An excerpt from Medical Presentations.

In our workshops, one of the most common issues that participants raise relates to using videos in PowerPoint. They are unsure how to source videos and are afraid to use them based on past experiences. The risks associated with using video in PowerPoint have diminished significantly with recent versions. Previously, videos were linked to your presentation, so you had to save the video in the same folder as your talk before inserting it into the PowerPoint file.

In Microsoft 365, videos are embedded in the presentation and will travel with it, wherever you take it. All you have to do is insert the video, and it will be embedded into PowerPoint by default.

Video file formats

There are a number of potential sources of video. You may have recorded the video yourself, or your medical photography team may have made it. Perhaps you have a video file from an endoscopy, radiology, or minimal access procedure. Microsoft 365 supports multiple video formats. However, .mp4 using an H.264 codec is the most compatible format and most likely to play whether you’re on Mac or Windows, so we recommend that you stick with it.

Inserting a video file from your computer

If you have a video file that you want to include in your slide deck, begin by preparing the slide where you want to insert the video. We recommend a blank slide if your video will be played full screen. Of course, you may decide to play the video in only a part of the screen in some circumstances, and we will deal with that shortly.

Now choose Insert > Video > From File (to use a file on your computer) or Stock (to use a stock Microsoft video). Navigate to your video and click Insert. The video will appear on the slide and will be automatically embedded in the PowerPoint file.

It is possible to link to a video instead of embedding it. This saves file size, but it can be extremely problematic, and we don’t recommend it.

You may want the video to play full screen. If so, it doesn’t matter what size the thumbnail of the video is at this stage. Simply select Play Full Screen from the Playback tab.

Starting the video

When you insert a video into your presentation from a file on your computer, by default, it’s set up to play “in click sequence.” This means the same as “on mouse click” in the animation settings, where the video will play as you advance the slide whether by mouse click, space bar, arrow keys, or various other means. You can set the video to play automatically, so you don’t have to manually start it. Select your video and choose from the Start options on the Playback tab.

If you have a video, such as an echocardiogram, you may also want to tick loop until stopped on the Playback tab. This will play the video in a continuous loop.

Perhaps you need to stop the video to emphasize a particular area. You can pause and restart the video by clicking on it with the cursor (the cursor will change to a small hand). The right arrow or return key will move to the next slide.

You can place textboxes or shapes containing text over your video if you feel this adds to the message. Just be sure to add them after you add the video to ensure they are in front of the video, or bring them to the front using the commands learned in Chapter 6.

Editing the video

You may need to trim the beginning and end of your video. Select the video, and on the Playback tab, click Trim Video, then drag the sliders to your preferred start and finish points. Unfortunately, you can’t trim out parts in the middle of the video in PowerPoint; you will need a video editing program for that.

It is possible to adjust the volume of your video using the Volume button on the Playback tab. If your video has sound, remember to turn on your speakers in the operating system too!

Optimizing for compatibility

If you’re working in Windows, PowerPoint has a handy feature to optimize the compatibility of videos. Go to File > Info, and if there are videos in your file, you may have an option to Optimize Media Compatibility to help improve compatibility when played on other devices.

You may also have an option to Compress Media in this same area. This is especially good to do if your files have become very large because of embedded video. You can choose from Standard, HD, or Full HD quality when you choose to compress.

Online videos

Before you use online videos, be sure to check the internet connection at your presentation venue. And remember, once the audience gets there, the bandwidth tends to get worse!

What if you want to show a video that is online, such as on YouTube™? You can use the commands Insert > Video > Online Movie (Mac) or Insert > Video > Online Video (Windows). Then insert the URL (the website details) for the YouTube video and click Insert. (You can get this from YouTube by clicking Share, which is currently found below the YouTube video, and then copy the URL). This will insert the video onto the slide, but note that online videos are not embedded into your presentation. PowerPoint is only providing a link, and an online video will only play if you have a reliable, speedy internet connection when you are showing your presentation.

Furthermore, online videos will not give you the option in the Playback menu to play full screen. You need to drag the corners of the video to the corners of the slide if you want that to happen.

Video won’t play!

We rarely see issues lately with video not playing in PowerPoint. Microsoft has done a lot of work in this area, and it shows!

Remember, online videos are linked, not embedded into your presentation. If your online video doesn’t play, it could be an issue with the available bandwidth—you need a pretty good connection in order to stream online video effectively.

If you don’t have an option to play full screen, it’s also because you’ve inserted an online video. You would need to download the video and use Insert > Video > From File in order to use this setting.

Additionally, if you linked to a video, even if it’s on your computer, the video must be available, and the link must not be broken for it to play. If you are on a Windows computer, the best way to ensure against these issues is to run the Optimize Compatibility tool in File > Info.

Terry Irwin is a colorectal surgeon and co-author of Medical Presentations.