Create a self-running presentation
By using a self-running presentation, you can communicate your information without a presenter. For example, you can set up a presentation to run unattended in a booth or kiosk at a trade show or convention, or you can send a CD with a self-running presentation to a client.
You can make most controls unavailable, so that your audience cannot make changes to your self-running presentation. Self-running presentations restart after they are finished and when they have been idle on a manually advanced slide for longer than five minutes.
To package a self-running presentation to run on a CD, network, or computer, see Copy a presentation to a CD, network, or local disk drive.
In this article
Considering the interactive options for a self-running presentation
Rehearse and record slide timings
Set up a presentation to run at a kiosk
Considering the interactive options for a self-running presentation
When you design a self-running presentation, keep the environment in which the presentation will appear in mind - for example, whether the booth or kiosk will be in an unmonitored public place or whether supervision will be available. By keeping the environment in mind, you can better determine what elements to add to your presentation, how much control to give your audience, and what steps to take to prevent misuse.
Options that you might want to consider when designing a self-running presentation include the following:
- Hyperlinks and Action buttons You can use hyperlinks to help your audience move through your presentation or move to other programs. You can also use action buttons, which are built-in navigation buttons that 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.
- Automatic or manual timings You can set up your presentation to run by itself by using automatic timings, or you can set up your presentation so that your audience can navigate through it at their own pace by clicking action buttons. If you set up your presentation to run at a kiosk, only objects with hyperlinks or action buttons can be clicked.
Add navigation
If you want your audience to move through your self-running presentation freely, you can add hyperlinks or action buttons to provide navigation.
- Hyperlinks
You can add hyperlinks that go to custom shows, specific slides within your presentation, different presentations, Microsoft Office Word documents, Microsoft Office Excel worksheets, locations on the Internet or an intranet, or e-mail addresses. You can create a hyperlink from any object, including text, shapes, tables, graphs, and pictures.
To learn how to add a hyperlink, see Create a hyperlink.
- Action buttons
PowerPoint includes ready-made action buttons that you can add to your presentation and that you can 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.
To learn how to add an action button, see Add an action button.
Add narration
Adding narration can help deliver information more clearly in your self-running presentation.
To record a narration, desktop computers require a sound card, a microphone, and a microphone connector. Laptop computers require only a microphone and a 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 do not want narration throughout your entire presentation, you can record separate sounds or comments on selected slides or objects. For more information, see Add narration to a presentation.
Rehearse and record slide timings
Note Be prepared to begin timing your presentation immediately after you perform the first step in this procedure.
- On the
Slide Showtab, in theSet Upgroup, clickRehearse Timings.The
Rehearsaltoolbar appears and theSlide Timebox begins timing the presentation.
The Rehearsal toolbar
Next (advance to next slide)
Pause
Slide Time
Repeat
Total presentation time
- While timing your presentation, do one or more of the following on the
Rehearsaltoolbar:- To move to the next slide, click
Next. - To temporarily stop recording the time, click
Pause. - To restart recording the time after pausing, click
Pause. - To set an exact length of time for a slide to appear, type the length of time in the
Slide Timebox. - To restart recording the time for the current slide, click
Repeat.
- To move to the next slide, click
- After you set the time for the last slide, a message box displays the total time for the presentation and prompts you to do one of the following:
- To keep the recorded slide timings, click
Yes. - To discard the recorded slide timings, click
No.
Slide Sorter view appears and displays the time of each slide in your presentation.
- To keep the recorded slide timings, click
Set up a presentation to run at a kiosk
Setting up a presentation to run at a kiosk allows you to control whether a mouse click anywhere on the screen advances a slide. For example, if you want your presentation to be viewed at a specific pace, set automatic timings, and then set the presentation to run at a kiosk. To give users additional control, you can add navigation, such as hyperlinks or action buttons, to your slides.
- On the
Slide Showtab, in theSet Upgroup, clickSet Up Slide Show. - Under
Show type, clickBrowsed at a kiosk (full screen).
Important If you set up a presentation to run at a kiosk, remember to also use automatic timings, navigation hyperlinks, or action buttons. Otherwise, your self-running presentation will not advance beyond the first slide.
