to an audiobook for 10 minutes a day and in a year, you can finish 10-50 books easy. It's an amazing concept that starts with something simple as sparing 10 minutes of any time of the day you can spare to read. I like that and honestly, once you can cover those teeny 10 mins, you can expand it longer as you read. Start small and it gets easier to do.

I also got new spectacles from a few weeks ago. It's totally not my typical style I usually go for. I've never tried any other designs other than the typical rectangular frames ones and I've been getting so many kind compliments about how I look. What do you guys think?

Okay, glasses aside, I think I've done this blog a huge favour by posting a super awesome update from the one and only. I want to keep writing in here throughout my break for as often as I can. Out of the many things that I missed during the semester was blogging. People weren't kidding when they said blogging makes you feel better because it does. Okay, that's enough for now, thank you for readingggg!

🙅Unraveling Week 9 of Master's Degree

🙅Unraveling Week 9 of Master's Degree

1 May 2019

Where do I even begin? I mean, I owe it to this blog and to whoever who is kind enough to drop by and check if I'm still human or half-way to becoming a corpse. I am so sorry for not posting that many updates as I wanted.

I've been unbelievingly busy and it has gotten to the point that I'm mostly working in front of my laptop during every waking hour I have. I think the one day I actually have all to myself are on Fridays and that's about it.

Life, eh?

Anyways, just as I've mentioned earlier, it is now Week 10 in the semester and many of the assignments deadlines are dangerously close. I have to think twice or a gazillion times if I want to procrastinate and try my luck that it won't hit me hard on the face later. Trust me, as a student, you have to schedule everything even time for procrastination so you know how much time you have left (but usually you don't).

Last week was a little bit stressful, to be honest. Our bedroom air-cond sort of decided she had enough serving us so she broke down for a couple of days. I'm telling you if you don't have either an aircond or a fan to ventilate your room, you-will-die. Or close to one because for almost 3 days straight, I had about just 1-2 hours of sleep that didn't involve me waking up in a sweat and contemplating to sleep outside on the sofa where it's 2x hotter. But now, she's all patched up and behaving well. This leaves me a happier, not-so-much sleep deprived me in the mornings.

If we travel even further into last week, I was also fortunate enough to watch Endgame right after class was over. It was AMAZING and I hope so much that I can watch it again. I watched it on the first day the movie was out and the crowd was so supportive. Again, the movie??? 100/10. 10 stars out of five.

I've also bought a new book that I hope to read till the end. It was an impulse purchase sort of thing but I'm not regretting having it in my possession.

This is a rather poor update of my life but I'm more than glad I can fill in you guys with what's going on lately. I'll update again soon!

xxx
 

💃[Graduation Day At Last] - Vice Counselor Award (ANC) UiTM Shah Alam

💃[Graduation Day At Last] - Vice Counselor Award (ANC) UiTM Shah Alam

31 March 2019

I HAVE FINALLY GRADUATED FROM DEGREE!

Give me every word for "overjoyed", "relieved" and "ecstatic" from the dictionary and neither of them can truly describe how I felt about my degree graduation earlier this week. I wish I can just shout out loud about how unreal everything felt (and still is, to be honest) but all I can say are my many "thank yous" to everybody who helped me to get to where I am now.

Just look at that happy chubby face!

Le classmatesss!

Thanks to God, my parents, lecturers, friends and myself, 3 years of nothing but hard work are paid off and I received the awesome Vice Counselor Award (ANC) during the 8th graduation session this Wednesday. Since it's been almost a year since I was done with my degree and applied for masters, I initially thought I wouldn't be up for celebrating something in the past. Still, I was proved wrong. Nothing can beat the feeling of seeing my parents' and lecturers' faces when I got up that stage and claimed my award.

Thank youuuu so much from the very bottom of my heart to those kind souls who were there for me! I only hope for the very best for you in return.

:)

🧟‍♀️ How I'm Coping with Exam Results Day (fyi, not so well)

🧟‍♀️ How I'm Coping with Exam Results Day (fyi, not so well)

1 February 2019

You know what, this is exactly why I don't ever EVER set new year resolutions or even tell anybody if I have one. For people like me, they're made just to be broken or left to perish before the year even actually begins. In my case, I've left this sparkling new blog of mine abandoned for a good 3 weeks without a peep or sign of life. I NEED TO GET A GRIP. ARGH!

To be really honest with you, I have my reasons (here we go again). Well, primarily just two.

Reason 1: 

I absolutely have zero ideas on what to talk about without sounding cliche, boastful and pompous, or worse, an until bore. I WRITE FOR PERFECTION and inspiration has not blessed me with its presence for that amount of time and thus, I was absent. I swear on my life that when I truly write (fueled by inspiration, motivation, and a brilliant idea) and into something, I do it till my brain cells are fried and smoke comes out of my ears. Yes, exactly.

Reason 2: 

I have been in utter despair these last few days when a friend of mine told me that our exam results are coming out NEXT WEEK, first thing on Monday. And to make matters even worse than it already is, it will conveniently happen on my BIRTHDAY. Like whyyyyyyy... Now, whenever anybody mentions of my birthday, a chip of my soul gasps in horror and wilts away. I can't think straight, not at least until I know how well I did last semester. Once that unfortunate wretched day has passed, my soul can rest in peace and I can continue to leech more YouTube videos in bed.

With that explanation, you have your answer from the title of this blog post: no, I'm not coping so well. If you're a close friend of mine then you probably understand why I've been gloomy for a while. I just honestly can't stand long semester breaks. I don't want to make myself sound like I haven't tried being busy because I have, and it didn't last very long. I've read a few books, wrote some pretty TERRIFIC poems, watched all the movies that I wanted (I still haven't found Matilda on the Internet), and binged through dozens of YouTube videos, yet, it didn't feel very fulfilling.

Now that the new semester is a few weeks away, I have just enough strength to slowly but steadily build momentum in reading journal articles related to my course, pick up my Mandarin learning app, and basically doing stuff that is bringing my mind back to life. I CAN FEEL THE OLD WANI COMING BACK.

Anyways, that's about it for today's update! I hope to write more once I find an interesting topic to mull over and write. I have the drive to write but not the topic Hope you liked this one!

In the meantime, do me a favour and remember me in your prayers. HAHA

P.S.

Pssssst! I'm just going to put this out here. I'm open to writing collaborations with other bloggers if interested. I think with the amount of time I have (there's plenty on my lap right now), I would loveeee to contribute my writing and work together. Email me here to chat about it: syazwanizzati@gmail.com