One of the common ways to remember what you want to say or emphasize on a slide is to add speaking notes in the Notes section below a slide in PowerPoint. Then you can use the Presenter View mode to show you the slides and your notes while the audience only sees the slides without them seeing your notes. In a meeting room this is usually the default approach when you connect to a projector or screen.
Now that meetings have moved to Microsoft Teams and will be using this technology in the future, how can you use PowerPoint Presenter View in a Teams meeting? Below you will find the answer, whether you have one or two screens and whether you use Windows or a Mac. You can also learn expert tips for using Presenter View such as a quick way to jump to any slide without the audience seeing it and how you can zoom in on a slide while presenting in this article and video.
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Windows – 2 screens
Summary of steps
- Connect a second display (here are nine options for a second display) and extend your display
- Arrange the displays in Windows and PowerPoint to match the physical setup
- Start Presenter View in PowerPoint so the slides are on one screen and Presenter View is on the screen that has the webcam (so you are looking at the webcam while seeing your notes)
- In Teams share the screen that has the slides on it
- Deliver your presentation
Full detailed article
I have an article with full details, including screen captures, on PowerPoint Presenter View with 2 screens in Windows.
Video
Windows – 1 screen, Option A
When you display your slides full screen in Slide Show mode you can actually switch to Presenter View and share the hidden Slide Show window in the Teams meeting. This way your attendees see high-res slides while you see your notes and have all the expert features of Presenter View. You can watch how to do this in the video below.
Windows – 1 screen, Option B
Summary of steps
- Make sure the presentation is set to use full screen Slide Show
- Start Presenter View Preview by pressing Alt+F5
- In Teams, share the hidden Slide Show window
- Deliver your presentation
Full detailed article
I have an article with full details, including screen captures, on PowerPoint Presenter View with 1 screen in Windows.
Video
Mac – 2 screens
Summary of steps
- Connect a second display (here are nine options for a second display) and extend your display
- Arrange the displays in the Mac OS and PowerPoint to match the physical setup
- Start Presenter View in PowerPoint so the slides are on one screen and Presenter View is on the screen that has the webcam (so you are looking at the webcam while seeing your notes)
- In Teams share the screen that has the slides on it
- Deliver your presentation
Full detailed article
I have an article with full details, including screen captures, on PowerPoint Presenter View with 2 screens on a Mac.
Video
The steps are very similar to using 2 screens in Zoom because sharing a screen is similar in Teams or Zoom. This video will show you how to set up a second screen on a Mac using AirPlay to a TV and give you the basic steps you need.
Mac – 1 screen, Option A
When you display your slides full screen in Slide Show mode you can actually switch to Presenter View and share the hidden Slide Show window in the Zoom meeting. This way your attendees see high-res slides while you see your notes and have all the expert features of Presenter View. You can watch how to do this in the video below.
Mac – 1 screen, Option B
Feb 2021 update: It appears that Teams on a Mac now recognizes the hidden Slide Show window in Presenter View Preview and will allow you to share it in the meeting, like it does in Windows. In the past it just showed a blank white screen when you shared the hidden window. If sharing the hidden window does not work for you (it may depend on the OS version or other factors), I suggest you consider either a) connect a second screen using one of these nine methods and use Presenter View with two screens, or b) use one of the methods in this article to show your slides and refer to your notes. You can also consider the alternative of using Google Slides Presenter View as explained below.
Use Google Slides Presenter View
Google Slides can read PowerPoint files and has a Presenter View that shows the slides in a browser window and your notes and slide preview in another window. This can be an alternative if you have one screen since you can share the browser window that has the slides in Zoom or Teams so the meeting attendees see just the slides while you can see the slides and your notes. This article shows you how to use Google Slides Presenter View in Zoom or Teams and the video below shows me demonstrate these steps.
Dave Paradi has over twenty-two years of experience delivering customized training workshops to help business professionals improve their presentations. He has written ten books and over 600 articles on the topic of effective presentations and his ideas have appeared in publications around the world. His focus is on helping corporate professionals visually communicate the messages in their data so they don’t overwhelm and confuse executives. Dave is one of fewer than ten people in North America recognized by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional Award for his contributions to the Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams communities. His articles and videos on virtual presenting have been viewed over 4.8 million times and liked over 17,000 times on YouTube.