Adding a video to a PowerPoint presentation used to be difficult. I remember many times being at a presentation where the speaker could not get the video to work. I would tell people to be sure to have all your files, including videos, in a folder with your PowerPoint presentation. It’s still a good practice but no longer necessary. I would like to share with you the different methods of adding a video to a presentation. As I mention below, I don’t like having a link to a video on a site because of bandwidth (slow connection) or no connection or a connection that has been set up not to allow for videos from sites such as YouTube. If you plan to use an online video in your presentation, be sure to check with the venue first to be sure it is allowed and your connection will be good enough to handle it well.
Adding Video: 
Online:
- Insert > Video > Insert Video (Hint: I don’t like using online for many reasons, not the least is the number of times it hasn’t worked properly. I make a copy of the video to my computer using Apowersoft video download capture software. The software is free and works really well.
- If you are using online, please use the following method. Search YouTube for a video and then Share > Copy > Copy the URL or you can choose Share > Embed > Copy > copy the embed code and paste the embed code where it says “Paste embed code here”.
Hint: I highly recommend using Embed as the other choice (add url) doesn’t always work on playback.
From Your Computer 
- Insert > Video > Video My PC > Find video > ex: Inside Out – Best Scenes.mp4) > Insert
Edit Video
- Under Video Tools (Automatically selected when you click on the video), Playback > Trim Video (Trim video in the same way you did the audio earlier. You can also choose to play automatically, fade in and fade out, etc.
Change Poster Frame
- Under Format you can “Change the poster frame by:
- Click on video
- Click on format
- Click on poster frame
- Click on image from file (ex: documents>movie-posters>inside-out.jpg) or search Google for an image from the movie and download. Be sure to choose something high quality that won’t look pixelated on a large screen.
- Changing the poster frame allows you to pick an image to appear on the screen prior to the video being played. You can also change the look of the video screen by choosing from the video style options. Mouse over to see how it will look. I will caution you to keep it simple. Try some different looks and see what works for you.
That’s it! If you’ve been unsure about adding video to your presentations in the past, this should help you to commit to doing so in the future. It really works well and looks wonderful. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
See you next week when I add a new Photoshop CC Tip!
Faye
Teaching with Technology 