Employee Onboarding Videos From Your Existing PowerPoint

Every HR or L&D team has an onboarding deck. Usually several. They cover the company story, policies, systems, safety and who to ask for what. Someone presents them live to each new starter, again and again. Making an onboarding video from PowerPoint decks you already have turns that repeated session into something new hires can watch on day one, at their own pace, and get the same accurate message every time.

Read the video transcript

Your team presents the same onboarding deck to every new starter. What if they could watch it on day one, at their own pace, with the same message every time?

Start by sorting your decks into three groups. Stable policies and company history suit video, things that change often stay out, and welcomes and Q&A stay live.

A new hire is more likely to finish five six-minute videos than one thirty-minute video. So split your content into short, focused topics.

Tidy each deck first. Give every slide one idea and a headline that makes a point, and swap stale names for roles like your manager.

Your speaker notes become the voiceover, so write them like you're explaining things to a new colleague. Keep sentences short and spell out acronyms.

When a policy changes, just edit the slide and convert again. On Pro, a.i. directs each video so it lands like a produced welcome. Try Basic first at powerpoint2vid.com.

This playbook walks through the process, from auditing your existing decks to keeping the videos current when things change.

Why turn onboarding decks into video

Live onboarding sessions have real value. People meet their colleagues and ask questions. But much of the content is the same every time: the leave policy, how to log a support ticket, the code of conduct.

Moving that standard content into video helps in a few ways:

• Consistency. Every new hire hears the same information, explained the same way.
• Timing. People can start before the next scheduled session, or rewatch a section later.
• Time back for trainers. Live sessions can focus on questions, introductions and discussion.
• Easy updates. When a policy changes, you edit the slide and notes, then create the video again.

Step 1: Audit your existing decks

Gather every deck used in onboarding. Then sort the content into three groups.

1. Stable and standard. Company history, values, core policies, how systems work. This is ideal for video.
2. Changes often. Org charts, current projects, named contacts. Keep these out of the video, or put them on a single slide that’s easy to swap.
3. Needs a human. Welcome from a manager, team introductions, Q&A. Keep these live.

Aim for a set of short videos rather than one long one. A new hire is more likely to finish five six-minute videos than one thirty-minute video. A sensible split might look like this:

• Welcome and how we work
• Policies you need to know
• Systems and tools
• Health, safety and wellbeing
• Where to get help

Step 2: Clean up the slides

Onboarding decks tend to collect clutter over the years. Before converting, tidy each one.

• One idea per slide. Split slides that cover several policies.
• Headlines that say something. “You can work from home up to three days a week” beats “Flexible work policy”.
• Large text. 24pt or larger for body text.
• Remove names and dates that will go stale. Use roles instead: “your manager”, “the IT service desk”.
• Check your brand template. A consistent template makes the video series feel like a set.

Step 3: Write the narration in the speaker notes

This is where most of the work happens, and where you get the most value. The speaker notes become the voiceover, so write them as you’d explain things to a new colleague.

Sample slide: “Log IT problems through the service portal, not by email”

Sample speaker notes:

If something on your laptop isn’t working, log it through the service portal. Don’t email the IT team directly. The portal makes sure your request goes to the right person, and you can track its progress. You’ll find the link on the intranet home page. If you can’t log in at all, call the service desk number on the back of your ID card.

Keep sentences short. Spell out acronyms the first time, because a new starter won’t know them yet. Write numbers the way you’d say them.

Step 4: Convert the deck into an onboarding video from PowerPoint

Drop the .pptx into PowerPoint2Vid. Onboarding decks often hold policies, systems screenshots and organisational information, so check your organisation’s policy on using online tools before you upload them.

Then set it up:

• Narration. Your speaker notes become the script. Choose a voice that sounds clear and set a comfortable speaking speed.
• Story and design. The deck is upgraded, not just recorded: the story is tightened and each slide becomes an animated scene. Keep the same look across the whole series.
• Captions. They help people watching without sound and those reading in a second language.
• Pacing. Make sure short slides have enough in the notes that they don’t rush past.

Listen for product names, internal acronyms or place names the voice mispronounces, and respell them in the notes so they sound right.

Step 5: Download and share

Download the finished video as an MP4, with WebM available.

Then add the videos to wherever new hires already look: your LMS, intranet or HR platform. Add each video to the onboarding checklist with a short description of what it covers.

Step 6: Keep the videos current

The biggest advantage of slide-based video is how easy it is to update. When a policy changes:

1. Edit the relevant slide and its speaker notes.
2. Convert the updated deck and check the changed section.
3. Download the new video and replace the old file.

No re-recording. No booking voice talent. No re-shooting. Set a review date for each video, perhaps every six months, and assign an owner.

A sample onboarding series

Video	Slides	Owner	Review
Welcome and how we work	12	People and Culture	Yearly
Policies you need to know	18	People and Culture	Six-monthly
Systems and tools	15	IT	Six-monthly
Health, safety and wellbeing	14	WHS	Six-monthly
Where to get help	8	People and Culture	Yearly

Quick checklist

• Decks audited and split into short topics
• Stale names, dates and contacts removed
• Headlines rewritten to make a point
• Speaker notes written as spoken explanations
• Acronyms spelled out and checked for pronunciation
• Same voice and look across the series
• Captions included
• Owner and review date set for each video

Turning onboarding decks into videos

You already have the content. With clear speaker notes, a stack of onboarding decks becomes a tidy video series new hires can watch on their first day. For the core process, see how to convert PowerPoint to video, and for help picking a voice, read choosing a narrator voice and speaking speed.

Drop your first deck into the PowerPoint to video converter. On Pro, a.i. directs each video: it tightens the story for a new starter, designs the scenes and times the animation to your narration, so a policy deck lands like a produced welcome rather than a recorded slideshow. When you’re ready to do the whole series, see pricing for Pro.