PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual

Chapter 10. Adding Sound and Video

You can add sound and video clips directly to a PowerPoint slide (try doing that on a whiteboard or with 35mm slides!). To punch up a sales presentation, for example, you can add a video clip of a product demonstration, or maybe one showing a beaming customer extolling your product’s virtues. For a call center presentation, you can include sound clips of your employees handling calls. For a board meeting presentation, a video clip of your CFO describing last quarter’s earnings might drive your point home.

You can have your sounds and videos play automatically, or you can have them appear as buttons so your audience can choose when (or if) to play them, as shown in Figure 10-1. PowerPoint lets you create your own sound clips right in the program, and you can even use your favorite CD as the soundtrack for your slideshow—an especially good strategy for kiosk presentations.

Figure 10-1. When you add a sound file to a slide, PowerPoint asks whether you want the sound to play automatically or whether you’d prefer for the sound not to play until you click the bullhorn icon shown here.

Adding Sound

Sound can be a powerful way to communicate with your audience. If you’re delivering your slideshow yourself, you’ll likely be narrating each slide. But you can also add sound clips to your slideshow—anything from a phone ringing to the opening bars of Beethoven’s ...