Presentation slides should no longer consist of static images with plain old text. If you have a great video that will wow your audience, it is always good to include it in your PowerPoint and Google Slides.
Videos are gaining more traction these days. It is a powerful communication channel for any company or salesperson to pique the potential interest, be it for a product, service, or strategy.
I’m sure most of us have sat through a presentation where there is an awkward pause halfway through, and the presenter would have to reveal his desktop screen or folder just to dig up that killer video of his? This is not a great experience if you wish to capture your audience’s attention.
So, to prevent yourself from fumbling and potentially losing any more potential sales, in this article, you’ll learn how to embed a video in PowerPoint and Google Slides with a complete guide provided.
Here is a step-by-step guide for anyone unsure how to go about embedding a video in your PowerPoint. There is no secret embed code or complexity to add a video or embed a video into your presentations. This option is also applicable to those who already have their videos stored on their computer or hard drive.
Step 1: Locate the slide that you think is the best time to showcase the video.
Step 2: Hover and look for the “Insert” tab under your PowerPoint’s navigation.
Step 3: Move your cursor and click or select on “Video”.
Step 4: Make sure you know which folder your video is downloaded to in order to save time.
Step 5: Find the video from your hard drive folder it is being downloaded to.
Step 6: Select the video you want into your PowerPoint slide and insert the video in powerpoint.
Step 7: Please make sure you resize the video and position it to fit the slide depending if you want it to be full screen or not.
Step 8: Just to make sure that the video is working, test and play it after resizing your video. (This is a crucial way of making sure the video is fully embedded into your PowerPoint slide. Watch the whole video to ensure there is no hiccups during your actual presentation)
This option is for those who do not have the downloaded copy of the video on their hard drive. You should have the Youtube link ready. This is also one of the fastest way to add a video in a PowerPoint presentation without having to take up additional storage space on your computer at all.
Step 1: Make sure you are at the right slide that you wish to embed your online video to.
Step 2: Navigate towards the insert tab and look for the option “insert an online movie/video” from the dropdown functions to insert your video in powerpoint.
Step 3: Copy the URL link of that particular Youtube video or open another new tab to find the video online. Have it ready as there will be a pop-up prompt to insert the URL link directly to, click insert and your online video will be embedded into PowerPoint.
Step 4: If successful, a playable video will be shown on the powerpoint presentation slide.
Step 5: Select the video and resize it to fit your slide. Again, depending if you have any important headlines else you can have it at full screen.
Step 6: Enter into “Play mode” or “Present” and navigate to that particular slide. Play the video to test it, watch it from start to end, pause the video halfway through, adjust the volume of it etc. It should work like any other typical Youtube video.
There you have it! You have just mastered how to embed Youtube videos to Powerpoint presentations.
If you’re someone who prefers to use Google Slides over PowerPoint and would like to embed a video into Google Slides, then it’s even more effortless than PowerPoint. This is due to the fact that YouTube is a Google product, so embedding anything to anywhere is seamless.
Here are the steps to embed a video to Google Slides
Step 1: Navigate to the particular Google slide you want to showcase your video on.
Step 2: Navigate to the main menu and look for “insert”.
Step 3: From the dropdown, after you click insert, locate “video” and click it. Google has made it easy for everyone by offering several ways to add a video want.
You are now able to embed a video via:
*Google Drive is for those who already have the video downloaded on your hard drive or computer, you have to take an extra step by uploading it into Google drive before you are able to select the video you want to add.*
Step 4: Copy the URL link of the Youtube video and paste it in the field provided, Google has made it easier for you by including a Youtube search bar in case you do not have the URL link of the video.
Step 5: Select the video from the list of search results, ensuring that the thumbnail preview and caption of it is exactly the video you want to add or embed into the presentation slide and click the “blue select button” below.
Step 6: Likewise after you add a video into the presentation, you should resize the video accordingly to either full screen (which takes up the entire slide space) or just a portion of the slide.
Step 7: With Google Slides, you are able to further format it with the “format options” at the right side of your presentation. You can choose when to start playing the video or end the video, you may even check the “autoplay when presenting” box to have it autoplay upon reaching that slide.
Advance formatting options include: muting of audio, adjusting the position of the video, changing the size of it, locking the aspect ratio to maintain the video proportions.
Step 8: You should test the video by playing it during presentation mode to ensure it is working. An internet connection is needed for you to play your video from your slide as well.
Google slides are almost identical functions as powerpoint. But the only thing is, Google slides are light in a way that it allows you to pull up your presentation anywhere as long as there is a computer and a stable internet connection. You need not carry your laptop around if the client has one to provide you.
Your Google slides are being stored in your Google Drive online, making it easy to retrieve them at almost anywhere, just as long as you remember your login credentials (But remember to logout after). There is also an option with a shareable link to provide or send out to anyone and with that link, you can control the permissions to collaborate, with multiple presenters, or even for view only.
You can even download the Google slides app on your mobile devices to rehearse beforehand while commuting to your clients office or the presentation venue.
Powerpoint on the other hand pale in comparison as you would need a thumbdrive, hard drive, or even lugging around your physical laptop. Depending on personal preferences and how fanciful you want your animations or transitions to be, there are certain things that you can do with Google slides, and certain things you are not able to do as well.
“They say that a picture speaks a thousand words, but with a great video, you get to speak beyond a thousand words”
Once you know how to embed a youtube video into powerpoint, your work does not stop there. Here are some bonus tips and best practices regarding your video.
If you are creating your own video in powerpoint or even google slides, instead of embedding a video from Youtube, do keep the video duration short from 30 – 60 seconds, or a couple of minutes.
Incorporating a video or two into your powerpoint will definitely go a long way. You are providing the audience something to watch instead of just listening to your pitch, not knowing how long or short this presentation is going to be. While the video is playing, you are also able to catch your breath, take a short break as well.
If you are playing a video from online, you can also generate discussions among your audience and listen to mixed perspectives which might be meaningful for your product or service.
That being said, you can never rely solely on videos alone. A good presentation involves not only a good video, but also a presenter who is able to provide a good story telling to ensure that at the end of the day, he gets the intended message across clearly to whoever he/she is pitching.
It does not take a genius to create a video these days. Your journey does not stop here even after knowing how to embed a youtube video on powerpoint. In fact you should take a step further by experimenting or creating your very own customized video. Anyone can do it within a short period of time with a powerful online video maker. Stand out from the crowd by creating your own online or marketing videos today!
With Offeo, you do not need any video editing experience at all! With it’s intuitive, easy to use, drag and drop platform, countless ready-made online video or marketing video templates, customize your brand colours, fonts, select and add motion graphics or even choose from our library of royalty free music! It is that simple!
Here are some online video and marketing templates for you to begin with. There are many more professional templates if you head over to Offeo’s platform to check out our extensive library collection.
.jpeg)
