I've made hundreds of presentations for students and here's what I keep fixing:

1. Wall of text slides — If your slide has more than 6 lines, it's an essay, not a presentation. Cut it in half.

2. Default fonts — Calibri screams "I didn't try." Switch to Inter or Poppins — free on Google Fonts.

3. No visual hierarchy — Your title, subtitle, and body text should be 3 clearly different sizes. If they're all similar, nothing stands out.

4. Random color schemes — Pick 2-3 colors max and stick with them. Canva's palette generator does this in seconds.

5. Ignoring the first slide — Your title slide is the first impression. A clean layout with your name, topic, and one good image beats a cluttered mess every time.

These are small changes that take 10 minutes but completely change how your work is perceived.

I make professional templates for students — spreadsheets, presentations, resumes — so you can skip the design struggle entirely. Check out TemplateVault if you want to save hours every week.