Converting Your PowerPoint Presentations to DVD

Converting your PowerPoint presentations to DVD is kind of like baking a cake over a campfire. It was never intended for that use, but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky. Since that was never PowerPoint's intended use, you are simply hoping the bolt-on DVD export option will work, and that you don't have too much fanciness (multi-media, music, audio clips, animation, etc.) that might throw off an otherwise "possible" conversion.

Typically, if I know my end format is DVD, I try to produce with that in mind. That means starting in a program that is intended to output DVDs. Flash can work, iMovie can work, or, here's a thought... iDVD (MovieMaker in windows). I'd strongly suggest FinalCut Express, but if you are not using any kind of video, obviously those tools are unneccessary (but if you're not using video, why do you need a DVD? Those are the questions I ask that tend to make people hate me, so lets push forward to some recommendations).

If it's not clear already, I am not an expert on PowerPoint to DVD conversion, so I would welcome anyone to post their own insights, but for the time being, I have come across some third party software that seems to serve the market of folks who have something in PowerPoint that they want to play on their DVD player:

Wondershare offers PPT2DVD:

http://www.ppt-to-dvd.com/ppt2dvd/whats-new05.html

Here's an unverified free trial of that software:

http://www.allformp3.com/powerpoint-dvd-maker/

My best advice is to always have your output in mind when you create something. While Microsoft has done a great job adding functionality to Office products like Word and PowerPoint, those are typically almost good enough for casual use, but rarely get the job done for your clients.