Fail-Proof Slide Design

Learn how to go from mediocre to memorable in just 2 hours!

An online masterclass for academics, researchers, and TTA providers.

In Spring 2025, the option to enroll in just course #1 (and complete each course separately) will be discontinued.

Soon, the only option will be to enroll in the full program.

If you have already enrolled in a separate, individual course before we re-structure our program (i.e., before this page comes down), you will be able to continue enrolling in courses one at a time until 12/1/2025.

Ready to become a more confident and powerful speaker?

It all starts with course #1:
Fail-Proof Slide Design

From INACCESSIBLE to ACCESSIBLE slides.

Stop me where I go wrong, but right now you’re probably:

Spending a lot of time manually formatting things like font color, font size, and font type.

Wanting to use less text and more visuals, but not sure what layouts to use or how to design photos with text.

Messing about with slide templates (even though they’re inaccessible and violate basic design rules).

Wanting to use less text, but worried you’ll forget what you wanted to say.

Wanting to use less text and more visuals, but not sure how to find good (free) stock photos.

Limiting how many slides you use in a presentation because you think it’s bad to have a lot of slides.

🤫 p.s. part of this is because you’re completely unaware of the bad habits you’ve picked up over the years, that you’re stuck repeating without even knowing it.

But fear not, friend! This is all about to change because…

After Fail-Proof Slide Design, you will know how to…

Find the perfect image for your slides, super fast.

3 wildly easy layouts for images + text, so you don’t even have to think about it.

Still present slides that are only text (if needed), but use design to make them accessible & actually look nice.

Avoid the #1 element (that all audiences hate) to never have in your presentations EVER AGAIN.

Use the ONE animation that actually helps people follow along with you (and how to automate it when creating slides).

Use the PowerPoint Slide Master to automate the text design formulas (formatting) you learned in this course!

Determine whether you’ve used the correct number of slides in a given presentation.

Which means that you will soon…

Spend less time on all that boring formatting, because you know how to use your slide software to automate most of that.

Have slides that are more accessible than before, which every audience will appreciate!

Be free from those bad habits (like using slide templates or AI designs) that were wasting your time.

Be having a lot more fun searching for free images, because it no longer feels like a slog just to find the “one perfect” photo.

Quickly and easily choose a layout design for slides that will have both text and images.

Have less text on a slide while also being confident that you will not forget what you wanted to say (no memorization required!).

Use the right number of slides in a given presentation.

End that “wall of text” feeling once and for all 🙌

Fail-Proof Slide Design is a self-paced, on-demand course you can binge-watch in a few hours.

The Curriculum

Our priority is to make learning fun & easy. That’s why our training is:

Not just lectures! Activities are integrated to keep it engaging and fun.

Packed with SHORT videos (usually only 5-15 mins each), so it’s easy to fit into your workday.

Structured in a logical, step-by-step order, so all you have to do is click “next video”

Core Training = 1 hr 45 min

This core training includes two sections.

Section 1: How to stop #DeathByPowerpoint
(i.e., what to stop doing)

  1. The definition of “effective presenting” in a professional context.

  2. The top 2 myths stopping you from creating engaging presentations right now.

  3. Your #1 enemy to creating engaging presentations.

  4. Four examples of this “enemy” that are in your presentations right now.

Section 2: How to create visually engaging presentations
(i.e., what to do instead)

  1. How to have well-designed slides even when they are 100% text.

  2. What is the right number of slides to use in any presentation?

  3. How to use less text per slide and more visuals.

  4. The top 3 best layouts to use to have photos and text on the slide.

  5. Tips for creating a presentation handout.

Practice Activities = 45 min

  • Short, dedicated practice activities to further develop skills you gained in the program.

Capstone Mini-Project = 30 min

  • Download the short (2 slides) PowerPoint file & re-design it!

  • Includes a video showing you my makeover, with additional tips throughout!

Tech Training Videos = 20 min

The training videos are software neutral and cover concepts that apply regardless of software. To help make sure you can implement the strategies mentioned, there will be several technical walkthrough videos about implementing some of the key strategies in PowerPoint:

  • Customize PowerPoint Master Slides to automate the design,

  • Crop photos,

  • Fix distorted photos (and prevent them from getting distorted),

  • and more coming soon!

Bonus Videos & Resources = 30 min

  • Create your visual database (where to find the best FREE high-quality, non-cheesy, diverse stock photos).

  • Good habits that will make presentation design easier and faster.

  • My favorite “hack” for reducing text.

  • FAQ: What if I have to use templates? What if I want logos on my slides?

Plus…you’ll get a Certificate of Completion! 👩‍🎓

When you complete all lessons, you’ll automatically be awarded a certificate of completion!

Ready to enroll in Fail-Proof Slide Design?

For $147 USD you will get:

  • 6 months access to this course.

  • Customized handouts tailored to the course, that you can download & keep after your access expires.

You’ll be done with the course in less than a day, but you’ll get access for a full 6 months!

You can re-watch the videos as much as you want during the 6 months you have access. If you need more time with the course, options will be available (see FAQ section below).

FREE YOURSELF from all those bad habits holding you back, and start having more fun when creating your slides.

(Yes, this is actually possible!)

Fail-Proof Slide Design is the 1st course in my 4-part training series that teaches you how to create clear, captivating, and convincing presentations.

You are here

While many people find that Fail-Proof Slide Design perfectly meets their needs for creating slides that are more accessible and modern than before…

…there is a full program waiting for you if you want to continue improving your public speaking & presentation design skills!

It isn’t that long either!

It’s about the length of 4 workshops (it takes about 32 hours to complete the entire program).

🎁 You’ll also get a $10 credit to enroll in course #2 (Visual Slide Design) before your access to Fail-Proof Slide Design expires.

  • You can enroll in the full program right here!

    This is recommended if you have access to professional development funds, or really want to finish your entire training ASAP.

    For most people, we recommend enrolling in 1 course at a time.

    That way you can take some time in between courses and use it to work on making everything you just learned into a habit that feels easy.

  • Our program goes in a very specific and intentional order.

    This course was intentionally designed so it’s easy to improve your presentations.

    It was also designed to handle the executive function for you—this course is structured in terms of priority.

    There are certain foundational slide design and presentation elements that you need to have in place before the more difficult or advanced strategies are possible (or helpful).

    Plus, in each course, we introduce terms and principles that are unique to the framework I developed over 10 years of training on presentation design and public speaking.

    For example, no one else teaches you to “MILAM” your presentations, so if you skip over the course that covers this, you will be confused or frustrated.

    If you have not taken presentation skills training, then please be rest assured that this path is going to make it easy for you to improve your skills. If you skip a course (or more) then you’re going to unnecessarily make life hard on yourself. But, you can do that if you enroll in the full program here. You get access to all courses at once, so you can skip around if you like (no refunds, just FYI).

    If you want to skip ahead because you have already taken presentation skills training, then I recommend you don’t start with these courses at all. Head over to my 1:1 page and let’s just start working together and develop a more tailored approach to improving your presentations.

  • Let’s work 1:1.

You’re less than a day away from hearing things like:

“Whoa! That presentation was so accessible!”

Hey there 👋🏻! I’m Dr. Echo Rivera.

I’ll never forget the time I sat down, excited, to watch a new webinar from a well-respected scholar in my field….only to be so bored within the first 5 minutes that I stopped watching.

I wasn’t even mad at the speaker, but in that moment my heart broke. 💔

Why? Let me give you the backstory ~

I earned my PhD (Community Psychology) in 2014 and then worked at a nonprofit research & evaluation center for 3 years. In all, I spent over 14 years dedicated to research and evaluation.

My research focus was on (ending) gender-based violence using intersectional, community-based approaches. While fulfilling, I realized we had a major problem. All systems of oppression are fully connected, yet many social justice researchers & practitioners are heavily siloed.

Even worse, literally everyone had the exact same struggle 😩—their presentations were dry, boring, confusing, overwhelming, or underwhelming.

I became massively overwhelmed and frustrated that all these brilliant people, doing important work that could literally reduce systemic oppression, were effectively whispering into the void of their own silo.

I grew increasingly anxious that we wouldn’t see major positive social change in my lifetime. I’m not even kidding when I say it started to keep me up at night.

But it was in those sleepless nights that an idea started to form. 🌜✨

I didn’t realize it at the time, but starting in undergrad I began learning a secret weapon. Born out of my intense fear of public speaking, I poured excessive amounts of energy into my class presentations. I started to hear things like, “That was the best presentation ever” and “Damn, I wish our professor lectured like that!”

That turned into conference presentations, evaluation finding presentations to the client, and other high stakes professional presentations. I continued to hear “That was the best presentation ever” and “You’re the first academic I’ve ever understood, you make this technical stuff sound so easy.”

While I was seeing head nods and captivated audiences, my colleagues were seeing blank eyes staring into space.

While I was hearing, “you changed my mind today, thank you!” my colleagues were hearing crickets.

Finally, one night it all clicked together.

I realized, I can’t personally make all the different fields of research collaborate and break down their siloes. But, what I could do is take what I’ve learned over the years and help make everyone a powerful speaker. 💪

And so I decided to center my work around one goal: To skyrocket the number of powerful speakers who use data to make the world a better place. 🚀

My mission is to make sure no respected scholar ever bored people again.

And so Creative Research Communications—my professional development company—was founded.

That’s why I’m here, creating these online courses to help YOU create better presentations. Because, for me, it’s my small part in creating a better world through better communication.

I can’t wait to help you become a powerful speaker! 🙌

with joy,
Echo Rivera, PhD

I’ve helped universities, research/evaluation centers & teams, state departments & coalitions, and TTA providers:

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Even though you can finish this course in less than a day, you will have 6 months access to the course and course videos.

    However, you will have permanent access to the customized workbook and handouts if you download them while you have access to the course.

  • Because you don’t need a lifetime before you’re going to see results.

    This course is designed to help you turn all of these strategies into a new habit that you don’t even have to think about anymore.

  • This is not a subscription. We will not charge your card again automatically.

  • Due to the nature of the training we share in this course, all sales are final.

    It’s just that knowledge is not a returnable product. It’s one of those things that once you have it, you can't give it back.

    Once you watch even just the first few videos in the course, you will have already learned a new way of thinking about and approaching your presentations that will make them better and more accessible.

    If you aren’t sure an online course is for you (or, you aren’t sure my strategies will help), then here are some options:

  • The answer is: Both, kinda.

    You see, these are not just a bunch of random videos thrown together in an online course. There is a logical order to this course and the later videos will not make sense if you've skipped the earlier videos.

    So, you get instant access to the entire course, but each video is only unlocked after you've watched the previous video.

    That means you can still binge watch this entire training right away, and you won't have to worry about which video to watch first, second, etc. It's all set up to be easy-peasy and go in a specific order.

  • I want you to LOVE this course. My first professional development workshop about presentation skills was in 2014 and I've trained over 1,000 professionals since then, through a variety of ways (in-person workshops, webinars, online courses).

    You can see my reviews in the "Recommendations" section of my LinkedIn profile.

    My online courses are the culmination of over 15 years of knowledge and experience, and I stand by my promise that this will help you become a powerful presenter.

    I've shared testimonials from people who have taken these courses, but there are also testimonials from people who have taken my other trainings. I hope these will instill additional confidence that my strategies really do work.

    We update the course based on participant requests, so if you find that a course could use a boost and additional content, we are just a short email away!

    In other words: if you are part of my intended audience (which is likely very clear by now, but email us and ask if you aren't sure) then I am 100% confident this program WILL help you meet your presentation goals.

    If you still aren't sure this course will help you with your presentations, email me up to 3 presentation files and I'll take a look. I'm happy to confirm whether you'll learn new strategies in the course, so you have that reassurance.

    You could also book a 1:1 session with me first (fee applies), if you'd prefer to start with a tailored approach and then go from there.

  • Absolutely!

    Only about 5 minutes of Fail-Proof Slide Design can be found on my blogs/videos. This training content is the "how to" and step-by-step formula that will never be included in blog posts or videos.

    If you're already doing well based on my blog posts and videos, that's awesome!! And, it proves that my training style works for you. This training is the next step that will take your presentations to a level you won't reach with just my blogs/videos.

  • This training is too advanced for undergraduates.

    This training is for graduate students and beyond.

    This training is meant for people who have been using slide software for years, maybe even decades, and assumes you know the foundational aspects of creating a presentation.

    This training is DEFINITELY for you if your only presentation training has been a combination of free or DIY approaches from books, blogs, and/or YouTube videos (or my free trainings).

    If you've taken a FULL-DAY, paid workshop from a presentation training professional (or more), then let’s work 1:1 instead (at least at first).

  • I have a PhD in Community Psychology (a research-focused branch of psychology) and 14 years of research/evaluation experience (quant, qual, and mixed method designs).

    All of my training programs are tailored to:

    • Academics (professors, instructors, etc)

    • Researchers

    • TTA providers (training and technical assistance providers)

    • Scientists (including data/research scientists)

    • Evaluators

    (This includes graduate students and post-docs!)

    This training will help you design:

    • Class lectures

    • Conference presentations

    • Job talks

    • Masters & Dissertation defenses

    • Teaching demos / chalk talks

    • Lab / research team meeting presentations

    • Keynote presentations

    • Training workshops / presentations

    • Research / educational presentations to non-technical audiences

    And finally, the design strategies in the course apply to ALL presentation delivery formats. In other words, these skills will help you create effective:

    • Webinars / synchronous virtual presentations

    • Videos / asynchronous presentations

    • In-person presentations