Even if you're using the best presentation software (opens in new tab), delivering the perfect presentation to your audience can be difficult which is why Microsoft is adding a new recording studio to PowerPoint (opens in new tab).
Whether you're working from home (opens in new tab) and delivering your presentation over video conferencing software (opens in new tab) or planning to present your ideas to your team in the office, PowerPoint's recording studio allows you to practice beforehand so you can deliver more impactful and engaging presentations.
By clicking “Record” in the top right corner in PowerPoint, you'll be taken to a personalized view that you can customize with a countdown to let you know when to begin speaking.
If you want to improve your presentation further while practicing, you can also annotate on slides as you go using ink and laser pointer.
Recording studio views and sharing
As everyone has their own unique preferences when viewing and presenting their work in PowerPoint, Microsoft has created three recording studio views to choose from.
The first one, which is the default view, is Teleprompter view and this view is ideal for many recordings as its helps presenters focus on getting their points across successfully. It allows you to simultaneously look at your webcam (opens in new tab) and read your notes.
Presenter view meanwhile shows the slide you're currently presenting and your notes on the right side of the pane along with thumbnail views of all upcoming slides in a similar way to PowerPoint Live (opens in new tab) presenter view. Finally, Side view is for those that like to keep things simple and speak spontaneously. This view is also recommended for users that plan to make annotations on their slides as they go and need a larger canvas.
Once you've finished recording a presentation in PowerPoint, you can click on “Export” to save it as a video and share it with your colleagues. However, if your PowerPoint file and video are on SharePoint (opens in new tab) or OneDrive (opens in new tab), they're automatically saved to the same location.
While giving presentations can be a nerve-wracking experience for some people, Microsoft's new recording studio in PowerPoint should help alleviate some of the anxiety as users will have plenty of chances to practice and refine them before showing their work to an audience.
Also check out our roundups of the best online collaboration tools (opens in new tab) and the best free office software (opens in new tab)
