Presentations w/Voiceover

Audio narrations and timings can enhance a Web-based or self-running slide show. If you’re planning to create a video with your presentation, using narrations and timings is a great way to make it less static. You can use audio narration to archive a meeting, so that presenters or absentees can review the presentation later and hear any comments made during the presentation.

Learn About Narration

Audio narrations and timings can enhance a Web-based or self-running slide show. If you’re planning to create a video with your presentation, using narrations and timings is a great way to make it less static. You can use audio narration to archive a meeting, so that presenters or absentees can review the presentation later and hear any comments made during the presentation.
You can record a narration before or during a slide show and include audience comments in the recording. If you don’t want narration throughout the presentation, you can record comments only on selected slides or turn off the narration so that it plays only when you want it to play.
When you add a narration to a slide, a sound icon Audio appears on the slide. As with any sound, you can either click the icon to play the sound or set the sound to play automatically.
To record and hear a narration, your computer must be equipped with a sound card, microphone, and speakers.
Before you start recording, PowerPoint prompts you to record either just the slide timings, just the narrations, or both at the same time. You can also set the slide timings manually. Slide timings are especially useful if you want the presentation to run automatically with your narration. Recording slide timings will also record the times of animation steps and the use of any triggers on your slide. You can turn the slide timings off when you don’t want the presentation to use them.
In this process, what you record is embedded in each slide, and the recording can be played back in Slide Show. A video file is not created by this recording process. However, if you need one, you can turn your presentation into a video with a few extra steps.

Record Narration

When you record a narration, you run through the presentation and record each slide. You can pause and resume recording any time.
Ensure your microphone is set up and in working order prior to recording your slideshow.
On the Slideshow tab, in the Setup group, click Record Slide Show
Select one of the following: Start Recording from Beginning | Start Recording from Current Slide
In the Record Slide Show dialog box, select the Narrations and laser pointer check box, and if appropriate, select or clear the Slide and animation timings check box.
Click Start Recording. TIP: To pause the narration, in the Recording shortcut menu, click Pause. To resume your narration, click Resume Recording.
To end your slide show recording, right-click the slide, and then click End Show.
The recorded slide show timings are automatically saved. You can see the timing in Slide Sorter view below each slide.

Preview Narration

In Normal view, on the slide, click the sound icon
On the ribbon, under Audio Tools, on the Playback Tools tab, in the Preview group, click Play.

Record Comments

In Normal view, click the slide that you want to add a comment to.
On the Insert tab, in the Media group, click the arrow under Audio, and then click Record Audio
To record the comment, click Record, and start speaking.
When you are finished recording, click Stop.
In the Name box, type a name for the sound, and then click OK.

Set Slide Timing

PowerPoint automatically records your slide timings when you add narration, or you can manually set the slide timings to accompany your narrations.
In Normal view, click the slide that you want to set the timing for.
On the Transitions tab, in the Timing group, under Advance Slide, select the After check box, and then enter the number of seconds that you want the slide to appear on the screen. Repeat the process for each slide that you want to set the timing for.

Turn Slide Timing Off

Turning off the slide timings does not delete them. You can turn the timings back on at any time without having to recreate them. However, when the slide timings are turned off, your slides won’t automatically advance when you record a narration, and you will need to manually advance the slides.
In Normal view, on the Slideshow tab, in the Setup group, click Setup Slideshow.
Under Advance slides, click Manually.

Deleting

The Clear command is for deleting timings or narration from your recording that you don’t want or that you want to replace. There are four different Clear commands that allow you to:

Delete the timings on the currently selected slide
Delete the timings on all slides at once
Delete the narration on the currently selected slide
Delete the narration on all slides at once
If you do not want to delete all the timings or narration in your presentation, open a specific slide that has a timing or narration that you do want to delete.
On the Slide Show tab of the PowerPoint ribbon, on the Record Slide Show button, click the down arrow, point to Clear, and then choose the appropriate Clear command for your situation.

Developing Executive Style Presentations

Tips

Keep it short, 10 to 15 PowerPoint slides is good. Usually, the agenda is packed, so if a discussion starts to run longer than anticipated (and it usually does), the rest of the agenda either gets shortened or canceled altogether. Find out how much time you have been allotted and then only use three-fourths, with the remaining fourth to be taken up with questions and discussion.
Start with an elevator speech. In other words, if you were riding an elevator with the CEO and he asked you what you were going to present today, how would you answer him in a few sentences?
Have a fall-back strategy if your time is shortened at the last minute. Don’t try to cram ten pounds of data into a five-pound time slot. In other words, figure out in advance, what could be cut out of the presentation. Cut out the background and leave just the key points. If they want the background, you’ll be ready. If you feel that a shortened agenda just won’t be enough to clearly present your case, ask to remove it and ask to be invited to the next meeting.
Know the background detail but don’t structure your presentation chronologically, going through every little piece of the problem. They don’t have the time or patience for it. Instead, make the presentation with your audience in mind. For example, executives usually have these questions:
- What is the problem or issue?
- Why is it a problem?
- What have they done about it, so far?
- What does she recommend?
- What are the next steps and what decisions/actions does she want from me?
Use simple slides and graphs, without clutter and excessive detail. If you must illustrate a point within a large body of data, highlight it and then on your next slide, isolate it and use an enlarged close up of only those few numbers.
Describe what each technical chart is before diving into a number. For instance, “This chart shows the relationship between last year’s results against the results of the prior four years.” Often, presenters know their own information so well, they dive in, forgetting the rest of the audience is still trying to figure out what the big picture is.
Use language that is conversational—skip the jargon and acronyms. You may use the jargon in your department, but the executives don’t all work in your department and may not want to admit they don’t know what the heck you’re talking about.
Use pictures, examples and stories to make the information come alive. Endless presentations of numbers and graphs are numbing. Sometimes executives are so removed from the day-to-day, they lose perspective. For example, rather than just showing data about quality improvements, show before and after photographs of a product.
On a sensitive or controversial topic, visit with audience members one-on-one to get understanding and buy in prior to your presentation. If you don’t take this precautionary step, you may find yourself trying to manage a heated or confused audience.
Talk about what is going right, not just about what is going wrong. At the executive level, presentations tend to focus on what’s broken and what needs to be done about it. It can be dreary and stressful. Be sure to include successes and encouraging progress. It can indeed be lonely—and sometimes depressing—at the top.
Be prepared to answer tough, challenging questions. Over the years, I’ve participated in many senior executive presentations and one thing seems standard—they love to poke holes. Sometimes they even try to outdo each other. Because they are removed from the details, they need to question and probe to understand the topic quickly, so they can make a decision. Don’t be caught without facts and a solid approach to a problem, or your career could take a few lumps.
Be specific about the risks and the anticipated problems related to an issue. The more honest you are, the more credibility you will have.

License

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