Converting PowerPoint to DVD

Since I speak at several small business seminars and programs, business owners often ask me it is possible to convert PowerPoint presentation to DVD format. I also received this question via email recently, so I decided to do an article on it. The answer to the question is yes, but the process is not easy without spending some money.

To complete this process the easy way, you will need at minimum three things: a DVD-R drive (which is sometimes referred to as a DVD-Writer or a DVD Burner), a PowerPoint to DVD conversion program, and a DVD Burning program such as Nero (http://ww2.nero.com/enu/index.html.)

DVD-R and DVD-RW drives can be purchased at any computer store, or even cheaper online at sites such as Amazon.com, Overstock.com, or Buy.com. For a person with average to advanced computer knowledge, they are not difficult to install. For a person that is not comfortable working on their own computer, any computer repair and upgrade shop can install these drives for a small fee.

To convert the actual PowerPoint, there are several programs out there, such as "PowerPoint2DVD" (http://www.powerpoint-to-dvd.com/), and ProDVD’s “PowerPoint DVD Maker” (http://prodvd.net/product/productinfo.asp?pid1=PDM). These programs allow you to simply import the PowerPoint into them, then they will give you a format that is ready to burn to DVD using a popular DVD writing program such as Nero. This is the simplest, fastest, and most error-proof way to convert PowerPoint presentations to DVD.

If you have a short presentation that does not have a lot of sound effects and visual effects, you can also manually convert your PowerPoint presentation to DVD by taking a series of pictures of the screen (commonly called screenshots) and burning these to DVD. This still requires the purchase of some software, and is a longer, more tedious process. There is an excellent tutorial on how to do this process available at http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/powerpoint-to-dvd.htm.

If you have any more questions about this subject, send me an email and I will try my best to answer them.