Next question. Can you bring in your own sounds? Like, suppose I want to do a presentation at school of my Uncle Nestor reciting poetry, but he doesn't want to come to the school himself.

Not a problem. I'll tell you how to use your own recorded sound files in a PowerPoint presentation. Your Uncle Ned's poetry will be echoing through the school!

Maybe that isn't a good idea after all.

Why?

My uncle isn't a very good poet.

Recording your own sound files To record sound files, you need to plug a microphone into the mic jack on your computer's sound card. The following steps show you how to record a narration for a slide. 1. Go to Slide View and display the slide you want to add a recording to. 2. Click on the Insert tab. Go to the Sound button in the Media Clips Group. Click on the arrow beneath the word Sound. From the drop-down list, select Record Sound. 3. When the Record Sound dialog box appears, type a name for your recording in the Name box. Below the name box are three buttons. The first button, with the arrow, is the Play button. The middle button, with the square, is the Stop button. The last button, with a red dot, is the Record button. 4. To start recording, click the Record button, then begin talking into your microphone. 5. When you finish talking, click the Stop button. 6. Click the Play button to play back your recording. If you want to add another segment to your recording, simply click the Record button and start talking again. When you're finished, click the Stop button. The new segment will be added to your previous one.

What if you're not happy with the recording? What if someone flubs a line or mumbles? Can you re-record it?

That's a silly question.

Now, Sue, there are no silly questions. Here's how to rerecord sound files:

Re-recording sound files What if you're not satisfied with the recording after you've listened to it? Maybe it's too quiet, you've spoken too quickly, or there's too much background noise. It's simple. Cancel the recording and begin again. 1. In the Record Sound dialog box, click the Cancel button. The Record Sound dialog box closes. 2. Click on the Insert tab. Go to the Sound button in the Media Clips Group. Click on the arrow beneath the word Sound. From the drop-down list, select Record Sound. The Record Sound dialog box opens again. 3. Start recording. 4. When you're satisfied with your recording, click OK. The Record Sound dialog box will close, and a speaker icon will appear in the middle of your slide.