Create and distribute a self-running PowerPoint presentation
Applies to: Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
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Applies to
Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003
Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
Self-running presentations are a great way to communicate information without having to have someone available to run a slide show presentation. For example, you might want to set up a presentation to run unattended in a booth or kiosk at a trade show or convention, or send a CD with a self-running slide show to a client.
You can make most controls unavailable so that users can't make changes to the presentation. A self-running presentation restarts when it has finished and also when it has been idle on a manually advanced slide for longer than five minutes.
Self-running presentation
Interactive options for a self-running presentation
When designing a self-running presentation, you'll want to keep the environment in mind — for example, whether the booth or kiosk will be in an unmonitored public place or whether supervision will be available. The answer will help you determine what elements you add to your presentation, how much control you give users, and what steps you need to take to prevent misuse.
Options you might want to consider when designing a self-running presentation include:
* Automatic or manual timings You can set up a presentation to run by itself with automatic timings, or you can set it so that users can move through it at their own pace by using the mouse to click action buttons for navigation. If you set up a slide show to be browsed at a kiosk, mouse clicks are ignored unless they're on objects with hyperlinks or action buttons.
* Hyperlinks and Action buttons You can use hyperlinks to move through the presentation or to jump to other slides and programs. Action buttons (PowerPoint's predefined navigation buttons) can give your presentation the look and familiarity of a Web page, with buttons for Home, Help, Back, Next, and so on.
* Voice narration You can add recorded narration that plays with your presentation.
* Capture user input You can use the ActiveX controls that come with PowerPoint to create a response slide in your presentation. For example, you can add a text box in which people can enter their names and addresses to receive further information. For more information, see Become a feedback guru using ActiveX controls.
Setting and rehearsing slide show timings
You can set timings for your slides manually, or you can set them automatically while you rehearse.
To set timings manually
You can set the exact amount of time each slide is viewed—for example, you can have the title slide appear for 10 seconds, the second slide for 2 minutes, the third for 45 seconds, and so on. You may find it easiest to work with the Slides tab selected in Normal View, so you can see miniatures of each slide in your presentation.
1. Select the slide you want to apply the timing to.
2. On the Slide Show menu, click Slide Transition.
3. Under Advance slide, select the Automatically after check box, and then enter the number of seconds you want the slide to appear on the screen.
Note If you want the next slide to appear either when you click the mouse or automatically after the number of seconds you enter — whichever comes first — select both the On mouse click and the Automatically after check boxes. If you use this option, be sure to also set the show type as presented by a speaker. On the Slide Show menu, click Set Up Show, and then under Show type, click Presented by a speaker (full screen). Mouse clicks are ignored if the slide show is set up to be browsed at a kiosk or browsed by an individual.
4. To set the same timing for all slides in your slide show, click Apply to All Slides.
To set timings automatically
To set timings automatically while you rehearse, you can use the buttons in the Rehearsal dialog box to pause between slides, restart a slide, and advance to the next slide. As you rehearse the presentation, PowerPoint tracks how long each slide appears and sets the timing accordingly. If you display the same slide more than once — for example, in a custom show — the last timing is the one PowerPoint records.
Rehearsal dialog box
1 Advance to next slide
2 Pause timing
3 Slide timing (editable)
4 Repeat
5 Total time for presentation
1. On the Slide Show menu, click Rehearse Timings.
Your slide show opens in rehearsal mode and the slide timing starts.
2. When you're ready to advance to the next slide, click Next.
If you're not satisfied with the time or want to try again, click Repeat to start the clock over at 0:00:00.
If you want to pause the clock, click Pause.
3. Repeat step 2 for each slide in the presentation.
4. After you set the time for the last slide, a message box appears displaying the total time for the slide show and asking if you want to keep these timings for your slide show. Click Yes.
Adding navigation
You might want to allow the person viewing your presentation to navigate by using hyperlinks or action buttons.
Hyperlinks You can add a hyperlink to your presentation and then use it to go to a variety of locations — for example, a custom show, a specific slide within the presentation, a different presentation altogether, a Microsoft Word document or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or an Internet, intranet, or e-mail address. You can create a hyperlink from any object — including text, shapes, tables, graphs, and pictures. For information, see the Help topic Create a hyperlink.
Action buttons PowerPoint comes with some ready-made action buttons that you can insert in your presentation and define hyperlinks for. Action buttons contain shapes, such as right and left arrows. Use them when you want to include commonly understood symbols for going to next, previous, first, and last slides. PowerPoint also has action buttons for playing movies or sounds. For information, see the Help topic Insert an action button.
Setting up a slide show to run at a kiosk
Setting up a slide show to run at a kiosk allows you to control whether mouse clicks anywhere on the screen advance the slide. For example, if you want the slide show to be viewed at a specific pace, set automatic timings and then set the slide show to run at a kiosk. To give users additional control, you can add navigation, such as hyperlinks or action buttons, to your slides.
1. On the Slide Show menu, click Set Up Show.
2. Under Show type, click Browsed at a kiosk (full screen).
Note If you set up a slide show to run at a kiosk, remember to also add automatic timings or navigation hyperlinks or action buttons. Otherwise, the slide show will show only the first slide.
Adding narratives
Self-running presentations sometimes need to convey more information than a presentation given by a speaker, where the audience can interact with the presenter. Adding a narrative, either with voice narration or with slide notes, can help deliver more information in your self-running presentation.
Voice narration
To record a narration, your desktop computer needs a sound card and a microphone and microphone connector. A laptop computer just needs a microphone and microphone connector. You can record a narration before you run a presentation, or you can record it during the presentation and include audience comments. If you don't want narration throughout the entire slide show presentation, you can also record separate sounds or comments on selected slides or objects. For information, see the Help topic Record a voice narration.
Saving your presentation as a slide show
Saving your PowerPoint presentation as a slide show ensures that when the file is opened, it automatically opens as a slide show (in full screen mode).
1. On the File menu, click Save As.
2. In the Save as type box, select PowerPoint Show (*.pps), and then click Save.