Using PowerPoint for Memories

We’ve gotten a few calls lately from individuals wanting help making a PowerPoint show of family memories. For a birthday party or a memorial, something with photos and music.

We usually try to tell people how to do this themselves over the phone and save some money.

If you’re trying to make a PowerPoint like this the first thing we suggest is NOT using PowerPoint. But instead using a video application like Apple’s iMovie or MovieMaker on the PC. Then you can import all your photos and have control on how long they stay on and syncing to music.  A Quicktime movie or Windows Media File is usually the final output, and that can be burned on DVD or put on YouTube etc.

BUT if you don’t have the software or skills for that and you have to use PowerPoint here are a few tips:

– Go ahead and put your music together in ONE .wav file. That is to say, combine the different songs you want to use into ONE file. That will make it so much easier to run your slides seamlessly over the music.

– Apply your sound file as a “Transition” effect on the First slide. And check “loop until finished”. This will then play the audio throughout the slide show viewing of the presentation smoothly until it ends.

– Save your PowerPoint file as a “PowerPoint Show” or .PPS file. This way you can distribute it to friends and family members easily and they don’t have to have a fully installed version of PowerPoint to view it. They simply use the free Microsoft PowerPoint viewer.  (We’ve all gotten these types of little viral PPS files in email before right?)

It’s also good to size your photos ahead of time to screen size – usually 1024×768 pixels – ahead of time if you can. This will lower the file size of your presentation and make it easier to send it around.

Now of course there’s no easy way to get your PPS show in a DVD format. But your family and friends will be able to view it via the PowerPoint Viewer mentioned above.

Good luck out there making some great PowerPoint Memories presentations!

If you need some professional marketing or corporate PowerPoint or presentation services though, be sure to drop us a line.