How to Record a Presentation on Google Slides

Here’s an interesting statistic: 91% of people believe a well-designed slide deck can increase your confidence as a presenter. The first step to creating a good presentation is to choose the best software, and then record the presentation in HD.

Tell you what? You can create slides with Google Slides, then use the Zight screen recording software to present and narrate your slides to your audience. This has many benefits, including saving your presentation for future collaboration or asynchronous communication, which, in many ways, has more benefits than synchronous communication in a digital and remote workspace.

Read on as we tell you how to create this presentation from scratch, in just a few steps!

What Is a Google Slides Presentation?

Google Slides is a free web-based presentation software provided by Google as part of the Google Drive suite. You can use it on any device with an internet connection, offering various features like an easy-to-use presenter view, speaker notes, live captions, and the ability to present to Google Meet video calls. Plus, your slides can contain text, images, videos, animations, and more to create dynamic content.

While you can present live in a meeting, today’s work landscape teams need to improve communication and productivity with asynchronous video communication. So, when you can’t gather everyone in a Google meeting, you need a way to create and share a presentation with your teams. Your options include recording a Google Slides presentation with narration, just like you create a PowerPoint presentation with Zight.

Here’s what you need:

What Do You Need to Record Google Slides Presentations?

To record a presentation on Google Slides, you will need a few things:

• A device with an internet connection: It’s best to have a computer to make it easy to create and present Google Slides
• A screen recording software like Zight: While Google Slides allows you to present live in a meeting, it won’t record audio or video files to send later. That’s where Zight comes in, allowing you to record and narrate your slides as you present so you can share with attendees at a later time
• An external microphone (optional) to record audio for your presentation. However, you can still use your native microphone on your computer
• A webcam (optional): If you want to show yourself presenting alongside the slides, a webcam will be necessary for recording. To make things easy, you can just use the Zight webcam recorder which will use your native webcam app
• A Google account: You can only access Google Slides with a Google account, so make sure to sign in to be able to create slides
• Google Slides: Before using the screen recording tool, you want to create and add content to the Google slides you will be narrating. More on this below!

How to Record A Presentation on Google Slides with Zight: Step-By-Step Guide

Before you start recording, search for Google Slides on your browser, log in to your account and open an untitled presentation.

Alternatively, click File on a current Google Slides presentation page, then New, and Presentation (or from the template gallery to pick a presentation template).

Add content to your slides, using the (+) sign on the upper left-hand side of your Google Slides presentation page (or Ctrl+M) to add new slides. You can also click the dropdown menu next to the (+) sign and choose slides with your ideal layout. Add content to the slides by typing in text, inserting images, videos, shapes, or charts, and customize them with a unique theme and background color.

Once your Google slides are ready, here’s how to start recording:

1. Download Zight

If you don’t have Zight, click the red button below to download.

Alternatively, search for “Zight” on your web browser and create an account. Then, download the app that’s compatible with your computer. Zight is available for Mac, Windows, and even as a Google Chrome extension.

2. Choose your Screen Recording Preferences

Open your presentation on Google Slides and ensure you can easily navigate to the slides once you’re ready to record.

On the Zight App

Launch the Zight app and click Record.

You’ll find recording options like Full Screen and Select Region, plus the Screen Only or Screen & Cam options. Screen Only is good when you don’t want to use your webcam, while the latter allows you to incorporate your webcam for a personal touch.

Then, select your audio/mic and webcam options, move your webcam overlay to a good space on your screen, and click Start Recording. Wait for the 3-second timer to count down before you go to the Google Slides presentation.

On the Google Chrome Extension

Click on the Zight icon on the upper left of your Google Chrome browser, click Record, and select either Screen Only or Screen & Cam. Then, turn on your microphone and webcam camera.

Next, click Start Recording and choose Entire Screen. After that, select the screen you want to record, and click Share. Click your mouse on any part of the screen to start recording and wait out the 3-second countdown.

The Zight screen recorder software will now be recording your entire screen.

3. Start Narrating Your Google Slides Presentation

On the Google Slides presentation page, click on the dropdown menu next to Slideshow.

Click Presenter View if you are viewing the first Google slide. Alternatively, click Start from the beginning if you are not on the first slide. This will turn your presentation into a full-screen view and you will see that Zight is sharing your screen.

Then, start narrating your Google slides in high video and audio quality.

You can pause and resume your screen recording and restart it to capture moments you may have missed in the beginning. You can also cancel the recording and delete the file to avoid uploading it to the cloud.

4. Annotate Your Presentation

One of the best things about presenting your Google Slides with Zight is that you can annotate the video just as easily as you narrate it.

If you are recording from the Zight app, you can pause the recording and then click the annotations button on the recording menu (the icon looks like a pen).

Once you do, you will see the different annotations you can add to the slides, including a pen, highlighter, arrow, line, ellipse, and rectangle. You can choose a different color for your annotations, even how long the annotation lasts on the final recorded video.

After annotating, resume the recording, rinse and repeat!

5. Finish Recording and Edit Your Video

Once you narrate all your Google slides, click the Finish recording button and wait for the file to upload to the cloud. Zight will also open the file on your default browser where you can edit the video file further.

When the video link opens, click the Edit button, and continue to split and merge sections, trim, crop, filter, and finetune different sections until the presentation is faultless. Click Done to save those settings.

On top of the recording, annotating, and editing of your Google Slides presentation, Zight will also transcribe your video and send the text to your email so you can go through the notes in case you missed something.

You can also add custom branding, and use AI features to generate a video summary and video titles. If you want to share the presentation with global teams, you will also love that you can translate the video file into 50 different languages for seamless communication.

6. Share the Presentation for Asynchronous Communication

To share the presentation, you can send the shareable link to your teams via Slack, Asana, Trello, and other chat boards and productivity software you use at work.

Alternatively, you can embed the video file in an email, or even download it on your computer then upload it on a platform like YouTube to reach a global audience.

7. Collaborate and Track Analytics

The best part about recording your presentation in superior video footage with Zight is how you can save it for collaboration later.

Firstly, you can save the video to a Collection on your Zight dashboard or add it to a Favorites list. This way, the video will be readily available and you can track how many people interact with it, either through comments or reactions to finetune your collaboration and communication strategy.

In addition, this video presentation will always be available on your Zight cloud account, and, as long as you keep it, even your colleagues or recipients can always retrieve it for future reference.

Conclusion

There you have it, an easy way to record your Google Slides presentation using Zight! With this method, you can easily create and share professional-looking recordings of your presentations to a global audience.

If you want to feel more confident before your audience with a well-designed and narrated deck, ensure you have a reliable internet connection before starting the recording. In addition, close any unnecessary tabs or programs on your computer to avoid interruptions. Finally, while Zight may use the native mic on your computer, you can prefer to use a high-quality microphone for better audio clarity.

Most importantly, don’t forget to rehearse and practice your presentation beforehand to ensure a smooth delivery and minimize any mistakes during the recording. With these tips in mind, you can confidently create engaging presentations that will impress your audience.

So why wait? Get Zight today and take your presentations to the next level!

FAQs on How to Record a Presentation on Google Slides

I) Can I Record My Screen in Google Slides?

No. Google Slides does not have a built-in screen recording feature. However, you can use third-party apps like Zight to record your presentation.

II) How do you turn a Google slide into a video?

Since Google Slides does not record the screen and audio (apart from when you’re presenting in a Google meeting), you will need a third-party app to record your screen and turn your slides into a video. Follow the steps mentioned above to record and then export your presentation as a video.

When you record your Google Slides presentation with Zight, you’ll also be able to explain the contents of your slides in high-quality audio for an even better personal touch to what would be a boring presentation without narration.

III) How Do You Create a Presentation on Google Slides?

To create Google slides, follow these steps:

1. Go to Google Drive and sign in.
2. Click on the “New” button, then select “Google Slides.”
3. Choose a template or start with a blank slide.
4. Add your content by typing in text, and inserting images, videos, shapes, or charts.
5. Customize your slides by changing the theme, background-color