can you make a video presentation on powerpoint

• Documentation

Creating a Video Presentation in PowerPoint – A Complete Guide

• What Is a Video Presentation?
• Benefits of Creating a Video Presentation
• Creating a Video Presentation in PowerPoint
• Tools for Making Video Presentations
• Steps To Turn Your PPT into a Video
• Tips for Making Video Presentations

In case you were unaware, 90% of the brain’s information is visual.

It can be challenging to make captivating video presentations, especially if you need to familiarize yourself with the necessary tools and methods.

You run the danger of losing your audience’s interest and needing help to communicate your idea properly.

To help you out, everything you need to know to make captivating PowerPoint video presentations will be covered in this blog article, from learning the fundamentals to experimenting with the newest features and advice.

Stay tuned to learn how to make captivating video presentations that can support you in reaching your objectives.

Video presentations are essential since they are a compelling and captivating means of conveying your message. Since the brain processes images far more quickly than words, using video in presentations can help you better hold your audience’s attention and help them retain the content. Moreover, because they can be customized for your particular audience and incorporate elements like storytelling and interactivity, video presentations have the potential to be more engaging and personalized than traditional presentations.

Video presentations come in various forms, each with unique advantages. Among the most popular formats are the following:

Animated explainer videos: These animated videos employ primary language to convey complicated ideas excitingly. Companies frequently use them to describe intricate technological procedures or to launch new goods or services.

Screencasts: Videos called screencasts are made while you’re working on a task on your computer. They are frequently used to produce training or lesson videos, which let you walk your viewers through a study step-by-step.

Tutorials: Videos that walk viewers through a process step-by-step are called tutorials. They frequently produce instructional videos, such as those that show viewers how to assemble a device or operate a new piece of software.

Video ads: Short commercials, known as “video ads,” are used to advertise goods and services. They are frequently utilized on social media and other online platforms.

Application 

There are several contexts where video presentations can be utilized, such as:

Marketing: Engaging marketing materials like explainer films, product demos, and customer testimonials may be made with video presentations. They can also be used to produce video advertisements and content on social media.

Training: Videos intended for customers, employees, or both can be made with PowerPoint presentations. They can also be utilized to make training movies for salespeople and onboarding. 

B2B communication: Sales pitches, product demonstrations, and client presentations can all be made with video presentations. Online events and seminars can also be made with them.

Expos: Video presentations can create product booths and interactive displays at expos and trade shows. They can also be used to create promotional videos for expos and trade shows.

1. Persuasiveness of Video Presentations

Videos appeal to the senses of sight, sound, and emotion, which makes them naturally appealing. This enables you to convey your message better and shape your audience’s opinions. Your audience can be moved to action by your video presentations by employing emotional appeals, gripping imagery, and interesting storytelling.

2. Enhanced Information Retention

Information can be communicated more effectively with videos than with typical text-based presentations. This is because videos encode information in the brain using a variety of modalities, including motion, sound, and images. A multi-modal encoding method improves memory and recall of the material.

3. Accessibility on Mobile Devices

Video presentations are becoming more and more crucial for reaching a larger audience as smartphone usage rises. With the ease of access and viewing on smartphones and tablets, mobile-friendly video presentations allow you to get people wherever they are.

4. Time Efficiency

You may communicate your point more effectively and save time using video presentations. You can utilize video to concisely and engagingly visually communicate your topic rather than reading through a long presentation. For time-constrained, busy audiences, this can be helpful.

Step 1. Include a video narration 

Making your presentations more exciting and educational can be achieved by adding a voiceover or importing an already-existing audio file to give a story for your slides. Additionally, it can assist in improving the accessibility of your presentations for individuals with visual impairments or those who struggle with text reading.

All you have to do in PowerPoint is select the “Record Slide Show” tab and press the “Record” button to start recording a voiceover. At this point, you can begin speaking into the microphone to record your audio. Make sure to take a break between slides so viewers can follow along. After the recording is over, click the “Stop” button.

Select the “Audio” button from the “Insert” tab to import an audio file into PowerPoint. Click “Insert” after selecting the audio file you wish to import. Subsequently, you can reposition and modify the size and volume of the audio file on the slide.

Step 2. Synchronize video with slides 

You can take the following actions to modify the timing of each slide so that the audio and images are in sync and the presentation flows smoothly:

Examine what you presented. Play it through to get a feel for your presentation’s general flow and rhythm from start to finish. Find any places where the time needs to be changed if the images and audio are not synced.

Modify the time of the slide. Choose the slide you wish to change, then pick the “Transitions” option to change the timing. You can change the transition speed and the slide length in the “Timing” group. The slide advance can also have a delay added to it.

Examine the alterations. After modifying the slide timing, play back the modified content to ensure the audio and images are in sync. Clicking the “Preview” button in the “Transitions” tab will allow you to accomplish this.

Step 3. Switch layouts in slide properties 

You can use the following advice to alter the arrangement of your slides to maximize the presentation’s visual impact:

Choose a suitable layout. PowerPoint offers a variety of slide templates to choose from. When selecting a form, consider the type of content that you will be presenting and how you want to represent it visually. For example, if you are giving a lot of text, choose a layout with a large text box. Select a form with an extensive image or video placeholder if you are showing pictures or videos.

Use color and fonts effectively. Color and fonts can have a significant impact on the visual appeal of your presentation. Choose colors that are complementary and eye-catchingly easy to read. Use only a few different fonts, as this can make your presentation look cluttered.

Use visuals effectively. Visuals can make your presentation more connecting and informative. Use high-quality images, videos, and graphics to illustrate your points and to break up your text. Be sure to size and position your visuals carefully to make them easy to see and read.

Use white space effectively. White space is the space between your slide’s text, images, and other elements. White space can help to make your presentation look more organized and professional. Don’t be afraid to use white space to separate your content and to make your slides more visually appealing.

Use transitions and animations freely. Transitions and animations can add interest to the presentation, but use them sparingly. Too many changes and animations can be distracting.

Step 4. Customize your template 

Choose the suitable animations and transitions . When choosing animations and transitions, consider the type of content you are presenting and your overall tone and style.

Use animations and transitions . Too many animations and changes can be distracting and make your presentation challenging. Use them differently to highlight key points or to create a sense of flow and movement in your presentation.

Use visual effects . Visual effects can add interest and excitement to your presentation, but use them sparingly. Too many visual effects can be overwhelming and detract from your message.

Preview your changes before you apply them . Once you have added animations, transitions, and visual effects to your presentation, preview it carefully to ensure they are effective and not distracting.

Step 5. Publish your video presentation: 

Export your PowerPoint presentation as a video file, choosing the desired quality and resolution.

Tools for Making Video Presentations 

Although PowerPoint is a widely used application for video presentations, alternative options exist. Among the noteworthy ones are:

1. Adobe Spark

Even for new users, it is simple to use.

It provides a selection of templates and pre-made animations to assist you in getting started immediately.

It lets you make a personalized presentation by adding text, pictures, and videos.

You can access your presentations from any location because it is cloud-based.

With a premium option for more functionality, it is available for use without charge.

2. Prezi Video

You have more creative control over communicating your tale because it lets you make non-linear presentations.

It provides a range of tools to assist you in making visually stunning presentations.

Prezi Video is a fantastic choice if you’re searching for a video presentation solution that will enable you to make original and captivating presentations.

It provides a wide range of ready-made templates for you to utilize in making your film. Depending on the kind of video you want to make—a product demo, an explainer video, or a training video, for example—you can select a template.

Provides a range of ready-made characters that you may incorporate into your film. Characters can be selected according to their race, gender, and outward look. The characters can also be altered to resemble actual individuals.

It enables you to make original animations of your own. With animation tools, you may make intricate and captivating animations.

It provides a range of ready-made elements and templates to get you going immediately.

5. Camtasia

Education: Tutorial and lecture videos, among other types of videos, can be produced with Camtasia.

Business: Training films, product demonstrations, and sales pitches can all be made with Camtasia.

Marketing: Explainer videos, testimonial videos, and promotional videos can all be made with Camtasia.

Video created for personal use: Camtasia can be used to make home movies, travel films, and vlogs.

6. Biteable

 Advantages:

It is simple to use and fast.

It provides a selection of editable pre-made templates.

It is reasonably priced with a free plan and paid plans that include further features.

Because it’s cloud-based, you can see your films from any location.

To export a video presentation from PowerPoint, you must first save the presentation as a video file. To do this, go to the File menu & select Export. This will open the Export dialog box.

Step 2: Click on Create a Video

Click on the ‘create a video’ button in the Export dialog box. This will open the Create a Video dialog box.

Step 3: Choose the desired video quality and resolution.

You can pick the desired video quality and resolution in the Create a Video dialog box. The video quality will determine how good the video looks, while the solution will select the size of the video file.

If you are still determining which video quality and resolution to choose, you can select the recommended option for my project. This will choose the best settings automatically for your presentation.

Step 4: Select whether to include narration and timings.

In the Create a Video dialog box, you can also select whether to include narration and timings in the video.

If you have recorded narration for your presentation, you can select the Include narration option to include the narration in the video.

If you have added timings to your presentation, you can select the Include timings option to include the timings in the video.

Step 5: Adjust slide timings if necessary.

You can also adjust the slide timings in the Create a Video dialog box. To do this, click on the Adjust timings button. This will open the Adjust Timings dialog box.

You can move the sliders to adjust the slide timings in the Adjust timings dialog box. You can also enter the desired timings in the boxes.

Once satisfied with the slide timings, click the OK button.

Step 6: Click Create Video to complete the process.

Once you have chosen the desired video quality, resolution, narration, and slide timings, click the Create Video button. This will start the video export process.

The video export process may take some time, depending on the length of your presentation and the video quality and resolution you have chosen.

Once the video export process is complete, the video will be saved to your device. You can then open the video file and play it back.

Tips for Making Video Presentations 

Here are some tips for making video presentations:

1. Plan your content and script

Your content should be well-organized and easy to follow. Begin by building an outline of your main points and supporting details. Then, flesh out your design by writing a script. Your script should include all of the text and visuals you want in your video presentation.

When writing your script, keep your audience in mind. Use clear & concise language, without jargon or technical terms your audience may need help understanding. You should also make sure that your script is engaging and interesting. Use storytelling techniques and humor to keep your audience’s attention.

2. Keep your video presentation concise and focused

Consider breaking it up into multiple video presentations if you have much information to cover. This will make it easier for your audience to digest the information and keep them more engaged.

3. Use visuals and animations

When choosing visuals and animations, keep your audience in mind. Choose visuals relevant to your topic and that are likely to resonate with your audience. You should also use only a few visuals, which can be overwhelming and distracting.

4. Incorporate storytelling technique

When telling a story in your video presentation, ensure it is relevant to your topic and has a clear beginning, middle, and end. You should also use storytelling techniques such as character development, conflict, and resolution to keep your audience’s attention.

5. Optimize your video presentation for mobiles

When creating your video presentation, ensure the text is large enough to be read on a small screen. You should also avoid using too many complex visuals or animations, as these can be difficult to view on a small screen.

6. Practice and rehearse your presentation

Pay attention to your delivery, body language, and facial expressions when practicing and rehearsing your presentation. Make sure that you are speaking clearly and that you are projecting your voice. You should also ensure that your body language and facial expressions are engaging and inviting.

Following these six tips, you can create compelling video presentations to inform, engage, and persuade your audience.

Make a lasting impression with your next video presentation right now!

One of the most effective communication tools is the video presentation. They can captivate your audience, impart knowledge, and make lasting impressions.

A standard tool for making video presentations is PowerPoint. It provides a huge range of tools and features that can assist you in creating exciting and polished videos.

You may make educational, entertaining, and motivating video presentations for your audience by adhering to this blog post.

Q1 Can I create a video presentation in PowerPoint without narration?

A1: Yes, you can create a video presentation in PowerPoint without narration. Simply exclude the audio component when exporting your presentation as a video.

Q2 Can I edit my video presentation after it has been exported?

A2: Once you have exported your video presentation from PowerPoint, you cannot directly edit the video file. However, you can change the original PowerPoint presentation and export it as a new video.

Q3 Can I share my video presentation on social media platforms

A3: You can share your video presentation on social media platforms such as YouTube, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Simply upload the video file or share a link to the video hosted on a platform.

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• Audio/Video Creation
• Last Updated: August 21, 2022

How To Video Record Yourself Presenting A PowerPoint (with 4 Pro Tips)

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An estimated 35 million PowerPoint presentations are given every single day . From corporate boardrooms to high school classrooms, a PowerPoint presentation is among the most popular mediums for sharing content that can engage your viewers and help them get a better understanding of various concepts.

Due to convenience, more and more people now prefer online courses over the traditional, offline mode of learning. Online course providers might need to stream or record their lectures into videos so that their students can watch them on their own time. In the absence of a blackboard, an online PowerPoint presentation is a much better alternative for creating online courses and lessons.

Why Should Course Creators Video Record Themselves When Presenting a Slide Show?

In many cases, a screen recording showing PowerPoint slides on their own just doesn’t do enough to convey the information well. Hence, many course creators have tried the following:

• Recorded narration over the PowerPoint slides.
• Used a screen recorder to capture slides and voice-over.
• Use an online chat tool to record the slides as they are being presented.

Although these methods are a step above the plain and regular PowerPoint presentation, they are not able to engage viewers as completely as a course creator presenting in front of them would. The most effective type of PowerPoint presentation is one where the learners are shown both the slide show as well as the presenter.

Because of the face-to-face contact and body language, learners feel more like they are in an actual classroom. This will help them remain focused on the topic, improve comprehension, and make them retain the subject matter for a longer period.

Hence, when it comes to class lectures, online skill-sharing, and organizational training, using PowerPoint presentations in conjunction with video is the best way to share information.

Here are some reasons course creators prefer a PowerPoint presentation where you record yourself presenting the slide show rather than lifeless slides:

Greater Power of Persuasions:

Video presentations have higher persuasion ability through video-audio communication and involve the sight, sounds, and emotions that trigger engagement.

Better Retention:

According to statistics, viewers retain approximately 95% of the message when watching a video recording as compared to just 10% when viewing only text.

Available at Your Fingertips:

About 75% of all audio and video are played on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. This means accessing and viewing videos are now easier than ever. This provides course creators a big opportunity to ensure more and more people watch their content.

Time-Saving:

Video presentations allow course creators to break big blocks of information into bite-sized pieces. This makes it easier for the learners to process the information.

Overview: Steps to Create Video PowerPoint Presentations

Almost everyone who has ever used a computer has a basic idea of how a PowerPoint presentation works. Initially, the slide show was created for overhead projector transparencies, which was the most favored medium for many instructors before video projectors.

However, thanks to advancements in digital technology, creators can now enjoy various interactive elements like animated transitions in between slides and audio and video embeds in their presentation to make it more engrossing.

Creating PowerPoint Slides

Every PowerPoint presentation starts with the same basic template. Your slides can be fully customizable or you can choose from pre-made templates to expedite the design process of the slides.

To make a simple PowerPoint presentation, you need to add text, bullet points, and images. You can use the standard layout or select the content themes from the top ribbon.

PowerPoint now also comes with a gallery of stock images. In addition, the application also recommends design ideas based on your layout so that your slide looks more professional. This is a useful feature if you do not have a lot of time customizing the slide design.

Once you are satisfied with the general look of your slides, you will need to add the audio and video content to the presentation. You can then export the entire presentation and share it with your learners.

Recording Audio on PowerPoint

Do you know that PowerPoint software itself allows you to record your audio onto the presentation? This summary you a quick run-down of how to use this feature.

Before you start the audio recording, it is a good idea to use the “Rehearse Timings” option to see how your script fits your slides. This will open up a test screen, which will show how long you played the slide show and how much time you took on a single slide.

You can use the “Pause” and “Reset” buttons to make changes and use the “Notes” section to document the changes you made to your script.

To add your voice recording, go to the “Slide Show” tab on the top ribbon. Go to the “Record Slide Show” option and start recording the audio. You can also use the audio on and off toggle video options at the top of the record screen to record only the audio.

Although you can record your audio through the built-in microphone on your laptop or phone, it is a good idea to invest in a good-quality mic for better quality audio.

PowerPoint allows you to record the full slide show in a single take. You can also click through the slides to trigger the added animations or to make progress through the presentation.

Once you are done, you should review the recording, which will be saved on a slide-by-slide basis, so you do not need to record the presentation again to fix any errors.

PowerPoint audio is not recorded during slide transition, so make sure you finish speaking before you skip to the next slide to avoid cutting off your conversation.

Creating a Video of Yourself

To add yourself to the PowerPoint presentation, switch on the video option located on the Record Slide Show screen. By default, PowerPoint will show the video picked by your camera at the bottom right of the presentation during the recording.

Once your video has been recorded, you should return to the editing screen. You will find your video recording shown at the bottom right of the slide.

Resizing and Repositioning the Clip:

You can drag your recording from the default place to anywhere on the slide. You can also blow it up to fit the slide frame or remove the recording by selecting it and pressing the delete option.

Making Video Presentations with a Screen Recorder

Although PowerPoint presentations allow you to make a perfectly good screen recording, you can also find a lot of powerful and robust third-party tools that can take your video presentation to the next level. Making your video presentation appear more professional and sleek will help you stand out from the crowd and will help you establish trust and authority with your learners.

Screen recorders or screencasting software offers a more comprehensive range of editing and post-production options, including closed captioning , professional transitions, and the ability to add interactive elements. They also come with an added bonus of directly sharing your online lesson to video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo and allow you to save your presentation in alternative formats, including .mpeg2, .avi, and .mov.

Let’s take a look at how you can video record a PowerPoint presentation with Camtasia .

Using Camtasia to Record PowerPoint Presentations

Camtasia is an industry leader in video editing and screen recording. The software allows you to capture videos via your webcam, add sound effects from the royalty-free music library, record sections from your screen, capture content from iPhone, integrate animations, set up customized video themes, add device themes, and allow course creators to benefit from a whole lot of other features.

If you have Camtasia on your computer, you can import your PowerPoint slides into the software and edit them through Camtasia . Just click on the “Import Media” option and select your PowerPoint file. This will turn your slides into PNG format. PNG files are not editable so you will not be able to change the content in your slide, it will give you better control over the presentation design and style since you will be able to adjust your slides to fit in with your video and audio overlay easily.

For online course creators, Camtasia offers real benefits since it allows you to export your finished file as a SCORM package. This means it can be downloaded to any SCORM-compliant LMS and will enable the LMS to track learning activities, like quiz performances and time spent on a course.

This is not possible if you are making your presentation using only PowerPoint software.

Recording the Screen

To start the screen recording, you need to click the “Record” button at the top of the toolbar. This will open up the Camtasia recorder which is default set to capture everything that is happening on your screen.

Customize Recording

You can either choose to record the full screen or click on the arrow to “select area to record.” You can also choose to record other elements on the screen, including the webcam, mic audio, and system audio. Click on the down arrow button or the double arrows next to the options to choose a specific webcam (if you have one) or mic. This way you can record yourself presenting a PowerPoint. Click on the “Start Recording” button to begin.

Record Yourself Presenting the PowerPoint Presentation

As mentioned, you can use the tools within Camtasia to record your screen which consists of your PowerPoint slides. Then you can use the recorder to choose a specific webcam. However, you can also use a different device to record yourself presenting a PowerPoint.

For instance, if you have a video camera or a Smartphone, you can set that up to record yourself as you go through the presentation. Then you can import that video file into Camtasia later on.

Finish Recording

Depending on whether you are using Windows or Mac computers, you will need to follow slightly different to finish recording on Camtasia . If you use Windows, click the Camtasia recorder icon located on the taskbar and press the “Stop” button. To re-record, delete the recording and then start over. Alternatively, you can also press “F9” to pause and resume the recording and “F10” to stop the recording.

If you use a Mac, click the Camtasia icon on the Apple menu bar and press the “Stop Recording” button. To re-record, click on the “Start Over” button. Alternatively, you can also press “CMD+SHIFT+2” to pause or resume a recording, and “CMD+OPTION+2” to stop a recording.

Import the Audio and Video into Your Camtasia Project

Camtasia works with projects. Once you’re done with your presentation recording and you end the recording, a new project should open. You’ll want to import any additional audio and video into that project.

That means if you recorded yourself separately on your Smartphone, you’ll need to upload that to the project. Then you can organize both your Camtasia recording and the video of you presenting a PowerPoint on the timeline.

Trimming the Video

To remove the extra content that is often found at the start of a video, drag the end of the clip “in” on the timeline. If you remove too much material from the recording, drag it back out to restore the video. A great thing about this is that any edits you make on the timeline will not change the original recording saved in the media bin.

Cutting Out the Video

To cut out a certain section on the video, drag the red or green handle on the video playhead to select a specific area on the timeline. Then, click on the “Cut” button to remove that section. The program will add a stitched line on the timeline to show where the cut was made. In addition, if you want to bring the playhead together, double-click on the playhead.

Adding Titles and Annotations

Make your video more professional by adding titles, annotations, and effects to the content. You can easily add an annotation by clicking and dragging the relevant option from the tool panels to your video timeline or the canvas.

Double click the annotation to change the test. You can change the background color, font, and other elements in the properties panel. To change the position, rotation, and size of the annotation, click and drag the handles.

Adding Effects

Camtasia also offers you “Shapes” and “Blur” options as effects you can add to your Powerpoint presentation. You can add a shape by clicking and dragging one from the tool panel to the timeline or the canvas. If you want to hide sensitive or copyright information, use the “Blur” option. In addition, you can also adjust the size, position, and intensity of the blur in the properties panel.

Exporting the Video:

Click on the “Export” button to see all the export options that Camtasia provides. The first option downloads the video file on the computer. Other options allow you to upload your file to web services. This requires you to sign in to an account. You can then invite your learners to review the video presentation.

Using a Zipped Project

You should export your file in zip format. This way, all the original media used in the video presentation will be placed in one file. This allows you convenient access to all files in the project. To zip your files, go to “File” and select “Import Zipped Project.” This will import the zipped files into a new project.

Pro Tips for Making Better Video PowerPoint Presentations

To make your PowerPoint videos even better, you should consider the following tips:

1. Make it Short, Sweet, and Simple:

Your video clips should just be long enough to captivate your audience, not bore them to tears. Depending on what course you are offering, the length of your video will vary. However, make sure you do some research to find out how long is too long for your students.

2. Focus on the Point:

Before starting on the core subject, make sure you inform your learners about the goals and objectives of the course. Once you start the presentation, do not deviate from the core message. Your text, audio, and graphics should all be relevant to the subject matter. They should not detract your learners from your main lesson.

3. Know Your Audience:

The tone of your PowerPoint video presentation should match the content of your course. For example, if you are offering a makeup tutorial, your words should be simple. If, however, you are teaching an advanced course on physics or engineering, your language will be technical since your course covers a technical topic.

4. Adding Engagement:

You can turn up the engagement of your videos by adding more interesting elements to the content. For example, you can add YouTube videos, music, and interactive quizzes to ensure your course has the learner’s full attention.

A Meaningful Ending:

When ending your presentation, make sure you leave your learners with a resource that they can take away from the lesson. It could be a simple link to your website, a short ebook as a freebie, or just a few links. This provides a lot of value and creates a lasting impression on your customers.

Frequently Asked Questions on Recording Video

How can i record video online.

There are a few different ways to record videos online. One option is to use a screen-recording program like Camtasia or Snagit. These programs allow you to record your screen and create professional-looking videos.

Another option is to use a webcam to record yourself. This is a good option if you want to record a tutorial or how-to video.

Finally, you can use your smartphone. This is a good option if you’re recording something impromptu or if you want to record video in a format that’s easy to share online.

How can I record video for free?

One free option for recording video is to use a smartphone or tablet. Most devices come with a built-in camera, and there are also many apps available that can be used for recording video. If you already have a smartphone, then you may not need anything else to start recording for free.

How can I record audio and video online?

There are a few different ways you can record audio and video online. One option is to use a screen recording program like Screencast-O-Matic, Camtasia, or Snagit. These programs allow you to record your screen, along with any audio coming in through a microphone. You can then save the recording as a video file and share it online.

Another option is to use a webcam. Most computers come with a built-in webcam, or you can purchase an external webcam that plugs into your computer’s USB port.

Once you have a webcam set up, you can use it to record video by using a program like Skype or Zoom. You can set a webcam up to record audio through a microphone (if you want higher quality audio).

You can record audio separately (or with your video) by using a program like Audacity, Camtasia, or GarageBand. Once you’ve recorded your audio or video, you can save it as a .MPG file and share it online.

What is the best free online video recorder?

There are a number of free online video recorders available. These mostly cater to people using webcams and include Movavi’s Webcam Recorder , Webcamera.io , and Screen Capture .

While you’re looking for the best free online video recorder, consider the following factors:

• Ease of use: Look for a recorder with a user-friendly interface that won’t take hours to learn.
• Quality: The video recorder should produce high-quality recordings. Look for a recorder that offers various quality settings so you can adjust them according to your needs.
• File format: Look for a recorder that can export to different file formats so you can view your recordings on any device.
• Storage: Look for a recorder that offers cloud storage or that can save recordings directly to your hard drive.

How can I record my screen with audio online?

The first thing you’ll need to do is choose a screen recorder or screencast software. There are many options available, but some of the most popular include Screencast-O-Matic, Snagit, and Camtasia.

Nearly all screen recorders will connect up to an external microphone (if you have one) which will make the voice-over higher quality than using the built-in mic on your device.

Once you’ve selected a screen recorder, simply follow the instructions to record your screen. Often, it’s as simple as pressing a ‘record’ button!

Typically, you can record both your screen and your voice-over at the same time. When you’re finished, save your recording and share it online.

Final Words

PowerPoint presentations have come a long way from simple bullet points and stock images. Now, you can benefit from a plethora of impressive designing and editing options that allow you to create even more engaging and informative content for your online courses, tutorials, or webinars. In addition, there are plenty of tools available that allow you to record these presentations so that they are accessed and viewed anywhere, at any time.

Making excellent video PowerPoint presentations is now more important than ever. There is an increasing number of reasons to believe that more and more courses, classes, conferences, and events will be hosted through virtual content in the future.

As video presentations grow in popularity, learners will demand a higher quality of content. Hence, it is now more important than ever to produce sleek, professional quality, captivating PowerPoint presentations to establish yourself as an industry leader in the world of online courses.

Lisa Parmley

Lisa Parmley is the founder of coursemethod.com. After gaining a Master's degree, she worked in research for about seven years. She started a training company in 2001, offering a course helping people pass a professional exam. That course has earned multiple 7 figures. She created SEO and authority site building training around 2007 which went on to earn well into the 6-figure mark.

She has 22+ years of experience in the trenches creating and selling online courses. Get help starting and growing your online course business here .

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How-To Geek

How to make a microsoft powerpoint presentation into a video.

Share your presentations with anyone, even if they don't have PowerPoint!

Quick Links

Why convert a powerpoint to video, convert a powerpoint presentation to a video.

Microsoft PowerPoint presentations are great, but they are not as easily accessible as videos. Luckily, you can convert your presentations to videos with a built-in option. We'll show you how.

There are many reasons to turn a presentation into a video. Maybe you want to send someone a presentation but they don't have PowerPoint installed. Or, maybe you want to upload your presentation to a site that only accepts videos.

PowerPoint has a built-in option to convert presentations to videos. When you perform this conversion, all your original animations, transitions, and media items are preserved. Your resulting video also includes all recorded timings , narrations , ink strokes, and laser pointer gestures (though you can choose not to include these if you want).

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

To turn a PowerPoint presentation into a video, first, open your presentation with the PowerPoint app on your Windows or Mac computer.

In the top-left corner of PowerPoint, click the "File" option.

From the sidebar that opens after clicking the "File" option, select "Export."

In the "Export" menu, click "Create a Video."

To the right of the "Export" menu, you will now see a "Create a Video" section. In this section, you will define the options for your video file.

First, choose the quality for your video by clicking the "Full HD" option.

You will see multiple video quality options. Select the one that you think works the best for you. Know that the higher the quality you select, the larger the file size of your video will be.

To include the recorded timings and narrations in your video, then beneath the video quality menu, click the "Don't Use Recorded Timings and Narrations" option.

Select the "Use Recorded Timings and Narrations" option. If this option is grayed out, that's because you don't have any recorded timings or narrations in your presentation.

You will now specify how long each slide appears in the video. Click the "Seconds Spent on Each Slide" box and enter the duration in seconds. By default, this duration is set to 5 seconds.

Finally, at the bottom of the "Create a Video" section, click "Create Video" to start making your video.

Your computer's standard "save" window will open. Here, select the folder to save your video in, type a name for your video, and click "Save."

PowerPoint will take you back to the main interface. At the bottom of this interface, you will see the progress of the conversion.

When your video is made, you will find it in the specified folder on your computer.

And that's how you make your presentations available to a wider audience by converting them to a video format!

Need your video in another format? Use VLC to convert your video to other formats.

Related: How to Convert a Video or Audio File Using VLC

How to Make a PowerPoint into a Video in Under 5 Minutes

• how to make a powerpoint into a video

PowerPoint is, by far, the most popular tool people use to make presentations , whether for school projects or work-related activities, such as staff training or pitching a product idea to investors. 

PowerPoint is genuinely a great tool. It’s simple and easy to use, offers hundreds of themes, and if you spend a bit of time playing around with all the different options inside the program, you can make professional presentations that will captivate your audience. 

The only issue regarding PowerPoint—more specifically, presentations in general—is the limited usability of PPT files. You can’t upload a presentation on YouTube , for example. You could technically share it on your website or on social media, but a presentation without a presenter is just a random compilation of images.

Unless the person who created the presentation takes the time to weave the story, explain all the concepts, and expand on the bullet points the audience sees on the slides, the presentation won’t have the desired impact. 

Does that mean that presentations are only viable in a face-to-face setting? Not exactly. There are a number of different ways to utilize presentations, but they all involve converting the PPT file into a video . 

Now, the question begs itself— how do you make a video out of a presentation?

Turn PPTs into engaging videos

With InVideo’s online editor

Creating a Video from PowerPoint

The first thing that will go through most people’s minds is a webinar. When you stop to think about it, a webinar is nothing more than a glorified presentation. Someone takes the time to record themselves as they’re going through all the different slides and explaining everything in detail. 

A webinar is a rather specific form of content, and it takes a lot of time and effort to put one together and to get enough people to watch it to make it worthwhile. Unless you’re an experienced salesperson who is adamant about selling a product and firmly believes that the best way to do so is to blabber about it for two hours, you’re probably looking for a faster, less painstaking way to turn a PowerPoint into a video.

Thankfully, there are a number of different ways to do so. In fact, PowerPoint itself gives you the option to convert the presentation into a video. In this article, we’ll walk you through the entire process step by step and show you how to make a video PPT using all the different versions of the program. 

How to make a video from PowerPoint?(Office 365, PowerPoint 2019, PowerPoint 2016)

Although the option is there, keep in mind that it’s not as simple as clicking a Convert to video button. You do need to record narration and laser point gestures (mouse movement on-screen) beforehand.

The reason for that is simple and technical in nature—unless you record narration and timings beforehand, PowerPoint will default to five seconds per slide when creating a video. 

You can change this by clicking the upward arrow next to the Timing under the Create a Video option, but keep in mind that you’ll be adjusting the time for all slides simultaneously. There is no option to adjust how long each individual slide will appear on the screen.  

If you want to use different timings per slide, as well as record narration, select the Recording option inside PowerPoint and create a video. 

Here’s how you’ll enable recording inside Office 365 PowerPoint, as well as PowerPoint 2019 and 2016:

1. Click on File and select Options on the left-hand side of the screen 2. Choose Customize Ribbon (A) from the drop-down menu 3. Check Recording (B) in the pop-up window and hit OK (C)

Image source: Microsoft

You’ll see a new option appear on your screen under the Recording tab, titled Record Slide Show. Clicking on the downward pointing arrow will allow you to choose whether you want to start recording the slideshow from the start or from the slide you’re currently on. 

You can also choose to record the narration as audio or video, and you will be able to leverage a variety of different tools, such as pens and markers, to highlight certain elements on your slides.  

As you’re recording, the red circle next to the Record Slide Show button will be blinking, indicating that the audio and/or video is being captured. Once you go through all the slides, you can either:

- Click on the square Stop button - Press S on your keyboard. 

Exporting your video

The easiest way to export the video you just recorded is to navigate to the Recording tab and select Export to Video . This will open up a new menu, and PowerPoint will prompt you to choose the video quality. 

One thing to keep in mind is that the Ultra HD option is available only on Windows 10 . 

Next up, you’ll need to either set the timings for the slides or select the Use Recorded Timings and Narration option. 

Then, click on Create a Video , name your file, and choose where you want to save it. 

Finally, select the Save as Type option and choose between two available formats:

- MPEG-4 Video - Windows Media Video

PowerPoint will start converting the slideshow into a video automatically. Depending on the video quality and length, this process might take a while, so we suggest timing it so that you don’t have to use the computer during that time. For larger, Full HD or Ultra HD videos, it’s best to keep the program running overnight.

PowerPoint 2013

One notable difference with the 2013 version of PowerPoint is that the video quality options are slightly different. Ultra HD (4K) was just entering the scene, and not a lot of people owned devices that supported the 3840 × 2160 video resolution, so it’s no surprise that the option doesn’t exist in this version. 

The interface didn’t change much over the years, so if you happen to be running PowerPoint 2013, you’ll go through the exact same process as with the newer versions of the program:

1. Navigate to File , click Export , and choose to Create a Video 2. Select the resolution 3. Set timing parameters or use recorded timings and narration 4. Click on Create Video 5. Choose Save as Type and select between MPEG-4 or Windows Media Video 

PowerPoint 2010

If you are still using the 10-year-old version of PowerPoint, the options for creating a video out of your slideshow will be a bit different. 

The first thing to keep in mind is that PowerPoint 2010 only supports .mp4 files and that the maximum resolution for the videos is 1290 x 720, which isn’t exactly ideal. If you want to create a professional-looking video from your PowerPoint presentation to share with business partners or your audience, you might want to consider a less restrictive alternative. 

Here’s how you would turn your slideshow into a video in this outdated version of the program:

1. Select Save & Send under File 2. Choose the option Create a Video at the very bottom of the right-hand side of the screen 3. Find the Create a Video tab if you want to see the available video quality options 4. Click on the downward-pointing arrow next to the Computer & HD Displays option and choose from the three available options 5. Choose between Use and Don’t Use Recorded Timings and Narration depending on whether you want to use recorded timings and narration 6. Click on Create a Video , name it, choose the destination folder, and hit Save 

PowerPoint Video Drawbacks

It’s always great when you can use the same tool for various different tasks. In the case of PowerPoint, you can both create the presentation within the program and convert it into a video on the spot. 

That said, PowerPoint isn’t a video editing tool . What we mean by this is that you are severely limited in terms of what you can do with the video you create from your PPT. There are no transitions, you can’t leverage fade-ins and fade-outs, and there is no music, among other things.

No matter how you look at it, the videos created through PowerPoint will be bland. PowerPoint’s PPT to video conversion might get the job done if your only goal is to share a presentation internally with your team. Even then, it only makes sense in a remote work environment, where you can’t physically hold the presentation to your coworkers. 

If you’re planning on using the presentation as a core part of your marketing strategy , then the video quality—and we don’t mean the resolution here—you’ll get from PowerPoint won’t suffice. No matter how professional you sound during the narration, the videos created through PowerPoint will still give off the impression that you didn’t try all that hard. 

When you see the production value of the videos that businesses share on their websites, YouTube channels , and social media, it’s painfully obvious that PowerPoint videos can’t compete. This doesn’t mean you have to spend months learning video editing or spend a small fortune hiring a professional videographer to make and edit the videos for you. 

With InVideo, a powerful yet easy-to-use online video editor , you can create stunning videos from your presentations in minutes! We’ll walk you through the whole process to show you how easy it is to create breathtaking videos from presentations with InVideo . 

How to make a video from a PowerPoint Presentation using InVideo?

Videos are quickly becoming an integral part of every business’s marketing strategy. Whether you’re a startup, an enterprise, a medium-size business, or a solo entrepreneur, you will need to use videos if you want to attract as much traffic to your website as possible. The same goes for influencers and bloggers—videos beat any other type of content when it comes to user engagement. 

InVideo makes video editing quick, easy, and fun. Thanks to our intuitive, drag-and-drop video editor , professionally designed video templates , and an extensive library of photos and audio tracks, you can create killer videos in no time, even if you have absolutely no video editing experience.

Our platform is cloud-based, meaning you can access it from any browser on your computer and laptop. This also means that your video editing capabilities won’t depend on how powerful your machine is, meaning you can create HD and Ultra HD videos even with a low-end PC or laptop.

The best part about InVideo is the fact that you can export up to 60 videos per month for free! With our free plan , you’ll have access to all of InVideo’s features so that you can play around with all the different options and learn video editing at your own pace. We also have dozens of video editing tutorials for different use-cases, so you can get started right away. 

Creating videos from photos and PowerPoint presentations is one of many things you can do with InVideo. 

Here’s are the simple steps you can follow to create a stunning video from your presentation with InVideo:

Step 1: Create an account

To get started, you’ll need to create an account.  

Navigate to our website and click Sign Up in the top right corner. Input your email, set up your password, and you’re good to go. We’ll never ask you for your credit card information or phone number. We won’t bombard you with emails either—we hate spam as much as you do. 

Step 2: Select a Template or start from scratch

Once you log in, you’ll see several different options on the homepage:

The Pre-made Templates option will be selected by default. While there are over 5000 stunning video templates in our library, we strongly suggest that you go with the Blank Template option for this purpose. 

You will be starting from scratch, but it’s not as scary as it might sound. The blank template is the most convenient option since you’ll be treating each slide as a separate scene and editing them individually. Here’s how to do it: 

- Choose how long each slide appears on the screen - Add the appropriate narration - Throw in effects , filters, transitions , etc.

Step 3: Upload your media

Assuming you are the one who created the presentation, you should have all the necessary media on your device—photos, slides, and the script . To add it to the video, you’ll first need to upload it through our video editor .

From the menu on the left, select the Uploads option and click on the Upload button at the bottom of the screen. 

You can upload files up to 800MB at a time. If you have all the photos neatly sorted into a folder, you can upload the entire folder in one go. All the media you upload will be available immediately to the left of your video—for this and all future projects—and you can drag and drop images to the center of the screen to add them to the timeline.

Step 4: Add the photos

Let’s start with a single scene—the intro of your presentation. Drag and drop the desired image from the Uploads library onto the screen to add it to the scene. 

The video editor will show you what the image will look like in the video. When you drop the photo, you’ll need to select one of the two options:

- Replace - Add as a layer

If the slide consists of a single image, choose Replace. Since we’re not using a pre-made template here, the image you chose will replace the black background.

If you would like to add additional images on top of it—such as graphs, screenshots, product photos, or lifestyle images—drag and drop them to the center of the screen once again, but this time select the Add as a Layer option. This will put the new image on top (in front) of the background one, making the first one act as a backdrop. 

Step 5: Edit the Scenes and add text

By default, scenes will be about five to six seconds long, which probably isn’t sufficient for the narration. You can edit how long each slide—referred to as a scene in the video editor—will be on the screen for on the timeline.

The image above shows the basic timeline, which is great for having an overview of all your scenes. To edit a specific scene, click on it on the timeline and select the Advanced Timeline option in the top right corner. 

On the left side, you’ll see all the different elements that make up the scene. Select each one you’d like to edit, whether it’s a logo, the text, or the image itself. 

The middle of the timeline is reserved for the length of the scene. To adjust how long this scene will be in the video, move the sliders left or right. The duration of the scene will always be displayed in the center.

On the right side, you’ll be able to zoom in and out, so you can edit the timeline more easily. 

As far as text editing is concerned, you can do so either from the timeline or by selecting the text box on the screen. You’ll be able to drag and drop the text box to adjust the positioning, rotate the text, change the colors and font, and more. To add multiple text boxes, select the Text option from the left-hand menu and drag and drop the new box onto the screen.

Step 6: Add narration

All that’s left to do is add narration. If you’ve recorded the audio already, you can add it through Uploads , the same way you did with photos. If not, you can add a voice-over to each individual scene. Select the Add VO option and import an existing voice-over or choose to record it on the spot. 

Step 7: Export the Video

After you record or upload the VO, add the photos, and edit the length of each scene, you’re good to go. You can play around with filters, effects, and transitions if you’d like, but the base video is complete and ready to be shared with the world! 

All that’s left to do is to click on Export in the top right corner and wait for the video to render. After a few minutes, depending on the video’s length, you’ll be able to download it, post it on YouTube and social media, or copy the shareable link and use the video in your marketing campaigns. 

Turn your PPTs into epic videos

Without spending hours on editing

That’s how easy it is to create stunning videos with InVideo. Click here to get started today for free and turn your PowerPoint presentations into breathtaking videos in no time! 

Let’s create superb videos

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How to Create a Video Presentation in PowerPoint

Table of Contents

Once the iSpring Narration Editor window appears, you can either record a new video narration or import an existing video file.

How to import a video file

To import an existing video file, click on the Video button in the Import tab.

Find the video file and click on the Open button.

Pro tip : You can insert multiple videos at the same time. To do that, press and hold the Ctrl key while selecting several files.

In the Import Video window, you have the choice of importing your video at the current cursor position or at the beginning of the slide of your choice.

Note: If you choose to import your video at the beginning of a certain slide, you will have the option of selecting the Adjust slide duration option. This will adjust the slide you have selected to the length of your video. 

How to record a video in PowerPoint

To film yourself on a webcam, you can use the video narration feature. Click on the Record Video button on the editor’s toolbar.

The Record Video Narration panel will appear.

You can add a video narration for one or several slides at a time. To start recording video for the current slide, mark Process current slide only.

Step 2. Synchronize video with slides

Now it’s time to synchronize your video with your slides and animation effects. The latter are displayed as yellow bars on the Slides timeline. The great thing is that you’ll be able to choose the exact moment when an animation will appear while watching the video. This way, the effects will perfectly correspond to the narration in your video presentation.

Note : This is only applicable if you have animation effects attached to your slides. 

The sync process is quite simple to use. Just place the cursor where the sync should begin and click the Sync button on the toolbar.

A Sync panel will appear above the timeline. Click on the Start Sync button to start the process.

The Start Sync button will be replaced with the Next Slide or Next Animation button, depending on the next element in the sequence. Click on those buttons at the appropriate moment. Hit the Next Animation button at the point in the narration where you would like to start the next animation. For example, if you are listing information, you can have each new item appear when the narrator mentions it in the video narration.

Once you have finished, click on Done to quit the Sync mode. Then hit the Save & Close button in the upper-left corner.

Step 3. Switch layouts in Slide Properties

iSpring allows you to publish materials using one of two players: the highly customizable Universal player or the Video Lecture player. The latter displays the video presentation in a 50/50 layout and allows viewers to change the proportion between video and slides at any time.

The Universal player features three layouts for a video presentation:

• The Full layout displays the slide, sidebar, and navigation panel.

The No Sidebar layout displays the slide and the navigation panel only.

The Maximized Video layout displays the video in the center, the slide on the sidebar, and the navigation panel.

Your presentation doesn’t have to have the same layout everywhere. You can highlight key points by changing the proportion between the on-screen information and the video for each slide. 

To do that, click on Slide Properties on the toolbar.

In the Layout column, pick the desired layout for a particular slide from the drop-down list.

The layouts for the Video Lecture player can be changed at any time during  playback. You can still preset them, and they will work as follows:

• The Full layout displays video and the presentation in equal proportions.

The No Sidebar layout displays the full slide with a miniaturized video.

The Maximized Video layout will show the enlarged video and a smaller slide.

It is recommended that you set slides to advance automatically during the entire presentation. To do that, in Presentation Explorer , select all slides and click on the Auto button .

Step 4. Customize your player template

The built-in presentation player has flexible customization options for creating presentation templates: you can provide your viewers with the presenter’s info, a brand logo, an outline, and more. First, let’s choose which player to use. Click on Player on the product ribbon, and choose whether to use the Universal or Video Lecture player, as shown in the image below.

For this guide on making a video presentation, we’ll use the Universal player. To customize it, click on Templates . There are several player templates to choose from. We’ll use the Online Lecture with Video template as an example.

You can also experiment with the settings, doing things like turning off the outline and notes by clicking on the Layout button on the ribbon. Here’s what our player will look like:

Additionally, you can customize a presentation to match your brand colors by choosing one of the built-in color schemes or creating your own.

When you have finished customizing the player, click on Apply & Close in the upper left corner. Well done! You’ve put the finishing touches on your video presentation. 

Step 5. Publish your video presentation

When your video presentation is ready, the last step is to publish it to a web format so it can be easily accessed via a browser.

In the Publish Presentation window, select the My Computer tab from the menu at the left. Enter the presentation title and select a local folder where the presentation will be saved. Under Output Options , choose a format. We’ll be publishing to the HTML5 format to make our video presentation play seamlessly across all platforms and devices. You can learn more about publishing presentations here .

In case you want to know more about other presentation software to create engaging video presentations, there are software solutions available that also come with a shallow learning curve. These apps range from video recording or video editing software to animating your cartoons. Here’s an overview of five of the most powerful yet easy-to-learn video presentation makers.

1. Camtasia 

If you want to create a video presentation but don’t have the time to put layouts together, you can use the Camtasia video recorder software. Camtasia offers a library of video presentation templates and assets that users can use to make their own presentation videos. Users can also create their own video templates and save them for future projects. 

Like iSpring, Camtasia is a video presentation maker that allows you to record both screen and webcam. You can’t create a slide deck in it, but it’s a good solution if you need to record and show yourself as well as everything you do on your screen.

2. PowToon 

Animation is a universal language without limits; it hooks any audience immediately. Promotional cartoons are now available to everyone, thanks to software like PowToon . This service can function as a video presentation maker that has an intuitive user interface and amazing comic-style graphics. You can start from scratch or use ready-made scenes and layouts that are editable with a drag-and-drop feature. The complete animated presentation can then be uploaded to YouTube channels or social media with a single click.

3. Biteable

Biteable  is a video presentation maker and video editing software that allows you to make professional-quality video presentations and animated videos online within minutes. It sacrifices the ability to capture video and record voice in favor of the creation of powerful animations. The ingredients are your photos, texts, pre-made templates, and stock video footage. Styles of presentation videos produced vary from animated illustrations to live action. What’s cool about this video presentation maker is its ability to create engaging video infographics.

4. Emaze 

With Emaze , spectacular video presentations are at your fingertips. With an intuitive creator interface and a number of ready-made templates available, creating a video presentation is no longer time-consuming. If you already have a PowerPoint presentation that you want to enhance, you can import it into Emaze and use its collection of tools to attach photos, GIFs, videos, and 3D images.

Animoto  is an online video presentation maker that allows you to create video presentations by simply dragging and dropping your own images and video clips into a pre-built video presentation template. To customize your videos, you can quickly adjust colors, fonts, background music, add your company watermark, and more. No video editing experience is required.

If you’d like to know more about other tools for making video presentations, read our article on the Top 10 Video Presentation Makers for Promotion and Education .

By default, you can make your PowerPoint presentation into a video by saving it as one. This can be a solid choice if you don’t need narration for your video. But if you need to, you’ll still be able to record narrations from that menu without going back to the original PowerPoint presentation.

Here’s what you need to do to download your slides as a video in PowerPoint:

• Click on the Create video tab to start downloading your video.

To make your presentation even better, consider the following tips for creating a successful video presentation:

• Make your videos short and sweet . Keep your video clips long enough to grab the attention of your target audience but short enough to incite curiosity. Your goal is to maintain the viewer’s interest. Remember, the optimal length of a video presentation is no longer than 4-7 minutes.
• Keep to the point . Make your goals and objectives known at the start of the presentation, and don’t stray from the message. Your text and visuals should relate to the subject matter and not detract from the goal of your video presentation.
• Add engaging elements . Enrich your video presentation with useful and interesting content. For example, add background music, colorful infographics, embed YouTube videos, or insert interactive quizzes to engage learners.
• End on a meaningful note . Leave your audience with something they can take away from the presentation. A new idea, a short story, a visual representation of your product, or even a link to your website works to provide the strong ending needed to create a lasting impression.

FAQ on Creating Video Presentations

Here are answers to a few popular questions about making a video presentation.

How do I make an effective video presentation?

First and foremost, think about your target audience before you create video presentations. What are their ages, genders, and occupations? What is their prior knowledge on a topic or their level of proficiency? After you define the audience, choose the way you will be presenting accordingly. You should connect with your audience emotionally and ‘speak their language.’ In this way, you’ll communicate the right message to the viewers.

Second, it will be useful to prepare a script for your video. Of course, the slideshow will support you, and you can base your speech on its content. But if you write an intro, outro, some key points, and transition words in advance, you will present more confidently and reduce rambling or unnecessary pauses. This will help you focus on the effectiveness of your message.

How can I prepare myself for a video presentation?

Make sure you’re physically and technically prepared. When delivering a presentation, prevent your mouth and throat from getting dry. You can use a lip balm and have a glass of water nearby to refresh during pauses. This will make you sound better, and your recording will be clearer. For recording, it’s better to choose a smaller, quieter space to avoid echoes and check your microphone’s sound.

Also read  →  How To Record PowerPoint Presentation With Audio  

What is the best video format for a PowerPoint presentation?

PowerPoint allows you to save your presentation in these video formats: MPEG-4 (or MP4 / .mp4) , Windows Media Video (.wmv), or MOV (if it’s PowerPoint on a Mac). MPEG-4 is the most common video format and is widely supported. Opt for this if you have PowerPoint versions 2013, 2016, or 2019. With PowerPoint 2010, the Windows Media format is preferable.

We hope this post will help you turn static slides into an engaging video presentation that captivates your audience. To start creating video presentations and other kinds of eLearning content, try iSpring Suite today. Get a 14-day free trial and access all of its advanced features without spending a cent.

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Content creator:

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

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• PowerPoint Insertions

5 Ways to Embed a Video File in Microsoft PowerPoint

Last Updated: March 27, 2024 Fact Checked

Embedding a Web Video

Embedding a video file, embedding a stock video, using android, linking movie files (powerpoint 2007).

This article was co-authored by Mitch Harris and by wikiHow staff writer, Rain Kengly . Mitch Harris is a Consumer Technology Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,128,191 times.

If you want to spruce up your PowerPoint presentations, you can add a video to your slides. If you have a video file on your computer, you can easily embed it into your presentation. You can also embed YouTube videos, use looping stock videos, or, on older versions of PowerPoint, link to the videos. This wikiHow will show you how to add a video to Microsoft PowerPoint using your Windows, Mac, or Android device.

Things You Should Know

• Copy a YouTube URL. In PowerPoint, click "Insert' → "Video" → "Online Videos/Movie". Paste the URL and click "Insert".
• To embed a video file, click "Insert" → "Video" → "This Device" → select a file → "Insert".
• To use a stock video, click "Insert" → "Video" → "Stock Videos" → select a video → "Insert".

• You must have a subscription to use Office 365 . [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
• Adding a video to your PowerPoint can help you make a great presentation .

• You can insert a video from supported websites such as: YouTube, SlideShare, Vimeo, Microsoft Stream, and Flip.

• On Mac, this will look like Online Movie .

• You'll see a preview of the video.

• To adjust when the video plays, click the drop-down menu next to Start: . Select In Click Sequence , Automatically , or When Clicked On .
• Check the boxes to apply any of the following: Play Full Screen , Hide While Not Playing , Loop until Stopped , and/or Rewind after Playing .
• Click Volume to adjust the video's volume. Select Low , Medium , High , or Mute .

• Select the web video and click the Video Format tab.
• Click Poster Frame on the left of the toolbar.
• Click Image from File… .
• Select From a File , Stock Images , Online Pictures , or From Icons .
• Select the image source from the chosen method, and then click Insert .

• Stock videos work best as a background graphic to your PowerPoint text, since these videos loop seamlessly

• The stock video will be added to your slide. By default, it will cover the entire slide.

• PowerPoint is available for Android in the Google Play Store .

• The menu will open.

• If you want to take a video using your camera, tap Open Camera instead.
• The video file will be added to your PowerPoint.

• Videos can only be "embedded" (included in the presentation file itself) in PowerPoint 2010 or newer.

• Click the Office button and select "Publish."
• Select "Package for CD" and then select your presentation.
• Ensure that "Linked files" is selected in the "Options" menu.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-a-video-from-youtube-or-another-site-8340ec69-4cee-4fe1-ab96-4849154bc6db#OfficeVersion=Windows
• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-audio-or-video-in-powerpoint-for-android-95e0a2af-35fb-405a-8536-cdcd934f659a
• ↑ https://support.office.com/en-us/article/My-movie-doesn-t-play-190cf574-183d-4b7f-b627-3783a14b7b07?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
• ↑ https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Add-and-play-a-movie-in-a-presentation-f3fcbd3e-5f86-4320-8aea-31bff480ed02

About This Article

1. Open the slide. 2. Click Insert . 3. Click Movie . 4. Click Movie from File or Video on my PC . 5. Select the video and click OK . 6. Click Playback . 7. Choose how to play the video. 8. Save your presentation. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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From ideas to screen: How to make presentation videos that shine

What type of content do you primarily create?

Visuals can mean the difference between a killer presentation and a lost opportunity.

For salespeople, it’s difficult to close a deal without business presentations to back up your pitches. For marketers and business owners, video presentations help communicate ideas and share results from projects to ensure future success. 

Customers also love high-quality visuals, like branded explainer videos and product tours. They’re the fuel that drives eight in 10 people to make online purchases. 

But what makes a good presentation? And how can you engage viewers throughout your video? This guide covers what you need to know about creating video presentations, no matter the purpose.

What is a video presentation?

A video presentation refers to a sequence of visuals combined with audio to convey information, arguments, ideas, or narratives. It can be about a product, service, internal business reports, or even a topic of interest.

Video presentations can range from simple slideshow-style videos with voiceovers to more complex productions involving animations, live-action footage, music, sound effects , and more.

A good video presentation provides information clearly and concisely. But the best video presentations engage your target audience with professional video quality: a good camera and mic, skilled editing, and a confident presenter. 

There are a ton of different types of video presentation formats you can choose from, including:

• Animated explainer videos
• Employee onboarding videos
• Screen recordings
• Training videos
• Product demos
• Microsoft PowerPoint presentations with a talking head
• Sales presentations
• Awards presentations

Benefits of a video presentation 

These are great reasons to put in the effort to produce this type of video content.

Enhanced engagement

Video recordings—whether on social media or hosted on your website—are great for engagement and getting your audience’s attention. Wyzowl found that 95% of marketers have said video marketing has helped them increase brand awareness, 90% say it has helped generate leads, and 87% said it has helped them increase sales.

Visual clarity

There's a reason many people suggest something like "If you can learn it, you'll find it on YouTube." The presentation video format is unique in its ability to teach and demonstrate, similar to the in-person experience you'd get with a tutor or salesperson. 

The same Wyzowl report found that 96% of marketers say videos have helped increase user understanding of products and services. In short: video helps customers retain your information.

Global reach and accessibility

Video presentations are a great way to reach a global audience. More than half of people say they’re more likely to share a video with others than any other type of content. 

A video presentation is also better for accessibility than other content types. With video editing software , you can:

• Easily add subtitles and annotations to your video footage for those with hearing loss.
• Add an audio description voiceover for those with sight loss.
• Change the color filters for those with color blindness.

Personal connection

Building a personal connection with your audience is critical for overall brand engagement. A video presentation, especially one with a person in the video, helps you do that. Research shows that students have positive feelings for videos presented by an instructor, for example.

How to create a video presentation

Step 1. plan and prepare.

Proper planning and preparation can help the rest of your presentation creation process run smoothly. 

Think about what you’ll say, and use a storyboard to build out a visual plan of your presentation ideas. Storyboarding your presentation, instead of making it on the fly, will help you stay focused when you fire up your presentation software. (You don’t need to be an artist; just set out the scenes in a way that makes sense to you.)

At this point, start writing the video script for your presentation. You’ll know what to say and when to say it, and won’t fill your presentation up with filler words like “um” and pauses when trying to think about what to say next. 

Step 2. Gather resources

After you’ve completed your paper storyboard and script, it’s time to go digital. With Descript, you can build your slideshows into the video editor just like any slideshow tool . 

To create a presentation video in Descript:

• Hit New project .
• Import any media (images, infographics, short video clips, GIFs, or sounds) you want to include in your presentation.
• Drop your visuals into the script and edit them into a sequence, or work scene by scene by adding a / at the beginning of each slide.
• Add the background of your presentation, then your script in the left panel.
• Add captions to your presentation by hitting the T icon at the top and choosing Captions.

When you've set up all your slides, you can get fancier and add transitions, extra media, and special effects later.

But maybe you’d prefer to create the presentation using more familiar software, like Prezi, PowerPoint slides, or Google Slides. In that case, you can import the presentation into Descript later or use its screen recording functionality. (If you upgrade your Descript plan, you can create your own video presentation templates to use over and over again, if that’s your style.)

Step 3. Record your presentation video

With your slides all set up, it’s time to turn them into a video. This step is pretty straightforward if you’ve used Descript to make the presentation slides. All you’ll need to do is go to the beginning of the presentation and hit the Record button at the top of the screen:

 If, like in the image example above, you’ve written your script into the scenes, change the default setting Record into script to Record new layer . This preserves your script so you can read from it whil recording your presentation video. 

Decide if you want to record a voiceover only (leaving the record option as Audio only ), or add a floating head video with your webcam to show yourself as the speaker by clicking the Screen option. Either way, go through your script as the slides move along. 

If you created your presentation in another software like Google Slides, there may be no built-in option to record your presentation over the slides. In that case, use Descript’s screen recorder to film your screen with audio. The video file will be ready and waiting for you in the video editor when you finish recording.

Step 4. Edit and enhance

At this point, you’ve got the basic presentation down. It’s time to bring out your inner filmmaker and turn the slideshow into something special. 

With Descript’s free video editor, you can:

• Add title screens to introduce your presentation.
• Choose from a library of background music.
• Change the fonts of your captions and any other text layer.
• Add cool slide transitions.
• Improve audio quality with Studio Sound .

Descript’s video editing is different (and easy) since you can edit the video using the script instead of a traditional timeline editor. This makes the process super efficient since you can quickly identify what needs cutting. Simply delete the part of the script you don’t want, and the accompanying video will disappear.

Step 5. Review and fine-tune your video

What makes Descript extra special is the ability to edit your audio by taking out filler words you might have accidentally recorded. Remove “ums,” “uhs,” and awkward pauses in a single click with filler word removal . 

If, like me, you also have a habit of forgetting to say something important, you can use Descript's Overdub feature to add those few missed words without re-recording the whole scene. The software will create an AI clone of your voice to fix audio mistakes. 

With your video presentation fine-tuned, you’re ready to save and share it with the world. Click the Publish button in the top right corner and download the MP4 file, or export it directly to a platform like YouTube or Wistia.

6 key elements for crafting a great video presentation

Now you know the practical how-tos of making a presentation video, let’s look at some key elements that turn a good video presentation into a great one. 

Clear and engaging content

Visual appeal, narration and voice quality, engagement techniques, structure and flow.

• Audience-centric approach 

No one likes feeling confused. If your presentation isn’t clear, you’ll end up frustrating your audience. A nice trick for clarity is to imagine you’re explaining your presentation to a child; don’t use big words to sound smart. Presentations that are clear from the start are naturally more engaging.

Gone are the days of 360p Nokia footage. Even if you don’t have a professional camera setup, you can still record a video on a PC, phone, or webcam with high quality. But don’t forget about the images and text overlays. No one wants to try deciphering pixelated visuals—use the highest quality video resolution you can.

Even the best-quality video presentation can be ruined by bad audio. Poor-quality narration is hugely frustrating to viewers. Prioritize your audio quality, especially for information-rich videos like presentations, and use Studio Sound to remove distracting background noise from your presentation video.

When it comes to video presentations, you should think like a salesperson. You can't expect your audience to believe the information you give them if they don't trust you. Engage your audience by telling a personal story, describing relatable scenes, or emphasizing important points throughout your video.

Treat your presentation like a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Information should flow nicely from one point to the next. Do a test run through your slides before you start recording to ensure any questions don't crop up prematurely because the viewer thinks you haven't covered it (when you do a few slides later). 

Learn: Narrative structure: How to compose the best story for your footage

Audience-centric approach

It's pretty much always to the audience's benefit when you make a presentation video, so you shouldn't focus too much on yourself. Address your audience's needs and go above and beyond to answer any questions they may have. Otherwise, why would they listen to you?

5 tips to help you craft remarkable video presentations

Now we know what makes a great presentation video, here are five bonus presentation tips to create yours. 

1. Practice and rehearse

You won’t always get it right the first time, and that’s okay. But the more you practice before hitting record, the better your presentation video will be—and the less legwork you’ll need to do throughout the video editing process.

2. Invest in good equipment

Top-notch equipment makes your life easier throughout the video creation process. Replace your webcam with your iPhone to improve picture quality, and invest in editing tools that allow you to record and edit in the same dashboard.

3. Optimize lighting

Another area where you can improve the quality of your video is the lighting technique . If you have the budget, you can use a simple ring light, but if you don’t have the cash to invest in video equipment, use natural light (such as a window) behind your camera.

4. Engage with eye contact

If someone was talking to you and they weren’t looking at you, you’d probably be a little confused or uncomfortable, right? It’s the same with video. Look into the camera when making video presentations to simulate real eye contact with your audience. If you forget, use Descript’s Eye Contact AI effect to fix it.

5. Keep it concise

If you waffle on with unnecessary information or get sidetracked on a story, you’ll lose your audience’s attention, and they’ll click away or switch off. Stick to your video script and keep your presentation concise.

Elevate your video presentations with Descript

Creating an informative and engaging video presentation isn’t the easiest task in the world. You’ve got to know your audience and what they want, present the information confidently, and do it with visually appealing content.

With Descript, you can take your presentation video to the next level with an editing experience that allows you to:

• Record your screen on a Mac or Windows device
• Create and record slides (with voiceover) in one dashboard
• Remove filler words with a single click
• Use Studio Sound to remove background noise from your presentation
• Turn your presentation into a YouTube video, or download it as an MP4 file

Take a free tour of Descript and see why thousands of creators love its video editing platform.

How to make presentation videos FAQ

How do i make a presentation video for free.

• Choose a slideshow software like Descript
• Create your slides
• Add transitions 
• Record your voiceover
• Edit your presentation
• Share your video 

How do I video myself when presenting a PowerPoint?

Use PowerPoint’s built-in recording feature and choose the “Cameo” option to record yourself when presenting. Or, use Descript’s screen recording feature and have the presentation ready for editing when you finish recording. 

How do I make an audio-video presentation?

If you don’t want to record yourself on video, use a screen recorder to film your presentation slides. Video presentation makers like Descript allow you to record a voiceover.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Table of Contents

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

• Change the slide order
• Reset your layout
• Change the slide dimensions
• Use PowerPoint Designer
• Format text
• Format objects
• Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation  here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the  Blank Presentation (1)  thumbnail.

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Here is how the program is laid out:

• The Application Header
• The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
• The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
• The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

• The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

• Online Pictures
• Screenshots
• Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide  in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as  Duplicate Slide ,  Delete Slide , and  Hide Slide .

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by  right-clicking anywhere in this Pane  and selecting  Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The  Notes Pane  is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can resize the  Notes Pane  by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note:  Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called  Placeholders  and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Note:  For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the  Autofit Options  icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting  Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the  Paragraph area  of the  Home  tab of the Ribbon.

The Reset Command:  If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the  Home tab  and click on  New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

On slide 2 we have a  Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

• A SmartArt graphic,
• A 3D object,
• A picture from the web,
• Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit  Ctrl+C to Copy  and Ctrl+V to Paste  from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

• A picture from the web

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

• Click on the  Picture  icon
• Find  a picture on your computer and select it
• Click on  Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only  or the  Blank  slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command:  Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the  Reset button up in the  Home tab  won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

• Using graphics in PowerPoint
• Inserting icons onto slides
• Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
• How to embed a video in PowerPoint
• How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the  Design tab  in your Ribbon, and click on  Design Ideas .

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation,  read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation,  read my guide here .

 B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it,  read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon, and click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Themes section .

For this tutorial, let’s select the  Frame  theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the  Variants area, you can see four background options.

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

• The background color automatically changes across all slides
• The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
• The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

• Gradient fill
• Picture or texture fill
• Pattern fill
• Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab in the Ribbon
• In the Variants area, click on the  dropdown arrow  and select  Colors
• Select  the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Variants  area
• Select  Fonts
• Select  the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

• Select the  element
• Go to the  Animations tab in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  animation  you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

• Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
• Click on the little star  next to the slide
• Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the  Effect Options ,  Advanced Animation  and the  Timing  areas of the  Animation tab .

Note:  To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button,  read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

• Navigate to the  Animations tab
• Select the  Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

• Select the  slide
• Go to the  Transitions tab in the Ribbon
• In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  transition  you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the  Timing  area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the  Slides Pane  and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

• Click on the Preview  button in the Transitions tab
• Click on the little star  beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note:  In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition,  see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  File tab
•  Select  Save As  on the left
• Choose  where you want to save your presentation
• Name  your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
• Click  Save

You can alternatively use the  Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

• Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
• Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

• Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
• Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
• Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
• Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
• Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

• How to print multiple slides per page
• How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
• How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by  visiting us here .

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How to Record Customized Camera Feeds With Cameo in PowerPoint

T he widespread adoption of remote work and virtual meetings has led many people and organizations to realize they don't have to be physically present in the same conference room to make presentations. In fact, you don't even need to conduct them live.

However, recording your PowerPoint slides with your face on them requires technical know-how and third-party apps like OBS. This makes recording presentations a bit difficult and discourages people from doing it.

Thankfully, Microsoft has addressed this issue in PowerPoint 365 with the Cameo feature. Here's what it is and how to use it.

What Is Cameo in PowerPoint?

Cameo is a PowerPoint feature that lets you add your webcam or any other camera feed into your presentation. This makes it easier to present virtually, as your audience can see you from within your slides.

Previously, you needed a third-party app like OBS to overlay yourself on your presentation. You can also use a green screen overlay in Capcut or other similar apps to achieve the same effect. However, this takes a lot of effort and know-how.

But with this feature, you can do it from inside PowerPoint with just a few clicks. Here's how to insert a cameo into your slides.

• Go to Insert > Cameo .
• After clicking on Cameo, PowerPoint will insert a placeholder object on your current slide and open the Camera Format tab.
• You can edit the object as you wish, much like any other shape on PowerPoint. You can also click on the options in the Designer pane on the right side of the screen to help you work faster.
• Once you're happy with its placement on your slide, click on the Preview button to see your live video.

With that, you can start presenting your PowerPoint slides via screen sharing while still keeping yourself on the screen.

How to Record Your PowerPoint Presentation With Cameo

You can also insert a cameo from Record > Cameo . Clicking on this will bring you to the same menu tab and insert a placeholder object for your video. However, even if you didn't set up Cameo beforehand, you can insert it directly while recording your presentation. Here's how:

• Go to Record > From Beginning or Record > From Current Slide .
• In the recording screen, click on the Camera icon at the top. This will insert a round object containing your video in your slides' lower-right-hand section.
• Click on the Red icon to start recording your presentation.
• Go through your presentation as usual. For more information, check out our guide on turning your presentations into videos .
• Once you've finished, click the Red icon again to stop recording.
• Click Export to go to the Export to video screen .
• Change the File Name as needed, then click Browse to select the location where you will save your recorded video.
• Once done, click Export Video .

With that, you don't have to spend much effort to add your video feed to your PowerPoint presentation recording. However, the app only places your video at one location across every slide; it might cover some of your content. That's why it's better to use the Cameo feature when you're building or editing your PowerPoint presentation.

If you're unhappy with your recording, press the Retake Video on the left of the record icon. You can pick between On Current Slide or On All Slides .

What You Need to Record Customized Camera Feeds

You need a webcam and a Microsoft 365 account to record your customized camera feed. Furthermore, you cannot use Cameo or record presentations in the PowerPoint web app. You need to download and install it on your computer to use these features.

The Cameo feature is already available on Microsoft PowerPoint 365 in Windows and Mac. However, recording your presentation with Cameo is only available on Windows. As of the time of writing, this feature isn't available for the main PowerPoint 365 for Mac version.

If you're running macOS, you must be a Microsoft 365 Insider to get this feature. However, since the Cameo recording feature is already announced in the Microsoft 365 Insider blog , we hope it will be available in the mainstream PowerPoint for Mac version in a few months.

Recording Your Presentations Is Now Much Easier

The Cameo feature has made presenting PowerPoint slides in video calls easier. And with the recording function, you no longer need a third-party app to put your video over your presentation.

You can integrate it into each slide, allowing you to control where you are on your screen. And you also save a lot of time and effort, as you can record and save your presentation as a video from within Microsoft PowerPoint.

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AI presentation maker

When lack of inspiration or time constraints are something you’re worried about, it’s a good idea to seek help. Slidesgo comes to the rescue with its latest functionality—the AI presentation maker! With a few clicks, you’ll have wonderful slideshows that suit your own needs . And it’s totally free!

Generate presentations in minutes

We humans make the world move, but we need to sleep, rest and so on. What if there were someone available 24/7 for you? It’s time to get out of your comfort zone and ask the AI presentation maker to give you a hand. The possibilities are endless : you choose the topic, the tone and the style, and the AI will do the rest. Now we’re talking!

Customize your AI-generated presentation online

Alright, your robotic pal has generated a presentation for you. But, for the time being, AIs can’t read minds, so it’s likely that you’ll want to modify the slides. Please do! We didn’t forget about those time constraints you’re facing, so thanks to the editing tools provided by one of our sister projects —shoutouts to Wepik — you can make changes on the fly without resorting to other programs or software. Add text, choose your own colors, rearrange elements, it’s up to you! Oh, and since we are a big family, you’ll be able to access many resources from big names, that is, Freepik and Flaticon . That means having a lot of images and icons at your disposal!

How does it work?

Think of your topic.

First things first, you’ll be talking about something in particular, right? A business meeting, a new medical breakthrough, the weather, your favorite songs, a basketball game, a pink elephant you saw last Sunday—you name it. Just type it out and let the AI know what the topic is.

Choose your preferred style and tone

They say that variety is the spice of life. That’s why we let you choose between different design styles, including doodle, simple, abstract, geometric, and elegant . What about the tone? Several of them: fun, creative, casual, professional, and formal. Each one will give you something unique, so which way of impressing your audience will it be this time? Mix and match!

Make any desired changes

You’ve got freshly generated slides. Oh, you wish they were in a different color? That text box would look better if it were placed on the right side? Run the online editor and use the tools to have the slides exactly your way.

Download the final result for free

Yes, just as envisioned those slides deserve to be on your storage device at once! You can export the presentation in .pdf format and download it for free . Can’t wait to show it to your best friend because you think they will love it? Generate a shareable link!

What is an AI-generated presentation?

It’s exactly “what it says on the cover”. AIs, or artificial intelligences, are in constant evolution, and they are now able to generate presentations in a short time, based on inputs from the user. This technology allows you to get a satisfactory presentation much faster by doing a big chunk of the work.

Can I customize the presentation generated by the AI?

Of course! That’s the point! Slidesgo is all for customization since day one, so you’ll be able to make any changes to presentations generated by the AI. We humans are irreplaceable, after all! Thanks to the online editor, you can do whatever modifications you may need, without having to install any software. Colors, text, images, icons, placement, the final decision concerning all of the elements is up to you.

Can I add my own images?

Absolutely. That’s a basic function, and we made sure to have it available. Would it make sense to have a portfolio template generated by an AI without a single picture of your own work? In any case, we also offer the possibility of asking the AI to generate images for you via prompts. Additionally, you can also check out the integrated gallery of images from Freepik and use them. If making an impression is your goal, you’ll have an easy time!

Is this new functionality free? As in “free of charge”? Do you mean it?

Yes, it is, and we mean it. We even asked our buddies at Wepik, who are the ones hosting this AI presentation maker, and they told us “yup, it’s on the house”.

Are there more presentation designs available?

From time to time, we’ll be adding more designs. The cool thing is that you’ll have at your disposal a lot of content from Freepik and Flaticon when using the AI presentation maker. Oh, and just as a reminder, if you feel like you want to do things yourself and don’t want to rely on an AI, you’re on Slidesgo, the leading website when it comes to presentation templates. We have thousands of them, and counting!.

How can I download my presentation?

The easiest way is to click on “Download” to get your presentation in .pdf format. But there are other options! You can click on “Present” to enter the presenter view and start presenting right away! There’s also the “Share” option, which gives you a shareable link. This way, any friend, relative, colleague—anyone, really—will be able to access your presentation in a moment.

Discover more content

This is just the beginning! Slidesgo has thousands of customizable templates for Google Slides and PowerPoint. Our designers have created them with much care and love, and the variety of topics, themes and styles is, how to put it, immense! We also have a blog, in which we post articles for those who want to find inspiration or need to learn a bit more about Google Slides or PowerPoint. Do you have kids? We’ve got a section dedicated to printable coloring pages! Have a look around and make the most of our site!

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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Create a presentation

Create a presentation in PowerPoint

Create presentations from scratch or start with a professionally designed, fully customizable template from Microsoft Create .

Open PowerPoint.

In the left pane, select New .

Select an option:

To create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation .

To use a prepared design, select one of the templates.

To see tips for using PowerPoint, select Take a Tour , and then select Create , .

Add a slide

In the thumbnails on the left pane, select the slide you want your new slide to follow.

In the  Home tab, in the  Slides  section, select  New Slide .

In the Slides section, select Layout , and then select the layout you want from the menu.

Add and format text

Place the cursor inside a text box, and then type something.

Select the text, and then select one or more options from the Font section of the Home tab, such as  Font , Increase Font Size , Decrease Font Size ,  Bold , Italic , Underline , etc.

To create bulleted or numbered lists, select the text, and then select Bullets or Numbering .

Add a picture, shape, and more

Go to the  Insert  tab.

To add a picture:

In the Images section, select Pictures .

In the Insert Picture From menu, select the source you want.

Browse for the picture you want, select it, and then select Insert .

To add illustrations:

In the Illustrations section, select Shapes , Icons , 3D Models ,  SmartArt , or Chart .

In the dialog box that opens when you click one of the illustration types, select the item you want and follow the prompts to insert it.

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• Create a presentation Article
• Save Article
• Design Article
• Share and collaborate Article
• Give a presentation Article
• Set up your mobile apps Article
• Learn more Article

Create a presentation

Create a presentation in PowerPoint

Create presentations from scratch or start with a professionally designed, fully customizable template from Microsoft Create .

Open PowerPoint.

In the left pane, select New .

Select an option:

To create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation .

To use a prepared design, select one of the templates.

To see tips for using PowerPoint, select Take a Tour , and then select Create , .

Add a slide

In the thumbnails on the left pane, select the slide you want your new slide to follow.

In the  Home tab, in the  Slides  section, select  New Slide .

In the Slides section, select Layout , and then select the layout you want from the menu.

Add and format text

Place the cursor inside a text box, and then type something.

Select the text, and then select one or more options from the Font section of the Home tab, such as  Font , Increase Font Size , Decrease Font Size ,  Bold , Italic , Underline , etc.

To create bulleted or numbered lists, select the text, and then select Bullets or Numbering .

Add a picture, shape, and more

Go to the  Insert  tab.

To add a picture:

In the Images section, select Pictures .

In the Insert Picture From menu, select the source you want.

Browse for the picture you want, select it, and then select Insert .

To add illustrations:

In the Illustrations section, select Shapes , Icons , 3D Models ,  SmartArt , or Chart .

In the dialog box that opens when you click one of the illustration types, select the item you want and follow the prompts to insert it.

Need more help?

Want more options.

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Microsoft 365 subscription benefits

Microsoft 365 training

Microsoft security

Accessibility center

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Ask the Microsoft Community

Microsoft Tech Community

Windows Insiders

Microsoft 365 Insiders

Find solutions to common problems or get help from a support agent.

Online support

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.