Presenting: Slide Show, Presenter View and video

Murad's slides are ready. But a presentation isn't only about slides: he mustn't lose his thread halfway through, he has to jump quickly to the slide he needs, finish on time and keep the audience's attention. PowerPoint's presenter tools help with all of this — let's meet them.

Starting and controlling the show

A show starts from the Slide Show › Start Slide Show group: From Beginning or From Current Slide. The Slide Show button on the status bar also starts from the current slide. The mouse works during the show, but the keyboard is faster and calmer:

Presenter View and speaker notes

When your computer is connected to a projector or a second screen, PowerPoint usually opens Presenter View: the audience sees only the slide on the big screen, while you see much more on yours. Turn it on or off with Slide Show › Monitors › Use Presenter View.

• Current slide — what the audience sees now, with tools below it: pen and laser pointer, see all slides, zoom into part of the slide, subtitles, black screen.
• Next slide — at the top right: you know what's coming and can lead into it smoothly.
• Notes — at the bottom right, with buttons to make the text larger or smaller.
• Timer and clock — at the top: you see how long you've been talking and can pause or reset the timer.
• If the screens are the wrong way round, Display Settings › Swap Presenter View and Slide Show at the top switches them.

Rehearsing and setting up the show

1. 1
   Rehearse your timing

   Choose Slide Show › Set Up › Rehearse Timings. The show starts with a Recording toolbar that counts the time spent on each slide and on the whole talk. At the end PowerPoint offers to keep the timings, and Slide Sorter then shows each slide's time under it.

2. 2
   Use or ignore the timings

   When Slide Show › Set Up › Use Timings is ticked, slides advance by themselves using the saved times. For a live talk where you click yourself, clear this box.

3. 3
   Pick the show type

   In Slide Show › Set Up › Set Up Slide Show, choosing Browsed at a kiosk (full screen) makes the show loop by itself — for an exhibition stand or a screen in a school hall, say. Hide backup slides with Slide Show › Set Up › Hide Slide.

Recording a talk and making a video

1. 1
   Start recording

   Use the arrow on Slide Show › Record to choose From Beginning or From Current Slide. The recording window opens: pick your camera and microphone, and if you like, show your notes at the top of the screen as a Teleprompter.

2. 2
   Talk and move through the slides

   Press the red button, then talk and advance the slides as in a normal show. Audio, video and anything you draw are saved per slide, so you can re-record a single slide later.

3. 3
   Export it as a video

   Choose File › Export › Create a Video: pick the quality (e.g. Full HD (1080p)) and Use Recorded Timings and Narrations. For slides without a recording, set Seconds spent on each slide, then click Create Video and save the file as .mp4.