Microsoft PowerPoint is without a doubt the industry leader when it comes to programs for creating presentations and slideshows on your computer. It remains the industry standard from presentations because it allows you to easily create not only professional looking presentations, but also very versatile ones. PowerPoint definitely excels in giving users many options when creating their presentations.
Of course, most know that you can add text, pictures and videos to presentations, but not too many people are aware of the fact that you can also add sounds and music to your presentations in PowerPoint very easily. Here’s how to do it in PowerPoint 2010.
1. Considering that you have opened up an existing presentation that you would like to insert some sounds into, start by clicking on the Insert tab, which is on the top toolbar in PowerPoint. Then go to “Audio” and click on “Audio from File…”
You can also choose “Clip Art Audio,” which offer you various sound effects that you might want to use in your presentation, or you can choose to “Record Audio” and put down a script of your own if you have a microphone at your disposal, but for the sake of this tutorial, we will be using an audio file that is already located on your computer.
2. Once you click on “Audio from File,” find the audio file that you want to use, and then click on “Insert.”
3. You will now notice a sound icon on your presentation. It is a little more advanced than the sound icon that was given in previous versions of PowerPoint, and it gives you more options. Basically, it looks just like the face of your car stereo – there is a play/pause button, rewind, fast-forward, and a mute button if you want to turn the sound off. Feel free to test your sound out.
4. If you want to edit your sounds further and customize the sounds, go to the “Playback” tab that is located under “Audio Tools.” With these options you can do a variety of things. You can edit the duration of your sound, fade it in or out and decrease or increase its volume.
You can also decide whether you want your sound to play just while this particular slide is being shown or throughout the entire presentation. You can also set the sound to loop once it’s done or just stop once it’s ended, and last but not least, you can also hide the sound icon so that it does not appear on the slideshow when you are viewing it in your presentation.
And that is pretty much all there is to it. By adding sounds and music to your PowerPoint presentation, you are giving your presentation a unique character and adding yet another feature that is aimed toward grabbing the attention of your audience and keeping it for the duration of your slideshow.
