Recording a Powerpoint Presentation

Recording a voiceover on a Powerpoint presentation is easy, particularly if you are using a computer rather than a mobile device. You can record slide by slide, so you don’t have to re-record the entire presentation if you catch an “um…” that you want to edit out later.

There are a lot of videos and Microsoft instructions on how to use video timing and recording—if you need to brush up on the fundamentals, start there. Here, we will focus on a few pro tips you’ll want to know as you design and build your recorded presentation.

As always, record in a quiet space and use good equipment where possible.

Tip 1: Script is important

The “Notes” section at the bottom of the slide editing screen can hold your script. What do you need to say about the slide? Put your key points or your word-for-word script in the notes for every slide. You can display the notes – visible only to you – while you record your slide, so you don’t need to memorize your script.

Tip 2: Recording is last

Everything else – from animations to edits to video clips – should be complete and your slides exactly how you want them to be seen before you click the record button. Any changes on the slide to an animation or video will not play properly if they are edited after the recording is saved, so you will have to record the slide again.

Tip 3: Animation automation

If you have animations and you are recording voiceover, set all of your animations to play on delays and timing. You generally don’t want to speak and click the mouse at the same time to advance your animation, so setting everything up in advance helps. Make sure to review your slide before going on to the next one to check the animations played properly during the recording.

Remember Powerpoint considers embedded videos as animations, so also be sure to set your videos to play automatically and consider if you want the video to play on a loop while you are speaking. This way you don’t have to worry about playing or stopping the video while you are speaking.

Tip 4: Remove video audio

Does an embedded video have audio? Make sure to edit out the audio track using your video editing software if you intend to have a voiceover for the slide. Otherwise, you might find the recording plays both the video’s sound and your voiceover, making for a very confusing presentation.

Tip 5: The black box

Your recording lives in a black box in the corner of the screen, usually the lower right corner, and cannot be moved to the background. You do not have to keep it there, however. You can reduce it to a very small size and move it to just off the slide so it doesn’t obstruct your images and animations.

That’s it! You are ready to record and put together your presentation.

Introduction

Lesson One: Intro to embedded media

Lesson Two: Appropriate animations

Lesson Three: Screen capture

Lesson Four: Recording a presentation

Lesson Five: Putting it all together

Further Resources