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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

VIDEO DESIGN
IN POWERPOINT
As much as PowerPoint is a powerful tool for
creating presentations, it is also a viable option
for producing professional videos. Whether you
want to add engaging effects to existing video or
easily create animations, read our ultimate guide
to video design in PowerPoint.

WHY VIDEO?
Video design in PowerPoint is one of the easiest,
most effective ways to convey your organisation’s
ideas. The videos you create can be anything as
simple as slide transitions or as intricate as
animations. Our guide explains exactly how to
master video design in PowerPoint. Before we get
to that, these are the four reasons why you should
want to master moving content:
VIDEO IS
WHERE THE
MONEY IS
In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg said “Most [of With our social media feeds full of motion
Facebook] will be video in five years time”. Look content, we expect the same content from our
at your Newsfeed and tell us his prediction isn’t business lives too. This consumer craving for
coming true. It’s not just video either. Modern moving content is changing every part of every
marketers make all kinds of moving content: industry. HTML5 was designed specifically to
Gifs, boomerangs, animations and more. support moving content in everything from
banner ads to mobile webpages. Enormous out of
It’s easy to see why they’re investing more in home advertisers are investing millions in moving
moving content. People watch and share it more displays, like the incredibly successful Adshel
than anything else. Here are the facts: Live Platform.

• Social video generates 1200% more shares With so much moving content to consume,
than text and images combined. consumers care much less about static media.
Today, your media moves or your company dies.
• Viewers retain 95% of a message when they But why has moving content become critical to
watch it in a video compared to 10% when moving sales?
reading it in text.
• 46% of users act after viewing a moving ad.
WE PAY MORE
ATTENTION
TO MOVING
CONTENT
We’re naturally drawn to moving objects. They Look at these two lists:
excite us! But why do we find car races more
exciting than car shows? Well, since caveman
times, the middle temporal regions of our visual
cortexes have lit up whenever we see moving
objects. The same neurons which fired when
we were tracking prey are the same ones which
fire when we watch moving content today.
Good motion design takes advantage of this
fact. It uses movement to make us pay
attention to important information.

See how the moving list stands out more?

Good motion design also helps us pay attention


by creating an easy to follow flow of ideas. Not
only does motion design help communicate
ideas, it can communicate ideas on its own. This
is because…
MOTION IS A
LANGUAGE
Look at this gif:

See how the words stand out? That’s because we


understand that flashing motion implies
importance.

Motion might be a language, but it’s one we all


speak. Look at how the people around you move
when they’re in a certain mood. Take the motions
that convey their emotions, and apply them to
parts of your media using PowerPoint. Simple!
Not only is motion easy to understand, but…
TO ADD!
You don’t need to hire expensive motion
designers to tap into this trend. Just use
PowerPoint and its plugins to easily add motion
design to your media. Many companies see
motion design as the exclusive skill of expensive
experts. Because of this misconception, motion
design has become a multi-million dollar
industry.
THE ADVANTAGES
OF VIDEO DESIGN
IN POWERPOINT

1 2
The average corporate video from a production Imagine your company pays some motion
house costs between $5000-$7500. They can designer a fortune to make a terrific tradeshow
justify this expense because of their expertise in video. After charging thousands in fees, they
advanced editing programs. That’s alright if you knock it out of the park. It’s wowed every test
want special effects and animation, but what if audience you’ve shown it to, now you’re ready to
you just want something simple? You’d be take it on the road. Suddenly, a scandal rocks
surprised by how much moving content you can your company! The person who was set to
make in PowerPoint, and the results speak for present this video has resigned in disgrace. You
themselves. quickly assign a new presenter, but your video
uses the disgraced presenter’s name. Despite
begging them on your knees, the motion
designer insists they have no time to change the
video.

You send your new presenter off to tradeshows


without the ruined video. Your audiences aren’t
wowed. Your money is wasted. You lay awake at
night thinking “If only we’d made it in PowerPoint,
changing the names would’ve been a piece of
cake!”.
3
ANYONE CAN USE IT
PowerPoint has an estimated 500 million users.
Elementary school children know how to use it.
Most corporate positions require it. You don’t
need to source anyone with special skills and
high fees to wow your audience. With only a little
training, and a handful of plugins, anyone can
make standout moving content in PowerPoint.
In summary, using PowerPoint to add motion
design to your media is a cheap, easy and
effective way to make your audience engage
more with your message. Open the program, see
what plugins may help you, and start making
motion content to make your message
memorable.

EXPORTING YOUR
POWERPOINT INTO VIDEO
To achieve this, you must first ensure that no part
of your PowerPoint is activated by a click. Once
you have automated all of your animations and
transitions, click File -> Export -> Create Video.
Don’t worry about the “Time Spent on Each Slide”
option, as that only applies to static,
unautomated slides.
CREATING
AMAZING
ANIMATIONS
Animation is one of the easiest ways aspects of
video design in PowerPoint. It’s incredibly easy to
achieve this with PowerPoint’s 45 animations and
six motion paths for 2D objects. As well as these,
there are also five engaging animations for 3D
objects.

That sounds like a lot, so let’s start with Select the path you’d like your image to travel
something simple. Say you want an image to fade along, or create a custom path. Adjust the start
onto the screen. Simply select the image, click and end points to your preference, and there you
the “Animations” tab at the top of the screen and have it!
select the “Appear” option. Perhaps you want
another image to move from off screen to the Now that you have multiple elements of motion
centre of the slide. Simply select that image, click to manage, you must consider their sequence.
the “Animations” tab again, activate the drop- This can be done in the animation pane, which is
down menu, and go to “Motion Paths”. the secret to superb video design in PowerPoint.
MASTERING
THE
ANIMATION
PANE
When it comes to video design in PowerPoint, the
animation pane is your best friend. To access it,
go to the “Animations” tab at the top of the screen
and click “Animation Pane” next to “Add
animation”. This pane makes it much easier to edit
the elements in your video. You can sequence
your animations, set when each video starts, and
order every element that moves onto your
screen.

By right clicking on each element here, you can


adjust how and when each animation starts. With
the large arrows in the top right, you can move
each element up and down in the timeline.

Of course, it’s not just enough to know how to use


the tools. You’ve got to know the basics of
effective, animated video design in PowerPoint.
To engage your audience, apply these 12
principles to your animations:
SQUASH AND ANTICIPATION
STRETCH Showing an object building up to
movement prepares your audience for what
Nothing can have impact without weight. is about to happen. This makes it easier for
Making objects in your media squash and them to follow what’s going on and eager to
stretch is an easy way to give them the see what’s next, which is essential for
illusion of weight. Animators usually making them remember your message. In
demonstrate this with a bouncing ball: the animation, anticipation could be a character
ball looks stretched when it’s falling and bending their knees to show they’re about
squashed when it hits the ground. to jump. For your media, anticipation could
be a slow reveal of your company’s logo.
The famous Universal Pictures intro uses
anticipation to great effect.
While that would’ve cost Universal
thousands to create, that kind of anticipation
is one of the easiest elements of video
design in PowerPoint.

STAGING
Staging involves presenting important objects
clearly. For video design in PowerPoint, this
involves keeping backgrounds minimal and
important objects centred. Makes sense
doesn’t it? After all, your audience has to be
able to see your message to remember it.
APPEAL STRAIGHT
Everything in your animation should be
interesting to look at. This is tricky to pull
AHEAD & POSE
off, since we all find different things
interesting. One trick is to use a variety of
TO POSE
shapes when designing an object. Another These techniques help you understand
is to change proportions to enhance how to make your objects move normally.
interesting features. These are some of the Animating “Straight ahead” involves
easiest parts of video design in PowerPoint drawing each frame in an object’s
movement one after the other. For video
design in PowerPoint, this could involve
posing your object between each stage of
its animation.
EASE IN AND Animating “Pose to pose” involves placing
a few important movement frames, then
EASE OUT placing frames between these. For video
design in PowerPoint, this could involve
The motion of an object looks more placing your object at a few key stages of
realistic if it starts slow, gets faster, then movement and using the “Morph” tool to
slows down. This is important, because get it there.
audiences pay attention to realism. Aim to
add it to all your video design in
PowerPoint.
FOLLOW SECONDARY
THROUGH AND ACTION
OVERLAPPING Adding motion to the secondary elements
of an object gives more life to that object.

ACTION Imagine a person swinging their arms and


whistling while they walk. Make sure these
secondary actions aren’t too distracting.
Imagine a bike braking suddenly. Picture
the rider leaning forward and the back
wheel rising up. This is the basic principle of
“Follow through”.
Overlapping action is the tendency for
different parts of an object to move at ARC
different speeds, such as limbs on a body.
Apply these principles to your video design Speaking of realism, most objects naturally
in PowerPoint to give it life. move in fluid arcs. Apply this to your video
design in PowerPoint to give your objects
more natural movement.

TIMING
The timing of objects moving and
appearing on screen can communicate the
emotion of your message. This is one of
the most important elements of animated
video design in PowerPoint.
EXAGGERATION
Exaggeration emphasises motion to
emphasise its meaning. Depending on the
tone of your media, this can be excellent at
getting your point across.

SOLID DRAWING
Solid drawing uses perspective to draw
objects in a three dimensional space. This
gives weight to your object, which gives
weight to what you’re saying. With
PowerPoint’s 3D objects and animation, it’s
easy to add weight to your video design in
PowerPoint.

By applying these 12 principles, you can


create effective animated video design in
PowerPoint. Want more animation
inspiration? Read about why you should
add animation to your PowerPoint
presentations.
WORKING WITH
LIVE ACTION VIDEO
IN POWERPOINT
Inserting Video
Not only does PowerPoint have a number of The Screen Recording option on the right offers
options for inserting video, it can even create an interesting way to work a screen recording into
screen-recorded videos to insert into your into your PowerPoint. Clicking this option will
PowerPoint. For any of these options, click the activate a popup on the program you had open
“Insert” tab and go to the far right. before PowerPoint.

Under the “Video” option, you’ll find options for As you can see, this tool has options allowing you
inserting videos from online or your own PC. to record a narration, your pointer, or a particular
area of the screen.

3
1
FRAMING
YOUR VIDEO
When working with live-action video in
PowerPoint, it is essential that the content you
upload is engaging without editing. The
foundation of this is framing your shot. First,
position your subject in a well-lit space. Fill the
space behind your subject with material relevant
to your company, such as your logo or notable
products. Now, position your camera on a tripod
or steady surface. Once you have done this,
adjust the camera so
the content within its frame aligns with
the “rule of thirds”.

By aligning important objects along these lines


and focusing your subject on their intersections,
you can always create an easy to follow and
aesthetically pleasing shot.
UNDERSTANDING
MISE EN SCÈNE &
PERSPECTIVE
This is an excerpt from our article 5 Tips to
Produce Powerful 3D animation in PowerPoint.
Look at this classic frame from Star Wars:

Without words or movement, this one shot says This shot also uses perspective to a powerful
a lot through what the French call “Mise en effect. See how the young man in the middle of
scène”. Mise en scène simply means staging. It’s the frame is (sky)walking away from the hut
the sum of what you put in your scene, where towards the suns? That tells us he is yearning
you put it, and why. In this shot, we see futuristic for something greater than this lonely place;
equipment rusting next to a small stone hut. that he is yearning for the stars. The challenge
That equipment places the story in a science- of reaching them is reinforced by their height
fiction setting, reinforced by the two suns. The above him and the desert between them.
fact that this advanced equipment is rusting
next to a primitive hut puts this place in a
neglected part of this universe.
APPLYING MISE
EN SCÈNE AND
PERSPECTIVE
So what does Star Wars have to do with video
design in PowerPoint? Well, that depends on
what impression you want to give your audience.
Let’s say you’ve been hired by a construction
equipment manufacturer to animate a pitch for
their new machine: A rugged, solar-powered
truck. The company want to emphasise its power
and environmental friendliness.

Your mise en scène could include a model of the


truck and an outdoor construction site
surrounded by trees. PowerPoint’s incorporation
of 3D models make this an easy aspect of video
design in PowerPoint. Your perspective could
show the truck dominating the frame, with trees
and the sun clearly visible beyond the
construction site.

While your use of these two techniques is up to


your imagination, films are an ideal source of
inspiration. After all, “research” is a great excuse
for Netflix in bed.

APPLYING
EFFECTS
In PowerPoint, there are a number of style effects
you can apply to any video files you import. Simply
right click on the video you import and select the
“Style” option.

From there, scroll through the many options


available to you.

Of course, this is only scratching the surface of


video design in PowerPoint. As well as adding
effects to the appearance of the video itself, you
can add text and title cards to your video in
PowerPoint. This is incredibly easy to do!
1

2 3

ADDING TEXT
AND TITLE CARDS
Start by turning your first “Slide” into your This will ensure a smooth transition when
video’s title card. First, select an appropriate exporting your PowerPoint to video.
background by clicking on the “Design” tab.
You can either pick from a number of pre- Now, insert your video in your second slide.
made themes, or format your own Right-click on the video in the animation pane
background. and select “Start with previous”. This will
ensure it starts smoothly with the end of the
From there, you can place introductory text title card’s transition once you have exported
on your title card by clicking on the “Insert” tab your PowerPoint to video. If you want an
and inserting a text box. Click on the text, then overlay including the name and title of the
click on “Animations” to find a suitable reveal video’s subject to appear on-screen, simply
animation for the text. Once you have done insert an appropriate shape (through the
this, insert a new slide and apply a transition “Insert” tab) then insert text over the top of it.
to your title card slide. In the “Timing” section As you did with the text on your title card, you
of the “Transitions” tab, click on the “Advance can make these appear on screen with an
slide after” option and set it to your preferred animation. Simply adjust their timing in the
time. animation pane so it doesn’t appear
prematurely.

CREDITS
To add credits to your video, insert a new slide
and repeat what you did with your title card.

In conclusion, PowerPoint is an easy, editable


alternative to expensive editing programs few
people can use.
STOP MOTION
VIDEO DESIGN IN
POWERPOINT
An easy and eye-grabbing way to show off your product is
through stop-motion. With simple animation and
photography, you can highlight the best features of your
beautiful products.
CREATING STOP
MOTION CONTENT
IN FIVE EASY STEPS:
Under the “Design” tab, adjust the size of Click “Insert Picture from File/Disk”, drag
1 your slides to the screen you’ll be
4 your cursor over each photo and click
showing this video on. “Insert”. Now you only need to click
“Create” back in the pop-up menu.
Take photos of your product at each
2 stage of the animation. You could show Size each image correctly. Click
it activating, opening, or anything you
can imagine!
5 “Transitions”. Adjust your Duration to no
longer than 10 seconds. Next to
Duration, adjust the “After” option to 0.5
3 Upload your photos to your device in a seconds. Click “Apply to All”, then view
the slideshow in presentation mode.
shared folder. Now, insert them through
Insert → Photo Album → New Photo
Album.
Before you export, you can add text and shapes
to enhance your stop-motion. Once you’re done,
click File → Export → Create a Video.

2 1 3

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1
AUDIOVISUAL
TONE OF
VOICE
Now that you know how to make videos,
you need to know how to make them
yours. After all, every organisation has a
unique identity they can translate to video.
Of course, it’s not always easy to make that
translation. Let’s look at a few ways you
can do that:
EXPLORING VISUALISING
YOUR IDENTITY YOUR IDENTITY
Your organisation may have an identity, but While audio is an important element of
it might not be obvious which elements of your internal videos, you should put visuals
it would work well in video. In order to find first. After all, your viewers may have to
them, you must explore your identity. Here watch them without sound.
are a few exercises to help you find your
As well as keeping visuals at the forefront,
audiovisual tone of voice:
you must also keep them consistent. Here
• If you’ve produced videos in the past, are a few considerations for building a
look at the most popular ones you’ve consistent visual identity in your internal
produced. Try to replicate their tone. videos:
• Imagine your brand as a person. Are • Brand colours – While you must use
they fun and old-fashioned? brand colours in external videos, they
Professional and innovative? Flesh out are often ignored for internal videos. By
their identity, then imagine how they incorporating them for internal video
speak. How they look. What music they design in PowerPoint, you will align
like. employees with your identity.
• Write down everything that your • Consistent imagery – What products
audiovisual tone of voice isn’t, just to get and services do you provide? Make sure
your creativity flowing. they appear in the video, even if they’re
only background decoration.
• Look at the internal HR videos for
organisations like Starbucks and Coca • Adjectives – Does your brand look fast?
Cola. Note how they translate their Simple? Industrial? Write a few
identity through colour, music, text, and adjectives down, and make sure your
mise en scène. videos capture this look.
MUSIC
Music is one of the most effective ways to enhance
your video’s message. It’s so effective that it’s
almost impossible to perceive the effect it has on
us. Here are 5 ways to put music to its best use on
your video:
TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF ROYALTY-FREE
MUSIC LIBRARIES
More important than editing your audio is
picking effective music. Personally we pick
our perfect tracks from the following
places:

Shutterstock
1 Generally the most high quality,
professionally produced royalty-free
tracks.

Audio Jungle
2 We can recommend AJ for having
greater variety and lower prices.
FADE IN
AND OUT
After inserting your audio in PowerPoint,
you’ll find this incredibly useful feature
under the Playback tab:

The best way to use this feature is to use


what are called J cuts and L cuts. So what
are these cuts? SUDDEN
• J Cut – This is when music at the
beginning of a scene overlaps with BREAKS
footage from the last shot. This eases the
viewer into what they are about to see, This runs counter to what we just said about
instead of having the jarring effect of a fades, but here goes: suddenly stopping
sudden cut. your music can be a great way to
• L Cut – This is the opposite of a J Cut, emphasise something important on screen.
where audio from one shot plays into the As an example, imagine you’re editing a
beginning of the next shot. This eases the video demonstrating the important of a new
viewer out of what they have just seen safety procedure in your workplace. You
on screen. might play music over footage of a
character ignoring the procedure, then cut
By applying careful trims and fades, you can the music when they sustain an injury.
take advantage of these essential cuts for
video design in PowerPoint. To insert a sudden break into your music,
simply click the “Trim Audio” option under
the Playback tab:

As with any editing trick, remember not to


overuse it!
MATCH ACTION
TO THE BEAT
Amateur videographers will often make the
mistake of cutting a piece of music to its
beat. While this creates cohesion between
USE DIFFERENT your audio and on-screen action, it can
quickly become repetitive. Instead of cutting
PARTS OF THE to the beat every time, you can simply
synchronise parts of your music with actions

SAME TRACK on screen.

To illustrate this, imagine cutting your music


The music you use in your video should so that characters walk to the beat. For an
strike a balance between consistency and even greater effect, match certain parts of
variety. Of course, finding multiple songs your songs to your footage depending on
which sound similar can be expensive and the mood. A great example of this includes
time-consuming. Instead, you can save matching the crescendo of your song to the
money by using different parts of the same climax of your footage.
track throughout your video. Try using
interesting instrumentals or vocals to
emphasise important parts of your footage.
Above all, ensure you use a variety of sound
across your video.
KINETIC
TYPOGRAPHY
Kinetic typography is the perfect solution when
your content has fewer obvious visuals.
Remember, kinetic typography is really just a
fancy way of saying “Moving words”. By putting
words in motion, you can make your text much
more engaging. On top of that, animating your
text can add a great amount of character to
your copy. Just think of the opening titles from
those classic Hitchcock films.

Thankfully, these are also incredibly easy to


create in PowerPoint. Seriously, check it out:
To create kinetic typography, there’s only one
tool you really have to master: The motion
path tool.

The first step to making professional kinetic Another trick to making top kinetic typography is the
typography is by inserting a shape which blends morph tool. By simply duplicating a slide, changing
into the background. Now set your text over the the contents of the second slide, and applying a
shape, and send it to the back. Apply your motion morph transition, you can create all kinds of
path, and voila! interesting effects. One of the most interesting
effects you can create through morph transitions is
rotation, which can be a powerful tool for
engagement:

Perhaps the best application of kinetic


typography is in animating your logo. Adding
motion to your logo can make it much more
memorable in the minds of your viewers. Look at
our logo below:

You know how many slides that took? Two.


DYNAMIC
OVERLAY
DESIGN IN
POWERPOINT
Dynamic overlays are an extremely effective
way to spice up your video content. They’re
also incredibly easy to create in PowerPoint.
One of the best kinds of dynamic overlays is a
“lower third”.
A “lower third” is a caption used to convey the
name and description of a subject on screen. It
is so named because it appears in the lower
third area of the screen.

DESIGNING A
LOWER THIRD
Begin by placing one slightly transparent white
bar on screen. This will minimise elements on
screen. This bar should be just big enough for
two lines of text. Place the subject’s name in
the first line, their position in the second.
Name Name
Ensure all text within the bar uses pleasant,
Position
readable title case. This means you must
capitalise only the first letter of each word,
except for certain small words. These include
articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (at, for,
per). You do not need to include punctuation.

Apply a sans serif font to the text, as it is


easier to read on a moving background.
Apply a strong brand colour to the first line
of text (subject’s name).
Finally, apply a less severe brand colour to
the second line of text (subject’s position).
Black is ideal.
ANIMATING A A FEW MORE
LOWER THIRD TIPS
For lower thirds, animation is as important to Avoid adding a “Lower third” caption to a video
readability as design. Animate the “lower third” in that is very personal or on a sensitive subject.
the following sequence for the following This might give the video a look that is too
durations: polished or produced. Instead of applying the
lower third, use the space to zoom in closer on
the subject.
Slide the white bar on screen from off
1 the left side of the screen (1 second)
Consider if it is necessary for viewers to know a
subject’s name or title. Otherwise, you should
Slide the first line of text on screen not distract viewers with such knowledge.
from off the left side of the screen (1
2 second)
Slide the second line of text on screen
from off the left side of the screen (1
3 second)

Allow the lower third to be read three times


before quickly fading the caption off screen.
ONBOARDING
VIDEO
DESIGN IN
POWERPOINT
This is an excerpt from our longer article on the
art of onboarding videos. Read on to see a brief
summary of what we say there.

WHY ONBOARDING VIDEOS INVEST IN RAW FOOTAGE OF


ARE BEST REAL EMPLOYEES
Onboarding videos are a cheap, easy way to Did you know that our brains light up whenever
educate employees. They are easy to engage we see a face? It doesn’t have to be fancy, and
with, and save existing employees time in training your employees will feel good about getting on
new staff. camera.

WHAT EXACTLY SHOULD I CONSIDER WHERE THESE


MAKE? WILL BE SHOWN
Start with an overall introduction video. This Will you show this to a large group on a screen,
outlines who you are as a company. From there, or individual employees at a monitor? Perhaps
create separate videos explaining your customers they’ll be played on tablets or phones. Screen
and product. It is important to spread your sizes are important to consider, as they dictate
content out across multiple videos, as you can’t the information you can display. On top of that,
overload employees with info. From there, you you must adjust your script for your audience.
can really segment down to everything they can
expect in your company.
You should put the most care into your first
videos. These will be seen by every employee
across your organisation, so they must impress!
As your videos get more specific, they will need
to focus more on the information within them.
Consider this as you craft your scripts.
INTERNAL HR
VIDEO
DESIGN IN
POWERPOINT
An internal HR video can be a great investment STAY HONEST
for your organisation. In fact, we’ve found they
have the following advantages: Any CEO can write a letter saying government
new policies may effect overtime pay. It takes
• Employees are more likely to engage with a guts to look a camera dead in the eye and tell the
video than text. This is because it contains viewer “You may not make as much overtime pay
content which our brains find stimulating, such with us.” Even if the content of your video is
as voice and movement. upsetting, viewers will respect your raw honesty.
• It is better to demonstrate a concept visually
than explain it through text. This helps reduce
your liability when, say, implementing changes LET EMPLOYEES LEAD
to safety procedures.
• Video offers more ways to show off your An internal video can be an excellent chance for
company’s culture, such as through colour your staff to express themselves and have a little
and music. fun. Take a look at this St. Patrick’s Day video from
Bamboo HR.
Whether you want to inform employees of new As well as involving employees in the videos
policies or wish them happy holidays, internal themselves, you should let the design of each
videos can achieve almost anything. In order to video be dictated by employees. See what sort of
harness their power, follow these four tips: videos they’re engaging with. Ask for feedback.
After all, you should want them to want to watch
them…wow, try saying that five times fast.

ALIGN WITH COMPANY


CULTURE
Your company culture doesn’t exist in your
handbook. It exists in the every day practices of
your employees. In the way they speak about
your organisation to friends and family. This starts
with your company collateral, so make sure your
videos express your company’s culture.
CONCLUSION
We hope you’ve found the answers you were
looking for with our ultimate guide to video
design in PowerPoint. Contact one of our
experienced video designers today to produce
your own professional PowerPoint video.

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