When it comes to presentations, everyone wants to do his best. What can be more rewarding than grabbing the attention of the audience?
In general, PowerPoint-like presentations can be tricky. And it’s not only about the relevance of the given information.
What’s more important is how listeners are going to perceive it. Because different people memorize information in different ways, it’s vital to make your presentation “highly perceivable” for the majority of listeners.
Of course, a great visual representation is what matters the most. Are you tired of the standard same-looking slide designs but having issues creating your own unique pages? With high-quality Google Slides templates from TemplateMonster, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore!
Why Music Matters
For some people, a sound accompaniment is a good way to focus their attention to the slides as well as a great trigger for perceiving and memorizing the information better. Not for vain, movie makers spend a fortune on creating recognizable soundtracks. Time to add some good music to your own “movie”!
In this step-by-step guide, I’ll teach you how to add music or any other relevant sounds to Google Slides. Unlike PowerPoint, Google Slides does not allow adding audio files by default. However, it’s still possible to add a sound accompaniment to the background.
What Kind of Music Should I Include?
Of course, you shouldn’t include some random music “just because”. In the best scenario, the sound that goes along with your presentation should be perceived “as a whole” where one does not disturb the other.
Not always does it even have to be a melody or a song. The sounds that go along with your presentation context or ideas can work even better. For instance, the audience would barely be able to keep up with the text on the slides while listening to a song containing lyrics.
Now, let’s get down to our step-by-step guide on how to add audio to Google Slides. In fact, you can do it in three different ways:
- Inserting a link to an online music file
- Inserting music from a YouTube video
- Uploading an audio/video file to Google Drive
Inserting a Link to an Online Music File
Perhaps, the song or melody that you’d like to add to Google Slides is available online from such streaming services like Spotify, Grooveshark, Soundcloud, etc. So far, it’s the easiest way to add a sound accompaniment to the presentation.
- Use one of the browsers using Google Slides. Click the slide where you’d like to add an audio file.
- Click Insert > Text Box down in the emerged menu. Afterward, click any place on the slide so that it will automatically create a text box.
- After choosing the liked music resource, search for the necessary track. Finally, make a copy of the track’s link.
- Paste the link to the chosen track into the newly-created text box. You can use different Google Slides tools to replace or resize the box in order to make it least visible on the slide.
- Click View > Present to go to a presentation view mode. Click the track’s link and it will automatically redirect you to the music track in a separate browser tab.
Sometimes, a raw text link doesn’t fit in the design of your page. Fortunately, you may insert audio into the presentation in the form of a photo or clipart to make it look more aesthetic:
- Click Insert > Image from the menu. You may either upload a file from your computer or find clipart on the web.
- Click the clipart/image, and afterward choose Insert > Link. Paste the link of the track in the window. Click Apply.
The link to your audio is now “hidden” behind the image/clipart.
Inserting Music from a YouTube Video
The alternative to an audio file is inserting a YouTube video and you can make it happen in two simple ways. The first one includes all the steps above, although, instead of copying and inserting a link to an audio file, you do it with a link to a YouTube video.
Option number 2 implies inserting the video file directly into a presentation slide. This is a good option when you don’t need to play an entire music clip but rather emphasize on its shorter piece, etc. Once you move on to the next slide, the video will simply stop playing.
- Go back to the presentation. Now click Insert > Video from the menu.
- In a pop-up window, you will already see the YouTube search. Search for the necessary music by writing a relevant query – just like you would search for them on YouTube.
- Click the video you would like to insert. Choose Select.
- Once you place the video in the slide, you may resize and/or relocate it to your liking.
- Click the video file to play the music as you run your Google Slides presentation.
Uploading an Audio/Video File to Google Drive
It might happen that you want to add your own custom music – whether it’s a recorded song of your own or a clip. In this case, you won’t necessarily need to upload one to the above-mentioned music or video streaming services. You may simply save the file to Google Drive and then copy it to your presentation.
- Enter your Google account to upload the necessary audio/video file to Google Drive.
- Search for the file in Google Drive. Don’t open it yet!
- Right-click the file and choose Get Shareable Link from the pop-up menu. Copy the file’s link that you’ll see next.
- Return to the necessary slide of your presentation. You may either: 1) paste the file link as it is, or 2) add the link to the already existing text on the slide. To do so, select the text, press Ctrl-K, paste the link and press Apply.
- Once presenting the necessary slides, click the link to open the file in a separate browser tab and press the Play button. The audio/video file will start playing right away.
A useful recommendation: If you use an audio piece without a specific beginning or ending, the pause between the slides will seem smoother and less noticeable.
Now that you know how to insert audio into Google Slides, the chances your presentation would be more recognizable among the hundred other ones rise in times…provided you follow the other 10 recommendations on how to improve your presentation listed in this article. Check it out!
Read Also
How to Embed a YouTube Video in Google Slides
PowerPoint vs. Keynote vs. Google Slides: What Presentation Software to Choose?
Google Slides Timeline: Step-by-step with a Template