The secret to converting your presentation into a video

Did you know that you can save your PowerPoint 2010 presentations as Windows Media Player (.wmv) video files? Well, you can. And it only takes a few mouse clicks.

You can then burn the video file to a DVD, upload it to your blog or video-sharing web site, or email it to your professor. This is a great way to share your PowerPoint presentations with people who don’t have PowerPoint installed on their computer.

If you use PowerPoint 2007 there are a few more steps involved, but it's still possible.

To save your PowerPoint 2010 presentation as a video:

1. On the File menu, click Save & Send.
2. Under Save & Send, click Create a video.
3. Click Create Video.

For additional help with configuring computer and HD displays, see Turn your presentation into a video.

Note: To add narration, your computer must be equipped with a sound card, microphone, and speakers.

If you have PowerPoint 2007, there are a few more steps involved. 

1. Save your slides as a .jpg file.
2. (Optional) If you have slideshow narration, you’ll want to output that audio file. To do this, save the PowerPoint presentation as  a web page.  The audio will output as a .wav file.
3. Now you can import your image and audio files into Windows Movie Maker to create a video. 

Johnnyvick7 put together a fun video about doing this in PowerPoint 2007:

Why might you convert your presentation into a video? Leave a comment to share your story.

To learn more about all things PowerPoint, keep an eye on the PowerPoint blog.

--Jennifer Bost