Surprise Your Valentine With a Romantic Presentation

Valentine's Day -- Love is in the air. Everyone says -- and most of us really do believe -- that it is the thought that counts. What could be a more thoughtful gift to give your Valentine this year, than a trip down memory lane of all the special memories that you two share?

Gather up your photos and your special songs and create a Valentine PowerPoint presentation - a "through the years" retrospective.

1) What to Gather

• photos from your early years together, with your children and from vacations and all those special events
• scan a page of an old love letter from your special someone that you have kept all these years - or write a new one, scan it and add it to the presentation
• scan other small mementos you might have (matchbooks, dried rose)
• select digital music files of your favorite songs or choose from the top 100 love songs

Once you have gathered all of these things, it is time to get ready to create a PowerPoint presentation for your Valentine.

2) Make the Best Use of Your Photos - Optimize, Optimize, Optimize

Optimizing is a term used to indicate a change to a photo to reduce it in both visual size and file size, for use in other programs. You need to optimize these photos before you insert them into your presentation. This goes for the above mentioned love letter too. Scanned images are often huge.

• Optimize Photos to Use in Presentations

3) Create a Digital Photo Album in PowerPoint

Inserting your pictures into a PowerPoint photo album couldn't be easier.

• Digital Photo Albums Using PowerPoint 2010
• Digital Photo Albums in PowerPoint 2007
• Digital Photo Albums in PowerPoint 2003

4) Compress Photos to Reduce File Size

A single photo or all pictures in your PowerPoint presentation can be compressed quickly to reduce the overall file size of the presentation. This will keep your computer from being bogged down with memory overload, handling all the pictures.

• Compress Photos in PowerPoint 2010
• Compress Photos in PowerPoint 2007
• Compress Photos in PowerPoint 2003

5) Enhance Your Presentation With a Colorful Background

Color always catches everyone's eye. Choose a simple colored background or apply a design template to your Valentine presentation.

• Background Colors and Graphics in PowerPoint 2010
• Background Colors and Graphics in PowerPoint 2007
• Add Colored Backgrounds in PowerPoint 2003


• Design Themes in PowerPoint 2010
• Design Themes in PowerPoint 2007
• Design Templates in PowerPoint 2003

Free Valentine templates to download

6) Add Some Movements to Your Slides

We know that he/she is going to be enthralled anyway, but add a little movement to jazz the presentation up a little.

Add motion as slides change by applying slide transitions.

• Slide Transitions in PowerPoint 2010
• Slide Transitions in PowerPoint 2007
• Slide Transitions in PowerPoint 2003

Pictures and text can also have interesting movements applied by using custom animations.

• Animations in PowerPoint 2010
• Custom Animations in PowerPoint 2007
• Custom Animations in PowerPoint 2003

7) Music is a Must

What would a Valentine presentation be without "your song" or other romantic music playing in the background? Music can start and stop on specific slides for effect, or one song can play throughout the whole presentation.

• Addiing Music or Sound in PowerPoint 2010
• Sound and Music Options in PowerPoint 2007
• Sound and Music in PowerPoint 2003

8) Narrate That Love Letter

Nothing is more romantic than hearing your loved one read you a love letter. Do a "voice-over" effect to your presentation and narrate the love letter while the slides change.

• Record Narration or Sounds in PowerPoint 2010
• Record Sounds or Narration in PowerPoint 2007
• Add Narration in PowerPoint 2003

9) Automate the Valentine Presentation

You will want to sit back and enjoy the romantic presentation with the your honey. Set timings on the slides and the animations, so that they advance all on their own.

• Custom Timings and Effects in PowerPoint

10) How Was the Rehearsal?

Sure, you set timings on the slides and animations, but did you actually rehearse the show? It's a simple matter of watching the presentation and clicking the mouse when you want the next animation to happen. PowerPoint records these changes. Rehearsing the Valentine presentation allows you to put just the right timing onto each animation so that it all runs smoothly -- not too fast -- not too slowly.

• Rehearse and Record Timings in PowerPoint

Now it is Show Time! Sit back and relax with your loved one and let the romance begin!

Valentine Projects for the Younger Set
• Valentine Story Templates Using PowerPoint