how to make a presentation interactive and fun

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15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

By Krystle Wong , Aug 04, 2023

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

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

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

Click to jump ahead:

What is an interactive presentation?

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

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

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

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

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

1. Ice-breaker questions

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

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

2. Live polling

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

3. Q&A sessions

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

4. Clickable buttons

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

5. Storytelling

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

6. Interactive charts and graphs

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

7. Animated infographics

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

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

8. Gamification

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

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

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

10. Collaborative whiteboarding

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

11. Hyperlinked text

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

12. Role-playing

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

13. Embedded videos

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

14. Audience-generated content

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

15. Slide transitions

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

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

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

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

2. Mentimeter

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

3. Google Slides

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

4. Microsoft PowerPoint

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

5. Prezentor

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

6. Opinion Stage

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

7 . Venngage

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

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

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

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

1. Overloading with interactivity

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

2. Ignoring audience relevance

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

3. Not testing interactive elements

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

4. Poor timing and pace

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

5. Lack of clear purpose

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

6. Failing to engage beyond interactivity

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

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

How do you start an interactive presentation?

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

Which type of presentation is the most interactive?

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

How can interactive presentations enhance audience engagement?

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

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

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

Can interactive presentations be used for educational purposes?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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:

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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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How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation: An Expert Guide (Free Downloadable Playbook)

Zhun Yee Chew

Are your PowerPoint presentations lacking impact and failing to engage your audience? You’re not alone. I experienced that before. I used to spend hours carefully crafting the perfect PowerPoint presentations only to be met with disinterested faces.

In a world where attention spans are getting shorter, traditional PowerPoint presentations often struggle to hold the interest of the audience. So here’s the hard truth: unless you adapt and embrace interactivity in your PowerPoint presentations, your valuable hard work and content run the risk of getting lost in presentations.

Fret not, as in this comprehensive guide, we will share with you expert tips on how to make an interactive PowerPoint presentation through interactive animations, transitions, hyperlinks, quizzes, games, and many more.

And perhaps the sweetest part of the deal is that you will also have access to a downloadable playbook of 60+ pages with a wealth of tutorials, templates, cheat sheets, resources and tools to elevate your PowerPoint skills from average to extraordinary through interactive PowerPoint presentations.

Are you prepared to impress those who once found your presentation dull? If your answer is a resounding ‘yes,’ then let’s begin.

What is an Interactive Presentation?

What is an interactive powerpoint presentation.

Interactive PowerPoint presentations are simply PowerPoint presentations that are made interactive to convey information in a more dynamic and engaging manner.

Creating an interactive PowerPoint presentation involves deciding if you want to make your slide content interactive or if you want your audience to interact with your slides. 

Interactive PowerPoint presentations can generally be divided into two main dimensions: interaction with slide content through interactive elements and fostering interaction with the audience.

Interaction with Slide Content:

In the first dimension, PowerPoint presentations are made interactive through enhancing the slides content with interactive elements, usually native to PowerPoint. 

We will cover interactive elements including:

• Transitions
• Interactive data visualization
• Annotations. 

They function to enhance slide interactivity through adding movement to static objects, enabling non-linear slides navigation, as well as adding a dynamic touch to data and information presentation. 

Audience Interaction:

In the second dimension, PowerPoint presentations are made interactive through interaction between the presenter and the audience, usually with the help of PowerPoint add-in tools. We will cover: 

• Assessments
• Brainstorming
• Collaborative multimedia uploading

Once you have decided which strategy you would like to use, you can then follow  these step-by-step guide  and the following expert tips to turn your PowerPoint slides into an interactive experience!

Benefits of an Interactive Presentation

The fact that you are still reading this suggests that you don’t need further convincing on the benefits of interactive PowerPoint presentations. 

However, if you do, here are some quick statistics:

68% of individuals hold the belief that interactive presentations have a greater potential for being remembered. Webinar Care

This means that a simple action of making your PowerPoint slides interactive has a profound impact on how your presentation is received by the audience. From our years of experience creating interactive PowerPoint presentations, they generally: 

• Increases  engagement , motivation and knowledge  retention . 
• Result in better  impression  and more impactful messaging being conveyed.
• Allow presenters to better tailor their content or offerings to the audience or clients because they can gather  real-time feedback .
• Open up room for  creative   storytelling  and showcases.

Interactive Puzzle PowerPoint Templates

Master the tricks to turn your PowerPoint into an interactive experience today!

Expert Tips on How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation – Before Presenting

1. add animations, but use them judiciously.

The first and most straightforward way of making your PowerPoint presentations interactive is through adding animations to your slides. However, so many people use PowerPoint animations the wrong way. PowerPoint animations are more than just making bullet points or images appear or fly in during your presentation.

Remember, using animations excessively in your PowerPoint presentation will only reduce the appeal and professionalism of your slides. The key is to use them judiciously and purposefully. Before you hit the “Animations” tab, ask yourself, “Does this animation enhance the message I want to convey to my audience?”  

2. Add 3D PowerPoint Animations Using PowerPoint Native 3D Stock Elements

Did you know that PowerPoint has free animated 3D elements you can use? We recommend you to try them up to instantly upgrade your presentation from ordinary to extraordinary. 

❓ How?  Simply go to Insert > 3D models > stock 3D models > animated models. And you will find a wide range of free 3D models ranging from food and animals to plants and characters, and many more. You can also select different animation scenes by heading to the Animations tab.

3. Add Animations With Triggers for Visual Excitement

You can take your PowerPoint animations up a notch by incorporating combining animations with triggers to create interactive pop-ups with extra information . These on-click pop-ups are valuable when presenting a map or when you want to explore specific aspects of an object or topic in more detail. You can also use these pop-ups as markers to alert the audience to exciting elements within different parts of the slide, as such: 

❓How? To create on-click pop-ups in your PowerPoint slides, first add shapes that will become clickable buttons, one to “open” the pop-up and the other to “close” the pop-up. Then, add text boxes with extra information you want to show, as well as entrance and exit animations. Combine the animations with “triggers” to activate the animations when the open or close buttons are clicked on. 

For a more detailed tutorial on this pop-up animation, download our Interactive PowerPoint Playbook  below. 👇

4. add non-linear slide transition.

A quick way to add interactivity to your PowerPoint slides is by using PowerPoint transitions. The first we want to discuss is PowerPoint Zoom. PowerPoint Zoom enables you to zoom in and out of and navigate to specific sections or slides on click, anytime during your presentation.

To  access the PowerPoint Zoom feature : click on Insert in the  PowerPoint ribbon  >  Zoom  > then choose  Slide ,  Section , or  Summary   Zoom . Each of these PowerPoint Zoom option serves slightly different functions:

• Slide Zoom: zooms into specific slides
• Section zoom: zooms into specific sections
• Summary Zoom: creates a summary slide for the different slides or sections in your PowerPoint presentation for easy navigation.

❓ How? To  set up PowerPoint slide zoom , select the starting slide where you wish to implement the Zoom effect. Next, click  Insert  >  Zoom  >  Slide Zoom . Here, you can pick the specific slide or slides you want to zoom in on. Click the Insert button, and thumbnails of the chosen slides will be added to your current slide.

Alternatively, for a more manual setup process, you can also set up a navigation menu at the beginning of your presentation that allows the audience to jump to different sections or slides using hyperlinks.  Read more in the Hyperlinks section below. 

5. Add PowerPoint Morph

Like PowerPoint Zoom, PowerPoint Morph empowers presenters to create dynamic transitions that elevate the visual storytelling in their presentations. But PowerPoint Morph brings storytelling to a whole new level and adds a layer of intrigue to your slides by simulating object transitions or evolution across slides. It functions similarly to animations but offers a smoother and more organic visual experience, without the need for complex setup steps. 

Personally, we think the outcomes generated by PowerPoint Morph are more professional and polished-looking as compared to traditional animations. And if you are looking for a more advanced-looking presentation, try this 3D morph animation In PowerPoint .

We’d also like to share with you the numerous applications of PowerPoint Morph contributed by our colleagues and PowerPoint professionals at ClassPoint:

• Moving background
• Rotating wheel
• Rotating cogs
• Photo gallery
• Slide Zoom with Morph
• Creative reveal
• Parallax effect
• Continuous slide transition
• Phone frame
• Movie frame

Gain access to free templates for all these PowerPoint Morph applications and effects by downloading our Interactive PowerPoint Playbook. 👇

6. add hyperlinks – they can link to so many more places than just websites.

Much like PowerPoint Zoom, hyperlinks enable presenters to create interactive menus and navigation structures, allowing audiences to jump to specific slides or sections effortlessly. However, while PowerPoint Zoom primarily focuses on creating a visual and interactive overview of content within a single presentation, hyperlinks extend this capability to connect with external resources, web content, or even additional PowerPoint files. 

There are a few ways you could add hyperlinks to your PowerPoint presentation to transform  it into an interactive experience effortlessly: 

4 Ways You Can Add Hyperlinks to PowerPoint: 

• Slide Transition : You can navigate to specific slides in a non-linear manner by simply inserting a hyperlink into your current slide. Head over to Insert > Link > This Document and select the slide you want to link to. You can apply hyperlinks to text, shapes, or pictures. 

• Interactive Navigation Menu : Adding an interactive navigation menu at the beginning of your presentation allows clear navigation between different slides and sections in your presentation. Head over to Insert > Link > This Document and select the slides you want to link to.

• Action Buttons : With hyperlinks, you can also create Action Buttons in your PowerPoint presentations to make your PowerPoint slides behave like interactive web pages, allowing users to navigate, explore, and engage with the content in a dynamic and user-friendly manner. Head over to Insert > Action Buttons and choose from the selection.

• Embedded Content : You can also hyperlink your PowerPoint slides to embedded content like PDFs, spreadsheets, and even web pages. Simply click Insert > Object and select the file you would like to embed in your PowerPoint slides. This way, you can remove the hassle of toggling between various files or windows during your presentation.

Expert Tips on How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation – When Presenting

1. turn your powerpoint slides into interactive quizzes.

The traditional way to add interactive quizzes to PowerPoint is through an unfavorable process of combining complex animations with triggers and hyperlinks. Let’s be honest, it takes an eternity! Even though PowerPoint offers an extensive range of presentation tools, it does not have audience interactivity built at its core. 

The good news is, audience interactivity can actually be effortlessly achieved with the various PowerPoint add-ins as listed below: 

We will get to polls and games in a bit. For now, let’s show you how you can turn your PowerPoint slides into an interactive quiz in a just a few clicks with PowerPoint add-ins like  ClassPoint , which offers a wide range of interactive quizzes from  Short Answer  and  Word Cloud , to Multiple Choice questions.

How to Create An Interactive Quiz in PowerPoint In A Few Clicks

Once you have downloaded ClassPoint, you will have a suite of additional interactive quiz features added to your PowerPoint ribbon. 

To turn  your PowerPoint slide  content into interactive  quizzes, simply  click on any of the interactive quiz features and add them to your slide. Enter PowerPoint Slideshow mode and you can start the quiz immediately. 

2. Run Gradable Assessments inside PowerPoint

With the versatile PowerPoint add-in,  ClassPoint , you can also create assessments and collect real-time responses right inside PowerPoint. This is wonderful news for teachers! All you have to do is set up  interactive Multiple Choice questions  and enable  Quiz Mode . 

ClassPoint’s Quiz Mode introduces an  automatic grading  feature to your Multiple Choice questions within PowerPoint presentations created with ClassPoint. This feature not only automates the grading process but also includes automatic star ratings, the option to select difficulty levels, and provides a quiz summary along with an exportable quiz report, making it the perfect tool for classroom formative assessments in PowerPoint!

3. Incorporate Annotations During Slideshow

Another unique way to interact with your PowerPoint slides is through the use of annotations. With annotations, you as the presenter can interact with your slides to draw your audience’s attention to specific details, highlight key points, and tell a more coherent story. 

There are 3 ways you could use annotations in PowerPoint: 

• PowerPoint Draw Tab:  To utilize the PowerPoint Draw Tab, click on the “Draw” tab in your PowerPoint ribbon and begin annotating anywhere on your slides using built-in features like the pen, highlighter, and Ink to Shape. However, please note that PowerPoint Draw only allows annotation in Edit mode.

• PowerPoint Pen Tools:  Another option for native PowerPoint annotation tools that permit annotation during slideshow mode can be found by clicking the pencil icon located in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen during a presentation. You can use the pen, highlighter, or laser tools to annotate any part of your slides during the presentation.

• ClassPoint  Toolbar:  The ClassPoint toolbar serves as an enhanced, free alternative to PowerPoint’s existing pen tools. It offers a broader range of additional annotation features, including text boxes, shapes, spotlight effects, fully customizable pens and highlighters, and more. This enables you to transform your PowerPoint slides into a creative canvas that will captivate your audience throughout your presentation.

4. Run Ice Breakers and Brainstorming Sessions in PowerPoint

The uses of interactive PowerPoint add-ins like  ClassPoint  are not only limited to teaching and learning. Give your PowerPoint meetings and presentations a strong start with a collaborative and dynamic brainstorming experience.

You can enhance your PowerPoint presentations and turn them into an interactive brainstorming experience by incorporating  Word Cloud  in PowerPoint, inviting participants to instantly contribute ideas, keywords, or concepts. This allows everyone to dynamically visualize emerging trends and interesting ideas.

❓ How? To start a brainstorming session in PowerPoint, click on the “Word Cloud”  button in your PowerPoint ribbon once you have downloaded ClassPoint to add the “Word Cloud” feature in your PowerPoint slides. Then enter PowerPoint slideshow mode to start brainstorming! 

5. Add Draggable Slide Objects (And Why It’s Better than Animations!)

Similar to animations, draggable objects allow you to interact with your slide objects freely during slideshow mode, except than you can do so with full control of where you want the slide elements to go!

This dynamic presentation feature adds an element of visual interest that captures your audience’s attention and can be a valuable tool for explaining complex ideas. Moreover, it has the potential to serve various purposes, such as revealing hidden information or acting as a movable marker to indicate your position on the slide content. You can also use it for group drag-and-drop activities, such as matching, categorizing, sorting, and more. You can either perform these actions yourself to provide a visual explanation or engage your audience by letting them instruct the movement of images and text on the slide.

❓ How? Draggable objects is a unique tool that is possible inside PowerPoint with the use of the add-in ClassPoint. Download ClassPoint, free PowerPoint add-in, the select any shape, image, illustration, or text on your slide to become draggable by clicking on “Draggable Objects” in your PowerPoint ribbon, and toggling “Drag enabled” on the side panel.

In slideshow mode, click on the draggable objects hand from the ClassPoint toolbar at the bottom of your screen to start dragging your slide objects around!

6. Create Playable Games In PowerPoint (Without Animations or Hyperlinks)

Much like interactive quizzes, PowerPoint games add a layer of interactivity and fun to PowerPoint presentations. However, what sets PowerPoint games apart is their ability to introduce competition through gamification. 

Here are  3 ways  you can instantly gamify your PowerPoint slides with  gamification elements :

• Set Up a Point and Reward System : Define how your participants can earn stars and points, and  award stars  to them when they have accomplished a goal during your presentation. 
• Add  Levels and Badges  to PowerPoint : Every game benefits from having levels and badges, and your PowerPoint game is no exception. You can create a simple game within PowerPoint by incorporating  questions  into your slides and defining the points and scores needed to progress to higher levels. When it comes to badges, you have the creative freedom to tailor them to your audience. For example, in an educational setting, badges can be skill-focused, while in a social gathering, they can take the form of fantasy characters that participants aspire to collect
• Add a  Leaderboard  to PowerPoint : Leaderboards are essential to keep track of scores or points during a PowerPoint game. You can of course create a manual leaderboard using PowerPoint’s tables and hyperlinks, but an easier and more straightforward way of implementing a leaderboard in your PowerPoint is using add-ins like  ClassPoint  and  Vevox .

With these fundamentals of gamification in place, you are now ready to create fun and exhilarating games in PowerPoint. 

Here is a full walk-through on  how you can create a PowerPoint game  in a few simple steps. 

If you are an educator, this  free trivia PowerPoint template and these 5 interactive PowerPoint game templates tailored for the classroom will be useful for you.

Expert Tips on How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation – After Presenting

1. run real-time polls in powerpoint.

Think of a memorable presentation you have attended? Did it use live polls? We bet it did! Live polling are especially helpful after a PowerPoint presentation to gather feedback for future improvement.

Traditional poll tools require presenters to switch between tabs during presentation. Thanks to PowerPoint add-ins such as  ClassPoint ,  Mentimeter  and  Poll Everywhere , this is no longer the case. And by eliminating the need to switch between different applications or tabs, the presentation experience becomes more fluid and engaging.

2. From Static to Interactive Data Visualisation

Incorporating interactivity through data visualization after a presentation concludes is a potent strategy for enhancing audience engagement and comprehension. Once the primary content delivery is complete, you can transition into a dynamic display of data or feedback you have gathered from your audience using interactive charts, graphs, or infographics.

This approach empowers your audience to explore the information at their own pace, dig deeper into specific data points, and ensure a two-way communication between the presenter and the audience. Whether it’s zooming in on specific trends, toggling between different data sets, or going through feedback, interactive data visualization encourages active participation and a deeper connection with the presented information. 

We recommend the following 2 ways to display data into your presentation:

• Insert tables, charts and graphs, and add a touch of interactivity through animations.

Below is a list of 10 PowerPoint animations most suitable for different kinds of graphs and charts: 

• Embed a website with data you want to go over. I’m not talking about a link that leaves PowerPoint for your default browser, but an actual embedded browser that loads your websites without leaving PowerPoint! Plus you can insert the page as a picture into your slide and start annotating on it!

Now that you have a collection of strategies and tips at your disposal, you are better prepared to leave your old and dusty PowerPoint toolkit behind and embrace these refreshing ideas. Whether your ultimate aim is to create a captivating classroom experience, deliver a memorable business pitch, or simply wow your friends and peers during  PowerPoint nights , don’t forget to: 

• Add animations, but use them sparingly.
• Make use of non-linear transitions and storytelling. 
• Turn simple transitions into stunning visual experience with PowerPoint Morph.
• Make creative use of polls, quizzes and games. 
• Make your presentation human with Bitmoji.
• Build anticipation with interactive presentation tools like annotations and drag and drop.
• Try out these 160 fun PowerPoint ideas for your next presentation!

To read more about Interactive PowerPoint Presentations, you can download our Interactive PowerPoint Playbook, which includes comprehensive guides, tutorials on various interactive PowerPoint presentation methods, cheat sheets, and a wide range of resources for mastering the art of creating interactive PowerPoint presentations.

About Zhun Yee Chew

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18 Ways to Make Presentations More Interactive and Engaging

Table of Contents

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, let’s rock your next presentation!

What is an interactive presentation?

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

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

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

• Video or audio material, 
• Charts, and

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

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

4 Main benefits of interactive presentations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Duarte says: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

According to the Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning article : 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

💡 Pumble Pro tip 

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

• How not to be nervous for a presentation

18 Ways for making interactive and engaging presentations

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

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

Way #1: Research the audience and the topic 

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

Try to answer these questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ena Popovic adds:

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

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

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

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

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

• 150 Ice breaker questions for virtual meetings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Way #5: Incorporate multimedia elements

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

You can make multimedia experience using various forms such as:

• Interactive slides,
• Images, and
• Infographics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Way #6: Add something funny

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This way, they digest information much more easily. 

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

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

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

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

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

According to the Harvard Business Review article : 

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

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

Way #9: Turn the presentation into a story

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

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

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

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

Way #10: Set the basic structure of your story 

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

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

She states: 

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

She also added: 

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

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

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

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

Way #11: Give it a personal touch 

Ena Popovic pointed out that storytelling should include personal touch:

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

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

Way #12: Make the presentation more conversational 

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

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

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

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

Way #13: Encourage the audience to participate 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Way #15: Listen to feedback

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

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

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

Way #16: Make an eye contact 

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

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

Secure, real-time communication for professionals.

Way #17: End on a more serious tone 

Presenters have to end a presentation effectively. 

Ena advises considering the two following practices:

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

She elaborates:

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

Way #18: Add a reflection at the very end

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

Here’s what Ena says about this practice:

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

You can ask your listeners the following questions:

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

Hold your amazing presentations over Pumble

If you work remotely but still have to hold a presentation or have remote coworkers who can’t make it for your in-person presentation, Pumble is the perfect solution. 

Thanks to the video conferencing feature, you can gather all your colleagues in one place and hold a presentation for them. 

Furthermore, the screen-sharing option allows you to share the presentation slides with other participants in the call, making your presentation more engaging. 

If timing is particularly important, Pumble offers reminders that can pop up in your personal chat at specific times to remind you to say or do something during your presentation. 

Finally, since prompting participants to actually participate during a presentation seems to be the hardest job, you can utilize Pumble’s in-call chat to invite people to join in on the discussion, share their opinions, or ask questions. 

With Pumble, your presentations will be more interactive, engaging, and successful! So send that DM or channel message and invite everyone to come and see your presentation!

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

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How To Make Presentations Interactive: Our Top 10 Tips

Table of contents.

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

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

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

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

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

What Is An Interactive Presentation?

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

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

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

What Makes A Presentation Interactive?

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

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

Why Your Presentation Should Be Interactive

Interactive presentations connect with your audience members more:

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

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

Interactive presentations help your audience members remember more:

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

10 Ways To Make Your Presentation Interactive

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

1 – Add A Video

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

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

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

2 – Incorporate A Quiz

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

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

But, be careful in using this tactic.

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

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

3 – Use A Poll

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

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

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

4 – Turn To Social Media & Use A Hashtag

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

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

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

5 – Use Your Entire Venue Space

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

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

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

6 – Use Props

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

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

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

7 – Do A Demonstration

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

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

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

8 – Let Your Presentation Be Directed By The Audience

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

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

9 – Add Effects Like Music & Transitions

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

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

10 – Incorporate Your Audience In Your Presentation

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

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

Our Final Thoughts On How To Make Presentations Interactive

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

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

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

Author:  Content Team

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How to create an interactive presentation and keep viewers engaged.

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

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

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

What is an interactive presentation?

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

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

There are tonnes of benefits to making your presentation interactive.

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

The main types of interactive presentation

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

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

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

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

8 ways to make your presentation interactive with Paperform

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

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

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

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

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

1. Make use of visual elements

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Start with icebreakers to set the tone

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Find your narrative

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

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

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

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

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

4. Let your audience decide the presentation order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Add polls and quizzes for gathering feedback

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

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

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

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

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

Form a better life now.

6. share a hashtag to promote social interaction.

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

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

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

When done well, social hashtags can:

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

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

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

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

7. Include multiple Q&A opportunities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Improve based on participant feedback

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

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

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

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

Level up your presentation today

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

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

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

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How to Make Your Next Big Presentation Interactive and Engaging

March 8, 2024

by Holly Landis

In this post

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

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

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

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

What is an interactive presentation ?

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

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

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

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

Increases audience engagement

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

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

Offers options for different learning styles

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

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

Personalizing the speech

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

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

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

Improves post-presentation sales

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

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

Source: HubSpot

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

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

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

Animated graphics

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

Role-playing

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

Live audience polls

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

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

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

Augmented or virtual reality

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

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

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

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

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

1. Google Workspace

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

What users like best:

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

- Google Workspace Review , Iyer A.

What users dislike:

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

- Google Workspace Review , Jared E.

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

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

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

- Microsoft PowerPoint Review , Vita M.

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

- Microsoft PowerPoint Review , Sven K.

3. Synthesia

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

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

- Synthesia Review , Chibi V.

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

- Synthesia Review , Thorsten N.

4. Keynote for Mac

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

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

- Keynote Review , Stephan C.

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

- Keynote Review , Lauren B.

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

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

- RELAYTO Review , Ethan X.

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

- RELAYTO Review , Mervin C.

Your audience awaits

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

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

Ready, set, engage!

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

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

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10 Interactive Presentation Techniques | 2024 Reveals

Ellie Tran • 01 Apr 2024 • 9 min read

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

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

Table of Contents

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice for better presentation.

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

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

Why Try Interactive Presentation Techniques?

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

You’re not alone here…

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

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

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

10 Ways to Create a Fun Interactive Presentation

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

1. Icebreakers to warm up the room

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

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

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

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

🧊 Check out top 21+ Icebreaker Games for Better Team Meeting Engagement | Updated in 2024

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

Save time with ready-made icebreakers

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

Word Cloud Icebreakers

Monthly Team Meeting

Icebreakers for Class

2. Tell a story

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

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

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

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

💡 More engagement tips with AhaSlides

3. Gamify the presentation

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

With the help of many online tools to host live quizzes , icebreaker games , AhaSlides word clouds , a spinning wheel , making interactive games directly within a presentation is a piece of cake.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Present with props

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

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

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

6. Ask short questions

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

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

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

7. Brainstorming session

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

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

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

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

📌 Tips: Divide your team randomly to generate more fun and engagement within your brainstorming session !

8. Host speed networking

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

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

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

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

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

9. Use a social media hashtag

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

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

Here’s how to do it:

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

10. Pre and post-event surveys

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

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

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

Post-event:

• Feedback questions – Collecting audience feedback is vital. Ask about their opinions on the presentation, what they liked and didn’t, what they want to know more by relevant survey tools , to gain better engagement by asking the right questions.

3 General Tips for Presenters

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

#1. Eye Contacts

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

#2. Body Languages

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

#3. Tone of Voice

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

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

What are interactive presentation tools?

Interactive presentation tools are software or web-based applications that allow users to create and deliver presentations with interactive elements that engage the audience. These tools provide a range of features and functionalities that enable presenters to create dynamic and engaging presentations that can be customized to meet their specific needs. Key features of interactive presentation tools are to add quizzes, polls, and surveys, to make the presentation more interesting!

Can you make PPT interactive?

Some ways to make a PPT interactive including adding hyperlinks, action buttons, using animations and transitions, interactive quizzes or polls, and also adding videos or audio

Which type of presentation is the most interactive?

Various types of presentations can be made interactive. Still, some types lend themselves more easily to interactivity than others, with the following types, including workshop-style presentations, Q&A sessions, Polls and surveys, Gamified presentations and Interactive multimedia presentations.

A lifelong learner, a traveller and content creator eager to explore the best of both worlds: the real and virtual one full of interactive activities with AhaSlides.

More from AhaSlides

14 Fun & Interactive Presentation Games for Teams and Students

So you've got an audience to energize, students to engage, or a team that needs a little extra fun — playing an interactive presentation game is an easy way to do just that.

We've done the research and found the best of these games for you: we looked specifically for games that are simple to set up, fun to play, and flexible enough to be used with a variety of presentations and audiences. Most of these activities work virtually with Zoom/PowerPoint and can also be used in person.

Which of these 14 presentation games do you like best? Take a look and let us know your favorites:

1. Live Trivia Competition

A great way to ramp up the excitement and engagement is to enable a little bit of friendly competition. Trivia is an easy way to do this—plus, it can be whole-group inclusive and large-audience friendly (if you use the right tools).

Here's a great trivia game you can run with your team, students, or any large audience. It's already created for you with questions and scoring built in to make it even easier:

Here's how to play:

• Make a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the slide deck and copy it. 
• Launch the trivia game by clicking "Start Event."
• Invite your group to join in and submit answers using their mobile devices (show the winners automatically).
• Interact and play during your presentation!

This trivia game has questions on many topics to keep your audience's attention and appeal to everyone. It only takes 10-15 minutes to play, so it's a great game for long discussions! Also, this interactive activity is free for up to ten participants and is totally customizable.

2. Sing and Swing 

To really liven up your group, encourage your listeners to play Sing and Swing. This activity is best for long presentations because it boosts energy, creates a fun, light-hearted environment, and makes people laugh a lot. 

Here's how to play: 

• Before your presentation, pick a well-known song and rewrite the chorus (replace parts of it with words and phrases from your presentation) 
• When you're ready to play, show the song on your screen. 
• Invite your audience to sing it with you!

If you have a fun group or a class of energetic students, consider adding choreography to engage your audience even more. 

3. 20 Questions

If you want a presentation game that requires your listeners to talk more than you, 20 Questions is the one to play! A classic and simple activity, this game immediately boosts engagement and gets people laughing. 

Here's how to play: Have someone put an appropriate image or word on the screen behind you (this can be an audience member you trust or a colleague or co-presenter). To make things more fun, put on a blindfold so that everyone knows you can't cheat. From there, ask 20 "yes or no" questions to guess what's displayed on the screen. Your group should respond "yes" or "no" to guide you to the correct answer. 

4. Scavenger Hunt Challenge

To get your audience out of their seats, a scavenger hunt challenge is one of the best interactive games for presentations. It'll immediately energize your audience , team, or students while giving them a fun way to learn.  

There are tons of in-person and virtual scavenger hunt ideas you can use to dive deeper into your topic or help everyone learn about one another. But if you want a ready-to-play game that you can instantly launch without having any tech skills, here's a fun one to play: 

• Use an email address and password to create a free account here: https://slideswith.com/ (a free account guarantees up to ten people can play at no charge). 
• Click the game and press "Copy and use this slide deck." 
• In the top right corner, click "Start Event."
• Ask listeners to join the game by using their mobile devices to scan the QR code. Players should continue using their mobile devices to submit answers to questions.
• Have everyone start hunting for items! 

This activity is a particularly fun game because it's a photo-hunt, show-and-tell challenge! That means your audience will not only get out of their seats to find items, but they'll also get to take pictures and share and discuss photos of what they find. This conversational element will help engage your group! 

5. Group Word Clouds

Whether you're speaking to team members, students, or conference-goers, this activity lets you ask questions and get your listeners' thoughts on specific topics. 

This game is the perfect way to start your presentation, especially if you're discussing something with a wide range of opinions or are unsure how much your listeners know about a certain subject. Group Word Clouds is also beneficial if you want to do a quick meeting pulse or know how your listeners feel going into your presentation—understanding their energy levels and mood can help you adjust (if necessary) to get maximum engagement and excitement.

To enjoy this activity, keep things simple by using a tool that already offers a ready-to-play Group Word Clouds game. Here's a popular one you can launch immediately: 

• Create a free account by entering an email and password here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the game and then copy it (the button to do so is right underneath the slide deck).
• Press "Start Event" in the top right corner. 
• Tell participants to play by scanning the QR code. 
• Create word clouds and have fun!

This interactive game only takes 5-10 minutes to play, so it's a fast, fun way to engage your audience and feel out the room. Players can use their mobile devices to answer questions. This activity is also free for up to 10 people and is easy to personalize.

6. The Get to Know You Game

This activity is one of the best presentation games if you have a small group that doesn't really know each other. The Get to Know You Game is a creative way to do introductions, and it's really simple.

Here's how to play the game: Before the event, ask group members to bring a favorite song or item to the presentation (you can do this by emailing them). When you're ready to play, ask each person to introduce themself, present their song or item, and explain why they picked it. For those sharing a song, have them play it on their phones before they explain why it's their favorite. 

7. Live Poll Questions 

When you have a large group, it's not easy to find ways to boost engagement—but poll questions are the solutions, especially when they're live and interactive. With this unique setup, large groups engage by answering questions and seeing their answers displayed in a fun way. 

Your job is to make sure you actually find a game that showcases responses uniquely to captivate your group. For a quick and great option, here's a popular icebreaker activity that promises to display responses using fun formats like word clouds, donut charts, live graphs, and per-player: 

• Create an account for free to access the game:  https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the slide deck and press the button to copy it. 
• Look in the top right corner of the deck and press "Start Event."
• Invite your group to play the game. They only need to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code. 
• Start polling your audience!

This activity is one of those fun presentation games everyone will want to enjoy, so invite all of your team members and students to participate. This game can accommodate up to 250 players and takes 5-10 minutes to complete. Tell your group to use their mobile devices to submit their responses. 

8. Assumptions 

This interactive game is a great way to break up your presentation to see who's paying attention and who can answer questions pertaining to your topic. 

• Ask your audience to stand up (for virtual presentations, make sure everyone's video is on). 
• Show true or false statements on the screen one by one. 
• Tell people to raise a hand if they think the statement is correct and sit down if they think it's incorrect.
• Continue until one person is left standing.
• Award the winner. 

This activity can be as short and challenging as you want. Also, if your presentation is long, you can play multiple rounds to break up your speaking time and test your audience throughout your discussion.  

9. Controversial Questions 

Want to see where your audience, students, or team lands on controversial topics? Then, energize your presentation with a fun, creative game called Controversial Questions. This activity has prompts that inspire lively debates, so it's a great way to get your group excited and chatty. 

However, to maintain a positive environment, make sure to find a tool that offers an office-friendly, classroom-friendly, and conference-friendly game. You don't want to sour the mood by creating uncomfortable division during your presentation. To make sure this game is fun and light-hearted, here's a popular one that's suitable for all audiences and ages: 

• Sign up for a free account by inputting an email address and password here:  https://slideswith.com/pricing  
• Click the game and press the button that says, "Copy and use this deck." 
• Press "Start Event" (the button is in the top right corner). 
• Have participants join the fun by asking them to scan the QR code with their mobile devices. 
• Get controversial and play! 

This interactive game for presentations asks fun (but appropriate) questions like:

• Does pineapple belong on pizza?
• Does the person flying in the middle seat get both armrests?
• Should the toilet roll go over or under? 

Players should use their mobile devices to submit answers. Up to ten people can play for free, and you can customize the game by updating the questions!

10. Word of the Day 

With this activity, you can keep your audience, team, or students engaged throughout your entire presentation. This  game requires listeners to be alert and recognize whenever you say the word of the day. 

Here's how to play: At the beginning of your presentation, tell your group the word of the day (it can also be a phrase if you'd prefer). Say that you'll weave the word into your presentation and that your audience must shout it out whenever you mention it. 

11. Mini Activity: Group Icebreaker

Whether you're doing an in-person or virtual presentation, you need to warm up your audience to get things started on a positive note. The best way to do that is with a quick icebreaker game. 

However, make sure your questions are fun, positive, and engaging. You can easily do this by finding a game that already has the best icebreaker questions included. Here's one that's ready to play (and requiring no tech skills to launch): 

• Input an email address and password to make a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the deck and copy it (press "Copy and use this deck). 
• Click the button in the top right corner that says "Start Event."
• Invite participants to play by asking them to scan the QR code. 
• Break the ice to warm up your audience!

Your group should use their mobile devices to submit responses to poll questions. Also, this game accommodates up to 250 players, but only ten people can join for free.

12. Process of Elimination 

This activity is one of the best games for presentations because it's simple yet fun and great at helping listeners get to know each other. You can play it at the beginning of your presentation or in the middle to give your group a chance to stretch their legs. 

• Before your event, create a list of "yes or no" questions. 
• Once you're ready to play, tell your group to stand up (if you're doing a virtual presentation, make sure everyone's video is on). 
• Ask each question one by one. 
• Tell attendees to stand if their answer is "yes" and sit if their answer is "no." 

The questions can relate to your topic or be totally random. Also, if you'd prefer to thin out the number of people standing, you can take a creative twist and ask your questions by saying something like this: "Stay standing if (insert scenario)." When phrasing each question this way, the game will end with one person standing. To acknowledge the winner, you can give them a round of applause or award them a prize. 

13. Conference Opener Icebreaker 

If you're speaking at a big conference, you need an interactive game for presentations that can get everyone involved and ensure every voice is heard. To achieve these goals, you should create an icebreaker game that works for large groups . 

Using an easy, intuitive template is the best step to take. That way, you don't have to start from scratch or spend hours making your game. For a template that requires no code or tech-savviness to build on, here's the best option: 

• Sign up by making a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click on the game. On the next page, click the button to copy and use the deck. 
• Customize the template using the instructions HERE . 
• During your presentation, press "Start Event" in the top right corner. 
• Ask the group to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code and join the fun. (Also, make sure participants use their mobile devices to submit answers.) 
• Play and engage your audience!  

This template has fun, interactive features built in to keep your large audience engaged. Those features include polls, word clouds, and ratings. Just make sure you sign up for a paid plan to accommodate the large number of people in your group—the free account only works for up to ten players. 

14. Two Truths and a Lie 

This classic game is a fun, energizing way to help your listeners get to know one another. It's perfect for small in-person or virtual groups and is an ideal activity for the beginning of your presentation. 

Here's how to play: Pick any topic (for the purposes of this article, the topic will be "movies"). In no particular order, say two movies you've really watched and one you haven't watched. Ask your audience to guess which statement is the lie. The winner picks the next topic and says two truths and a lie. 

Be Memorable With Presentation Games

Oftentimes, people forget presentations within a week or even days, and that's because the discussions are boring. But you don't work hard preparing a presentation for it to be forgotten. If you want your message to stick, all you have to do is make it enjoyable without being corny.  

If you want to be remembered and actually get people engaged, you need to make your presentation fun and enjoyable, without coming off as corny or desperate to please. Ivan Dimitrijevic, 10 Secrets of Making Every Presentation Fun, Engaging, and Enjoyable

Luckily, the interactive presentation games in this article are unique and exciting—they're far from corny. So, use them for your upcoming presentations to make your messages compelling and memorable. 

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas How To Make a Presentation Interactive

How To Make a Presentation Interactive

This article provides a short list of proven techniques for adding interactivity to your presentations. Based on our experience and available research, we know applying them will enhance your presentation experience.

Table of Contents

Definition of Interactive Presentation

Benefits of interactive presentation, interactive presentation techniques, recommended templates for interactive presentations.

An interactive presentation actively engages the audience, transforming them from passive listeners into active participants. It incorporates various elements that invite audience interaction, encourage learning and discussion.

• Interactive presentations generate connection, bringing audiences and presenters closer. 
• They enhance comprehension, simplifying complex concepts. 
• They boost engagement, keeping audiences active and interested. 
• They encourage cooperation, promoting collaborative learning and problem-solving.

The following list is a suggestion of audience interaction techniques that, in our experience, helped presenters make their presentations interactive. They all present an actionable example that can be easily implemented in your next PowerPoint presentation .

Use of Icebreakers

In recent years, researchers have theorized that Icebreakers help establish a conducive communication environment, favoring participation. Effective icebreakers can range from simple questions to fun activities to break down barriers and encourage interaction. The key is to choose an icebreaker that aligns with the audience and the topic of the presentation.

Icebreaker examples

We present two examples of the same technique based on the context of the presentation delivery method.

Scenario 1 – Physical Audience (in the Context of a Summit)

In summits, the audience is gathered for a shared interest. So, the hypothesis is that the people in the room, ready to listen to the presentation, have some interests in common. The presenter can break the ice with a simple “know the people around you.” Each participant should present themselves to the person at the right and the left and ask them the purpose of their assistance.

The presenter will then share the 3 “possible answers,” introducing how the presentation will cover those interests. If time is well measured, it can even do a “rise the hands” round to roughly estimate the answers.

This technique requires good control of the room, so it is important to constantly gauge the possible distraction generated vs the communication effect that wants to be reached. We suggest our subscribers present quickly, clear the icebreaker exercise, and invest time in the wrap-up (post-exercise) activity.

Scenario 2 – Virtual Audience (in the context of a course)

During virtual presentations (like in Google Meet or Zoom ), the interaction between participants requires separate meeting rooms or moderated chat, which incurs complexity and additional effort. So, our experience in virtual presentations shows that a single round of attendee introductions is a good icebreaker for the audience-presenter pair. 

The main task the presenter needs to prepare is to define beforehand the number of people that will introduce themselves and the 3 questions they should answer about them.

For example:

• What’s your name? (or any demographic that might fit the audience)
• What do you expect from the presentation?
• Do you have a specific question or topic you would like the presenter to address?

This technique of micro-interactions increases the audience’s affinity with its remote peers and triggers curiosity. For the presenter, it sets a standard of expectations to focus on during the speech. [3]

Incorporation of Multimedia Elements & Other Interactive Presentation Ideas

According to audience studies , incorporating multimedia elements into presentations significantly enhances audience engagement . This technique uses videos, reels, TikTok, audio clips, animations, memes, and images to convey information more effectively. These elements can simplify complex concepts, stimulate discussion, and maintain audience interest. They also cater to different learning styles, ensuring a more comprehensive understanding of the presented material.

Use of Non-linear Flow

Non-linear flow in interactive presentations allows for a flexible, audience-driven progression. It consists of allowing the listener to decide the path of the presentation. This technique enhances engagement by adapting to audience responses. Two studies ([1],[2]) conclude that the use of a non-linear presentation reinforces learning and improves understanding of concepts and results.

Storytelling Approach

The storytelling approach involves weaving a narrative around your topic, connecting facts and figures with characters and plots. This method engages the audience emotionally, stimulating their imagination, making it more relatable and memorable, and enhancing their understanding of the subject matter. The interaction materializes between the message and the emotions of the receiver. 

Do not misunderstand the usage of storytelling presentations as merely fictional creative plots. The presenter needs to create a story that delivers the message and also, is backed up with arguments or data.

Storytelling Example

For instance, imagine a mid-manager working on customer trends and behavior analysis in a retail company. In the previous quarter, numbers show a decrease in the sales of brewed coffee. The trends and survey analysis show that consumers prefer to brew at home.

So, instead of just showcasing numbers, the presenter elaborates on a customer persona (“Emily”) and creates a story about Emily’s regular day and decision-making process.

“Emily is a hard-working mom of 2 boys. She has a white-collar job, 9 to 5, in a big city. She is a conscious mom about their children’s nutrition and makes her grocery every morning in our stores. She values our quality and freshness. As part of her daily routine, she picks a fresh coffee from our store barista and quickly covers her shopping list., ready to deliver the goods at home and run to her job.

Her morning routine has recently been affected since Emily’s budget has seen an increase in groceries, and a detailed analysis of cost benefits has replaced the almost automatic process of selecting top-of-the-line healthy products. Prices have seen alterations due to inflation and have hit the shelves. Emily’s routine has changed so that she does not even take her “to go coffee”; she decided to brew at home.”

This story is more relatable and can trigger the audience’s experience about the topic. This is no bidirectional communication but generates an internal action in the audience.

Use of Q&A and Discussion Sessions

Question and Answer (Q&A) sessions and discussions complement interactive presentations. They provide a platform for the audience to drill down into concepts and exchange ideas. This methodology promotes dynamic involvement, inviting passive spectators to become active participants. Moreover, the presenter can extract invaluable insights from these sessions, transforming the presentation into a reciprocal learning experience. For further reading and techniques of Q&A sessions, please check our post on how to moderate questions and answers .

Quizzes and Polls

In interactive presentations, quizzes and polls are frequently employed to receive input from the audience at scale. Using technology, you can get quick answers to a grid of questions predefined or even built during the presentation itself. The audience input is received and quickly processed to share in a summary. Results can then be discussed during the presentation. 

Quizzes and Polls Examples

As technology for this technique, we suggest using Microsoft Forms or Google Forms. Booths are proven technologies that can be accessed from almost every network and guarantee you will not fail during your presentation. This tool reduces the risk of having a glitch failure.

If you have an Office 365 subscription, you can use Microsoft Forms, which integrates with PowerPoint to show the results of a poll or quiz.

If you use Google Forms, even though you do not have direct interaction, you can use the web viewer add-in of PowerPoint and, after some time, edit the presentation, refresh the preview, and show the examples.

Here is a list of interactive presentation ideas & templates that you can use in PowerPoint or Google Slides.

1. Interactive Jeopardy Game Template for PowerPoint & Google Slides

Welcome to Jeopardy! If you intend to make a memorable presentation and evaluate your attendees’ knowledge of the topics you disclose, this is the ideal resource to make a presentation interactive.

Use This Template

2. Quiz Maker for Interactive Presentations Template

When looking for how to make presentations interactive, this slide deck with a quiz theme can bring light to training sessions or even inspirational presentations. Easy to edit, you can build expectation with multiple-choice format, or work with true/false statements.

3. Six Thinking Hats PowerPoint Template for Interactive Presentations

Induce interactive activities for presentations by implementing this creative thinking template featuring the Six Thinking Hats model. It is ideal for teams to discuss a problem from different points of view.

4. Futuristic Concept Roadmap for Interactive Presentation Ideas

When looking for how to create an interactive PowerPoint presentation, this roadmap template stands out by its highly detailed graphic aesthetic, which makes facts easier to remember. Participants can add their insights to collectively build a roadmap for the organization, highlighting 3 key milestones.

We presented several methods to make your presentation interactive. You can navigate our presentations gallery and choose professional PowerPoint templates to apply these new techniques.

• Das, Anup & Dutta, Bidyarthi. (2002). Presentation of Results of Research: Linear and Non-Linear Forms.
• Rumpa, Lantana & Sampelawang, Petrus & Lolang, Enos & Tangkeallo, Daud & Rubianus,. (2018). NON-LINEAR PRESENTATION ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE: APPLYING PREZI ON ENGINEERING EDUCATION.
• In-person vs. virtual conferences: Lessons learned and how to take advantage of the best of both worlds

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11 Ways to Make an Interactive Presentation That Engages & Wins

Table of Contents

Microsoft PowerPoint is the quintessential presentation software that has set the standard for creating visual aids for speeches, lectures, and meetings. With tons of templates, themes, and tools, it allows you to create interactive presentation slides that grab an audience’s attention.

PowerPoint offers a rich feature set, including text formatting, animations, transitions, and multimedia integration, so you can make both straightforward and sophisticated presentations. 

It’s used across various sectors — educational, corporate, and more — because it’s reliable, compatible with numerous devices, and remains a go-to software for professionals who want a tried-and-true solution to get their point across.

Also read →   How to Create an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation

2. iSpring Suite

iSpring Suite is a powerful tool designed for creating engaging presentations, especially for eLearning and corporate training. As it integrates seamlessly with PowerPoint, it enables you to transform conventional slides into dynamic online learning experiences with quizzes, role-plays, screen recordings, and interactions. 

Its responsive design ensures presentations are accessible across various devices. Besides, you can save them as SCORM and xAPI packages to upload to a learning management system (LMS) and track learner progress and results with ease. 

iSpring Suite is extremely easy to use, and with all its awesome features, it’s a must-have for anyone who wants to create immersive content for teaching and training.

Prezi is an online presentation tool that breaks away from the traditional slide-based format. It offers a dynamic platform for storytelling and information sharing. 

With Prezi, you can create non-linear presentations on an endless canvas that allows you to zoom in to and out from details and move around freely. This approach keeps your audience engaged and makes the entire experience more interactive and memorable. 

With its user-friendly interface, wide range of templates, and the ability to collaborate in real time, Prezi is a popular choice among professionals, educators, and students who want to go beyond static slides.

Visme is another online tool designed for creating presentations, infographics, and other visual content. Offering a wide range of customizable templates, graphics, and data visualization tools, it stands out with its emphasis on design and ease of use.

It’s Visme’s collaborative capabilities allow teams to work together seamlessly that makes it a good choice for businesses and marketers who want to transmit complex ideas in a more appealing format. 

With its comprehensive suite of design tools, Visme is a great alternative to traditional presentation software that empowers users to bring their ideas to life in a visually compelling manner.

5. SlideDog

SlideDog is a unique presentation tool that stands out for its ability to mix and match all kinds of multimedia and presentation styles within a single interface. Unlike traditional presentation software that locks you into one format, SlideDog lets you combine PowerPoint slides, PDFs, Prezis, web pages, video clips, and even live feeds in a single presentation.

The tool is easy to use with its drag-and-drop interface and has neat features like live sharing, audience engagement tools, and remote control via smartphone. It’s a flexible and innovative solution for anyone looking to bring some energy and interaction to their sessions without being limited to a single platform or format.

To learn about other tools that are available on the market, read this article on the best interactive presentation software .

How to Create an Interactive Presentation with iSpring Suite in 5 Easy Steps

As mentioned, iSpring Suite is a powerful tool for crafting presentations that captivate and involve your audience. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to unleash the full potential of this tool and make presentations interactive. 

Step 1. Install iSpring Suite

First, you’ll need to have iSpring Suite installed on your computer. It works as an add-in to PowerPoint, so make sure you have PowerPoint installed as well. Once installed, open PowerPoint, and you’ll see the iSpring Suite tab added to your ribbon, signaling that you’re ready to start.

Step 4. Narrate your slides

A voice-over is a great way to guide your audience through the content and ensure they’re following along. With iSpring Suite, you can record audio narration for each slide, adding a personal touch and making your interactive slideshow more engaging. 

Or you can use a built-in text-to-speech tool that allows you to generate a natural sounding voice-over without a narrator. Just choose a language and voice, add text, and your narration is ready!

Content creator:

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

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How to make a presentation interactive

There are several challenges to overcome in order to make a perfect presentation. The first challenge is to collect and structure the right information and then generate a visually appealing presentation. And once you have reached this point, you still have to go one step further: finding the most appropriate way to capture people's attention.

Even the most original content you have ever created can go unnoticed if you don't take a moment to plan what elements you can add to make your presentation more interactive and dynamic. 

You have to ensure that they keep their eyes glued to the screen. As you may know, this is a difficult challenge, as we are barely capable of spending more than 10 minutes paying full attention to a presentation. 

Give rhythm to your content. As if it were a symphony, add moments of calm, in which information reigns, and others of contrast, in which you add different techniques and tools to regain lost attention.

Learn with the following tips how to make an interactive presentation. Mix and match the ones that best suit the type of audience you are going to meet! 

10 tips for creating an interactive and fun presentation

Here are 10 tips on how you can make a great interactive and fun presentation to better connect with your audience:

1. Break the ice with the introduction

Do you want to get off to a good start? Prepare your introduction in advance! The first sentences you formulate should provoke a surprise effect on your audience. 

Roommates Presentation Night

Some effective ideas for capturing interest from the first minute are:

• Give a statistic or historical fact that is shocking.
• Ask an introductory thought-provoking or debate-provoking question.
• Explain a personal anecdote that you can connect with the theme of your content and that resonates with your audience.

If you need a good dose of ideas to get your introduction off to a great start, you can read more tips in our post on tips to start an incredible presentation.

2. Ask debating questions 

Avoid at all costs giving a linear presentation, i.e. getting on stage and giving a half-hour or hour-long colloquium. If you do, you will see a few sleepy faces in the audience or someone checking their mobile phone notifications.

In order to fuel interest, generate discussion questions that invite reflection or defend different points of view. Formulas such as "what if?", although they have been used for years, are still very effective in creating expectation. 

As well as inviting them to intervene in a loud voice, ask questions with several closed alternatives to encourage them to choose and vote by a show of hands on the different proposals. 

Extra tip: At all times, make it clear that you are open to questions. 

3. Incorporate visual effects such as animations 

Spice up your design! A good dose of animations and transitions will help you to keep people's eyes on the screen because you generate so much curiosity that they are waiting to see what the next slide has to offer.

Interactive Education Pack for Teachers

At Slidesgo, we are firm believers that the visual aspect of a presentation is one of the pillars on which successful presentations are built (otherwise we wouldn't put so much love into our templates!).

Be concise, organize your content well, and if you want to bring it to life, we recommend you also use 

our exclusive PowerPoint templates , which include just the right amount of animations to stand out with unique PPT designs.

4. Prepare surveys or quizzes

We all love to play games and taste victory - why not set up a quiz game? 

Reward the quickest, the most original, the most realistic answer... Depending on the topic of your content and the age of your audience, you can choose one or the other. What is essential is that they feel challenged and want to make an effort to listen, learn and respond. 

Trivial games are also ideal for groups, so divide your audience into small teams to discuss and debate the questions you ask them!

5. Share the stage with others

A great way to make your presentation more interactive is to share the spotlight with another person. Having a second perspective makes the topic more entertaining.

Happy Piano Day!

How can you implement this dynamic? Prepare in advance the intervention of someone who can expand on your content or, directly, set up a session with two speakers to maintain an active conversation.

6. Add videos

A few minutes into the session, incorporate a video that matches the content you are explaining. What types of videos can you use?

• A real example of the content you are presenting.
• An inspirational video in line with the mood you are portraying.
• An audiovisual piece that repeats and therefore reinforces the concept explained.
• One that generates a subsequent reflection or debate to link with what has been explained previously or with what you are going to introduce next.

7. Incorporate props in line with the topic

Are you teaching a history or music class? Perhaps you have an object at hand to help visualize the concepts or connect the dots in your story. Or imagine the huge surprise you would cause by holding in your hands the prototype of your company's new product or displaying the printed poster for your next advertising campaign. 

Any element that makes your story more visual serves the dual function of entertaining and informing. Therefore, remember that not any object will work. It must be one that is directly related to the information given.

8. Bring social media into the equation 

Hashtag #themostinteractivepresentation! Social networks are your allies. If you are at a conference, you will see how more than one person is dedicated to immortalizing it with photographs that they later upload to their social media accounts. 

Take advantage of the power of Twitter or Instagram and create a hashtag that brings together the posts of the day. Or, for example, create small challenges, raffles, and competitions that encourage the audience to take a more active role during the presentation. 

Here is a website where you can create a live, fully interactive online competition: https://kahoot.com/

9. Give it a personal touch 

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

Depending on the situation, opt for a fun tone if you want to lighten the mood, an emotional one if you want to strike a chord or a more serious one if you want to tell a story that changed your life. Play with different emotions and get your story on the right track by learning how to use storytelling in presentations.

10. Use clear visual schemes such as infographics

No shortage of graphs and infographics ! Many concepts are best understood through visual diagrams or numerical graphs. The more intuitive the information you present, the easier it will be for your audience to follow the thread.

By breaking down different ideas into a visual outline or organizing a sequence of events in one line, you allow everyone to quickly internalize what you are explaining by being able to see, in a single slide, a short and to-the-point summary.  

From now on, we expect you to fearlessly apply these tricks. With these aces up your sleeve, you will make an impression on your audience. 

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What’s it for?

Make interactive presentations

Create show-stopping presentations and clickable slide decks with Genially’s free online presentation builder. Leave boring behind and tell a story that’s interactive, animated, and beautifully engaging.

INTERACTIVE CONTENT

A presentation that works like a website

Engage your audience with interactive slides that they can click on and explore. Add music, video, hotspots, popup windows, quiz games and interactive data visualizations in a couple of clicks. No coding required!

NO-CODE ANIMATION

Make your slides pop with animation

Bring a touch of movie magic to the screen with incredible visual effects and animated page transitions. Add click-trigger and timed animations to make any topic easy to understand and captivating to watch.

INTEGRATIONS

Live from the world wide web

Embed online content directly in your slides for a media-rich interactive experience. From YouTube and Spotify to Google Maps and Sheets, Genially works seamlessly with over 100 popular apps and websites.

TEMPLATES & TOOLKIT

Genius design tools

With Genially, anyone can create a polished and professional presentation. Choose from over 2000 pre-built templates, or create your own design using the drag-and-drop resources, color palettes, icons, maps and vector graphics.

ONLINE PLATFORM

Safe and sound in the cloud

Because Genially is online, you can relax knowing that your slides are always up-to-date. There’s no risk of forgetting to save changes or accessing the wrong file. Log in from anywhere, collaborate with your team, and make edits in real time.

All-in-one interactive presentation maker

Real-time collaboration.

Co-edit slide decks with others in real time and organize all of your team projects in shared spaces.

Multi format

Present live, share the link, or download as an interactive PDF, MP4 video, JPG, HTML, or SCORM package.

Engagement Analytics

See how many people have viewed and clicked on your slides and keep tabs on learner progress with User Tracking.

Import from PPTX

Give your old decks a new lease of life by importing PowerPoint slides and transforming them with a little Genially magic.

Keep content on-brand with your logo, fonts, colors, brand assets, and team templates at your fingertips.

Quiz & Survey Builder

Use the Interactive Questions feature to add a fun quiz to your slides or gather feedback from your audience.

Beautiful templates

Make your next deck in a flash with Genially’s ready-to-use slides.

OKR Presentation

School Notebook Presentation

Animated Sketch Presentation

Minimal presentation

Land Of Magic Presentation

Onboarding presentation

Visual Presentation

Animated chalkboard presentation

Online Education Guide

Terrazzo presentation

Startup pitch

Historical presentation

THEMES FOR EVERYONE

Interactive presentation ideas

From classroom materials to business pitches, make an impact every day with Genially.

Education presentations

Pitch decks

Business presentations

Thesis defense

Share anywhere

Present live

From the front of the room or behind a screen, you’ll wow your audience with Genially. Heading off grid? Download in HTML to present dynamic slides without WiFi.

Share the link

Every Genially slide deck has its own unique url, just like a website! Share the link so that others can explore at their own pace, or download an MP4 video slideshow or PDF.

Post online

Embed the slides on your website or post them on social media. Upload to Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Moodle or any other platform.

The benefits of interactive slides

🗣️ Active participation An interactive slide deck gives your audience cool things to click on and discover, boosting learning and engagement.

👂 Multi-sensory experience Audio, video, animations, and mouse interactions make your content immersive, entertaining and accessible.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 People-friendly format Pop-ups and embeds condense more material into fewer slides so you can break information down into digestible chunks.


🎮 Gamification Games, quizzes and puzzles make information more memorable and enable you to gather feedback and check understanding.

How to make an interactive presentation

With Genially’s easy-to-use presentation platform, anyone can make incredible visual content in moments.

Choose a template or a blank canvas

Get stunning results in less time with a ready-made template. Feeling creative? Design your own slides from scratch.

Customize the design

Add animations and interactions

Resources to become a pro presentation creator

How to create an interactive presentation: Get started in Genially.

How to present data without sending your audience to sleep.

No-code animation: Bring your slides to life with cinematic visual effects.

The art of digital storytelling: Engage and thrill on screen.

Genially in a nutshell

How do I make a presentation interactive and how does Genially work? Find the answers to all of your slide-related questions here!

What’s an interactive presentation?

Interactive slides contain clickable hotspots, links, buttons, and animations that are activated at the touch of a button. Instead of reading or watching passively, your audience can actively interact with the content.  

Genially’s interaction presentation software allows you to combine text, photos, video clips, audio and other content in one deck. It’s a great way to condense more information into fewer slides. 

If you’re a teacher, you can share multiple materials in one single learning resource. Students can create their own projects using digital media and online maps. For business or training, try embedding spreadsheet data, PDFs, and online content directly in your slides. 

An interactive slide deck is more user-friendly than a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides document. That’s because you can break information down into chunks with pop-ups, labels, voiceovers and annotated infographics.  

The other benefit of interactive content is increased engagement. It’s easier to keep your audience’s attention when they’re actively participating. Try Genially’s presentation software and free slideshow maker to see how it’s better than other presentation websites. You won’t go back to standard presentation apps!

How do you make a clickable slide?

The best way to make slides clickable is to use Genially’s free interactive presentation program. Design your slide then apply an interaction. In a couple of clicks, you can add popup windows, hyperlinks, close-up images, games, animations, multimedia and other content. 

Choose from the library of hotspot buttons and icons to show people what to click on. Go to Presenter View to get a preview and see how your content will appear to your audience.

How do I create presentations that look professional?

You’ve got a deadline looming and you’re staring at the screen with a blank presentation. We’ve all been there! Starting a presentation design from scratch is tricky, especially if you’re short on time. 

Genially’s free online presentation maker has over 2000 ready-to-use templates for professional slide presentations, photos slideshows, and more. Each slide design has been created by our team of top graphic designers. No need to worry about fonts, centering images, or designing a matching color scheme. It’s all done for you. 

Start by browsing our layouts and themes for education, business and then customize with your own text and images.

How do I share or download my slides?

Because Genially is a cloud based presentation software, you can simply share the link to your slides. Like other online presentation tools, there are no files to download or store on your computer. Everything is saved online.  

When you publish your slide deck, it gets its own unique url, just like a website. Share the link with others to let them explore the content in their own time. If you’re presenting live, just click the Present button. 

You can also embed your presentation on your website, company wiki, or social media. Genially is compatible with WordPress, Moodle, Google Classroom, and other platforms. If you use an LMS, you can also download your interactive design slides in SCORM format.

For slideshow videos and slideshows with music, share online or download as an MP4 video. Check out our free slideshow templates for ideas.

Can I make a free presentation in Genially?

You bet! Genially is an easy-to-use slide maker, with a free version and paid plans. The free plan allows you to create unlimited slides with interactions and animations. Subscribe to one of our paid plans for more advanced features.

Discover a world of interactive content

Join the 25 million people designing incredible interactive experiences with Genially.

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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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