PowerPoint presentations can be designed to advance manually — with the help of a presenter — or automatically — in which slides advance on automatic cues — by preset timing. Automatic presentations are not simply used for trade shows or self-running kiosks. They are also ideal for use whenever you want to have a "hands-free" presentation and feel comfortable that the presentation will not need to be interrupted. For example, an automatic presentation might work well if you wanted to create a highly theatrical presentation (usually relatively brief), in which you moved around to interact with props. In this case, you could create an automatic presentation in which slides advance on predetermined times.

In any case, there are two ways to set slide timing in automatic presentations:

1. through the Slide Transition dialog, or



2. through the Rehearsal dialog.

Using the Slide Transition dialog

The Slide Transition dialog allows you to set slide transitions and timing. You can assign a slide transition to a particular slide and also determine how many seconds lapse before the next slide appears. This is a precise way of determining slide timing to be sure. However, it is a hit and miss approach that often requires many rounds of testing. For example, you may set a slide's transition timing to 20 seconds, only to find when testing that this is way too long. Then, you return to the Slide Transition dialog to correct the problem — and change the timing to 8 seconds. You test it again — and find this is not enough time. Finally, after many rounds of testing, you find 13 seconds is ideal for a particular slide. GREAT. What if the presentation has 30 slides? Isn't there a better way of setting slide timing?

Yes, there is a much better way of setting slide timing. You can use a little known PowerPoint tool called the Rehearsal dialog.

Using the Rehearsal dialog

Instead of using the Slide Transition (or Custom Animation) dialogs to set slide timing, you can set slide timing while you rehearse a slide show.

To time automatic PowerPoint presentations using the Rehearsal dialog

1. Create the content for the PowerPoint presentation.



2. Edit the presentation to the point at which you feel comfortable with the content.



3. When you are satisfied with the content, graphics, and overall design of the presentation, you are ready to determine the slide transitions and timing. Set the slide transitions. See Setting Slide Transitions and Timing in PowerPoint.



4. Select Slide Show > Rehearse Timings. The slideshow starts, and the Rehearsal dialog is displayed.






5. Advance through each animation on the slide at the speed you feel is appropriate.



6. Advance through each slide at the speed you feel is appropriate.



7. When you are done with the presentation, a confirmation dialog appears — asking if you want to save the recorded times. Click Yes to save the times.



8. Assuming the presentation is automatic (designed to run without mouse clicks by the presenter), confirm this selection. Select Slide Show > Set Up Show.






9. Under Advance slides, make sure Using timings, if present is selected. Click OK.



10. During the slideshow, the presentation slides will advance at the time specified during the Rehearsal.