Have you ever found yourself caught between wanting to maintain a clean, uncluttered PowerPoint slide and needing additional information to guide your presentation? If so, PowerPoint Speaker Notes might just become your new best friend.

These notes are like a secret weapon, offering a space to jot down key points, elaborate on complex topics, or script your dialogue while maintaining a sleek slide deck.

But how exactly do speaker notes work, and how can you make the most of them to enhance your presentations? Let’s dive in and uncover the ins and outs of PowerPoint speaker notes.

What Are PowerPoint Speaker Notes?

When you don’t want to add all your information to a PowerPoint slide (no text-clutter here!), but you need some additional information that you want to speak about or prompts to help you remember your information, then PowerPoint Speaker Notes are your new bff.

PowerPoint speaker notes are additional information or cues that you can include alongside your slides to see during your presentation to help with a smooth delivery of information. These notes are not visible to the audience unless you choose to display them.

You can use speaker notes for:

• Jotting down key points
• Elaborating on complex topics, or
• Scripting dialogue

to help maintain focus and coherence throughout your presentation.

They’re particularly beneficial to reduce your reliance on visual aids and empower you to engage with your audience confidently. Whether reminding speakers of critical points, scripting their dialogue or providing a backup reference in case of technical issues, speaker notes are an indispensable asset for any presenter striving for excellence in addition to their professionally designed slides.

How To Add Speaker Notes To PowerPoint

Adding Speaker Notes to any PowerPoint presentation is luckily quite a breeze. To add notes, click on the slide you want to add your Notes section to, then click on the Notes tab in the bottom corner.

Need more space to view all your notes? You can simply expand the notes section by clicking the top border and dragging it up or down.

Potential Problem: Notes Not Showing

Don’t see notes tab? Don’t sweat. Simply click on the View tab in your PowerPoint ribbon and click the Notes icon.

Advanced Option: Use Notes Page to Edit Style

To prepare a Notes section that is printable and formatted how you prefer, you can open the Notes Page by heading over to the View tab in your PowerPoint ribbon and select Notes Page. This section allows you to format text and view the Notes in a printable format.

Keep reading to find out more about printing your Speaker Notes in PowerPoint!

How to Remove PowerPoint Speaker Notes

Single Slide Deletion

To remove your PowerPoint Speaker Notes, open the Notes section on the slide you no longer want notes. Select all the text and simply hit the Delete button!

All Slides Deletion

If you need to fully remove speaker notes from every slide in your file, you can follow these steps:

1. Start by clicking on the File tab and the Info section. From there, in the Inspect Presentation section, select Check for Issues and Inspect document.

1. Once you are there, check the box for Notes and click Inspect.

1. Then select Remove All.

How to Present with Speakers Notes in PowerPoint

To present with PowerPoint’s Speaker Notes for easy viewing during your presentation, use Presenter View.

To enable Presenter View:

• Windows: Hit Alt+F5
• Mac: Hit Option + Return
• Dual Monitors: Hit F5

Once your slideshow has begun, your Speaker Notes will appear beneath or beside the slide you’re currently presenting. You can scroll through your notes as needed to stay on track and change the text size for easy viewing.

Going to the Next Slide

When it is time to move on, use the arrow keys or click through your slides as normal and your speaker notes will update accordingly.

Swap Between Presenter View and Slide Show Modes or Swap Screens

To swap between presenter or slide show modes or the view of which of your screens can see the notes, use the Display settings.

The three dots open a further menu for editing your slideshow view in PowerPoint.

If you do not have dual monitors, you can still take advantage of your Speaker Notes by printing them out as a handout to refer to in your presentation.

Potential Problem: Presenter View Not Appearing

If the Presenter View still does not appear for you, you can go into the Slideshow tab in your PowerPoint ribbon, and ensure Presenter View is checked with the correct monitor selected.

How To Print PowerPoint with Speaker Notes Included

You may want to print your notes for your own reference or to share with your audience.

Print Full Page Slides

To print your PowerPoint Speaker Notes, click File, then Print. From here, in the Slide Layout section, click the option to Print Notes Pages.

Print Multiple Slides per Page

You have the option to print one page per slide or multiple slides per page.

In the Layout Section, under the Handouts section, select the number of slides per page to print as desired.

Adjust any other settings as needed and hit Print!

How to Use PowerPoint Speaker Notes with ClassPoint

Presenting with the PowerPoint add-in ClassPoint to make your presentation more engaging with interactive quizzes, gamification, and enhanced annotation?

You can still use your Speaker notes!

To use Presenter View and your Speaker Notes together with ClassPoint, you must be using dual monitors.

Then, ensure you are using the correct Project mode. To view the toolbar and class code (essential ClassPoint tools!) Use Duplicate or Extended project mode for the presentation with Presenter View as normal.

To access, click on the Display Settings during your presentation and select your preferred setting. Then, you are able to view and use the ClassPoint tools as usual.

Then, you can present with additional magic and interactivity with ClassPoint toolbar readily accessible at the bottom of your screen.

You can then go ahead to annotate your slides as you present using ClassPoint’s annotation tools and further presentation tools!

You can also run live polls and quiz games to level up the way you present.

FAQs

What are PowerPoint Speaker Notes, and how do they work?

Speaker notes in PowerPoint are a feature that allows presenters to add additional information, reminders, or cues alongside their slides. These notes are intended for the presenter’s reference and are not visible to the audience during the presentation unless intentionally displayed.

To access and edit speaker notes in PowerPoint, open the Notes pane, which is located beneath the slide view in PowerPoint’s interface. You can then type directly into this pane to add notes for each slide. Then, during the presentation, view your speaker notes on your own screen or device while the audience sees only the slides.

Edit PowerPoint Speaker Notes

To Edit your Speaker Notes, open them just as you would to add speaker notes for the first time. From there, edit as needed!

When to Use PowerPoint Speaker Notes

Use Speaker Notes for any presentation! When preparing for your presentation, they will help you to thoroughly plan your content and delivery strategy. During the presentation, they will help you stay on track, and after the presentation you can even share your slides with your audience including the speaker notes for added information.

Benefits of PowerPoint Speaker Notes

Here a few of the biggest benefits when you use PowerPoint Speaker Notes:
Enhanced Organization
Improved Delivery
Presentation Customization
Backup Reference
Accessibility
Scripting Assistance
Time Management
Confidence in Material

Can audience members see PowerPoint speaker notes during a presentation?

Your Audience cannot see your Speaker Notes during your presentation. To present your presentation, your Presenter View and your Notes will appear on your screen with just the Presentation appearing on the screen shared with your audience.

Are speaker notes necessary for every PowerPoint presentation?

Speaker notes are not strictly necessary for every PowerPoint presentation. Use them to help as needed with your speaking style, familiarity with the content, and presentation format.

Do I need Dual Monitors to Use Presenter View?

To make the most of your Speaker Notes in PowerPoint, using 2 monitors is recommended so that you can utilize Presenter View. However, you don’t need to be using two monitors to use PowerPoint speaker notes.

If you’re using a single monitor setup, you can still use your speaker notes by printing them out to have them handy during your presentation or viewing them on a separate device, such as a tablet or smartphone, while presenting the slides on your main monitor.

Final Thoughts + Bonus Tips!

Now that you have mastered how to add, remove, view and print PowerPoint speaker notes, you can present with more confidence. Before you leave, here are a few additional tips and best practices for presenting with PowerPoint speaker notes:

• When using Speaker Notes, you can use them in whichever suits your presentation style. However it is good to keep in mind that to avoid just reading off your notes, keep it concise.
• Include keywords and cues instead of full sentences and format it so optimal readability.
• In addition, just like any presentation, practice with your notes beforehand to familiarize yourself with them and gauge their effectiveness.
• And finally, don’t forget to add multimedia and interactive elements to keep your audience engaged!

Master all the tips and tricks to turn your PowerPoint into a professional and interactive experience effortlessly with this Ultimate Interactive PowerPoint playbook!