IT Training
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013™
Rehearsing Presentations (Level 3)
Contents
Introduction .................................................................. 1
Timing a Presentation .................................................. 1
Editing the Timings ...................................................... 3
Removing Timings ....................................................... 4
Suspending Timings .................................................... 4
Continuous Looping ..................................................... 5
Introduction
It's always a good idea to rehearse a presentation before you give it, not only in terms of
its content but also the time it takes to give. It's surprising how time flies when you give a
talk and most presenters overestimate what they can get through. PowerPoint offers you
a very useful facility to check you will be able to finish in good time and that's what's
covered in this document.
PowerPoint also lets you create a self-running presentation, which loops round and round
until someone stops it. This is ideal for Open Days and Exhibitions, where you require
information to be presented unattended. This related topic is also covered here.
Timing a Presentation
Begin by opening an existing presentation:
1. Click on the Start menu in the bottom left corner of the screen
2. Choose All Programs then scroll down and click on the yellow folder named Microsoft Office
2013
3. Finally click on PowerPoint 2013 and Powerpoint should open up (if an extra Office welcome
window appears, this can be closed)
4. Press <Ctrl o> (or click on the Open Other Presentations option on the left of the screen)
5. Under Open, click on Computer
6. Under Computer, click on the [Browse] button
7. On the left-hand side of the Open window, click on Computer
8. Double click on the (D:) icon then repeat this on the yellow Training folder icon
9. Finally, double click on the training2013.pptx icon - if a Protected View bar appears at the top
after opening, click on [Enable Editing]
10. Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab on the Ribbon then click on the [Rehearse Timings] button in the
Set Up group
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The presentation starts to run, with a stopwatch timing it. This is shown on a special Recording floating
toolbar, along with various other buttons:
Going along the toolbar from left to right:
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[Next] - moves you on to the next slide or next item on the slide if there is animation
[Pause Recording] - pauses the stopwatch
[Slide Time] - the elapsed time for this particular slide or item
[Repeat] - restart the stopwatch for this slide or item
The final time is the current total time taken for the presentation up to this point
Don't worry that the time is still clicking away; you'll be restarting the clock in a second or two anyway.
11. Click on the [Repeat] button and a Recording paused window appears
12. The slide time is reset to 0:00:00. Compose yourself, ready to give your talk, and then click on
the [Resume Recording] button
13. Introduce the first slide, saying whatever you want to say, then move onto the next slide or item
using whichever method you prefer (e.g. press <Enter> or click on the mouse button - you don't
have to use the special [Next] button unless you want to)
14. Continue with your talk, moving to the next slide or item when you've finished what you have to
say on each one
Remember, if ever you get confused, click on [Pause Recording] to stop the clock. You can then
resume your talk by clicking the [Resume Recording] button. You can also type in an estimated or
corrected time for the slide (e.g. to take a few seconds off if you messed up something) - try this next:
15. Immediately before moving to another slide, click on [Slide Time] - the cursor is placed in the
time box
16. Press <End> to move the cursor to the right and correct the time
17. Press <Enter> to fix the new time and move on to the next slide (the total elapsed time is
corrected automatically)
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When you reach the end of the show (or close it early), a dialog box appears giving you the total time
taken. This is a useful indication of how long your talk will last. It's a good idea to save the timings so that
you can then plan any adjustments which need to be made to your talk.
18. Press <Enter> for [Yes] to save the timings
19. Click on the VIEW tab on the ribbon and click on Slide Sorter (in the Presentation Views group
on the left of the ribbon)
In the Slide Sorter View, you can see the individual times for each slide shown beneath them on the
right.
Editing the Timings
Besides being able to edit the timings while rehearsing, you can also change the time for a particular
slide while in other views:
1. Click on the slide whose timing you wish to change
2. Move to the TRANSITIONS tab on the Ribbon
3. On the far right, in the Timing group, change the timing in the box next to After to the required
time (either use the arrows or type in the new time followed by pressing <Enter>)
4. Repeat steps 1 and 3 for any other slide timings which need to be changed
In fact, you can use this method to set the original timings, without having to rehearse the show at all.
This somewhat defeats the object of rehearsing your presentation, but it can be useful if you are setting
up a continuous show for an Open Day or Exhibition (where you might want to scroll through a series of
pictures every few seconds, for example).
You can also adjust the timings when rehearsing:
5. Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab on the Ribbon then click on the [Rehearse Timings] button in the
Set Up group
The stopwatch starts up from afresh, just as if you were starting the whole process over again. You can,
of course, record everything again or you have the option to retain the original timings for any slide:
6. Press <o> (for original) to cancel the new time and retain the old one
7. For the next slide, revise your talk (i.e. let the stopwatch continue to run and record a new time) make use of [Pause] and [Repeat] if necessary
8. Move to the next slide as normal (e.g. press <Enter>)
9. Repeat either step 7 (to revise a time) or step 6 (to retain the original one) until you reach the end
of your presentation
10. Press <Enter> for [Yes] to save the new timings
Note that the total elapsed time for the show is not given correctly.
11. End by pressing <F5> to run your presentation and test out your new timings - if they are not
what you want, repeat steps 5 to 10 all over again
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Removing Timings
For some talks, it's useful to have some slides with timed animations while others are moved on
manually by the presenter. You can do this via the TRANSITIONS tab or when rehearsing your talk:
1. Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab on the Ribbon then click on the [Rehearse Timings] button in the
Set Up group
2. Press <m> if you want to move on manually or <o> to keep the original timings for a slide
3. Repeat step 2 until you reach the end of your presentation
4. Press <Enter> for [Yes] to save the new timings
Slide Sorter View now only shows timings for the slides where you kept the original timings.
5. Test our your new timings (press <F5> to run the show) and note how some slides move on
automatically but others wait for you to move them on
Tip: Don't forget that you can always override automatic timings when giving a presentation anyway by
moving on manually.
To remove the automatic timing from a particular slide:
6. Click on the slide to select it (in Slide Sorter or Normal view)
7. Move to the TRANSITIONS tab on the Ribbon
8. On the far right of the ribbon in the Timing group, untick the After checkbox to turn it off
To remove the timings from all your slides:
9. Make sure that you’ve selected a slide that has no timing and click on the [Apply To All] button
in the Timing group on the TRANSITIONS tab (note that this will also apply any transition on that
slide to all the other slides)
10. Here, click on the [Undo] button to restore your settings - you need them for the next exercise
Suspending Timings
Having run through your presentation several times, checking that what you will be saying will fit the time
you have been allocated, it's better to suspend the timings for your actual talk. It's generally not a good
idea to leave them running as your show may move on to the next slide before you are ready for it. The
only exception to this is where you are giving a talk with a show running independently in the
background. For example, you might be giving a lecture on art which is illustrated by a series of
paintings. In this case, use a mixture of manual and automatic settings for advancing the slides.
1. Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab on the Ribbon then untick the Use Timings checkbox in the Set
Up group to turn off rehearsed timings
2. Press <F5> to start the show
You will find that the timings are no longer working - you have to move on manually. If you want to
reinstate them:
3. Press <Esc> to end your presentation
4. Repeat step 1 to put the tick back in the checkbox and turn on rehearsed timings
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Continuous Looping
Presentations which loop continuously have been mentioned earlier in this document. To set up your
presentation to do this:
1. This can be used to create a looping presentation that runs itself.Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab
on the Ribbon then click on the [Set Up Slide Show] button in the Set Up group – the following
windows appears:
2. Under Show options on the left of the dialog box, turn on Loop continuously until 'Esc'
3. Press <Enter> for [OK]
Before you test this out, you must make sure you have timings on all your slides:
4. Click on any slide in your presentation
5. Move to the TRANSITIONS tab on the Ribbon
6. On the far right, in the Timing group, make sure the After checkbox is ticked (click on it if not)
and set the timing in the box next to After to 5 seconds (00.05.00)
7. Click on the [Apply to All] to set this same timing on all of the slides
8. Now press <F5> to run your presentation
Let the presentation run to the end and then watch as it is repeated over and over again. Obviously, the
timings are not correct for this particular file and would need to be set individually on each slide. To stop
the show running:
9. Press <Esc> to end your presentation
You have now finished this particular training, so:
10. Press <Ctrl F4> to [Close] the example file or <Alt F4> to [Exit] PowerPoint – there’s no need to
save the changes
™ Trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation.
© Screen shot(s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright © 2015: The University of Reading
Last Revised: March 2015
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