How to Create Pro-level PowerPoint Videos with Audio

The power of a presentation lies in its ability to educate and inspire.

But why limit access to inspiring ideas because of the time slot in which they were presented? Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote slides have become the go-to formats for delivering supporting content to help audiences from classrooms to boardrooms engage with ideas. But once the content is complete, what happens to it? 

Getting used to the sound of your own voice can take some time, but the benefits of using Loom to record PowerPoint presentations are worth it.

Depending on the content and intended audience, a few will be published, stored, or made available on a marketplace. However, many will be lost, all your hard work never to be seen again. PowerPoint slides that aren't accompanied by a presentation are incomplete and don't do a sufficient job of expressing the author's ideas.

If you want to get ahead of the curve and preserve the integrity of your hard work, learn how to record a presentation by recording your screen.

Loom is one of the most popular choices for recording a video presentation—and for a good reason. The user interface is straightforward and easy to use. Mastering it requires little effort.

There are several reasons someone would want to learn how to record a PowerPoint presentation. Whether they’re explaining the quarterly statistics in a sales meeting, creating a webinar as a marketing tool, or recording training sessions for onboarding new hires, communicating ideas clearly and succinctly via video becomes more crucial every day. 

With Loom, you can engage directly with your audience, allowing you to interact with a large group of people in a small, intimate environment. Let's look at some advantages of knowing how to record slide show presentations and the procedure for doing so.

Scheduled attendance is not guaranteed

Unless your presentation is a mandatory work meeting or you're teaching a paid course, many individuals will drop out before or during the presentation. However, by providing a presentation recording for them, you can still interact with those people, and they’ll feel supported by your accessibility.

Provides on-demand access to your presentation

Using Loom's video recording capabilities, you provide access to your material long after you've presented it. Giving your audience access to resources is one of the best ways to build trust and support. 

Enhances your search engine optimization (SEO)

If you don't want to make your recorded presentations available on-demand but want to reap the benefits of SEO-driven traffic, you may post all or part of it on YouTube as a free resource in the future to attract new prospects. 

Practice makes perfect

Another reason to learn how to record a presentation is that you can review your work before showing it to a live audience. By recording yourself before a meeting or lecture, you can review the footage to ensure you cover every aspect of the topic, make improvements, and eliminate those pre-performance jitters. 

While technology and practice are your two best allies in confidently presenting PowerPoint video presentations, a few extra tips can make yours even more effective and professional. Consider following these best practices:

Choose the right equipment

Video communications technology has flourished in the last few years. There are more options than ever to record presentations and deliver them digitally to a worldwide audience. A tool like Loom makes it easy to record webcam videos, screen captures, and recorded narration quickly and easily. This lets you present your PowerPoint or any other content to a digital audience without extensive and time-consuming video editing.

Include direct-to-camera (DTC) content

Personalization is the heart of every good video—nothing builds a personalized experience like a friendly face. Use a simultaneous webcam and screen capture to record yourself explaining the slides and information on the screen. Adding picture-in-picture DTC elements creates rapport and trust with your audience and ensures they stay engaged with your presentation.

Slide text: Less is more

Text is great for outlining the major themes of a presentation and adding context to discussions, but with a PowerPoint presentation, treat text as the seasoning in a recipe. Use what you need to enhance the experience, but don’t overwhelm. 

Build your slides as an outline for each discussion topic and a home for visual elements like charts, infographics, and embedded video clips. But you, as the presenter, should do most of the talking. Building your presentation this way keeps viewers focused and engaged instead of hurrying to keep up with the reading. 

Structure your presentation

Well-structured content is vital to the flow and digestibility of your presentation. When building your slides and video script, organize your information similarly to a blog post or an ebook. Start with an introduction to share your personal info and a general topical overview. Create segments that logically lay out each point or step in the process. Wrap things up with a conclusion and (if needed) a call to action that invites the viewer to take the next step—booking a call, downloading a resource, or signing up for a service.

Keep videos concise and skimmable

Digital fatigue is real. With so many videos and messages competing for our attention, creating a streamlined presentation results in longer view duration. The average view duration of a YouTube video may be as short as 40 seconds, with the median watch time averaging just over a minute and a half. 

Another trick to increase viewability is to make it easy for viewers to skim. A well-structured presentation offers natural segments to help viewers zero in on the information they need. YouTube offers a Chapters feature that lets you insert a linkable outline so viewers can easily skip to specific timestamps. 

Basic recording in PowerPoint

Microsoft offers basic tools to start recording your PowerPoint presentation. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to recording a simple presentation:

Step 1: From PowerPoint, open the slide with which you want to start your presentation. 

Step 2: Select Record from the upper right hand corner of the PowerPoint window.

Step 3: Make sure your recording and voice settings are set properly, then click the round Record button. Begin your presentation.

Step 4: Click through your slide presentation and record your audio. Be sure to pause during slide transitions, as PowerPoint will not record audio during slide changes.

Step 5: Save your finished PowerPoint video to your local device and share it through email or upload it to sharing platforms like Vimeo, YouTube, etc. 

An important note: PowerPoint’s native recording features offer some editing and highlight features. You’ll need a screen recorder app like Loom to film direct-to-camera or make substantial edits. 

It's simple to record yourself and your screen presentation side-by-side using only your laptop, a built-in camera, a mic, and Loom. Using Loom to record presentations on a computer is a fantastic way to save time and guarantee that your presentation goes precisely as planned. Loom's basic version is free to use and provides users with different options to meet their unique needs best. You may record the material on your screen and even take a video of yourself presenting alongside your screen capture.

Loom is available as a PC screen recorder, Mac screen recorder, iOS screen recorder, and Android screen recorder. The two primary methods are through the Desktop Client or the Chrome Screen Recorder. The desktop versions offer a higher recording resolution (4k compared to 1080p in the Chrome extension) and additional features like camera frames and backgrounds.

In either case, learning to record a presentation is simple with Loom’s easy-to-use presentation recorder. Here’s some information to help you get started. 

Signing in

You can create a Loom account using a variety of methods. Users may log in with their Google account information, or connect their Slack account information, email address, password, and name. You must first complete the registration process to have access to the program.

What is the Loom desktop client, and how can I use it?

Search for Loom in the Windows search box or click the red pinwheel Loom logo to launch the Loom Desktop Client. After you've opened it, choose the type of video recording you wish to make. Cam Only, Screen Only, and Screen + Cam are the three possibilities for the basic Loom version. As their names suggest, Cam Only and Screen Only allow you to record the material on your screen or yourself through a camera. Screen + Cam will enable you to make a presentation recording with both yourself and the information in real time, allowing others to watch your reactions to the material and connect with you as the presenter.

If you wish to record your screen, the presentation recorder has three options for defining the parameters of your video: Full Screen, Window, and Custom Size. 

• Full Screen captures everything on your monitor or display, allowing others to watch and follow along. 

• You may use the Window option to record a single computer application if you want to construct a more restricted lesson without interruptions. 

• Custom Size is exclusively available to Pro account holders, allowing users to build custom windows to capture particular areas of their screen.

To record your Loom videos, use the built-in webcam and microphone on your smartphone or computer or additional devices as needed. Loom recommends using high-quality microphones for better audio.

Using the Loom Google Chrome Extension to capture videos

First, download and install the Loom Google Chrome Extension from the Chrome Web Store. Then launch the extension's user interface by clicking on the red pinwheel Loom logo in the browser's top right corner. You can choose Cam Only, Screen Only, and Screen + Cam, the same as the desktop client. Unfortunately, users of the Google Chrome Extension can only record their entire screen or the contents of a single tab.

The Video Control menu differs from the desktop extension, appearing in the bottom left corner of the browser window. Users may only utilize three buttons: Start/End Recording, Pause Recording, and Delete Recording.

Using the Loom desktop client to record videos

Each option lets you use Loom's camera bubble, which allows you to see and record yourself as well as a video. There is no set limit on the duration of the video, but Loom will provide you alerts to ensure you don't keep recording by accident. Once you've decided on your selections, go to the four-button Video Control menu on the left side of your screen. To start your video, press the Recording button at the top of the menu. This button has two purposes: When the button is red, it indicates that you’re currently recording, and it stops the recording when clicked a second time.

The Pause button is located beneath the Recording button and is used to pause your video. However, depending on your computer, you may alternatively use Alt + Shift + P or Option + Shift + P. The Delete option is represented by a garbage can icon, which pauses the recording and completely deletes the video once you confirm your decision via a dialog box.

How to use the speaker notes feature

Loom makes presentations easier with speaker notes, an on-screen cue card feature visible only to you. Speaker notes are bullet points or full scripts written by you and activated during recording. These prompts allow you to deliver your message with confidence, without the need to remember your whole script or utilize physical note cards. 

From the desktop app, open Loom and click Speaker Notes. Use the pop-up window to type in your notes, then resize the notes window to suit your needs before recording. Speaker notes are always presented on top, so there’s no need to switch windows during your presentation.  

How AI-generated chapters work

Want your viewers to be able to skip to the most useful portion of a presentation? The AI-generated chapter feature allows viewers to select important topics within your presentation and navigate to them easily. These time-stamped chapters also allow users to link and respond to content. 

How to use the drawing tool

Finally, the drawing tool, symbolized by a pen icon and available with the Pro subscription, can assist you in focusing on certain facts and numbers. Using this button, which includes picking a preset color, lets you make graphics that will draw your viewer's attention to key information.

If you’re just starting out, learning to record a presentation with Loom is an excellent tool for creating quality content. As the world continues to move towards remote work environments, the ability to give an online presentation (and record it for posterity) becomes more essential every day.

Loom is free, so don’t wait to see how you can enhance your video presentation with video capture software.