The Voice

At IBEX 2011, I told marine surveyor Patricia Kearns that I would show her how to add narration to PowerPoint.

I had already taken a chapter from her online Proboat E-Training course Writing the Marine Survey Report, inserted that into the “notes” section of a PowerPoint file, and had selected fairly generic pieces of clipart from Microsoft to illustrate the key piounts

Now I just needed Pat to add her voice to the project.

She came in, armed with notebook and pen. We sat down together. I opened up the PowerPoint file. Then I went “click, click,” and said, “Talk.” 

“Talk? What do you mean?”

“We’re recording.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

And then we listened to that somewhat inane conversation on playback.

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

Ready to Record?

If you are already happy with your PowerPoint slides, and have come to the conclusion that you do not personally need to deliver the narration every time that someone wants to look at the presentation, here are the steps to take to make PowerPoint speak for itself.

(1) The One-Slide-At-A-Time Method

You may not be ready to sit down and deliver a 20-minute presentation with only your dog for an audience, so I would start with this method. Pick a slide, any slide, and imagine yourself talking to someone about the picture or information on it. Then, go to the INSERT menu, select MOVIES AND SOUNDS, and then click on RECORD SOUND.

When you are all set to talk, just click the record button. Make your comment. Click on STOP.

You’ll now see a sound icon on your slide. As you are building the presentation, you can replace your comments slide by slide, but remember only one sound file per slide. When you run the presentation as a slide show, you should be able to hear all of the comments.

(NOTE: This is all assuming you do have a microphone, and you have already checked sound quality.)

(2) The Do-It-All-At-Once Method

This time, start out with the Slide Show menu, and click on RECORD NARRATION. You can set your mic level before proceeding; you can also link to a sound file that you have pre-recorded.

Start on the first slide where you want the audience to hear your voice. (If that’s not actually the very first slide, you’ll be clicking on “current slide.”)

Get relaxed and comfortable. Then, as you watch the slide show, talk about each slide, clicking as usual to advance. (Note, you *can* pause narration if necessary, by right-clicking on the shortcut menu.)

When you are done, and reach the black EXIT screen, click one more time to save the narration. You’ll be asked if you want to save the timings, so choose yes or no for that.

Now, play the slideshow, and the narration should be audible through your speakers.

To practice adding narration, you might create a few bogus slides just for fun and see how it works out for you. And some of you might need to create an imaginary audience to encourage you as well. (Or if you are shy, it might really be great to do the recording somewhere where you feel safe and invisible. Then, when it's your turn to present, just sit back in the shadows, and not worry about the joys of public speaking.)

I look forward to hearing what successes (and massive fails) other people have had with adding sound to their presentations. Sound effects? Sound bytes? Let us know.

Next week, I’ll give you some tips for converting your presentation to a movie format so you can upload it to a website—voiceover and all.

Upcoming topics: Sharing PowerPoint online, converting PowerPoint to E-Book, and "What I've Learned about Training from Occupy (Really)."

Meanwhile, please do give us your comments and recommendations here or send an email to proboattraining@proboat.com.

Thanks!
Barbara Jean Walsh
ProBoat E-Training manager