How to Add Audio Narration to Powerpoint – Step-by-Step Guide with Examples & More

Narration is an extremely important aspect of an online course. It enables you to explain topics without your physical presence.

A lot of people are often confused by this task due to its multiple-step procedure. However, with a detailed explanation, you can easily add background audio to your courses.

After going through this article, you’ll be able to add narration to any presentation of your choice without any delays or problems.

So, let’s get started.

Prepare your Presentation

Before you get started with adding audio to your slides, the first and foremost thing you need to do is to prepare your presentation completely.

This is to avoid any minor or major technical issues down the line. 

You can avoid this by:

Make sure that your slides are in order. Besides that, you should also make sure that there is no extra content left that still needs to be added to the presentation.

Setting up your Mic

The next thing you need to do is connect your microphone device with your system whether it’s a laptop or a personal computer.

You can either use a 3.5mm audio jack microphone or a USB-port microphone. Powerpoint supports both of these formats.

Once you have connected your microphone, you need to check if it’s working properly. You can do this by following the steps below:

1. Check for the speaker icon on the bottom right of your screen. It is located on the taskbar.

2. Right-click on it and open the sound settings

3. Scroll down and look for the input device.

4. Confirm that your plugged-in device is the same as the one showing on the screen.

5. In case it is not showing, click on the box below “Choose your Input Device” and select your preferred microphone.

6. After this, you need to check if your microphone is working properly.

7. To check if your microphone is working, simply talk into the microphone and look if the bar is showing any movements.

After you have done all this, you will be able to record audio for your presentation.

Click the Slideshow Tab on the Toolbar

Now that you are done with the main technical setup, you can get on with recording.

To do that, you need to go to the Slide Show tab in the toolbar.

And then select the Record Slide Show option.

Select the Record Option

Once you have clicked on the Record Slide Show option, it will give you two more options. 

One of them is Record from Beginning. The other is Record for Current Slide.

Choose the Record Option Based on your Requirement 

After you have selected the record option, the next thing includes the two things.

You can either choose to start recording from the first slide of your presentation.

Or you can choose to start recording from the current slide you are on.

Click the record button to start recording

Once you have decided which slide you are going to record for, the next step is to click on the Play/Pause recording button.

You will notice that it has begun recording once the timer on the left side starts moving.

The timer on the right-hand shows the overall time of recording.

Important Note:

You will have a 3-second gap before the recording actually starts.

Once you have done recording the audio, click on the X button. It will stop recording the audio for the slide you are currently on.

After you are done recording for your slide, it will show a speaker icon on the bottom right. 

It indicates that the audio for this specific slide has been recorded.

Click on the Advance Button to keep Narrating

Once you have made sure that your current slide has recorded the audio, you can click on the ‘Advance’ button to record audio for your next slide.

The advance button is denoted by the arrow pointing towards the right.

Repeat the process mentioned in the previous heading to record the audio for your current slide.

Exit Narrator Mode

You can exit narrator mode by two methods:

The first way is the automatic exit when you reach the end of your presentation. 

Your narration mode will automatically disappear from your screen and bring you to the first slide of your presentation.

The second method is to click the X button on your toolbox.

You can also simply press the Escape key on the top left corner of your keyboard to exit the Narrator mode at any time.

Save your Presentation

After you have made sure that you have recorded audios for your specific slides, the next step is to save your presentation.

You can do this by the regular way of saving a presentation.

Click on the File tab on the toolbar.

Save the presentation to the desired location.

Export the Files

This step is a little tricky and you might have to pay extra attention to these steps.

It involves the conversion of your presentation from a basic presentation to a video with narration.

For this, you’ll have to select the Export option in the File tab on the top left of the toolbar. 

Select Create a Video Option

After opening the Export tab, you will have to select the Create Video option which is in the second row.

This will prompt another window with further options.

Choose the Video Quality

In this window, you can select the video quality of your presentation.

Usually, it is preferred that you use the default Computer & HD Displays options. 

It is highly unlikely that you will need any other resolution for your online presentation.

Choose the Audio Settings

The only option you want to select is the recommended one:

Use Recorded Timings and Narrations.

Click the Create Video Option

Once your settings are in order, you can choose the Create Video button on the bottom to start finalizing your presentation.

Save the Video in a preferred location

After clicking on the Create Video option, a new window will appear. 

You can select your desired location to save the video.

Monitor the Export Progress

As soon as you click the Save button, PowerPoint will start exporting your files to that location.

The progress bar is shown on the bottom middle section of your PowerPoint.

Important Note:

PowerPoint does not show how long it will take to export the video. It just shows a bar that keeps moving forward as it progresses.

Also, it doesn’t prompt any notification once the Export process is done. 

So, you should carefully monitor the progress in order to be sure that everything is going smoothly.

Important Tips for Audio Narration

The process of narration might seem easy but you can further improve the quality of your audio speech as a whole by implementing the following tips:

• First and foremost, always use bullet points in your slides. This will enable your audience to focus on the text and your speech as well.

• You should prepare a script beforehand. Practice it numerous times before recording. This will help you avoid any hiccups and keep your flow of speech steady.

• Practice the tools before actually implementing them in your final presentation. It will not only save you time but avoid any sort of confusion.

• Another thing that is often overlooked is the positioning of your microphone. Keep your microphone close to you for optimum audio quality.

• Always double-check the recorded audio for your slides. For large course presentations, it is quite natural to skip a slide.

• Before recording, make sure that you are in an isolated environment. This will help you a lot in terms of noise cancellation and reduce any unwanted background noise.

Conclusion

Adding narration to your presentation, especially when it comes to online courses, can boost efficiency and the quality of the course.

It enables your audience to learn from the course effectively without any further help. 

A bad narration will mess up the whole flow of your presentation and make it quite hard for your audience to understand.

We hope that you can implement this process efficiently and greatly enhance the outlook of your presentation.

This brings us to the end of our article regarding Narration in PowerPoint.