Wouldn’t it be cool if you could record video presentations with Google Slides?

Rather than just sending a slide deck to someone to read (and probably skip the important parts or miss crucial information or sentiment), how about sending them a link to a video where you run through the deck you spent absolutely ages on?

Instead of them consuming boring slide after slide, you could bring your presentation to life.

Ideal for when people are flicking through your slides without you there to explain each one, or simply to spice up what you’re presenting, this option is a no-brainer for Google Slides.

So why doesn’t Google have this feature enabled? It has a video conferencing platform, after all.

Asynchronous video, however, doesn’t seem to be on Google’s radar. And even if it did, you can’t wait around while it gets developed, tested, and maybe rolled out.

So what’s a Google Slider (that’s you) to do?

Read on to find out how to record video (and audio) presentations with Google Slides.

Can you record video on Google Slides?

You can’t record video directly within Google Slides but you can use Tella to create videos then embed them within your deck.

To make your first Tella video, sign up at tella.tv and create your video walking through your slide deck.

How to record yourself on Google Slides

There’s no built-in option to record yourself on Google Slides. But fear not…

You can use Tella to record yourself then embed any videos you create into Google Slides.

Once you’ve signed up (for free), follow these instructions:

1. Hit the “New video” button in the top left-hand corner.

2. Your camera will be on by default. Either leave this on, change your camera, or turn off.

3. Click share screen.

Here, you have the option to share your entire screen, a specific window, or a specific Chrome tab (if you’re using Chrome).

Clicking on a specific Chrome tab will load the preview image on the right-hand side.

Note: you don’t have to record Google Slides here. You can record anything on your screen or webcam and embed this into your deck later.

When you hit share screen, your recording screen will look like this:

In the bottom menu, you have options to mute or change your recording device. You can add commentary to your Google Slides if you wish.

You have the option to stop your camera if you prefer. Don’t worry about the position of where you’re being recorded (top right in the screenshot above). You’ll be able to change this later on with the click of a button.

When you’re happy with your Google Slides, audio, and video setup, hit the big red record button and walk through recording your video presentation in Google Slides.

Editing your Google Slides video presentation

When you’ve finished recording, the video doesn’t have to end there. Though it could if you nailed it first time 👏

If you just want to add your video to Google Slides at this point, skip to How to add a screen recording to Google Slides.

You can record videos online for free to use in Google Slides using Tella. But you can also edit them to make them stand out that little bit more.

Or, if you made a mistake, we can help you tidy that up too.

When you hit “Stop recording”, you’ll move to the editing screen.

If you’re already happy with your video, you can hit “Finish” in the bottom left-hand corner.

But you have the option to make a number of changes if you prefer.

On the very bottom row, you can add other clips you’ve previously created. This is ideal for adding pre-recorded introductions, for example.

On the right-hand menu, you have several editing options:

• Trimming your video.

• Re-record the entire video.

• Adding a background (see blue in screenshot above).

• Change your camera layout (see camera position has moved in screenshot below).

You can also add borders, flip your camera, crop your screen, and change the orientation to portrait or square. The latter may help when adding your video presentation to Google Slides.

When you’re happy with your edits, click “Finish” in the bottom right-hand corner. It’s now time to download your video so you can add into Google Slides.

If you recorded your presentation and simply want to share the link to your recording, you can hit the “Share” button to generate a unique URL.

This will create a link ready to copy or share on useful platforms.

If you want to add your video into Google Slides, click “Download”.

You’ll get an email when your video is ready to download. Feel free to close the Tella tab at this point.

How to add a screen recording to Google Slides

The final step of the process is to add your video to Google Slides.

If you want to add your video inside Google Slides, you have two options:

1. Inserting a Google URL.

2. Inserting a YouTube URL.

1 - Inserting a Google URL

In your Google Drive account, add a new file by clicking “New” in the top left-hand corner.

Choose “File Upload” then select the video from where it was downloaded.

Once uploaded, head to Google Slides.

Click “Insert” from the top menu then choose “Video”.

Select your video from Google Drive and click “Select”.

Google Drive will then format the video so it’s ready to play on any device.

Your video is now embedded and ready to play in Google Slides.

2 - Inserting a YouTube URL

If you have a YouTube account (or want to make one to increase eyes on your video), go to youtube.com and log in/sign up.

Click the camera icon in the top right-hand corner then choose “Upload video”.

Choose your recording then follow the prompts to complete uploading your video to YouTube.

When your video is live on YouTube, copy the URL and move back to Google Slides.

Click “Insert” then “Video” and paste your URL into the “Search” box then click “Select”.

Your video is now embedded and ready to play in Google Slides.

What about Google Slides audio recording?

You can use Tella to record audio for Google Slides by turning off the video setting.

When you create a new video, simply hit “Stop camera” and you can record audio over the top of your presentation ready to embed to Google Slides.

So there you have it…

Even though there’s no built-in function for recording presentations in Google slides, you can record both video and audio presentations to add to Google Slides.

All you need is the right video recorder to share your screen and capture your presentation.

Try Tella free now!