Effective communication is an essential aspect of any presentation, and effectively conveying your ideas and thoughts can make or break your audience’s attention. To achieve this, using every available tool to your advantage is crucial, and PowerPoint provides just that.With its interactive and visually appealing slides, PowerPoint has become a popular tool for presentations in various fields. However, adding speaker notes to your presentation can significantly enhance your ability to engage and connect with your audience.
In this blog, we will explore how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint and why they are essential to delivering an impactful presentation. So let’s dive in and uncover the key steps to create engaging and informative speaker notes that will elevate your presentation to the next level.
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What Are Speaker Notes In PowerPoint?
Speaker notes in PowerPoint are an essential tool that allows presenters to provide additional information and guidance to accompany their presentations. They typically provide speakers with prompts and reminders about the key points they want to cover during their talk. PowerPoint presenter notes can also be used to provide more in-depth information about the presented topics or to explain visual aids and diagrams that may be difficult to understand without additional context.
In practical terms, speaker notes PowerPoint is a separate section only visible to the presenter, located beneath the presented slide. They are not visible to the audience, which allows presenters to reference them without disrupting the flow of the presentation.
Presentation notes in PowerPoint can contain any type of text, such as bullet points, detailed explanations, or even jokes and anecdotes, to help the presenter convey their message clearly and engagingly.
Benefits Of Using Speaker Notes In Presentations
In the world of presentations, conveying your message clearly and concisely is essential. This can be daunting, mainly if you present complex or technical information.
However, using speaker notes in your presentations can significantly enhance your ability to engage and connect with your audience. Here are some of the key benefits of using speaker notes in presentations:
Improved Organization
Speaker notes on PowerPoint presentation can help you to stay organized and keep your presentation on track. By outlining your key points and ideas, you can ensure you cover all the information you need to convey and avoid going off tangents.
Better Time Management
Speaker notes can assist you in better managing your time throughout your presentation. You can discuss the important points in a limited time if you divide your information into manageable chunks.
Increased Confidence
Using PowerPoint speaker notes can boost your confidence and help you to deliver your presentation with authority. Having your key points and ideas clearly laid out, you can speak more fluently and naturally without worrying about forgetting important information.
Enhanced Audience Engagement
Presentation notes PowerPoint can help you engage your audience more effectively by providing additional context and explanations for your presentation content.
Improved Memorability
Using PowerPoint presentation notes can help improve your presentation’s memorability by providing clear and concise summaries of your key points. This can help your audience to retain the information you present and make a lasting impression.
How To Add Speaker Notes In PowerPoint?
In this section, we will guide you through how to add notes to PowerPoint so that you can take your presentations to the next level.
Step 1: Firstly, select the slide you want to add to the speaker notes.
Step 2: Select ‘Notes’ in the lower right corner of your screen.
Step 3: Add the notes you desire below the PowerPoint presentation.
How To Present Your PowerPoint Presentation Notes?
Speaker notes in PowerPoint can provide prompts and reminders and ensure you don’t forget essential points or lose your train of thought. Now, let’s go through the process of presenting your PowerPoint presentation with PowerPoint speaker notes, so you can deliver an impactful and memorable presentation.
Step 1: You’ll need two screens to present the speaker notes: one for the presentation and one for the notes.
Step 2: Launch PowerPoint and open your presentation.
Step 3: Go to the ‘Slide Show’ tab.
Step 4: Here you will find a ‘Monitors’ group. Now just check the ‘Use Presenter View’ box. This option will be ticked automatically if you have two displays. The secondary screen will show your presentation, while the main screen will show the ‘Presenter View.’ You can also change this by selecting a different choice from the ‘Monitor’ drop-down menu.
Step 5: At the bottom of the screen, click the ‘Slideshow’ button. Click ‘From Beginning’ on the ‘Slide Show’ tab or press ‘F5.’ Your presentation will begin in ‘Presenter View.’
How To Use The Presenter View?
Throughout your presentation, you have several options at your disposal. Some of them are accessible in this view, so let us discuss them.
- Current slide and Next slide: You will always be able to see the current and next slides.
- Slide number: Click the left arrow to return to the previous slide or the right arrow to go to the next one at the bottom of the screen.
- Pen and laser pointer Tools: You can write on the slides with the pen or highlight the information with the laser pointer.
- See all slides: When you click this button, you’ll view all of your presentation slides.
- Zoom into the slides: You can expand any area of the screen.
- Black or unblack slide show: This lets you hide or show the current slide.
- Toggle subtitles: When you press this button, the subtitles will show on the screen. This button is available exclusively in Office 365 and newer editions.
- Zoom: Two buttons under the PowerPoint presenter notes allow you to increase or reduce the text size.
- More slide-show options: Options include hiding the slide, adjusting the location of the subtitles, and removing the speaker notes.
Three buttons at the top of the screen enable you to access the taskbar, change the primary screen, or stop the presentation.
How To Print Speaker Notes In PowerPoint?
When it comes to delivering a presentation, having speaker notes can be an invaluable tool to help you stay on track and deliver your message effectively. However, when you need to share your presentation with others or refer back to it in the future, it’s important to have a hard copy that includes your PowerPoint slide notes.
Fortunately, printing your PowerPoint presentation with notes is a simple process that can be done in just a few easy steps. In this section, we will discuss printing your PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes, so you can have a physical copy of your presentation that includes all the necessary information.
Step 1: Open your PowerPoint presentation and click on the ‘File’ tab in the top left corner of the screen.
Step 2: From the drop-down menu, select ‘Print’ to open the print settings.
Step 3: In the print settings window, click the ‘Full Page Slides’ dropdown menu and select ‘Notes Pages.’ This will ensure that your speaker notes are included in the printout.
Step 4: Adjust any additional settings, such as the number of copies or the printer to use.
Step 5: Once you select your desired settings, click the ‘Print’ button to start printing.
Here is a quick video tutorial that explains how to add notes to PowerPoint and print them with the slides to share as handouts to the audience:
Wrapping It Up
Adding speaker notes to PowerPoint presentations is an easy way to ensure you deliver an engaging and effective presentation. Speaker notes help you stay on track, provide reminders for essential points, and keep your presentation flowing smoothly. Following the simple steps outlined in this article, you can easily add notes to PowerPoint and take your presentations to the next level.
Whether you are a business professional, educator, or scientist, adding notes to your PowerPoint presentation can help you deliver your message with confidence and clarity. So why not try it and see the difference it can make in your next presentation?
