Engage Your Audience with Video – Part 1

Video helps you capture and hold your audience’s attention by adding another dimension to your presentation. To achieve a smoother, more appealing video experience, place it inside your PowerPoint presentation. Adding multimedia to PowerPoint can be tricky, so plan and prepare in advance by taking four main points of consideration into account – video resolution, length and content, format, and delivery.

First, how do you want the video to appear on screen? Do you want it to fill the screen or do you want the video to appear within a slide?

Full-screen video looks great, but this requires a large video file. Like digital pictures, video is made up of many pixels. The more pixels, the larger your file size. A full-screen video should be created with a minimum resolution of 640×480 pixels – the lowest resolution of most projectors. PowerPoint can force any video to be shown full-screen, but this just enlarges the pixels, making lower resolution videos look “blocky.”

Videos shown at a smaller size can be shown within a PowerPoint slide containing other artwork. This allows for a more creative presentation of your video. You cannot superimpose text or framing over your video as the video will play on top of all other artwork on your slide. All artwork must appear outside the video frame. Always know the resolution of smaller video files, so they can be sized on screen for optimal playback.

Next, consider the length and content of your video. Has it been edited with multiple shots and transitions or is it raw footage or “B-roll”? Do you want to show the whole clip or do you need to edit it further for time constraints? The video you use should be exactly what you want to show during your presentation. PowerPoint 2007 and earlier cannot begin or end at different points in your video, nor edit it. If you need to cut its length, it may be best to have this done professionally.

The good news is that the new PowerPoint 2010 brings a lot of advanced features to videos inserted into a slide. You can edit your videos within the slide, key animation to start based on the video timeline, and have animation appear on top of the video window. You can even apply 3D picture effects to your video window to tilt it in space or add shadows and glows.

The two other points of consideration – video format and delivery – will be covered in our next tip.