How to Add and Use Google Slides Speaker Spotlight feature

Google Slides lets you create a presentation by adding a mixture of text, images, GIFs, graphs, and other creative elements. Visual elements not only add to a message that you wish to convey but also make it more understandable compared to just spilling out words. However, a much better approach would be a video of yours in your Google Slides presentation explaining things mentioned in the slides. Thankfully, Google has added a new feature called Speaker Spotlight.

Thanks to this tool, you can now add a video of yourself to your presentation in a shape that matches your slide deck. The video displayed inside the selected shape is live-streamed so that your face is always shown when you are presenting the slides. You also have the option to record the video in the presentation. This could come in handy when you want to share your presentation with friends, colleagues, or peers. Let us understand how you can use the Speaker Spotlight feature in Google Slides.

What is the Google Slides Speaker Spotlight feature?

Using the Google Slides Speaker Spotlight feature, you can embed your Google Meet video or video straight from your webcam into your presentations. This lets you keep your audience focused on you instead of the slides, which sometimes can get boring as they contain limited information. You have a variety of speaker spotlight shapes to choose from, 14 to be exact, and you can also animate the speaker spotlight.

After inserting a shape, you can easily adjust the size, shape, position, and formatting of the spotlight from the Formatting Options menu. It can come in handy in the case of remote meetings. Showing the presenter’s face during a presentation instead of just voice enhances communication with the audience. Also, it can be useful in situations when you are presenting in front of a large audience, and it isn’t possible for everyone to see you. By adding your feed to the slide, attendees will be able to see your facial expressions and nonverbal cues, ensuring a deeper connection.

Unfortunately, free Google account users cannot use the Google Slides Speaker Spotlight feature. It is only available for users of Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus.

How to use Speaker Spotlight in Google Slides?

Before you go ahead and use the Speaker Spotlight feature, according to Google, the feature only works when Google Slides is being used on Google Chrome browser. If you are using any of the other popular browsers, then the Speaker Spotlight feature will not work. Follow the below steps to use Speaker Spotlight in Google Slides:

1. Visit the Google Slides website.
2. From the toolbar, click on the Speaker Spotlight icon. Alternatively, click the Insert option and select Speaker Spotlight from the drop-down menu.
3. You will be presented with multiple Speaker Spotlight shapes. Choose any of the shapes from the sidebar and add them to the presentation.
4. Clicking the eye icon next to the entered shape lets you preview how the slides will look when you present with the Speaker Spotlight feature.
5. If you want to livestream your presentation and make your stream visible inside the Speaker Spotlight shape, then you need to click on the Record button on the top of the toolbar.

Now that you have added the shape, there are multiple options to edit and customize the speaker spotlight, which we have discussed in the below sections. You can get access to granular controls by selecting the spotlight shape and then clicking on the Format option. You can add shapes, add shadows, change the border from solid lines to dotted lines, and much more.

How to add a Speaker Spotlight shape to all slides?

A presentation consists of multiple slides. All slides may contain different information to connect the dots related to the topic of discussion. In such a case, if you are using the Speaker Spotlight feature, then the below steps will let you add the spotlight shape to all of your slides:

1. Choose the Speaker Spotlight shape as mentioned in the above section.
2. Right-click on the Speaker Spotlight shape.
3. Select Add shape to all slides.

Do note the option to Add shape to all slides is only available if you have multiple slides in your presentation. If the option isn’t showing up for you, then ensure that you have created one more slide.

How to turn the camera on/off in Speaker Spotlight?

After you have placed a Speaker Spotlight shape in your slides, the camera turns on. To turn off your camera, there is a Camera button, which, when pressed, turns off the camera when it is on, and vice versa. If you wish to change the camera device, click the Slideshow button from the top toolbar, and from the presentation menu, choose the camera device next to the Camera on/off button.

Final thoughts

Adding Speaker Spotlight to your Google Slides presentation gives you another option to connect well with your audience. While the front benchers will be able to see and interact with you easily, having your face shown during the presentation gives the audience far from you an emotional connection because we, as presenters, often add various non-verbal cues.

To make your presentation more interesting, we have a guide that explains the steps you will need to create AI images using the Google Slides Duet AI feature. If you want to explore some other presentation-making options, then we have a guide that lists down some of the best Google Slides alternatives you can try that are powered by AI.