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18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

November 10, 2017 - Dom Barnard

It can be difficult to hold your audience’s attention for the entire presentation. According to a  Prezi study , half of the respondents said they did something other than listen during a co-worker’s presentation, including:

  • Sending a text message (28%)
  • Checking emails (27%)
  • Falling asleep (17%)

An interactive presentation is much more likely to keep your audience’s attention and build rapport with them, and there are a few simple ways to achieve this, from live polling to asking questions throughout.

This article explores several different effective strategies for making the audience feel fully involved in your presentation and keeping your audience’s eyes away from their smartphones.

Why involve your audience?

Listening to a presentation for any length of time can be a difficult process. If you don’t involve the audience, they’ll start to play with their phones, talk to colleagues and generally lose track of what you are saying. Once this happens and you start seeing that the audience would rather be somewhere else, you’ll start feeling anxious and might try to speed up the presentation.

Engage your audience with your presentation

To engage a  large audience  fully, the presentation needs to be energetic, purposeful and staged, as if it is a direct conversation between both you and your audience. That way, they’ll absorb your ideas and insights and they’ll have learnt something in an enjoyable way.

1. Plan from the audience’s perspective

Before you start  writing your presentation , think about these points:

  • What are the most interesting parts in my topic?
  • How much will the audience know about my topic? What level do I target it at?
  • Which members of the audience will most likely be disinterested?
  • How can I help them learn and understand my topic?
  • What is the size of the audience?

You can do this by researching the event or conference, investigating other speakers at the event and even contacting the organisers to find out more about the demographic.

By asking these questions about your audience and identifying answers, you are starting to think about your audience’s interests and needs. Remember, the aim is to give the impression that your presentation has been planned according to your audience’s specific interests.

2. Use an easy-to-follow structure

When building your presentation, focus on giving it a structure which people can easily follow. Start by introducing the core concepts and goals, then elaborate on the various points in a bit more detail, draw logical conclusions and leave your audience with a clear takeaway message. You want to flow naturally from one part to the next like you are telling a big story chapter by chapter.

3. Get the audience immediately involved

You audience will come to your presentation in a range of different moods. Try using a simple ice-breaker to re-energise them and get them focussed on your presentation.

For example, ask people to stand up and introduce themselves to their neighbours, or have them identify two or three questions they would like to hear addressed during your presentation. By starting with an ice-breaker, you show your audience that your talk will be interactive and require their participation.

Ask the audience questions at the beginning of your speech

4. Ask the audience questions during your presentation

The audience’s attention drops to zero after just 10-15 minutes of your presentation. To get their attention back, take a break from your presentation from time to time and interact with your audience. Ask for their questions and answer them during your presentation. This will help clear up any confusion the audience might have.

When planning your presentation, identify opportunities in your material for your audience to ask questions. If you’re not comfortable breaking the flow of your presentation, mention that you’ll be taking  questions at the end  so the audience can prepare some questions.

Asking rhetorical questions as you move through your presentation involves your audience by stimulating their own thought processes. This technique also helps move between sections of your presentation as it establishes a clear transition from one point to another.

If you’re comfortable with taking questions throughout your presentation, use a tools such as  Slido , which allows your audience to ask questions anonymously at any time, so even shy people can participate in the discussion.

Example of what can go wrong with audience interaction

Audience interaction:

Watch how the presenter tries but initially fails to get the audience to interact with the presentation. Notice how he encourages them to get involved and eventually they do join in.

5. Use storytelling to make it more memorable

Since our early ancestors, stories have always been a huge part of human culture and civilisation. Storytelling is the most universal way to captivate your audience’s attention, no matter where they are from or what they do for a living.

Stories are much more engaging and memorable than lists of facts and figures, but you wouldn’t think so looking at the majority of presentations (particularly academic ones).

People automatically tune in when you  start telling your story  because they want to know what happens next. A popular storytelling technique is when you present the status quo and then reveal an improved path to that end goal.

Think of your presentation as one arching narrative. As we mentioned earlier, give it the proper structure with a clear beginning, middle and end. Introduce conflict and provide a powerful resolution that reinforces your key messages.

6. Use non-linear presentation software

Instead of flipping through slide after slide, you can show the relationships between your ideas and give your audience the “big picture” view of your topic. Try letting your audience drive the presentation by laying out all of your main points, and then let them choose which topics they want to go to. Your audience will get a truly custom presentation based on their interests, which they will appreciate and more easily remember.

Prezi example of non-linear presentations

Prezi, shown above, is a popular non-linear presentation tool.

7. Add in a short video

Billions of hours of YouTube are consumed each month and advertisers have identified videos as having a high  retention rate  for users. However very few presentations ever use videos to engage with their audience.

Find a short video clip that reinforces your story or explains a concept better than words can. You can either embed the video directly into your presentation software or include a link to an external website. Just make sure you test your method on the day of the presentation and have a backup on a USB just in case you need it.

8. Invite people onto the stage

If you’re preparing a particularly long presentation, consider having other people to come on stage and talk for a bit. This will help you narrate the story and make the whole presentation more interactive.

Steve Jobs never pulled off the entire presentation by himself; he always invited several speakers, including designers, partners, and other executives, to help him introduce their latest product. Of course, this technique should always be arranged with your colleagues in advance.

9. Poll the audience

Polls are similar to quizzes in that they engage the audience during the presentation. Polls encourage participants to think not only about your questions but also about their answers. Moreover, live polls help create mental breaks, so your audience can regain attention and stay focused throughout your presentation.

By including everyone in answering the question, you also create a group experience that leaves the audience feeling like they all have been part your presentation.

Slido example of a live poll during a presentation

10. Use (appropriate) humour

Some of the best speeches and presentations in the world feature plenty of humour. No matter the subject, a great speaker will use natural charisma, humour and language to convey their points and get the crowd excited about what they are saying.

A great example of building rapport with the audience through the use of humour is Barrack Obama talking about the government building Iron Man.

Another example is when  Morgan Spurlock  offers individuals the opportunity to buy the rights to name his TED talk—which he refers to again at the end, where he reveals the title. He peppers the entire presentation with humorous commentary that nonetheless supports his point.

Create relevant jokes or find a way to bring out the humour in your subject, and your audience will be much more engaged and more likely to remember your words.

11. Practice your delivery, again and again

Practicing is the most important part of delivering an interactive presentation. You’ll need to practice where to use live quizzes, when to accept questions, which points to emphasise with body language and many more. There are several options for practicing:

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  • In front of a mirror  – great for seeing and improving your body language, however it can be distracting to what you are saying.
  • To friends or colleagues  – a useful way to get feedback on your presentation, try and action the feedback straight away to improve on it. You can also give the person some key areas to focus their feedback on if you believe you are weaker in those areas.
  • Virtual reality  – practice in realistic  public speaking environments , whether it be in a virtual conference room or boardroom. Receive feedback on your speech with voice analysis technology.

Practice presentation with VR

With all three of these, you’ll want to work on your tone of voice, accent, pauses between sentences and facial expressions. The most important thing is to talk slowly and loudly enough to be heard and understood clearly.

A list of the best presentation skills courses you can practice with:

  • Presentation Skills Training Courses

12. Try and relate to the audience

Make comparisons to events from everyday life that most people are more than familiar with. By making things look simple, not only will you help your audience get a better understanding of the subject by enabling them to visualize the information more clearly, you will also draw a connection between you.

After all, you are all just regular people with similar experience, you just happen to be performing different roles at the moment.

13. Strong body language (position, posture and gesture)

Non-verbal communication plays a large part in how we construct meaning, so it makes sense to consider how to use it in your presentation. You can make things more interesting for your audience by using  your body language  to enhance what you’re saying.

Body language goes beyond reinforcing your messaging – it’s useful from a biological standpoint. As discussed in her  body language TED talk , Amy Cuddy’s research found that using ‘assertive’ body language released testosterone and reduced cortisol in both men and women, thereby increasing confidence and decreasing stress.

An effective presenter pays close attention to the physical relationship with her/his audience. If you stand hidden behind an overhead projector or stand too far away from your audience, they will not develop a bond with you and this will limit the effectiveness of your presentation.

Confident presentation given by woman

Your posture will also dictate levels of audience involvement. If you’re too relaxed and sit slumped in a chair to deliver your talk, the audience might drift away. Find a comfortable but purposeful position in relation to your audience and adopt an upright sitting or standing posture that allows for movement and gesture.

Audiences respond well to the physical energy and enthusiasm being conveyed by a presenter, and thus the use of clear and controlled gestures will greatly enhance your presentation. Gestures that are open and reach out to your audience serve to extend your presentation to them and thus help them feel more involved.

Examples of good body language:

  • Use hand gestures when delivering key points
  • Use calm, deliberate movements when highlighting certain information
  • Keep arms and legs uncrossed

14. Maintain eye contact with all sections of the audience

Making eye contact is one of the most  powerful techniques  for involving your audience. If used well, eye contact can serve to make your address much more personal and thus more effective. If eye contact is avoided, the presenter can appear to be nervous and unconvincing.

It is important to share eye contact with all members of a small audience or all sections of a large audience. Avoid making eye contact with just the people you know, taking particular care not to deliver your entire presentation to the person who’s assessing your work. Remember that you will need to involve the whole audience if you are to make an effective presentation.

If you are nervous, eye contact can be very difficult to establish and maintain. Remember that some eye contact is better than none and that you should try to build your confidence over time.

15. Use live quizzes to better understand your audience

Live quizzes are a great way to understanding your audience better get them engaging with the material.

For example, if you’re giving a presentation on autonomous vehicles, you could ask questions such as:

  • When do you think autonomous vehicles will become mainstream?
  • Are you concerned by safety issues?
  • If someone is injured or killed by the car, who is to blame?

These will surely create some interesting results which you, as the presenter, can talk about and discuss.

16. Use physical props if possible

You don’t need to be giving a product demo to use props during your presentation. Props are a great way to help the audience visually picture what you are talking about. While talking through your presentation, you can refer to the prop at certain points to highlight your point or make it clear to the audience.

Kenny Nguyen  does this will in his TEDx talk on ‘The Art of Saying No’. He refers to the “sword of yes” and “shield of no.” Naturally he picks up a sword and shield from the table to help demonstrate his points.

Another great example is when  Jill Bolte Taylor  brings a real human brain on stage during her TED talk to explain to what happened to her when she had a stroke. She touched the audience with this demonstration and left the audience in complete awe.

Using a brain as a physical prop during a presentation

17. Extend your usual vocal range

Your tone of voice, your volume, and other vocal aspects affect how people listen and hear your message.

Julian Treasure’s  TED talk on ‘How to speak so that people want to listen’ is all about this, and at the end offers several tips ‘in our toolbox’ for how to master the use of voice, from changing your speaking pace to speaking in a different pitch.

Get feedback from a friend or colleague to see what works best for you.

18. Use language and literary techniques

Your use of language has a huge influence on the way you engage your audience. It’s important to use language your audience understands and is familiar with.

Avoid using language that is too formal or informal, too technical or too simplistic depending upon the nature of your talk and the knowledge base of your audience. Pitching your presentation at the right level can be a challenge but it is very effective for making the audience feel involved.

There are various  literary techniques  you can use, such as the Power or Three, to give greater impact to your message.

Involving your audience is essential to making an impact. Your presentation should pull them in, get their attention and stimulate their thoughts and understanding. This can be done in a number of ways.

The way that you plan your presentation will be critical in terms of using language and ideas that your audience will understand. You must also ensure that there is sufficient time for questions and discussion. The way that you deliver your presentation should create a bond with your audience.

Your use of eye contact, body language, spoken words and energy should  communicate effectively  and enthusiastically with all areas of the room, thus ensuring that the audience receives positive messages about you and your material.

18 Ways to Make Presentations More Interactive and Engaging

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Table of Contents

People are 22 times more likely to remember facts when they’re presented in a story framework.

Additionally, studies have confirmed that the human brain understands and remembers images much better than words.

When you present the content in the form of a story and pair your ideas with visual elements, it’s much easier to achieve the presentation goal — to communicate a message that engages the audience and persuades them to take action.

So, if you want to learn how to make an interactive and engaging presentation that will help you stand out as a presenter and make an impact, we have your back.

In this blog post, you’ll learn more about:

  • How an interactive and engaging presentation makes a significant difference,
  • What the greatest benefits of an interactive presentation are,
  • What the most effective ways for incorporating interactive elements into a presentation are, and
  • What experts say about how to make a presentation more engaging.

So, let’s rock your next presentation!

Ways to make presentations more interactive-cover

What is an interactive presentation?

As the name suggests, an interactive presentation is a dynamic type of presentation the audience can interact with. 

If you’ve wondered how to modify your audience experience from passive to active and engaging, incorporating interactive elements into a presentation is a key answer. 

To support greater interactivity and engagement, you can rely on various ways of presenting information such as using:

  • Video or audio material, 
  • Charts, and

Along with leveraging these elements, the storytelling framework is the most powerful tool for making a presentation interactive and keeping the audience engaged .

But, before we dive into the most compelling ways of making interactive and engaging presentations, let’s clarify why an interactive presentation makes a difference and highlight the greatest benefits that shape your audience’s experience. 

4 Main benefits of interactive presentations

Most presenters focus primarily on themselves in order to stand out with their presentational skills and seem confident of what they are presenting.

However, as with all communication modes, presentation is a two-way process where the audience is involved and should be a priority.

By using interactive elements and making your audience included and connected to the presentation content, you ensure your presentation delivers a message effectively.

Here are the most important benefits that you should keep in mind when making your presentation next time:

  • Interactive presentations resonate more deeply with the audience,
  • Interactive presentations boost the audience’s engagement and increase their attention span,
  • Interactive presentations help the audience understand and retain the content better, and
  • Interactive presentations help presenters to get valid feedback.

So, let’s dig deeper into each of these benefits. 

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Benefit #1: Interactive presentations resonate more deeply with the audience

In her influential work Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences , Nancy Duarte emphasizes the importance of making a presentation resonate with the audience. This is the key step for making an impact and moving them to action.

According to her, a presentation is a powerful persuasive tool for transforming the audience, but only if it’s packaged in storytelling — the most powerful tool for delivering information . 

Using a story framework is much more than entertaining the listeners. 

Duarte says: 

“ Information is static; stories are dynamic — they help an audience visualize what you do or what you believe. Tell a story, and people will be more engaged and receptive to the ideas you are communicating. “

With a compelling story, a presenter can easily arouse the audience’s emotions and vivid imagination, which certainly helps them understand and memorize the message. 

Benefit #2: Interactive presentations boost the audience’s engagement and increase their attention span 

An effective presentation is a two-way process ― it communicates a message that engages listeners, so both sides should be involved. 

To achieve so, successful presenters leverage interactive elements and include stories in the presentation content to:

  • Get the audience to listen actively,
  • Increase their attention span, and
  • Keep them interested.

Furthermore, researchers are confident that storytelling is the best engagement tool. 

Based on neuroscience evidence , people react differently to descriptive and non-descriptive information. 

Namely, descriptive information presented in story frameworks engages with the whole brain — it triggers the sensory cortex, which is responsible for perceiving sensory experience. 

On the other hand, non-descriptive information activates the part of the brain that is responsible for language processing. Thus, we simply process non-descriptive information but do not experience it. 

Furthermore, keeping your audience engaged is an effective way for holding their attention. 

Benefit #3: Interactive presentations help the audience understand and retain the content better

When building a presentation, we should keep in mind our primary goal — to get the point across. 

Thus, we need to ensure that listeners understand and memorize the content. To accomplish that, making an interactive presentation is a key step. 

As we previously mentioned, conceptualizing the topic in the form of a story is a far more effective way to present information, than relying on raw data. 

According to the Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning article : 

“ Storytelling helps with learning because stories are easy to remember. Organizational psychologist Peg Neuhauser found that learning that stems from a well-told story is remembered more accurately, and for far longer, than learning derived from facts and figures. ” 

Therefore, storytellers are more influential presenters — along with entertaining their audience, they make a lasting impact by helping their listeners understand information better and remember it.

Moreover, studies have confirmed the positive impact of interactive digital presentations on the student’s learning process, which consequently improved their memorization.

Our contributors and experienced professionals believe better retention is the greatest benefit of the interactive presentation. 

Here is what Edoardo Binda Zane , a communication and leadership expert, says about the power of interactive presentation: 

Edoardo Binda Zane

“ Think of any presentation you have been given that has not involved you, and that was just a person blaring information at you. After a while, your attention fades away because you are not feeling involved or part of the presentation itself — you might as well be watching a video or listening to a podcast on the topic. Interaction turns the whole event into a dialogue where you also feel heard, and with that comes a stronger drive to pay attention and retain information. ”

Thus, an interactive presentation is an effective tool for making the audience involved, which consequently helps them to stay focused and remember important information.  

Benefit #4: Interactive presentations help presenters to get valid feedback

Interactive presentations might also bring value to presenters. When you involve your audience and allow them to be heard, you learn more about their needs and points of view, so you can improve your presentation skills in the future. 

Here’s what Trish Nitschke , a communication professional, said: 

Trish Nitschke

“ From a speaker perspective, it’s much easier to get buy-in and support from your audience when the live results validate the points you are making .”

Similarly, Dr. Raffaello Antonino , a senior lecturer in counseling psychology, is aware of the influence of interactive presentations on establishing a strong relationship between the presenter and listeners:

Dr. Raffaello Antonino

“ A less known benefit of interactive presentations is that they can also help to build trust between the presenter and the audience. By encouraging the audience to participate and share their thoughts and opinions, the presenter demonstrates that they value the audience’s input and are open to feedback. This can help to establish a strong relationship between the presenter and the audience, which can be useful in a variety of settings — from sales presentations to educational lectures. ”

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Public speaking anxiety is one of the most common social fears. To learn how to deal with anxiety before a presentation, make sure to read our blog post:

  • How not to be nervous for a presentation

18 Ways for making interactive and engaging presentations

Considering all this evidence that explains the power of interactive and engaging presentations, we can modify the presentation skills that will bring us better results. 

So, let’s see what the best ways for making an interactive and engaging presentation are.

Way #1: Research the audience and the topic 

Research is an essential step in creating an effective presentation. To make it interactive, it’s crucial to understand your audience — how they think and what they want to know. 

Try to answer these questions:

  • Why is your audience here?
  • What are their expectations?
  • What are their motivations?
  • What do they want to know?
  • What will keep them engaged?

Once you’ve had these answers, making a good presentation is much easier than you thought. 

Here is what Steve Gamlin , a speaker, author, and visualization coach, had to say on this topic: 

Steve Gamlin

“ Prior to an event, have conversations with them (or the event planners). Understand their biggest pains/challenges. Ask for examples of successes they have enjoyed, or awards they have achieved. Learn some of their ‘industry lingo’ and use it properly. Be aware of their city/town and insert local references when possible (local sports teams, big events, etc). ”  

A human resource generalist at COING, Ena Popovic , is also well aware that researching a topic is essential: 

Ena Popovic

“ Behind every good presentation is time invested in detailed research about the topic. ”

Thus, aside from getting familiar with the audience’s expectations and point of view, giving a great presentation means that you’re the expert in the topic.  

Way #2: Use icebreakers or a round of creative personal introductions to start 

An icebreaker has a role to break the ice between the presenter and the audience — it helps both sides to feel comfortable and get connected. 

Ena Popovic adds:

“ The objective here is to get your audience’s undivided attention. By using an icebreaker or creative personal introductions at the very beginning, you set the tone for the rest of the presentation. ”

To break the ice effectively, you should know your audience and be aware of their similarities and differences. Also, bear in mind the audience size. 

If you present to a small audience of 2-10 people, you can start with a word game or introduction with a twist, so everyone has to say something unusual about them. 

However, when presenting to a large group of people, you should consider other types of icebreakers, such as brainstorming sessions or splitting them into smaller groups and playing a game.

To learn more about how to run effective virtual ice breaker sessions, check out our blog post:

  • 150 Ice breaker questions for virtual meetings

Way #3: Follow the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint

A popular speaker and a best-seller author, Guy Kawasaki, suggested a method of the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint. It implies 3 main rules for making an effective presentation .

  • The optimal number of presentation slides is 10 : He explained: “ This is because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than 10 concepts in a meeting .”
  • Presentations shouldn’t last more than 20 minutes : If a presentation lasts longer, the audience will more likely feel daunted, which leads to less focus and motivation to follow the presentation flow.
  • Good presenters use no less than 30-point font : Firstly, this way, you ensure you don’t include too much text on a slide. Secondly, fewer words force presenters to know the content deeply. Kawasaki believed the worst mistake a presenter can make is not being prepared sufficiently.

If you want to learn more about how to prepare for a presentation and stand out with your presentation skills, check out our guide:

  • How to prepare for a presentation: Your 9-step guide to a successful presentation

Way #4: Use the non-linear flow of your interactive presentation

The non-linear flow of presentation allows navigation through the content without following a fixed path. 

By adding hyperlinks or action buttons, you can quickly jump over the slides and make a presentation more interactive. 

The non-linear style of presentation goes beyond regular structure in more ways:

  • It increases audience engagement,
  • It encourages participation, and
  • It enables following directions of the audience’s interests and questions.

Way #5: Incorporate multimedia elements

Leveraging multimedia elements is a powerful method for making interactive presentations that make your audience engaged and focused. 

You can make multimedia experience using various forms such as:

  • Interactive slides,
  • Images, and
  • Infographics.

As we mentioned earlier, it’s easier to remember pictures than words. Thus, make sure to take advantage of visual aids to help your listeners better understand and remember important information.

Visual data can efficiently convey a message to your audience. This is especially important when you need to explain complex concepts.

Moreover, according to research , visual aids are a powerful persuasion tool. Namely, presentations with visual elements have a greater impact on audience response. 

Simply put, if you want to motivate your audience to take action, make sure to add visuals. 

Additionally, we can use visual metaphors to take greater advantage of visual aids and make our messages more understandable and memorable. 

So, let’s consider the following steps that make this process successful:

Step #1: Make a list of a few key messages in advance

First of all, ponder over the main ideas you want your audience to pay attention to and remember. Jot them down, and make sure to focus on them when presenting. 

For instance, if you present your SEO results to the team, you probably want to outline the growth of your website on the search engine results pages for the last quarter.  

Step #2: Find relevant images that fit your keyword(s)

Try to figure out what image is relevant to represent your key ideas. 

In our previous example about SEO results, it could be a rocketship taking off or a man climbing stairs. 

Way #6: Add something funny

Ena Popovic usually takes advantage of incorporating funny images into presentations: 

“They help to make your talk not so boring. Images, videos, and even GIFs can add a visual element that will help draw attention back to your slides and give people something else to focus on.”

Thus, visual cues go beyond better retention — they can easily entertain your audience and hold their attention.  

Also, Ena highlights the importance of making a positive atmosphere by using humor:

“ Showing your personality and sense of humor can lighten the mood and build good rapport with the crowd. The participants are more likely to remember you if you make them laugh and in turn remember your ideas and key points. ”

Humor ensures your presentation is memorable, so make sure to use relevant funny quotes or analogies that will engage your listeners. 

Way #7: Include interactive charts or graphs to show numbers or statistics

In some presentations, numbers and statistics are the key points that the audience has to pay attention to. 

Instead of presenting the raw data, try to convert them into charts or graphs that people will understand and remember better. 

This way, they digest information much more easily. 

Way #8: Be aware of the F-shaped pattern

A key step in creating an engaging presentation is getting familiar with what engages the brain. 

Fortunately, the eye-tracking study has revealed how people typically read and consume content, which is a great help for all presenters to organize their content on slides wisely. 

Namely, the evidence has shown that people read web pages in an F-shaped pattern, so they favor the top and left sides. 

Therefore, presenters should avoid using bullet points, since they don’t support scanning behavior. Making things worse, bullet points may lead to your audience feeling cognitively overwhelmed and distracted from what you’re saying.

According to the Harvard Business Review article : 

“ Bullet points are the least effective way to get your point across. Take Steve Jobs, considered to be one of the most extraordinary presenters of his time. He rarely showed slides with just text and bullets. He used photos and text instead. ”

So, instead of bullet points, try to deliver important information according to the F-shaped pattern.

Way #9: Turn the presentation into a story

Now that we’re confident storytelling is a powerful tool for engaging the audience, the question is: How do we incorporate it into a presentation?

First of all, no matter whether your presentation covers data-heavy content or not, it can be turned into an inspiring story. 

You just need to follow the next steps that ensure your story is a good fit for your presentation:

  • Know your audience : We’ve already concluded that knowing your audience well is critical to connecting with them. But, aside from understanding their interests and motivations, it’s important to understand whether and how much they are familiar with the topic. Duarte says: “ It’s important to know your audience so that you can understand how your views are both similar to and different from theirs ”.
  • Clarify your objective: Secondly, getting clear on your presentation goals is equally important as understanding your listeners. This way, you ensure that your presentation objective aligns with your audience’s goal. For example, if you’re making a sales presentation, your goal here is clear: you want to motivate prospects to become paying customers. On the other hand, their goal is to get relevant information and grasp whether your service/product can help them solve a problem. 
  • Set the basic structure: Once you’re familiar with your audience’s goal and your presentation objective, it’s time to set the basic structure that defines the beginning, middle, and end of the presentation.
  • Add details: Finally, don’t forget to add details that vividly present your ideas. This is a key step for making your story compelling and enticing.

Way #10: Set the basic structure of your story 

If you’re creating an educational presentation, at the beginning of your story, make your listeners aware of the importance of the topic, and motivate them to learn more about it. On the other hand, in sales presentations, you should discuss pain points that can be solved by the product/service you’re offering. 

Nancy Duarte calls the beginning of the story a “call to adventure” , because you call your listeners to leave their comfort zone. 

She states: 

“ The first turning point to occur in a presentation is the call to adventure, which triggers a significant shift in the content. The call to adventure asks the audience to jump into a situation that, unbeknownst to them, requires their attention and action. This moment sets the presentation in motion. ”

She also added: 

“You can use historical information about what has been or the current state of what is, which often includes the problem you’re currently facing. You should deliver a concise formulation of what everyone agrees is true .” 

When creating a compelling beginning of the story , the goal is to make your audience see the contrast between what is and what could be.

Turning point 1

According to Nancy, in the middle of the story , the focus is on contrast. This is because a presenter has a role to make and resolve a problem through contrast. That way, the audience pays attention and stays interested. 

Even though presenters typically end with a call to action , a more inspirational way to do so is to include “the picture of the potential reward”.

Turning point 2

Way #11: Give it a personal touch 

Ena Popovic pointed out that storytelling should include personal touch:

“ Personal stories have the power to connect us with others. If you are able to find a link between the information presented and your day-to-day life or experiences, take advantage of the pull that this resource can generate .”

Thus, adding a personal touch helps presenters to appear more relatable — this way, you can show your vulnerability, which helps your listeners get emotionally involved.

Way #12: Make the presentation more conversational 

To encourage the presentation to be more of a dialogue, ask whether your listeners have a question before you move to the next slide. 

In addition, Ena suggests encouraging your audience to participate and surprising your audience in the following way:

“Hide small pieces of interesting information within the presentation itself. It could be a video, audio, or new information. Hide it and let the audience track them.”

That way, you encourage the participants to think actively and find the answers by themselves. This practice is a good option for turning passive audiences into active participants. 

Way #13: Encourage the audience to participate 

You can use different strategies to make your audience participate, but Ena suggests dividing into small groups:

“ Try dividing your participants into small groups to conduct a short task, then feed back their findings into your key presentation points. This makes them feel important, builds trust, and radically increases engagement levels. ”

This way, you also encourage your audience to collaborate and exchange their ideas and thoughts.

Way #14: Add a Q&As and discussion session

According to Edoardo Binda Zane, asking questions is a powerful technique to engage the audience: 

“ By far, the most effective tactic is to ask questions to the audience or involve them. Even something as simple as ‘Raise your hand if…’ can make a world of a difference. In remote communication, you can also do something similar.” 

If you need to present remotely, you can take advantage of your business communication software’s video conferencing option and share your screen to communicate complex ideas clearly, so everyone is on the same page.

Way #15: Listen to feedback

Aside from engaging the participants and making them feel heard, asking questions is a great method to get feedback.  This can dramatically improve the quality of your speech and presentations in the future.

Therefore, listen to the audience’s questions and comments well, and use this data when creating your next presentation.

For example, if you notice that the participants don’t understand some concepts from your presentation well, in the future, incorporate examples that will fill the gap.

Way #16: Make an eye contact 

The great importance of eye contact is usually overlooked. However, this is a powerful tool for making connections with your listeners and conveying your confidence. 

Plus, it helps you deliver your message effectively and facilitate your audience’s engagement.

Way #17: End on a more serious tone 

Presenters have to end a presentation effectively. 

Ena advises considering the two following practices:

  • End on a more serious tone, and
  • Add a reflection at the very end. 

She elaborates:

“When all is said and done, you will want the audience to remember the core concepts and keep thinking about what you have said after the presentation is over. This is why you should let things naturally calm down and end with an important idea, quote or even a question.”

Way #18: Add a reflection at the very end

A good way to end your presentation is asking reflective questions, which help your audience to think about what they just learned and how they can take advantage of that knowledge. 

Here’s what Ena says about this practice:

“ Reflective questions make sure the presentation receives a good ending. A reflective question gives you an idea of the audience’s take-away from the presentation while encouraging them to share their feedback and inputs.”

You can ask your listeners the following questions:

  • “What did you learn from the presentation that you didn’t know before?” , or
  • “ How will you use that knowledge in the future?”

Wrapping up: Only interactive and engaging presentations make an impact

Each presentation is a two-way process, so both the presenter and audience have major roles. 

To make your audience engaged, you need to know them and be aware of the presentation objective. 

Use compelling multimedia elements relevant to your content and turn the presentation into a story to make sure your listeners will understand crucial information well and memorize them.  

Most importantly, listen to their questions and comments, so you can improve the quality of presentations in the future. 

✉️ What about you? Do you have experience with making an interactive presentation? Or, from the audience’s perspective, what is the most effective way to make a presentation more interactive? Do you have any additional tips on how to make a presentation more engaging?

Let us know at [email protected] and we might include your input in this or future posts. If you found this article helpful, share it with someone who would also benefit from it.

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VisnjaVujnovic

Visnja is a communication author and researcher at Pumble, applying her knowledge about psychology to writing blog posts on business communication and remote work. She is passionate about understanding the ways communication influences organizational behavior, employee satisfaction, and productivity. When she's not writing, she's probably researching various industrial-organizational psychology topics.

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15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

By Krystle Wong , Aug 04, 2023

Interactive presentation ideas

As attention spans continue to shrink, the challenge of engaging audiences in a short timeframe has never been more significant. Let’s face it — grabbing and keeping your audience’s attention can be quite the challenge, especially when time is ticking away. But fear not, I’ve got the perfect solution: interactive presentations!

Believe it or not, creating an interactive presentation is easier than you might think. In this guide, I’ll show you how to effortlessly turn ordinary slides into captivating experiences with 15 interactive presentation ideas that will leave your audience begging for more. From quirky polls and fun games to storytelling adventures and multimedia magic, these ideas will take your presentation game to the next level.

Venngage is a game-changer when it comes to empowering interactive presentations. With just a few clicks, users can customize their favorite presentation templates , add multimedia content and create immersive experiences that leave a lasting impact. Whether you’re a seasoned presenter or a newcomer, get started with Venngage to elevate your presentation game to new heights of engagement and creativity.

Click to jump ahead:

What is an interactive presentation?

15 ways to make a presentation interactive, 7 best interactive presentation software, what are some common mistakes to avoid when creating interactive presentations, interactive presentation faqs, how to create an interactive presentation with venngage.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

An interactive presentation is a dynamic and engaging communication format that involves active participation and collaboration between the presenter and the audience. Unlike traditional presentations where information is delivered in a one-way manner, interactive presentations invite the audience to interact, respond and contribute throughout the session.

Think of it as a two-way street where you and your audience have a friendly chat. It’s like playing a fun game where you ask questions, get live feedback and encourage people to share their thoughts. 

To make a good presentation , you can utilize various tools and techniques such as clickable buttons, polls, quizzes, discussions and multimedia elements to transform your slides into an interactive presentation. Whether you’re presenting in-person or giving a virtual presentation — when people are actively participating, they’re more likely to remember the stuff you’re talking about.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Interactive presentations leave a lasting impression on the audience. By encouraging active participation and feedback, interactive presentations facilitate better understanding and knowledge retention. Here are 15 innovative 5-minute interactive presentation ideas to captivate your audience from start to finish:

1. Ice-breaker questions

Start your presentation with intriguing and thought-provoking questions or a fun icebreaker game. These questions should be designed to pique the audience’s curiosity and encourage them to think about the topic you’ll be covering. By doing so, you create an immediate connection with your audience and set the stage for a more engaged and attentive audience.

For example, if you’re giving a business presentation about management and leadership training, you could ask audience questions such as “What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received, and how has it impacted your career?”

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

2. Live polling

Incorporate live polls during your presentation using audience response systems or polling apps. This allows you to collect real-time feedback, opinions and insights from active participants. Live polling encourages active participation and involvement, making your presentation feel like a collaborative and interactive experience.

3. Q&A sessions

Encourage the audience to ask questions throughout your presentation, especially for pitch deck presentations . Address these questions in real-time, which fosters a more interactive and dynamic atmosphere. This approach shows that you value the audience’s input and promotes a two-way communication flow.

4. Clickable buttons

Add clickable buttons to your slides, allowing the audience to navigate to specific sections or external resources at their own pace. For example, you could include links to your social media accounts or extra reading materials in your education presentation to give further information about the topic and get your students engaged. By providing this autonomy, you empower the audience to explore areas of particular interest, creating a more personalized and engaging experience through your interactive slideshow.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

5. Storytelling

Incorporate anecdotes or personal stories related to your topic. Storytelling is a powerful way to emotionally connect with your audience, making your presentation more relatable and memorable. A little storytelling along with a set of creative slides draws the audience in and keeps them engaged as they follow the narrative.

6. Interactive charts and graphs

Use interactive charts and graphs that respond to user input to make your presentation interactive. For instance, allow the audience to click on data points to view more detailed information or to change the displayed data series. Creating charts with interactive visuals help the audience interact with the data, fostering better understanding and engagement.

7. Animated infographics

Add animations to your infographics, making them visually dynamic and progressive. Animated infographics reveal information gradually, keeping the audience curious and attentive. This transforms complex data into an easily digestible and engaging format.

Venngage’s extensive library of infographic templates is a powerful tool to visualize data and elevate the interactivity of your presentations. Personalizing the visuals ensures a cohesive and professional look throughout your interactive presentation. The templates are highly customizable, allowing you to adjust colors, fonts, and styles to match your presentation’s theme and branding. 

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

8. Gamification

Introduce an interactive quiz, puzzles, or challenges related to your presentation content. Gamification adds an element of fun and competition, motivating the audience to participate actively and boosting their learning experience. Here are some gaming presentation templates you could use. 

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

9. Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR)

If applicable, leverage VR or AR technologies to provide immersive experiences. These interactive presentation tools transport the audience into a virtual or augmented environment, making your presentation more captivating and memorable.

10. Collaborative whiteboarding

Get your audience involved in your presentation by utilizing digital whiteboards or collaborative tools to brainstorm ideas collectively. This fosters teamwork and creativity, enabling the audience to actively contribute and feel a sense of involvement in the presentation.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

11. Hyperlinked text

Keep the information in your slides minimal with a simple presentation and incorporate hyperlinks to direct viewers to relevant websites or blogs , resources, or additional information. This encourages self-exploration and gives the audience the opportunity to delve deeper into topics of interest.

12. Role-playing

Engage the audience in role-playing scenarios to explore different perspectives. Role-playing promotes active learning and helps the audience relate the content to real-life situations, enhancing their understanding and retention.

13. Embedded videos

Include video clips in your slides to provide visual explanations, demonstrations, or interviews. Videos add a dynamic element to your presentation, enriching the content and keeping the audience engaged.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

14. Audience-generated content

Encourage the audience to contribute ideas, stories or examples related to your professional presentation . Audience-generated content fosters a sense of ownership and involvement, making the presentation more interactive and personalized.

15. Slide transitions

Use slide transitions to create smooth animations between slides. Well-planned transitions maintain the audience’s interest and keep the presentation slides flowing seamlessly.

Interactive elements aside, enhance your presentation with these guides on how to summarize information for a captivating presentation and how to make a persuasive presentation to captivate your audience. 

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

If you’re looking to create engaging and interactive presentation slides that captivate your audience, these presentation software options are sure to elevate your game:

Prezi is renowned for its dynamic and non-linear presentation style, enabling users to craft visually stunning and interactive presentations. With an array of templates and animation effects, Prezi enhances audience engagement, making your presentations more captivating and memorable.

2. Mentimeter

Mentimeter serves as an audience response system, empowering real-time interaction during presentations. Users can create interactive polls, quizzes, word clouds and more, allowing the audience to respond using their smartphones or other devices. This fosters active participation and provides valuable feedback instantly.

3. Google Slides

Google Slides is a free cloud-based presentation software that not only offers collaboration features but also enables real-time interactions. It includes add-ons and third-party integrations to further enhance interactivity, making it an excellent choice for collaborative and engaging presentations.

4. Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint, a classic presentation software, has evolved to incorporate more interactive features like live captions, real-time collaboration and interactive elements such as quizzes and forms. With its familiar interface and versatile functionalities, PowerPoint remains a reliable choice for interactive presentations.

5. Prezentor

Prezentor caters to sales-oriented presentations focusing on interactive storytelling and data-driven content. It offers analytics to track audience engagement and behavior during presentations, allowing you to fine-tune your approach and keep your audience hooked.

6. Opinion Stage

Opinion Stage is a visual and interactive data collection tool designed to engage and excite audiences whether sitting in a lecture hall, participating in a live Zoom, or watching an on-demand webinar. The Opinion Stage tools are simple and intuitive, making it easy to create attention-grabbing quizzes, surveys, and polls in minutes. A great way to spice up any presentation, encourage audience participation, and collect authentic feedback.

7 . Venngage

Venngage stands out as a versatile design tool that facilitates the creation of interactive infographics, data visualizations and presentations with ease. Offering various interactive elements and animations, Venngage empowers you to craft visually appealing and engaging presentations effortlessly.

With these interactive presentation software options at your disposal, you can unleash your creativity and deliver presentations that leave a lasting impact on your audience. So, go ahead and make your presentations interactive, captivating and memorable!

For more presentation software options, check out this blog on the 12 best presentation software for 2023.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Creating interactive presentations can be a game-changer for engaging your audience and enhancing your presentation skills, but steering clear of common pitfalls is essential. Here are some key mistakes to avoid when crafting your interactive presentations:

1. Overloading with interactivity

While interactivity is fantastic, bombarding your audience with too many interactive elements can backfire. Strive for a balanced approach that enhances engagement without overwhelming your listeners.

2. Ignoring audience relevance

Failing to tailor interactive elements to your audience’s interests and preferences can lead to disconnection. Make sure your interactions resonate with your specific audience for a more meaningful experience.

3. Not testing interactive elements

Skipping thorough testing of interactive features before showtime can spell disaster. Avoid technical glitches by diligently testing all interactive components in advance.

4. Poor timing and pace

Timing is everything, especially with interactive activities. Ensure seamless integration by planning your key points and the timing of your interactive elements carefully.

5. Lack of clear purpose

Every interactive element should serve a purpose and contribute to your presentation’s objectives. Don’t add interactions just for the sake of it — ensure they add value and align with your message.

6. Failing to engage beyond interactivity

While interactive elements are powerful tools, remember that content is king. Combine your interactive features with compelling storytelling and valuable insights to create an immersive and impactful presentation.

Incorporating animated slides into your interactive presentations enhances the overall appeal and interaction, turning an ordinary presentation into an engaging experience. Try it out with one of our animated presentation templates to get started. 

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

How do you start an interactive presentation?

Begin by grabbing the audience’s attention with an intriguing question or a surprising fact, setting the tone for a dynamic and engaging session.

Which type of presentation is the most interactive?

Workshops and seminars are often the most interactive types of presentations as they encourage active participation, discussions and hands-on activities.

How can interactive presentations enhance audience engagement?

Interactive presentations foster a two-way communication flow, involving the audience through polls, quizzes, discussions and multimedia elements, leading to increased interest, attentiveness and better retention of information.

What are some common interactive elements to include in a presentation?

Common interactive elements include clickable buttons, hyperlinked text, polls, quizzes, interactive charts, multimedia content and audience participation activities.

Can interactive presentations be used for educational purposes?

Absolutely! Interactive presentations are highly effective for educational purposes as they promote active learning, encourage critical thinking, and provide real-time feedback and knowledge exchange opportunities.

Need inspiration on how to give an engaging presentation ? Here are 120+ presentation ideas you could use. 

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Venngage makes it easy for anyone to infuse interactivity into their presentations. From clickable buttons and hyperlinked text to interactive infographics and dynamic charts, Venngage offers a diverse range of interactive elements to captivate and engage the audience. Here’s how you can make your presentation more fun and interesting with Venngage:

  • Sign up or log in to Venngage to access the platform.
  • Choose a presentation template or start with a blank canvas to begin designing your interactive presentation.
  • Add and edit slides in the Venngage editor to structure your presentation content effectively.
  • Customize the design by selecting themes, fonts, colors and backgrounds to match your style and branding.
  • Use interactive elements like buttons, links, pop-ups and hover effects to engage the audience during the presentation.
  • Enhance engagement by incorporating interactive media such as videos and audio clips.
  • Preview and test your entire presentation to ensure everything works smoothly before presenting it to your audience.
  • Save your interactive presentation on Venngage and share it online or download it in various formats for presenting purposes.

Well, I hope these 15 5-minute interactive presentation examples can help unlock a new level of audience engagement for your next presentation. From fun quizzes and interactive storytelling to multimedia magic and gamified challenges, the possibilities are endless. So, don’t be afraid to experiment, tailor the ideas to suit your audience members and let your creativity shine.  

That said, remember to strike a balance and keep the interactivity purposeful and relevant. Some common mistakes to avoid when creating interactive slides include overloading the presentation with too many interactive elements and failing to align the interactive elements with the overall presentation goals and content. 

Got it? Great. Now let’s turn that boring presentation around!

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What makes a presentation interactive?

Main benefits of interactive presentation, 9 ways to make your presentation interactive, types of interactive presentations, take your presentations to the next level.

An impactful speech or lecture requires more than being an articulate speaker . If you want the information to stick, your audience should engage with you and the material you’re presenting.

And that audience is changing. Among people with teleworkable jobs, 76% worked remotely some, most, or all of the time . Presentations are tricky when you’re catering to a virtual audience and don’t have the benefit of a physical space. And they’re even trickier when the people you’re speaking to are a mix of in-office and remote workers.

Creating a good presentation that incorporates the needs of both in-person and online audiences can feel like a tall order. But there’s a way to transform your spectators from passive listeners to active participants, giving them a memorable experience no matter the platform. And that solution is interaction.

Learning how to make a presentation interactive can grab and keep your audience's attention so they remember your session and its key takeaways. Here’s how to use interactive elements like Q&As, live demonstrations, and fun quizzes to make your presentations more exciting.

An interactive presentation has elements that involve the audience. The presenter engages with the group in real-time, asking and answering questions or encouraging participants to voice their opinions. Interactive presentations can also include online polls, quizzes, and face-to-face activities between audience members.

You’ve probably experienced a standard presentation where the speaker stands at the front of a projected PowerPoint slideshow, talking at you. Your only chance to engage comes when they open the floor to audience questions, and that’s only if there’s enough time. 

The presenter will still get the point across, but this approach can get boring, and it might be hard to pay attention if you’re not engaged. Around 90% of people admit to daydreaming during meetings and presentations , which can impact comprehension. An interactive presenter transforms the audience from viewers into active contributors and collaborators, making it easier to pay attention and gain from the meeting. 

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A captivating presentation does more than just get the audience involved. It improves comprehension, helps you connect, and personalizes the experience. Here are more benefits to including interactive elements in presentations: 

  • Connection: Human connection benefits everyone involved . An interactive presentation offers more back-and-forth between yourself and your audience, creating a sense of familiarity and an outlet for connection.
  • Comprehension: Studies show that during conversations, the speaker’s brain activity and the listener’s brain activity mimic each other, which improves understanding . Interactivity helps the audience better absorb the information you’re presenting. 
  • Engagement: Employee engagement leads to a happier workforce and improved company culture . Making the audience part of every meeting can contribute to their experience at work overall, and it’ll hold their interest in the moment. 
  • Cooperation: Soliciting contributions or setting up participation activities means you won’t be talking for the whole presentation, which can help you feel less tired. You’re letting the audience do some of the work for you.
  • Personalization: When you draw on your audience’s input, you’re creating a customized experience that is more meaningful and memorable. And interactivity means you’ll never give the same presentation twice, so your material will stay fresh.

group-of-people-hosting-a-conference-how-to-make-a-presentation-interactive

Choose one (or a few) interactive elements to add interest to your presentation and improve comprehension. Experiment with different options and find the activities that stick. If you aren’t sure how it went, ask for presentation feedback to learn what the group enjoyed most and what you could improve. 

Here are a few interactive methods to try:

1. Icebreaker questions

Using a fun icebreaker to kick off your presentation creates a connection between yourself and members of the audience. You can keep it simple by asking a straightforward question or separating participants into small groups for an activity like charades. Whatever method you choose, you’ll help everyone relax, set the tone, and encourage participation for what’s to come. 

2. Storytelling

Listening to a good story makes your brain more engaged and helps you relate to the storyteller . Introduce your talk with a personal anecdote and use it to create a framework for your presentation. Try using music clips, video clips, or sound effects to add an extra level of interest.

As your speech progresses, you can refer back to your narrative and connect your ideas, creating a clearer line of thought. Telling a good story can also create a rapport with your audience, helping them relate to you through empathy or shared experience.  

Using interactive polls for presentations demonstrates that you care about your audience’s opinion. You can use a poll to gauge interest in a specific topic, learn how the group is feeling in the moment, or segue into a new section of the presentation. A live poll will also provide immediate feedback, helping you gauge whether your content has the effect you want it to.

man-pointing-at-screen-during-presentation-how-to-make-a-presentation-interactive

Adding an interactive quiz for a presentation can help you read the room and assess your audience’s comprehension. Giving a quick quiz at the end of every section also lets you know if you need to follow up and explain your point further or open the floor to questions. Apps like Kahoot work well because everyone can pull out their smartphones and join in. The friendly competition of a quiz can also be a good motivator.

5. Question and answer

If you hold a Q&A session at the end of your presentation, the group might be too tired or rushed to find it meaningful. Instead, invite participants to ask their questions at key points throughout your talk. The information will be fresher in their minds, and a moment of conversation breaks up the lecture.

6. Demonstrations

If your presentation is about a product or concept, try showing it instead of telling it. Talking about the new app you’re launching isn’t as exciting as showing how it works. Demonstrating a concept, product, or service offers hands-on interaction and can make a more significant impact than words alone could.

7. Movement

Spending the whole presentation at the front of the room might bore both you and your audience. And it can be hard to create a personal connection when there’s a separation between you.

When you’re speaking, close the gap by moving through the venue space, pacing around, or speaking directly to different sections of the audience. Proximity and body language can help reinforce the connection you’ve built throughout your presentation.

Using props might sound gimmicky, but they can be powerful tools to help audiences engage with your material. Allowing your audience to interact with an item related to your speech can help break the third wall and add an element of fun.

Find an object that represents what you’re talking about, either literally or symbolically. For example, in Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED talk about her stroke, she shows the audience a real human brain to explain what happened .

You may have many methods for gauging your presentation’s success. Did the audience laugh at the jokes? Did you receive thank-you emails after ? This kind of indirect feedback can be telling, but it doesn’t provide you with actionable data.

Instead, incorporating a post-event survey gives your audience one last chance to share their thoughts and opinions with you. It gives the group a moment for self-reflection on what they’ve learned, and the feedback can help you improve your presentation skills before your next talk.

To apply interactive techniques that work the way you want them to, you need to be clear on the type of presentation you’re giving. Presenting the past quarter’s sales numbers has vastly different requirements than a lecture inspiring high school students to start volunteering. Understanding your audience and having clear goals will inform the format of your presentation and what kind of interaction suits it best. You have some freedom to mix and match elements of one format into another as long as they're complimentary, like adding persuasive characteristics to an inspirational speech. Here are five types of interactive presentations, with examples.

1. Informative

The goal of an informative presentation is to educate your audience. The structure shares factual information in a direct, unadorned fashion. For this kind of presentation, quizzes and polls work best because they test the audience’s knowledge. You can also use props to help them better understand complex information.

EXAMPLE: You present a workshop about your company’s style guide to new members of the marketing team and use a quiz to gauge their understanding.

attendants-listening-to-a-presentation-how-to-make-a-presentation-interactive

2. Persuasive

You use a persuasive format when making a sales pitch or convincing an audience to take specific actions. Props, movement, and Q&As all work well for this format because they keep your audience engaged and give them the chance to learn more about the topic.

EXAMPLE: You’re leading a public meeting to encourage citizens to begin recycling and composting, and you bring a full garbage bag to represent the amount of waste each person produces in a day.

3. Inspirational

If you’re familiar with TED talks, you’ve likely experienced an inspirational presentation format. These speeches use storytelling to boost morale or inspire audience members to change their behavior or perspective. Try moving around the space or asking the group an icebreaker question to get them involved with the story.

EXAMPLE: You give a speech about how you moved up the ladder at your company, and you move around the room to better connect with the audience and tell them they could do the same.

man-giving-a-presentation-at-teatre-how-to-make-a-presentation-interactive

4. Outcome-related

This collaborative presentation structure generates the most interaction between yourself and the participants because its goal is to work together. Use it to brainstorm solutions to a problem or determine the process you need to reach a desired outcome. Polls, quizzes, and surveys all work well for outcome-related presentations. EXAMPLE: You hold a meeting to develop a social media strategy for a new client and give an anonymous survey where team members can submit ideas.

5. Instructive 

An instructive presentation takes a deep dive into a topic. By the end, audiences expect to better understand an idea, concept, or possibly a product. Using storytelling and props can help demonstrate difficult concepts and give an audience more ways to connect with the topic.

EXAMPLE: You give a lecture on the benefits of solar panels on domestic buildings, and you bring in a solar panel with a lightbulb to show how it works.

Speaking in front of a group can be a little intimidating. But learning how to make a presentation interactive can elevate the event and relieve some of the nervousness associated with public speaking .

Whether you’re reviewing the results of a marketing campaign or speaking about an issue near and dear to your heart, interactivity helps transform a one-sided lecture into a participatory event. Meaningful audience interactions help your audience remember what you’re talking about and connect with the story you’re telling.

So next time you develop a virtual team-building exercise or present last month’s sales report, you’ll have the interactive presentation ideas you need to create an engaging experience, no matter your audience.

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Elizabeth Perry

Content Marketing Manager, ACC

Make the connection: 10 effective ways to connect with people

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How to Give an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation in 2023

Profile picture Juraj Holub

Presenting online is tough, yes. You can’t really connect with your audience. You often don’t even know whether those mute faces listen to you at all.

That’s why it’s important to go the extra mile and make your presentation interactive. 

But that’s easier said than done, right?

Being for 7 years in the game of interactive presenting, I’d like to share some of my tips on how to activate your audience , create meaningful interaction, and facilitate it during your talk.

Get inspired by these (or some of these) tips for delivering a  truly interactive PowerPoint presentation.

  • Play music or do some chit-chat while waiting
  • Welcome people and properly introduce the topic
  • Explain how people can interact with you
  • Involve the audience from the very start
  • Re-engage your audience every 5-7 minutes
  • Use polls to trigger a discussion
  • Take advantage of Zoom’s interactive features
  • Simplify your slides: One idea/visual per slide
  • Play around with virtual backgrounds
  • Use breakout sessions for peer-to-peer learning
  • Turn tedious numbers into a quiz
  • Invite a sidekick
  • Run mid-way Q&A sessions
  • Give your audience something tangible to leave with
  • Run a short feedback survey at the end

1. Play music or do some chit-chat while waiting

Often it takes a couple of minutes before everybody jumps on a call. While you’re waiting for the rest of the crew to join, you can play some music in the background to set the mood and talk to the people who have already tuned in. “Has anyone discovered a good recipe lately?” or, “Did you do anything cool this weekend?”

You can share music during your Zoom call easily by clicking the ‘ Share computer sound ‘ checkbox.

As people are joining, you can also prompt them to turn on their cameras and unmute themselves for the time being, so that you can all see and talk to each other.

💡 Use icebreaker polls to strike up conversations while you’re waiting for others.

2. Welcome people and properly introduce the topic

Once everybody’s aboard, welcome your participants warmly, thank them for joining you, and tell everyone what you will be talking about today. You can even add an agenda slide to your presentation so you map out the whole session to your audience in advance. In the virtual environment, it’s even more important to navigate people through the talk.

slido all hands agenda in a presentation

3. Explain how people can interact with you

Always check that everyone understands the technical side of things – otherwise, people may not know how to interact with you. Tell them what tools you’re going to use during the presentation and explain how they can use them.

It’s all about setting the right expectations: Do you want your participants to share comments via Zoom or Webex chat? Sure, tell them that. Explain how Webex or Zoom reactions work in case not everyone is familiar with them. If you expect verbal input from your participants, ask them to use the ‘Raise hand’ feature, so you can call on them if they want to contribute.

slido meeting with zoom reactions

Are you going to use live polls throughout your presentation? Explain how people can vote in a poll or contribute with their ideas.

4. Involve the audience from the very start

Now that you’ve made it clear to your audience that you want and expect them to actively participate in the upcoming session, it’s time to give it a trial run.

Start a conversation with them right off the bat. For instance, I was recently a guest at an online fireside chat series called ‘Living Online’, run by our former Head of Education and a great moderator, Zuzana.

Before she dived into the topic, she collected insights from the audience. She ran a series of polls, asking people, “How much has the online world changed your life?” or, “What helps you find a balance between the real and the online world?”

slido interactive live poll during presentation

This way, she made the talk more about the audience, as opposed to just streaming information one way (while making sure people are familiar with the tech).

5. Re-engage your audience every 5-7 minutes

Keep the momentum and motivate your audience to “talk” to you throughout your presentation. Even if it is just in a non-verbal way.

We recommend using live polls or other forms of interaction every 5-7 minutes to pull people back in and involve them in a conversation.

Prepare several poll questions for your audience beforehand, and spread them out throughout your talk.

Is there a content-heavy part of your presentation that might be tough for your audience to process? At the end of it, use a rating poll to ask your audience how well they understood.

slido interactive live poll during an online meeting

Are you about to propose an argument? Before you do, ask your audience what their viewpoint on the topic is first. (You can use live polls here too.)

Take inspiration from our Head of Internal Comms, Silvia, who – before giving a word to our CEO Peter who’d walk us through September highlights – began by using a word cloud to source highlights from the team.

interactive slido poll during a presentation

6. Use polls to trigger a discussion

Live polls are invaluable for collecting real-time input from your audience. You can use that input effectively for starting a discussion.

For example, during our latest strategy meeting with our Brand team, I really needed to know whether the strategy points I presented to my team made sense, and I wanted to build up a discussion around them.

After each of the three presented areas, I ran a rating poll: “On a scale of 1-6, how important is this area in order to achieve our goals?”

slido interactive live poll during an online meeting

When votes came in, I commented on the results and whenever there were votes lower than 6, I asked: “Okay, who put 5/4? Can you please share your thoughts with us?”

This really changed the game for me, because I collected some invaluable insights from my colleagues that would otherwise have remained uncovered. Very often, people don’t share until you nudge them a little.

Read also: 7 Interactive Poll Ideas for Your PowerPoint Presentation

7. Take advantage of interactive features

Encourage your participants to ‘Raise hand’, use emoji reactions, or chat. Your meeting participants are probably not going to use them heavily unless you encourage them to do so.

I often use emoji reactions for fast feedback: I ask people to press thumbs up as an indication that they understand or agree, or to express that they like something with a clapping emoji or the heart symbol.

virtual icebreakers emoji reactions check in

8. Simplify your slides: One idea/visual per slide

Make sure your slides are visually appealing. When listening to someone speak online, the last thing you want is to read huge bodies of text on slides. So don’t copy-paste the whole script of your speech. Use just one idea, one sentence, one topic, or one number per slide.

make powerpoint more interactive simplify slides

Where appropriate, support what you’re saying with an image, a graph, a gif, or even a meme. Do you want to show a video during your presentation? Make sure it’s really short because a video, no matter how entertaining, is yet another piece of content your audience consumes passively.

9. Play around with virtual backgrounds

Using a virtual background when presenting online can save the day if you need to quickly hide a messy kitchen or any trespassing relatives.

But, there’s more to it. You can tie it to the topic of your presentation and thus strengthen the message you’re trying to convey. For example, ever since our CEO Peter used climbing El Capitan as a metaphor for our company strategy, he uses an El Cap photo as his virtual background as a reminder for all of us that we still have a mountain to climb.

interactive background on zoom during a presentation

Need another great use of a virtual background? Pick a funny picture and use it as an icebreaker. For example, in several meetings, I put up a picture of a naked man chasing a wild boar, and believe me, there’s no better icebreaker !

funny virtual background during online meeting

People usually laugh and ask me why I picked this very image – it’s priceless to start a meeting with a smile on people’s faces!

Read also: 18 Best Virtual Icebreakers For Your Zoom Meetings

10. Use breakout sessions for peer-to-peer learning

This tactic is magic, especially with longer presentation types such as during all-company meetings, workshops, or training.

Propose a discussion topic or a challenge. Give your audience 1-2 minutes to think about it, before splitting them into smaller groups so that they can share their thoughts together and brainstorm solutions.

zoom breakout rooms during online presentation

This is a great interactive exercise that helps you break the monotonous flow of one-way content broadcast and allow for some peer-to-peer learning.

You can also collect the learnings of your audience to include them in the presentation. For example, you can run an open text poll where you collect everybody’s key learnings and then display them on the screen. Let’s say you have asked your audience to discuss your company priorities. Try a word cloud such as: “Submit which priorities you discussed in your group.”

11. Turn tedious numbers into a quiz

Presenting company updates or business results can get quite tedious and your audience may easily start zoning out.

Turn it around and present your numbers in a form of a quiz .

For instance, before you reveal the number, say something like: “Before we look at the numbers, why don’t you guys have a guess at how well we did?” Then run a poll with multiple options and wait for your participants to cast their votes.

You can use this technique on multiple occasions. Our CEO, Peter, usually does this at our end-of-year all-hands meetings when he presents our business results such as revenue, sales, or a number of Slido events.

slido interactive quiz

12. Invite a sidekick

Virtual presenters are superheroes that need to juggle multiple tools. And every Batman needs Robin. Consider inviting another speaker to deliver the presentation with you.

It will freshen up your talk and break the stereotype of only one speaker talking. On top of that, she/he can also help you with technicalities such as keeping an eye on the chat or troubleshooting any technical issues.

You can take turns in presenting the content or even give your presentation in the form of a conversation between the two of you. This way, it’ll be even easier for you to involve your audience in the talk, as they’ll be joining what already feels like an ongoing discussion.

invite a sidekick to help you deliver your presentation

Having a sidekick is invaluable if you’re running a Q&A round at the end of your presentation – they can help you manage questions from the audience.

13. Run mid-way Q&A sessions

Always make sure to leave space for Q&A – answering questions from the audience is one of the most important engagement points. Your participants will have a chance to dive deeper into the topic of your talk, and eventually, learn much more from your presentation.

Don’t wait until the end, but review the questions as they come in and take the most relevant ones continuously throughout your presentation (e.g. after each content block). If there are any outstanding questions, address them in the Q&A round at the end.

For example, during our recent product event , our Project Managers, Juraj Pal, Martin Srna, and Mario Ceselka, ran several Q&A rounds after each product announcement that they made. (Almost 350 questions came in! This is why it’s priceless to have a sidekick.)

live q and a session during a powerpoint presentation

They also encouraged people to use upvotes, so the most popular questions can jump to the top and be answered with priority.

14. Give your audience something tangible to leave with

As you move towards the end of your talk, it’s good practice to reiterate the main message of your presentation to give your participants one concrete takeaway to remember.

You can make the ending interactive as well: Ask your audience to think about what they’ve just heard, then run a poll asking your audience: “What are you taking away from this presentation?” or, “What one thing resonated with you the most during this presentation?”

15. Run a short feedback survey at the end

Don’t forget to ask your audience for feedback. We’re always ready to rate our Uber drives or meal deliveries in order to help improve the experience. Why should presentations be any different?

Feedback is the best way for you to learn and find out what you can do better next time. Combine classic star rating with an open text poll so your participants can write more elaborate comments as well.

Two to three questions will suffice – you don’t want to wear your audience down with too long a survey (plus, you’ll boost the response rate!). Here’s an example that you can use:

  • How would you rate today’s presentation? (Rating)
  • What did you like most about this presentation? (Open text)
  • Is there anything that could be improved? (Open text)

Over to you

Actively involving your audience in your content is key if you want to make your online presentation more interactive and engaging.

Using polls, quizzes, and collecting questions from your audience is one of the easiest ways to create more interaction during your talk.

With Slido for PowerPoint , you can add polls to your presentation and present seamlessly – all from one place. Watch this video to see how Slido for PowerPoint works. Click below to try it.

Add live polls directly to your PowerPoint presentation.

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18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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How To Make Presentations Interactive: Our Top 10 Tips

Table of contents.

Feeling like your presentations have reached a plateau? Are you looking to incorporate something which brings a spark back into your presentation and ignites the excitement in your audience?

If so, you probably need to make your presentations more interactive. In a recent study on evaluating the effect of interactive digital presentations on students’ performance during technology class , interactive presentations not only made learning more enjoyable but it actually helped students.

White hand pressing a button on a tablet

With interactive presentations having proven positive results, why wouldn’t you make your next presentation interactive?

Adding interactivity in your slide design will create a more engaging experience for the audience allowing you to share important points easier. Interactivity will help make a longer presentation more enjoyable and will create social interaction amongst a larger audience.

In today’s article, we will share with you different ideas on how to make a presentation interactive that will take into account audience input and get your audience involved.

What Is An Interactive Presentation?

White female with her hand raised in a crowd

An interactive presentation is the accumulation and usage of various engagement methods combined into a format used to share with an audience in an effort to persuade, act or make the audience feel a certain way.

An interactive presentation takes the idea of a presentation one step further by incorporating elements to get them engaged both mentally and physically. Understanding the basics of presentation psychology , the more senses of your audience that you can target, the more memorable your presentation will be.

This is exactly what an interactive presentation manages to do. By having your presentation be interactive, you are able to target more senses of your audience and as a result make your presentation and the contents of your presentation more memorable.

What Makes A Presentation Interactive?

White, red haired woman standing in front of a whiteboard

Now that we know what an interactive presentation is, we need to know what makes a presentation interactive.

To make your presentation interactive, you need to foster an interactive environment. This means an environment in which your audience is engaged. This can be achieved through interactive elements such as videos, games or questions. Essentially anything you add to your presentation which engages the audience more than just having them sit and listen will transform your presentation into an interactive one.

Why Your Presentation Should Be Interactive

Three women sat on chairs discussing how to make presentations interactive

Interactive presentations connect with your audience members more:

Whether it’s a fun icebreaker game or a personal anecdote, interactive presentations make it easier for your audience to connect with you.

If you are trying to influence or persuade your audience, you need to find a way to connect with them. Without the personal connection and your presentation won’t serve your end goal.

Interactive presentations help your audience members remember more:

Similar to visual aids or presentation aids , adding different elements to your presentation encourages people to constantly be engaged with your presentation. The more your audience is actively engaged with your presentation, the more likely they will remember the main points of your presentation. The following tips specifically refers to traditional, in-person presentations, however it is still possible to engage with your audience in a virtual event engagement as well if you are looking for some advice.

10 Ways To Make Your Presentation Interactive

Young white male addressing a crowd of people in a small room

Now that we understand the basics of why your presentation slides should be interactive presentation slides, we’ll go over 10 key points we implement in our own presentation designs and share with you interactive presentation ideas.

1 – Add A Video

One of the first ways you can make your presentation interactive is a method you are probably familiar with and have already incorporated into your own past presentations.

Adding a video is an easy yet impactful way to make your presentation interactive. Videos are interactive and impactful because they take the audience’s attention from the current present somewhere else. It is like a time-traveling machine. Also, it doesn’t take much presentation design skill to insert video elements throughout your presentation.

Videos are also great to use because there is often a lot more time and production value that goes into creating them. You can feature guests who are not currently there in-person and you can even have them address the audience. Think of Cameo for example where celebrities can record short video clips of themselves reading a message of your choosing. If you had a Cameo created for your audience, you can have it embedded in the presentation.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

2 – Incorporate A Quiz

If the desired end result of your presentation is to have your audience remember as much of what you presented as possible, then one of the best ways to do so is by incorporating a quiz. We as a society and people tend to best remember things when we know we are required to. We are required to remember things when we know we will be asked to recall them.

So, at the beginning of your presentation you should inform your audience there will be a quiz at the end. Alternatively, you can sprinkle small quizzes throughout your presentation. This will encourage your audience to mentally take notes in order to be able to recall them later on.

But, be careful in using this tactic.

It works great if you have a cooperative audience but it will backfire if you don’t.

Imagine you told your audience to take a quiz and they all answered incorrectly, even when you warned them ahead of time that there would be a quiz. If even then your audience fails to recall key information, it will reflect badly on you because you either did not have an engaging enough presentation or you delivered the information poorly.

3 – Use A Poll

Similar to a quiz, live polls allow you to get your audience’s feedback in real-time.

Depending on the polling software you use, you can create instant data visualization elements like creating charts of how your audience has responded. This works great if you’re asking a question and want to see the audience’s answer.

If you are starting out fresh and don’t have the means to incorporate polling software in your presentation then don’t worry – the old-fashioned method of simply asking your audience to raise their hands is sufficient. Although it is limited to binary questions which can be answered with a yes or a no, it is still effective as an interactive element.

4 – Turn To Social Media & Use A Hashtag

Your presentation won’t always be limited to the live audience you have physically in front of you. At times, you might have a virtual presentation where your audience is tuning in from across the world. In instances like this, turning to social media is a great tool to keep your presentation interactive.

Turning to social media to engage your audience is great as it incorporates several of the tactics on this list into one. Social media can be used like a real-time forum or discussion group where your audience can be active participants in the discussion by asking questions, discussing amongst one another or even contributing to the ideas you are presenting.

If executed properly, you may even use social media and a branded hashtag as a public relations tactic. This will allow you to reach new audiences which is critical if you’re trying to sell things or establish yourself as a thought-leader in a specific industry.

5 – Use Your Entire Venue Space

Body language is a critical presentation skill you need to master in order to create great presentations. One way to almost guarantee you will have a boring presentation and one the audience will surely forget is by staying in one spot the entire presentation.

Instead, you want to maximize the space you are given and walk around.

Walking around will allow you to get up close and personal with your audience entering their space. If you keep the room divided between “the stage” and “the audience”, then you will have a disconnect. Once you enter the audience’s space, you are creating a new area of interaction.

6 – Use Props

Think back to when you were a kid and you were sitting at school assemblies or listening to presentations. I don’t know about you, but personally, the ones that come to mind easily are the ones that had props!

What might be seen as a gimmick, props are great tools to use especially when you are making a presentation interactive.

Props are tools that you as the presenter can use which can tie the audience in. Think of props as a link. If your presentation is using props that your audience can also use, it breaks down the third-wall of presenting by connecting your audience to you. There doesn’t feel like there are these two, completely separate sections between the audience and the presenter. Everything feels unified.

7 – Do A Demonstration

Depending on the presentation you are engaging in, for example a sales presentation, a demonstration is a great way to get the audience involved.

A demonstration allows you to highlight the real-world benefits of a product or a service. Rather than simply explaining what you or your product can do, show it – especially if it gives you an opportunity to engage your audience.

People don’t want to know they are being sold on something. Oftentimes, they want to be entertained. Try and make your demonstration as entertaining as possible while highlighting the benefits of your product or service.

8 – Let Your Presentation Be Directed By The Audience

A unique way your presentation can be interactive is by having your audience decide how the whole presentation will progress. This is a fun way to get the audience engaged because even you as the presenter will be kept on your toes not knowing 100% how the presentation will unfold.

It will encourage people to get emotionally invested in the presentation and give them a sense of risk or reward. It will also give the audience a sense of autonomy. Unlike other presenters who have a pre-cut presentation like a Ted Talk, having the progression of your slide deck be decided in real-time by the audience in an undeniable strategy on how to make your presentation more interactive.

9 – Add Effects Like Music & Transitions

Presentation effects are a great way to keep your audience’s senses engaged. From visual effects to sound effects, all these small and unique elements can help keep your audience engaged.

You can use music clips, audio files, user-generated content and more to have your audience engaged. These elements work extremely well during live events as it turns the presentation into more of a spectacle rather than a “boring” presentation.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

10 – Incorporate Your Audience In Your Presentation

What might seem like the most obvious option to make a presentation interactive is one which is not executed often enough. To make your presentation more interactive, you need to incorporate your audience.

Whether you use audience questions, sharing video clips like user-generated content or even having a guest speaker, incorporating your audience is the literal definition of having an interactive presentation.

Our Final Thoughts On How To Make Presentations Interactive

White male giving a lecture on how to make presentations interactive

If you are looking for a way to grab your audience’s attention in a digital age where our attention spans are decreasing at alarming rates, making an interactive presentation is your best option.

What might seem daunting can actually be done quite easily if you are open to engaging help of expert presentation designers and consultants . Make a presentation interactive with the help of Presentation Geeks. From adding background music, videos or even self-guided presentations, the experts at Presentation Geeks can do it all.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you’re looking for more great resources on crafting presentations or looking for presentation design support, contact our team at Presentation Geeks to learn more.

Author:  Content Team

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18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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How to Make Your Next Big Presentation Interactive and Engaging

March 8, 2024

by Holly Landis

how to make presentations interactive

In this post

Why is having an interactive presentation important, which presentations can be more interactive, types of interactive elements to add to presentations, interactive presentation software.

We’ve all sat through boring presentations with unprepared or uncharismatic speakers, wishing we could be somewhere else.

Even if talking to a room full of people doesn’t make your palms a little sweaty, you might feel less confident in your abilities to stop your audience from scrolling, daydreaming, or squeezing in a bit of work while you’re reviewing important information.

As attention spans shrink and distracting to-do lists multiply, finding ways to keep your audience engaged during a speech or presentation is a significant challenge. So what can you do to bring attention to what you’re saying? Start exploring interactive presentations. 

What is an interactive presentation ?

An interactive presentation is a dynamic form of presentation that includes engaging content for the audience. This could be multi-dimensional media like videos or animations, or audience participation elements like polls, questions, or group activities.

Building an interactive presentation is one of the best ways to get people excited about what you’re talking about throughout your speech.The key is balancing dynamic elements without overwhelming your audience. There’s a fine line between engaging and exhausting. 

But by using dedicated presentation software , you can discover the right mix and make sure you communicate the necessary details of your speech. These solutions make quick and easy work of incorporating interactive features into your next presentation, leaving you with more time to refine and practice before your big moment on stage or in the meeting room.

Presentations are an inevitable part of work life, whether it’s new employee onboarding , team training , sales pitches, or project progress reports. Whether you embrace them or do your best to avoid them, there are several important benefits to interactive presentations that you should keep in mind as you outline and prepare.

Increases audience engagement

Instead of spending your allocated time talking to your audience, interactive presentations allow you to talk with them instead. This is especially true if you include audience participation moments, like a group poll or an activity that the audience has to work through in small groups. 

By giving them something to do, you keep your audience wondering what’s coming next so they don’t have time to lose focus. This is especially critical if your presentation is for an internal team. Numerous studies have found that greater engagement in the workforce leads to happier employees, so anything you can do to support this serves you.

Offers options for different learning styles

Not everyone in your audience is going to retain information the same way. Some people are auditory learners, while others are more visual. With so many potential distractions, only focusing on one type of content can quickly alienate a large segment of your audience.

Adding different types of interactive media to your presentation gives options for everyone, regardless of how they prefer to receive information. Not only does this make the presentation more engaging in the moment, but it also increases the likelihood that people will retain the information after it’s over. 

Personalizing the speech

Making your presentation interactive adds custom elements that give your audience a tailored opportunity to actively participate. 

Adding polls, quizzes , or question and answer moments keeps your audience guessing about what’s coming next, which can keep engagement higher. Not only does this make your presentation more memorable, but it also becomes more meaningful for those who choose to join in with the interactive parts of the speech. 

Introducing elements like ice breaker questions are also a fun way for your audience to get to know each other. This works well during new employee onboarding or all-company meetings when team members get to know people from other departments.

Improves post-presentation sales

If your presentation is more of a sales pitch than an information session, adding interactive features ups your chances of making a sale. Even simply adding a few images to break up a presentation full of text can make a dramatic difference when it comes to your impact.

say in-person meetings are the most effective channel for driving sales.

Source: HubSpot

You could be asked to put together all kinds of presentations as part of your job, or even in your out-of-work hobbies. Tailoring your presentation to your audience is crucial, but certain interactive features hit the spot no matter the subject.

  • Academic or research information speeches: Some presentations involve a large amount of information. Visuals like charts or graphs can be an effective way of showing data without overwhelming your audience.
  • Sales pitches: Persuasive speeches are some of the most difficult to pull off, especially when you’re trying to convince people to give you their money. In situations where you may not be the only pitch the audience is hearing that day, interactive presentations for sales purposes help you stand out from the competition.
  • Demonstrations and how-to presentations: Typically, demonstrations nclude some interactive elements, but it’s never a bad idea to add a few variations throughout your presentation. Audience participation can help you illustrate how easy it is to use your offerings..
  • Employee and team training: Ice breakers or games are a great way to help new employees or large teams get to know each other better. 
  • Motivational or inspirational speeches: One of the most effective ways to capture an audience’s attention is through detailed storytelling. Inspirational speeches lend themselves to this narrative style.

You have plenty of options to integrate more interactive features into your presentations. Some are simpler than others and only require you to embed an image or video into your slides. Others require more planning, like audience activities or polls. Here are a few examples of some of the most popular types of interactive presentation elements.

Animated graphics

Why stop with static images when you could use moving ones instead? Slides that need to convey large amounts of numerical information end themselves well to animated graphs or charts.

Role-playing

Getting your audience to act out potential scenarios helps participants engage with the subject matter in a semi-realistic way. It keeps engagement high and makes it easier for people to understand and retain what’s being said.

Live audience polls

Gathering audience responses with polls is an excellent way to capitalize on group mentality. Everyone feels that their opinions and ideas matter, while allowing them to have anonymity. As a collaborative experience, this is one of the best ways to keep audiences engaged.

Offering the opportunity for a Q&A portion gives your audience more incentive to pay attention throughout. 

Even if you’re presenting to a larger crowd, you could take questions ahead of time from social media submissions, anonymous responses via online platforms, or a traditional question box in the room.

Augmented or virtual reality

If your budget allows, using augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) experiences means that your audience can have a realistic experience with what you’re selling. Demonstrations and sales pitches use these tools particularly well.

The best presentation software makes putting together interactive presentations quick and simple, with features that allow you to embed media and create visuals that match your branding and design preferences.

To be included in the presentation software category, platforms must:

  • Create slide-based presentations 
  • Provide editable slide templates and themes 
  • Incorporate slide transitions and animations 
  • Let users embed images, videos, audio, and text

Below are the top five leading presentation software solutions from G2’s Winter 2024 Grid® Report. Some reviews may be edited for clarity.

1. Google Workspace

Google Workspace offers teams and individuals a suite of tools to message collaborators, take notes, and incorporate web-based features into your presentations.

What users like best:

“Ease of implementation is seamless for anyone with a Gmail account, for all products not just email. The number of features are endless: calendars, meetings, chat, and email to software for Slides, Sheets, Docs, and more! Easily integrated and completely free.”

- Google Workspace Review , Iyer A.

What users dislike:

“When there's an issue, support is nonexistent. If you need to be walked through a help article, they can do that, but they can't go beyond. If you have an issue, they either deny it, acknowledge it without fixing it, or give you the run around by sending you to sales, who sends you right back to support.”

- Google Workspace Review , Jared E.

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

With presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint , users can make slideshows and pitch decks with text and multimedia interactive features.

“PowerPoint is very versatile in that you can insert videos, images, text, etc. that all can be triggered with customizable transitions. I particularly appreciate the flexibility for how I wish videos to be triggered.”

- Microsoft PowerPoint Review , Vita M.

“I dislike that there aren't any collaborative capabilities! I am unable to work with teammates that I can not meet up physically with.”

- Microsoft PowerPoint Review , Sven K.

3. Synthesia

As an artificial intelligence-driven tool, Synthesia helps users produce interactive demonstrations and presentations, with options for text-to-speech integration in over 60 languages.

“The application user interface is very intuitive. It provides easy-to-use templates, avatars, and selection of voices to create high quality presentations. I learned the tool and created my first video in less than 2 hours. Since then I have created a few more tutorial videos and presentations for work.”

- Synthesia Review , Chibi V.

“The interface is not great. Trying to add more than one or two animations has never worked for me and just crashes what I am building.”

- Synthesia Review , Thorsten N.

4. Keynote for Mac

Keynote for Mac is presentation software from Apple. It lets users sync between different devices and collaborate with other creators.

“Keynote is the perfect PowerPoint alternative; you can quickly make professional-looking slides, and it has features you can control from your Apple Watch when you're presenting.”

- Keynote Review , Stephan C.

“Keynote is not intuitive nor does it have the capabilities of Microsoft PowerPoint. Not to mention that it is more difficult to share presentations with non-Mac users.”

- Keynote Review , Lauren B.

RELAYTO helps you turn static content, like PDFs, images, and MP4s, into experiences that engage your audience.

“My experience with RELAYTO has been extremely smooth. It is a very intuitive experience and versatile in its functionalities. Whether I am trying to make an interactive site using a PDF or converting a document into a more interactive and visually-appealing document, REALYTO allows me to do just that. It is quick and easy to use.”

- RELAYTO Review , Ethan X.

“It is a bit overwhelming and confusing to know what to put in and which functions to use.”

- RELAYTO Review , Mervin C.

Click to chat with G2's Monty-AI

Your audience awaits

Gone are the days of dull presentations that send your audience to sleep or don’t translate into the sales you’re hoping for. Graphics, q&a’s, and even audience participation can all level-up your speeches. With a handful of interactive features in your next presentation, you can feel confident giving a speech, talking through a report, or welcoming a new team member in a way that keeps your listeners interested.

Keep your data-heavy presentations easy to follow and understand with data visualization tools that turn your numbers into charts and graphs.

presentation software

Ready, set, engage!

Wow your audience with your speech by making your slide deck more interactive with presentation software.

Holly Landis photo

Holly Landis is a freelance writer for G2. She also specializes in being a digital marketing consultant, focusing in on-page SEO, copy, and content writing. She works with SMEs and creative businesses that want to be more intentional with their digital strategies and grow organically on channels they own. As a Brit now living in the USA, you'll usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea in her cherished Anne Boleyn mug while watching endless reruns of Parks and Rec.

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How to create an interactive presentation and keep viewers engaged.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

For most people, the word “presentation” is synonymous with boredom. Pair it with “business” or “educational” and you make it even worse. Before they even sit down to watch, your audience has flashbacks to that endless chemistry PowerPoint in the 10th grade. Yikes.

But here’s the thing: online presentations don’t have to be mind-numbing. Like most trends that started in 1990, they just need a makeover.

According to the experts , the best way to make your presentation more interesting, engaging, and effective is to make it interactive . It’s not even that hard to do. With the right tools, you can make your presentation interactive in just a few minutes.

What is an interactive presentation?

Unlike a static presentation, an interactive presentation includes opportunities for your audience to get involved in real-time. This can mean including video clips for discussion, live polls or quizzes, in-person activities, or incorporating stories to create a more engaging experience.

In a standard presentation, audience members watch something. In an interactive presentation, they do something. And when we learn by doing , we retain material significantly better .

There are tonnes of benefits to making your presentation interactive.

  • Boost engagement: interactive elements make your presentation more engaging. When your audience knows they’re going to be a part of the experience, they’re more likely to stay present and focused throughout.
  • Connect with your audience: the lecture format is one-sided. The presenter becomes the talking head, and everyone else is free to doze off. Making your presentation interactive transforms the lecture into a conversation, allowing you to connect with the other people in the room.
  • Share the workload: interactive presentations make presenting easier. When you toss questions or activities to the crowd, you share the burden of transmitting the information. More work from the audience can mean less work for you.
  • Personalised delivery: because they’re informed by participants, each interactive presentation is unique. That means you can tailor your presentation to the people you’re speaking to, personalising the experience to make it that much more meaningful.

The main types of interactive presentation

Before we get into how to build the perfect interactive presentation, you've first got to decide what type of presentation you want to run.

Is it formal? Entertaining? A live webinar or a delayed video uploaded to YouTube?Are you speaking to investors for your non-profit , prospective clients, or just trying to convince your partner to let you splash out some cash on a new TV?

The type of presentation you're running influences everything from your tone to the kind of online tools you might use to build it.

Your interactive elements should be relevant to the type of presentation you’re giving. You might include a Kahoot poll if you teach third-grade history, but you’ll need something a little more professional for a sales pitch.

8 ways to make your presentation interactive with Paperform

Paperform is a form builder first and foremost, but you can also use our tools as an interactive presentation software. Just treat each page of your form as a slide to create a custom presentation your audience will love.

It’s not a replacement for Powerpoint or Prezi, but it’s a great way to bridge some gaps and add interactive elements to your presentation. One of our own, Josh, uses Paperform to help his son Jesse create presentations for school.

Most recently, Jesse and his dad made an incredible presentation on the Amazon, complete with wild jungle GIFs, interactive animal quiz questions, and plenty of surprising jungle facts. We made this quick replica to show you how to use Paperform as an interactive presentation software.

When you host your slides on Paperform, you get access to all the sweet features that make our digital suite of tools so unique, like conditional logic , advanced calculations , heaps of design options, and built-in robust data analytics.

Making an effective presentation shouldn’t be a chore. Let’s walk through eight interactive presentation ideas you can try out today, and how you can implement them with Paperform.

1. Make use of visual elements

There’s nothing worse for your presentation design than endless blocks of text. Nobody wants to be lulled to sleep with a bedtime story about this quarter's financial goals.

As a general rule of thumb, if you’re going to say it, you don’t need to write it. The text should be used to remind you of your key points and topics, not to explain them in detail. That’s what you’re there to do. Try to use graphs, charts, or visualisations of data whenever possible.

Paperform it: If you’ve collected your data via a Paperform poll or survey , we’ll make the visuals for you. Just head to our built-in analytics dashboard and download custom graphs created from your form results.

And if you create your interactive presentation slides with Paperform, you can also make use of our native integration with Unsplash and Giphy. Just think: all the royalty-free images and GIFs you might want, all without leaving the editor. You can even edit the images with our built-in editor.

Paperform's built-in image editor

Our integration with Adobe creative cloud allows you to import your branding and colour palette automatically, so creating personalised presentations is easy. And once you make one you like, you can share it as a template with the rest of your team so everyone can start from the same square one.

If you’re not using Paperform to host your presentation, you can always find your visuals separately and incorporate them into your slides on Prezi or Powerpoint. Wherever you host your slideshow, aim to have at least one visual for every two slides.

2. Start with icebreakers to set the tone

Icebreakers aren’t just for summer camp and blind dates. You can use them to build rapport, set the tone for what's to follow, and show that you have created a safe space that encourages audience participation. They can even be—dare we say?—fun.

When picking your icebreakers, try to be creative and topical. It’s a great opportunity to introduce audience interaction and gain some information that might be relevant to your presentation.

Let’s say you’re giving a presentation to your colleagues about the success of a recent advertising campaign. You could ask everyone what their favourite commercial is and why. Down the line, you can return to these answers for a brainstorming session about your next ad campaign.

If you're working with a small group (say 5-10 people) you can chat with your audience directly. If you’re working with a larger audience, you can ask folks to chat in pairs or send small groups off in virtual breakout rooms.

Paperform it: With Paperform, you can send out your icebreaker as a quick, interactive poll. Include it within the presentation itself, or make a separate one and add the link to your slideshow software of choice.

However you choose to share it, your respondents can answer your Paperform in a few clicks, and you can view the results in real-time. It’s a constructive way to connect efficiently with your audience when presenting remotely.

3. Find your narrative

A story can be a great hook. Draw people in with an engaging personal anecdote, and return to it throughout the presentation. It’ll keep them engaged from the beginning, and recenter them along the way if they drift off.

Take our ad campaign presentation. You might start off with a short story about how much you loved Frosted Flakes commercials as a kid, and how you went as Tony the Tiger for Halloween one year. You can return to elements of this story throughout (maybe even a photo of the infamous costume).

Why use stories in a business presentation? For the same reason we tell fables to children. Stories to help us learn. When there’s a narrative behind your presentation, your audience will be inherently more connected to it, and more likely to remember what you say.

Paperform it: Incorporating a story can be done in just about any presentation software. But if you want to get really creative with it, you could use Paperform to build your narrative into an escape room .

Just pick your story, create a few puzzles that relate to it, and use our advanced conditional logic to create a lock and key or branching-style escape room. You can present the escape room alongside your presentation, or hide the clues within the presentation itself to keep your participants hanging on every slide.

4. Let your audience decide the presentation order

Most presenters use a slide deck to support their presentations. Whether you use Powerpoint, Prezi, Google Slides, or heaps of cardstock like Andrew Lincoln in Love Actually , slide decks are a great way to keep yourself on track.

There are three main ways to progress through a slide deck.

  • Standard navigation: this is the presentation you’re probably familiar with. A presenter clicks through their slides in real time, but the order is predetermined.
  • A video presentation: a linear presentation where slides automatically play one after the other. This is great for presentations that will be inserted into a website or landing page , and not necessarily accompanied by a live person.
  • Flexible navigation: this kind of presentation is influenced by the audience and the presenter. The presenter clicks through slides but can skip around freely and use interactive elements like buttons, clickable images, and direct download links .

Paperform it: Paperform can help with all three. For standard navigation, simply add each “slide” as a new page in your Paperform, and progress through the pages as needed. Your respondents can do this, too.

Just send the link and allow latecomers or no-shows to progress through the presentation on their own time.

You can do the same thing with video presentations. Just add your recordings on individual pages, and include a short quiz after each video. With a little conditional logic, you can block viewers from progressing until they answer the comprehension questions correctly.

And then there’s the funky one: flexible navigation. It’s a great way to keep viewers engaged and on their toes. By using conditional logic, you can allow your audience members to alter the course of the presentation in real-time based on their feedback.

Take the ad campaign presentation, for example. You could ask folks what they would rather go over first: Instagram or YouTube stats. If they go with Instagram, you would click that option and your presentation would navigate you to the appropriate page.

Your audience doesn't need to (and probably shouldn't) decide the order of your entire presentation. But adding just one or two opportunities for viewer choice can make a huge difference in engagement levels.

5. Add polls and quizzes for gathering feedback

Polling audience members shows them that their opinion matters. It's also a fantastic way to get a sense of how the presentation is going, and whether attendees are understanding the topic.

Consider adding a true or false question with a surprising answer, or a quick pop quiz at the end of each section. If you’re presenting in person, you can answer the questions yourself based on feedback from the audience, like voting by applause or raised hands.

If your presentation is virtual, you can have respondents answer the poll on their own devices, either in the presentation itself or via a separate link.

Paperform it: Paperform makes creating polls and quizzes easy. We have over 25 field types to choose from, so you can gather the right type of data every time. You can send out a lightning-fast yes or no poll, or ask your officemates to rank all the Harry Potter movies. We’ve got ranking and rating fields for that express purpose.

All Paperforms are mobile-optimised, so you can be sure your presentation polls and quizzes will look great on any device. And if you’re making a longer quiz but don’t want to overwhelm respondents , you can toggle on guided mode to display one question at a time.

Form a better life now.

6. share a hashtag to promote social interaction.

We live in the era of the second-screen experience. The chances are that while you're speaking, folks are simultaneously tweeting, emailing, or operating their entire small business on their phones.

Sure, that means your audience might be distracted. But fighting the current by asking them to turn their phones off is a losing battle. If you can’t beat them, join them.

Try making a branded hashtag to encourage participants to engage with your presentation on social media. It's a combination of word-of-mouth marketing, event promotion and social interaction all rolled into one.

When done well, social hashtags can:

  • Encourage people to promote your event on social media
  • Give attendees a way to share further discussions online
  • Allow you to look at tagged responses to analyse customer opinions
  • Draw attention to your presentation
  • Keep attendees engaged with the material

Paperform it: Paperform integrates with all your favourite social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. With this connection in place, you can automatically post a tweet when someone submits your form.

You could use this integration to give folks a shout-out when they complete your digital presentation at home. Just include a short Paperform at the end of your presentation, ask for their handle and permission to shout them out online, and have a congratulatory post shared on your platform automatically.

It’s a great way to celebrate your audience members and boost awareness about your online presentation or webinar at the same time.

7. Include multiple Q&A opportunities

Sometimes, the best ideas are the simplest ones. If you want to know how your audience is going, just ask them. Q&A sessions give you the chance to do just that.

The trouble with traditional Q&A sessions is that they come too late into the presentation, and are too short to be meaningful. How often have you sat through an hour-long presentation, only to be asked if you have any questions at the very end?

One-time, end-of-presentation Q&As are not ideal. It’s easy for participants to forget their questions, and it puts pressure on them to make their time count.

There’s a better way: incorporate several, shorter Q&A sessions throughout your presentation. At the end of each section, take some time to answer audience questions and listen to audience input.

When your participants know they’ll be able to ask questions regularly, they’re more likely to stay present with each section. It also takes some of the pressure off and gives more shy participants several chances to consider raising a hand.

Paperform it: If you host your presentation on Paperform, you can create a customised Q&A slide that you can use at the end of each section of your presentation.

Worried about time? Embed the video of a favourite song, and allow participants to ask questions while it plays. You get yourself a built-in timer, and you break up your presentation with some music clips. Win-win.

8. Improve based on participant feedback

You might have your own markers of a successful presentation—whether people laughed, followed you on Twitter, or sent you an email saying how much they loved it. That's all well and good, but it doesn’t give you a lot of tangible data . The best way to measure the success of your presentation is with a post-event survey .

Leave your audience with one final moment of interaction by sending out a feedback form after your presentation. They get to share their thoughts, and you gain actionable insights on how you can improve for your next presentation.

Paperform it: Paperform has over 45 feedback form templates for you to choose from, each made by one of our in-house experts. Of course, you can make your own from scratch, or pick one of our other 650+ ready-made templates just because you like the style.

Whether you’re looking for a quick CSAT rating or lengthy open-text responses, Paperform can help you do it. Our no-code platform is designed to be easy to use, without skimping on all the advanced features you want.

Level up your presentation today

With the help of a PowerPoint maker , you can connect with your audience through interactive experiences, original content, and thoughtful slide design, you can put an end to boring presentations. Whether you’re working on your next pitch for the sales team or creating an interactive webinar for your website, Paperform can help you do it.

Our software is designed to be versatile, intuitive, and genuinely helpful. It’s a powerful tool that allows you to automate more of the mundane through our 3,000 direct and Zapier integrations, as well as our built-in shortcuts like automatic emails.

Want to give it a go for yourself? Try Paperform today with our 14-day free trial , and discover what you can create.

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are not usually known for being engaging or interactive. That’s often because most people treat their slides as if they are notes to read off  and not a tool to help empower their message.

Your presentation slides are there to help bring to life the story you are telling. They are there to provide visuals and empower your speech.

So how do you go about avoiding a presentation “snoozefest” and instead ensure you have an engaging and interactive presentation?  By making sure that you use your slides to help YOU tell your story, instead of using them as note cards to read off of.

The key thing to remember is that your presentation is there to compliment your speech, not be its focus.

In this article, we will review several presentation tips and tricks on how to become a storytelling powerhouse by building a powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Start with writing your speech outline, not with putting together slides

Use more images and less text, use high-quality images, keep the focus on you and your presentation, not the powerpoint, your presentation should be legible from anywhere in the room, use a consistent presentation design, one topic per slide, avoid information overwhelm by using the “rule of three”.

  • Display one bullet at a time

Avoid unnecessary animations

  • Only add content that supports your main points

Do not use PowerPoint as a teleprompter

  • Never Give Out Copies of the Presentation

Re-focus the attention on you by fading into blackness

Change the tone of your voice when presenting, host an expert discussion panel, ask questions, embed videos, use live polling to get instant feedback and engage the audience.

  • He kept his slides uncluttered and always strived for simplicity
  • He was known to use large font size, the bigger, the better.
  • He found made the complex sound simple.

He was known to practice, practice, and keep on practicing.

Summary – how to make your presentation engaging & interactive, fundamental rules to build powerful & engaging presentation slides.

Before we go into tips and tricks on how to add flair to your presentations and create effective presentations, it’s essential to get the fundamentals of your presentation right.

Your PowerPoint presentation is there to compliment your message, and the story you are telling. Before you can even put together slides, you need to identify the goal of your speech, and the key takeaways you want your audience to remember.

YOU and your speech are the focus of this presentation, not the slides – use your PowerPoint to complement your story.

Keep in mind that your slides are there to add to your speech, not distract from it.  Using too much text in your slides can be distracting and confusing to your audience. Instead, use a relevant picture with minimal text, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Use more images and less text

This slide is not unusual, but is not a visual aid, it is more like an “eye chart”.

Aim for something simpler, easy to remember and concise, like the slides below.

Keep in mind your audience when designing your presentation, their background and aesthetics sense. You will want to avoid the default clip art and cheesy graphics on your slides.

Use high-quality images for engaging presentations before and after

While presenting make sure to control the presentation and the room by walking around, drawing attention to you and what you are saying.  You should occasionally stand still when referencing a slide, but never turn your back to your audience to read your slide.

You and your speech are the presentations; the slides are just there to aid you.

Most season presenters don’t use anything less than twenty-eight point font size, and even Steve Jobs was known to use nothing smaller than forty-point text fonts.

If you can’t comfortably fit all the text on your slide using 28 font size than you’re trying to say and cram too much into the slide, remember tip #1.4 – Use relevant images instead and accompany it with bullets.

Best Practice PowerPoint Presentation Tips

The job of your presentation is to help convey information as efficiently and clearly as possible. By keeping the theme and design consistent, you’re allowing the information and pictures to stand out.

However, by varying the design from slide to slide, you will be causing confusion and distraction from the focus, which is you and the information to be conveyed on the slide.

Looking for beautiful PowerPoint Templates that provide you with a consistent design

Technology can also help us in creating a consistent presentation design just by picking a topic and selecting a sample template style. This is possible thanks to the SlideModel’s AI slideshow maker .

Each slide should try to represent one topic or talking point. The goal is to keep the attention focused on your speech, and by using one slide per talking point, you make it easy for you to prepare, as well as easy for your audience to follow along with your speech.

Sometimes when creating our presentation, we can often get in our heads and try to over-explain. A simple way to avoid this is to follow the “ Rule of Three ,” a concept coined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The idea is to stick to only 3 main ideas that will help deliver your point.  Each of the ideas can be further broken into 3 parts to explain further. The best modern example of this “Rule of Three” can be derived from the great Apple presentations given by Steve Jobs – they were always structured around the “Rule of Three.”

Rule of Three PowerPoint Presentation

Display one sentence at a time

If you are planning to include text in your slides, try to avoid bullet lists, and use one slide per sentence. Be short and concise. This best practice focuses on the idea that simple messages are easy to retain in memory. Also, each slide can follow your storytelling path, introducing the audience to each concept while you speak, instead of listing everything beforehand.

Presentation Blunders To Avoid

In reality, there is no need for animations or transitions in your slides.

It’s great to know how to turn your text into fires or how to create a transition with sparkle effects, but the reality is the focus should be on the message. Using basic or no transitions lets the content of your presentation stand out, rather than the graphics.

If you plan to use animations, make sure to use modern and professional animations that helps the audience follow the story you are telling, for example when explaining time series or changing events over time.

Only add engaging content that supports your main points

You might have a great chart, picture or even phrase you want to add, but when creating every slide, it’s crucial to ask yourself the following question.

“Does this slide help support my main point?”

If the answer is no, then remove it.  Remember, less is more.

A common crutch for rookie presenters is to use slides as their teleprompter.

First of all, you shouldn’t have that much text on your slides. If you have to read off something, prepare some index cards that fit in your hand but at all costs do not turn your back on your audience and read off of your PowerPoint.  The moment you do that, you make the presentation the focus, and lose the audience as the presenter.

Avoid Giving Out Copies of the Presentation

At least not before you deliver a killer presentation; providing copies of your presentation gives your audience a possible distraction where they can flip through the copy and ignore what you are saying.

It’s also easy for them to take your slides out of context without understanding the meaning behind each slide.  It’s OK to give a copy of the presentation, but generally it is better to give the copies AFTER you have delivered your speech. If you decide to share a copy of your presentation, the best way to do it is by  generating a QR code  for it and placing it at the end of your presentation. Those who want a copy can simply scan and download it onto their phones.

Avoid To Give Out Copies of the Presentation

Tips To Making Your Presentation More Engaging

The point of your presentation is to help deliver a message.

When expanding on a particularly important topic that requires a lengthy explanation it’s best to fade the slide into black.  This removes any distraction from the screen and re-focuses it on you, the present speaker. Some presentation devices have a built-in black screen button, but if they don’t, you can always prepare for this by adding a black side to your presentation at the right moment.

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Part of making your presentation engaging is to use all the tools at your disposal to get your point across. Changing the inflection and tone of your voice as you present helps make the content and the points more memorable and engaging.

One easy and powerful way to make your presentation interactive is experts to discuss a particular topic during your presentation. This helps create a more engaging presentation and gives you the ability to facilitate and lead a discussion around your topic.

It’s best to prepare some questions for your panel but to also field questions from the audience in a question and answer format.

How To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

What happens if I ask you to think about a pink elephant?  You probably briefly think about a pink elephant, right?

Asking questions when presenting helps engage the audience, and arouse interest and curiosity.  It also has the added benefit of making people pay closer attention, in case they get called on.

So don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if rhetorical; asking a question engages a different part of our brain. It causes us to reflect rather than merely take in the information one way. So ask many of them.

Asking questions can also be an excellent way to build suspense for the next slide.

Steve Jobs iPad launch presentation in Macworld 2008

(Steve Jobs was known to ask questions during his presentations, in this slide he built suspense by asking the audience “Is there space for a device between a cell phone and a laptop?” before revealing the iPad) Source: MacWorld SF 2018

Remember the point of your presentation is to get a message across and although you are the presenter, it is completely fine to use video in your PowerPoint to enhance your presentation.  A relevant video can give you some breathing time to prepare the next slides while equally informing the audience on a particular point.

CAUTION: Be sure to test the video beforehand, and that your audience can hear it in the room.

A trending engagement tool among presenters is to use a live polling tool to allow the audience to participate and collect immediate feedback.

Using a live polling tool is a fun and interactive way to engage your audience in real-time and allow them to participate in part of your presentation.

Google Slides Poll with Audience Questions

Google Slides has a built-in Q&A feature that allows presenters to make the slide deck more interactive by providing answers to the audience’s questions. By using the Q&A feature in Google Slides, presenters can start a live Q&A session and people can ask questions directly from their devices including mobile and smartphones.

Key Takeaways from one of the best presenters, Steve Jobs

He kept his slides uncluttered and always strove for simplicity.

In this slide, you can easily see he is talking about the battery life, and it uses a simple image and a few words. Learning from Jobs, you can also make a great presentation too. Focus on the core benefit of your product and incorporate great visuals.

Battery Steve Jobs Slides

Source: Macworld 2008

SlideModel.com can help to reproduce high-impact slides like these, keeping your audience engagement.

Engaging PowerPoint template with battery and minimalistic style

He was known to use large font sizes, the bigger, the better

A big font makes it hard to miss the message on the slide, and allows the audience to focus on the presenter while clearing the understanding what the point of the slide is.

He found made the complex sound simple

When explaining a list of features, he used a simple image and lines or simple tables to provide visual cues to his talking points.

Steve Jobs Presentation Styles

(This particular slide is referencing the iMac features)

What made Steve Jobs the master of presentation, was the ritual of practicing with his team, and this is simple yet often overlooked by many presenters.  It’s easy to get caught in the trap of thinking you don’t need to practice because you know the material so well.

While all these tips will help you create a truly powerful presentation , it can only achieve if applied correctly.

It’s important to remember when trying to deliver an amazing experience, you should be thoroughly prepared. This way, you can elevate your content presentation, convey your message effectively and captivate your audience.

This includes having your research cited, your presentation rehearsed.  Don’t just rehearse your slides, also take time to practice your delivery, and your tone.  The more you rehearse, the more relaxed you will be when delivering. The more confident you will feel.

While we can’t help you with the practice of your next presentation, we can help you by making sure you look good, and that you have a great design and cohesiveness.

How to deliver your next presentation

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18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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8 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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Chelsi Nakano April 29, 2016

In a recent survey we conducted with the help of Harris Poll, almost half of the respondents admitted to doing something other than listening during a co-worker’s presentation—popular answers included sending a text message (28 percent), checking email (27 percent), and falling asleep (17 percent). To say the least, it can be difficult to hold an audience’s attention, let alone get your message across when presenting.

One of the best ways to get your audience to stay focused is to make them feel like they’re a part of your story. There are a few simple things you can do to get your audience to participate in your presentation, by making it more interactive—here’s how.

1. Break the ice. Each of your audience members comes to your presentation in a completely different mood. A simple ice-breaker can put everyone on the same level and energize them for your presentation. Get your audience to do a simple exercise to reset their minds and refocus on your talk. For example, ask people to stand up and introduce themselves to their neighbors, or have them identify two or three questions they would like to hear addressed during your presentation. By starting with an ice-breaker, you show your audience that your talk will be interactive and require their participation.

2. Tell stories. Stories are food of the brain when it comes to the presentations, according to professional public speaking coach Nathan Gold . Storytelling is the most universal way to captivate your audience’s attention, no matter where they are from or what they do for a living. People automatically tune in when you start telling your story because they want to know what happens next. You can go further than dropping a few anecdotes into your speech. Use the storytelling technique that Nancy Duarte found after studying hundreds of TED talks : Present the status quo and then reveal the path to a better way. By following this formula, you set up a conflict that needs to be resolved. You’ll have the audience hanging on the edge of their seats, craving to hear the end of your story.

3. Add videos . With over 6 billion hours of video being watched each month on YouTube alone, it’s hard to believe that still so few presenters use them in their presentations. Videos are a great tool when it comes to giving an engaging presentation. Videos can evoke emotions in an audience that could be otherwise quite difficult to elicit. Find the clip that will put your audience in the right mood and that reinforces your story. With the seamless integration of YouTube videos in Prezi, there is no excuse for not using them.

4. Embrace the power of non-linear presenting. The Prezi experts agree that the real power of Prezi lies in the ability to present your non-linear story. Instead of flipping through slide after slide, you can show the relationships between your ideas and give your audience the “big picture” view of your topic. Try letting your audience drive the presentation—lay out all of your main points, and then let them choose which topics they want to zoom into. Your audience will get a truly custom presentation based on their interests, which they will appreciate and more easily remember.

5. Ask questions during your presentation. Presentation expert and best-selling author Carmine Gallo pinpointed that the audience’s attention drops to zero after just 10 minutes of your presentation. That’s right, 10 minutes. To get their attention back, Gallo advises creating soft breaks within your speech. Therefore, take a break from your presentation from time to time and interact with your audience. Ask for their questions and incorporate them already during the presentation. Tools like sli.do allow audience members to ask questions anonymously, so even shy people can participate in the discussion.

6. Poll the audience. Live polls are an incredibly effective tool for instantly engaging with your audience. Unlike rhetorical questions, polls encourage participants to think not only about your questions but also about their answers. Moreover, live polls help create mental breaks, so your audience can regain attention and stay focused throughout your presentation. By including everyone in answering the question, you also create a group experience that leaves the audience feeling like they all have been part your presentation. With sli.do , you can integrate live   polls seamlessly into your prezis and engage the participants without the need to switch between screens or applications.

7. Use props. You don’t need to be giving a product demo to use props during your presentation. Props are a great way how to help the audience to wire in another senses to absorb your message. So bring props on the stage and show them during the right point to help the attendees visualize what you are describing verbally. Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor brought a real human brain on stage during her touching TED talk to explain to what happened to her when she had a stroke. She touched the audience with this demonstration and left the audience in complete awe.

8. Share the glory. Don’t steal all the glory for yourself. Share the stage with other presenters or the audience members to help you narrate the story and make the whole presentation more interactive. Steve Jobs never pulled off the entire presentation by himself; he always invited several speakers, including designers, partners, and other executives, to help him introduce their latest product. Do the same. Bring someone from the audience onstage and get them do something relevant and fun. This technique should always be arranged with the volunteer in advance.

Juraj Holub is the Social Media and Content Specialist at Sli.do . Sli.do is an award-winning audience engagement platform for live events that allows everyone in the audience to ask questions and vote on live polls via their mobile devices. Sli.do also allows Prezi users to seamlessly integrate live polls into their presentations.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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10 Ways to Make a Presentation More Fun & Interactive [How-to Guide]

10 Ways to Make a Presentation More Fun & Interactive [How-to Guide]

Dreading a blank-eyed audience or classroom staring back at you while you talk? It's our worst nightmare — but there are easy solutions! Keep your team or students from being bored using good interaction.

We've been running events for years and have put together a list of great ways to make your presentations interactive — and keep your group engaged.

1. Do a Live Poll 

Live polls are among the best ways to increase interaction during your presentation . This idea not only engages your audience but also provides a fun way to present information so that people don't look at bulleted points the entire time you're talking. 

Here's a pre-made template you can build on to create your live poll (and don't worry—it's super easy to customize and requires no tech skills or code): 

How to customize the template: 

  • Access the template by creating a free account here: https://slideswith.com/    
  • Click the template and press "Copy and Use this Slide Deck."
  • On slides 1, 2, and 7, personalize the copy and update any images.
  • Create your own questions and answer options on slides 3-6 (or you can keep the ones already on the slides).
  • Add more personal touches by using the navigation menu at the top of the template!

How to play:

  • When you're ready to play, log into your account. Click your game. 
  • Press "Start Event." It's in the top right corner. 
  • Showcase your screen to your audience. If your presentation is virtual, share your screen. 
  • Ask your audience to join the fun by scanning the QR code. The game is free for up to ten people!
  • Go through each slide and tell everyone to use their mobile devices to submit their answers. 

This template comes with built-in features like avatars, word clouds, ratings, and text answer slides. So, your audience is sure to interact once they start playing! 

2. Use Your Entire Space

Strong, positive body language is critical to connecting with listeners and increasing interaction. Fortunately, there's no better way to show good body language than using your entire space. 

How to use this idea: If you're in a classroom, walk between the rows of desks.

If you're in a conference room, walk around while presenting. And if you're in a huge venue, walk up and down the aisles.

Your audience will feel connected and close to you when you move toward them instead of staying away. And they'll think you're relatable and personable, increasing their desire and comfort to ask questions, raise their hands, and interact. 

3. Create and Trend a Hashtag

Chances are your listeners are checking their phones during your presentation. Even in classrooms, students will sneak a peek at their phones or use their laptops to check social media or text messages. 

Instead of reprimanding listeners for paying attention to your screen and the one on their digital devices, use the battle for their attention in your favor by trending a hashtag. That way, your audience uses their phones to interact with you instead of entertaining distractions.

How to use this idea: 

  • Before your presentation, decide on a hashtag that aligns with your topic. 
  • Once your presentation starts, share the hashtag with your audience. 
  • Tell your audience to share their thoughts and questions on Twitter using the hashtag throughout your presentation.
  • At certain points in your presentation, pause to check what listeners are saying and asking on Twitter. Use a few minutes to comment on and answer questions. (When your audience sees you engaging with the hashtag throughout your presentation, they'll be more likely to use it.)
  • Leave a good last impression by checking the hashtag after your presentation ends and responding to comments and questions you didn't address! Your audience will appreciate you for taking the extra step, and this will show those who didn't attend the event that you like to interact with listeners.

4. Gamify Your Content

Incorporating games into your presentation will boost your audience's engagement, excitement, energy, and interaction! The best part? This idea is incredibly easy to implement, and there are tons of ways to gamify your presentation content . 

How to use this idea:

  • Play the Telephone Game: Whisper something about your presentation topic into someone's ear. Have the individual relay the message to the person sitting next to them and keep this going until the last person gets the message. Ask the last person to tell everyone the final message. Compare the final to the initial statement—if the message is the same, tell everyone to give themselves a round of applause. 
  • Play Word of the Day: Choose a word of the day (it can also be a phrase) and tell your audience what it is. Use the word throughout your presentation. Your audience should acknowledge it by shouting it back whenever they hear it.
  • Play 20 Questions: Have an audience member you trust choose a picture related to your presentation topic. Make sure you can't see the image (if you're in person or presenting virtually, turn your back to the screen). Start asking yes or no questions about the photo. You can only ask 20 questions to get it right. 

5. Play a Quiz 

Another great way to make your presentation interactive is with a quiz! This idea gives listeners a reason to pay attention and sparks fun, friendly competition to see who can answer the most questions correctly.

However, for this interactive presentation idea to work, you must create a fun quiz. Here's a pre-made template with engaging, built-in features that'll get your audience amped :

  • Create a free account to access the template: https://slideswith.com/    
  • Click the game and press "Copy and Use this Slide Deck."
  • On slides 1, 2, and 8, personalize any images and copy.
  • On slides 3 and 4, create your own questions and answer options.
  • Duplicate slides to add more questions to your quiz!
  • When it's time to play, log into your account and click your game. 
  • Look in the top right corner and click "Start Event." 
  • Showcase your screen to your listeners. 
  • Tell your audience to scan the QR code to play! 
  • Go through each slide and quiz your audience. Players can use their mobile devices to submit their answers. 
  • Give the person who answered the most questions correctly a round of applause. 

The template accommodates up to 250 people, so it's great for large audiences. Also, it comes with polls, ratings, multiple choice, an answer review slide, a leaderboard slide, and more to keep your audience interacting and engaged the whole time!

6. Take Your Audience's Guidance 

Instead of steering your presentation, let your audience take the wheel and decide what topics to cover first. With this interactive presentation idea, listeners will feel like participants instead of recipients, and that differentiation is critical to boosting interaction. 

  • When creating your presentation, include a slide in the beginning that lists all the topics you'll cover.
  • At the beginning of your presentation, show your audience the list of topics. 
  • Say each topic aloud and ask your listeners to raise their hands to vote for the one they want to discuss first. 
  • Move forward with the topic that has the most votes. 
  • After covering the first topic, go back to the list and repeat. 

7. Create Discussion Groups

While it's great to ask your audience questions directly, some people interact better in small groups. To ensure more introverted people get a chance to engage, create small discussion groups that make your presentation interactive. 

  • Divide your listeners into small groups of five. 
  • Tell everyone what to discuss. The topic should be relevant to your presentation. For example, you could ask the groups to solve a specific problem or discuss how they'd implement a solution you recommended. 
  • Give the group 10 minutes to chat. 
  • Once time is up, ask each group to share what they discussed. 

8. Encourage Your Listeners to Move

It's normal for people to get antsy when sitting in a seat all day. But if you encourage your audience to move around and keep the blood flowing, they won't get distracted or constantly eye the nearest exit. So, instead of letting everyone stay in their seats, make time for listeners to get moving. 

  • Before your presentation, think of 15 yes or no questions that pertain to your topic. 
  • At the beginning of your presentation, ask five questions. Have people stand if their answer is "yes." People should sit if their answer is "no." 
  • In the middle of your presentation, ask the next five questions. Again, standing means "yes," and sitting means "no."
  • Toward the end of your presentation, ask the last five questions. Have listeners stand to answer "yes" and sit to answer "no."

9. Solicit Questions (More Than Once)

It's normal to have a Q&A session at the end of your presentation, but an interactive presentation isn't interactive at the end. It's interactive throughout the entire time you're talking. That means your listeners should be able to ask questions before, during, and after your discussion, and you should encourage them to do so to boost engagement. 

  • At the beginning of your presentation, break the ice by opening the floor for your audience to ask any questions about you. 
  • After answering people's questions, tell your audience that they can ask questions throughout your presentation—they don't need to wait until the end. 
  • NOTE: If you want this overall idea to stick, before your presentation, tell a few people you know to help increase engagement by asking questions first or when no one else is doing so. Sometimes, listeners need to see others doing it before they muster the courage to do it as well. 

10. Play Call and Response

One of the most fun and silly ways to increase interaction at your presentation is with call and response. This idea will keep energy levels high, maintain engagement, and ensure your audience stays focused! 

  • Pick a phrase that relates to your presentation. You can do this before your presentation or with your audience before your discussion starts. 
  • Agree on the action everyone (including you) must take when you say the phrase. The action could be dancing, clapping, standing, or something random like high knees if you have the space.
  • Use the phrase throughout your presentation to trigger the action. 

Give Listeners the Interactive Presentation They Want

No matter where you're speaking, today's audience wants an informative presentation that's engaging, interactive, and fun. Gone are the days of creating PowerPoint slides with bullet points and a few images. 

Audiences want you to design a presentation with their preferences in mind, and they prefer content that's intriguing. Failing to give them that means you don't know your audience as well as you think. 

"Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it 'to whom it may concern" - Ken Haemer. Alison Davis,  19 Quotes That Will Inspire You To Create An Amazing Presentation

So, let modern-day listeners know you understand them by giving a presentation that speaks to their desire for interaction and excitement. You want your audience to be on the edge of their seats, facing forward, and tuned in, not slouching with their heads on their hands, ready to fall asleep.

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10 Interactive Presentation Techniques for Engagement in 2023

10 Interactive Presentation Techniques for Engagement in 2023

Ellie Tran • 09 Aug 2023 • 9 min read

All you need is the right tool and the right tact. Check out the ten best interactive presentation techniques below! These days, you might find your presentation audiences lost somewhere in your words, staring dead-eyed at you in the room or through Zoom. It’s time for a change.

You might have heard that the secret to a good presentation comes from creating great interactive experiences with your audience, but the big question is how ?

Table of Contents

  • Why interactive presentation techniques?
  • #1: Icebreakers to warm up the room
  • #2: Tell a story
  • #3: Gamify the presentation
  • #5: Present with props
  • #6: Ask short questions
  • #7: Brainstorming session
  • #8: Host speed networking
  • #9: Use a social media hashtag
  • #10: Pre and post-event surveys
  • 3 general tips for presenters

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice more for better presentation.

  • Complete Guide to Interactive Presentation
  • Interactive Presentation Games
  • Interactive Presentation Software for Mac

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Why Try Interactive Presentation Techniques?

Ever stood before a crowd and spent every bit of your nerve presenting something, but all you could see was the audience yawning or looking at their phones? 

You’re not alone here…

  • One in five people constantly looked at their phones or laptop screens during a presentation. ( Decktopus )

Audiences get bored and lost quickly during one-way presentations, so making it more interactive and engaging is best. Let us walk you through some stats:

  • 64% of participants found two-way presentations more appealing than linear ones. ( Duarte )
  • 70% of marketers believed that interacting with the audience was essential to making presentations more effective. ( Duarte )

10 Ways to Create a Fun Interactive Presentation

Interactivity is the key to your audience’s heart. Here are ten interactive presentation methods you can use to get it…

1. Icebreakers to warm up the room

It can be daunting and make you more anxious if you jump into your presentation without a short introduction or warm-up. Things are easier when you break the ice and allow the audience to know more about you and others.

If you’re hosting a small workshop, meeting or lesson, go around and ask your participants some simple, light-hearted questions to make them feel more comfortable.

That could be about their names, where they come from, what they expect from this event, etc. Or you can try some questions in this list:

  • Would you rather be able to teleport or fly?
  • What was your dream job when you were five?
  • Coffee or tea?
  • What’s your favourite holiday?
  • 3 things on your bucket list?

🧊 Find more icebreaking questions here !

When there are more people, get them to join the icebreaker to build a sense of connection through an interactive platform like AhaSlides.

Save time with ready-made icebreakers

Gather live responses from your audience for free. Check the icebreaker activities in the AhaSlides templates library !

What to do with collaborative word cloud

Word Cloud Icebreakers

Thumbnail for team meeting template presentation

Monthly Team Meeting

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Icebreakers for Class

2. Tell a story

People love hearing a good story and tend to immerse themselves more when it’s relatable. Great stories can help boost their focus and understanding of the points you’re trying to get across.

Finding compelling stories that engage the audience and relate to the content can be challenging. As many people have different backgrounds, it’s not easy to find common ground and come up with something mesmerising to tell.

To find things in common between you, your content and your audience and craft a story from that, try asking these questions:

  • What are they like?
  • Why are they here?
  • How can you solve their problems?

💡 Check out this audience needs a map for more questions.

3. Gamify the presentation

Nothing rocks the room (or Zoom) and keeps the audience bouncing better than some games. Fun games, especially those that get participants moving or laughing, can do wonders for your presentation.

With the help of many online tools to host live quizzes, games or spin a wheel, making interactive games directly within a presentation is a piece of cake.

Need some inspiration? Try out these interactive games in your next face-to-face or virtual event:

🎉 Pop quiz – Liven up your presentation with fun polling or multiple-choice questions. Let the whole crowd join and answer by using an online quiz platform; there are many for you to choose from (AhaSlides, Quizziz, Kahoot, etc.).

🎉 Charades – Get participants up and use their body language to describe a provided word or phrase. You can divide the audience into teams to make it more competitive and heat up the atmosphere.

🎉 Would you rather? – Many participants prefer sitting on their chairs while enjoying games, so juice up your presentation with an easy-peasy one like Would you rather? . Give them two options, like would you rather live in a forest or a cave? , then ask them to vote for their favourite option and explain why they did.

💡 We’ve got heaps more games for an interactive presentation , along with games for virtual team meetings , games for adults and games for students !

Presenters usually host an ‘ask me anything’ session at the end of their presentations to collect questions and then address them. Q&A time ensures everyone is on the same page after getting a bucketload of information to digest while also giving you a chance to talk and interact directly with your audience.

To not miss a beat, we recommend using an online Q&A tool to collect and display questions so you can answer one-by-one. This kind of tool helps you manage all questions flocking in and allows people to ask anonymously (which is a relief for many people, I’m sure). 

5. Present with props

This old trick brings more power to your presentation than you might think. Props can grab the audience’s attention faster than when you only speak or show 2D images and they’re great visual aids to help people understand what you’re talking about. That’s a presenter’s dream.

Bring some props that link to your message and help you communicate visually with the audience. Don’t pick something random irrelevant to your topic, no matter how ‘cool’ it is.

Here’s an example of how to use props the right way…

6. Ask short questions

Asking questions is the fastest way to check in on your audience and make sure they’re paying attention. Still, asking in the wrong way can result in an awkward silence instead of a sea of hands in the air. 

Live polling and word clouds are safer choices in this case: they let people answer anonymously using just their phones, whicguaranteesat you’ll get more answers from your audience. 

Prepare some intriguing questions that can spark creativity or debate then choose to show everyone’s answers however you want – in a live poll, word cloud or open-ended format.

Presenter uses AhaSlides open ended question as an interactive presentation technique

7. Brainstorming session

You’ve done enough work for this presentation, so why not turn the table a little bit and see your participants put in some effort?

A brainstorming session digs deeper into the topic and reveals the audience’s different perspectives. You can gain more insights into how they perceive your content and even be surprised by their brilliant ideas.

If you want everyone to discuss directly, instruct them to brainstorm in groups and share their combined ideas with everyone.

Try a live brainstorming tool to let everyone have their say and vote on their favourites amongst the crowd 👇

8. Host speed networking

One of the main drivers that bring your participants to come and hear you present is networking. Joining social events like yours means that they have more chances to meet new people, socialise, and maybe add new meaningful connections on LinkedIn.

Host a short networking session, ideally during a break or after you finish your presentation. All participants can freely mingle, talk to each other and dig deeper into any topic they’re keen on. This is one of the best interactive presentation ideas for large groups of participants.

If you do it online or hybrid, breakout rooms in Zoom and other meeting apps make it very easy. You can automatically divide your audience into different groups, or you can add a topic to each room’s name and let them join based on their preferences. Having a moderator in each group is also a good idea to help people feel comfortable at first.

There are also some tips for hosting a networking session in real life :

  • Prepare a tea break – Food heals the soul. Participants can talk while enjoying the food and hold something when not knowing what to do with their hands.
  • Use colour-labelled cards – Let each person choose a card with a colour representing a popular hobby and tell them to wear it during the networking session. People sharing things in common can find and make friends with others. Note that you need to decide the colours and hobbies before the event.
  • Give a suggestion – Many people want to but shy away from talking to a stranger at an event. Write suggestions on pieces of paper, such as ‘say a compliment to a person in pink’, ask the participants to choose randomly and encourage them to do so.

9. Use a social media hashtag

Make your event go viral and keep people interacting virtually before, during or after the event. When you have a hashtag to accompany your event, all participants can join related conversations and not miss any info.

This is a great way to promote your event. Not only can your audience engage with your message, but so can other people on the net by interacting with posts using hashtags. The more, the merrier, so get the hashtag trending and let more people know about the fascinating things you’re up to.

Here’s how to do it:

  • Choose a (fabulous) hashtag containing your event’s name.
  • Use that hashtag in each post to let people know you have one.
  • Encourage audience members to use that hashtag when sharing photos, opinions, feedback, etc., on their social accounts.

10. Pre and post-event surveys

Surveys are smart strategies to connect with the audience when you’re not with them. These surveys help you understand them better and measure your success.

In this tech era, sending surveys via emails and social media is convenient. There are some common questions you can put in the surveys and customise them based on the purpose of your event.

  • Common questions – Ask about their names, age, hobbies, preferences, areas of interest and more .
  • Tech-specific questions – It’s helpful to know about their internet connection and tech devices to set up activities in an online event. Find out more here . 

Post-event:

  • Feedback questions – Collecting audience feedback is vital. Ask about their opinions on the presentation, what they liked and didn’t, what they want to know more about and other relevant questions . 

3 General Tips for Presenters

Presenting is much more than what you say or write on the slides. Well-prepared content is great, but not really enough. Practice these amazing hidden languages to show your charisma and nail the presentation. 

1. Eye contact

A quick gaze in the eyes helps you engage with the audience and further impress them. It’s key for grabbing their attention; you’re talking to them after all, not to your presenting screen. Remember to cover every part of the room and not stare at only one or two; that’s pretty weird and awkward…, right?

2. Body language

You can make this non-verbal communication to build a deeper connection with your audience. A good, open posture with appropriate hand gestures can give you a confident and persuasive vibe. The more they trust you, the more they focus on your presentation.

3. Tone of voice

Your tone of voice matters. Your voice, manner, and language affect the audience’s mood and how people perceive what you’re saying. For example, you shouldn’t make it too casual and playful during a conference or don’t speak too seriously and bombard the participants with technical terms when presenting in a workshop. 

Sometimes, in more informal speeches, add a bit of humour if you can ; it’s relaxing to you and your listeners (don’t try too hard, though 😅).

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How to make a presentation interactive

Interactive presentations are the most effective way to improve audience engagement and help them retain data. Instead of a one-way information flow in which the audience retains only a fraction of the content, your goal here is to break up the presentation into smaller chunks that are easier to absorb. An interactive presentation has the following advantages:

  • Better connection with the audience.
  • Increased audience participation.
  • Improved memory retention.
  • Highly personalized presentations.
  • More engaging experience for the presenter as well as the audience.

With these presentations having so many proven positive results, why wouldn’t you make your next PowerPoint presentation interactive?

In today’s article, we’ll explain what an interactive presentation is and discuss many ways to make a presentation interactive and get your audience involved right from the opening slide, so let’s get into it!

What is interactive presentation?

An interactive presentation is a dynamic form of content presentation that encourages audience participation and interaction. It entails incorporating interactive components to provide a more personalized and engaging experience for your audience.

Whether you’re doing a pre-recorded or live presentation, there are different ways to make a presentation interactive. It might be as easy as including audio and video in your presentation. Or it can take the form of surveys, charts, transitions, hotspots, and other elements in your presentation that our professional presentation services will share with you below.

How to make your presentation interactive: 10 most effective ways

If you’ve ever thought of making your presentation interactive, this is your chance to experiment with a variety of techniques. Start with a few ideas to see how they fit with your brand’s guidelines.

Remember, any interactivity you include in your presentations should make sense in relation to the content. Otherwise, it may end up being distracting rather than engaging.

1. Add videos

Do you recall the class you looked forward to the most in school? It was usually the class where the teacher showed documentaries or other videos rather than writing something on the board. Surprisingly, little has changed in our lives as adults.

The majority of people still associate videos with the most fascinating part of a presentation. That’s why including this simple yet powerful approach to making your presentation interactive is essential. Both auditory and visual learners will be able to follow along if you offer multiple ways of information delivery. Videos can also help reinforce and validate the core message while providing a break from a lengthy presentation.

2. Start with an icebreaker

Introduce amusing facts about your topic or simply get to know individuals in your audience. Building rapport is guaranteed to set the tone and increase interest in what’s to follow. Instead of asking questions like “How is everyone?” consider quick games such as figuring out what everyone in the room has in common or having a short quiz about the subject matter. Icebreakers are intended to foster an inclusive environment and encourage everyone to speak up.

Here are a few icebreaker questions to consider in your interactive slide presentation:

  • What is one thing you hope to do when you retire?
  • What is your favorite morning beverage?
  • Which cartoon character do you wish you could be best friends with?
  • What fictitious place do you want to visit?

3. Quiz your audience

Quizzes are an excellent method to get feedback during a presentation and assess the audience’s participation and grasp of the material. If audience members have difficulty comprehending the material, it’s never too late to change how you present. Do not make your audience feel as if they are being tested, but rather take this moment to clarify any issues or understand what you should address in greater depth or what you should quickly summarize. If quizzes are inappropriate, polls are also an excellent technique to discover the audience’s point of view or hear stories they might have to share.

Expert tip: If your presentation is online, include clickable buttons to let the audience know it’s interactive.

4. Invite a co-host

Co-hosts not only make the event more engaging for the audience, but they can also make you feel more confident as the speaker. While the other person is speaking, a co-host can keep an eye on the room for any questions or reactions. They can also initiate a dialog with the audience by asking questions they may have.

Expert tip: Invite subject matter experts to increase credibility and lighten the load.

5. Use props

Whether you’re doing a sales pitch or a school presentation, props can help you bring the material to life. Find the appropriate moment to shift from watching a screen to physically showing your products. Visual aids are an excellent way to refocus your audience’s attention while increasing your message’s impact. However, remember that your props should be related to the subject matter or serve as an effective metaphor.

6. Add a hashtag

Most of us have heard of hashtags from Twitter or Instagram. They are commonly used to group different posts together and, when approached correctly, can even boost your reach. Creatively worded hashtags are ideal for continuing dialogue after the presentation.

Hashtags can be utilized to build a community where everyone participates in the discussion. They might refer to a particular group of people, product, event, industry, or location. Hashtags are also the ultimate interactive element to expand your message exponentially as the audience shares and retweets posts.

For example, National Geographic utilizes the #NatGeoExplorer hashtag on Instagram to draw attention to the travels of their explorers.

7. Allow for breaks

No matter how powerful your beginning is, keeping everyone’s attention during the rest of your presentation is often challenging. That’s where mental breaks come in handy. Well-timed breaks are essential for keeping your audience’s attention during an hour-long presentation. It’s an ideal time for quizzes, Q&A sessions, and short video clips. This way, you can give your message in bite-sized bits, making it even more memorable.

8. Include the unexpected

Surprising your audience by arguing accepted views is another great way to capture their attention. Introducing information that contradicts the audience’s beliefs will make the rest of your presentation much more persuasive and exciting.

It’s also an excellent way to overcome the barrier between the audience and the presenter at the beginning of any presentation. When you include the audience as an active participant, your presentation becomes interactive. So, keep them surprised or guessing with periodic check-ins to collect questions or take any input from the audience and adjust accordingly.

9. Make the most of the data

Data and statistics are an integral part of any presentation. However, how they are conveyed frequently diminishes their significance. When lists of percentages and figures are read aloud, it’s easy for the audience to lose track of time. What’s the way out? Develop a storyline! Incorporate data into a real-world application and demonstrate this statistic’s impact on the bottom line.

By implementing a storyline in your interactive presentation slides, you engage your audience while data reinforces your message. According to Forbes, the best way to introduce data is through visualizing it using the phrase “is the equivalent of.”

Here’s their example:

“Strawberries are packed with vitamin C. In fact, one serving of strawberries is the equivalent of eating five oranges.”

10. Follow up with surveys

Sending out surveys after your presentation, like generating a hashtag, is an effective way to continue the conversation afterward. If your presentation was a sales pitch, this is an additional opportunity to provide further information about your product. Surveys are also helpful in gathering honest feedback and assessing the efficacy of your presentation, allowing you to use the results obtained to improve future presentations.

Here are some expert tips for creating a great survey:

  • Limit your survey to one page.
  • Ask straightforward, easy-to-understand questions.
  • Motivate your audience members by incentivizing your survey.
  • Use yes/no questions with an “Other” response option.

Armed with the best ways to create interactive presentation, your next presentation, whether online or in person, is set for success. Should you require any assistance with the design part or presentation formatting, you can take advantage of the custom Google Slides and PowerPoint design service from SlidePeak. Our dedicated team has years of expertise in creating professional presentations for various events and audiences and is on call 24/7.

1. How to add audio to Google Slides?

Google Slides does not allow you to upload audio files directly from the laptop. So, you need to upload the audio file to Google Drive before you can add audio to your Google Slides presentation. Here’s how to do it:

  • Go to Google Drive (drive.google.com).
  • Click on the “+ New” button on the top left.
  • Choose “File upload” and select the audio file from your laptop. Supported audio formats include MP3 and WAV.

Once done, take the following steps to insert audio into your slide:

  • Go back to your Google Slides presentation.
  • Click on the slide where you want to add the audio.
  • Click on “Insert” in the top menu.
  • Select “Audio” from the dropdown menu. Google Slides will then display your Google Drive files.
  • Choose the audio file you uploaded to Google Drive.

As soon as the audio file is inserted, an audio icon will appear on your slide, and you will be able to adjust the playback options. For example, you can set the audio to play automatically when the slide opens or play it manually.

Remember, since the audio is linked to Google Drive, you will need an internet connection for the audio to play during your presentation. Also, ensure that the sharing settings of your audio file in Google Drive are set appropriately so your audience can access the audio during the presentation.

2. How to embed a video in Google Slides?

You can include videos in Google Slides following these simple steps:

1. Open your Google Slides presentation.

2. Navigate to the specific slide where you want the video to be embedded and do the following:

  • Click on “Insert” in the top menu of Google Slides.
  • From the dropdown menu, select “Video.” This will open a new window with options to add a video.

3. Choose how to add your video. Here, you have a few options:

  • Search YouTube: If you want to embed a video from YouTube, you can search for it directly in the “Search” tab. Just type in keywords or the title of the video and press Enter. Then, click on the video you want to use and select “Select.”
  • By URL: If you have a specific YouTube video URL, go to the “By URL” tab and paste the YouTube video URL.
  • Google Drive: If your video file is stored in Google Drive, go to the “Google Drive” tab and select the video from your drive.

Once the video is inserted, it will appear on your slide. You can then click and drag the corners of the video to resize it and adjust playback settings such as autoplay when presenting and mute audio using the “Format Options” toolbar.

3. How to add voice to Google Slides?

Adding a voice-over or audio narration to your Google Slides presentation can greatly enhance content delivery, especially in settings where you can’t present live. Here’s how to add voice over to Google Slides:

1. Record your voice

You can use various tools for this, such as the voice recorder on your smartphone or laptop (like Windows Voice Recorder or QuickTime on a Mac), specialized software like Audacity, or any online recording tools you like. Next, make sure to save the audio file in a format that Google Drive supports (MP3 or WAV) and record your voice for each slide separately to make it easier to synchronize later.

2. Upload the audio file to Google Drive

Google Slides does not allow you to upload audio files directly from your laptop, so you need to upload your recorded audio file to Google Drive. Here’s how to do it:

  • Open Google Drive (drive.google.com).
  • Click on the “+ New” button in the top left corner.
  • Select “File upload” and choose the audio file from your laptop.

3. Insert the audio into your slide

  • Open the Google Slides presentation where you want to add the voice recording.
  • Go to the slide where you want the audio to play.
  • Click “Insert” in the top menu, then choose “Audio” from the dropdown menu. Your Google Drive files will be displayed.
  • Select the uploaded voice recording.

After inserting the audio files, click on the audio icon that appears on your slides. This will bring up the audio options. In the audio options, you can set when the audio should play (e.g., when clicked, automatically, etc.). You can also resize or hide the audio icon when presenting, loop the audio, and adjust the volume.

Once done, ensure each slide’s content aligns well with your recording. Adjust the timing and content of your slides if necessary.

4. How to add GIF to Google Slides?

Adding an animated GIF to your Google Slides can bring a dynamic touch to your presentation. Whether it’s a funny animation to lighten the mood or a more informative sequence, GIFs are a great way to enhance your message visually. Here’s how to add animations on Google Slides:

1. Select or create your GIF

  • Find a GIF: Look for the perfect GIF to match your content on platforms like Giphy or Tenor.
  • Create a GIF: If you need something more personalized, create your own using tools like Adobe Photoshop or an online GIF maker.

2. Save your GIF

For online GIFs, right-click and choose “Save image as…” to download and save it on your laptop. However, if you’re making your own, remember to save or export it in the GIF format.

3. Open your Google Slides presentation

4. Navigate to the slide where you want to add the GIF

5. Insert your GIF

  • Go to “Insert” in the top menu, then select “Image.” You can upload the GIF from your laptop or use a URL if the GIF is hosted online.
  • Locate and upload the chosen GIF.

Once uploaded, resize the GIF by dragging its corners, then move it to the desired location on your slide, and you’re done!

Keep in mind that GIFs automatically loop in Google Slides. Also, consider the file size, as larger GIFs might affect the performance of your presentation. If the GIF is sourced online, ensure it’s accessible to your audience, especially if it’s stored in a restricted area like a private Google Drive folder.

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  • Presenting techniques

50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]

Keynote vs powerpoint.

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  • Present financial information visually in PowerPoint to drive results

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Keynote VS PowerPoint

Here’s How to Make Your Next Interactive Presentation the Best One Ever

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

No one wants to sit through a lengthy, boring, or predictable presentation, even on an interesting subject. That’s why we’re changing how presenters, content marketers, and storytellers engage, excite, and retain their audiences. Even mundane topics can be a good time!

But engaging virtual presentations need the right tools. Want to include videos, audio, animation, quizzes, and more? With Tiled, your presentations can go from static to dynamic. Here are nine tips on how to do it.

1. Allow Your Audience To Choose Their Next Step

Incorporate an interactive menu that allows the audience to choose the order and flow of your presentation. Using hotspots, which is what Tiled calls links, your audience can move about your content experience as they choose. For example, if you’re presenting about solar panels, you can include a list of panel types, installation options, and corresponding benefits or customer testimonials that your audience can navigate through in the way that best serves their needs.

2. Videos Say A Thousand Words

Videos are another great way to make a presentation engaging, virtually transporting your audience into your content. Imagine real estate presentations that include video tours of your properties, for instance.

3. Add Audio

Incorporate audio into your content to bring a variety of subjects to life. For example, you could use audio to share customer testimonials or product instructions. And keep accessibility in mind by incorporating audio scripts for visually-impaired members of your audience.

4. Use Dynamic Charts and Graphs

When you’re using charts and graphs, dynamic elements help your audience dive into critical data. Selecting a slice of a pie chart to display additional detail, highlight trends, or provide more context is an effective way to show the details that matter. Don’t just present — tell a story.

5. Incorporate Zoom and Scroll Options

You can also give users the ability to zoom in and scroll on individual slides. See how SkullCandy does it : During their self-guided presentation, customers can zoom in on an image of the headphones to highlight its features.

6. Make Transitions Functional

Thanks to touch-enabled smart devices, interacting with content through haptics has become normal. Take advantage of this instinct and enable thoughtful, smooth transitions from one idea or concept to the next.

7. Include a Quiz or Survey

Many presentations are created to train employees . Including a quiz at the end of the presentation (or after each section) to find out how well employees understand the information. In a Tiled microapp, you can incorporate a quiz right in your sales playbook and gather data on how well employees have retained the information.

8. Inspire Action

Make it easy to take the next step by concluding your presentation with a call to action. Invite your audience to place an order, join a mailing list, or submit contact information. Take advantage of this feature in a variety of situations, such as gathering information for contacting potential customers during an event.

9. Include a Feedback Form

No need to wait for feedback from your employees or audience members. Quickly and easily determine how well the presentation went and discover new ways to improve in the future with a feedback form in your microapp, like the contact form in this one .

Improve Interaction With Tiled

Learn how to make virtual presentations interactive with presentation software and easy-to-use templates from Tiled. Simply insert your content into the placeholder spots on the template to end up with impressive and interactive slides every time.

Discover even more creative ways to make a presentation interactive with hotspots and other innovative tools, then share your final product with your whole team. Contact us to request a demo today.

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Sr. Director of Demand Generation at Tiled

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7 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

December 19, 2023

Ever found yourself in a presentation, where the audience seemed more interested in the tiles at the ceiling than the speaker?

I’ve been there too, way too many times. But don’t worry, in this article, I’ll show you a way out of the ‘boring presentation’ trap!

In this article, you’ll discover 7 easy-to-implement ways to make your presentations more interactive. These interactive presentation ideas will infuse excitement into your speech and will make it an event to remember!

Interactive Presentation Ideas #1: Imaginary world

Overview : Invite your audience to imagine a certain situation. This is often used to imagine a problem that you want to address or solution you want to propose.

Goal : Make people care about what you’re saying.

Example : “Imagine you step into an elevator, press a button, and the doors close. Suddenly, the voice on the intercom announces, ‘We’re going up, or maybe down. I’m not entirely sure, but let’s see what happens.’ Would you stay in that elevator? Probably not. Now think about how some leaders guide their teams the same way. As a leader, it’s crucial to lead with clarity and confidence. Know your direction and take your team along for the ride.”

  • Use action verbs to bring your audience into the moment (e.g. you open the door, see your manager, close the book, etc.).
  • Include visual details to bring your audience into the scene.

Interactive Presentation Ideas #2: Student Teacher

Overview : Ask people to explain what they’ve just learned to their neighbor.

Goal : Make sure people understand and remember.

Example : “Turn to your neighbor and explain how [technique/ concept/ steps] works. You have three minutes to do that.”

  • Include a timer on the screen to let your audience know how much time is left.
  • This technique is best used when you have very important and / or complex content.
  • You can also give extra guidance by telling the audience who should start (e.g. “The one with the darker hair, goes first.”).

Student teacher

Interactive Presentation Ideas #3: Question

Overview : Ask your audience a question to hear about their experiences, problems or solutions.

Goal : To engage with them and learn from their experience.

  • “What do you talk about in the first few minutes of a meeting?”
  • “What’s the best experience you’ve ever had as a customer?”
  • “Is it okay to show feelings at work?”
  • Ask questions everyone can answer.
  • To make it more dynamic you can pick random people in the crowd to answer your question.
  • To make it even more dynamic you can throw an item such as a tennis ball or a teddy to whomever you’d like to answer the question. Just avoid any potentially dangerous objects. I tried this first with golf balls. Let’s say it didn’t go too well.

Interactive Presentation Ideas #4: Poll

Overview : Ask your audience a few questions about their background, preferences or experience.

Goal : Get to know your audience better.

Example : “Quick show of hands… Who’s been with our company for less than a year? 1 to 3 years? “More than 3 years?”

  • Make it clear when to raise and lower hands.
  • Craft clear and concise poll questions. Ensure that questions are well-structured and avoid ambiguity.
  • Tailor your content after the poll to your audience, using the responses of the pull as input.

Presentations Quiz

Interactive Presentation Ideas #5: Quiz

Overview : Invite your audience to participate in a short quiz.

Goal : Test your audiences’ understanding and reinforce learnings you want them to take away.

Example : “Question 1: Which approach is most effective in addressing negative online reviews? A) Ignore them B) Thank customers for their feedback C) Delete the reviews to eliminate negative feedback D) Ask customers to remove their reviews through incentives

Question 2: What does the “moments of truth” concept mean in customer service? A) It refers to service hiccups B) It refers to the critical touchpoints where customers form opinions about a business C) It’s a marketing strategy to attract new customers D) It means creating memorable customer experiences at all times”

  • People are more committed if they have something to win. So, tell them upfront if there are any prices the winner gets. That doesn’t have to be an expensive price. Candy, a book or even an official title (e.g. “The King of the Jungle”), helps to participants to care even more.
  • You can use a digital quiz platform such as Kahoot and Mentimeter to set-up very interactive quizzes. They make it very to design a quiz, include very engaging music, and automatically calculate the winner of each round.
  • Randomize both the order of questions and answer choices to reduce the likelihood of answer patterns.

Interactive Presentation Ideas #6: Storytime swap

Overview : Encourage participants to share personal anecdotes or experiences related to your presentation topic, fostering a sense of connection.

Goal : Create a relatable and engaging atmosphere, and highlight real-world applications of your content.

Example : “Let’s take a moment to connect on a personal level. Turn to your neighbor and share a brief story or experience related to our topic. Whether it’s a success, a challenge, or a humorous incident, these stories will enrich our understanding and make the content more tangible.”

  • Keep the storytelling brief to allow multiple participants to share.
  • Connect shared stories back to key points in your presentation.
  • Express appreciation for participants’ willingness to share.

Are you looking for more storytelling activities to include in your next presentation? Here are 7 Storytelling Activities to Deliver an Unforgettable Team Event . 

Interactive Presentation Ideas #7: Word Association Storm

Word Cloud

Overview : Begin with a single word related to your presentation and have the audience contribute associated words or ideas in rapid succession.

Goal : Spark creativity, generate a collaborative brainstorm, and set an energetic tone.

Example : “Let’s kick off this brainstorm with a single word: ‘innovation.’ Shout out any words or ideas that come to mind. We’re creating a storm of associations that will set the stage for our exploration of innovative concepts today!”

  • Keep the pace lively to maintain energy.
  • Capture the associations visually on a whiteboard or screen.
  • Relate the generated ideas back to your presentation themes.

And there you have it – 7 keys to unlocking the door to engaging, interactive presentations. We’ve shown you the way to banish boredom, spark curiosity, and turn your talks into memorable experiences. Now, armed with these tricks, it’s your turn to take the stage and captivate your audience. The world of presentations will never be the same again – so go ahead, make your mark, and let your next presentation be a shining example of interactive brilliance!

P.S. Another powerful way to make your presentations more engaging is to include more stories in your presentation. To make sure story lands really well, you can check out this next article on to discover the  3 Storytelling Techniques To Deliver Unforgettable Stories .

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10 Ways To Make Interactive And Engaging Presentations In PowerPoint

10 Ways To Make Interactive And Engaging Presentations In PowerPoint

Professionals across the spectrum will stand by the fact that compelling presentations can be an important force of influence at the workplace. Many people at the same time also struggle to make presentations in an effective and engaging way. 

How can one tackle this problem?

One tactic seasoned presenters use – make the presentations more interactive!

During a presentation, the audience tends to pay more attention if they know that at some point it will turn interactive. Audience participation is key to the success of any presentation. So next time you create a presentation bear in mind these 10 tips to make it more interactive.

Remember, the goal is audience engagement and active listening. The key to a successful presentation is understanding that the presentation should complement your speech, not be gimmicky and not be the point of focus. Make use of our Google Slides Themes to create presentations in a fraction of time. Here are a few tips: 

  • Icebreakers are always the safest way to start the session
  • Use Audio/Visuals in Your Presentation
  • People love a good story
  • Use Transitions and Animations Smartly
  • One Slide, One Topic
  • Live polling Keeps the audience engaged
  • Surprise Them!
  • Use hashtags, spread the word
  • Add a reflection at the end

1. Icebreakers are always the safest way to start the session

This is universal to any form of interaction, not just limited to presentations. Building a rapport with the audience is key to presenting successfully.

This can be achieved either through a round of personal introductions or if the audience is larger, there are numerous ice breaker games that can be used.

The objective here is to get your audience’s undivided attention. By using an ice breaker, you set the tone for the rest of the presentation.

2. Use Audio/Visuals in Your Presentation

Audio-visuals in a few slides are bound to get the audience’s attention. Use your own video or embed one from YouTube.  

Embed a video into one of your slides to draw your audience’s attention. This also serves as a break for you from speaking. Videos give them a break from monotony.

3. Questions 

The easiest way to engage the audience is by asking questions. Some presenters prefer to do it at the end of the presentation and then there are those who prefer to have it at various points during the session to gauge the audience’s subject understanding.

Asking questions to the audience also makes them feel important, builds trust, and radically increases engagement levels.

4. People love a good story

Many say that humans are wired for stories and it could not be more true when it comes to presentations. Even dense numbers and statistics can be made accessible via good storytelling. 

A story well told can create an immersive effect. It can make the audience feel they are witnessing something important unfold. Tap into their psyche, their emotions, make the presentation memorable to them.

5. Use Transitions and Animations Smartly

Make your presentations visually appealing. You can do this by animating, transitioning, and morphing techniques. Use transitions intelligently and make these relevant and deeply linked to your content as opposed to just adding gimmicks. But make sure the look and feel throughout the presentation are consistent.

6. One Slide, One Topic

The primary objective of a presentation should be to keep your audience paying attention to your speech. To draw their attention, use one topic per slide. Don’t go overboard! While it is easy to create the presentation, it also helps the audience keep pace with you. Keep the content light so the audience can ask questions and interact as you go along.

7. Live polling Keeps the audience engaged

One of the most popular go-to tools by presenters is live polling. It encourages the audience to participate and give real-time feedback. It is also a fun and interactive means.

You could either use multiple choice questions or use polling tools online eg Mentimeter.

8. Surprise Them!

Presentations can get boring, especially for people with a short attention span. Interactive presentations are an active experience. To ensure total attention hide small pieces of interesting information within the presentation itself. It could be a video, or audio or new information. Hide infographics and let the audience track them. People are never bored when it comes to tracking for new or additional information. This helps you keep them engaged while also allowing them to learn something new.

9. Use hashtags, spread the word

We live in an age where most of our time is spent staring at a screen. Chances are it will be the same during presentations as well. People would be on Facebook or Instagram or tweeting their thoughts through Twitter. Some may even be conducting their business through their smartphone.

Capitalize on this by creating presentation-centric hashtags and encouraging your audience to share news and updates about it. It is just smart marketing; word of mouth, event promotion and social interaction all act parallelly for the same event.

Such hashtags encourage people to create and engage in discussions about your presentation through other social domains. While it promotes your event, you can also view responses and customer opinions through relevant tags.

10. Add a reflection at the end

While ice-breakers are key to a good start, reflective questions make sure the presentation receives a good ending. A reflective question gives you an idea of the audience’s take-away from the presentation while encouraging them to share their feedback and inputs.

Reflective questions can be asked verbally or in the form of an interactive slide at the end of the presentation.  

These ten tips will enable you to create an interactive, informative, and engaging presentation. Implementing these tips will certainly take you a long way and ensure that your presentation isn’t just another snooze fest. Happy Presenting!

You can browse through our collection of PowerPoint Templates & Google Slides Templates to create stunning presentations. Here are a few examples of presentation templates:

Source: Timeline Animation By SlideUpLift

Source: Quiz Animation By SlideUpLift

18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Source: BarCode Template  By SlideUpLift

Now you don’t have to scour the web to find out the right templates. Download our PowerPoint Templates from within PowerPoint. See how ?

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Presentation Training Institute

Presentation Training Institute

A division of bold new directions training, 11 ways to make your presentation more interactive.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for a presenter is trying to hold the audience’s attention for the duration of the presentation. Polls suggest that nearly half of all presentation attendees admit to doing something other than listening during a presentation. One of the best ways to get your audience to stay focused is by making them feel like part of the presentation. There are several things you can do to make your presentation more interactive so it will engage your audience.

1.Warm Up the Audience with an Icebreaker Let the audience know right from the start that your presentation is going to be interactive with an easy icebreaker. Icebreakers come in many different styles and variations and can include games, photos, word clouds, polls, and fun facts. Icebreakers are a fun way to capture audience attention and set the tone for your presentation.

2.Tell a Story People love to hear stories and storytelling has always been a universal way to captivate audience attention. People automatically listen when you begin telling a story because they want to know what will happen next. If you tell a compelling story, you will have audiences on their edge of their seats waiting to see how your story ends.

3.Ask Questions You don’t have to save your Q&A for the end of your presentation. Encourage your audience to ask questions during the presentation and stop every so often and ask them questions. Take advantage of every opportunity to interact with your audience throughout the presentation.

4.Host a Panel of Experts Traditional Q&A’s can get boring so spice things up with an experts panel. Instead of directing all of the questions to one speaker, an expert panel makes it possible for audience members to address multiple people who are well-equipped to answer their questions.

5.Poll the Audience Have you ever wanted to know what your audience is thinking during your presentation? Thanks to technology at our fingertips, you can! There are a variety of polling apps that allow audience members to supply feedback and responses in real time.

6. Tweet Questions Just about everyone in your audience will have a cell phone in their pocket so embrace it by encouraging them to use it. Create a unique hashtag for your presentation and ask audience members to tweet questions throughout the presentation. This is a great way to interact with everyone in your audience, including those people who might not otherwise speak up.

7.Break Into Groups Most people associate presentations with sitting for a lengthy period of time, but that’s just the reason why movement is so important. Invite your audience to break into small groups for a quick discussion or to complete a short activity. The action of moving around helps to break up the monotony and keeps people engaged.

8.Show Video Clips Find a short video clip that reinforces your points and use it as a visual during your presentation. Visuals are not only more interesting, but they help people remember the information.

9.Perform a Demonstration Demonstrations are a great way to show people how something works or to reinforce a concept. Invite an audience member on stage and use them during your demonstration. You will immediately capture your audience’s attention.

10. Live Quizzes Live quizzes are a great way to interact with your audience and get them engaged with the material. You can ask questions pertaining to your topic and display the answers through a digital platform or simply invite audience members to raise their hands to answer. You can also offer prizes for participating.

11. Use a Physical Prop Props aren’t limited to product demos. Props are a great way to help the audience visualize what you are saying. While talking through your presentation, you can refer to the prop to highlight your key points.

Sports Betting

Sports Betting

A beginner’s guide on how to fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket: The basics, tips and trends

BIRMINGHAM, AL - MARCH 18: Detail image of a March Madness bracket on the court before the Auburn Tigers and Houston Cougars matchup during the second round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament held at Legacy Arena at the BJCC on March 18, 2023 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Andy Hancock/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

It is estimated that in a given year, somewhere between 60 and 100 million people will fill out an NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket, and it’s not just the hardcore fans doing it. March Madness is one of the most interactive sporting events in the country and doesn’t require a deep level of knowledge of the game — or really any knowledge — to get involved in the fun.

If you’ve never filled out an NCAA bracket before — or don’t have a lot of college basketball experience — and are looking to get involved this year, here are some important tips on how to get yourself started.

Important note to start out with: This is not geared toward college basketball fans or experienced bracket experts. It is for people new to the experience and looking to get their start. Yes, they do exist, and yes, they are welcome to join in the fun.

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The NCAA men’s basketball tournament comprises 68 teams (32 automatic bids representing the conference champions and 36 at-large bids) and will involve 67 single-elimination games throughout the tournament, including the First-Four “play-in” games and then the remaining six rounds.

Your goal is simply to pick the winner of each game and ultimately end up with the championship team at the end.

The tournament is divided into four regional brackets, each consisting of 16 teams seeded No. 1 through No. 16. The highest seed plays the lowest seed in each round and follows a set bracket throughout the tournament.

The brackets do not re-seed after each round.

Your bracket will not be perfect and picking the eventual champion is not easy, even for experienced college basketball fans. So don’t get frustrated when your picks don’t pan always pan out.

The highest seeds generally win

Not only do the higher seeds win their individual matchups, they also tend to win the whole thing.

Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 1 seeds have won the overwhelming majority of championships. No. 1 seeds have accounted for 24 of the 38 championships since then (63 percent), while No. 2 seeds have won five and No. 3 seeds have won four.

That means 33 of the past 38 tournaments have been won a by a top-three seed. That is nearly 87 percent.

Only three tournaments since then have been won by a No. 5 seed or lower, and the lowest seed team to win it was a No. 8 seed ( Villanova in 1985).

You will still have upsets

While simply picking the highest seeds can produce some results for you, there will always be upsets in the tournament. Some are bigger than others.

The toughest upsets to get are in the No. 1 vs. 16 games (only twice in the history of the tournament) and the No. 2 vs  15 games (only 11 times), so you usually want to avoid picking those. The odds are stacked against you, and you might be throwing away a potential champion early on for no reason.

On average, there are eight upsets per year throughout the tournament where a lower-seeded team wins. There are rarely less than five. There are rarely more than 12. Keep that in mind when filling out a bracket. Ten upsets is usually a safe sweet spot to aim for.

There is also usually at least one No. 12 or No. 13 seed that advances every year, so it makes a lot of sense to mix in one of those in the No. 5 vs. 12 and No. 4 vs. 13 matchups.

While those teams tend to pull off early round upsets, they do not generally advance beyond the Sweet 16 or Elite 8.

Trust the big-name teams

Along with being dominated by higher seeds, you tend to see the same big-name programs cutting down the nets at the end of the tournament.

Since 1985, the 38 tournaments have been won by just 19 different teams. Twenty-three of the 39 tournaments have been won by just Connecticut, Duke , Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Villanova.

With the exception of Villanova, all of those teams are among the best in the country again this season and will be among the top seeds in their respective brackets. It is reasonable to think one of them could add to their championship legacy this spring.

It might be boring to pick them. You might hate doing it. But it is not dumb.

(Photo credit: Andy Hancock / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

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Adam Gretz is a freelance sports writer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Along with the Athletic, he's written for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Yardbarker, and SB Nation.

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  1. How to create an interactive presentation and keep viewers engaged

    18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

  2. How to Create an Interactive Presentation That Engages Your Audience

    18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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    18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

  4. 18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

  5. 18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

  6. Ideas for Interactive Presentations

    18 ways to make your presentation more interactive

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  1. 18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    You want to flow naturally from one part to the next like you are telling a big story chapter by chapter. 3. Get the audience immediately involved. You audience will come to your presentation in a range of different moods. Try using a simple ice-breaker to re-energise them and get them focussed on your presentation.

  2. 20 Ways to Create an Interactive Presentation That Stands Out

    1 Start your interactive presentation with an icebreaker. The first step is creating a rapport with your audience. You can do this by helping them to get to know you a little better and get to know each other as well. The way you go about this will depend on the size of your audience.

  3. 15 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    Use humor. Showing your personality and sense of humor can lighten the mood and build a good rapport with the crowd. The audience is more likely to remember you if you make them laugh and in turn remember your ideas and key points. 6. Eye contact. The power of good eye contact can never be underestimated.

  4. 14 Easy Ways To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    Here's a list of 14 ways you can earn greater audience participation during your presentations: 1. Incorporate audience decision-making. A traditional presentation usually has a set order of slides or points. However, many presentations benefit from adopting a much more flexible structure that requires audience input.

  5. 18 Ways to Make Presentations More Engaging

    Way #7: Include interactive charts or graphs to show numbers or statistics. In some presentations, numbers and statistics are the key points that the audience has to pay attention to. Instead of presenting the raw data, try to convert them into charts or graphs that people will understand and remember better.

  6. 15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

    1. Prezi. Prezi is renowned for its dynamic and non-linear presentation style, enabling users to craft visually stunning and interactive presentations. With an array of templates and animation effects, Prezi enhances audience engagement, making your presentations more captivating and memorable. 2.

  7. How to Make a Presentation Interactive: 9 Tips

    2. Storytelling. Listening to a good story makes your brain more engaged and helps you relate to the storyteller. Introduce your talk with a personal anecdote and use it to create a framework for your presentation. Try using music clips, video clips, or sound effects to add an extra level of interest.

  8. How to Give an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation in 2023

    This way, she made the talk more about the audience, as opposed to just streaming information one way (while making sure people are familiar with the tech). 5. Re-engage your audience every 5-7 minutes. Keep the momentum and motivate your audience to "talk" to you throughout your presentation. Even if it is just in a non-verbal way.

  9. How To Make Presentations Interactive

    2 - Incorporate A Quiz. If the desired end result of your presentation is to have your audience remember as much of what you presented as possible, then one of the best ways to do so is by incorporating a quiz. We as a society and people tend to best remember things when we know we are required to.

  10. How to Make Your Next Big Presentation Interactive and Engaging

    Accept real-time feedback. As we discussed earlier, adding polls and surveys to a slideshow is a fairly simple way to make it more interactive. A live poll allows your audience to participate silently, which is perfect for those who don't necessarily want to speak up and ask a question.

  11. How To Make a Presentation Interactive

    2. Quiz Maker for Interactive Presentations Template. When looking for how to make presentations interactive, this slide deck with a quiz theme can bring light to training sessions or even inspirational presentations. Easy to edit, you can build expectation with multiple-choice format, or work with true/false statements.

  12. 8 Ways to Create an Engaging Interactive Presentation

    Don't be afraid of eye contact, become an expert on your presentation topics, and be aware of your body language. Confidence goes a long way in convincing the human brain to pay attention. 4. Let your audience decide the presentation order. Most presenters use a slide deck to support their presentations.

  13. 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive

    Best Practice PowerPoint Presentation Tips. Use A Consistent Presentation Design. One Topic Per Slide. Avoid information overwhelm by using the "Rule of Three". Display one bullet at a time. Presentation Blunders To Avoid. Avoid unnecessary animations. Only add content that supports your main points.

  14. Interactive Presentation Ideas to Engage Your Audience

    13. Add Music. In any setting, the right music will set the mood. So, use that to your advantage when planning a presentation. You can set simple instrumentals as a light background to complement your speaking, or you can add a spark of loud pop music to grab your audiences' attention.

  15. 8 ways to make your presentation more interactive

    Therefore, take a break from your presentation from time to time and interact with your audience. Ask for their questions and incorporate them already during the presentation. Tools like sli.do allow audience members to ask questions anonymously, so even shy people can participate in the discussion. 6. Poll the audience.

  16. 10 Ways to Make a Presentation More Fun & Interactive [How-to Guide]

    5. Play a Quiz. Another great way to make your presentation interactive is with a quiz! This idea gives listeners a reason to pay attention and sparks fun, friendly competition to see who can answer the most questions correctly. However, for this interactive presentation idea to work, you must create a fun quiz.

  17. 10 Interactive Presentation Techniques for Engagement in 2023

    Interactive Presentation Techniques - Interactive Presentation Methods. 6. Ask short questions. Asking questions is the fastest way to check in on your audience and make sure they're paying attention. Still, asking in the wrong way can result in an awkward silence instead of a sea of hands in the air.

  18. How to make a presentation interactive

    Click on the "+ New" button on the top left. Choose "File upload" and select the audio file from your laptop. Supported audio formats include MP3 and WAV. Once done, take the following steps to insert audio into your slide: Go back to your Google Slides presentation. Click on the slide where you want to add the audio.

  19. Here's How to Make Your Next Interactive Presentation the ...

    Simply insert your content into the placeholder spots on the template to end up with impressive and interactive slides every time. Discover even more creative ways to make a presentation interactive with hotspots and other innovative tools, then share your final product with your whole team. Contact us to request a demo today.

  20. 7 Ways To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    But don't worry, in this article, I'll show you a way out of the 'boring presentation' trap! In this article, you'll discover 7 easy-to-implement ways to make your presentations more interactive. These interactive presentation ideas will infuse excitement into your speech and will make it an event to remember!

  21. 12 Ideas for More Interactive Presentations

    Adding visual and audio effects. Add self-shot videos/ You tube videos, short podcasts or audio recording to your presentation. Use with caution though as it's important that these won't detract you from your message but rather, further convey your point. Also, make sure they are of superior quality.

  22. 10 Ways To Make Interactive And Engaging Presentations In ...

    By using an ice breaker, you set the tone for the rest of the presentation. 2. Use Audio/Visuals in Your Presentation. Audio-visuals in a few slides are bound to get the audience's attention. Use your own video or embed one from YouTube. Embed a video into one of your slides to draw your audience's attention.

  23. 11 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

    The action of moving around helps to break up the monotony and keeps people engaged. 8.Show Video Clips. Find a short video clip that reinforces your points and use it as a visual during your presentation. Visuals are not only more interesting, but they help people remember the information. 9.Perform a Demonstration.

  24. A beginner's guide on how to fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket

    On average, there are eight upsets per year throughout the tournament where a lower-seeded team wins. There are rarely less than five. There are rarely more than 12.