PowerPoint Tutorial

Preparing for your Narration

Why Narrate?

Many faculty are already putting their slide presentations on the web. This gives students the opportunity to review the lecture materials on their own, even those that did not make it to class. However, it does not give them the whole picture. The majority of slide presentations consists largely of chunks of disconnected text, brief to the point of becoming useless without the additional explanations of the speaker. In fact, the outline view of the presentation is often the better and more efficient way of distributing the information.

Therefore, the use of narrated presentations is recommended to reach out to distance learners, to accommodate to different learning styles, and for accessibility purpopses. In distance learning applications, a narrated lecture is a useful complement to the usual reading materials, and provides a good basis for subsequent class discussions via discussion boards or synchronous software. Lectures should be available in the largest variety of formats possible to reach all learner types. Narrated presentations simultaneously provide both aural and visual content and is therefore more effective. Beyond different learning styles and issues of memory retention you should also always consider accessibility issues. While narrating the lecture helps out the visually handicapped, you need to also provide a purely visual format. It is highly recommended that you make the transcript available as a plain text document, which can also be printed out.

Design Tips

To create the best online presentations, we suggest using the following guidelines:

• Design the online presentation to optimize the bandwidth capabilities of the audience. If the audience has fast, broadband connections to view the online presentation, you can create a graphic intensive presentation that includes many animations. However, if the audience has slower connection speeds (<56kbps), graphic images should be used sparingly to insure the audience has a good viewing experience.
• Create a written script of the audio presentation. Speaking into a microphone can often be more difficult than giving the presentation to a live audience. To insure a smooth delivery covering all important points, we recommend completely scripting the presentation before recording.
• Use white or light-colored background and black or dark-colored text. Black text on white background is still the best combination for a professional image. If you must use other colors for text and background, make sure ther is high contrast between your background and text colors and not just different shades of the same color.
• Do not use too many fonts on one slide, or in one presentation (limit to 2 types). It is recommended to use TrueType fonts (more legible), such as: Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia, and Verdana.
• Be careful of the font size you use. Text setting varies between platforms, therefore it is recommended to use a font size no smaller than 12 pts.
• Add animations to the presentation. Animations add impact to a message and will improve the overall viewing experience of the audience.
• Your first slide can be your title slide, which you can use to introduce yourself and provide some preliminary information about the structure and scope of your presentation. After recording your introductory slide narration, it is recommended that you listen to it before proceeding to the next slide. If you are satisfied with the sound quality, then continue.
• Record your narration for the entire presentation as if you were presenting it. Then run your presentation, and sit back and listen. You get an entirely different perspective when you pretend to be the audience. Listening to your presentation enables you to pick up on awkward moments, unclear passages, and boring spots much more easily.
• View the presentation online before releasing it.

Preparing your Script

The first and most crucial step in creating a media presentation is creating a script. A script is a written document containing everything you want to say in your presentation.

It is very important that you write a script of your narration before you begin recording. You may be a great speaker, but deciding what you will say ahead of time will give you a better chance of creating an effective presentation. When writing your script, organize the content of your narration by each slide. It is advised to keep the narration for any given slide to less than 1 minute. While longer narrations are certainly acceptable, there is some increased risk of losing the interest of the audience if narrations go on too long.

To produce successful narrated presentations, your main goal should be to keep your listeners interested and focused. As a recorded voice can put anyone to sleep pretty quickly, it is necessary to break long presentations into small chunks of no more than 15 minutes to avoid your audience from becoming distracted.

Using a Microphone

The way a microphone is used can greatly affect the quality of an audio recording. Here are some tips for using a microphone with PowerPoint:

• Position stand microphones the correct distance from your mouth. Microphones are designed for use at a specific distance. If the microphone is too close, it may pick up unwanted sounds like “breaths” that will degrade the audio quality. If the microphone is too far, it may provide a very low level signal.
• Keep a constant distance between the microphone and yourself while recording. Changing that distance will degrade the overall audio recording.
• Position headset microphones at the side of your mouth, not directly in front. This will prevent unwanted sounds like “breaths”.
• Record in a quiet environment. Loud background noise can affect recording quality. In addition, carpeted floors and padded walls help improve the recording environment.
• Add a windscreen to the microphone. Windscreens help reduce the effects of “breaths” that may be picked up during recording.
• When recording audio, advance the slide first, then pause, then start recording. Do this for each slide. If you try to advance to the next slide while talking, a portion of the audio may be lost.
• Pause before and after each slide transition when recording the narration.

Back to the Top

Adding Audio/Narration to Individual Slides

We have divided the task of adding audio or narration to individual slides into 2 steps:
• Step 1: Start.
• Step 2a: Adding audio/narration from an exsisting sound file on your computer.
• Step 2b: Adding audio/narration that will be recorded in PowerPoint.

After you have added your audio/narration to the desired slide, you can make changes to the sound icon on the slide:
• I.: Change when the sound is played.
• II.: Move the sound icon to another location on/off the slide.
• III.: Hide the sound icon during the slide show.

Step 1: Start
• Open presentation.
• Select the slide you would like to insert the sound file.
• Go to: Insert >Movies and Sounds.
• Here you can choose an existing sound file (Sound from File…) or record your sound (Record Sound).

If you choose Sound from File, go to: Step 2a.
If you choose Record Sound, go to: Step 2b.

Step 2a: Adding audio/narration from an exsisting sound file on your computer
• If you chose to insert from file, the Insert Sound dialog box will appear.
• Choose the desired sound file (WAV format) on your computer, select the sound file, and then click OK.
• The sound file is now linked to your presentation.

THE SOUND FILES MUST BE PLACED IN THE FOLDER THAT CONTAINS THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION. NOT DOING SO MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS WHEN YOU ARE VEIWING THE PRESENTATION LATER.

• You will now be prompted to choose if you want the sound to start Automatically or When Clicked.

• If you choose Automatically, the sound will start playing as soon as the slide is open.
• If you choose When Clicked, the sound will start playing when you double click on the sound icon.
• The sound icon will appear on the slide.
• The sound will stop when the file ends or when you advance to the next slide.

Step 2b: Adding audio/narration that will be recorded in PowerPoint
• If you chose to record a voice narration, the Record Sound dialog box will appear.
• Enter a name for your sound file (e.g. Sound_01).
• To optimize the audio quality, position the microphone within several inches of your mouth but not directly in front of it.
• Click on the red record button when you are ready to record. The length of your recording will begin counting in seconds (Total sound length).
• Click on the blue stop button when you are finished recording.

• Click OK when finished, the sound icon will appear on the slide.

OPENING UP ANY OTHER APPLICATIONS WHILE USING THE RECORDING FUNCTION WILL DISABLE THE RECORDING.

• The default setting for when the sound will start playing is: Automatically (when the slide is open).
• The sound will stop when the file ends or when you advance to the next slide.

If you want to make changes to the sound icon

I. To change when the sound is played
• Go to: Slide Show>Custom Animation…, the Custom Animation dialog box will appear.

• Select the sound icon.
• Under Modify:Play, pull down the Start: bar and select from the options.

II. To move the sound icon to another location on the slide or off the slide (in the grey area)
• Select the sound icon and move it with your mouse.

III. To hide the sound icon during the slide show
• Right click on the sound icon and click on Edit Sound Object, the Sound Options dialog box will appear.

• Under Display Options, check the box (Hide sound icon during slide show), and then click OK.

Back to the Top

Voice Recording in PowerPoint

We have divided the task of recording your narration in PowerPoint into 5 steps:
• Step 1: Start.
• Step 2: Setting microphone level.
• Step 3: Selecting sound quality.
• Step 4: Linking or Embedding sound files to your presentation.
• Step 5: Recording your narration.

If you need to stop before completing your narration, you may continue recording from where you left off. Follow the directions provided.

Step 1: Start

• Go to: Slideshow >Record Narration…

• The Record Narration dialog box will appear.

Step 2: Setting microphone level
• Click on Set Microphone Level…, the Microphone Check dialog box will appear.
• To optimize the audio quality, position the microphone within several inches of your mouth but not directly in front of it.
• As instructed, read the passage into the microphone (the slide bar at the bottom will automatically adjust level).
• Click OK when finished to return to the Record Narration dialog box.

Step 3: Selecting sound quality
• Click on Change Quality…, the Sound Selection dialog box will appear.
• If you will use a compressing software later, select Attributes: to be 44.100kHz, 16 Bit, Stereo, 172 kb/sec.
• If you will not have the files compressed later, select Attributes: to be 22.050kHz, 16 Bit, Mono, 43kb/sec.
• Click OK when finished to return to the Record Narration dialog box.

THESE RECCOMMENDED SOUND QUALITY SETTINGS WILL GIVE YOU A BETTER SOUND QUALITY FOR YOUR PRESENTATION. REMEMBER, HIGHER SOUND QUALITY USES MORE DISK SPACE.

Step 4: Linking or Embedding sound files to your presentation
• You can choose to either link your narrations/audio files or to embed the sound files into the presentation.
• Check the box (Link narrations in:) if you would prefer to link the sound files to the presentation.

• If you link the sound files to the presentation the sound files (.wav format) will be saved separately while remaining linked to your slides and the presentation file will remain its original size.

YOU MUST SAVE THE SOUND FILES DIRECTLY TO THE FOLDER THAT CONTAINS THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION. NOT DOING SO MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS WHEN YOU ARE VEIWING THE PRESENTATION LATER.

• Leave the box (Link narrations in:) unchecked if you would prefer to embed the sound files into the presentation.

• If you embed the sound files into the presentation, the file size of the presentation will become larger.

EMBEDDING THE AUDIO INTO YOUR PRESENTATION WILL CAUSE LESS CONFUSION LATER WHEN YOU ARE VEIWING THE PRESENTATION AND FOR COPH PURPOSES.

• Click OK and PowerPoint will immediately launch the first slide of your presentation as a slide show.

YOU MUST BE READY TO START RECORDING WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE OK BUTTON.

• Back to: Competing Narration in PowerPoint.
• Back to: Editing Narration in PowerPoint.

Step 5: Recording your narration
• Start recording your voice.
• To temporarily pause your narration (to collect your thoughts or catch your breath), right-click anywhere on the screen with the mouse, a drag down menu will appear.

• Click on the Pause Narration option. To resume recording, right-click again and choose the Resume Narration option.

DO NOT USE THE ESCAPE (ESC) KEY ON THE KEYBOARD TO PAUSE NARRATION. THE ESCAPE KEY SHOULD ONLY BE USED IF YOU NEED TO STOP BEFORE COMPLETING YOUR NARRATION (END THE SLIDE SHOW).

• To skip a slide during your narration, pause the narration, and then click on the slide you want to narrate next. Resume the narration on the slide you want to record.
• To advance to the next slide while recording your narration, press the space bar on the keyboard or click once on the mouse and continue.
• Carry on for the subsequent slides in your presentation.
• When you finish recording audio to the last slide in the presentation, advance to the black screen that tells you the slide show has ended.

IF YOU END THE SLIDESHOW AT THE LAST SLIDE INSTEAD OF ADVANCING TO THE BLACK SCREEN, YOU WILL NOT SAVE THE NARRATION FOR THAT LAST SLIDE.

• A message box will appear telling you that your recordings have been saved to each slide. The message box will also ask you to save the slide timings, click Save.

• PowerPoint will then display your entire slide layout in slide sorter view with all of the audio timings.
• A sound icon will appear on your slides. You may move it to another location on the slide by selecting it and moving it with your mouse.
• Check the narration by viewing your presentation as a slide show. Or, you can check slide-by-slide in normal view by double clicking on the sound icon. Or, use the Play button in the Custom Animation dialog box.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO CHECK THE SOUND OF YOUR NARRATION, SO YOU CAN GO BACK AND MAKE CHANGES IF NEEDED.

• When you launch the slide show it will automatically play your narrations.

• If you have saved slide timings but want to run the presentation without the timings, go to Slide Show>Set Up Show…, under Advance slides, click Manually. When you want the timings on again, click Using timings, if present.

• If you want to change when the sound is played, go to: Slide Show>Custom Animation…

• Select the sound icon, under Modify:Play, pull down the Start: bar and select from the options.

If you need to stop before completing your narration

If you are forced to stop before you can complete the slide show, you can go back and start where you left off.

• To stop (end the slide show), press the ESCAPE (ESC) key on the keyboard. Or, you can right-click anywhere on the screen with the mouse, a drag down menu will appear.

• Click on the End Show option.
• A message box will appear telling you that your recordings have been saved to each slide. The message box will also ask you to save the slide timings, click Save.

• When you are ready to continue, select the slide where you stopped (a sound icon will appear on each slide that has a sound clip recorded to it).
• Again, follow Step 1 to Step 4 above.
• This time, when you click OK, a message box will appear telling you that you can start the narration anywhere within the presentation.
• It then gives you the option of starting at the First Slide or the Current Slide (the selected slide), click Current Slide.

• Begin narrating that slide and continue through to the end (Step 5).

Back to the Top

Editing your Narration in PowerPoint

If you wish to edit your narration in PowerPoint, you can choose to re-record your entire narration or just a single slide:
• I.: Re-recording your entire narration.
• II.: Re-recording a single slide.

I.: Re-recording your entire narration
• If you wish to re-record your entire narration, go to Edit>Undo Record Narration, which will delete your entire narration.

• Follow Step 1 to Step 5, the same steps used to record the first narration to record your entire narration again.

IF YOU DO NOT SELECT Edit>Undo Record Narration, YOU WILL RECORD A SECOND NARRATION ON TOP OF THE ORIGINAL ONE.

II.: Re-recording a single slide
• If you wish to re-record your narration on a single slide, select the slide in normal view, click on sound icon and click delete.

IF YOU DO NOT DELETE THE SOUND ICON BEFORE YOU START RE-RECORDING, YOU WILL RECORD A SECOND NARRATION ON TOP OF THE ORIGINAL ONE.

• Add a blank slide AFTER the slide you wish to re-record and select the slide you wish to re-record.
• Follow Step 1 to Step 4 of the same steps used to record the first narration to record the narration for the selected slide again.
• This time, when you click OK, a message box will appear telling you that you can start the narration anywhere within the presentation. It then gives you the option of starting at the First Slide or the Current Slide; click Current Slide.

• PowerPoint will immediately launch the current slide (the slide you selected for re-recording) as a slide show.
• Once you have completed the narration of that slide, you must advance to the blank slide and press the ESCAPE (ESC) key on the keyboard to stop the narration (end the slide show).
• When you have completed the narration for that slide and have saved the timings, save your presentation, then delete the blank slide.

DO NOT STOP THE SLIDE SHOW UNTIL YOU ADVANCE TO THE BLANK SLIDE. YOU MUST INSERT THE BLANK SLIDE BEFORE YOU BEGIN RE-RECORDING THE SLIDE. IF YOU DO NOT INSERT A BLANK SLIDE, YOU WILL EITHER NOT GET THE SLIDE SOUND CLIP SAVED IF YOU DO NOT ADVANCE TO THE NEXT SLIDE, OR IF YOU DO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT SLIDE, YOU WILL DELETE THE SOUND CLIP FOR THAT SLIDE WHEN YOU STOP THE SLIDE SHOW.

Back to the Top

Audio/Narration in PowerPoint Presentations

Introduction

Preparing for your Narration

Adding Audio/Narration to Individual Slides

If you want to make changes to the sound icon

Voice Recording in PowerPoint

If you need to stop before completing your narration

Editing your Narration in PowerPoint

Converting WAV files to MP3 format (for the sound files linked to your presentation)