Real-time captions for a PowerPoint presentation

In PowerPoint, you can caption your presentation in real time, so while you’re giving a presentation and speaking, PowerPoint creates subtitles of your speech on the screen. You can choose both the spoken language and the subtitle language. In other words, you can translate your speech from English into Finnish, for example.tart talking, and subtitles will appear on the screen.

Presenting in live mode

You can give a presentation in the so-called live presentation. This means that the audience of the presentation can use their mobile device to follow the presentation and choose in which language your speech will be translated to them.

You can make a QR code and a URL in PowerPoint, through which the audience can follow the performance. By scanning the QR code or entering the address, they can follow the presentation and choose the language of the subtitles.

Once participants have access to the live mode, they can select the language of the subtitle from the menu.

The PowerPoint presentation will appear on user’s screen with the subtitles they have chosen.

Real-time, automatic captions or subtitles in PowerPoint  (Microsoft)

Instructions for performing live (Microsoft)

Tips for organizing a presentation with live captions or subtitles

• The quality of the sound also affects the quality of the captions and subtitles. Therefore use a microphone or headset when performing.
• Pay attention to the articulation of your speech, as clear speech affects the accuracy of the subtitling. Articulation does not need to be overstated. Clear speech and pronunciation and a calm tempo are sufficient.
• Test the content and technical functionality of the subtitles beforehand. If possible, check the accuracy of the subtitles in advance. If you think the subtitling is not successful, consider whether you could express yourself by using different word choices or even plain language. Particularly challenging terms may need to be written down on slides, for example in English. Read more about plain language (plainlanguagenetwork.org)
• Allow time at the beginning of the presentation for participants to access the live subtitles for themselves. It shouldn’t take long to set up, but sometimes participants may need help.
• Notice that captions and subtitles depend on a cloud-based speech service, so it’s important to have an internet connection that’s fast and reliable.