make your presentation more interesting

What Makes a Good Presentation? How to Make a PowerPoint 101

Clémence Daniere

Table of contents

How to create a powerpoint presentation, presentation tips and tricks.

• Create a Video to Share Your Slides After Your Presentation 

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Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and other slide presentations have become an absolutely essential part of any presentation.

They’re easy to use, offer a great way to combine images, video, and text, and require almost no training.

So, why are so many presentations so boring?

All the elements are there for creating effective, eye-catching, and engaging presentations, but so often we’re forced to sit through slide after slide of overcrowded, hard-to-read text and fuzzy (or non-existent) images.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to make your presentations dazzle with just a few easy tips.

Your slide deck has the power to add to or take away from the overall effectiveness of your presentation. Learning how to make a presentation more interesting requires skillful collaboration between the strength of your content and knowing how to make your slides look good. 

So, before you open PowerPoint, let’s go through some basics.

Less is more

Less is more with slide content.  

Your slides should not be stuffed with content, especially text-heavy content. Incorporating bullet points helps your audience follow your message without getting distracted by trying to read the slide.

Use engaging slide designs

You don’t have to start from scratch with every presentation! Chances are, you are not a graphic designer so why not use the templates that have been created by professionals ? 

Using presentation templates can help you make PowerPoint slides, Google slides, or slides for other platforms as well without spending too much time trying to create a professional look. 

You can easily find templates online through Slidesgo and Slidescarnival for Google Slides and for PowerPoint. Each of these platforms offers themes within their software as well. 

All you’ll need to do is make minor adjustements to the design!

Be on-brand

Using consistent branding is an easy way to build familiarity and trust with your audience. If you have an established brand in place be sure to use it when building your slides.  

The colors and fonts used in your design should always adhere to your brand standards without deviation. 

If you don’t have a brand guide to work from, select a specific color palette, using color theory to ensure the message of your presentation is not counteracted by your color choices. 

Stick with just a few colors, and go the same route with fonts. Only choose a few to use, and avoid overly scripted options as they are difficult to read on screen.

Use visual aids

Visuals make a huge difference in your presentations. But there are a few rules to follow.

Stick with high-quality images. Adding images to your slides that are blurry, pixelated, or otherwise low in quality is an easy way to quickly disengage with your audience.

If you don’t have access to high-quality branded photos, use sites like Unsplash and Shutterstock .

Plus, adding screenshots can make your presentation more interesting than stock photos. 

Add screenshots to your presentations with Snagit

Snagit makes it easy to capture and edit the perfect screenshot!

Share data analytics or upcoming project plans by taking a simple screenshot. Screenshots are the perfect addition to your presentations.

Third-party tools like Snagit are made just for that. You can add callouts , arrows , and other tools that draw your audience’s attention . 

For a more fun visual, use GIFs to highlight some key points.

GIFs are a great middle-ground option between static images and videos. They can be used effectively to drive home a specific point or to highlight a specific piece of data.  

Visuals always help with memorability and GIFs usually include a touch of humor and personality – both qualities that help information stick.

You can make your own GIFs using Snagit so that they are perfectly catered to your presentation.

We live in a video world. Embedding videos directly into your slides can play a role in creating an interesting presentation. 

Videos can be an easy way to show a tutorial or demonstrate a process. Whatever your presentation is about, there are videos you can make or outsource that will support your point.

However, using too many videos can take away the impact your own content has. Try to stick to three or fewer videos in one presentation. 

According to Forbes , thirty to sixty seconds is ideal for a presentation video.

You want your visual aids to support your presentation, not take over it. The focus of your presentation should still be you and the value you are bringing to your audience!

For your presentation to shine, you need to combine storytelling, authenticity, and visual aids.  

Basically, it’s all about what you say and how you say it.

Tell a story 

Often times when we think about how to make an effective presentation, we focus on the visuals. We add animations and transitions, hoping that will keep our audience engaged. 

If most of your attention and time is spent on design, you are missing out on a key element that is crucial for making presentations interesting – the story. 

The best presentations draw in their viewers with a relatable narrative, but the narrative also helps the presentation to gain memorability as well. 

You should be spending a large portion of your preparation time crafting your content – the actual information you will be sharing and how you will be sharing it. It doesn’t matter how good your slide designs are if they aren’t supporting compelling content. 

You don’t have to weave an epic tale for your presentation, but if you are looking to make your presentation interesting you need to incorporate some storytelling aspects, like personal connection and impact.

To achieve your purpose, you’ll need an outline. That way, your purpose is kept at the center of your presentation and you follow a familiar structure. You need to make sure that you have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Just like a regular story!

Presentations that are interesting from beginning to end take the audience on a journey. Steer away from reciting facts and from long tangents. Find a middle ground that’s personable and informative!

To create an interesting presentation, be sure you structure your content in a way that makes it easy to tell the story and provide your audience with a journey that is relevant and memorable. 

Be authentic and engaging

A key point that often gets forgotten when preparing presentations? YOU are the presentation.  

Leslie Chamberlain , Senior Director, Customer Education explains on The Visual Lounge Podcast :

“What it comes down to. Whenever you’re doing any kind of presentation, whether you’re doing it on a video, whether you’re doing it in front of folks in person, it comes down to your audience is building the relationship with you. Your slides, your images are not the presentation. You are the presentation. So as you go forward to present, be true to yourself, speak from your heart, and enjoy every minute of it.”

Lean into the parts of your personality that best serve the presentation’s purpose. Tell personal stories, speak in the same manner you normally do, and be open. Public speaking is always a little daunting, but with confidence, you can achieve anything!

Your body language should be easygoing, so try to use natural hand gestures and smile. Make sure to maintain eye contact with audience members. It will create a bond between you and them, which will increase their confidence in you.

Your energy is contagious. To make your presentation more interesting, you’ve got to bring the right energy. 

High-energy presenters get more engagement from their audiences while coming in with low energy is a surefire way to destroy any hope of engagement, regardless of how good a story you have crafted with your presentation’s content. 

Memorize your content rather than relying on reading your slides, and be sure to use different speeds and volumes throughout the presentation to make it more interesting, draw attention to specific points, and present authentically.

And don’t forget to use organic visuals in your presentation to support your purpose and drive home the information you’re sharing. 

Create a Video to Share Your Slides After Your Presentation 

To wrap it up, you can make a video of your presentation. That way, you’ll be able to use it again in the future without going through the hassle of presenting over and over.

To do so, you can simply video record your screen and your camera. With Snagit, you can do so easily and use some fun tools like Screen Draw to direct attention to certain parts of your slides. 

Record and share your presentation with Snagit

Snagit makes it easy to record your screen, camera, and audio for the perfect presentation setup!

Once you’re done recording and making simple edits, send the video as a link through Screencast. Hit the Share Link button to create a unique link to your video. Then, send it out to anyone who might’ve missed your presentation!

This is also a great way to get feedback on your presentation before it happens. Record a mock-up presentation using Snagit, and send it to your team for honest, constructive criticism. That way, your presentation will be so much better when the day comes!

Additional Resources

Email will never die. here’s how to make it better, information overload is real: here’s how to manage it, how to create a training manual: steps and tools that make it easy.

12 Easy Steps to Make a Presentation Creative (+ Examples)

Learn how to make a presentation creative without PowerPoint, and draw inspiration from creative presentation examples by industry and use case.

Dominika Krukowska

9 minute read

Short answer

How can I make a presentation more creative?

• Start with captivating cover videos
• Add chapters for smooth navigation
• Weave in personalization using dynamic variables
• Enhance storytelling with animations
• Highlight key points using subtle visual cues
• Engage with interactive elements
• Showcase ideas using vibrant images
• Sprinkle in video narrations
• Wrap up with a smart CTA

Boring presentations can damage your brand’s image

Boring presentations can feel like those endless meetings where one person monopolizes the conversation. You know, the ones where you’re zoning out, doodling on the side of your notes, just waiting for it to end so you could move on to something more engaging.

That's the disconnect your audience experiences when faced with a boring presentation.

What’s even worse is that when your presentation is dull, it doesn't just bore your audience—it subtly suggests that you or your brand might be, well, kind of boring too .

The good thing is that with the right tweaks and insights, every presentation holds the potential to be memorable.

In this post, we're diving deep into the heart of what makes a presentation creative. We'll explore the mistakes that lead to forgettable slides and the strategies to elevate your content.

By the end, you’ll have all it takes to transform your presentation from mundane to magnetic and have your audience engage with it from the first click to the last.

Let’s go!

What makes a presentation boring?

A boring presentation is a mix of repetitive designs and long chunks of text without a human touch. When slides come off as too generic or overly complex, or they swing between being too predictable or hard to grasp, they lose their spark.

Add in a lack of visuals, real stories, or interaction, and you've got a recipe for audience disinterest.

To truly engage, a presentation should blend interaction, emotion, and content that is relevant to the audience.

How to make a presentation creative step-by-step

Modern presentations are more than just slides—they're experiences. Gone are the days of static bullet points; today's audience craves engagement, interactivity, and a touch of the unexpected.

Let's explore how to make your presentation more creative step-by-step:

1) Add videos to break up text

Videos can set the tone, explain complex ideas, or simply entertain. By strategically placing them at key moments where you feel energy might dip, you make sure your audience remains engaged, and your message is reinforced.

Whether it's a real-life testimonial, a product demo, or a fun animation, videos can breathe life into abstract concepts, making them tangible and relatable.

And, there’s science behind it too: presentations with a video on the cover slide see 32% more engagement . But the magic of videos doesn't stop at the cover. Presentations sprinkled with videos throughout held people's attention 37% longer and even boosted the click-through rate on calls-to-action by 17%.

2) Create a non-linear flow

Who said presentations have to be a straight line? Let's mix it up! By linking slides, you're handing the remote to your audience. It's like those 'choose your own adventure' books from our childhood.

Group your slides into themes or create chapters and let them pick what they want to see next. It's a fun, interactive way to keep them on their toes and engaged.

3) Use personalization for creating tailored stories

You know those emails that greet you by name and make you feel all special? Imagine bringing that warmth to your presentations using dynamic variables.

By integrating with your CRM, you can fetch specific data about your audience and weave it into your slides. This simple trick can make your audience feel like the content was crafted specifically for them, creating a deeper connection.

If you’re making a presentation to showcase your product, you can even use dynamic variables to create a mock-up with your prospect’s name and logo on it to make your deck stand out.

4) Use narrated design

Scrollytelling is where the magic of scrolling meets the art of storytelling. It's an interactive content experience that weaves text, images, videos, and animations into a captivating narrative.

Instead of static slides, scrollytelling guides readers through a story, allowing them to control the pace. It breaks down complex content into bite-sized chunks, enhancing engagement and retention.

Our founder, Itai Amoza, wanted everyone to enjoy this dynamic content experience. So, he joined forces with visualization expert Prof. Steven Franconeri to weave scrollytelling into Storydoc.

Thanks to their partnership, we have dedicated storytelling slides in Storydoc, like the narrator slide you can see below , designed to make content both clear and captivating for all.

5) Tell stories with videos

Videos have this unique power to turn complex ideas into simple, engaging stories. A video might break down a tricky process into fun, easy-to-follow narrative, or give us a peek into real-life examples or experiences.

It's all about making your content feel alive, relatable, and super easy to understand. Because, let's face it, everyone's a sucker for a good story.

Here's a great example of a storytelling video:

6) Use roadmap and timeline slides

Ever tried reading a long-winded description of a company's journey or a product's development process? Yawn, right?

Now, imagine swapping that snooze-fest with a vibrant roadmap or timeline. Instead of slogging through paragraphs, you get a fun, visual play-by-play.

Picture a colorful line showing a startup's journey from a garage brainstorm to its first big sale.

Or a playful timeline marking the stages of turning a wild idea into a bestselling product. It's like turning a history lesson into a comic strip—way more fun and a whole lot clearer!

You can see what it looks like below:

7) Direct attention using animations

Ever been to a theater where the spotlight focuses on the main act? That's what animations do for your presentation.

Whether it's a cheeky arrow pointing out a fun fact, a grand entrance animation for a new idea, or using grayed-out content to highlight a key point, animations are your stage directors.

They ensure your audience's eyes are exactly where you want them to be, soaking in all the important bits.

Here's a great example:

8) Add interactive calculators

Who said numbers have to be boring? With interactive calculators, you're turning math into a fun game. Let your audience punch in numbers and see real-time results.

Whether they're calculating potential savings, ROI, or just playing around, it's an engaging and creative way to make your points tangible. It's like turning your presentation into a hands-on workshop.

9) Use AI-generated images

Instead of sifting through countless stock photos, thanks to the magic of AI, you can have an image that's tailor-made for your slide in seconds.

Storydoc presentation maker lets you generate any image directly in your deck - just give the AI assistant a short description and you’re good to go.

What's great is that you always get an image that matches your topic to a tee. No more "that'll do" compromises. Plus, think of all the time you save when you don't have to hunt for the right picture or take it yourself.

Here's a short video showing how it works:

10) Pop into the presentation with video bubble narration

Imagine if, during a presentation, a mini version of you could pop up, share a quick tip, or clarify a point. That's video bubble narration in a nutshell.

It's like having a friendly guide accompanying your audience, ensuring they get the most out of your content. It adds a creative personal touch, making your presentation feel like a cozy chat between friends.

11) Use before-and-after to show transformation

There's something magical about witnessing a transformation. Just think about the buzz online when someone shares a 'before and after' of a design revamp, weight loss journey, or how they helped a client grow their business.

With a before-and-after slide , you're giving your audience that 'aha!' moment. Even if you can't see their reactions in real-time, you can bet they're sliding back and forth, captivated by the change.

Whether it's showcasing a product's impact, a website redesign, or a process improvement, it's a visual treat that makes your message more powerful.

Here's an example of a before-and-after slide:

12) Close with a smart CTA

The grand finale of your presentation deserves a touch of flair. Instead of a simple 'Thank you' slide, imagine ending with an interactive live chat prompt or a calendar invite for a follow-up. It's like the encore at the end of a concert, giving your audience a chance to engage further.

These smart CTAs aren't just functional; they're creative extensions of your narrative. By integrating them, you're not just concluding your presentation; you're opening doors to new conversations and possibilities.

Here's a great example of a smart CTA:

3 presentation opening ideas

Kicking off a presentation with a bang can set the tone for everything that follows. Here are 3 captivating ways to grab your audience's attention right from the get-go:

Dive into a story: Begin with a personal anecdote or a relatable tale. It's like inviting your audience around a campfire, setting the stage for a memorable narrative.

Pose a thought-provoking question: Challenge your viewers with a question that gets their gears turning. It's an instant engagement booster, making them active participants.

Share a startling statistic: Drop a number that makes jaws drop. When you hit them with a fact that's hard to ignore, you've got their undivided attention.

Want more insights on crafting the perfect presentation opener? Check out our article on how to start a presentation people read to the end .

3 presentation closing ideas

Wrapping up a presentation is just as crucial as the opening. It's your final chance to leave a lasting impression. Here are 3 best ways to ensure your audience walks away inspired:

Circle back to the start: Revisit your opening story or statement, bringing your narrative full circle. It's a neat way to tie everything together and reinforce your key message.

End with a Call-to-Action: End with a captivating personal video message or a lively animation. It's a unique way to engage, surprise, and guide your audience on what's next.

Share an inspiring quote: Leave them with words that resonate. A powerful quote can sum up your message and linger in their minds long after.

Here's an example of a presentation with a personal video message at the end:

Hungry for more tips on crafting the perfect presentation finale? Read our blog post on how to end a presentation and get people to act .

Best tools for making creative presentations

Crafting creative presentations is an art, and like any artist, you need the right tools to bring your vision to life. Here's a curated list of platforms that are pushing the envelope in presentation design:

Storydoc : Beyond traditional slides, Storydoc offers interactive web stories. It's not just about displaying content; it's about creating experiences. With dynamic visuals and interactive elements, your audience is in for a treat.

Pitch : Collaboration is Pitch's forte. Designed for teams, it offers real-time editing, customizable templates, and a sleek interface. It's where ideas transform into visually stunning stories.

Genially : From animated presentations to responsive infographics, Genially provides tools that make your content come alive on the screen.

Beautiful.ai : Automated design assistance is its claim to fame. Feed in your content, and watch as the tool intuitively crafts slides that are both coherent and captivating.

Canva : A versatile design platform, Canva boasts a variety of templates for presentations, graphics, and more. Its drag-and-drop interface ensures even design novices feel like pros.

Visme : Tailored for visual storytelling, Visme offers a rich library of assets. Think dynamic charts, data widgets, and a suite of animations that turn your data into visual narratives.

Creative presentation templates

Ever felt the weight of the cursor blinking on an empty slide, almost taunting you to come up with something creative?

It's like being handed a stage with an eager audience, but the script is yet to be written. That initial step can be the hardest, but what if you had a little nudge in the right direction?

Creative presentation templates can help you shape your story in a way that stands out in a sea of monotony. Think of them as the paint-by-numbers kits, where the structure is set, but the colors and flair? That's all you.

Grab one and see for yourself.

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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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.

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.

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, 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.

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:

Practice Presentation Skills

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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How to make a presentation interactive and exciting

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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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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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

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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 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 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.

Source: Macworld 2008

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

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.

(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.

You focus on the message and content; we’ll focus on making you look good.

Have a tip you would like to include?  Be sure to mention it in the comments!

Like this article? Please share

Audience, Engaging, Feedback, Interactive, Poll, Rule of Three, Steve Jobs Filed under Presentation Ideas

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2 Responses to “23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations”

Very great advices!

Greetings ! A compact composed communication for the host to have an impact -VOICE

Thank You ?

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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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8 ways to make your presentation more interactive

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

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.

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How-To Geek

8 tips to make the best powerpoint presentations.

Want to make your PowerPoint presentations really shine? Here's how to impress and engage your audience.

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Table of contents, start with a goal, less is more, consider your typeface, make bullet points count, limit the use of transitions, skip text where possible, think in color, take a look from the top down, bonus: start with templates.

Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they're dull and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.

It all starts with identifying what we're trying to achieve with the presentation. Is it informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and lead them to a particular outcome?

It's here where the majority of these presentations go wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always start with a goal in mind: to entertain, to inform, or to share data in a way that's easy to understand. Use facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).

I've found that it's helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I start by identifying the takeaway---that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time---and I work in reverse to figure out how best to get there.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. But it's always going to be a good idea to put in the time in the beginning stages so that you aren't reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.

A slideshow isn't supposed to include everything. It's an introduction to a topic, one that we can elaborate on with speech. Anything unnecessary is a distraction. It makes the presentation less visually appealing and less interesting, and it makes you look bad as a presenter.

This goes for text as well as images. There's nothing worse, in fact, than a series of slides where the presenter just reads them as they appear. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they'll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you finish. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you.

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

Right off the bat, we're just going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it's worth considering the typeface you're using and what it's saying about you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.

Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avoid fancy fonts that could prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the like. Keep it simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are safe choices. Stick with the classics and it's hard to botch this one too badly.

There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual examination.

Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, it's our job to talk through complex issues, but that doesn't mean that we need to highlight every talking point.

Instead, think about how you can break up large lists into three or four bullet points. Carefully consider whether you need to use more bullet points, or if you can combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you can't, remember that there's no one limiting the number of slides you can have in a presentation. It's always possible to break a list of 12 points down into three pages of four points each.

Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up slow-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But it should be used judiciously.

Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

That's not to say that you can't use animations and transitions, just that you need to pick your spots. Aim for no more than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And use them in spots where they'll add to the demonstration, not detract from it.

Sometimes images tell a better story than text can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might better convey the information you're trying to share.

The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break up longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation---but only if you're using the right images. A single high-quality image can make all the difference between a success and a dud when you're driving a specific point home.

When considering text, don't think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are often unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.

Color is interesting. It evokes certain feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation as a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retention. It should be a careful consideration, not an afterthought.

You don't have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I do is look for palettes I like, and then find ways to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, like Adobe Color , Coolors , and ColorHunt , just to name a few. After finding a palette you enjoy, consider how it works with the presentation you're about to give. Pastels, for example, evoke feelings of freedom and light, so they probably aren't the best choice when you're presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.

It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to use every color in the palette. Often, you can get by with just two or three, though you should really think through how they all work together and how readable they'll be when layered. A simple rule of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on light backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.

Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you finish your presentation. By clicking the four squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can take a look at multiple slides at once and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click "View" on the ribbon and select "Slide Sorter."

Are you presenting too much text at once? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a chart or summary before you move on to another point?

It's here that we have the opportunity to view the presentation from beyond the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you find that they don't advance the presentation.

The difference between a good presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and plan carefully---not only the presentation as a whole, but each slide within it---are the ones who will succeed.

This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, just buy a template and use it. You can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most popular marketplaces for this kind of thing. Not all of us are blessed with the skills needed to design and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-made PowerPoint template isn't going to make you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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20 Google Slides Tips to spice up your Presentations

Google Slides tips, 20 great tips to push your presentation slide show to the top of the list, make people listen and get your message across clearly, professionally and with style.

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By Lyudmil Enchev

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4 years ago

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If you need to make a presentation, you want to give yourself the best chance of success. To sell the product or yourself, to inform, to get your message across – the better the presentation the better the chances. Slide show presentations are a common way of doing this, but they are no less useful for that. They have many advantages, it’s why they are so popular, they can get the information across clearly, concisely, and memorably if done well. One of the most important decisions is which software to use. One option is Google Slides, but the software alone will not a great presentation make. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to really spice up that Google Slides presentation to create something you are proud of and more importantly will get the job done.

What is Google Slides?

Google Slides is a specialized presentation program that is part of the Google Drive service and it is free or there is a paid-for business option – G suite.  It is available as a desktop application and also as a web app or mobile app, so it can be used in pretty much any situation by anybody with computer access.

Put simply Google Slides enables anyone to create a presentation and edit it , and significantly can allow you to collaborate with other users in real-time . It is designed for online use and is regularly updated with new, fresh features. Crucially, it is also incredibly easy to use .

You’ve got the resource, you’ve got the concept, so the only question that remains is how do you make it something special? Here are the top 20 design tips to consider when using Google Slides:

Tip 1: Use templates Tip 2: Use plenty of  images Tip 3: Experiment with typography Tip 4: Add diagrams and infographics Tip 5: Get creative with your images Tip 6: Be careful with color Tip 7: Add animated transitions Tip 8: Collaborate with your team Tip 9: Add videos Tip 10: Hold back on the text

Tip 11: Make it a story Tip 12: Make reference Tip 13: Add links Tip 14: Take questions Tip 15: Make notes Tip 16: Add bullet points Tip 17: Make it device friendly Tip 18: Use numbers Tip 19: Finish with C.T.A Tip 20: Don’t extend too much

Tip #1: Use templates

The theme of your presentation should be represented by the theme of your slideshow. It will hold everything together.

Unless you are a designer yourself, it can be tricky and time-consuming to design a presentation from scratch that looks the part. The professional designers know what they are doing and give you plenty of options. It isn’t lazy, it doesn’t reflect on your design skills (you aren’t a designer anyway), and nobody questions your creativity.

In actual fact, using the numerous professionally designed templates available on Google Slides does two really useful jobs, if, in fact, they notice at all. Firstly it shows the audience that you know your limits and more importantly, it gives you time to focus on the content of the presentation. It is after all the content that is your principal goal. Plus it gives you extra time to concentrate on your all-important presentation skills.

The templates are all exceptionally designed, and completely and easily editable including the addition of images, layout, color, and background color. Really what more could you need?

Tip #2: Use plenty of  images

Presentations need to be visual. We remember images, we understand images, we recognize and associate with images, and we are brief visual creatures. You need to use images, but we wish it was that simple. don’t just throw them in for the sake of it!

The images you use have a huge effect. The key is to use powerful and appropriate images such as photos and illustrations that help you get your message through. Images that emphasize and enhance your words, stoke up emotion and clarify a complex issue, all these images are useful and powerful. They help you deliver what you want, they help you get your message across and you need to get them into the presentation as thoughtfully as possible.

So you know, you want images so then you need to decide on the right ones. Either use your own images previously downloaded or created and saved and insert them or use Google image search. If you use Google’s image search which has a tremendous number of options, we’re talking in the millions here, it isn’t even necessary to download them first, just add them via your browser tab, insert, image, type in keywords and search away then click on your choice and it’s done.

The type of images you add is important and well worth thinking about. Illustrations can show creativity, originality, and imagination. They are great for illustrating more abstract or complex ideas. You can choose between artistic, hand-drawn, graphic, geometric, simple outlines, etc, all will generate a different tone and feel. Photographic images can present reality, credibility, and honesty. With either choice, you can get really creative, grab the attention, hold the attention, and be remembered.

Be aware that heavy files can result in lagging, which is the last thing you need. Run the presentation through, to check it’s smooth.

Tip #3: Experiment with typography

If you’ve got great content, and we’re sure you have, why go with a bog-standard font. Let’s get creative and choose the font that will suit your theme, your content, and your style, a font that will catch the eye and set you apart. In Google Slides when you click on a text box you get a font option, including size, color, etc. There is a great range but selecting “more fonts” at the top will direct you to the free Google Fonts service. Here you can get really funky. Don’t be afraid an unusual font can have a wow effect but remember it needs to be readable too. You can add your own custom fonts too.

And that’s not all, clicking on the More option on the menu bar (far right) gives you room to play with the text you have, from the usual rotation, size, text fitting, and positioning to the more interesting drop shadow and reflection options. (including opacity, and translucency slide bars.) These add interest and an extra dimension and look like you’ve really made an effort.

Tip #4: Add diagrams and infographics

As with the images above, infographics and diagrams are ideal for presentations. They convey masses amount of information in accessible chunks in a visual way. If you’ve got stats and data or even a complex idea to explain there is little as confusing and frankly dull as long lists of figures or long-winded explanations. This is where the latest craze for infographics really comes into its own.

You can create infographics independently of Google Slides and simply insert it, in the correct spot. Alternatively, you can create a chart or graph, a flowchart, or a diagram straight in Slides, using google sheets or one of the standard menu options. Again these are flexible and editable.

Tip #5: Get creative with your images

We’ve already established that you need images, right? If you’ve selected the appropriate powerful ones, now is the time to put in a tiny bit of effort to add a little extra style. Google Slides contains an option for masking images, meaning you can play with the edges, round off the corners, change image shape and add other stylistic elements. These little things make a huge difference so get creative and experiment, you can always undo, the many options by simply clicking on the image, then the Mask image icon (the little triangle).

Tip #6: Be careful with color

We all know colors can improve a presentation but it is equally true that they can ruin it too. A tendency to throw colors around willy-nilly can look childish and distract from your main aim, so think carefully.

Colors carry associations and are emotive(be aware that they are also culture-sensitive) and can be a great psychological tool when presenting. But you have to make some decisions about what, where, and how much.

• Brand Colors – if you’re presenting your brand, colors are a fantastic way of creating a strong flow of identity throughout. You can stick to the exact colors or use tonal variations and still keep the consistency.
• Bright Colors – catch the attention, but don’t overdo it. Combinations work well, especially regarding images and texts.
• One dominant color – A theme that eases from slide to slide, when used cleverly focuses the eye and highlights key points.
• Black and White – a classic for a reason, dramatic yet clear, elegant yet simple, and you can add grey or occasional pops of color that really stand out.
• Trends of 2022 – colors go in fashions too, check out the most trendy colors and combinations in 2022 .
• Gradients – Gradients and color transitions are very popular.
• Backgrounds – full or part, transparent or semi-transparent, plain, pattern or texture – background really help draw the eye to a particular section. You can also add your own.

Google Slides makes it easy to edit colors into your work, the difficult bit is making the decision in the first place.

Tip #7: Add animated transitions

The visual effect given when moving from one slide to the next, transitions is one of the simplest methods of adding a professional feel to the overall presentation. In Google Slides, just click on the “Transitions” button on the menu and choose from the many options available. The rule of thumb is to find one you like and stick to it during the whole presentation, there are lots of options but don’t be tempted to mix them up. A great transition will keep the interest and create a dynamic flow, a cacophony will distract.

It’s worth noting you should try to keep the number of slides and therefore transitions as low as possible, too many slides is too much movement and not enough focus.

Tip #8: Collaborate with your team

A great advantage of Google Slides is that as it’s online, anyone with permission can see where you are at with the design and even edit it. If you are working with a design team or content writers this is ideal, if you want another opinion it’s a great option too. Another set of eyes can offer insights, and advice, and often see mistakes that you haven’t even noticed. And always get your presentation proofread to avoid potential embarrassment, the last thing you need is to be talking over a glaring typo, hours spent putting together a great presentation can be lost in an instant.

All edits are tracked by the user and indicated by color coding and you can give various levels of permissions. With a revision history that tracks changes to the presentation.

Tip #9: Add videos

It may be appropriate to do something a little different and add a video, it will cause a stir. If you think this is an option that will add to your presentation and isn’t just there because you can do it, then it’s easy to do in Google Slides.

By clicking on “Insert” then “video”, you can add either form your own saved video to your Google Drive account or search YouTube videos. Be sure to watch the video before embedding it, you don’t want an embarrassing surprise. Then edit or format your video as you wish, you can change position or size and playback options, it’s easy but a great way of impressing the audience.

Tip #10: Hold back on the text

Your presentation is an aid to your speech, a guide, and in addition, it is not a document to be read. A text overload will do one of two things either people will focus on the writing and you’ll lose their attention, or worse you’ll lose them altogether and they’ll focus on neither.

The rule is to be brief, the shorter the better. Strong impacting, emotive, emphasizing, provocative – these are the words you are looking for, nobody wants long explanatory texts (that’s what your images are for).

Experts recommend up to six words per slide is enough to gain the attention and get the audience to listen to what you have to say.

Tip #11: Make it a story

We are surrounded by stories from the earliest fairy tales of childhood to the binge-watched Netflix dramas of present times. If you want your presentation to really strike a chord, storytelling is the way to go. Stories, anecdotes, and personal snippets all will allow your key communicative aim to be understood. They also give you a chance to show your personality, humor, humility, experience, and knowledge, and liven things ups.

The slide show is used as a guide through your story, a background that will hold the key concepts and arguments, keep them clear, and hold the focus. But essentially they supplement and add whilst you do the work.

Tip #12: Make reference

By referring to current events, and culture you kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, the audience can relate to your message and can link your ideas to what they are familiar with. Secondly, it keeps things topical, relevant, and up-to-date and that includes the images of you. It forms a vital link with the audience, you are part of them and not apart from them.

But beware you need to know your stuff, what you may think is topical could fall on deaf ears. Research and know your audience, think of age and cultural differences – you don’t want your witty observation to fall on stony ground. And everything should be focused back on your main point, link it to the presentation.

Tip #13: Add links

Links will enable people to lookup more detailed information, links will also show you’ve done your background, links look academic, and links can add a level of professionalism.

With Google Slides there is a research tool, which makes it simple to add links to websites but also to images or additional files in your Drive account. A very useful way of allowing you to be brief and focused but supplying all information that is needed. You can even type into the Google Slides to search for relevant images and sites.

Tip #14: Take questions (often)

Don’t wait until the end to invite questions, people often forget what they were going to ask or are just desperate to get to the free buffet! Questions should be invited throughout, interaction is good, and it makes the audience feel part of the process. In a physical presence in a meeting room or conference hall, this should be scheduled into your time, it is easy to forget and move on.

Google Slides has a Presenters notes section that only you can during the presentation, this is an excellent place to remind yourself to ask for questions.

If your presentation is virtual then Google Slides can create a link for you to send to your audience. Through this link, the viewers can post questions which then appear in the box. An excellent way of increasing active viewing.

Tip #15: Make notes

As we’ve established your slide show is not a complete presentation, your skills are absolutely vital. You need to be prepared for the pressure and the performance. Google Slides provides a “Presenter Notes” option where you can create a guide for each slide, or a script if you wish. There is a good chance you will forget something or get lost at some point unless you really know your stuff – and even then it’s more than possible.

When you start your slide show select “Present” and scroll to the bottom of the screen. Click on the gear icon and open your written notes. The notes open in a separate window, so you need to arrange your setup so you have different screens meaning the audience doesn’t see the notes. The notes follow the slide you are on, forwards or backward, and at whatever speed you are working.

Tip #16: Add bullet points

In an article, proposal, or report, bullet points are great, they break up texts, highlight key points, and make scanning easier but these are text for reading. A presentation is not for reading. You need to explain the slides, the bullets don’t. If it’s worth a bullet point it’s worth a slide of its own. Don’t patronize your audience with obvious point breakdowns when a few words will do the trick. If they need a breakdown, or explanation add a link.

Tip #17: Make it device friendly

You may well be using your presentation slide show in a very standard, typical way, perhaps projecting it onto a screen behind you from your laptop. Remember Google Slides is online so you can access it from a mobile device or tablet. This means that it is possible to cast from your device to a screen. You don’t necessarily have to carry around your laptop for your presentation.

It is also great for working on your presentation remotely, where ever you may be. You get a great idea on the train, take out your phone and access your presentation.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that others can access your presentation from their device too, so remember when doing the design that your presentation needs to look at the part on the small screen.

Tip #18: Use numbers

Numbers add clarity, help the listeners know where you are, act as a guide through the process, and make it feel like you are progressing. If you number each slide there is a sense of drawing to a goal, it’s a simple rule but one of the best. They take seconds to add on Google Slides and are proven to help.

Tip #19: Finish with C.T.A

A call to action is a great way to finish. It has the dual function of closing the presentation and opening the next dialogue. Devote a whole slide to it, make it provocative, you want this part to be remembered.

Thank your audience, of course, it pays to be polite… but please don’t waste a slide on this. Your ending needs to be dramatic and memorable. The questions you need to pose at the end of your presentation, and the questions the audience needs to be asking themselves is… what now? Tell them what you want them to do – directly.

Tip#20: Don’t extend too much

We’ve left it to the end, it’s so important but be brief. Nobody will thank you for needlessly extending, you sat in presentations yourself and you know exactly what everybody is thinking. Let’s get this over and done, yes? This is what the experts say and who are we to argue.

• Ten key slides  – Seems harsh and obviously, it’s only a guide but it’s a good guide. This is the optimal number of slides in a Slide Show presentation, as most people don’t cope well with more than ten key ideas in one session.
• Twenty minutes – If your presentation talk is planned for 20 solid informative minutes it’s plenty. You can have a brief intro (but keep it brief) and clearly, it’s flexible for additional questions and discussions but your actual presentation time should be around 20 minutes.

Presentation construction and the presentations themselves are not necessarily dull. These key tips are both general and Google Slide specific. The idea is to create something that will wow your audience, look professional, create a buzz, and most importantly of all – achieve your main goal. Substance and style rather than one over the other.

You and your design are a team, working together to get the information and message across. The design should, of course, look the part and these tips will help you there – but it shouldn’t dominate.

You are a focal point too, and here are some things to remember:

• Have energy – if you are not enjoying it, no one will.
• Practice – eye contact, voice, and gestures, they all go a long way to selling the message and keeping people with you. Practice in front of a mirror, in front of friends and family, even a pet -it makes a difference when you do it in front of an audience – you’ll get the feel.
• Prepare – double-check the equipment, and proofread the presentation (better get it to proofread).
• Feel Comfortable – get there in good time, check the room and facilities, wear clothes you feel good in, it all helps your confidence.
• You can’t please all the people all the time – remember some people will always be bored, and won’t react, hit the majority and you’ll be fine.

These Google Slides tips are exactly that tips, you use what you want, what you think will work for you, and you will work for your audience. The Slides will help, they are the magic wand but you are the one waving it and speaking the magic words.

You may also be interested in these related articles:

• 35 Free Google Slides Infographic Templates to Grab Now
• 39 Free Google Slides Templates For Your Next Presentation
• 70 Inspiring Presentation Slides with Cartoon Designs

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How to Make a Speech More Interesting: 7 Presentation Ideas

These seven stellar presentation enhancers will help you make any speech more interesting. In this post, Doug Staneart breaks down his public speaking “Impact Ideas” that can be inserted into any speech to really make them come alive.

Below is a list of all seven items.

• Anecdotes : A funny story or a story that makes a point is often more memorable than just a bullet point.
• Demonstration : When you show your audience what you are trying to tell them, they will often have more clarity.
• Quote : A testimonial from an expert or client at the right time can add credibility.
• Sample : Something that your audience can see, touch, and feel has more impact than just a description of the item.
• Name Drop : If you don’t have a quote, you can name drop others who agree with you.
• Non-PowerPoint Visual Aid : A spontaneous flip-chart drawing, a poster, or board will often have a greater impact on the audience than an image on a slideshow that is more temporary.
• Showmanship : Never underestimate the entertainment value of your presentation.

Proceed with Caution. Presentation Enhancers Make GOOD Presentations More Interesting.

Bill Cosby (pre-conviction) once asked a friend of his why he did cocaine. The friend replied, “Because it intensifies your personality.” Cosby paused and said, “Yeah, but what if you’re an A-Hole?”

These impact ideas work exactly the same way. If you have a good presentation centered around just a few key points, adding a couple of enhancers for reinforcement will make the speech more interesting. However, if you already have 50 PowerPoint presentation slides and you add additional content, you’ll likely make the presentation worse. So, proceed with caution.

If you are just beginning to design your presentation, start with How to Design Presentations Quickly . As a review, the best way to design a good speech is to start with a great title. Great speech titles lead to great speeches because they explain to the audience the purpose of your speech. The next step in the writing process is to make a list of just the most important points. The body of your speech should contain fewer than five key points. Then, if you want to really capture the attention of your audience and design a memorable speech, use a good story to prove that each of your main points is true.

So before you start adding these public speaking tips into your speech, make sure you start with an engaging speech centered around a central idea, a few key points, and great examples. If you do, then these public speaking tips can help you make your speech more interesting!

7 Stellar Presentation Enhancers that Add Impact to Any Speech.

Below are seven effective ways to move a good speech into a better speech (or fantastic speech.) Since we have covered a number of presentation tips in other posts/podcasts, I wanted to use this episode to cover a powerful tool or two that some of the best speakers (even motivational speakers) use to make the audience feel like they are experiencing something unique. Each of these ideas can be a great way to use humor in your presentation, make a lasting impression, and influence different audiences in a positive way.

As I mentioned earlier, though, these ideas work well if inserted into a well-designed speech. So, there are three additional ways to make a presentation more interesting that aren’t covered here. The reason is that we have other post/podcast episodes about each of these three items. I suggest that you add each of them into your presentation before adding the seven ideas in this post. (The first three are essential to designing a good speech.)

• Stories and Examples Are the First Step to Make a Speech More Interesting .
• Audience Participation Will Make Your Presentation More Interactive .
• Analogies and Metaphors Are the Secret Sauce to Great Presentations .

So, if you haven’t seen these posts or heard those episodes, start with those ideas first. Also, remember that when you stand in front of an audience and give too much information, that is even worse than not giving enough information. Then add in these seven tips sparingly. A little impact goes a long way!

#1 – Funny Anecdotes Can Add Impact and Humor to Your Speech.

In other posts, we have covered stories and examples in great detail. (See How to Tell a Great Story in a Presentation .) A personal story or a real-life example from your own experience clarifies the content of your presentation. This technique is also a subtle way to build your credibility on the topic and capture the audience’s attention in a positive way. When you relay success stories from your own experience, your audience realizes that since you have that experience, you are an expert on the topic.

Anecdotes are a little different, though. Anecdotes can be funny incidents (true or fictitious) that help you make a point. Or they can also be 2nd person or 3rd person stories experienced by someone else.

Funny Stories Are Welcomed by Most Audiences.

I’m not a big fan of just telling random jokes in a speech. However, funny anecdotes that make a point are very useful. The great news, today, is that you can pretty much just type the words “funny story about _______” (insert a keyword from your bullet point) into Google, and you will find something. Once you find a funny anecdote, just make sure to tie it in with the point that you are making. (And give credit to the author.) For instance, I typed in “Funny Public Speaking Failures” and I found this gem…

While traveling to to Nagaoka, Japan, I was asked to speak after breakfast about marketing in the U.S. Seeing an opportunity to show off my linguist skills, I asked my interpreter how to pronounce the words on the distant signs for “Ladies” and “Gentlemen.” After practicing to myself, I began my speech with “Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen” in Japanese. This got quite a reaction from the audience. I delivered a killer 20 minutes of marketing wisdom, and sat down to generous applause. I was quite pleased with myself. Only later did I learn how strange my greeting was: One of our hosts gently inquired why I had started my talk with “Good Morning, toilets and urinals.” Lee Rogers, The Rogers Group Marketing and Advertising (Posted on https://www.genardmethod.com/resources/funny-public-speaking-stories

If somewhere in your speech, you can make the audience laugh, you have a big advantage. By the way, stories about humorous situations have another positive effect. Your natural facial expressions when you tell these stories create powerful nonverbal communication. So these funny stories take a little more practice to perfect. But they definitely make a speech more interesting.

2nd-Person Stories Allow You to Borrow Credibility from Other Experts.

Although our own personal stories help us build our credibility as an expert on the topic, another person’s story can be more practical in a lot of situations. For instance, if you are a sales representative, your personal experience using your product or service isn’t nearly as credible as a story from one of your customers.

This past week, I had a scientist in my class who studied melanoma. Although her stories of actually doing the research added a lot of credibility, she got more impact by telling stories of patients who had survived cancer based on these studies. Just be careful. When you re-tell a story from your own experience, it takes little practice. However, when you relay a story that you received from another person, you might want to practice your delivery a few additional times.

#2 – A Demonstration Can Make a Complicated Speech More Interesting — And Easier to Understand.

After a number of miscues, we started discussing a little strategy with the other speakers. We finally came up with the idea to go to the table ourselves and have one of us (they voted that I do it) say, “Just do what I do.” Then, I made a sandwich and explained what I were doing in each step. (We all got an A on the project. So did everyone else who went after us.)

I never forgot this lesson. It is a whole lot easier to show someone what to do than to just tell them what to do. This type of visual aid is critical when teaching someone how to use software or how to use a tool.

#3 – Insert a Memorized Quote into Your Presentation to Improve Credibility.

“My conclusions are much more credible when I back them up with Great Sources.”

I agree. When you quote an expert, you are basically giving your audience a second-opinion. It’s also easy to insert quotes into your presentations. Just like with the funny story above, Google “Quotes about ________” (insert your topic).

Make sure that the quotes that you add are short and easy to remember, though. A lot of speakers will put long quotes on a PowerPoint slide and call that a supporting point. This will most likely fall flat in front of a group, though. No one wants to read a long quote. In addition, if you read it to them, it will sound strange. You will get better results inserting a couple of easy-to-remember quotes that you can tell your audience verbally. Craig Hadden in his post How to Use Quotes in Your Presentations said it really well…

“Short Quotes Pack More Punch!”

#4 – A Sample Can Make Your Presentation More Interesting.

Throughout the day, we began to take the original presentations and add more ways to jazz each of them up a bit. So, at lunch, this marketing person went to a 7-11 and also to a competitor and bought a sandwich from each as a sample. The deli sandwich from her store was beautiful and fresh. The sandwich from the competitor was one of those where a sandwich was cut diagonally into two triangles and shoved into a triangle plastic box. She passed each around the room. Everyone agreed that the triangle sandwich was awful, and by contrast, she likely won a few audience members over to the fresh sandwich that her company made. A good sample can be very compelling.

#5 – You Can Also Make a Speech More Interesting with a Name Drop (or two or three.)

Another example is when I’m teaching classes about how important it is to narrow down your content to three to five main points. I often name drop other professional speakers who also agree with this idea. For instance Slide Genius, Presentation Magazine, and big training companies like the Dale Carnegie Organization and the AMA all believe in some form of the “Rule of Three” in a presentation.

Notice that in each of the examples above, I’m not quoting any of the sources, I’m just saying that each of the sources agrees with the statement that I’m making. Of course, if any of the listeners in your speech want to verify the claim, it is easy to do with a Google search. That is what makes this so powerful. It allows the inner Sherlock Holmes in your audience members to come out and do their own investigation. When they do, they find that you were right on the money.

#6 – Non-PowerPoint Visual Aids Will Help Make a Speech More Interesting.

One of my clients was competing to win a contract for a five-year project. Their competitors designed slideshows about how great they were. This group wanted to do something different. They created just a single visual aid. It was a 20-foot board with a timeline of the entire project. They broke the project into time periods and told stories about how the project would proceed through each period. It worked very well.

On a different project, the team was trying to build a high-tech science center on the campus of the University of Texas. My client had worked with hundreds of universities on building projects, but, at that time, they had only done a single project where the guidelines for indoor temperature, humidity, etc. were so exact. They had a photo of this building that looked like something out of Epcot. It had an aluminum, glass, and mirror exterior. It was a beautiful building. But the UT campus is right in the middle of downtown Austin. The campus is very Gothic in nature. (Think stone pillars and gargoyles.)

One of the architects took a sketchbook and a pencil down to the campus. He just started sketching things that he liked about the current campus architecture. He did this just to bring back some ideas to the team. But the sketches were so good, that they became a part of the final presentation. The sketches stole the show. They were much more interesting than the static PowerPoint slides.

#7 – Use Showmanship to Make a Speech More Interesting.

Never underestimate the entertainment value in any presentation.

Let me repeat that because it is so, so important…

Most speakers think that if they just give their audience the knowledge and content without sounding like an idiot, they have succeeded. However, think about Ferris Bueller’s teacher. “Anyone? Anyone?” If you aren’t interesting, your audience will often be distracted from your content. So, it is important to add some flair or showmanship to your speech to capture and hold the audience’s attention.

Obviously, if you add in a few of the other seven items, you will have a more interesting delivery. But the key is to think to yourself, “ How can I make this presentation content more interesting? ”

I had a class member who was a line supervisor for Amgen Pharmaceuticals. One of his main jobs was quality control of the cancer drugs that were being created on his line.

During his presentation, he asked us, “Have any of you ever seen a million dollars?” Of course, we all shook our heads no. He continued by sprinkling a few granules of sugar (from a packet from the coffee bar at the back of the room) onto the table in front of him.

He said, “If that much contaminant gets into our drug line, we lose a million dollars worth of product.” It was a really dramatic way to make his point, and we all remembered it.

Regardless of Which (or Any) of These Ideas that You Use, Do Something to Make Your Presentation More Interesting.

The ideas that I’ve covered in this list are nor exhaustive. In fact, some of these ideas may spark creativity in other areas where you can add more impact to your presentation. The most important thing to remember is that you don’t want to just do what everybody else is doing. Make your speeches a little different. Make them a little more interesting. If you do, your audience will love you.

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How to Create Slides That Suit Your Superiors: 11 Tips

When you’re pitching ideas or budgets to execs in your organization, you need to deliver slides that fit those particular people just right. This checklist identifies the key considerations.

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I recently interviewed 20 of my customers, all in senior roles at Fortune 100 companies, and asked them their biggest pain point in presenting to higher-ups and even colleagues. What I heard consistently was that it can feel like Goldilocks bouncing from one option to the next, testing to figure out what’s “just right.” Does the audience want deep reports? Sparse slides? Something in between? Like … what?

Teams often come to presentation meetings with vast amounts of backup content just in case an exec wants to take a deep dive on any given point. There’s often a struggle to anticipate every direction attendees might want to go. It’s frustrating, and it’s not efficient.

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There are many ways to build slides. I’m not just talking about crafting them well versus poorly. I’m talking about all of the important decisions regarding how to organize them, how much text to use, when to lean into a chart, the best ways to use bullets and color, and whether to include an appendix with additional information. Before you make your next proposal or request of the executive team, use this list of 11 tips for your next set of slides as a guide.

Four Things You Must Have in Every Exec’s Slides

Before we drill down into the harder aspects, the ones where your executives’ tastes may vary widely, let’s quickly cover four aspects that you can consider the building blocks — the basics you should never proceed without.

Start with an executive summary. Begin the slide deck with a tight executive summary that follows a three-act structure. First, start with stating the current realities. Second, clearly state the problem or opportunity your idea addresses and its potential impact. Third, explain how your recommendation solves the problem or exploits the opportunity and the next steps you’re proposing.

Have a logical organization. The arc of the deck — the package from beginning to end — should make sense. If your audience reads only the headline of every slide, the order should be coherent and make most of the case for you. The content below each slide’s headline must support the statement made in the title. Remove everything that doesn’t support your point; as writers will tell you, you sometimes need to “kill your darlings” when you’re editing.

Begin the slide deck with a tight executive summary that follows a three-act structure.

Make it skimmable. Help your audience to quickly grasp the point without getting bogged down in details. Create a clear visual hierarchy. Guide the reader’s eye through the content: Use bold headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break down information into digestible pieces. Highlight key takeaways or conclusions in a different color or font size to draw attention to these critical points.

Focus on concise insights. Succinct statements with clear insights are everyone’s jam. Every slide should serve a purpose and contribute directly to the decision-making process. Distill complex information. Don’t use 100 words when 20 words will nail it. If you’re having difficulty trimming, consider using company-approved AI tools to help you take out the fluff.

Five Preferences to Confirm With the Person You Want to Reach

Now we’ll delve into what your particular audience does and does not want. If you haven’t yet, start by asking the person you’re presenting to what they generally prefer. They probably know themselves well but have not been asked to articulate how they like to receive information.

Ask how dense is too dense. Some executives prefer detailed slides with comprehensive data. Others favor a more high-level approach. You’re weighing how to balance informative content with readability, ensuring that slides are not overloaded yet are sufficiently detailed to support decision-making.

Confirm the delivery format and timing. Some execs like information presented to them. Others prefer a pre-read of the material followed by a discussion. I always recommend our tool Slidedocs (I’ve written a free e-book on them), which are visual documents using both words and images. The templates help presenters organize their thoughts into a document for a pre-read or a read-along. They are designed to be skimmable and able to travel through your organization without the help of a presenter.

I’m a huge fan of pre-reads and prefer to use my time in meetings to ask questions and build alignment. If your audience didn’t review your material in advance, ask at the top of the meeting whether they would like you to present it or would prefer to read through it and then discuss it.

Find out how much data visualization they prefer. Charts, graphs, photos, and illustrations often communicate complex data more clearly than words alone. When execs can see what you’re saying, they often can better understand the impact of your idea. Does the exec want to understand exact numbers? Bar charts allow them to move their eyes across a series of specifics. Does the exec want to know the shape of a trend over time? Line charts can show the pattern. (See “Classic Charts Communicate Data Quickly.”) Some prefer charts with annotations that draw attention to what you think is the most important point. Others want to make their own conclusions from the data.

One of my clients, the CEO of a massive commercial real estate company, doesn’t want anything visualized. He prefers numbers, only in a table, and only in two colors — black and red. You might think this is archaic. But the fact that he’s clear to his teams about what he wants takes all the mystery out of how to communicate with him.

When the stakes are high, have a conceptual thinker help with diagrams and concepts. If you don’t have one on your team, and when it’s high stakes, find an internal designer to help you or hire one. You can’t afford to have the baby (your idea) thrown out with the bathwater (terrible slides).

Identify which details need spelling out. How well do the people you’re presenting to know the landscape and function of the company and products you’re talking about? For example, if your engineering team threw a slide into a deck about an issue that requires executive approval, do the execs all speak geek? Or do you need to explain the technology so that they will really understand the ask? Either eliminate internal jargon and acronyms or unpack those bits, especially if your proposal deeply involves expertise outside of the executives’ domain.

Ask whether appendices will be useful. When you’re organizing a presentation, you often troll data, read through complicated reports, and even hire external experts to figure out what’s best for the company. Do your execs want access to that supporting data? You can add a document to the end of the presentation as an appendix to show all of the data and source material. This allows the main content of the slides to remain focused and accessible while still providing comprehensive background information for those who want more.

Two Tips to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Getting materials in place is the biggest step. They will be your best tools for selling your ideas. But there are two extra areas to pay attention to as a presenter: how you handle questions and how you use every experience to improve.

Anticipate questions, and practice your answers. Before you have your meeting, gather a small team to challenge every point you make. Invite colleagues you trust to role-play as “a rapidly inquisitive exec” or “the doubting naysayer exec” so you are prepared to present your idea well. They’re gonna grill you, and practicing will help you remain unruffled when it happens.

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Ask for feedback after the presentation. Establish a feedback loop with those you presented to. Ask what worked well and how you can improve. If attendees don’t have the time, find people who have had their ideas funded and talk to them about what they did that worked. Advice and some perspective will help you nail your performance even better next time.

Empathetically understanding your audience members and how they process information, whether it’s executives or peers, sets up your ideas for success. Clarity creates efficiency. When a presentation fits just right, you’ve given your great thinking the best chance of moving through your organization and having maximum impact.

About the Author

Nancy Duarte is CEO of Duarte Inc. , a communication company in the Silicon Valley. She’s the author of six books, including DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story (Ideapress Publishing, 2019).

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