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Blog Marketing 15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

Written 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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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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7 Audience Activities & Games to Play During Presentation

Transform your presentations into dynamic, interactive experiences with these 7 audience-engaging activities and games, fostering personal connection and knowledge exchange.

The stage doesn’t only belong to the speaker, but also to the audience. The audience isn’t any longer spectators only, they are also contributors. And this explains the importance of audience activities during presentation. Neuroscientists at Harvard found that talking about ourselves gives similar satisfying signals as money and food give us. Games to play, activities whereby attendees share personal experiences; it all contributes to an interactive experience. Not only that, when we’re able to foster the exchange of experiences and knowledge, then we also develop ourselves as individuals and organizations. So let’s zoom in on a number of audience participation ideas:

Key Takeaways:

• Engage audiences with 'Cross the Line' to visualize and explore diverse opinions and experiences.
• Implement 'Fishbowl Discussion' for in-depth, focused group conversations.
• Personalize interactions using 'Bring it On' for sharing significant items or songs.
• Employ the 'Talking Stick' method to ensure respectful, uninterrupted sharing.
• 'Knowledge Quiz' via Sendsteps.ai enhances learning and interaction on any topic.
• 'Set the Agenda' allows audience-driven content, creating tailored discussions.
• These activities and games enrich presentations by involving the audience actively and personally.

Audience participation ideas

Depending on the theme of your presentation, how formal or informal the setting is and how much time you have, there are several ideas out there to apply during your next presentation. Ask yourself during your preparation to what extend you still like to spend time on your PowerPoint, or whether you’d rather prepare for strong engagement activities?

Presentation Games

Presentation games are designed to motivate an audience to stay engaged with the speaker by inserting meaningful and fun additions to the presentation.

Cross the Line

“Cross the line” is a format known from “Challenge Day” whereby attendees are asked to stand, based on their answer (yes/no) on a question, either left or right from the room. With it differences are made visible and in the end sensible too. As such it can be one of the engagement games that have a big impact; either in a fun way or in a serious way. It will evoke laughter, recognition, surprise and a tear every now and then.

Ideas for questions are:

Who wanted to become a doctor when you were little?

Who was ever bullied at work?

Who prefers a city trip over a beach holiday?

Presentation Activities

There are many audience activities to think of when it comes to letting your audience speak up. In these three activities you’ll find back elements that will make your session personal allowing everyone to share their thoughts.

Fishbowl Discussion

In a fishbowl discussion there are two groups. One forms an outer circle and one group is seated in the middle. Only those located in the middle are allowed to talk. In the inner circle there’s always a free seat available. If someone from the outer circle likes to join, then the free seat is his/hers and somebody else should make space. You’ll therefore find that everyone’s contribution is very conscious and therefore often valuable. Everyone realizes that time spend in the inner circle is valuable: questions and contributions are to the point and well-thought over.

Bring it On

Ask your attendees in advance to bring a small personal item. During your session you let everyone (with a small group) elaborate on why the item is important to them. Alternatively you can do the same by asking your audience to bring a song along. This is a perfect activity to facilitate personal introductions within a group (e.g. upon the start of a new course).

The Talking Stick

The talking stick is an old Native American custom of talking. Upon the start of this activity, everyone should agree that whoever has the talking stick, is allowed to talk without interruption. It’s similar to the Fishbowl Discussion, but with the talking stick it’s not a group, but an individual talking. The talking stick can be any item, as long as it is neutral and not related to anyone in the group. Each time somebody is done talking, the talking stick should be put back in the midst of the group (and should not be handed over to somebody). It maybe sounds simple, but in practice this is a powerful method of creating deep communication and understanding.

Presentation Exercises

Next to games and other activities, these exercises also contribute to a lively presentation!

Knowledge Quiz

Before and straight after your presentation you can quiz your audience about your topic through Sendsteps.ai. With Sendsteps.ai, you can create interactive presentations with ease. Whether your topic is solar energy, hotel management, or 20th century art, the AI presentation maker allows you to formulate engaging multiple-choice questions and quizzes for your audience. Your audience can respond directly on their smartphones, and you can track who answered what and even announce a winner. With Sendsteps.ai, you can generate your quiz within minutes and engage your audience in a new and exciting way.

Set the Agenda

In your event program, you can leave part of the program blank. In it you eventually let your audience decide what to discuss. Upon the start of your session you let your audience form small groups. Give them a relevant question and use the output (which they can send in via Sendsteps) for a plenary discussion during your blank program item. From the output you can formulate statements that can result in a lively ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ debate. Or alternatively invite adhoc a speaker to elaborate on the output. If you’re able to be this flexible, you’ll amaze your crowd with tailoring exclusively to their needs!

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How can audience activities and games enhance a presentation.

Audience activities and games, such as 'Cross the Line', 'Fishbowl Discussion', 'Bring it On', and the 'Talking Stick' method, significantly enhance presentations by actively involving the audience. These activities foster personal sharing, respectful dialogue, and group engagement. They also encourage audience members to contribute their perspectives, making the presentation more dynamic and inclusive. Utilizing tools like Sendsteps.ai for interactive quizzes and allowing the audience to set part of the agenda further personalizes the experience, making it more engaging and relevant. Such interactive methods transform presentations from passive listening to active participation, enriching the overall experience for both the presenter and the audience.

How do these interactive activities impact the overall effectiveness of a presentation in terms of audience engagement and retention of information?

Interactive activities in presentations enhance audience engagement and retention of information by making the session more dynamic and participatory. This active involvement can lead to better understanding and recall of the presented material.

Can these activities be effectively used in various types of presentations, like formal business meetings or educational lectures?

The effectiveness of interactive activities varies with the type of presentation. While they are commonly seen in educational and informal settings, their use in formal business contexts should be carefully considered to maintain the appropriate tone.

How to gauge and measure the success or impact of these interactive activities on the audience?

Measuring the success of interactive activities can be done through immediate audience feedback, post-presentation surveys, and observing the level of audience participation and response during the activity.

Anouk Baltus

Anouk’s passion for presenting started when she was very young: from voluntarily giving presentations in primary school to winning a speaking award with a self-written and presented speech. This adoration comes to life while working for Sendsteps. A passion for giving and writing speeches turned into writing blogposts about these subjects to help others find their passion in presenting.

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13 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Engage Students in Class

If you’re a teacher, you’ll know that there’s a lot to think about when you’re in class. It’s important to ensure that what you’re teaching the children is as educational and as interesting as possible - with the aim of engaging the students in the subject and hopefully even enabling them to enjoy learning! 

This can be a very difficult balance to strike. However, it’s made easier by these interactive presentation ideas listed in this article, which can engage even the most distracted of students!

How to display presentations

The best classroom gadget to show these presentations on is an interactive display. These are large devices that are mounted to the wall and can connect seamlessly with any video collaboration applications. You can connect interactive displays to the internet and further use them as a powerful classroom teaching tool, to help students learn in a fully interactive and efficient way. We sell interactive displays for classrooms  here at Avocor.

Interactive class presentation ideas 

Ice breakers.

Many work-related presentations start with an icebreaker, and there’s no reason why a presentation to a class of students should be any different. 

The icebreaker question will depend on the class and age of students, but could be something like the following: 

• If you could be an animal, what would it be and why? 
• What would be your dream place to go on holiday? 
• If you could have dinner with three historical characters, who would they be and why? 
• If you could make any kind of potion, what would it do? 

Incorporating video is one of the best interactive presentation ideas for students. Even if the video is about the same topic as the presentation, the fact that it’s a different type of media will interest the class. 

You can either find a suitable video on YouTube or another video software or, if you have a file saved, paste it directly into the presentation . 

Questions and answers

Questions and answers are a great way to get the whole class involved. You could invite one student to ask a hypothetical question about the topic, and another could answer. 

For example, if you’re learning about Henry VIII and his six wives , you could ask a student to ask a question about them. Their question could be “what was Henry VIII’s favourite food?” or something similar. 

When another student answers, you could ask them to explain their answer - for example, if they say “meat and bread”, they might carry on to explain that that was the main diet for royalty at the time. 

Songs are a good way to interest younger kids in a topic. You can find songs about all sorts of subjects on YouTube. For example, this seven continents song could be suitable for a Geography song. 

Many songs on YouTube have lyrics, so you could encourage your class to practice their reading as they sing along. 

Some presentations are made more interactive by external objects - and if you want to engage younger kids, bringing some props can really help the lesson to come alive. 

For example, if you’re doing a history lesson about the Ancient Egyptians , you could bring some figures of Tutankhamun, the Sphinx and the ancient pyramids for everybody to see. 

Class involvement

Asking for direct class involvement throughout the presentation is a good way to ensure that students stay engaged. For instance, if you’re doing a presentation about animals, you could ask students to make a noise every time you mention a certain animal.

You could ask them to roar each time you mention lions, or make a monkey noise each time you talk about monkeys. This is a great way to ensure that the students are paying attention! 

Transitions and animations

A simple way to ensure that your students are paying attention is to use different transitions and animations throughout your presentation. 

If you’re teaching older kids or teenagers, you might not want to have too many of these, but younger kids will love seeing every item bounce onto the screen. It’s a wonderful way to get them interested in technology in the classroom !

Quizzes are an effective way to engage students of any age. You can include these at the end of the presentation and they can include questions that you’ve covered in the session. 

If your students know that there will be a quiz at the end of the class, they may be more likely to pay attention throughout it! You could also ensure maximum engagement by telling students that there will be prizes for the winner of the quiz - such as stickers or sweets. 

Interactive games

Interactive games for class presentations are always a popular way to ensure that students stay engaged! Some examples include: 

• noughts and crosses or tic tac toe
• pictionary 
• hangman or an alternative like spaceman
• 21 questions

It’s best to make these games related to the subject. For example, the game “21 questions” involves you thinking of a character and students asking questions with a yes or no answer about what character you are. 

If you’re teaching a history class, the character could be somebody from history (such as Florence Nightingale or Queen Victoria), or if you’re instructing a science lesson, the character could be a famous scientist (like Einstein or Steven Hawking). 

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is another great way to get the class involved. You can use an interactive display to create the brainstorm diagram on. Students can take turns writing on the board, and it  can securely connect to any external devices, so any remote class members can join in. 

With an interactive display, you can also immediately share the diagram to the rest of the class once it’s finished, so they can keep it to refresh their knowledge of a topic. 

For example, if you’re teaching your class about Australia in geography , you could ask their students what they may already know about Australia. They could come up with some items like the following: 

• Sydney Opera House
• Aboriginal art
• outback 

You could then create a spider diagram with different legs depending on the topic. For this list, there could be an “animals” leg for kangaroos and koalas, an “architecture” leg for the Sydney Opera House, a “landscapes” leg for the rainforest and outback, a “culture” leg for Aboriginal art and a “food” leg for BBQ.

Make a story

Making a story about the topics covered can encourage creativity around the topic. To do this, write down a couple of opening lines to a story related to the topic that you’re teaching. 

For example, if you’re teaching students about the Ancient Roman Empire, you could start by saying “Ronald the Roman lived in the British City of Bath, where the Romans had arrived 20 years before. He spent most of his time at work, where he built houses for the rest of the Romans”. 

Then, you could invite a student to continue the story, encouraging them to stay as on-topic as possible. You could even give out a prize to the student with the best part of the story. Depending on the size of the class, you could ask every student to contribute. 

Stories also work well for English lessons. In these classes, the topic of the story doesn’t matter as much, but you could encourage students to use whatever language they’ve been learning. 

For example, if your class has been focused on adjectives, you could ask students to put as many adjectives as possible in each part of their story. 

Have a short play 

You could take your stories to the next level by creating a short play on one of your slides. This could be based on whatever topic you’re learning about, and you could select a few students to come to the front of the class and read out the lines. 

You may wish to create this personally, find a relevant play online or you could even turn a well-known story into a play!

Virtual field trip

One of the most creative interactive school presentation ideas is to take the class on a virtual field trip. This is particularly valuable for geography lessons, where you may learn about places that students might not be able to visit in person, like the Amazon rainforest or even under the sea!

You could link to Google maps, where you could use Google Earth to explore a particular area. Alternatively, there are some YouTube channels that specialise in virtual tours and field trips, such as this one which details all you need to know about rainforests .

If you have a classroom full of students and want to keep them as engaged as possible while teaching them new material, try some of these interactive games for classroom presentations and other ideas! 

By incorporating some of these interactive ideas into your presentation, you’ll have the students’ full undivided attention and ensure that they not only enjoy the class but retain the information.

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Education  |  Sep 21 2019

5 Interactive Presentations Ideas that will Engage Students

Interactive presentations should always be an educator’s goal. Dry, teacher-centered lectures lose students’ interest, while interactive presentations grab and hold attention. Getting students involved improves retention, understanding, and enjoyment. And it’s remarkably easy to involve the audience with just a few easy principles (especially with the right technology at your disposal).

Start creating interactive presentations with the tips and tricks below or get more insights on modern education technology.

Students today expect the classroom to be both educational and enjoyable at the same time. Interactive presentations help engage students by having them participate in the lessons instead of passively listening to lectures. This reduces boredom and gives students a sense of responsibility to be attentive.

A Gallup Poll  of about 3,000 schools shows that around the 5 th  grade 74% of students feel they are engaged in school, but by the 10 th , 11 th , and 12 th grade those numbers fall to the 30% range. It is important for educators from K-12 and on to higher education to recognize that keeping students engaged in the classroom is important and the adoption of interactive learning environments can be a key driver.

Millennials and Generation Y students are especially accustomed to being a part of the lessons and not just a spectator. Students are encouraged to talk and offer their ideas to create a collaborative atmosphere where both teachers and students are sources of knowledge and insight. The teacher plays more of a facilitator role in moving the lesson along and encouraging students to participate in their own learning outcomes. Students offer their own input, additional information, and give examples of how they would apply the key concepts.

The learning task is the central aspect of the interactive presentations (instead of the teacher’s energy level and hold on the students’ attention spans) and the lessons evolve around it. Even though the teacher is normally, the ‘presenter’ in most cases the ‘interaction’ part comes in a variety of ways to get students participating in the lesson. Many activities, games, role-plays, quizzes, and discussions  can be integrated into the presentation flow and the lessons will take different directions from there. We will discuss later many examples of tools and techniques to encourage collaborations.

Technological Aid in Interactive Presentations

Although interactive presentations can be done without technology, it is greatly aided with the adoption of tools designed to facilitate the learning process. For example, a quiz is given in the middle of the presentation. On one side, traditionally a teacher can write the quiz before the lesson starts, print out copies for all students, pass out the quiz, and collect answers. To provide feedback for the exercise the teacher will also need to grade and start a discussion on the results before moving on to the next topic. This process is time-consuming and restrictive.

With technological aid such as an interactive digital whiteboard or a classroom quizzing application on individual devices, the students and teacher can come up with the quiz questions on the spot. This digital quiz can be administrated wirelessly to all students and within seconds, the results can be shared with all participants to discuss. This greatly increases spontaneity, variability, and class involvement.       

5 Interactive Presentations Ideas and Corresponding Technology Aids

1. Storytelling

The teacher does not have to be the only star. The glory of the presentation can go to all participants who have a story to tell. The main concepts can be discussed and students should be given time to come up with a personal example. This exercise helps students relate to the subject matter and getting to listen to other students’ examples will drive home the concepts further. The need for the teacher to plan extensive examples and be the only one talking during the presentation is reduced. Teachers can also judge by the stories shared how much the students are understanding.

Storytelling with technology: Many digital whiteboards have Cast and Throw functions that will allow students to work on their own examples on their devices and send this to the whiteboard when sharing. This allows students to quickly go up and share their stories without sending files by email, wires, or USBs.

2. Non-linear presentation

Presentations that do not follow a strict order but organically flow from topic to topic based on the audience’s feedback are a great way to engage participants. Once prepared, the presenter can flow from one topic to the next by asking questions, polling, or receiving requests at the end of each key point. This allows the audience to ‘build’ their own presentation on what they want to hear not in a rigid manner as with traditional slide-based presentations.

Non-linear presentation with technology : There are non-linear presentation applications like  Prezi which helps presenters build presentations on easy-to-customize templates. They offer a zoomable canvas (not slides) to help people share knowledge, stories and inspire audiences to act. The canvas shows relationships between points and offers a recommended flow but not a set path to follow.

3. Polls, surveys, and quizzes

One of the most recognizable and used tools in the classroom to get a fast reaction from students are polls, surveys & quizzes. For polls, simple questions that have limited answers are used to gather a consensus. This could be in the form of a raise of hands, ballots, or having students form groups. Surveys would require printed paper sheets with multiple choices, scales, or short answers to gather opinions. Quizzes are used to quickly test a student’s knowledge on what was just covered, so the class can identify weak areas and crystalize main concepts.

Polls, surveys, and quizzes can be anonymous or not. Openly requiring students to share their ideas on results such as a debate or open discussion would increase the interactives of the activity. Students can also be tasked to create questions and grade their own surveys and quizzes for an added layer of participation within the presentation.

Polls, surveys, and quizzes with technology : Many classroom management software such as  Google Classroom has built-in tools to create polls, surveys, and quizzes along with assignments, communication, and other educational features. Once submitted, the collection and grading are instantaneous. The results can be shared easily with students both individually or as a group. 

Is there a student – of any age – who does not like a good game, contest, or competition? Adding a small game into a presentation breaks up the normal lecture format and gets the audience to think critically to help their team win. There are many versions and adaptions of basic educational games . Teachers can take games such as Pictionary, Jeopardy, Casino, and Bingo then adapt them to their needs. 

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Free interactive teaching materials

Gamifying your interactive presentation : By integrating into the presentation links to applications like  ClassCraft  or  Kahoot a teacher can quickly launch an interactive digital game. These applications help teachers tailor their own games by adding their questions, facts, and materials for individuals, small teams, or the whole class to participate.

5. Discussions and groups breakout sessions

Having the class only listen to a lecture marks the end of any interactive presentation. Adding sections where students can have an open discussion or breakout sessions can help students learn from each other, share insights, and have an opportunity to ask questions to their peers. It is also an opportunity for the teacher to take a break from talking and help small groups or students individually as the rest of the class converse.

Taking the discussion online for interactive presentations : Live discussion applications like  NowComment  allow students to markup and discuss a text in real-time which is great for peer-review activities and gather student input into one place quickly. Alternatively, Yo Tech is great for teachers to create and moderate real-time chat rooms. Students can send text-like messages, reply to other messages, and share pictures and drawings. Online chat groups are a great way for large groups of students to collaborate and interact in one place while keeping the noise level down in a classroom.

Tips for Creating Interactive Presentations

Here are some tips when creating a presentation that has interactive components:

Add in places within your lecture notes or presentation slides reminders for you to engage the audience. This could be a small image or phrase. When using digital whiteboards or other display technology you could also use a sound, empty slide, or pop-up link to prompt you to start.

Time Limits

It is great to keep going a good game or discussion in the class where everyone is really engaged. However, keep the maximum amount of time you can dedicate to these activities in mind. Have a watch or a timer on hand and keep things moving. Give enough time for students to get engaged without overdoing it. Spread out chances for students to talk and share. When it is time to move on to the next topic prepare a transition to the next part of the presentation.

Think of ways to let all students have a chance to share. You can select students randomly or have them take turns in some kind of order. Remind students that this is a learning activity and not everyone will get it right the first time. The interactive activity should be open and inclusive. Students who are introverted may be given activities that can be done without going to the front of the class or public speaking.

Benefits of Having Interactive Components in Your Presentation

• Retention:  Actively having students engage with the concepts of the presentation in different ways and hearing it from different people (besides the teacher) helps with long-term retention.
• Personalization:  Students are given the choice of where the presentation is heading and participate in their own learning outcomes.
• Fun:  Having a break from the routine, getting a chance to move around, developing teams, and sharing are all much better than sitting silently and taking notes. 
• Feedback:  Adding interactive activities into a presentation gives you instant feedback about students’ comprehension.
• Vocalization: Having students actually vocalize their ideas helps them internalize the concepts.
• Summarization: Students review and summarize their own main points while doing the activities so there is less need for repetition.

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Build Your Own Version of Interactive Presentations for Your Next Lesson

Bringing in the interactive components and increasing the engagement of your presentations will both help you – a teacher – and your students. Make presentations both educational and entertaining with Edutainment! With or without technology, consider incorporating some new ideas into your next interactive presentation.

If you liked reading this article, you might also want to explore our complete guide to technology in the classroom or gain more insights on engaging lessons with ViewSonic’s education solutions.  

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15 Interactive Presentation Games to Engage Your Audience

In the world of presentations and public speaking, engaging your audience is crucial. A captivating presentation can leave a lasting impact and ensure that your message is heard and retained. One effective way to achieve this engagement is by incorporating interactive presentation games into your talks.

Interactive presentation games break the monotony of traditional slideshows and transform passive listeners into active participants. In this blog, we’ll explore 15 interactive presentation games that can make your presentations more dynamic, memorable, and enjoyable for your audience.

Why Use Interactive Presentation Games?

Traditional presentations often involve passive listening, which can lead to disengagement and limited retention of information. On the other hand, interactive presentation games create an environment of active participation. 

Making your presentations more memorable and impactful. They foster interaction, feedback, and collaboration, turning your audience into active participants rather than passive observers.

Benefits of Engaging Your Audience

Engaging your audience with interactive presentation games offers numerous benefits:

• Increased Engagement: Interactive presentation games grab your audience’s attention and keep them actively involved throughout the presentation.
• Improved Information Retention: Active participation enhances the retention of key information, ensuring that your message sticks with your audience long after the presentation is over.
• Enhanced Learning: Games encourage a deeper understanding of the subject matter, making it easier for your audience to grasp complex concepts.
• Better Audience Connection: By involving your audience, you establish a stronger connection, making them feel valued and heard.
• Immediate Feedback: Games provide opportunities for instant feedback, allowing you to address questions and concerns in real time.
• Fun and Entertainment: Interactive fun games add an element of fun and entertainment to your presentations, making them more enjoyable for your audience.

How to Choose the Right Presentation Games

Selecting the appropriate presentation games depends on your audience, topic, and objectives. Consider factors such as the size of your audience, the level of interactivity you desire, and the technology available. Tailor your choice of games to align with your presentation goals, ensuring they enhance your message rather than distract from it.

Now, let’s explore 15 interactive presentation games that you can incorporate into your presentations to engage your audience effectively:

01. Polling and Surveys

Polling and surveys involve asking questions to your audience and collecting their responses in real time. This game is useful for engaging the audience and gathering valuable data or opinions.

Example: During a marketing presentation, you can use polling to ask the audience which social media platform they use most frequently for product discovery, with response options like “Facebook,” “Instagram,” or “Twitter.” The results can guide your marketing strategy.

02. Quiz and Trivia

Quiz and trivia games challenge the audience’s knowledge of a specific subject. Correct-answer questions encourage competition and learning because participants’ scores are added up.

Example: In a history lecture, you can organize a trivia quiz about historical events. Ask questions like, “Who was the first President of the United States?” and award points for correct answers to make learning history engaging.

03. Interactive Q&A Sessions

Interactive Q&A sessions allow the audience to ask questions and engage in a live dialogue with the presenter. This interactive presentation game promotes engagement, clarification, and in-depth discussions.

Example: After a business strategy presentation, open the floor for an interactive Q&A session where the audience can ask questions about the proposed strategies, fostering a deeper understanding of the material.

04. Gamified Scenarios

Gamified scenarios present real-world situations or challenges to the audience. Participants make decisions, and the consequences of those choices are revealed, creating an immersive learning experience.

Example: In leadership training, simulate a business scenario where participants make decisions as managers. Their choices affect the company’s success, making the learning process engaging and interactive.

05. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Experiences

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) games provide immersive 3D experiences. Participants can explore virtual environments or interact with augmented elements.

Example: In a product launch presentation, use AR to allow the audience to visualize how the product would fit into their homes. They can use their smartphones to see a virtual presentation version of the product in their living rooms.

06. Storytelling Challenges

Storytelling challenges encourage participants to create and share their stories, fostering creativity and personal expression.

Example: In a team-building workshop, ask each participant to share a personal success story related to teamwork. This engages the audience and builds a sense of connection among participants.

07. Collaborative Whiteboard Activities

In real-time, collaborative whiteboard activities involve multiple participants contributing ideas, drawings, or annotations on a digital whiteboard. This game fosters teamwork and brainstorming.

Example: During a brainstorming session for a new project, use a digital whiteboard tool where team members can simultaneously sketch out their ideas and add comments. This promotes collaboration and idea generation.

08. Interactive Polls and Word Clouds

Interactive polls and word clouds engage the audience by having them vote or input keywords related to a topic. The results are displayed dynamically.

Example: In a conference PowerPoint presentation about technology trends, ask the audience to submit keywords related to the most exciting emerging technologies. Display the results in a word cloud to visualize the collective interest.

09. Simulations and Case Studies

Simulations and case studies replicate real-life scenarios for participants to make decisions and see the outcomes. This game is effective for practical learning.

Example: In a business strategy workshop, provide participants with a case study of a struggling company. Have them analyze the situation and propose strategies to turn the business around. The best solutions can be discussed as a group.

10. Role-Playing Exercises

Role-playing exercises involve participants taking on specific roles or characters to act out scenarios. This game promotes empathy and communication skills.

Example: In customer service training, participants can take on the roles of customers and service representatives. They act out various customer service scenarios to practice effective communication and problem-solving.

11. Breakout Rooms and Group Discussions

Breakout rooms and group discussions split the audience-focused audiences into smaller groups to discuss specific topics or tasks. This great game promotes active participation and in-depth exploration of ideas.

Example: In an educational webinar, use breakout rooms to divide participants into smaller groups. Each group discusses a different aspect of the topic and then shares their insights when they return to the main session.

12. Live Challenges and Competitions

Live challenges and competitions introduce competitive elements to the best presentation games. Participants can compete individually or in teams to solve problems or complete tasks.

Example: In a team-building event, organize a friendly competition where teams compete in a series of challenges. Challenges could include problem-solving tasks, physical activities, or trivia quizzes to foster teamwork and camaraderie.

13. Interactive Presentations

Interactive presentations incorporate multimedia elements, quizzes, and audience participation throughout the entire presentation screen to keep the audience engaged.

Example: During a product launch presentation, embed interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, and live demos within your slides. This ensures constant engagement and information retention.

14. Icebreakers and Energizers

Icebreakers and energizers are quick, fun activities designed to create a relaxed atmosphere and engage the audience at the beginning of a presentation or during breaks.

Example: At the start of a team meeting, use a fun icebreaker like “Two Truths and a Lie,” where each participant shares two true statements and one false one about themselves. It lightens the mood and promotes bonding.

15. Creative Challenges and Brain Teasers

Creative challenges and brain teasers stimulate creativity and problem-solving. They present puzzles, riddles, or creative tasks to engage the audience stand.

Example: During a creativity workshop, present participants with a riddle or a creative problem to solve as a group. Encourage them to think critically and come up with innovative solutions, fostering creative thinking.

How QuestioPro LivePolls can help in Interactive presentation games

When you use any tool for an interactive show, you need to think about how your audience votes and your presentation’s goals. Make sure the interactive elements enhance the learning or engagement experience rather than becoming a distraction. 

Here are some ways a survey-based tool like QuestionPro can assist in creating interactive presentation games:

Question and Quiz Creation

Many interactive presentation game tools allow you to create questions and quizzes that you can integrate into your presentations. These questions can be multiple-choice, true/false, open-ended, or other formats. Participants can then respond to these questions during your presentation.

Interactive presentation fun game tools often include features that engage your audience. This can include things like timers for questions, leaderboards to display scores, and interactive survey elements that make your presentation more engaging and fun.

Feedback and Scoring

These tools typically provide instant feedback to participants. Correct answers might be rewarded with points, while explanations could follow incorrect answers. Scores are often tallied in real time, creating a competitive or gamified atmosphere.

Data Collection

Interactive presentation game tools can help you collect data on audience response software . This data can be valuable for assessing learning outcomes, understanding audience vote opinions, or tailoring your content to your audience’s preferences.

Customization

You can often customize the appearance and behavior of interactive elements to fit your presentation’s theme or style. This allows for creative and engaging presentations.

Audience Participation

Such tools enable audience members to actively participate and feel involved in your presentation. This can lead to higher engagement levels and better retention of information.

Reports and Analytics

Some tools provide analytics and reports after your presentation, which can help you assess the effectiveness of your interactive elements and the overall presentation.

Incorporating interactive presentation games into your talks can elevate your engagement, foster learning, and make your message more memorable. Whether you choose polls, quizzes, simulations, or storytelling challenges, tailoring the games to your audience and objectives is key. 

By doing so, you’ll transform your presentations into dynamic and unforgettable experiences that leave a lasting impact on your audience. So, level up your presentations with these interactive games, and watch your audience become active participants in your message.

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Blog > Interactive PowerPoint presentations in class

Interactive PowerPoint presentations in class

03.08.2023   •  #powerpoint #tips.

Presentations can be a great way to make your lessons exciting and informative and to informative and to better communicate information to your students. Many students do not feel engaged and integrated enough with normal presentations. To increase the attention span and arouse enthusiasm, interactive elements such as quizzes, word clouds or feedback rounds can help, to significantly increase learning success.

Common problems that arise during presentations in class

Presentations are a central element of the learning process, but they often involve challenges that need to be overcome. We have highlighted four common problems that often accompany presentations in class:

1. Lack of interaction

Standard PowerPoint presentations offer limited opportunities for audience interaction and engagement. They lack features to gather feedback or answer questions in real time and respond to requests.

2. Student passivity

Students are often forced into a passive role when the focus is only on the slides and the presenter simply delivers them in a heavy-handed manner.

3. Time managementt

Creating good presentations can take a lot of time and can be a difficult task for some.

4. Information Overload

Too much information at once, without a break can overwhelm and scare away younger students in particular. It's hard to focus on what's important and grasp the key messages.

4 ideas for interactive presentations in classes

Interactive presentations demonstrably increase learning success and retention. This is also confirmed by a study of the Keele University . The results here show very clearly to what extent involving the audience increases attention as well as knowledge transfer. It was found that the grades of the participants improved by 3.7%, as well as and the failure rate was reduced by 4.4% over the whole school year. were reduced.

1. Interactive classroom engagement

Students can ask questions anonymously and provide interactive feedback. This encourages active participation in the classroom and creates an open learning environment. Teachers could respond spontaneously to questions or interesting discussion points and customize lessons.

Here are some ways to better engage students in the classroom:

• Voting on the desired teaching material : Teachers can include an interactive survey where students choose from a variety of topics they would like to learn more about in class. This allows students to help shape the lesson and contribute their interests.
• Surveys in which subject areas the students need more support : Teachers can start a survey to identify areas where students are having difficulty or need more explanation. This can help to tailor the lessons to the needs of the students.
• Anonymous questions about ambiguities in specific subject areas : For example, students can use SlideLizard to anonymously ask questions about topics they didn't fully understand. These questions can then be discussed in class to clarify misunderstandings and deepen understanding.

2. Brainstorming and unleashing creativity

Interactive slides enable teachers and students to collaboratively brainstorming sessions into the presentation, and to create a presentation. The feature allows ideas to be collected and structured on virtual pinboards. and structure them. The result is an interactive collaboration that unleashes creativity and promotes the exchange of ideas. encourages.

Here are some ideas on how to incorporate brainstorming in the classroom:

• Brainstorming for possible solutions : When addressing complex problems or challenges, teachers can ask students to brainstorm different solutions together on an interactive slide. This encourages teamwork and creative thinking.
• Collection of ideas for projects : Teachers can use an interactive slide where students can collect creative ideas for upcoming projects. These ideas can then be discussed and developed together.
• Solutions for social challenges : Students can brainstorm and discuss ideas for addressing real-world social problems such as poverty, inequality, or pollution.

3. Learning with quizzes

Interactive quizzes are a highlight of PowerPoint presentations. Teachers can check what students have already learned in a playful way and track the learning success. The students in turn experience a motivating sense of achievement when they answer the quiz questions correctly. This makes the learning process not only entertaining, but also effective.

Here are some concrete ideas for how teachers can use quizzes in a meaningful way in the classroom:

• Short knowledge tests during the presentation : Teachers can include a short quiz after each section of a presentation to ensure that students understand the key concepts before moving on to the next section.
• Preparation for exams : Teachers can create more comprehensive quizzes that cover the entire subject matter and help students prepare for upcoming exams.
• Continuous knowledge checks : Teachers can create regular, short quizzes to ensure that knowledge learned builds and deepens consistently over time.

4. Flexibility in teaching through discussions

Additional slides can also be used or set aside to be be flexible to the needs of the students. Teachers can react spontaneously to respond spontaneously to questions or interesting discussion points and individually.

Here are some ways teachers can use discussions to engage students more fully in the classroom:

• Small group discussions : Teachers can divide students into small groups and have them discuss on different slides. Each group can then present their findings or conclusions.
• Feedback and reflexion : After a presentation or lecture, teachers can ask questions on a slide that encourage students to reflect on what they have heard. These questions can then be discussed together.
• Visualize discussions as a word cloud : The students' contributions and thoughts from a discussion can be visualized on a slide as a word cloud. Frequently mentioned words are displayed larger, which draws the focus to dominant topics or trends. This provides a visual summary of the discussion and encourages analysis of the most important aspects.

Tips: Create interactive presentations

One tool that can help you create interactive presentations is SlideLizard. SlideLizard offers a wide range of interactive features, such as word clouds, polls, quizzes or feedback rounds for your teaching. You can integrate the interactive slides directly into your PowerPoint presentation and the results of polls or word clouds during the lesson are automatically visualized in real time. Learn more about interactive teaching with SlideLizard here.

Using interactive PowerPoint presentations with SlideLizard allows teachers to take teaching to a new level and overcome these problems. By combining word clouds, quizzes, interactive feedback sessions, and brainstorming sessions, SlideLizard creates an inspiring learning environment where students can actively participate in the classroom and unlock their potential. Let's use this creative and innovative approach to unleash the potential of visual connection and take teaching in schools to a new level. Learning can be so much fun!

Related articles

About the author.

Annika Fachberger

Annika is dedicated to graphics and videos. At SlideLizard she supports the design team with her creative ideas.

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10 interactive presentation ideas that leave a lasting impression

Attention is the gatekeeper of our memories. If you can’t get the audience to sit up and pay attention, your presentation will soon be forgotten.

In her webinar, Using neuroscience to create presentations with lasting impact , Dr. Carmen Simon, cognitive scientist and founder of Memzy , emphasized the importance of attention when forming new memories. According to Simon, one of the best ways to win attention is to insert a “cut” every three minutes.

Attention is definitely mandatory to people remembering the right things, and not just random things.

“Cuts” are simply a break from your normal presenting style, such as switching from a lecture to a Q&A or trivia question. Switching styles this ways keeps the audience intrigued about what comes next. Below are 10 interactive presentation ideas you can use as “cuts” in your own presentations.

Some of these ideas rely on Poll Everywhere, a live audience response system that lets you ask the audience a question and show live results. Try it out by signing up for a free account today.

Warm up the audience with an interactive icebreaker

Signal to the audience that this will be an interactive presentation by opening with an easy icebreaker. Kick it off before your presentation starts, as people are finding their seats, to get everyone familiar with the ins and outs of Poll Everywhere in a low-stakes setting.

Doing so speeds up the time it takes to complete subsequent activities because the audience will expect them. They’re also more likely to engage with you on Poll Everywhere if they’re already comfortable with the process.

Icebreakers come in many styles , but one of the most popular among Poll Everywhere users is the word cloud. Choose a question that calls for a personal response – What’s your favorite food? – that everyone can answer.

Plant engaged audience members ahead of time

This isn’t as sneaky as it sounds.

Sometimes all it takes is a few engaged people in the audience to get the discussion flowing, and give other people the courage to contribute. But what if you can’t count on your attendees to speak up on their own?

Ahead of your presentation, ask a few audience members who you already know and trust to pose specific questions during your presentation.

Maybe you want them to chime in with an easy “gimme” to kick things off and encourage that level of engagement. Or, maybe you want your designated attendee to ask a question that everybody else may be too afraid to ask (i.e. “How do we know we can trust this data?”).

This strategy won’t be necessary for every presentation. But when you’re worried that your request for questions will be met with lowered heads and shifting glances, this is an effective way to get the ball rolling.

Read more: From classroom to boardroom: A high school teacher’s presentation tips

Repeatedly ask questions to build involvement

You can’t expect your audience to engage and interact with you if you don’t give them an opportunity. So, make sure to have plenty of spots throughout your presentation where you can pause and ask a question.

This doesn’t need to be a threatening, pop quiz-style way to scare your audience into paying attention. Even the simplest questions can make people feel a little more involved in what you’re presenting. Think of things like:

• Have you heard of this before?
• Can you read what’s on that slide for me?
• Does anybody know where/what [thing] is?

They’re straightforward questions that require a one-word answer or super easy response, yet they do the job of reminding your audience that you’re talking with them – and not just at them.

Get people moving and out of their seats

It’s time to get your audience’s blood pumping. No, you don’t need to have them do jumping jacks or pushups, but think of some creative ways that you can get them moving around a little bit.

It could be something as simple as asking people to stand up, rather than requesting a show of hands. Or, you could think of some ways to incorporate movement with the content of your presentation. For example, have them walk up and introduce themselves to somebody new to implement the elevator pitch techniques you just taught them.

Give some thought to the different ways you could get your audience out of their seats at a few different points throughout your presentation. If nothing else, you can rest assured that they’re awake.

Read more: 8 interactive presentation games for large teams

Use interactive questions to assess the audience

If you want to know if the audience really understands what you’re presenting, ask.

Christopher Robertson , who teaches at University of Arizona’s James. E. Rogers College of Law, uses Poll Everywhere to identify and resolve any misunderstandings his students have about the complexities of law.

“Law students can easily go an entire semester passively attending class and both the professor and student discover on the final exam that they have not grasped the concepts covered in class,” said Robertson.

I find polling in class encourages active student participation and uncovers misunderstanding of how to apply the law that warrant a second look.

Taking time to test the audience this way gives them a chance to reflect on what you told them, and apply that knowledge on the spot. This can improve the chances they’ll remember that information after your presentation ends.

Enable anonymity to encourage candid feedback

Dr. Mark, physician and author of The Productive Physician , uses anonymous polling in his medical classes. He cites how this extra layer of security helps put students’ minds at ease, and lets them focus on the lesson instead of worrying about scrutiny from their peers.

“Poll Everywhere allows both anonymous and signed-in polling,” explained Dr. Mark, “but I prefer to use the anonymous mode as I feel it increases learner psychological safety: my students might be more inclined to test their knowledge without the fear of being seen to be wrong in front of their peers.”

You can enable anonymity for all Poll Everywhere activity types. The audience responds from the privacy of their phones – not in front of their peers – giving everyone an equal opportunity to make their voice heard.

Split your audience into smaller discussion groups

There’s nothing worse than explicitly asking your audience to engage with you and being met with only crickets and blank stares.

But, here’s the thing: Not everybody is comfortable speaking up in front of a crowd.

For that reason, it can be smart to divide your audience into smaller groups to discuss something relevant to your presentation topic – even if it’s just for five minutes.

If you want the whole audience to come back together and share what they learned during those conversations, it’s likely that a spokesperson will naturally arise from each group; meaning the people who aren’t comfortable chiming in on a large scale don’t have to.

The best thing about this strategy? The previously-reserved attendees will have a little more confidence to speak up when they know the rest of their group is there to jump in if needed.

Read more: How to present an effective PowerPoint presentation

Encourage questions throughout your presentation

It’s natural to want your audience to hold on to all of their questions until a Q&A portion at the conclusion of your talk. However, that’s pretty much the exact opposite of an interactive presentation.

Instead, be upfront at the beginning of your presentation that you want people to chime in with thoughts or questions, rather than biting their tongue until the very end. Of course, you’ll need to be willing to step in and get things back on track if a question steers the conversation too far off course.

If you don’t want the interruptions, find a way for people to submit questions asynchronously , such as in a chat window or shared document. You can respond to those submissions at your own pace throughout the presentation.

Either way, encouraging people to contribute to the topic in real-time is far more interactive and engaging than forcing them to sit and wait until the end.

Let the audience decide what’s next

Presentations don’t always need to flow in a straight line. With a quick question, you can empower your audience and let them decide what to learn about next.

Poll Everywhere’s own Katie Wilson gave a webinar on this very topic. In it, she explained how corporate trainers use polling to create choose-your-own-adventure style presentations .

Present your audience with a multiple choice activity, and let their votes determine which topic you tackle next. In Katie’s example, a corporate trainer is asking about how best to respond to a customer complaint.

Three options are available, and the audience votes on which one they think is most appropriate. Once the results are in, the presenter navigates to the slide associated with that option and discusses the results.

Use surveys to extend interaction after your presentation ends

Audience interaction doesn’t have to end with the presentation.

Jez Wiles, lecturer at the London College of Music, continues the conversation with his students both before and after his lectures with online questionnaires.

“Getting [students] to use a survey as a post-class reflective tool, or pre-lecture poll to find out what they know about something…this has all extended the use of [Poll Everywhere] for me, and boosted engagement,” said Wiles.

Poll Everywhere surveys can include any type of activity – from multiple choice to open-ended – and can be completed asynchronously at the audience’s own pace. This is a great way to help reinforce the topics of your presentation, or to collect audience feedback on the presentation itself.

I like the sense of fun Poll Everywhere naturally brings. I always find engagement goes up when I use it.

These are just some of the ways the Poll Everywhere community uses live audience engagement to drive interactive presentations. Each of these ideas is a type of cut you can use to keep your audience alert and engaged with what you’re saying.

Related articles

• Alternatives

11 Interactive Presentation Games to Win Easy Engagement in 2024

Lawrence Haywood • 20 August, 2024 • 12 min read

So, how to make a presentation engaging? Audience attention is a slippery snake. It's difficult to grasp and even less easy to hold, yet you need it for a successful presentation.

No Death by PowerPoint, no to drawing monologues; it's time to bring out the interactive presentation games !

Bonus : Free slideshow game templates to use. Scroll down for more👇

These 11 games below are perfect for an interactive presentation . They'll score you mega-plus points with colleagues, students, or wherever else you need a kick of super-engaging interactivity... Hope you find these interactive presentation ideas below helpful!

Table of Contents

• #1: Live Quiz

#2: What Would You Do?

#3: key number, #4: guess the order, #5: 2 truths, 1 lie, #6: 4 corners, #7: obscure word cloud, #8: heart, gun, bomb.

• #9: Match Up

#10: Spin the Wheel

#11: q&a balloons, interactive powerpoint presentation games - yes or no, frequently asked questions.

Host Interactive Presentation Games for Free!

Add interactive elements that make the crowd go wild . Make your whole event memorable for any audience, anywhere, with AhaSlides.

More Interactive Presentation Tips with AhaSlides

• The Complete Guide to Make a Presentation Interactive
• Interactive Presentation Techniques

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

#1: Live Quiz Competition

Is there any event that hasn't been immediately improved with some trivia?

A live quiz is an evergreen, ever-engaging way to consolidate your presentation's info and check the understanding of it all amongst your audience. Expect big laughs as your audience competes fiercely over who was listening to your presentation the most complex.

Here's how to play:

• Set up your questions on AhaSlides - the free AI quizzing software .
• Present your quiz to your players, who join by typing your unique code into their phones.
• Take your players through each question, and they race to get the correct answer the fastest.
• Check the final leaderboard to reveal the winner!

Learn how to set up your presentation quiz for free in just a few minutes! 👇

Put your audience in your shoes. Give them a scenario related to your presentation and see how they would deal with it.

Let's say you're a teacher giving a presentation on dinosaurs. After presenting your info, you would ask something like...

A stegosaurus is chasing you, ready to snap you up for dinner. How do you escape?

After each person submits their answer, you can take a vote to see which is the crowd's favourite response to the scenario.

This is one of the best presentation games for students as it gets young minds whirring creatively. But it also works great in a work setting and can have a similar freeing effect, which is especially significant as a large group icebreaker .

• Create a brainstorming slide and write your scenario at the top.
• Participants join your presentation on their phones and type their responses to your scenario.
• Afterwards, each participant votes for their favourite (or top 3 favourites) answers.
• The participant with the most votes is revealed as the winner!

No matter the topic of your presentation, there's sure to be a lot of numbers and figures flying around.

As an audience member, keeping track of them isn't always easy, but one of the interactive presentation games that makes it easier is Key Number .

Here, you offer a simple prompt of a number, and the audience responds with what they think it refers to. For example, if you write ' $25' , your audience might respond with 'our cost per acquisition' , 'our daily budget for TikTok advertising' or 'the amount John spends on jelly tots every day' .

• Create a few multiple-choice slides (or open-ended slides to make it more complicated).
• Write your key number at the top of each slide.
• Write the answer options.
• Participants join your presentation on their phones.
• Participants select the answer they think the critical number relates to (or type in their answer if open-ended).

If keeping track of numbers and figures is challenging, it can be even tougher to follow entire processes or workflows explained in a presentation.

To cement this information in your audience's mind, Guess the Order is a fantastic minigame for presentations.

You write the steps of a process, jumble them up, and then see who can put them in the right order the fastest.

• Create a 'Correct Order' slide and write your statements.
• Statements are automatically jumbled up.
• Players join your presentation on their phones.
• Players race to put the statements in the correct order.

You might have heard of this one as a great icebreaker, but it's also one of the top presentation games for checking who's paying attention.

And it's pretty simple to do. Just think of two statements using the information in your presentation, and make another one up. Players have to guess which is the one you've made up.

This one is a great re-capping game and works for students and colleagues.

• Create a list of 2 truths and one lie covering different topics in your presentation.
• Read out two truths and one lie and get participants to guess the lie.
• Participants vote for the lie either by hand or through a multiple-choice slide in your presentation.

The best presentations are ones that spark a bit of creative thinking and discussion. There's no better presentation game for evoking this than 4 Corners.

The concept is simple. Present a statement based on something from your presentation that's open to different points of view. Depending on each player's opinion, they move to a corner of the room labelled 'strongly agree', 'agree', 'disagree' or 'strongly disagree' .

Maybe something like this:

An individual is shaped more by nature than nurture.

Once everyone is in their corner, you could have a structured debate between the four sides to bring different opinions to the table.

• Set up the 'strongly agree', 'agree', 'disagree' and 'strongly disagree' corners of your room (if running a virtual presentation, then a simple show of hands could work).
• Write some statements which are open to different opinions.
• Read out the statement.
• Each player stands in the right corner of the room, depending on their view.
• Discuss the four different viewpoints.

word cloud are always a beautiful addition to any interactive presentation. If you want our advice, include them whenever you can - presentation games or not.

If you do plan to use one for a game in your presentation, a great one to try is Obscure Word Cloud .

It works on the same concept as the popular UK game show Pointless . Your players are given a statement and have to name the most obscure answer they can. The least-mentioned correct answer is the winner!

Take this example statement:

Name one of our top 10 countries for customer satisfaction.

The most popular answers may be India, USA and Brazil , but the points go to the least mentioned correct country.

• Create a word cloud slide with your statement at the top.
• Players submit the most obscure answer they can think of.
• The most obscure one appears most diminutive on the board. Whoever submitted that answer is the winner!

Word Clouds for Every Presentation

Get these word cloud templates when you sign up for free with AhaSlides!

For Ice Breaking

For Testing

This one's a great game to use in the classroom, but if you're not looking for students' games for presentation, it also works wonders in a casual work setting.

Heart, Gun, Bomb is a game in which teams take turns to answer questions presented in a grid. If they get an answer right, they either get a heart, a gun or a bomb...

• A ❤️ grants the team an extra life.
• A 🔫 takes away one life from any other team.
• A 💣 takes away one heart from the team who got it.

All teams start with five hearts. The team with the most hearts at the end, or the only surviving team, is the winner!

• Before starting, create a grid table for yourself with either a heart, gun or bomb occupying each grid (on a 5x5 grid, this should be 12 hearts, nine guns and four bombs).
• Present another grid table to your players (5x5 for two teams, 6x6 for three groups, etc.)
• Write a figure stat (like 25%) from your presentation into each grid.
• Split players into the desired number of teams.
• Team 1 chooses a grid and says the meaning behind the number ( for example, the number of customers last quarter ).
• If they're wrong, they lose a heart. If they're right, they get either a seat, gun or bomb, depending on what the grid corresponds to on your grid table.
• Repeat this with all the teams until there's a winner!

👉 Get more interactive presentation ideas from AhaSlides.

#9: Match Up - Interactive Presentation Games

Here's another quiz-type question that can be a great addition to your roster of interactive activities for presentations.

It involves a set of prompt statements and a set of answers. Each group is jumbled; the players must match the information with the correct answer as quickly as possible.

Again, this one works well when the answers are numbers and figures.

• Create a 'Match Pairs' question.
• Fill out the set of prompts and answers, which will automatically shuffle.
• Players match each prompt with its answer as fast as possible to score the most points.

If there's a more versatile presentation game tool than the humble spinner wheel , we aren't aware of it.

Adding the random factor of a spinner wheel might be just what you need to keep engagement in your presentation high. There are presentation games you can use with this, including...

• Choosing a random participant to answer a question.
• Choose a bonus prize after getting the correct answer.
• Choosing the next person to ask a Q&A question or give a presentation.
• Create a spinner wheel slide and write the title at the top.
• Write the entries for the spinner wheel.
• Spin the wheel and see where it lands!

Tip 💡 You can choose the AhaSlides spinner wheel to use your participants' names, so you don't have to fill in the entries manually! Learn more interactive presentation techniques with AhaSlides.

This one's a great way to turn a regular end-of-presentation feature into a fun, engaging game.

It's got all the hallmarks of a standard Q&A, but this time, all the questions are written on balloons.

It's a super simple one to set up and play, but you'll see how motivated participants are to ask questions when it involves balloons!

• Hand out a deflated balloon and a Sharpie to each participant.
• Each participant blows up the balloon and writes their question on it.
• Each participant bats their balloon to where the speaker is standing.
• The speaker answers the question and then pops or throws away the balloon.

🎉 Tips: Try the bes Q&A apps to engage with your audience

So, how do you feel about AhaSlides's interactive ideas for presentations? Being by far the most popular presentation tool on the planet, you may want to know if there are any presentation games to play on PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, the answer is no. PowerPoint takes presentations incredibly seriously and doesn't have a lot of time for interactivity or fun of any kind.

But there's good news...

It is possible to directly embed presentation games into PowerPoint presentations with free help from AhaSlides.

You can import your PowerPoint presentation to AhaSlides with the click of a button and vice versa , then place interactive presentation games like the ones above directly between your presentation slides.

💡 PowerPoint presentation games in less than 5 minutes ? Check the video below or our quick tutorial here to find out how!

What are the benefits of playing interactive presentation games?

⁤Interactive presentation games boost engagement, participation and knowledge retention. ⁤⁤They turn passive listeners into active learners by incorporating elements like live polls , idea board , quizzes, word clouds and Q&A .

How do you make a presentation interactive with games?

- Match your content: The game should reinforce the topics being covered, not just be random entertainment. - Audience considerations: Age, group size, and knowledge level will inform game complexity. - Tech tools & time: Consider tools like AhaSlides, Mentimeter Alternatives , Kahoot , etc., or design simple no-tech games based on the time you have. - Utilise appropriate questions, including icebreaker games questions or general knowledge quiz questions .

How can I make my presentation more engaging?

Making presentations more engaging can be a challenge, but there are several techniques you can use to make your presentation more interesting and memorable, including (1) starting with a strong opening (2) using lots of visual ads and (3) telling an attractive story. Also, remember to keep it short and sweet, and of course, practice a lot!

Lawrence Haywood

Former ESL teacher and quiz master converted to the wild slide. Now a content creator, traveller, musician and big time slider preaching the good word of interactivity.

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

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8 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Engage Your Audience in 2024

content creator

Anastasia Popova See full bio →

When you create presentations in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or another tool, a rule of thumb is to always think about your learners and their needs first. It’s not enough to deliver the information you intended. You need to wrap it in an easily digestible and engaging format to promote effective knowledge retention. 

Interactivity is one of the key presentation elements you can use to accomplish that. Interactive presentations are a fantastic asset in the learning process: they foster learner communication, encourage active participation, and create a more immersive educational experience.

In this article, you’ll get the best interactive presentation ideas for PowerPoint and other tools through 8 actionable strategies and discover the best interactive features out there. Read on and get fully equipped with tools and techniques to boost interactivity and keep your learning audience engaged.

• Use Multimedia Storytelling
• Survey Your Audience
• Play Interactive Games with Learners
• Hold Q&A Sessions During Interactive Presentations
• Include Collaborative Brainstorming Sessions
• Check Your Audience’s Understanding with a Quiz
• Incorporate Role-Play Scenarios
• Engage Physical Space and Movement

Best Interactive Presentation Tools

Best Practices for Creating Interactive Presentations

Faq on interactive presentation ideas, 1. use multimedia storytelling.

Creating a quality presentation with multimedia elements is always a sure way to make your content more visually appealing and effective. You can use various visuals, such as video and images, or add audio to your presentations to create a captivating narrative and encourage the audience to interact with your material . 

Also read → How to Create an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation

Depending on the content of your presentation, here are some types of multimedia elements you can benefit from: 

Images and slideshows

A presentation with plain text is not just dull. It also makes it more difficult for your audience to follow your stream of thought because it lacks visual engagement and fails to convey information memorably. Images and slideshows solve this problem and help you make your PowerPoint presentation interactive by enabling you to: 

• Illustrate your ideas and points
• Showcase products and features
• Create storytelling sequences, etc.

Content creator

Anastasia Popova

Anastasia is an experienced educator and dedicated agile learning enthusiast. Her particular areas of expertise include learning management and eLearning localization. She is passionate about sharing insights on effective tools and strategies for creating captivating eLearning experiences.

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10 ways to interact with audience members while you present

Presentation expert Clif Atkinson tells a great story about a 2009 education conference where two speakers got very different reactions from their audiences. The first speaker started off with interactive exercises, he was entertaining, and overall, he was a hit. The second speaker launched in with a more traditional PowerPoint presentation , and he … didn’t go over quite so well.

In fact, while he presented, bored attendees started a “backchannel” on Twitter. They critiqued his slides, his content, and his delivery until finally, someone suggested a t-shirt. By the end of the keynote, you know exactly what happened: a t-shirt was made and for sale on CafePress.

All this to say that audience participation isn’t always a good thing. What you’re aiming for isn’t just participation for the sake of participation, but an interaction that gets the audience closer to embracing your ideas.

You want to keep them engaged, on their toes, and show them that you value and want to connect with them. To that end, we offer you these 10 positive ways to interact with audience members to foster engagement and participation.

10 audience engagement examples to keep interaction up to

Audience engagement example #1.

Ask a series of “raise your hand if… ” questions. The first simple thing to try is to ask your audience a series of questions. Each question should demand a gradually-more-difficult response throughout your presentation.

Within the first 60 seconds of a presentation, I like to ask the audience a simple question about themselves — then get them to respond by raising their hands. (“Raise your hand if you’ve ever…”)

Why do this so early? A  recent study on attention span during lectures showed that the first lapses in listener attention tend to happen within the first minute of the talk. So, by asking a question like this right away, you spark an interaction and establish a small, immediate connection.

If they’re willing to raise their hand at the beginning of a talk (and answer a poll, agree to a premise, etc.), they might be more willing to follow your call-to-action by the end of your presentation.

Audience engagement example #2

Tell a joke. Another simple way that you can forge a connection at the beginning of your presentation is by telling a joke. A joke is, in itself, a smart way to interact with audience members since it’s a natural back and forth. It either asks the audience to answer a question (Why did the chicken cross the road?), or it elicits laughter (hopefully).

A  study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology proved that using humor improves peoples’ perception of you in a professional setting. So try making your listeners laugh, and they’ll think even more highly of you from the get-go. (Note: joke-telling requires subtlety; get lots of feedback on your joke-telling abilities before trying it in front of an audience. Seriously! Telling a bad joke, or even a good joke badly, is a great way to lose your audience, too.)

Audience engagement example #3

Use a polling tool. Polls are one of the best ways to interact with audience members. They cause people to think critically about what they hear and urge them to share their own opinions and expertise. Aside from the typical hand-raising poll, technology can help here. Put a question on the screen, then ask people to respond via their smartphone or laptop.

There are many polling tools out there that you can use to collect responses, including  Polleverywhere.com , which is a popular app that can collect and broadcast poll results in real-time.

Audience engagement example #4

Turn to X (formerly Twitter). I’ve always been a fan of the power of Twitter, especially when it comes to boosting audience engagement during a presentation or event. Sure, it can be used to design a t-shirt about your boring talk. But better yet, you can use it to interact with audience members who are responding to your ideas in real time.

One of the simplest techniques is to create a unique hashtag for your talk. Ask them to send tweets with that hashtag, and make it easy for them by keeping your hashtag visible during your talk. You can even use a tool like  Everwall to easily project what people are tweeting about your talk onto a screen in front of them.

Be strategic though, about when and how often you display Tweets. You don’t want to distract people. Choose a strategic moment in the talk when you can step aside and let the opinions of the audience speak for themselves. Or, in a day packed with presentations, use Twitter in between talks to help boost audience participation.

Displaying live content from Twitter works twice as hard as other interaction techniques. It encourages listeners to grapple with what they’re hearing during a talk (and to wait and see their own tweet up on the stage), and the tweeted content is available to the entire internet. This means that you can increase the reach of your event (organically!) beyond just the people who are in the room.

Audience engagement example #5

Get the slides in peoples’ hands. Presentation slides  help you communicate your ideas clearly, but they can also get people to participate while you speak. Give people a closer look at slides by using a tool that can bring those slides directly into their hands. You can use a tool like a Slidedo c™ to create visually-digestible versions of your slides for your audience in advance.

Another way to help people engage more with your slides is to simply invite them to snap a photo. Pause a moment, then say, “Okay, everyone, take out your smartphones. This is the slide you want to take home with you.” Not only do they get a nice visual takeaway, but you also get another moment to do a call-and-response with your audience.

Audience engagement example #6

Prop it up. Physical, tangible props or visual aids are another one of the easiest ways to interact with audience members while you present. You can use a prop onstage to demonstrate ideas, or you can pass it around the audience so that they can engage with it. Anything tangible increases the number of senses engaged and boosts your audience’s attention.

One example of a great speech that uses a prop is Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk “My Stroke of Insight” in which Taylor used a human brain model as a prop to explain what happens during a stroke. Many props end up becoming a  S.T.A.R. Moment ™, as well, which adds even more impact.

Audience engagement example #7

Get active. The fact that you’re giving the talk doesn’t mean it has to be one-sided. You can get people to interact with activities. For instance, you can instruct audience members to pair off, then give them 5 minutes to complete an exercise. This exercise could simply be an icebreaker to get to know someone else in the room.

On the other hand, it could be an exercise that helps them develop useful skills you’re trying to impart (i.e. sales techniques, communication strategies, and more). Whatever you ask of them, just remember that each back-and-forth helps you work toward your big ask or call-to-action at the end.

Audience engagement example #8

Get people to repeat information out loud. It may seem like an elementary exercise, but if you want to be memorable and engaging, ask people to repeat key concepts out loud. In a  study on memory , researchers at the University of Montreal found that repeating information boosts a person’s ability to recall that information. So, by asking your audience to repeat key facts and concepts from your talk, you increase the chances they’ll remember it.

Audience engagement example #9

Take questions along the way. Questions make it easy to interact with audience members, yes, but they can also help educate them about your information or idea. Don’t wait until after your talk or for when you can meet one-on-one with audience members to answer their questions.

Designate times within your talk when you collect and answer questions from attendees. You can use a tool like  Slido which allows audience members to submit questions in real time. Then you can sort through those questions and answer the ones you deem best or most helpful.

This allows you to create more of a curated Q&A experience, instead of relying on strong, high-quality questions from your audience that also happen to reinforce your main message. Collecting them through an app this way allows you to have some quality control, as well.

Audience engagement example #10

Create an interactive experience. You can take action a step further — with interaction. Your goal here is to make the audience feel like they are participating in something. Have them move around the room. When you create a space that doesn’t feel like an auditorium or allow to physically interact with the audience, it feels like something is happening to them.

One great interactive talk I attended was about the effects of war on the availability of different spices in certain regions of the world. Stapled to the program for the show were two small plastic envelopes. In each envelope was a flavored marshmallow, labeled A and B.

At the right moment in the presentation, the presenter asked everyone to eat marshmallow A, then compare it to the taste of marshmallow B. And in that moment, everyone in that room shared the same flavor experiences (and a moment of realization about one of the many indirect costs of war).

How to engage an audience in any scenario

At the end of the day, your audience is going to participate in your talk one way or another. You want to be sure to control the nature of that participation by being smart about the ways you interact with audience members while you present.

If you try out some of the ways to interact with audience members discussed above, you can be pretty sure that no one will be bored enough to create a t-shirt about how boring you are. You may even end up with an audience who feels moved to make a t-shirt about how engaging you are – but who can’t do it because they are just so busy participating in your fascinating talk.

For more tips on keeping engagement high in your next presentation, take our Resonate® workshop . It’s designed to help you structure your presentation in a persuasive and engaging manner naturally. Get equipped with the course, today!

This article was originally published on September 23, 2020. It has been updated in July 2024 for relevancy.

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9 Interactive Presentation Ideas To Engage Your Audience

• By Judhajit Sen
• April 15, 2024

Key Takeaways

– Interactive Engagement: Transform traditional presentations into dynamic exchanges by encouraging active participation from presenters and audiences. Foster a lively atmosphere akin to friendly chats or engaging games where questions, feedback, and thoughts flow freely.

Diverse Interactive Tools: To enhance engagement and comprehension, utilize a variety of interactive features, such as clickable buttons, polls, quizzes, discussions, multimedia elements, animations, transitions, and role-playing scenarios.

– Enhanced Learning Experience: Engaging and interactive presentations increase engagement, personal connections, and hands-on learning. They foster analytical thinking, problem-solving skills, and agility, making them particularly effective for training and skill development.

– Memorable and Effective Communication: Engaging presentations go beyond information sharing; they give the audience memorable and compelling experiences. Presenters leave a lasting impression and enhance content retention by incorporating storytelling, gamification, and immersive role-playing scenarios.

An interactive PowerPoint presentation is an engaging communication format in which both the presenter and the audience actively participate. Unlike traditional slide formats that may sometimes lead to boring presentations, it’s a fun and interactive exchange in which questions, feedback, and thoughts flow freely.

Picture it as a friendly chat or a fun game involving everyone. You ask questions, gather live feedback, and get your audience to contribute. Utilizing clickable buttons, polls, quizzes, discussions, and multimedia elements, you transform static slides into an interactive experience.

Irrespective of whether you are making an in-person or online presentation, audience participation boosts retention. Interactive presentations foster increased engagement and personal connections. They employ charts, surveys, navigation, transitions, hyperlinks, and hotspots to enrich the experience.

A good presentation induces the audience to interact by incorporating quizzes and polls, ensuring engagement. It transcends traditional formats, leaving a lasting impression and enhancing content retention. An interactive presentation isn’t just about sharing information; it’s about creating a memorable and practical experience for both the presenter and audience alike.

The following are nine ideas to creating interactive presentations that will boost engagement.

Icebreakers

Kick off your presentation with engaging icebreakers to connect with your audience and set an interactive tone instantly. Start with thought-provoking questions or a fun game to ignite curiosity and encourage participation.

Encourage interaction among audience members to foster understanding and camaraderie. Icebreakers help break the ice, especially in larger groups where participants may be strangers. Use interactive activities like the Favorites Icebreaker or asking for one-word associations with the presentation topic.

Building rapport is critical. In small settings, have everyone share a bit about themselves. In larger audiences, encourage introductions among neighbors. Use fun icebreaker games or ask questions aloud to increase engagement.

Incorporate assessments like quizzes using third-party platforms to entertain and reinforce critical concepts. For instance, quiz the audience on online threats in a cybersecurity presentation. Strategically place these quizzes to maintain engagement.

To encourage participation, integrate fun games like Two Truths and a Lie or Speed Networking. These activities make participants comfortable and promote interaction, enhancing the entire presentation experience.

To make a presentation interactive, integrate live polls into your presentation using audience response systems or polling apps. This real-time feedback tool encourages active participation and creates an interactive atmosphere. Whether asking simple questions or seeking opinions, polls engage attendees and make presentations collaborative.

Audience interaction technology like live polling empowers speakers to gather insights and engage attendees. Prepare topics with questions, follow up with polling results, and adjust the presentation accordingly.

Engage your listeners further by incorporating polls relevant to the presentation topic. Use multiple-choice options or ask for raised hands. With polling software, attendees can input answers via smartphones, adding an element of fun and interactivity.

Encourage participation by including live polls and surveys in your presentation. Online platforms facilitate this interaction, allowing for feedback and transparent conversations. Displaying poll results sparks discussions and keeps the audience engaged.

Enhance audience engagement and test knowledge by adding quizzes and polls. From interactive scenario quizzes to open-ended polls, there are various options. Using online tools, embed quizzes and polls seamlessly into your presentation, making it easy to create interactive presentation content.

Encourage audience questions throughout your presentation to foster a dynamic and interactive atmosphere. Address inquiries in real time to show value for audience input and promote two-way communication.

Integrate audience questions throughout your entire presentation to gauge understanding and break up content. Prepare questions beforehand or allow spontaneity during the session.

Utilize the Ask Me Anything (AMA) format, popularized by forums like Reddit, to offer fluid interaction and align content with audience expectations. Moderation may filter questions or allow for spontaneity, enhancing engagement.

Incorporate audience questions into your presentation slides to prompt discussion and gather feedback. Use simple, non-intimidating questions to engage listeners without pressure.

Include discussion questions to encourage group interaction and create an engaging environment. For interactive seminars, break attendees into small groups or encourage neighborly discussion.

Encourage audience questions at multiple points during the presentation. Signal opportunities for questions and create a comfortable environment for participation.

Host an interactive Q&A session at the end of your presentation to invite audience input and clarify complex topics. Tailor discussions to audience interests and promote collaboration.

Real-time Q&A sessions foster engagement and provide immediate responses, creating a welcoming atmosphere for participants.

Q&A sessions, whether in-person or virtual, allow audiences to lead discussions and explore relevant topics. They also provide opportunities for spontaneous questions or pre-collected inquiries to enhance interaction and learning.

Storytelling

Share personal anecdotes or stories about your topic to engage your listeners emotionally. Storytelling makes your presentation relatable and memorable, drawing listeners into the narrative and keeping them engaged.

Start your presentation with a captivating anecdote to grab viewers’ attention and maintain interest throughout. Stories create suspense, evoke emotions, and bring topics to life.

Incorporating storytelling as a part of your presentation is an interactive way to convey information. Even data-heavy topics can benefit from storytelling, adding depth and humanity to your speech. By immersing your audience in a narrative, you make them feel involved and connected, enhancing their overall experience and retention of the material.

Craft a compelling narrative that your audience can relate to. This will strengthen your message and aid in information retention. Storytelling facilitates a deeper understanding and connection with your content, making your presentation more impactful and memorable in the long run.

Clickable Buttons

Enhance your slides with clickable buttons, allowing your audience to navigate your presentation or access external resources easily. These buttons can link to specific sections or outside materials, like your social media profiles or extra readings, making your education presentation more informative and engaging. By giving your audience the freedom to explore topics of interest, you create a personalized experience, increasing engagement with your interactive slideshow.

Navigate your audience smoothly through your presentation by incorporating interactive buttons for easy navigation, extra content, or calls to action. Instead of bombarding your audience with too much information, focus on key points and include clickable buttons to guide them to more detailed sections or external pages. This approach helps prevent audience fatigue while ensuring they have access to relevant information when they need it.

Data Visualization

Incorporate interactive charts and graphs into your presentation to boost engagement. Allow users to interact with the data by clicking on points for detailed information or to toggle between data series. These interactive visuals aid understanding and keep viewers engaged with your content.

Graphs and charts are vital in data-driven presentations. They simplify complex information into digestible visuals, help visualize key data, illustrate trends, and facilitate decision-making processes.

To prevent overwhelming your audience with data, utilize engaging infographics, charts, and dashboards that update in real time. Transforming complex information into visual formats enhances comprehension and retention.

Interactive data visualization is essential for effectively communicating information, whether you’re a data expert, business leader, or educator. It enables dynamic presentation of statistics and figures, making content more accessible and memorable.

Convert your data into visual representations to maximize its impact. Charts and graphs make it easier to process information and aid in faster comprehension and retention. Visualized data resonates with audiences and enhances overall presentation effectiveness.

Animations and Transitions

Elevate your presentation with animated infographics, adding a dynamic touch to your content. Animated elements reveal information gradually, capturing the audience’s attention and transforming complex data into easily digestible formats. Smooth slide transitions maintain flow and interest, ensuring a seamless transition between slides.

Animations and transitions enrich your multimedia presentation, enhancing engagement and emphasizing key points. Interactive text and pop-up elements keep audiences engaged, while progressive information revelation builds anticipation and understanding.

Animated icons and interactive elements contribute to effective storytelling, infusing personality into your brand and modernizing information delivery. These elements play a crucial role in organizing content innovatively and enhancing communication effectiveness.

Experiment with various animation styles to keep presentations lively and interactive. However, maintain consistency to avoid overwhelming your audience. Stick to a cohesive animation style throughout the presentation to prevent confusion and ensure a polished delivery.

Carefully select transitions to maintain audience engagement without going overboard. Find a style that complements your content and stick with it consistently. Avoid using too many different transitions to prevent distractions and maintain coherence in your presentation.

Gamification

Inject excitement into your presentations by incorporating interactive quizzes, puzzles, or challenges. Gamification adds an element of enjoyment and competition, encouraging active participation and enhancing learning.

If your presentations are for education or training, consider integrating gamification elements. This powerful tool not only entertains but also improves knowledge retention.

Depending on your presentation goals and software capabilities, you can utilize a variety of interactive games. From quizzes to puzzles, there are options to suit every audience and topic.

Audience engagement is vital for maintaining interest. With tools like live polling, speakers can involve attendees throughout the presentation, gathering insights and adjusting content accordingly. Gamification boosts productivity, challenges expectations, and taps into the human desire for competition.

Interactive presentation games transform passive listeners into active contributors, revitalizing meetings and promoting skill development. By fostering teamwork and quick thinking, these games enhance learning and problem-solving abilities among participants.

Role-playing

Involve your audience in role-playing scenarios to encourage active participation and deeper understanding. Role-playing enables individuals to step into different roles and explore diverse perspectives, connecting the content to real-world situations.

Scenario-based learning offers practical opportunities for audiences to apply newly acquired skills. Participants can engage in decision-making and problem-solving exercises tailored to their roles and responsibilities by simulating realistic challenges and workplace scenarios.

This hands-on approach fosters critical thinking and skill development, making it especially effective for training presentations. Whether teaching customer service techniques or conflict resolution strategies, role-play scenarios breathe life into the material and enhance learning.

Immersive role-play presentations serve as valuable tools for compliance training. By presenting employees with realistic scenarios, organizations can demonstrate how to navigate ethical dilemmas and handle sensitive situations while adhering to compliance protocols. These simulations provide a safe environment for learning and decision-making, preparing employees to apply their knowledge effectively in real-world situations.

Engage Your Audience: Interactive Presentation Ideas

Interactive presentations revolutionize traditional communication by fostering active engagement between presenters and audiences. Unlike passive formats, these sessions resemble lively conversations or engaging games where participation is encouraged and valued.

With various interactive tools, such as clickable buttons, data visualization, and animations, presentations become immersive experiences. Participants navigate content, explore data, and absorb information at their own pace, enhancing comprehension and retention.

Icebreakers set the tone, while polling and Q&A sessions maintain audience involvement. Incorporating storytelling and gamification adds depth and excitement, making presentations memorable and impactful.

Role-playing takes engagement to another level by immersing participants in realistic scenarios, fostering critical thinking and skill development.

Interactive presentations transcend mere information dissemination. They create dynamic exchanges, spark curiosity, and leave lasting impressions. By embracing interactive strategies , presenters empower audiences, turning passive spectators into active participants in the learning journey.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is an interactive presentation?

An interactive presentation is a dynamic form of communication in which both the presenter and audience actively participate. Unlike traditional presentations, it’s more like a lively conversation or engaging game in which questions, feedback, and thoughts flow freely.

2. How do interactive presentations engage the audience?

Interactive presentations engage the audience through tools like clickable buttons, data visualization, animations, and role-playing scenarios. These elements encourage participation, enhance comprehension, and make the learning experience more memorable.

3. What are some examples of interactive presentation tools?

Some examples of interactive presentation tools include clickable buttons for navigation, live polling for real-time feedback, animations for visual engagement, and role-playing scenarios for practical application of knowledge.

4. How can interactive presentations benefit different types of presentations?

Interactive presentations benefit various presentations, including educational, training, business, and informational sessions. They promote active learning, increase engagement, and improve information retention by creating a dynamic and immersive experience for both presenters and audiences.

Transform Your Presentations with Prezentium: Creating Engaging Interactive Experiences

Incorporate interactive elements like clickable buttons, dynamic data visualization, and captivating animations to revolutionize your presentations. Using Prezentium ‘s AI-powered presentation software, we will craft immersive experiences that captivate your audience and drive engagement.

1. Overnight Presentations: Email us your requirements by 5:30 pm PST, and wake up to a finished presentation by 9:30 am PST the following business day. Using our AI-driven best interactive presentation software, we will ensure that your content shines bright and keeps your audience hooked.

2. Presentation Specialist: Our team of specialists will transform your ideas and meeting notes into interactive presentations. We’ll refine your content and craft new designs and templates to elevate your message.

3. Zenith Learning: Dive into our interactive communication workshops and training programs that blend structured problem-solving with visual storytelling. From role-playing scenarios to immersive learning experiences, we’ll equip you with the skills to engage and inspire your audience.

Experience the power of stellar presentations developed using our AI-enabled interactive presentation software. Elevate your presentation game, engage your audience, and leave a lasting impression. Let’s create memorable experiences together.

Why wait? Avail a complimentary 1-on-1 session with our presentation expert. See how other enterprise leaders are creating impactful presentations with us.

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11 Live Polls That Will Increase Interaction in Your Classroom

Classroom interaction is key to giving great lectures. If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of the teachers who realize that one-way content broadcast doesn’t appeal to students anymore.

They want to have a voice. They want to take on an active role in their learning.

By adding interaction into your classroom, you can significantly improve your lectures and help your students learn more.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to start from scratch. You can easily take the content that you already have and weave some interaction into it, or even turn parts of that content into interactive activities.

Let us show you how.

Create a two-way conversation in your class with live polls

Live polls are great for creating interaction in your classroom. Each of your students surely has a smartphone or a laptop, so let’s put them to good use.

It’s simple: You prepare a set of poll questions before your class, and during your presentation, ask your students for their responses.

With Slido for PowerPoint , you can create live polls and quizzes right inside your presentation, which will be added as interactive slides into your slide deck.

More interactive presentations start with Slido for PowerPoint

Be aware that interactive activities only make sense when properly facilitated . Always introduce the activity first, give your students enough time to submit their answers, comment on the results, and set them in the context of your presentation.

Done well, live polls will help you to effectively collect your students’ insights, test their knowledge, or fire up a discussion.

In this article, you will find 11 ideas for easy live polls that you can leverage during your class, along with tips on how to pull them off.

1. Break the ice at the start

Prepare your students for interaction right off the bat. As you kick off the lecture, run a quick word cloud poll to get your students in the mood.

You can either tie the word cloud to the topic of your lecture, such as: “What one word comes to your mind when you hear ‘Climate change’?

Or simply break the ice with a fun poll like: “In one word, how would you describe the last semester?”

Word clouds are quite impressive if you display them on the screen. They work best for questions that can be answered with one or two words, so consider starting with “In one word,…” to optimize their use.

TIP: Do you run your presentations on Google Slides? With our Slido x Google Slides add-on , you will be able to run all the interaction in your classroom without having to leave your slides!

2. Find out about your students’ expectations

At the start of the year or a semester, it’s good practice to collect what your students hope to learn during your classes. This will help you understand what your students care about and what areas you should focus on.

With Slido Ideas , you can collect your students’ expectations very easily. Just ask them a question such as “What do you hope to get out of this class?” and prompt them to write down their thoughts into Slido.

They can also upvote their classmates’ submissions, which will help you narrow down the areas that are most relevant for the majority of the class.

3. Run a creative thinking exercise

You can also use Slido Ideas for an effective in-class exercise. Propose a problem and ask your students to brainstorm how they would solve it, or ask them a thought-provoking question such as: “How does Plato’s allegory of the cave reflect his epistemology?”

This type of interaction pushes students to think about the content of your lecture and formulate their thoughts on the topic.

It can also work great as a discussion starter. Ask your students to discuss in pairs, come up with a solution and then submit their answers to Slido as a team.

4. Check for your students’ understanding

Find out how well your students understood the topic you were presenting. After every block of information, run a quick rating poll, such as: “How well did you understand…?”

This is invaluable knowledge for you to make sure that your students really take in the presented material and learn from it.

TIP: Do you use PowerPoint? Sign up for the beta version of our Slido x PowerPoint Integration and be among the first to try it out!

5. Check for a baseline

Similar to the previous point, you can use rating polls to check students’ prior knowledge. This is useful if you’re starting on a new class or topic. Your students might have had different educational backgrounds, so it’s helpful to know where they stand. You can use a rating poll such as: “How comfortable are you with using…?”

Knowing how much your students already know will help you tailor the content to their level of proficiency.

6. Make numbers fun

If your lecture includes numbers – for instance, stats, research results, or years – you can easily turn these into multiple-choice polls or a quiz, and let your students guess the correct answer.

Presenting numbers in this way is a lot more fun for the students and they will be much more likely to remember the figures and the content they connect to.

7. Tell a case study differently

When presenting a case study, involve your students in the story. Before any breaking point or plot twist, pose them a simple ‘What would you do?’ type of poll; give them multiple options to choose from and ask them what they would do in a given situation.

This interactive exercise is perfect for sparking up conversation in the classroom. After your students cast their votes, encourage them to share why they voted the way they did.

Or, you can turn this into a group exercise and ask your students to discuss in teams and brainstorm their next steps.

Read also: This One Question Will Help You Tell More Powerful Stories

8. Collect contrasting opinions

If you’re drawing a contrast during your lecture – for example, you’re describing different philosophical approaches – let your students express which one resonates with them. Run a simple ‘Where do you stand?’ type of multiple choice poll.

After you display the results on screen, comment on how the students voted and invite some volunteers to share their thoughts. Since your students’ opinions may markedly differ, this exercise has the potential to drive a very passionate discussion in class.

9. Recap the lecture with a quiz

Students love to play. A friendly competitive quiz is a perfect way to recap your class and find out how much your students have learned.

You can run a quiz at the end of each lecture, or semester, for a full summary. Don’t forget to have some little treats ready for the winner.

10. Crowdsource students’ additional questions

This is not a poll, but letting your students ask you additional questions is an important classroom interaction point. Instead of raising their hands, which may not be fit for the shyer participants, let your students post their questions into Slido .

You can either address your students’ questions as they come in or take a deeper dive into them by running a Q&A session at the end of your class.

Crowdsourcing questions will help you uncover and address any unclear areas and closes the gap between your content and the content your students want to know about.

Read also: How to Give a Killer Presentation: 18 Top Tips

11. Gather feedback after every class

Your students’ feedback is your most important asset. Without it, you can’t improve your lectures, nor can you improve yourself as a teacher.

By combining multiple live polls together, you will be able to uncover what works with your students and what doesn’t and collect their precious insights. Use rating polls for a quick assessment and open text polls for more elaborate comments.

Your feedback survey could look like this:

• Overall, how would you rate this lecture? (rating poll)
• What’s the one thing you liked? (open text)
• What’s the one thing you’d like me to improve? (open text)

Read also: Want to pick up more tips and tricks on how to run more engaging lectures? Read more articles in our education category.

To sum it up

We hope you got inspired by the ideas above and that you’ll try some of the interactive activities during your upcoming lectures.

The best thing about live polls is that there are infinite possibilities of how to use them, so get your creative juice flowing and turn your one-way presentations into engaging conversations.

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23 Best Presentation Ideas, Tips & Examples

Amanda Green was born in a small town in the west of Scotland, where everyone knows everyone. I joined the Toastmasters 15 years ago, and I served in nearly every office in the club since then. I love helping others gain confidence and skills they can apply in every day life.

Are you getting ready to give a presentation? Whether you’re a first-time presenter or an experienced pro, getting some ideas and tips can be helpful. As an author, I’ve prepared and given dozens of presentations over the years, and I learned a few things.

This list will share some of my favorite presentation ideas, plus examples from real-world presentations. I hope you find these tips helpful as you prepare for your next presentation!

Presentations in a Nutshell

Make sure your slide presentation is well-organized and visually appealing. Avoid using too much text or overcrowding your slides. Instead, use graphics, images, and other creative elements to break up the text and add interest.

Practice your public speaking . This will help you to become more comfortable with the material and reduce the risk of nervousness or mistakes. Make eye contact, vary your vocal delivery, and use gestures to keep people interested.

Pro Tips for Making a Winning Presentation

These 23 tips are sure to help you make a winning presentation.

Use a Minimalist Presentation Theme

When preparing an engaging presentation, choosing a theme that will appeal to your audience and help you communicate your key points effectively is important.

Minimalist themes can be great for nice presentations as they help create a clean and professional look. Here are some of my tips for creating a winning minimalist presentation:

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• Use a limited color palette: Stick to two or three colors throughout your presentation to create a cohesive look.
• Use simple fonts: Choose fonts that are easy to read and avoid using too many different font styles.
• Use plenty of white space: Use negative space to break up text and make the slides easy on the eye.
• Keep it concise: Edit your slides down to the essential information and avoid adding unnecessary text or images.
• Use bold fonts to underline key ideas: Highlight important information your audience should remember.
• Use a white background: It doesn’t distract people from the text.

Use an Eye-Catching Presentation Background Image

A presentation is only as good as its content and delivery. However, the background image is often overlooked as an important presentation element. The right image can help to set the tone, convey information, and grab the audience’s attention. Here are a few tips for selecting an eye-catching background image:

First, consider the overall theme and message of your presentation. The background image should support the central ideas of your talk. For example, if you’re giving a presentation on environmental sustainability, an image of a pristine forest would be more appropriate than an urban skyline.

Second, pay attention to color and contrast. The background image should be high-contrast so it’s easy to see on a projector screen. Use complementary colors.

Finally, choose an image with interesting details. A busy or complex image can be distracting, but an image with interesting textures or patterns can help to add visual interest to your presentation.

Alternate the Slide Layouts and Keep Your Presentation Engaging

The slide layout is a key component of an engaging presentation. When deciding on a slide layout, it is important to consider the overall tone and message of the presentation. For example, a more serious presentation may benefit from a traditional layout with bullet points and concise text.

On the other hand, a more creative presentation may benefit from an unconventional layout that includes images and meaningful quotes.

Regardless of the chosen layout, it is important to use white space effectively and to limit the number of bullet points on each slide.

Supplement Your Presentation With Printed Materials

No matter how well you know your material, there’s always a risk that you’ll freeze up or blank out during a presentation. That’s why it’s good to have a backup plan. One way to do this is to supplement your presentation with printed materials.

This way, even if you get tongue-tied, you’ll still be able to provide your audience with the information they need. Plus, having printed materials on hand can help to add an element of professionalism to your presentation.

Use Just One Chart or Graphic Per Slide

When giving a presentation, remember that less is more. One way is by using only one chart or graphic per slide. Too often, presentations are cluttered with too much information, making it difficult for the audience to process everything.

Focusing on one key point per slide can help ensure your audience understands your message. In addition, using a limited number of visuals can also make your presentation more visually appealing and easier to follow.

Use Contrasting Colors When Comparing Two Perspectives or Sides of an Argument

It is essential to use colors effectively when designing a presentation. The wrong colors can make text difficult to read or cause slides to appear cluttered and busy. However, the right colors can help improve a presentation’s clarity and overall impact.

One effective way to use color is to contrast two different perspectives or sides of an argument. For example, suppose you presented a new policy’s benefits and drawbacks. In that case, you could use blue to represent the benefits and red to represent the drawbacks.

This color contrast would help to visually highlight the key points of each side of the argument. In addition, it would also create a more engaging and visually-appealing presentation.

Use Simple Shapes to Integrate Your Photos Into the Slides

An image is worth a million words, and this is definitely true when it comes to presentations. To really capture your audience’s attention, it is important to integrate photos into your slides effectively.

One pro tip is to use shapes to do this. By placing a photo inside of a shape, you can create a more visually appealing slide that will also help to focus the viewer’s attention on the key elements of the image. In addition, using shapes can also help to add interest and variety to your presentation.

So next time you need a way to make your photos pop, consider using shapes to integrate them into your slides.

Make Visuals the Main Point of Your Presentation Slides

No matter how well-written or well-rehearsed your presentation is, if your slides are cluttered, confusing, or just plain boring, you will not get the reaction from your audience that you want.

So, what makes a great visual presentation? First and foremost, your slides should be visually appealing.

Use high-quality images, visual elements, and graphics, and limit how much text is on each slide. Secondly, your visuals should be clear and easy to understand. Avoid using jargon or acronyms that your audience might not be familiar with.

Finally, make sure your visuals are properly aligned with your presentation content. Each slide should have a specific purpose and shouldn’t veer too far off-topic. By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your next presentation will wow your audience.

Summarize Your Points at the End

After hours of brainstorming, you’ve finally got your presentation nailed down. You know exactly what points you want to make, and you’re confident you can deliver a killer presentation. But before you get up in front of your audience, one more pro tip to keep in mind: always summarize your points at the end.

This will help to drive home the key takeaways from your presentation and ensure that your audience leaves with a clear understanding of your message.

To summarize effectively:

• Start by briefly restating your main points.
• Provide a brief overview of the evidence you presented supporting those points.
• Finish with a call to action or a statement of what your audience will remember.

Present Any Connected Information in a Visually Similar Way

A successful presentation is engaging, informative, and visually appealing. To achieve this, it is important to connect related information in a visually similar way. Use colors to create associations between ideas. For example, you could use the same color for all the points in a particular section of your presentation.

This will help the audience to see the relationship between the points and remember the information more easily. Another way to connect related information is to use consistent font styles and imagery throughout your presentation. This will create a cohesive visual design that will help the audience to follow your argument more easily.

Condense Your Presentation Into a Memorable Line

While many factors contribute to a successful presentation, one of the most important is condensing your key points into a single, memorable line. A memorable line should be easy to understand and recall and capture the essence of your presentation in just a few words.

To create a memorable line for your next presentation, start by identifying the main point you want to communicate. Then, distill that point down to its essentials and express it in the clearest, simplest terms possible.

By crafting a well-designed and concise statement, you can ensure that your audience will remember your key points long after your presentation.

Use Simple or Minimalist Borders

Good design is about creating an impact with the least effort. The same principle applies to presentations. When it comes to borders, less is more (even with image frames).

Using simple or minimalist borders, you can create a clean and professional look that will effectively frame your content without overshadowing it. In addition, using fewer borders will give your presentation a more streamlined look, which can help to keep your audience focused on the most important elements.

Illustrate Complex or Confusing Concepts With Icons

In a fast-paced, constantly-connected world, getting your message across quickly and effectively can be difficult. That’s where icons come in. An icon is a simple image that conveys complex ideas or starts a difficult conversation.

Icons can be used in email marketing, website design, infographics, and pretty much anywhere else you need to communicate with your audience. And because they’re so easy to understand, they’re an ideal way to illustrate complex or confusing concepts.

Plan Your Presentation Idea Ahead of Time

Any good presentation starts with a solid plan. Knowing your audience, understanding your goal, and having a clear structure are all essential elements of a successful presentation. But before you can start planning, you need to come up with a great idea.

You might be tempted to wing it, but trust me – it’s worth taking the time to brainstorm ahead of time. By sitting down and coming up with a few different ideas, you’re more likely to find an approach that’s both creative and effective. And if you’re stuck, plenty of resources are out there to help you get started.

Use Memes (for Real, Though)

To make a winning presentation, you must engage your audience and speak to their interests. One of the best ways to do that is by using memes. Memes are a highly effective tool for emotional response and provide fun ways to present information; they’re like visual metaphors.

Just ensure that the memes you use are relevant to your topic and audience and that they don’t come across as too forced or unnatural. Done right, memes can help you connect with your audience and deliver a winning presentation.

Do the Math for Your Audience

When you’re crafting a presentation, it’s important to remember that not everyone in your audience will be an expert on your topic. Many people will likely be interested only in what you have to say. As a result, it’s important to ensure that your presentation is accessible to everyone.

One way is to use numbers and statistics sparingly. Instead of bombarding your audience with data, focus on providing key information that can be easily understood. You should also avoid using industry jargon or technical terms unless you’re certain everyone in the room will know what you’re talking about.

Give Your Presentation a Catchy Title That Anyone Can Remember

Beautiful presentations are only as good as their title. The title of your presentation is the very first thing that your audience will see, so it’s important to make sure that it’s catchy and memorable. Here are some of my tips to help you choose a winning title:

Keep it short and sweet

A title that’s too long or complicated will only confuse your audience and make them less likely to remember it. Stick to something simple and easy to remember.

Make it relevant

Your title should be directly related to the topic of your presentation. This will help people understand your presentation and make it more likely that they’ll recall it later.

Use keywords

Choose keywords that accurately describe your presentation and that people are likely to search for online. This will help make your presentation more visible and easier to find.

Be creative

Don’t hesitate to get creative with your title! A catchy, unique title is more likely to stick in people’s minds than a boring presentation title.

Split the Header Text From the Body Text

Keep in mind to split the header text from the body text. This will help to keep your audience focused on the most important information and make it easier for them to follow along.

Another helpful tip is to use high-contrast colors for your text and background. That’ll make it easier for people to read your slides, even if they are sitting in the back of the room. Finally, be sure to use simple, clear fonts that are easy to read.

Talk Directly to Your Audience

Rather than looking at the slides or reading from a script, make eye contact with individual members of the audience. This will help to engage them and hold their attention. Another important tip is to keep your presentation concise. No one wants to sit through a long, drawn-out speech, so focus on efficiently delivering the most important information.

Track the Steps in a Process

Making a winning presentation requires careful planning and execution. To start, you need to identify the goal of your presentation clearly. Are you selling a product, trying to raise awareness for a cause, or educating your audience about a certain topic?

Once you know the goal, you can start tracking the process steps. Creating an outline of your presentation will help you to organize your thoughts and ensure that your presentation flows smoothly.

Ask Your Audience Questions

Have you ever given a presentation that left your audience bored and unengaged? If so, you’re not alone. Many people need help to give effective presentations. However, there are some simple ways to make your presentations more engaging and memorable.

One pro tip is to ask your audience questions. This helps get them involved in the presentation and ensures that they pay attention. Asking questions also gives you a chance to gauge the audience’s level of understanding and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Show Off Your Credentials

Don’t just show off your presentation skills; brag about everything else, too! Whether you’re giving a presentation to potential clients or delivering a keynote speech, it’s important to establish your credibility upfront. One way to do this is by highlighting your relevant experience and expertise.

If you’re an experienced speaker, make sure to mention any previous talks or workshops you’ve given. If you have any relevant publications, list them as well. Any awards or recognition you’ve received can also help to boost your credibility.

Include Your Branding Throughout Your Presentation Ideas

Whether you’re giving a presentation to potential clients or your boss, you want to ensure that your presentation is on point. That means having great content and making sure that your branding is front and center.

Make sure your branding is included from the start. Your title slide should feature your company logo and colors. This helps to set the tone for the rest of the presentation and helps people to remember who you are.

Use branded templates. If you’re using PowerPoint or another presentation software, there’s no reason not to use templates that feature your company’s branding. This will help to keep your presentation looking professional and consistent throughout.

Incorporate your branding into the visuals you use. Whether you’re using photos, diagrams, or charts, try incorporating your company’s colors or logo in each visual. This will help people to associate your brand with the information they see.

Use branded giveaways. Consider giving away branded items like pens, notepads, or water bottles at the end of your presentation. This ensures people leave with something that will remind them of your company long after the presentation.

What Makes a Great Presentation?

It doesn’t matter what type of presentation you’re working with; captivating presentations all have the same formula. Whether you’re delivering a business presentation or teaching a class, certain elements can make your presentation more effective. A good presentation should be well-organized, clear, and concise.

It’s important to have a strong opening that grabs the audience’s attention and a clear structure they can follow.

You should also use appropriate language for your audience and avoid jargon or acronyms they might need help understanding.

Visuals are another key element of a great presentation, whether using PowerPoint slides or physical props. They can help to break up the text, highlight important points, and make the presentation more engaging.

What Are the Best Fonts Used by Most Graphic Designers?

Some of the fonts that are found in the arsenal of every graphic designer are:

• Proxima Nova
• Bickham Script Pro
• Garamond Pro

Benefits of Having Interactive Components in Your Presentation

Making sure the entire presentation is engaging and interactive is sure to keep them hanging around until the end. Whether it’s a corporate presentation, an educational presentation, or just something simple for a small event, always keep these tips in mind. 

More Engaging

One of the primary benefits of having interactive elements in your presentation is that it will be more engaging for your audience. Suppose your audience can participate in your presentation actively. In that case, they will be more likely to pay attention and retain the information you are presenting.

Additionally, interactive components can help to break up a long or dry presentation, keeping your audience interested and engaged.

Encourages Participation

Another benefit of having interactive components in your presentation is that it encourages participation from your audience. When people are actively involved in a presentation, they’re likely to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. This can help create a more dynamic and informative presentation as people are more likely to share their ideas and experiences.

Builds Rapport

Interactive components can also help you to build rapport with your audience. When you involve people in your presentation, they will feel you value their input and opinion. This can help to create a more positive relationship between you and your audience, making them listen and be receptive to your message.

Increases understanding

If done correctly, interactive components can also help increase understanding of the material you are presenting. When people are actively involved in learning, they are more likely to pay attention and retain information. Additionally, if people can apply what they are learning, they will be more likely to remember it in the future.

Helps People Connect

Interactive components can also help people connect during your presentation. People who work together on an activity or task will be more likely to interact and form connections. This can be beneficial if you are trying to promote networking or collaboration among your audience members.

The Bottom Line

I hope my creative presentation ideas helped you out! You can do so tons of things to make the best presentation design out there. Choose an eye-catching background image that supports the central ideas of the presentation. Alternate slide layouts to keep the presentation engaging. Supplement the presentation with printed materials. Wow, your audience with cool facts, stats, memes, charts, and branded giveaways.

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105+ Creative Presentation Ideas to Engage Your Audience

Written by: Orana Velarde

With most people tuning out of a PowerPoint presentation within the first 10 minutes , developing engaging slide show presentation ideas that keep your audience hooked till the end can be a challenge.

This is why we've created this post with 105+ creative presentation ideas to help you put together exciting presentations that don't put your audience to sleep. You can use these presentation ideas for business meetings, webinars, classrooms, online courses, pitch decks and more.

Here are some of the ideas we’re covering:

• Use neon colors and duotones
• Unify transitions horizontally
• Use a monochrome palette
• Tell a personal story
• Use isometric illustrations

In this article, you'll find unique slide examples, templates, designs and more. Put these slide show presentation ideas to practice using our presentation maker and create your own presentation in minutes.

Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit Presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more below:

• Add bright and bold colors to make your presentation stand out and grab your audience's attention. Create a vibrant and dynamic look by using neon colors and duotones.
• Instead of using different transitions for each slide, use the same transition horizontally throughout your presentation. This creates a cohesive and visually pleasing flow.
• To create a sophisticated, minimalist look, limit your color choices to shades of a single color.
• Connect with your audience and make your message more relatable by incorporating personal anecdotes or stories into your presentation.
• Add depth and dimension to your presentation with isometric illustrations, which can be a fun and engaging way to present complex information.
• Sign up for Visme’s presentation software to start applying these creative presentation ideas.

105+ Creative Presentation Ideas

The ideas we've shared cut across various design concepts, industries and use cases. We've also sprinkled presentation design ideas from Visme's template library.  If you're running out of creative steam, you can use these templates to jumpstart your designs.

And if you're running out of time, consider using Visme's AI presentation maker to bring these 100 creative presentation ideas to life. It's a user-friendly tool that effortlessly transforms your ideas into visually stunning presentations.

Now, let's jump into the creative presentation design ideas.

1 Use Neon Colors

Neon colors will give your presentation enough color kick to keep the viewer’s attention. Use neon colors either as the background, as specific elements or as details inside the slides. The trick with neon is to not go overboard with the contrasts. Instead of using a neon rainbow, think more along the lines of neon accents.

2 Be Minimal

Using a minimal design composition is one of the unique presentation ideas. The trick is to have just enough information and visual details for the viewer to feel comfortable seeing the slides. A minimal design can instill calm and awe in your audience when done right. The trick with minimalism is to know when enough is enough, you wouldn’t want to be boring instead of minimal.

RELATED:  20+ Examples of Minimalist Design to Inspire Your Own Creations

3 Use all caps

Another creative presentation idea is using all caps when you feel like the topic of your presentation can be delivered with few words. Using all capitals in your slides will give the message importance. This design might not be suited for a text-heavy presentation but maybe one with an audio narrative that goes along with it or bullet points.

Also, this kind of presentation design is suitable for captivating introduction slide ideas.

Image Source

4 Go vertical

Rectangular presentations are definitely the norm, but with the rise of Instagram Stories, this might be starting to change. This shift introduces a unique opportunity for those looking for ideas for presentation styles that stand out. Now that we can put archived stories into Highlights, why not publish vertical presentations there? Going vertical is just one idea. Along with that, you can add any other design technique.

5  Use duotones

Duotone doesn’t exactly mean “two colors,” it actually means “two tones.” The idea behind this design angle is to use two contrasting tonalities which can have different shades. The difference between duotone and two colors is that it has a more edgy look. Depending on what two tonalities you choose, it can be subtle or very powerful. The photos used in the design also need to be customized to the duotone color you chose.

6 Add a video in different shapes or snippets

Videos can be a powerful tool in your arsenal for engaging your audience during a presentation. Not only do they help to break up the monotony of a lecture-style presentation, but they can also help to explain complex concepts, add visual interest, and evoke emotions.

One way to make your videos stand out is by using different shapes or snippets. Rather than presenting a standard rectangular video, consider incorporating shapes such as circles, triangles or diamonds. These shapes can add a unique and visually appealing element to your presentation.

Another way to incorporate video snippets is by breaking up a longer video into smaller, bite-sized pieces. This can be particularly useful if you have a lengthy video that you want to show but don't want to lose your audience's attention. By breaking it up into smaller segments, you can keep your audience engaged and prevent them from losing interest.

Don’t worry about the design complexity. If you create your presentation in Visme, you can resize your videos instantly and turn them into any shape you want.

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• Transform your visual content with Visme’s easy-to-use content creation platform
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7  Unify transitions horizontally

Unifying the transitions between slides is always a great idea, but doing it horizontally is especially effective. By keeping all the movements going in one direction, it's both easy to follow and will look great. You don’t need to just apply horizontal transitions to the switch between slides, you can also apply animation to the titles and images. As long as they all go in the same direction, you are gold.

Create a slide deck like this in minutes.

• Search for the exact slides you need from a library of 900+ layouts
• Choose a classic or modern style
• Create automatically animated presentations

8  Black and white + spot of bright color

This presentation design idea is highly effective if you're looking for a creative way to present information.

Adding a bright color to a black and white scheme can add just the right amount of attention-grabbing detail to your presentation. Try choosing a powerful color so that it’s really noticeable and pops visually. You can use the color in small amounts or in large sections. Up to you, just remember to maintain a balance throughout.

9 Use a color theme

A cohesive color theme throughout your presentation can engage your audience and create a more visually appealing experience.

To start, consider the overall tone of your presentation and what emotions you want to evoke in your audience. Are you presenting on a serious topic, such as healthcare or finance, where a more subdued color palette may be appropriate?

Or are you presenting on a more lighthearted topic, such as creativity or innovation, where bright and bold colors can help to capture your audience's attention?

Once you have a general idea of your color palette, try to use it consistently throughout your slides. This means using the same background, font and accent colors for headings and graphics– like the presentation template below.

Visme's presentation templates offer a wide range of professionally designed themes with 300+ slides in 20+ different categories, making it the best choice for exploring creative presentation ideas without PowerPoint. You can create visually stunning slides with our carefully curated color schemes and stylish designs.

Read this article about 25 free presentation themes in Visme and find the perfect one.

Visme's presentation maker and branded presentation templates have been helping businesses create impactful presentations while saving them time and money. That's why many businesses choose Visme over other tools.

But don't just take it for word. Here's what one of our satisfied customers has to say about Visme.

"Previously we were using PowerPoint, which is fine, but the interactivity you can get with Visme is so much more robust that we've all steered away from PowerPoint."

"PowerPoint templates are plain and boring, and we want to create more fun and engaging content. Visme has multiple slide templates to choose from, which makes this so much easier."

"I just made a deck recently and it took me about 15-20 minutes. I found a template I really liked and tweaked it and put it in our brand colors. In PowerPoint, it would take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half."

- Kendra Bradley, Graphic Content Developer at WOW!

10  Add full-screen videos

The use of full-screen video in your slides can have a big impact on your storytelling. There’s a catch though. The wrong video will be detrimental to your message, be mindful of the videos you chose to grace the background of your slides. The video should either tell your story without words or be a complement that won’t interfere. The wrong video will confuse your viewers and it will be hard to get their undivided attention back.

If you’re looking for quick idea inspiration, check out our YouTube video where Mike shares 30 of our favorite presentation ideas at a glance.

11  Use an 80’s visual style

If looking for a unique design style, why not try an 80’s style for a change. Neon graffiti writing, disco balls, and brightly colored shapes might go well with your presentation’s topic. You can use 80’s visuals as small complementary elements or as the entirety of the presentation style. Nevertheless, if your presentation is about something quite serious then maybe you should try another style.

All you have to do is provide a text prompt, choose your preferred template style and the tool will generate text, images and icons and prepare a ready-to-use presentation within seconds. 

The flexibility to customize these presentations in the Visme editor adds the perfect finishing touches to your visual storytelling journey.

12  Go vintage

Another creative presentation idea is the vintage look. This could work really well with a history-themed presentation or anything to do with recuperating old traditions. When we say “vintage” we mean sepia-toned photos, intricate picture frames, bold fonts which look like they came out of old posters.

A vintage color palette is usually pastel turquoise green, ochre yellow and washed out blue and orange. You could consider using vintage mockup sets to create scenes for your slides, or use vintage style fonts, and old photographs as backgrounds.

13  Use a monochrome palette

A monochrome palette is one that maintains a single tonality in different strengths. For example, you can create a presentation in shades of blue, or in shades of orange. Use the palest shade for the background and a stronger shade for the titles and decorative shapes. Try doing it the opposite way as well. You can even use photos with a bit of a filter effect in the chosen color by adding a color filter.

14  Tell a personal story

Telling stories from your own life—whether those stories are deeply moving, humorous tales, or just little snippets that allow someone to look into your history—can be a great way to make a presentation more meaningful.

Colin Stokes uses this to his advantage in his TED talk. He begins by talking about the movies he watches with his daughter and what she likes, and then moving into watching a movie with his son, and wondering how it has affected him, allowing him to move seamlessly into his actual points.

Watch the video below to learn how Colin Stokes did it

Choose a relevant story from your past, and tell it with all the honesty that you can. Your audience will feel that, sympathize, and therefore connect more with your message.

15  Creative photo crops

The photos in your presentations can be cropped hundreds of different ways. From simple circles or rectangles to more elaborate triangles, polygons, letter shapes or even a brushstroke. Analyze the message of your presentation to know which shape to use for the cropping of your photos. You can also create a collage with the shapes as long as they don’t distract from the information being presented.

16 Add fun illustrations

Adding fun illustrations is a great idea to engage your audience during a presentation. They can help break up text-heavy slides, make your presentation more visually attractive and reinforce your message, making it one of the best fun presentation ideas.

Hand-drawn doodles, icons and graphics and animated GIFs are all illustrations you can use. To maximize the visual impact of your illustrations, you can use them in 3D.

With Visme, you can enhance your presentation by adding 3D objects that allow you to customize their colors, size and alignment. Additionally, you can add 3D animated graphics to take things to the next level.

When using illustrations, it's important to remember to use them sparingly to avoid overwhelming your audience. Less is more when it comes to adding graphics to your slides. Remember to match the illustrations with your theme and color scheme to keep things consistent.

17  Thick and bold fonts

Huge chunky fonts are a great way to call attention to titles on slides. You could even try making the letters bleed over the edges or place the words vertical along the side. The best thick and bold fonts are the ones with minimal decorations. Try using fonts that have strong corners or the opposite, extreme rounded terminals. It will also work best if the title is short and sweet.

18 Go with nature

Freshen up your presentation with some natural elements around the edges or as a background. You could use full-screen background photos of leaves or palm fronds coming in from the sides of the slides.

Another presentation idea would be to use nature-related photography along with other design ideas like interesting photo crops. This technique could be used for presentations that relate to nature or natural topics, but also for a home decor proposal or creative direction pitch for a TV ad.

Integrating nature into your slides is a beautiful presentation example of how to connect with your audience on a different level. This technique could be used for presentations about environmental topics or even about home decoration.

19 Use circles

Circles represent wholeness and a natural sense of completion. They can signify eternity and constant movement. They can also make your presentation more friendly and emotionally accessible. You can try using circles as decorative elements or as the shape for cropping images and as backgrounds for illustrations.

20 Add some sparkle (glitter backgrounds)

Give your presentations a little bit of a festive feel with some glittery details. This PowerPoint idea can work great if you are presenting a creative proposal for a fashion label or clothing catalog. It can even work really well for holiday-themed pitches or products. There are different types of glittery graphics you can use, like a glitter texture, a glittering rain or even just a dash of glitter. You can find some great glitter backgrounds and textures over at Freepik .

21 Get crafty (ripped paper details)

Sometimes to tell a story, visual details can really help get a mood across. Ripped paper shapes and edges can give a presentation a special feel, almost as if it was done by hand. This visual technique works for any type of presentation except maybe in a corporate setting. Ripped paper can be found on creative graphics resource sites or you can do it yourself and take a photo.

22 Cut-out paper illustrations

Another crafty idea to design your slides is by using cut paper illustrations. This technique could look really crafty or quite elegant if done well. Cut paper can be used as an elaborate background, as the letters in titles or as decorative elements. There are some great cut paper bundles online to use as PNG files which can be uploaded to the Visme editor.

23  Pathway transitions

Create interesting transitions by designing scenes or pathways instead of just sliding them in one unified direction. By doing this, you can use a storytelling technique that will keep the audience’s attention throughout the presentation and information relay. You can find out how to do it in our free guide to creating captivating presentations .

Create an automatically animated presentation in minutes.

24  use isometric illustrations.

If you are looking for a different way to illustrate your slides, why not consider using isometric illustrations? This style of illustration is great for explaining things that can be separated into parts. The parts can be animated as well. An isometric illustration can work for any kind of presentation, from technology to corporate. It will give your presentation a modern edge and a professional look.

25  Use motion graphics

Motion graphics are a great way to illustrate an idea with animated objects . They don’t tell stories on their own, they support the context and illustrate the content.

For example, if your presentation is about travel, you could have flying airplanes across the slides or bags on a luggage conveyor belt. For something more abstract, you can use moving shapes and add effects to the titles. Your Visme editor has a variety of design tools to help you create all sorts of content with motion graphics.

Here’s what one of Visme’s satisfied customers Jessica L. | Small-Business Owner, has to say about Visme’s presentation tool:

"No need to go back to PowerPoint. Visme makes project presentations easy and fast. Lots of useful templates and excellent graphics. I enjoy the features they continue to add and update often. They make project work easy".

26  Add GIFs to your slides

GIFs can be fun, entertaining and humorous. They can also be informational. GIFs be sourced from sites like Giphy , where you can also create your own! Choosing to include a GIF in your presentation slide or a few different GIFs will depend on what message you want to send with your story. The theme and topic of your presentation will help you decide if you need a clip from a blockbuster movie or a quick representation of the process of your systems.

RELATED:  Everything You Need to Know About Using Cool GIFs in Your Marketing

27  Use quotes between slides

Quotes can be good breathers between a bunch of informative slides. You can either use them to separate ideas inside your presentation or to start new sections of information. It’s important that your quotes represent the topic of your presentation so that they make sense and not confuse the viewer.

28  Start with “once upon a time”

One of the most effective and engaging ways to present a presentation is by incorporating creative storytelling techniques.

If a presentation can be created as a story, then why not go all the way and start the presentation with a classic story opening? Using the “once upon a time” phrase will instantly grab the viewer’s attention because it will be out of the ordinary. Make a slide especially for it with a visual that matches the topic of your presentation.

29  Turn the slides into a scrolling infographic instead of a presentation

To showcase your content in a unique and engaging way, consider using creative slide ideas that break away from the traditional slide-by-slide approach. For instance, you can arrange your slides vertically to create a scrolling infographic instead of a classic slide-by-slide transition presentation.

This innovative format expands the types of presentations you can create, offering a fresh perspective on information delivery.

An added bonus to this presentation style is to add parallax scrolling or interaction animation. As the viewer scrolls down, the information fills each slide progressively. It doesn’t continue until the viewer scrolls again. This technique is best for displaying online slide show presentation ideas.

Create a scrolling presentation in minutes.

30  engage your audience.

What’s one of the best ways to make your presentations more interesting? Make the audience a part of them.

Regardless if you’re presenting in person to a room full of people or via Zoom to viewers around the world, there are a number of techniques to engage your audience with both your content and yourself. The trick is to make them feel connected somehow, like they can relate. You can achieve this with humor, storytelling, asking questions and inviting them to leave comments in the webinar chat window.

Take this speech by Donovan Livingston. He delivers a commencement speech in spoken word poetry, and specifically encourages the audience to take part, saying they should clap, throw their hands in the air, or otherwise participate if they feel so moved. While not seen, several people are heard cheering and clapping throughout the video.

Participation can also be accomplished through things such as games, posing questions or something as simple as asking participants to raise their hands.

31 Use a scrunched paper background

Give your presentation a laid-back and grunge feel by designing it with a scrunched paper background. It can be any kind of paper really, depending on your topic. It could be notebook paper, or printer paper, it could even be recycled paper. Try a few different types of paper until you find the one that suits your story.

32 Add interactive pop-ups

Adding interactive pop-ups is a game-changer when it comes to creative ways of presenting. These pop-ups allow you to go beyond the traditional approach, giving your audience a more dynamic and engaging experience.

Interactive pop-ups can take many forms, from quizzes and polls to clickable infographics and interactive timelines. With Visme, you can access various interactive features that can help you create engaging and effective presentations.

For example, you can create clickable icons or buttons that allow your audience to explore additional information or resources. You can also create interactive timelines that enable your audience to explore different events or milestones.

One of the most powerful interactive features of Visme is the ability to create quizzes and polls. You can make interactive questions and answer options that allow your audience to engage with your presentation on a deeper level.

You can also use this feature to gather feedback from your audience, allowing you to tailor your presentation to their needs and interests.

Watch the video below or read this article to learn how to create an interactive presentation .

33  Use a back-to-school theme

A back-to-school theme can make your presentation look like a lot of fun. This is a great technique for teachers and educators welcoming their students back to a new school year. The background can be a sheet of notebook paper, an open notebook, or a blackboard. The edges could be decorated with pencils and paperclips, maybe an eraser or sharpener. The back-to-school theme has lots of possibilities.

34  Use a billboard-inspired theme

Use billboard mockups to create slides which look like billboards. This could look interesting and quite unique.  You could use the same billboard for all the slides, or different ones for a more varied approach. This technique would work great with a pitch for an election or a local spot in a government office.  

35  Use black-and-white photography

Black and white photography is a classic design technique. They import elegance and sophistication to any design by providing a minimalistic approach to the visuals. The photos can either be desaturated from color photos or given an artistic flair with extra contrast and fewer grey tones.

36  Explain your reasons

What people really want to know is why you’re giving the presentation you’re giving. This is especially true if you’re pitching to investors or potential new clients. When you share your why with the audience using storytelling and body language, you make meaningful connections and lasting relationships

Simon Sinek explains quite well why this is so important—the greatest leaders, the ones who inspire the most people, understand why they do the things they do, rather than just what or how.

When it comes to explaining your reasons, one tool that can significantly improve your presentations is Visme's AI writer . This advanced feature helps you write your presentation copy, break down complex ideas and edit or improve your existing words. With Visme's AI writer, you can make sure your "why" is clear and easy to understand alongside your visuals.

37  Add an audio narrative

Your presentation doesn’t need to be silent, especially if you won’t be standing by it to tell the story yourself. Adding an audio narrative can turn a viewable presentation into an experience. You can either set it up as a video that runs on its own and the viewer looks and listens, or it can be triggered by arrows that are clicked on.

RELATED:  How to Create a Narrated Presentation With Voice Over Using Visme

38 Follow a space theme with photography

Most of the photos from Nasa are labeled as public domain. Meaning that you can give your presentation a space theme quite easily. Choose images of astronauts in space or more abstract and colorful images like distant galaxies and nebulas. The latter can make great backgrounds behind content without the topic necessarily being about space.

39 Do a space theme with illustration

An illustrated space theme can be either colorful and whimsical or sober and elegant. By choosing the style of illustration you use, you can either use this technique for presentations related to children or scientists. Cartoon astronauts can be lots of fun, line illustration planets can be educational and data-driven drawings can be informational.

40  Include music

Sometimes, when listening to someone talk for long periods of time, it helps to have something else to draw your attention. While images are great, including music can really help stimulate an audience and set the mood.

Dean Burnett talks about why this happens: “[Music] provides non-invasive noise and pleasurable feelings, to effectively neutralize the unconscious attention system’s ability to distract us.” Essentially, music is entertaining enough that, when in the background, can keep us focused on otherwise un-entertaining things.

Take, for example, this valedictorian’s speech. While peppered with humor and stories of his time through high school, he uses background music to help keep people’s attention—in fact, this is specifically stated to be his reason for including music, humorously quipping about giving the audience something to listen to while they “zone out” of his speech.

Whether incorporated into individual slides, in a video, done live, or with a music-playing device nearby, this creative presentation idea can be a great way to enhance the quality of your speech or talk.

41  Graffiti photography backgrounds and details

Using colorful backgrounds like photos of urban graffiti can give your presentation a bit of an edge. There are lots of free photographs of graffiti on sites like Unsplash which you can use straight away. Apart from graffiti murals, you can also incorporate graffiti letterings in your titles and quotes. You can find graffiti style fonts online quite easily.

42  Stop-motion

The stop-motion technique can take time but it can also make your presentation unforgettable. There are lots of ways to use stop-motion, either with characters doing actions or objects that move around and create a scene. Stop-motion can also be used to create titles that move into place. What the title is written with can be anything, from toys to plants. The theme and topic of your presentation will ultimately be the driving point to what kind of stop-motion can be used. But be sure that it works from educational to promotional to corporate.

43  Claymation

Very similar to stop-motion, claymation is the animation of things created with clay or play-doh. Anything can be created with clay, so the possibilities really are endless about what can be achieved. This technique really does take a lot of time, you can source it out to a professional or buy some already created footage. The claymation can be just a decorative element in the background or it could also be the center of the presentation.

44  Color blocking

The color blocking technique is another creative presentation idea that entails using color in large sections and in contrasting tones. The idea is that the color blocks will be strong and colorful. The color blocks can either be the shapes that determine where the information goes or just a way to separate the slides in specific sections.

Any type of presentation can benefit from color blocking. Just make sure you use colors that go together and don’t clash. Explore this technique for different presentation slide ideas, especially when aiming for a bold and visually striking effect. Take a look at this sponsorship deck and how it uses bright and bold color blocking techniques.

45  Get surreal

Surrealism is an avant-garde movement from the 20th century which was meant to tap into subconscious creativity. This might not be the kind of design technique for any sort of presentation but it can work for one that is about art, or literature or other creative outlets. There are plenty of surrealist artworks in the public domain sector or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These can be used as subtle backgrounds or visual complements to the text.

Designing a presentation for an organization requires input from different stakeholders. However, when collaborating with others on a presentation design, keeping track of all the moving parts can be difficult.

That's where Visme's workflow management feature comes in. It helps organize roles, tasks, progress, deadlines and corrections all in one place to make your presentation design process efficient and smooth.

46  Polaroids

Polaroids, often a photography favorite, can inspire creative photography presentation ideas. The original Polaroids from the 70’s could be used as vintage polaroids that have been kept in a box for years. The newest Instamatic photographs, which are the new kind of polaroids, can be used for a fun way to show photos and visuals in presentation slides. You could either use one polaroid per slide or a collection of polaroids on a table or corkboard.

There are many topics that can work with Polaroid photography backgrounds and details in your slide show presentation ideas.

47  Use a Handwriting Font

Fonts come in all shapes and sizes, including lots of handwriting fonts. Handwritten fonts can be used for any type of presentation as long as the style matches the topic of the information. There are kid-style handwriting, calligraphy style handwriting, hand lettering, and novelty fonts as well. The options are wide and varied for this design technique. Creative Bloq has a great collection of handwritten fonts.

48  Use a geometric background

A geometric background can look really nice on any presentation. Geometric backgrounds can be tiled polygons or more abstract compositions of different size polygons. The decision to choose between tiled shapes and more creative compositions will depend on your creative angle and disposition. You can use these types of designs with any colors, so you can match the theme or your brand.

49 Coffee style design

Using a coffee-style design can work for any PowerPoint presentation idea, from office-related topics to digital nomads to anything or anyone who loves coffee. If the background is subtle, it can fit a more serious topic or data report. It can make a boring presentation just a bit more visually entertaining than the rest. Of course, it can also be perfect for a small coffee brewer pitching their company to investors.

50  Include memes

You’ve seen them everywhere by this point. You might be pretty sick of them. However, that doesn’t mean memes can’t be useful—in fact, using a couple strategically can surprise the audience and make them laugh.

The presentation " Memes, Memes Everywhere" focuses on, unsurprisingly, memes, and explains their purpose while using examples on every slide, which help support their points and add some humor to a very text-heavy presentation.

Choosing relevant memes and using them sparingly can really help add some personality to your presentation, without distracting from the work.

RELATED: 85+ Best Free Presentation Templates

51  Polka dots

Using a polka-dot background is suitable for various types of presentations. It can give your presentation a whimsical look or simply give it a subtle texture. The polka dots could be small and soft or big and punchy. A strong polka-dot background can work great in a creative setting or even boring data analysis. The style of polka dots will depend on the general topic of your presentation. You can use the polka-dot design as a full background or as a decorative section on the slide.

52  Metaphors

Visual metaphors can be useful in a similar manner; they can spice up your presentation, illustrate your point, and make your work far more entertaining. James Geary speaks about just how important metaphors are.

His presentation provides several examples of metaphors--such as the phrase “some jobs are jails”--and explains just how hard it is to ignore the lasting power of a well-used metaphor. Because of the connotations a metaphor can bring to the table, their use is an excellent way to imbue added meaning to your words.

53  Use timelines in your slides

Timelines can be used in lots of different ways inside a PowerPoint presentation, and the ideas are limitless. A timeline can either be inside one slide, or it can be connected between various slides. You can make a timeline with icons, connected shapes, or an inclined line. The timeline can be a visual way of explaining a chronological event or a plan of action that needs to be taken care of. Make sure the timeline fits the rest of the theme.

54  Use a comic book style

Comic books are a source of inspiration for many people. The visual aspect of a comic style composition can really make your presentation shine. There are a few ways you can use this technique. You could set up the slides as if they were snippets of a comic book, place the text in speech and thought bubbles and apply a background with a pointillist texture. If using characters, make sure the characters fit the theme of your presentation. For a perfect fit, hire a designer to create a comic book presentation just for your company.

55  Use a manga style

Looking for creative PowerPoint slide ideas that stand out? Consider taking inspiration from the Japanese art of Manga. Manga can give your presentation a distinct and eye-catching look, much like comic books.

It isn’t as versatile as a comic book because it has a more specific look, so it might not work for all topics. It can work for more creative outlets like fashion, art, and photography. Manga has a specific style for the atmosphere around the unique characters as well. They are more common in black and white and look very photographic.

56  Use psychedelic visuals

Psychedelia was a big part of the design world in the 60’s and 70’s. Music and creative event posters were so intricate and colorful that they took an important place in the design history books. This design style can be used for a unique visual approach in your presentations. Just like many other techniques we have mentioned, they can be used as a background in slides or as decorative elements. The swirly shapes and contrasting colors can call attention to the viewer in a positive way.

Create professional and engaging presentations online!

• Choose from hundreds of fully designed templates
• Align colors, fonts and images with your brand
• Add custom charts, timelines, icons, animations and more

57  Use neon lights

Neon lights are a great way to give your presentation some life when it’s otherwise visually bland. There are plenty of neon light fonts available online to choose from, from classic style neon tubing on a wall to a neon style given to a font to make it look like neon. Presentations of any topic can be given an additional visual with a bit of neon brightness.

58  Cinemagraph backgrounds

A cinemagraph is like a GIF loaded with elegance. The idea behind a cinemagraph is a photo with a moving section which makes it look cinematic. This kind of background can keep your viewers happily hypnotized while listening to your audio narrative or keep them on the slide longer to truly grasp the information being given. There are cinemagraphs available for all sorts of themes and topics. You can definitely find one that suits your needs.

59  Full-screen video backgrounds

A full-screen background can be really appealing. But just like other design ideas, the video you choose needs to match the theme and topic of your presentation. Your best bet is to have a video which is directly related to what your presentation is about. Videos can be created especially for your purpose, sourced with permission from YouTube or bought from a stock video site.

60  Visualize data

Staring at a large amount of numbers on screen can be overwhelming for most people, even if the realities of those numbers enforce your point. What’s the best way to avoid scaring your crowd? Put the data into easily understandable visualizations.

If you want to take this a step further, you can use illustrations or create infographics to make these data visualizations even more engaging.

61  Use a wild west theme

The wild west is not a very versatile theme but can work for a history project or a proposal for a wild west themed party or event. What entails a wild west theme? Brown sandy tones, horses, cowboys, and tumbleweeds. If the full-on wild west theme is too much, you can also take a cue from the era and be inspired by the color scheme. Another approach would be to use photography from the actual west of the United States, mountains and deserts and so on.

62 Use mind maps

Mind maps are great visual tools for explaining concepts easily. By including mind maps in your slides, you can relay complicated information visually and creatively. There are eight types of mind maps, the most common being bubble maps, the tree map, and flow map. Each one has a different purpose and you can learn all about this in our guide about mind maps in the Visual Learning Center.

63  Use interactive geographic maps

The difference between a static map and an interactive map will define how much attention your slides get. Regions can switch colors according to a change in data over time, making the map more into a chart. With Visme, you can make your maps interactive with live data . All you need to do is sync your data from a Google Sheets file and when your presentation is published online, your map will always be synchronized to that data.

Want to create your own interactive map?

• Create a color-coded map to visualize geographical data
• Choose either the entire world map, a continent or a country
• Enable feature to have data values appear on hover

64  Color contrasts

Using contrasting colors in your slides will make the information pop out of the screen in a positive way. The trick to using contrasting colors is to know how colors match together. Contrasting doesn’t mean they need to clash. Try using a color palette generator like Adobe Color to find great palettes that will make this technique your new best friend. You can learn more about how color works in our guide about color perception in the Visme Learning Center.

65  Live data graphs

Adding live data to a presentation can turn your slides into evergreen content in a flash. You can use any type of chart and populate it with live data such as bar graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, and more. You can add live data graphs to one or two slides in your presentation or have a series of them. Creating a live data graph is easy with the Visme editor.

66  Color fade transitions

Transitions come in lots of different styles. We have mentioned horizontal transitions, animated transitions, and pathway transitions. This particular technique involves color as the ruling factor.

A color-fade transition makes each slide connected to each other through color. This can be achieved with gradients, color blocks, or colored photo filters. Make your PowerPoint presentation ideas stand out with color fade transitions.

67  “Grow” your presentation so it looks like one animated slide

This creative PowerPoint idea is quite interesting as it really only uses one slide that grows upon itself. The practical way to do this is to create the final slide with all the parts and information set up like a finished puzzle. Once you have the completed slide, duplicate it as many times as you need and systematically take off a bit of information until you’ve reached the first title slide. Once you have all the slides, make sure they are in order before downloading the entire thing.

RELATED:  A Non-Designer’s Guide to Creating Memorable Visual Presentations [Free E-Book]

68  Use humor

Want a great way to connect with your audience and make a memorable, more engaging presentation? Be funny. When used strategically, this is a great way to capture attention. In fact, infusing humor into your talk is one of the most effective fun presentation ideas you can use.

Morgan Spurlock makes wonderful use of this in his TED talk. For example, in one of his earliest statements, he offered 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 humor in your subject, and your audience will be much more engaged and more likely to remember your words.

69  Tree diagram transitions

A tree diagram is one of the eight thinking maps which help visualize idea and concepts. The purpose of a tree diagram is to classify and organize information. This map can help build a presentation by making sure each slide is a continuation of the one before. They might need to be grouped into sections so that all the information is relayed easily.

Want to create your own tree diagram?

• Get a head start with pre-made flowchart blocks
• Easily snap lines and objects together
• Dozens of shapes and lines styles to choose from

70  Journal style (with hand-drawn illustrations on the margins)

One creative presentation idea is to make your talk just a little bit different than the rest is to use a journal style. The general visual idea for this technique is to make your slides look like the pages of a journal. The style of the journal will depend on what your presentation topic is. It can be a whimsical bullet journal or an intricate botany journal. You could even consider handwriting on paper as a background.

71  Ink splatters

Use ink splatters to decorate your slides any way you like. They can be big and impressive behind the content, or they can be small and subtle like drops from a pen. An ink splatter can give your presentation a bit of an artistic flair and if done right, can make your slides look elegant and clean. Any style of presentation can benefit from some ink splatters as a decorative element.

If you're looking for fresh presentation slide ideas, why not experiment with ink splatters and see how they can enhance your next presentation?

72  Passport with stamps

Using travel stamps as a decorative element can work for a presentation with a travel-theme or a creative design proposal for a department store or airport mall. The stamps can be used as a background on a passport page or on their own around the content. A photo of a real passport page can be used for this technique but there are plenty of graphics available in this style on sites like Freepik .

73  Express your emotions

We can sometimes be afraid of expressing how we feel, even to those we’re close to, much less in front of a crowd. However, showing them makes your words more authentic and can generate compassion or excitement in your audience.

Take this TED talk by Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger , for example. While the two talk about their experiences, their voices break and crack. The emotional turmoil they went through is clearly heard, and viewers can clearly understand their pain.

This can take some getting used to, and some courage. However, the results are well worth the effort.

74  Use a video game theme

Video games come in all shapes and sizes. From kids' games to arcade games to car games. Each one has their own style, just like presentations do. If you think a video game visual style is good for your project, consider all the different kinds until you find the one that fits best. You can use game screenshots as backgrounds or infuse the entire design of the presentation with the video game style you chose.

75  Use postcards

One of the least-used creative presentation ideas is to turn your content inside slides into postcards which have been sent from around the world. They can be new postcards which could be used from either front or back sides. The back part would make a great text block for the content you need to display, the photo side can be on the sides or as a background. This design technique can work for presentations about literature, family connections, history or travel. There are postcard templates available on sites like Creative Market .

76  Incorporate robots in the design

Using robots in your slides can be a creative approach to visually elevate your presentation. There are different styles of robots you can add to your presentation design; realistic photography of anamorphic robots, cute illustrated robots, or robotic parts from factories. These visuals might only apply for technology-themed presentations or about robots themselves. Cute illustrations of robots can be great backgrounds for whimsical topics or other styles of storytelling presentations.

77  Chalk on blackboard

Looking for creative slides presentation ideas? Consider using a chalkboard design to add a unique and nostalgic touch to your presentation.

Writing on a chalkboard is not limited to a school setting or a bar menu. These two might be the most common yet they are not the only possibilities for using chalk on a blackboard. A good handwriting font is the best companion to a chalkboard design. Some of these fonts are already available with a chalky texture and others might need some professional tweaking to get the right texture.

78  Get inspired by a specific location

Even if the PowerPoint presentation ideas you are designing are not about a specific place in the world, you can be inspired by one to set up the color scheme and feel of the slides. For example, if you get inspired by Greece, you can use white and light blue hues or even photos of Greek islands. If you get inspired by Brazil, you can use photos of the beach, the texture of the boardwalk tiles or green, blue, and yellow color schemes.

79  Use props

Using props can quickly turn a run-of-the-mill presentation into a unique, interactive experience. Kenny Nguyen demonstrates this well. In his talk he often 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.

Choosing similar props can help you really illustrate your points—and make it that much more entertaining, too.

80  Use hashtags as titles

In the age of social media, hashtags are used every day. They appear regularly on social media, in spoken and written conversations, and of course in content marketing. Why not include some hashtags as titles? This technique will work great in a presentation for a social media content management pitch, or an in an influencer marketing strategy. On another note, hashtag titles can even be used for any type of presentation geared at the digital generation.

81  Black background, white letters, and color accents

When you use a black background, the colors that you place on top will usually look brighter than if they were on a white background. When creating this kind of color palette, make sure the colors you use don’t clash with each other or with the black. Along with the bright colors, make sure you use white to make the composition pop! Neon colors or pastel tones are what will work best.

82  Vintage film edges

Even though we are used to taking photos with our phones, the classic nostalgia of film is still prevalent in the world of visuals and design. The graphic representation of a film negative is as recognizable as an envelope representing an email. Use a vintage film edge along the horizontal edges of your slides to give your visuals a cinematic feel. Even better if you make the edges animated so that it looks like it’s rolling along on a projector.

83 Adult coloring book inspired design

Using a coloring book design can be really creative. Practically anything can be turned into a coloring book style illustration. A great way to use this technique is to have the first slide with the un-colored illustration and then progressively color in the illustration as the slides progress. Furthermore, if the illustration is depictive of the information, the visuals can be even more engaging.

84  Stripes

A stripes design is as classic as it gets. From pinstripes to artistic colorful lines, you can use them as a subtle background or a powerful striped theme intertwined with text boxes. Stripes are the kind of design technique that can work for any type of presentation, from corporate to educational.

85  Make each slide look like a social media post

Just like postcards and polaroids, you could try a creative approach and use social media templates to put the content in. The most notorious social media visual channel is Instagram. It has been known to inspire offline events as well. Make your slides look like social media posts or social media pages. For this technique, you can either use screenshots or templates.

86  Ink in water

Dropping ink in water creates beautiful colorful bubbly designs which can be photographed at high speed. These images can be used as backgrounds for any type of creative theme presentations. Choose the color and thickness of the ink design to match the theme of your presentation. There are also animated versions of this effect which can be bought like video stock.

87  Lego bricks

Use lego bricks as inspiration to fill your presentation slides with color and fun. Use the bricks to create slide frames, letters or even charts. The best approach to a lego inspired presentation is to be creative. There are lots of things you can do with lego, you could go as far as using the legos to write the titles of the slides. Don’t use the Lego logo though unless you are specifically designing a presentation about lego.

88  Use classic storytelling techniques

A presentation is, in a way, like a story—you’re talking about your chosen subject and leading viewers on a journey to discover what that subject means. Moreover, stories hold an intrinsic interest for us. Therefore, you can easily use several storytelling techniques to help improve your presentation.

Alex Blinkoff  goes into this in great detail, examining things such as “The Hero’s Journey” and provides several examples of ways to use storytelling techniques in your presentations. Check them out, and decide what might work best for your subject.

Click on image to view interactive slide show created with Visme

89  Jigsaw puzzles

Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle can be used to make charts, infographic diagrams, or interlocking frames. The idea behind puzzle pieces is that things come together to form a whole and this concept can be used for any slide and any kind of presentation. Make sure to use a suitable color palette that matches your theme and the rest of the presentation.

90  Headlines coming in animated on boats/trains/airplane

Headlines or titles can be given a life of their own inside the slides. One interesting and creative approach would be to make the titles enter the slide on top of some kind of vehicle. The vehicle could be anything, from a train to a boat, to an airplane. Depending on the type of vehicle, this animated technique can be used for child-themed topics, transportation themes, travel ideas, or even about a corporate sales report.

91  Use a camouflage design

Camo doesn’t necessarily need to convey a sense of military, although it does carry a strong connection. Thankfully, camouflage comes in different styles, from jungle greens to desert browns. Other out of the box camouflage styles are the ones where the colors are completely off the charts, like pinks and blues. Camouflage designs are better used as backgrounds or small subtle sections.

92  Use unique novelty fonts for headers

There are so many novelty fonts to choose from out there these days! Using a unique novelty font for the titles and headers is a great way to add some visual pizzazz to your slides. Try looking for some really special fonts that carry personality. Once you have selected the font, add some color and texture to make it look even better.

93  Use a city skyline

Using a background of a city skyline can work great for a presentation related to business or corporate topics. It can also be perfect for an urban travel related theme or educational presentation. You can choose to use photography as a background or with the buildings cut out from the sky. Another choice is to find an illustrated city skyline and use it as a border on the slides.

94  Use a connected dots background

One of the design trends of the last few years is the connected dots visual. It’s used on websites and on printed flyers. It’s so versatile that it can be added to any kind of presentation in a heartbeat. The lines can be short or long between the dots and the composition can be tight or spread out. You can find connected dot visuals easily on sites like Freepik, in lots of different colors. If you can manage vector graphics , you can also change the composition of the dots quite easily yourself.

95  Use a bokeh background

Bokeh is a photography and light technique which turns dots of light into bright shiny spheres. With a bit of creativity, the lights can be turned into shapes, like hearts or stars. This design style is great for backgrounds since it’s mostly abstract. It works best as a complement to the content instead of an important visual aspect. You can find bokeh backgrounds in stock photo sites or make it yourself.

96  Use watercolor designs

The use of watercolor designs is an easy way of infusing some lively color into a presentation. Watercolors can be a splash on the background, shapes around the content, or colorful strokes intertwined with text boxes. Depending on the color of the paint used, the watercolor technique can be used for any type of presentation. A soft watercolor brushed background can work for a feminine theme and a deep intense splash can add visual creativity to an otherwise boring corporate presentation.

Just like watercolor graphics, paint can add a dose of creativity to any presentation. Different to watercolors though, paint is more intense. Paint based graphics come in all shapes and sizes, from thick brush strokes to paint drips. Digital paint compositions can also make great backgrounds for colorful and creative presentations.

98  Use bright fun colors

Why create a bland presentation when you can make it fun and colorful instead? Creative color palettes can include up to six different colors which look great together. Use shapes, cut-outs, color blocks, swashes, anything your heart desires. This technique is for letting go and being creatively free with color. Just make sure the colors go together by trying out some palettes first.

99  Use arrow graphics

Arrows symbolize direction. They can be a great addition to your charts, infographic visuals and slide sections. You could even do the entire presentation using arrows. According to their size, color, and thickness, they have different temperaments. Look for different styles of arrows and see if they fit your topic and theme. Freepik has some great arrow visuals and the Visme editor also has arrow icons and infographic visuals.

100  Use electronic visuals

Another great idea for a background visual is the inside of a computer system. The intricate details of a motherboard or a close up of a memory chip can make a great visual impact. Apart from using an electronic background image, little pieces of electronic devices can be placed around the slide as decoration. This technique is generally limited to electronic or computer theme topics.

101  Metaphors

Visual metaphors can be useful in a similar manner. They can spice up your presentation, illustrate your point, and make your work far more entertaining. James Geary speaks about just how important metaphors are.

102  Keep it feminine

A feminine style design can work for your presentation if your company makes products for women or if your targeted audience is women. By feminine design, we mean light and soft colors, subtle shapes and a general airy feeling to the composition. Feminine design can be minimal but it can also be decadent and full of style. Whichever you chose, make sure it fits with your audience.

103  Go futuristic

A futuristic style can fit any theme as long as the concept of the future depicted, fits the topic of the presentation. Futuristic design can be of many different styles; from spaceship driving controls to cosmos related atmospheres, to flying cars, and artificial intelligence. Even color palettes can look futuristic if you add some metallic tones.

104  Add a music background

A music soundtrack can be added to any presentation that doesn’t have any other sort of audio already. The best music for a presentation is one without lyrics, in other words, an instrumental track. A good track will accompany the content in a positive way and not interfere with the message. You can find audio tracks easily online.

105  Communicate with images

A picture can speak a thousand words. Naturally, they can be used to communicate concepts that, for the sake of space or time, you might not be able to include in the presentation itself. This slide deck  uses this strategy to its advantage.

The presentation includes many images as backgrounds and minimal text. The images used always either enhance what’s being said or, in some cases, provide the answer for viewers. For example, the second slide states “The Landscape Today,” and includes a bleak background with a broken, tilted picture frame, emphasizing the idea that the following slides (which describe the landscape) offer some pretty disheartening information.

Using images in a related fashion can help express your views and emphasize your message.

Harness the power of Visme's AI image edit tools in your toolkit. These advanced yet easy-to-use tools let you effortlessly edit, touch up, unblur and upscale your images using simple prompts. It's an incredibly convenient way to add extra polish and clarity to your pictures to make your presentations more impactful.

106  Include artsy data visualization

Data visualization is a way of showing data and information in a way that is visually expressive. Creative data analysts can make some really beautiful creations and you can hire them to make them for you. If you haven’t seen any creative data visualizations, take a look at our collection of the best of 2018 and get inspired. You can either make the whole presentation into a data viz or add them to some of the slides.

By Beyond Words Studio

RELATED:  The 25 Best Data Visualizations of 2018

107  Stay branded

This creative tip is a simple yet effective way to spark good presentation ideas. When creating your presentation, do your best to stay on brand. This, of course, will work only if you are creating a presentation for your own brand. If creating one for a client, then you should stay on brand with their own brand style guide. This means only use the brand colors and fonts, use photos, textures, and shapes that match the brand.

Use Visme's brand design tool to ensure your presentations perfectly reflect your brand personality. Just copy and paste your website URL, and the tool will automatically extract your branding assets, such as brand colors, brand fonts and company logo.

108 Ask questions

A great tip to make your PowerPoint presentations ideas more interactive is to ask questions from your audience.  Like the example below, you can display only your question on the slide. Once the audience has pitched in their opinions and answers, you can click to reveal the actual answer. You can enable this type of interactivity on click when making a presentation in Visme .

109 Replace boring bullet points with visuals

While adding bullet points in your slides might be better than adding walls of text, they're still not the most effective way to get your message across and engage your audience. Take things up a notch and replace boring bullets with visuals, such as photos and even icons. Here's an example of how you can use icons to add a creative twist to the plain ol' bullet points.

110 Share your slide deck

Downloading your slide deck and presenting in front of an audience is not the only way to use your presentation. Make the most of your slides by sharing your presentation online.

Add interactive elements, such as clickable buttons, links, hover effects, popups, embedded videos and more so your audience can view and engage with your slides on their own.

If you've created your presentation in Visme, you can share your presentation publicly or privately using a link, or embed it anywhere you like.

Start Using These Creative Presentation Ideas

Ready to start creating your own presentation after over 100 pieces of inspiration? Choose your favorite creative presentation ideas and incorporate them into your own presentation.

You can add interactivity, animation, visuals and all kinds of creative elements to your presentations when you design them in Visme's online presentation maker. With our Dynamic Field feature , you can automatically update key information in real-time across all your slides or multiple projects. Customize existing dynamic fields or create new ones and format them to maintain design consistency.

Create a free account with Visme to start building a presentation your audience will love.

Design a beautiful and engaging presentation with Visme

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About the Author

Orana is a multi-faceted creative. She is a content writer, artist, and designer. She travels the world with her family and is currently in Istanbul. Find out more about her work at oranavelarde.com

5 Ways to Create Audience Participation in Presentations

How many presentations have you attended that could have been delivered more effectively as an email?

You know the drill.

The speaker unleashes a tidal wave of PowerPoint slides with graphs and charts going every which way.  It’s hard to pay attention. They rarely ask questions or solicit feedback to involve the audience.  To add insult to injury many speakers will read the slides.

That’s bad. Really bad. Because the world has changed, and so have your audiences.

Not including time for audience engagement in your events and presentations might have worked in the past, but today’s audiences have higher expectations of being involved with learning and interacting.  So, you need to make the time!  Just consider how audiences have become more hands-on in reaction to major recent changes:

20 years ago – Internet searches and YouTube videos :

About 20 years ago Amazon.com was created, kind of when the Internet got really popular. Today, when my friends or my brother and I have an argument about who’s the best sports athlete we don’t just guess – we Google search it to see who is right.  And, we Google it on our smart phones. You probably do that, too.  And when I need to fix the dishwasher, rather than call a plumber, I go on YouTube to find videos. You probably do that, too, and so do your audiences . Do-it-yourself videos have changed your attendees’ behavior.

10 years ago – Mobile/Social enables content creation, sharing, collaboration and critiquing :

When the iPhone came out about 10 years ago that really started a social mobile revolution. Now, where I live in Minneapolis Minnesota, over 85% of the people have smartphones! That means 85% of the people are content creators, because the phone in their pocket is a tool for creating content and sharing that content. They don’t need anything else. They have the tools and experience to create content and share or critique it or collaborate with others about it.

Today – More people with advanced education :

In the United States there are more college and master’s degrees per person than ever before. In the last 20 years the number of U.S. master’s degrees has more than doubled.  And the number of college degrees per capita went up over 40 percent.  The number of secondary degrees is the highest ever.  That means your audience is more educated, so you’ve got smart people in the room. With Audience Response Systems (ARS) you have a way to Google them and get them involved in what you’re trying to do, rather than force them to just sit and listen.

If you think that you don’t have time in your program, you better make time! Because your audiences have the tools to figure out what the answers are to their problems and go solve them.  You’re better off using that audience collectively, engaging them to create something greater, instead of just having a speaker and leaving all that brainpower and willingness left fallow.

So, you don’t have to be the person who drowns your audience under waves of PowerPoint slides.  Instead, follow the suggestions below to get your audience involved and help them pay attention to you!

1. Schedule audience participation into your presentation

Yes, you need to plan audience interaction in your presentation.  I would recommend 10-20 minutes.

Why?  Because attendees stop paying attention after 10 minutes AND your presentation is probably the third one of the day. They can only take so many graphs and charts.

If you can get them to consider rhetorical questions, participate in small group conversations or ask you questions, then you will win.

2. Help people participate during your presentation

For audience interaction – speakers should inspire the audience to act.

When we looked at the reasons people attend conferences words like Try, Share, Meet and Discuss bubbled up to the top.

Along those same lines the key audience participation words are  ask, answer, poll, rank, vote, play, capture, collect, discuss, display, share .  Notice: “sit and listen” are not on the list.

These are the actions that you can inspire your audience to take.

3. Think about attendee engagement as “Googling the audience”

If your audience could answer questions for you as quickly as Google – what would you ask them?  What questions should they be asking themselves?

Here are 10 questions senior leaders should be asking but are afraid to ask .

4. Create a feedback loop

A feedback loop is a way to take all of the small engagement conversations and bring them back to you the speaker. This might be through live polling results, conversation recaps, Q&A, word cloud or some other technique.

For example, sometimes speakers ask the audience to discuss a ___________ that ____________ (example: discuss a leader that inspires you ).  Then, attendees form groups of 2-3 and talk for a few minutes. Where does that conversation go afterward? Is the information fed back to the audience? Or do they keep it themselves?  Savvy presenters will ask someone to share these conversations.

5. Consider Live Polling, Interactive Q&A or Interactive Trivia

If you have a large audience, then Live Polls, Interactive Q&A or Interactive Trivia would be a great way to get people involved with you.

If your event is not providing an event app, then you may consider an audience response app to scale up your audience participation and attendee engagement. There are several options available and most have a basic interactive Q&A and Live Polling feature. Solutions like SocialPoint include the Interactive Trivia .

Also, these audience response apps have live results displays so you can create a feedback loop. Yeah!

If you don’t know how to use the technology read this guide:  How to Prepare Your Speakers to Use Audience Response Apps .

The Big Finish

Don’t let your next presentation be a tidal wave of PowerPoint slides. Incorporate 10-20 minutes of audience participation activities into the presentation.   We promise that you will see the results in your post-event feedback forms.

Have an awesome next event!

If you need game ideas to increase audience and attendee engagement in your events and trade show booths try our game selector tool below. It will help you generate more fun, excitement, and results.

Related Articles

• Posted on 22 Dec 2017
• By Samuel J. Smith
• In audience engagement

Written by Samuel J. Smith

Samuel J. Smith is a thought leader, researcher, speaker and award winning innovator on event technology. In 2011, BizBash Magazine added Sam to its annual innovators list. Since then, Sam has won awards from Exhibitor Magazine, IBTM World, RSVP MN, International Live Events Association and MPI for innovation in event technology.

50+ Fun Icebreakers For Your Next Presentation

If you’re looking for the perfect icebreaker to open your presentation and connect with your audience from the get-go, look no further! With the help of our presentation experts here at 24Slides, we have compiled the ultimate list of icebreakers you can use in your next presentation, meeting, or conference. 

We’ll also go through some quick icebreakers 101, solving questions like:

What is an icebreaker?

• Why should I start my presentation with an icebreaker?
• What makes a good icebreaker for presentations?

And, of course, you’ll get our compilation of over 50 icebreaker examples for your next presentation. Since there’s no one-size-fits-all, we’ve divided our presentation ice breakers into categories depending on the context of your presentation, so you can go straight to the ones that will work the best for you!

In this article, you’ll find:

Icebreakers for one-on-one presentations

Icebreakers for small group presentations (2-10 people), icebreakers for medium group presentations (11-30 people), icebreakers for large groups (31+ people), icebreakers for business and sales presentations, icebreaker ideas for training sessions and workshops.

• Virtual presentations icebreakers
• Fun icebreaker examples for playful presentations
• Great simple icebreaker questions  

So, are you ready to become an expert in using icebreakers in your presentations?

Imagine you’re in a room with a bunch of people where you know only a few of them or even none at all. You’d probably start feeling awkward and self-conscious, uncertain to interact with those around you. When you’re uncomfortable, your attention will probably be divided between wanting to listen to the speaker and making sure your elbows don’t touch your unknown neighbor. 

And, if you’re the speaker, you might feel pretty awkward too. Speaking in front of an audience is never easy, and you might wonder how to approach your presentation’s topic, especially if it’s dense or very important. 

An icebreaker is precisely what its name suggests: it breaks the ‘ice’ of uncomfortableness between you and everyone else around you. Icebreakers are usually short activities meant to help your audience to connect first as people before approaching your presentation’s topic - making your audience more relaxed and likely to hear out your ideas. 

Icebreakers can take many forms and shapes, from simple questions to engaging games. They can require people to talk with each other, answer a poll, or even move around the room. Anything that will make your attendees open up could be an icebreaker as long as it makes people feel more at ease! 

Benefits of icebreakers

The main objective of using an icebreaker in a presentation is to help people get more comfortable and avoid the common awkwardness when first speaking to a new audience. 

Icebreakers can accomplish many things - presenting yourself, getting people more at ease, and even as an introduction to your presentation’s topic. But they also offer a wide array of side benefits, like getting people more involved with your presentation and making it more memorable. 

If you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Why should I add an icebreaker to my presentation? I’m just fine without one!’ here are 6 of the top benefits of using an icebreaker in your next meeting. 

• It breaks down the awkwardness

For people who aren’t 100% an extrovert, presentations and meetings are likely to create a certain degree of awkwardness. And having a room full of people who feel uncomfortable around each other can be detrimental to your presentation. Icebreakers help lessen this feeling in your presentation – making people relax and be more at ease so they can put all their energy into listening.

• Icebreakers help people relax and have fun

When people relax, they’re more likely to entertain new ideas. An icebreaker may be the turning point to make them feel more receptive to what you’re going to say. It also opens up more possibilities for inviting your audience to participate and ask questions. Icebreakers are a great way to make them feel welcomed and more likely to volunteer or join whatever activity you’ve prepared for them onstage.

• Help you connect with your audience

A presentation where the speaker starts right away can feel a little jarring. Icebreakers are the perfect way to introduce yourself and your topic without throwing your audience headfirst into the presentation. A good icebreaker can help you connect better with your audience – making them, in turn, more likely to hear you out!

• Gives your audience an energy boost

Some presentations can feel like they take forever. When you’ve been sitting down for what seems like hours, you might feel yourself starting to nod off. An icebreaker doesn’t necessarily happen just at the start of the presentation. It can be a great way to wake up your audience after a quick break and bring them back to the topic at hand. 

• Gives a chance to network with others

The right icebreaker can get your audience talking and help them find things in common. After all, your audience is all in the same meeting for a reason! By giving them the opportunity to interact with one another, you are also giving them the extra value of finding people who can work with them in the future. 

And, of course, icebreakers are great ways to get the ball rolling, so by giving your audience a chance to talk with one another, you might also get more interesting and unique takes on questions and ideas later on. 

• Creates a positive atmosphere

A positive atmosphere is created when people lower their barriers and defense mechanisms, making it more conducive to learning. A negative atmosphere, on the other hand, is felt when people don’t feel at ease and give their neighbors the cold shoulder. ‘Breaking the ice’ needs to get done as soon as possible!

5 Practical Tips for a Good Icebreaker 

What makes a good icebreaker? This is a tricky question to ask. Many icebreakers that work in certain situations will not work in others, as their use depends on context. 

Here are key factors to consider when planning your next presentation’s icebreaker: 

• Know your audience

Take the time to research your audience. The most important thing when planning your presentation’s icebreaker is to remind that you want your audience to feel less awkward  — not more.

Taking your time to learn about the people in front of you is the easiest way to avoid doing or saying something that could potentially offend your audience. Even if you do it unintentionally, the damage will still be done. 

• Identify your presentation objective

The right icebreaker will help you achieve your presentation objective, so take some extra time to think about it. For example, if you’re giving a presentation on cooperation and teamwork, you can do a game where your audience needs to rely on one another. Or conduct a poll to ask your audience how confident they are in their teamwork skills. 

Making your icebreaker closely relate to your presentation’s topic will not only open up your audience but also allow you to transition smoothly to the rest of your presentation. 

• Involve everyone

The icebreaker should be inclusive, meaning it shouldn’t exclude anyone from joining. For instance, if you have a disabled person in the crowd, then you wouldn’t want him or her to feel awkward for not being able to join. 

Have a backup icebreaker just in case the first one excludes someone. The point is that fun icebreakers should make everyone feel more at ease  — and not at the expense of the outliers of the crowd.

• Make sure you understand the context

To pick the right icebreaker for your presentation, you must know the overall setting in which it will take place. A presentation to the board of directors where you need to explain where the sales have been going down is probably not the best place to use a joke as an icebreaker. Or, if you’re giving a quick 15-minute presentation, you might not want to begin with a game that will take at least 10 of them. 

Taking into consideration general setting cues like time frame, space and resources availability, and presentation tone, will help you pick the perfect icebreaker. 

The Ultimate Presentation Icebreakers List

Here you’ll find the perfect icebreaker for your presentation. Since not every icebreaker will work on every situation, here you’ll find them divided into several categories: 

• Icebreakers depending on your audience size
• Icebreakers depending on your presentation’s tone and context
• Quick and easy questions to break the ice

Do feel free to browse through the entire list: most icebreakers will be easy to adapt to fit your specific needs and your presentation!  

Presentation Icebreakers for Every Audience Size

While in a small crowd, you might be able to ask person by person their input, this will most likely not be the case in large groups. On the flip side, a game that needs the audience to divide into teams might be a good pick for a medium-sized crowd, but not a one-on-one presentation. 

Among the many options of icebreaker options all over the web, we’ve compiled and edited a list of which ones will work the best for each audience size: 

• Introduce yourself. Unless you already know each other, introducing yourself is the easiest way to look proactive and get your presentation going. After all, it’s in your best interest for your prospect to warm up to you before your pitch or presentation!
• Have a conversation . Don’t go straight to your topic. Always warm up your prospects and engage them in conversation first. Try to ask open-ended (instead of just ‘yes’ or ‘no’) questions. You can tackle topics like current events, or even just the weather! Just talking in a more casual way will make the person feel more at ease and more likely to give you their undivided attention. 
• Ask them about their personal life. If it’s someone you already know, build rapport by showing you care about them. You can ask about their kids, vacations, or even their favorite sports team. Remembering what they care about can be a huge plus when building a better atmosphere! 
• Let them tell you what they expect from your presentation. It’s the easiest way to make sure you live up to your expectations! It also allows you to introduce the topics of your presentation seamlessly. Even better, you’ll feel and look more confident and under control by taking charge of the presentation’s rhythm and agenda. 
• Ask something related to your presentation topic. Ask them if they know anything about your company, product, competitors, or something to that effect. It’s not only a great way to start your presentation without spending too much time on what they already know, but it’ll also help you gauge their knowledge so you can decide how in-depth you need to get in your presentation.
• Give them a small present just for showing up. Especially if the meeting is not an obligation for them, being appreciative if they show up can go a long way. After all, they’re investing their time and energy into you!
• Compliment them. It’s always nice to get compliments. But don’t overdo it, and always, always be genuine. If your prospect feels like you’re using flattery to get the sale, then it can seriously backfire on you later on. You’ll lose face and credibility.
• Introductions but with a twist. Ask everyone to introduce themselves and state something unusual or a fun fact about them. Towards the end of the presentation, ask them if they remember anything other people said during the introduction. If they get something right, reward them.
• Ask people to line up alphabetically . You can do this with their first names or last names. Or even their nicknames. This gets people talking and getting to know each other’s names.
• Charades . This is one of the best fun icebreakers on this list. It’s a party favorite but can also be used in presentations, meetings, and conferences. You probably already know how this works, but if not, here’s a funny charades video on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

• String a story together . Storytelling is a powerful element in presentations. But for this icebreaker, you’ll need everyone’s help to create a story. Start the first sentence yourself and then ask the first person in front of you to continue the story. Each person gets to decide the direction the story takes, one sentence at a time.
• Play word games . There are many different kinds of word games. But this is something you may find useful. Identify the subject or category the words should belong to, like animals or food. If the first person chooses ‘DOG,’ the next person must identify an animal that starts with the last letter of the previous word. In this case, it would be something that starts with the letter G, like GOAT.
• One word to describe him or herself . Give your audience one minute to think about the perfect word that describes them. And let the others assess if they agree with that word or not.
• Social media icebreaker . Let people open up their favorite social media accounts and then share a photo they’re most proud of. Ask them to share a line or two about why they love that photo.
• Switcheroo. Ask everyone to stand up and switch seats with the people in front of them. Do this when you notice people are starting to get drowsy and need some stimulation.
• Human bingo. This is a fun way to get to know people. Prepare the cards and the pen/pencil. The cards should already be filled out with various traits, characteristics, hobbies, etc. Then, your participants will need to go around and interview each person and check off a box that applies to them. The person who completes their card first gets a prize.
• Friendly debate. Group your participants into two. One should be the ‘pro’ group and the other is the ‘anti’ group. For instance, you can choose pizza lovers and pizza haters. Give them a few minutes to present their arguments and let the great debate begin!
• Two truths, one lie. Just like the title says, make your participants come up with 3 things about themselves, in which one of them is false. Then, in groups or pairs, the others would have to try and guess which one is the lie. It’s a great icebreaker to make your audience interact more with one another.
• Guess game. Just like the last one, it’s easier to make participants interact with one another through a game. Make everyone write on a piece of paper something fun, like an unlikely hobby or the oddest job they ever had. Your audience must try to guess who wrote which one. It’s not only a fun icebreaker, but it also helps people find out the things they have in common.
• Going to the beach. It’s an easy game, but a fun one! Each person will start by saying ‘I went to the beach and I took…’ plus an object, like a beachball, a towel, or a surfboard. Then, the next person must repeat the same sentence and add a new object to the list. The more people, the more the list will grow, and the first person who forgets an item loses! It’s also a good icebreaker for making attendees learn each other’s names by adding who brought what to part of the list they need to repeat. 
• Paper planes.  Make your audience write something about themselves on a piece of paper, and then instruct them to make a paper plane out of it and throw it! When they pick up a new paper plane, their goal will be to find the correct person. It’s the perfect icebreaker to get people moving and getting to know each other!
• Stretch. This one’s easy and straight to the point, but it does help break the boredom. Ask people to stand up and stretch for a few minutes. You can lead the exercise or play a short video on stage. After this short exercise, you can expect to see a bunch of awake and attentive faces.
• Treasure hunting. Hide a few prized items throughout the venue and send your participants on a treasure hunt. It’s always exciting to look out for a prize! Even better, by making them solve clues, you’d encourage your audience to work on their teamwork skills. 
• Stress buster. Hand small slips of paper to everyone and ask them to write down the things that are causing them stress lately. Then, during or after the presentation, ask them to rip it to shreds.
• Snowball fight. Divide your group into two sides, and give each person 3 pieces of paper to crumple. Give them 1 or 2 minutes to try to get as many ‘snowballs’ into the other team’s side. A healthy amount of competitiveness will help you break the ice in no time!
• This or that.  Another great icebreaker to highlight the things in common! Ask your audience to stand in the middle of the room, and ask them questions that will make them pick a side of the room. Things like ‘Dogs or cats?’ or ‘Night Owl or Early Bird?’ will have them jumping from one side to the other. 

Icebreakers depending on your presentation’s tone

When planning your next icebreaker, you must always take into account the context of your presentation. After all, giving a sales report to your boss is not the same as giving a fun workshop on teamwork.  

If you’re looking for the perfect icebreaker for a specific situation, here you might find the one you’re looking for!

If you’re looking for a more professional way to warm up your audience for your work presentations, these icebreakers are the one for you. Most business presentations are more serious and straight to the point, just like these icebreaker ideas!

• Storytelling. This one is the king of icebreakers for business presentations and for a good reason! Storytelling is an incredibly powerful tool to add to your presentations, as it helps to both exemplify your point and connect emotionally with your audience. And of course, this makes it the perfect option to break the ice and get their entire attention from the get-go. 
• The highlight of the week. This icebreaker is great for getting your audience into a positive mood. When planning your next business presentation, take some extra time to find something good that happened that week or that month. Maybe you record sales for that month, or you got an exceptionally good review from a customer.  
• Would you rather?  When planning your sales presentation icebreaker, this one will help to get your potential customer right where you want it. Highlight the value they’ll get from your product, and how they are missing out on it. From our experience, asking, ‘What do you prefer, struggling 5 hours per week on PowerPoint, or getting your presentations done by a professional team of designers in 24 hours or less ?’ really puts things into perspective!  
• Give kudos. The best way to put people in a good mood is to spread out some positivity!  Giving the spotlight to someone who has done outstanding work recently can be a great way to break the ice. 
• Brainstorming session. Group brainstorming is another great way to get people to exchange ideas. You hit two birds with one stone – an icebreaker and an idea generator rolled into one!

The best icebreakers for training presentations and workshops are those that incentivize teamwork and learning skills. These icebreakers will help your team get to know each other better and work together in tandem. 

• Live polls. There are many apps that allow your audience to make live polls and display the results immediately. This is a great icebreaker, as it can be as serious or lighthearted as you want. You can use it to ask the audience’s mood, their favorite food, and how much they know about the topic at hand.  
• Word cloud.  Just like a poll, a word cloud can be a great option to explore what your audience thinks about a prompt or concept you give them and to get the ball rolling. You can make them write down in groups, have them add their ideas to a board, or even make one through an app ! 
• Problem-solution icebreaker. Present a real or hypothetical problem, and ask people to pitch in their solutions. You can ask them for their input individually, or you can divide them into pairs. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one.
• Finish a puzzle together. This is great for group work as everyone can contribute. For example, you can give them a few pieces each, and they’ll then work as a team to complete the puzzle.
• Pop quiz. This icebreaker is the best to keep your audience on their toes and on a learning mood. You can add it at the end of your presentation, before or after a coffee break, or even at the beginning to see how much previous knowledge your audience has. 

Virtual presentation icebreakers

Not sharing a physical space can make breaking the ice even more of a challenge, especially since many icebreaker ideas would not fit an online presentation. So here you’ll find some icebreaker options that are specifically designed for virtual meetings!

• Drawing battle. You don’t have to be a professional artist to enjoy this one! There are many apps and websites that allow you to add this game to your virtual meetings. Just propose a topic and let people try to guess what one of them is drawing! You can even divide them into teams to make it more interesting. 
• Try a virtual escape room. If you have time, try giving your audience this challenge to build cooperation and teamwork. It’s not only great for learning to work together but also to have fun and loosen up. 
• Count till 20. Your team must try to count to 20 by shouting one number each… but without agreeing in which order they’ll go. This icebreaker will definitely make people wake up, and probably also laugh as they try to avoid talking at the same time. 
• Emoji movies. Just like charades, your audience must try to guess the movie or book. But instead of someone acting, they must guess it from the emojis. It’s a great adaptation of a classic game for virtual meetings!   

Fun icebreaker ideas for playful presentations

Icebreakers can also help your presentation be more playful and fun! If you like your icebreakers a little silly to make sure people loosen up their inhibitions, then take a look at these ideas. 

• The no smiles challenge. If you’re making a fun, playful presentation, a great way to make it even funnier is to tell people smiling and laughing aren’t allowed in your presentation. This will most likely have the opposite effect, making people even more ready to laugh at your jokes! 
• Human rock paper scissors. This is a fun, high-energy game, but may not be feasible for older participants. Check this video to see if this is something you can use in your presentation.

• GIFs mood barometer. If you want your audience to be a little bit playful, having them share their mood as a GIF is the perfect way. If you want to keep some control of what they share, you can also use a live poll to give them options to choose from. It’s the perfect lightweight activity that still gives you valuable insights into your audience and their energy levels. 
• Bad jokes contest.  The only thing funnier than a good joke is an extremely bad one. Have your audience try to use their best dad jokes on each other while avoiding laughing at the jokes of the rest.  

10 Great Icebreaker Questions for Any Presentation 

Sometimes simpler is better, and the easiest way to get people talking is to ask them to do so! These icebreaker questions will help your audience open up without taking much time or extra preparation. 

• If you could have any superpower, what would it be, and what would be your superhero name?
• What's the most random piece of trivia you know and why?
• What is the oddest job you ever had, and how did you end up working there?
• If you could make a reality show, what would it be about?
• What cartoon character would you like to hang out with?
• Where is the most embarrassing place you ever fell asleep?
• If they made a sitcom about your life, what would the theme song be?
• What were the best and worst workshops/meetings/conferences you ever attended?
• If the zombie apocalypse began, what three people in this meeting would you want on your team?
•  If you had to teach a class right now, what would the subject be?

As a speaker or presenter, it’s important that you prepare fun icebreakers for your audience. You want people to be comfortable not just with you, but with their neighbors and groupmates as well. The icebreakers in this list are just the tip of the iceberg concerning the wide array of possibilities you can choose from. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and get creative with your icebreakers!

Need more time to prepare for your presentation? 24Slides has you covered!

Now that you’ve begun thinking about your presentation, and the best way to break the ice with your audience, you might wish to have more time to prepare for it. Luckily, 24Slides can help with that !

You can focus on your presentation’s content and how to make your audience as comfortable as possible, and 24Slides professional designers will tackle the visual aspects of it all. In less than 24 hours , you can get a custom-made, fully editable presentation that will wow your audience and make it even more memorable. 

You might also find these articles interesting:

• 7 Essential Storytelling Techniques for Your Business Presentation
• How to Deliver the Perfect Online Presentation
• Improve Your Presentations' Body Language!

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Creating engaging teacher presentations: tips, ideas, and tools

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

Anete Ezera August 21, 2024

Teacher presentations should effectively convey information, engage students, and enrich the learning process. While business presentations often focus on sales or data analysis, educational presentations aim to foster comprehension and spark curiosity. This article delves into the differences between teacher presentations and other presentation types, provides practical tips for educators, and shares design strategies for creating engaging teacher presentations. Additionally, we’ll highlight Prezi , a tool known for its format that offers a refreshing take on educational presentations.

Understanding teacher presentations

Purpose and audience.

The main objective of a teacher presentation is to educate. Whether the presentations are used to introduce new ideas, revisit old topics, or help students understand complex concepts, the main aim is to make the content easy to understand and interesting. In contrast, business presentations usually seek to convince or update stakeholders. A teacher presentation is tailored for the student audience. Ultimately, it should accommodate learning preferences, keep students engaged, and promote participation.

Design and structure

When preparing a teacher presentation, it’s crucial to maintain simplicity. Steer clear of overcrowding slides with information or incorporating flashy visuals that could divert attention from the main message. Opt for a balanced layout that leverages visuals to complement the delivery rather than overshadowing it. Using Prezi , with its non-linear format, empowers teachers to create compelling presentations that flow seamlessly and engage students effectively.

Tips for creating effective teacher presentations

1. know your audience.

Knowing the age, background knowledge, and learning preferences of your students is essential when creating a teacher presentation. Customize your material to suit their requirements, making sure it strikes a balance between being overly complicated and overly simplistic. When presenting to students, make sure to include plenty of visuals and interactive features, and focus on providing in-depth explanations and fostering discussions.

2. Focus on clarity and simplicity

Avoid cluttering your presentation with too much text or too many graphics. Use bullet points to break down information and keep the slides clean. Remember, presentation is a tool to support your teaching, not to replace your voice. The content on your slides should be clear, concise, and directly related to your lesson objectives.

3. Use engaging visuals and media

Using aids like pictures, videos, and diagrams can help improve comprehension and memory of information. Prezi enables you to design captivating presentations with zoom features that assist students in engagingly exploring the material. In contrast to slide decks, Prezi’s canvas offers a natural progression of content, simplifying the task of emphasizing relationships between ideas.

4. Encourage interaction

Incorporate interactive elements into your presentation to keep students engaged. Ask questions, use polls, or include discussion points that require student participation. Prezi’s format supports this by allowing teachers to zoom in on specific points for discussion, making the presentation feel more like a conversation than a lecture.

5. Rehearse and time your presentation

Practicing your presentation ensures that you can deliver it smoothly and confidently. Time your presentation to fit within the class period, leaving room for questions and discussions. A well-timed teacher presentation keeps students engaged and allows for a natural flow of information.

Things to keep in mind when creating a teacher presentation

When preparing a teacher presentation, it’s important to concentrate on developing a useful resource that improves student’s understanding. Here are some dos and don’ts to consider, especially when incorporating images and text, and designing the layout:

Teacher presentation dos:

Use high-quality visuals: Include clear, high-resolution images and graphics that support your lesson content. Visual aids can significantly improve understanding, especially for visual learners. Infographics, charts, and diagrams can be powerful tools to illustrate complex concepts.

Keep text minimal: When creating slides, opt for bullet points and concise phrases. Ensure that your slide content supports your spoken presentation rather than duplicating it. Also, highlight the points that students should keep in mind.

Incorporate multimedia: Use videos, audio clips, and animations where appropriate. These elements can help bring your lesson to life and maintain student interest. However, ensure that any multimedia used directly relates to and enhances the lesson.

Ensure consistent design: Maintain a consistent design throughout your presentation. Use the same font, color scheme, and layout style across all slides. Consistency helps create a professional look and makes the presentation easier to follow.

Use contrasting colors: Choose colors that contrast well, especially between text and background. This ensures that your content is easily readable, even from the back of the classroom. For example, dark text on a light background works well, as does light text on a dark background.

Teacher presentation don’ts:

Avoid overloading slides with information: Avoid overcrowding a slide with information. Too much content on one slide can be daunting for students, and it may distract from the key messages you intend to communicate. Strive for a clear design instead.

Don’t use distracting fonts or colors: Avoid using fonts or colors that clash. Opt for fonts and colors that improve visibility without taking attention from the content. Limit yourself to two or three fonts, and avoid using more than four colors in your presentation.

Don’t overuse animations or transitions: Avoid using too many animations or transitions when switching between slides. Although these elements can make the presentation engaging, excessive movement might become a distraction and take away from the educational material. It’s best to use them with intent.

Avoid irrelevant visuals: Avoid adding any pictures or illustrations that aren’t closely tied to the lesson. Even though visuals can improve a presentation, unrelated ones might perplex students and lessen the significance of your points.

Don’t neglect accessibility: Remember to take into account the learning requirements of students. Make sure your presentation is easy for all students to access by using clear fonts, including text for images, and providing transcripts for any video or audio materials.

By following these guidelines, you can create a teacher presentation that not only looks good but also effectively conveys your lesson material. Keep in mind that the aim is to leverage visuals and design features to enrich learning rather than detract from the information.

Exploring teacher presentation tools: spotlight on Prezi

When it comes to creating captivating teacher presentations, selecting the right tool is key. Although PowerPoint and Google Slides are commonly used, Prezi presents an option that can revolutionize the way educators deliver information.

What makes Prezi stand out?

Prezi’s unique presentation style allows educators to deliver information in a more captivating manner. Rather than following a slide progression, Prezi empowers teachers to explore various aspects of their presentations by zooming in and out, creating a storytelling experience rather than a traditional lecture. This method can engage students effectively and simplify subjects by visually emphasizing the relationships among concepts.

According to research from Prezi, this format is more engaging and memorable compared to traditional slide-based presentations. The study found that Prezi presentations are 25% more effective in keeping audience attention and 20% more effective in making content memorable.

Examples of engaging teacher presentations using Prezi

To illustrate how Prezi can be used effectively in the classroom, here are a few teacher presentation ideas that stand out:

Literacy Genres Prezi Video : This presentation gives a look at types of literary genres using Prezi’s zoom function to delve into each genre extensively. It serves as a method to familiarize students with ideas in an interactive and visually captivating way.

Board Game Lesson Plan Template : This template uses the concept of a board game to structure the lesson, making learning feel like an adventure. It’s perfect for gamifying lessons and keeping students excited about the material.

The Civil Rights Movement VOR : This presentation explores the background of the Civil Rights Movement, showcasing Prezi features to zoom in on events and individuals. It illustrates how Prezi can animate narratives effectively.

Back to School Template VOR : Ideal for the first day of school, this presentation helps teachers introduce themselves and outline class expectations in a fun and engaging way. It’s a great alternative to a traditional teacher introduction PowerPoint.

Light Book Report Template VOR : This is a creative template that inspires students to showcase their book reports, encouraging them to analyze and share their opinions thoughtfully.

For more inspiration, teachers can explore the Prezi Gallery’s Teacher Picks , which offers a variety of templates and examples designed specifically for educational purposes.

Additional teacher presentation ideas

Teacher introduction presentation.

At the start of the year, teachers have a chance to introduce themselves to their students. Using platforms like Prezi, educators can create a narrative that showcases their personality, teaching style, and what learners can expect in the course. Incorporating anecdotes and engaging elements helps in building a rapport with students from the beginning.

Interactive lesson recaps

To enrich learning, think about using Prezi for making summaries of lessons. When wrapping up a unit or lesson, a recap presentation can go over aspects, pose queries, and even incorporate a quiz to improve comprehension. This method strengthens the content and maintains student interest and active participation in their educational journey.

Virtual field trips

The increasing use of tools in education has made virtual field trips more popular as a means to explore the world without leaving the classroom. Teachers can now create tours using platforms such as Prezi, giving students a look at different locations and providing them with an engaging learning experience that improves their knowledge of geography, history, and science subjects.

Try Prezi for your next teacher presentation

In summary, preparing a teacher presentation entails capturing the needs of your audience, emphasizing clarity, promoting interaction, and sharpening your delivery skills. Through platforms such as Prezi, educators can enhance their presentations to captivate students with engaging content. Whether you’re introducing yourself at the beginning of the year, revisiting topics, or guiding students through a virtual excursion, a thoughtfully prepared presentation can enrich the learning experience and leave a lasting impact on your teaching.

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How to Open Class Participation to Everyone

Having a wide range of participation tools—in addition to cold calling—helps teachers encourage students of all backgrounds and dispositions to contribute.

Every student deserves to be heard in the classroom, but making sure that happens isn’t easy. The eager student with their hand up after every question may shut down contributions from others, while the wallflower in the back may have a perspective others haven’t considered but doesn’t feel comfortable sharing it. Balancing the dynamics between students requires the teacher to work very intentionally to make space so that every student can share their thoughts. And hearing from a variety of students is essential for on-the-fly formative assessment—is it time to move on, or does this point need reteaching?

Cold calling is a commonly used technique to ensure that more voices are heard. It’s also useful for identifying disengaged students and keeping everyone focused. It can be an easy—yet powerful and effective—tool to engage every kid when done correctly and equitably, preventing the discussion from being dominated by the ones who always raise their hands.

But teachers tell us cold calling shouldn’t be the sole practice used to motivate students to participate. And participation doesn’t have to mean speaking to the whole class anyway—it can take many forms, from a simple hand gesture to a group brainstorm to an asynchronous opportunity to chime in after class.

Participation can also mean following up on another student’s answer or even asking a question rather than responding to one, which can be nerve-wrecking when students have to admit they don’t understand something. But others might be experiencing the same confusion, and both the teacher and the rest of class can benefit from one student speaking up to ask for clarification, so students need to know that expressing confusion is acceptable—even welcome.

Teachers have a myriad of participation techniques at their disposal to ensure that all students, including kids who might not do well in social settings, have a voice in the classroom. For these students, the fear of participation and the hesitation to do so are justified: They might not respond as quickly as their peers simply because they need more time to process information , or because speaking up in a crowded classroom is anxiety-inducing to them.

Creating a safe environment for everyone to participate requires teachers to have a wide range of participation tools that are compatible with the strengths of students of diverse backgrounds and abilities. If you’re looking for those tools, you’ll find something here that works for you.

Everyone Has An Answer—or a Question

Students need an entry point into class discussions, and teachers can use strategies that invite them to contribute without fixating on getting the correct answer.

Simple check-in questions that can be answered with a thumbs-up or other hand signals can help break the ice, set a positive tone in the class, and allow the teacher to gauge student understanding. To start off a lesson on percentage, for instance, middle school math teacher Ann Young explains to her students how they can participate in a nonverbal, low-stakes way : “If you even have an entry point into the problem, something to contribute to the problem, you’re going to put your thumb up…. So about a minute to think and then as soon as you have some kind of something to contribute your thumb is going up.”

These quick check-ins serve as a low-stakes participation strategy for English language learners (ELLs) and as a brief assessment of student comprehension and processing needs for teachers, according to Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Sypnieski, veteran teachers and authors of The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide . “After an explanation or lesson, a teacher could say, ‘Please put thumbs up, thumbs down, or sideways to let me know if this is clear, and it’s perfectly fine if you don’t understand or are unsure—I just need to know,’” they suggest.

To solicit more substantive answers from students and keep track of who’s already contributed to a discussion, try using the rubber ducks strategy—handing out a fun, potentially silly object such as a rubber duck to each student who contributes something. This visual cue shows who has yet to speak , suggests high school teacher Lindsay Mitchell.

Or you could use equity sticks—writing students’ names on popsicle sticks or index cards and cycling through until everyone’s name has been called. This keeps students mentally alert and poised to contribute , writes educational consultant Shane Safir, and routine use of this practice also “promotes a culture of participation and attention.”

Peer-to-Peer Options

One of the most effective ways to encourage students to participate is to let them discuss in small groups, and varying the structures of these discussions both empowers students to take ownership of their learning and allows teachers to assess student understanding in real time.

Well-designed discussions not only promote equity in the classroom but also shift “the talk ratio and the cognitive load from you to your students,” writes Safir. She recommends alternating between simple discussion arrangements such as Think-Pair-Share and Talking Pennies, where students are each given the same number of pennies to ensure that each speaks the same number of times. “A student who has used up his or her pennies must wait for all the other students’ pennies to be in the middle before speaking again,” Safir explains.

When implementing Think-Pair-Share with ELLs, consider giving them the option to choose their own partner , which “prevents you from inadvertently pairing them up with someone they don’t feel comfortable asking for help or with whom they really don’t get along,” writes elementary teacher Joanna Schwartz.

Student-led discussions like Socratic seminars also help boost participation by prompting learners to prepare the materials in advance. While it takes quite a bit of planning and practice to make a Socratic seminar a meaningful experience, this type of discussion promotes “ student ownership, deep thinking, critical questioning, academic vocabulary usage, and a rooted sense of community ,” writes high school language arts teacher Mary Davenport.

To help students sharpen their speaking and listening skills, try sharing with them a map of their discussion to show how the interactions rolled out in real time, and launching a debrief session about what the students have accomplished and what they should strive to improve.

The Power of Asynchronous Participation

Conventional participation techniques don’t always take into account the needs of shy kids, introverts, ELLs, and those who might need extra time to process information before formulating a response. Teachers can address this issue by differentiating and personalizing participation so that students of all backgrounds and dispositions feel comfortable expressing their thoughts. In the classroom, waiting for 15 to 20 seconds after asking a question before having anyone answer can help, former teacher John McCarthy explains.

Another way to help is to provide students with ways to contribute that don’t involve speaking. Digital innovation has ushered in an abundance of collaborative tools that enable student participation in ways that ease some of the pressure associated with social interaction or public speaking. Try letting students share their thoughts and ask questions in a Google Doc, Google Classroom, or Padlet, suggests former sixth-grade teacher Katy Farber. Farber found that her introverted students who “struggle with out-loud participation can shine as digital participants,” and this opens up opportunities for asynchronous participation that doesn’t have to happen during class time.

You might also consider allowing students to submit their input anonymously through apps like Nearpod, recommends Stephanie Toro, an assistant professor at the Universidad de los Andes. “They will feel their ideas represented without any anxiety of being recognized,” she writes. “They personally will know that they were heard and contributed to the collective learning experience.” For ELLs and others, this reduces the pressure of having to respond out loud and gives them time to process and formulate a written response.

The Question of Measurement

Striving to improve student participation will lead a teacher to consider the question of whether and how to grade it. Although teachers often grade participation as a way to motivate every student to contribute in class—a positive outcome—many worry about grading’s vulnerability to implicit bias of many kinds , they tell us in discussions on social media .

For one, traditional participation is graded based on how often a student speaks up in class, which benefits native English speakers over English language learners and outspoken, gregarious students over shy, introverted kids. These differences may be compounded by racial and gender bias . And the participation grade is often determined by a teacher’s recent observation of students , which can erase an important part of students’ journey earlier in the year that was indicative of their growth, educators tell us.

And all of that is leaving aside the fact that if a teacher hasn’t developed a really thorough way to collect data on participation, they’re just relying on their memory of each of their many students’ contributions over an entire marking period.

It’s high time teachers looked at participation with a more nuanced lens that recognizes the diverse abilities, backgrounds, and dispositions of all students. The good news is that when you make it a priority to use a wide range of participation tools that meet the needs of diverse learners, you’ll have even less reason to grade participation—students’ feeling seen and included will translate into a genuine, authentic motivation to contribute and learn.