15 Interactive Presentation Ideas

Are you giving a presentation and concerned about keeping your audience’s attention? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one and we’re here to help.

Hello world! I’m Mike Ploger here with Visme, the online tool that has changed the way that people give presentations. 

For most of us, our biggest fear when giving a presentation is losing our audience. The last thing that we want to see are eyes losing focus, mouths whispering or hands tapping cell phones. 

So, how can you combat this? Well, try to interact with your audience. Don’t just talk at them, but include them in your presentation. 

Throughout this video, I’m going to share 15 interactive presentation ideas to help you engage your audience in ways that maybe you hadn’t thought of before. Shall we?

1. Start With an Icebreaker

A fun way to begin a presentation is by getting your audience to interact with one another. Get conversations started, whether it’s at multiple tables at a large conference or just amongst those in a small meeting. 

Icebreakers are beneficial because they help you and your audience better understand one another. If it’s a large audience, chances are that they might all be complete strangers. So take the opportunity to help them become more familiar with one another. 

One example would be the Favorites Icebreaker. Participants simply list the things that they love with one another. 

Or simply try asking your listeners to come up with one word when they think of your presentation topic. Listen to their answers and consider them when moving forward with your presentation. 

2. Use Video Clips

Now sometimes, there’s no denying that a video has already said or demonstrated something better than you ever could. So, why not include that video in your presentation? 

Don’t think that it’ll take away from your work. Rather, it’ll keep your audience more focused and entertained. Even if there’s a video of yourself, it could be useful to share with your audience if the setting is hard to duplicate. 

With Visme, videos can be easily embedded into presentations. All you have to do is go to the Media tab on the left side bar and click Insert Video.

3. Make Your Presentation Non-Linear

Most presenters believe that their slides have to go in order from slide 1 to slide 2 to slide 3, but what if I told you that it’s okay to jump to various slides? 

By creating a non-linear presentation, your viewer is in control of what slides will come next. 

How? Create a Table of Contents slide, linking the sections to different slides. It’ll make for a good homepage to revisit throughout the presentation and it will also keep readers on edge wondering what’s coming next. 

4. Have a Q&A Session

Asking your audience questions and giving them the opportunity to do the same with you is a simple yet effective way of making an interactive presentation. 

During your preparation phase, leave places within the presentation for you to ask your audience a few questions. They can be simple, funny, complex – it’s totally up to you. 

It’ll allow you to get a read on your audience while breaking up your presentation. How do you feel about this, or raise your hand if, are good places to start. 

And of course, encourage your audience to ask questions themselves. You don’t want them to be confused early on and be unable to obtain information later because they’re stock on that one topic that they didn’t fully understand. 

5. Create an Interactive Quiz

Another way to gauge your audience’s knowledge on your topic is by creating a quiz. Take your verbal questions a step further by writing them into your slides. 

Don’t know how? Let Visme help. You can ask questions and, depending on what answer is chosen, a corresponding slide will appear next. 

These work great with embedded presentations that some may be watching on their own or, of course, it also works best with audiences right in front of you. Give it a try!

6., Bring Props Along to Your Presentation

If you are looking to bring your presentation to life, add a few props into the mix. 

By bringing in physical objects or even living things as I’ll mention here in a second, your audience will be more hooked than if they were just staring at a screen. 

However, make sure you keep your prop relevant. It should directly tie in with your presentation topic. If you’re talking about robots, bring a robot. Discussing anatomy? Don’t forget a few bones. 

And maybe the most creative example that we’ve ever seen was from the one and only Bill Gates. The founder of Microsoft went the extra mile when he released a swarm of mosquitoes into his audience. 

However awful as it may sound, it was perfect given his topic: a TED talk on mosquitoes and the dangers of malaria. I encourage you to check it out for yourself and see what ideas it may spark in your head. 

7. Tell Your Audience a Story

Don’t be afraid to share stories with your audience. An anecdote in the beginning of a presentation is an excellent way to draw viewers in. 

But it doesn’t have to stop there. A good story can be the most memorable part of a presentation. 

They can create suspense, deliver raw emotion or bring a topic to life. We love TED talks here at Visme, and Hans Rosling loves telling stories, which he did all throughout his TED talk here. 

8. Add an Audio Narrative

Now, so far, I’ve mentioned a few ideas to give yourself breaks throughout your presentation, and another would be to include an audio narrative. 

Maybe there’s a podcast that touched on your topic or somebody else perfectly summed up one of your points. Don’t hesitate to embed those recordings into your slides. It’ll save your voice while creating a much more interactive viewing experience. 

9. Poll Your Audience

Earlier I mentioned starting with an icebreaker and including your audience by asking them questions. Well, one great way to do both of those things is with an audience poll. 

You can have viewers simply raise their hands or go a step further with polling software. It is now available to have live, up to the second answers from your audience. Check out sli.do for some of the best results. 

And whatever presentation topic you have, polls can be used for fun, to get opinions or even to prove a point. Use them to your advantage. 

10. Include Discussion Questions

If your audience is sitting at a handful of tables, take the opportunity to create round table discussions. Start by putting up a question on a slide and ask your audience to discuss the answer amongst themselves. 

You’ll often see this in classrooms with teachers as they engage their students, but it’ll also work in big presentations as well. 

It requires very little effort on your part and gets your audience interacting with one another, which as we’ve seen, can be pretty powerful. 

11. Encourage Movement in Your Audience

Another great way to create interaction is by encouraging movement in your audience. It could be as simple as taking breaks, asking your audience to stand when speaking or even just raising hands when they’re answering a question. 

Or try getting creative. Ask your audience to move to certain spots in the room depending on how they feel about a certain topic. 

Or why not get people on stage for a creative activity? It’ll take some brain power, but getting people up and moving is one of the most effective interactive presentation techniques. 

12. Share a Hashtag for Social Interaction

Creating a hashtag is one of the latest trends for big events. We see them for conventions, conferences, festivals, weddings, anything where people are brought together. 

So, why not use one for your presentation? If a hashtag hasn’t already been created by your event organizer, create your own.

It’s a great way for people to share your content, leading to an even bigger audience. It’s a simple concept that can go a long way towards getting your expertise out to the masses. 

13. Add Music

In any setting, the right music will set the mood. So, use that to your advantage when planning a presentation. 

You can set simple instrumentals as a light background to complement your speaking, or you can add a spark of loud pop music to grab your audiences‘ attention. 

Again, Visme makes this so easy in our presentation building tool. Adding audio is just a few clicks away. 

14. Play With Transitions and Animations

Animating your slides is key for keeping your audience guessing and engaged. Work with different transitions when introducing new information like we have here next to me. 

But you want to be wary when beginning to use transitions. Don’t go overboard. Find that one style that you like and stick with that style throughout your entire presentation. 

You don’t want or need 18 different transitions because it’ll start to confuse your audience. Find one look for your animations and stick with it. 

15. Use Data Visualizations

And lastly, our 15th tip in this video, whenever possible, visualize your data. Give your facts and statistics importance by turning them into charts and graphs. 

By creating data visualizations, your audience will digest information much quicker and easier. A well thought out icon or graphic is much more memorable than a spreadsheet of numbers. 

Visme is king of the data visualization world and has the software to make creating graphics a walk in the park. So, head over to Visme.co right now to get started. 

Once you have a blueprint for how you want to interact with your audience, Visme can help you bring it altogether in a beautiful presentation. 

Be yourself! Get creative and find what works for you. We’re just here to help you get on your feet. 

Hey! Thank you so much for watching. If you found that we were helpful, don’t hesitate to subscribe to our channel. We are consistently putting out content to help those with data visualization, design and other marketing questions. 

Good luck! I’ll catch you next time. For now, I’m Mike Ploger with Visme, helping you Make Information Beautiful.