Philipp Humm

Interactive presentation

7 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

December 19, 2023

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

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

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

Interactive Presentation Ideas #1: Imaginary world

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

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

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

Tips:

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

Interactive Presentation Ideas #2: Student Teacher

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

Goal: Make sure people understand and remember.

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

Tips:

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

Interactive Presentation Ideas #3: Question

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

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

Examples:

  • “What do you talk about in the first few minutes of a meeting?”
  • “What’s the best experience you’ve ever had as a customer?”
  • “Is it okay to show feelings at work?”

Tips:

  • Ask questions everyone can answer.
  • To make it more dynamic you can pick random people in the crowd to answer your question.
  • To make it even more dynamic you can throw an item such as a tennis ball or a teddy to whomever you’d like to answer the question. Just avoid any potentially dangerous objects. I tried this first with golf balls. Let’s say it didn’t go too well.

Interactive Presentation Ideas #4: Poll

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

Goal: Get to know your audience better.

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

Tips:

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

Interactive Presentation Ideas #5: Quiz


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

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

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

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

Tips:

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

Interactive Presentation Ideas #6: Storytime swap

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

Goal: Create a relatable and engaging atmosphere, and highlight real-world applications of your content.

Example:
“Let’s take a moment to connect on a personal level. Turn to your neighbor and share a brief story or experience related to our topic. Whether it’s a success, a challenge, or a humorous incident, these stories will enrich our understanding and make the content more tangible.”

Tips:

  • Keep the storytelling brief to allow multiple participants to share.
  • Connect shared stories back to key points in your presentation.
  • Express appreciation for participants’ willingness to share.

Are you looking for more storytelling activities to include in your next presentation? Here are 7 Storytelling Activities to Deliver an Unforgettable Team Event. 

Interactive Presentation Ideas #7: Word Association Storm

Word Cloud

Overview: Begin with a single word related to your presentation and have the audience contribute associated words or ideas in rapid succession.

Goal: Spark creativity, generate a collaborative brainstorm, and set an energetic tone.

Example:
“Let’s kick off this brainstorm with a single word: ‘innovation.’ Shout out any words or ideas that come to mind. We’re creating a storm of associations that will set the stage for our exploration of innovative concepts today!”

Tips:

  • Keep the pace lively to maintain energy.
  • Capture the associations visually on a whiteboard or screen.
  • Relate the generated ideas back to your presentation themes.

closing

And there you have it – 7 keys to unlocking the door to engaging, interactive presentations. We’ve shown you the way to banish boredom, spark curiosity, and turn your talks into memorable experiences. Now, armed with these tricks, it’s your turn to take the stage and captivate your audience. The world of presentations will never be the same again – so go ahead, make your mark, and let your next presentation be a shining example of interactive brilliance!

P.S. Another powerful way to make your presentations more engaging is to include more stories in your presentation. To make sure story lands really well, you can check out this next article on to discover the 3 Storytelling Techniques To Deliver Unforgettable Stories.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest