Recording a PowerPoint presentation - what are the options?

[User99999999]

I have made a PowerPoint presentation which I will be delivering live (face to face), but I’ve been asked to make a recording of the PowerPoint, separately, so any newcomers to the team over the next few years can also watch it.

My technology skills are a bit rusty!
What are the options for recording a PowerPoint?

Ive tried recording it using the PowerPoint software itself. You can then ‘export’ this as a recording to share as a MPV file. This allows you to edit and re-record individual slides which is really handy. However, the sound quality is shocking, even when using a colleagues professional podcasting microphone. The volume is inconsistent and the sound stutters randomly. It sounds so unprofessional I don’t think it’s fit for purpose.

Another option would be to present it as a meeting in MS teams and record it, and then share that recording. However, this would be a “one long continuous shot” from a recording perspective. If I mess up a slide, I can’t go back and edit that one thing, I’d have to start again. It’s an hour long presentation and there are elements of it where complete clarity and accuracy are vital, so this would be stressful!

Are there any other options for recording a PowerPoint? Is there another way, in teams, that allows for editing the recording?

Or is there a better way of using the PowerPoint software in the first place?

Any ideas would be gratefully received!

Do you just need to have the slides with your voice, or do you need to show your face too?

I was going to suggest zoom but I don’t know how easy it is to edit. I wonder if Loom would be easier to edit? Worth checking out. Look at Canva too.

You can use screen recording software instead. Some are free. We have camtasia at work which is not free.

If you have teams, you'll have stream. You can record with that though I've never used it to directly record, I usually just share playlists and rename and share recordings from meetings. It has some editing ability I think.

There's OBS which is free. Again, never used it myself but I know it's free and doable.

I don't tend to use PowerPoint myself. I either use sway or prezi but again that's not free. Prezi allows recording of video presentations in some nice formats.

Good luck!

Thank you. My face isn’t required, just the slides and my voiceover.

Thank you for all of those suggestions. I’ll check them all out.

I think the ideal solution would be one which allows me to record a voice over for each slide seperately. It’s frustrating that PowerPoint has that function, but the audio is so poor.

i shall check out that other software. Our IT at work is quite restricted but it may be something I can do from home.

Have you done some troubleshooting on the PowerPoint audio? I'm sure you have but it's probably a known issue and there will be settings to fix it?

We use a computer generated voice over. We write the script and it reads it. This gives much better sound as no matter how good a speaker is there is alwas the odd um and ah or odd pause which is fine for a presentation but I feel jars when I'm watching a presentation. I think its in the microsoft video editing package but I'll check.

I'd agree with this, I'm really surprised you've had such issues with recording straight into PowerPoint. We use it all the time at work and I often end up checking them before they get launched - I've never seen issues with sound quality even with people just using a crazy headset or even the laptop mic itself!

I’ve had a fiddle. But I must admit I don’t really know what I’m doing or what I’d need to alter to improve things!

I’ve been careful to shut myself away in a silent room with no background noise. I’ve tried a variety of microphones and headsets. Also tried the laptop and the desktop computer. The best result was when I used the built in mic on the laptop. However, the sound is still quiet and then loud, like it’s fading in and out at either end of the slide. Even though I’ve set “fade in” and “fade out” duration to zero seconds. I almost got a stiff neck trying to keep my head as still as possible whilst recording 😂 as I was wondering if it was me just moving around.

Nothing seems to stop the glitching and my gut feeling is that this occurs during the exporting process, if the WiFi glitches, so does the recording… if that makes sense? I mean our WiFi at work is good but I imagine the recording software is sensitive to tiny glitches.

Warning that Stream exports in Webb rather than mp4. You can convert but if you’re not tech savvy it’s an extra hurdle. It caused me a few issues yesterday.

I do feel like this has been more challenging than it has needed to be. And I’ve recorded shorter PowerPoints in the past and uploaded them to you tube and they sounded great. But this time it’s just not working for me. We have sites in different buildings and I’ve tried recording on completely different computers in different sites and it’s still the same so wondered if PowerPoint was just a bit flawed.

It could well be that our PowerPoint software is old and needs updating?

Well that sounds pants! It's MP4 when you record a meeting?! How odd.

Could you record it in 2 parts? That might make the file size easier to transfer too.

I use Canva. You can share a link from there.

How weird. I record a lot of PowerPoints using their record function and never have this issue.

Have you tried removing all transitions and animations from the slide deck and then recording?

I think it sounds like a settings issue.

When's your deadline?

That’s a good idea, i have quite a lot of animations and transitions but they aren’t essential. I shall try this!

Any help? Expect you've tried this setting.

I agree with PP there’s something to do with your settings. I do PowerPoint voiceovers and it’s fine
try putting a duvet cover over your head to form a little recording cave!

Thank you! I’ll have a play with all the settings and see if that improves things.

That’s a good idea!

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c

Try this OP.

Thank you! Will do