Give Your Deck a Voiceover

Intro to Keynote

Keynote is Apple’s application for designing presentation support media. It competes with Microsoft PowerPoint. I find Keynote more user-friendly and delightful, with clearer controls and not too many choices.

Many creators use Keynote to develop slideshows they can use to actively present on a topic. Some such slide decks, however, are designed to stand alone, either as a printed slides or as a recording. With slide timing automation, you can make a standalone deck that plays through on its own.

Whereas a photo slideshow is often set to music, professional slideshows tend to support a speaker. With or without automation, you can record a voiceover while playing a Keynote slideshow, just like if you were presenting live, and export the whole recording as a video to be shared on a variety of channels.

Prepare to Record

Before recording a Keynote slideshow, you might like to have a script. You can type your notes, outline, or verbatim script into the Presenter Notes, which you can reveal using the View menu.

When you’re ready, show the Document inspector, choose Audio, and click Record. This reveals the Presenter View, just like when you play the slideshow on a projector or other display, with the addition of recording controls.

From the buttons at the top, you can show the Slide Navigator, view all available keyboard shortcuts, change the layout of the Presenter View, and exit the recording session. You can also speak to test the microphone level, seen in the bottom left.

Record Away

Press the Record button (red circle) to begin recording. While recording, share your presentation as if you had a live audience. Advance the slides normally if you haven’t automated them. After recording, look closely at the timeline and you’ll see a line for every slide change.

If you make a mistake, click Record to stop. Then, drag the playhead back to an earlier point or click the timeline to move it there. Keynote will show you what slide you were on at that point.

Press Play and listen for a point where you want to correct yourself. Pause playback and press Record. Keynote will confirm that you want to rerecord from that point to the end.

Export to Movie

When you’re satisfied with your recording, you can export your slideshow to a video. Choose File > Export To > Movie. Having created a voiceover, the export sheet will default to playing your Slideshow Recording. Save the movie and do with it what you wish.