Whether you manage a remote team or you just want to create downloadable trainings that your employees can watch at their convenience, slidecasts (video slideshows with narration) are a great tool to have in your arsenal.

Today, I’ll show you how to create a slidecast using free software.

1. Download the software

This article assumes that you’ve created a training in PowerPoint. If you don’t have PowerPoint, you can get freeware slideshow software alternative from OpenOffice.org.

To create a slidecast, we’ll be using Microsoft Photo Story 3, which surprisingly they actually give away for free. Download it, install it, and then come back to this tutorial.

2. Export your slides as photos

Photo Story allows you to create a narrated video from your photos. To create a slidecast, we need to export the slides in our presentation as image files.

In PowerPoint, click File > Save As. Select your save location (in the example below, I’m saving to my desktop), and give your project a name. Where it says “Save As Type,” click the drop-down arrow and scroll until you find “JPEG File Interchange Format (*.jpg).” Select that file type, and then click “Save.”

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You will be asked if you would like to save every slide or just the current one. Select “Every Slide.” Once the slides are done exporting, you can close your presentation.

3. Import images into Photo Story 3

Open Photo Story 3, select “Begin a new story,” and click “Next.”

Click “Import Pictures” and find the folder that you saved your presentation images in. Click on the first image in the folder, hold down the select button, and the click the last image in the folder. This will select all of the images. Click “OK.”

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Click “Next” to advance to the next section. Here, you have the option to add effects to your images (like black and white or sepia color tones). Assuming that you want to keep your presentation slides exactly as they are, we’ll skip over this section. Click “Next” again.

4. Customize the transitions

I have to admit, this is my least favorite thing about Photo Story. For some reason, the program defaults to starting with a zoomed in view of each image and then pans out, ending each slide full-sized. We want our slides to be full-sized the entire time.

To change this, click “Customize Motion” underneath the big slide image.

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On the Customize Motion screen, click the box next to “Specify start and end position of motion.” Then, click the boxes next to “Set start position…” and “Set end position…”. (On the first slide, you will only need to select “Start end position…” and on the last slide you will only need to select “Set start position…”)

Click “Save,” and then click the right arrow to advance to the next slide. Repeat these steps until you reach the last slide. Then click “Close.”

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5. Configure your sound settings

The first time you use the program, you should configure your sound settings (you should only have to do this the first time you use Photo Story). Click the microphone icon over on the right. The first screen that loads will ask you to test your microphone volume. Try speaking a few sentences. You should see a green bar move up and down under “Recording” as you talk. If you don’t, click the “Volume” button.

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Photo Story typically defaults to “Microphone” as your recording device. Select “Internal Mic,” close “Recording Control” window, and try speaking again. If you still don’t see a green bar move as you speak, repeat the process and select “Line In.”

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Click “Next.” You can skip the speaker test, so click “Next” again and then click “Finish.”

6. Narrate your presentation

This is the fun part! Using the scroll bar, locate and click on the first slide in the presentation.

Click the red record button to start recording, and then narrate your presentation. I find it helpful to have a written cheat sheet to use. I try not to have a word-for-word script, or the narration sounds to stiff and forced, but if you struggle with speaking while being recording, you may wish to write something a bit more detailed.

If you selected “Internal Mic” as your recording device, you may get an annoying error message asking you if you want to change your audio settings. Select “No.” Again, a bit irritating, but the program’s free, so I can’t complain too much!

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Click the black square to stop recording. As long as you don’t change slides, you can actually stop recording and then click record again and pick back up where you left off. Once you advance to the next slide, it saves your work. You can erase it and start over, but you can’t start where you left off.

If you want to hear how your narration sounds, click “Preview”. To erase a recording and start over, click curved arrow. When you save the presentation as a video in the next step, Photo Story automatically transitions your slides to fit your narration.

Once you’ve narrated all of your slides, click “Next.” The next section is where you would upload music if you were creating a slideshow of your family photos (the actual intended purpose of this software). You can skip this section. Click “Next” again.

7. Save as a video file

It’s time to save the presentation as a video file. Before you can any further, click “Save Project” at the bottom of the window. That way, if you want to make adjustments to the presentation down the road, you can do so. This may take a few minutes.

Next, select “Save your story for playback on your computer.” Under “File name,” click “Browse” and locate the folder where you would like to save the video file. Give your video a name. Click “Save.”

(Note: If you want employees to be able to watch the slidecast on their Blackberry’s, also save a version of the video for “playback on a Smartphone with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile”)

Finally, click “Next” and wait for Photo Story to save your project as a video file. It may take a few minutes.

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Congratulations! You just created a slidecast training. Click “Exit,” locate the video file and watch your work.

Share it with employees by dropping it on a shared drive or uploading it to your intranet or internal social network.

Converting for use with iPods and mp3 players

The slidecast you created today is viewable in Windows Media Player.

Next week, I’ll show you how to convert the video file for use with iPod video devices. I’ll also show you how to pull the audio from the presentation as an mp3 for use with mp3 players.