How to Embed a YouTube Video in Google Slides in 3 Easy Steps

Wondering how to present in a way that’s interesting, informative, and engaging? No problem! We’ll walk you through a simple process for how to embed a YouTube video in Google slides so you can be prepared to present a slideshow that’s anything but boring. Not only is it super simple, but your audience will thank you for it.

Why Use Google Slides?

We’ve all been there – stuck in a boardroom sitting through a slideshow presentation that feels so long that you completely zone out. By the end of the presentation, you’re not even sure what it was about. Now the shoe’s on the other foot. YOU have to stand up in front of the room and deliver an engaging presentation and the thought of boring your audience to tears has you more terrified than anything else.

If you’ve only ever used – or heard of – Microsoft PowerPoint, we’d like to introduce you to Google Slides.

Google Slides is a great alternative (for starters, it’s free!). But what gives it an edge in our book is that it allows you to include video in your presentation. Why is it such a selling point to be able to embed a YouTube video in Google Slides?

Videos Capture Attention

Well, as you know, videos are a great way to grab your audience’s attention – and keep it.

Generally, adults have a span of attention of about eight seconds, research shows. And as AdAge points out, if you are not fully engaging your audience after 30 seconds, you'll likely lose 33% of your viewers, and after one minute, 45% will stop watching altogether.

The more you mix up your presentation with text, photos, videos, and a Q&A session, the better chance you’ll have of keeping your audience engaged.

Videos Explain Complex Ideas

We’ve used this analogy before, but it’s so relevant. When faced with having to assemble new furniture from Ikea, do you spend hours trying to decipher their instructions? No. You hop on over to YouTube for a quick 15-minute step-by-step tutorial video.

With explainer videos, you can get right to the point quickly and simply. By including videos in your slide, you make it easier for your audience to understand what you’re saying versus giving them a thick manual to follow. This also helps to break up text walls and long, drawn-out speeches (sorry!).

So now that you know why including a video in your presentation is important, you’re probably wondering how to embed video in Google Slides – especially if you’re not familiar with its functionality.

Learn How to Embed a YouTube Video in Google Slides

This process is so simple, you’ll be left here wondering why you haven’t been doing this all along.

All you’ll need is an internet connection – no downloads are required!

Step 1

Go to slides.google.com and you can either create a new slide show (or open one you’ve already created if you’ve used the program already).

Step 2

To insert a video, click Insert in the top toolbar then select Insert Video from the dropdown menu.

Step 3

Find and select the video you want to embed. In the search menu bar, you can enter keywords or the title of the YouTube video you want to embed (if you have a specific video in mind).

Click the magnifying glass icon or enter.

You can also add YouTube videos to Google Slides using a YouTube URL – simply choose “By URL” instead. To embed the YouTube video, open the video in another browser tab and copy its URL. Enter the video URL in the text field and click select.

What if I Want to Use a Non-YouTube Video Instead?

If you want to include a video in your slide, but it’s not on YouTube, that won’t be a problem. You can use a video from your laptop, USB flash drive, or external hard drive, but you’ll have to upload it to your Google Drive account first.

In case you haven’t used Google Drive before, this, too, is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is log into your Google account and go to the Google Drive app.

Step 1

To do this, go to www.google.com and click on the Google apps icon, which is the 9 dots next to your profile picture. Choose Google Drive from these apps).

Step 2

Next, click on the multi-colored plus icon in the upper-left corner and then click File upload. Find the video file (or files) you want to upload to your Google Drive.

Step 3

Now that your video is uploaded to Google Drive, from here, you’ll follow the same initial steps as you would if you were looking at how to embed a YouTube video in Google Slides. The difference is, when you click Insert video, you’ll use the Google Drive tab for adding Google Drive videos.

Here, you’ll be able to Browse My Drive, Shared Drives, Shared with Me, and Recent tabs and select your video(s) for upload.

Once the video has been selected and highlighted, click Select.

You can position the video using the red guidelines on the slide – just click and drag the video when it’s been added.

How to Embed a YouTube Video in Google Slides With Some Additional Features

If you want to take things a step further, you can also right-click the video and choose Format Options.

You’ll see all the options on the right hand of your screen, but here are a few likely to be useful to you. Rather than playing the entire video and awkwardly waiting for the part you need, can select specific time stamps for specific clips.

The options that pop up are:

• Play (on click) – This is the default setting and if you click to advance the slide, your video will play.
• Play (automatically) – You don’t need to click anything, your video will play automatically.
• Play (manual) – During your presentation, you can play your video by clicking directly on it.

Whichever you choose will be based on your needs and personal preferences.

You can also choose a specific section to play (if your video is an hour-long, and you only want to use a short clip, this is super helpful instead of skipping forward to a certain section 30-minutes in!).

You can also mute the audio and even change (and lock) the aspect ratio!

Final thoughts: Instead of fumbling around, clicking between slides and tabs, and losing the focus of your audience, you can deliver a well-planned and well-executed Google Slides presentation that will have people walking away having learned something.

To improve your video presentation game, send us a message!

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