Faking Time Criticalness

You have decided to stick with PowerPoint to create the presentation. What can you do within PowerPoint to make the best of the situation?

Create Small Segments

The smaller the segment of the presentation linked to a single music file, the less likely it is to drift off the intended timeline. If using a piece of music in its entirety, it will drift . Break the music up into pieces the same length as the animation for each slide so less deviation occurs.

Attaching the sounds to single slides instead of the whole presentation allows more control over the timeline. This will ensure the timing for each slide is as close as possible to the length of the piece of music.

Use Minimal Effects And Animations

The more tasks PowerPoint has to perform to move through the presentation, the less likely it is to remain on the timeline. Coordinating a slide with a complex set of animations to a piece of music may be more than the computer is capable of handling, unless you have a high-powered computer. Now, if you are only going to run on high- powered computers with nothing else running, that won't be much of a problem. Most of us don't have that option.

Use Simple Music

Instead of playing a full score, use the piano version of the music you've chosen . The less complex the piece, the less likely people are to notice things aren't happening exactly on time.

Don't Trigger The Song And The Animation At The Same Time

If you must have complicated animations on a slide that are time-critical, start the animations, wait a second or two and then start the music. An indication of poor settings is stuttering and skipping of the music. Slowing the animations down can help avoid stuttering and skipping, and also make time deviation less noticeable.

Use Lower Quality Sound

The higher the sound quality, the more resources are used to play the piece. Lower the quality to lessen the impact of resource loss.

Test Out Your Presentation With Someone Else

What seems to you as an unacceptable amount of time deviation may not even be noticed by others. Have someone else view the presentation to get an objective point of view.

Ask the tester to watch for any problems with the presentation. Telling her what problems might occur could bring attention to them and the review may become as critical as your own. Be sure to ask her after the presentation whether the music and animation connections were in sync. If she says yes, great. If she says no, find out where you need to do more work.

Last Resort: Connect The Sound To The Action

If it is absolutely necessary a sound and action occur at the same time, attach the sound to the animation or transition. This is the only circumstance in which I recommend connecting the two. You may hear a stutter in the music. If you do, edit the sound to add a short (half-second maximum) empty space at the beginning.