Let’s face it, no one likes to attend mundane meetings or sit in a boring live presentation where the speaker isn’t interacting with the audience. No matter how big or small the crowd is, engaging the audience is one of the best ways to keep them attentive, focused, and interested in what it is that you’re presenting in front of them.
If you’re someone who wants to make their presentation more engaging, you have come to the right page! In this article, we will share some of the best presentation design tips that presentation experts use for creating and delivering interactive presentations. But before we dive in, let’s understand what an interactive presentation is.
What’s an Interactive Presentation?
A presentation that’s dynamic and facilitates interactions with the audience is known as an interactive presentation. It involves the use of interactive elements in order to create a more engaging experience for the audience. Whether you’re delivering a live presentation or sharing a recorded version of it with your audience, you can integrate various interactive elements in your presentation, in order to present information in an effective manner and keep the attention of your audience till the last slide of your presentation. Let’s have a look at a few of these elements, along with some actionable advice in this regard, one by one.
Interactive Presentation Ideas: 11 Ways to Increase Audience Engagement
#1: Use an icebreaker
When it comes to starting your presentation on an interactive note, nothing works better than asking your audience a straightforward question to warm them up for the presentation. As simple as it may sound, it’s actually a great way to turn your audience, from the very beginning, from passive listeners to active participants, that too in almost no time. Moreover, it will help you connect with your audience and get comfortable before you get to the core of your presentation and put forth your most important points.
The good thing about using icebreakers is that there’s one for every occasion. No matter whether you use a fun, silly, interesting or thought-provoking icebreaker, it’s sure to do its work, considering that it’s suitable for both your presentation and presentation style.
#2: Include a Q&A session
If you want to get your audience involved, ask them questions! Instead of hosting a Q&A session at the end of your presentation, place several Q&As in between the different sections of your presentation to build interactivity throughout your presentation. This means, after concluding a section and moving on to the next one, ask your listeners, checking with them what they think, first. A simple question or something like a pop quiz can work wonders.
#3: Make your content informative and appealing at the same time
Make your informative slides less boring by using videos, images, and even GIFs to add a visual element to your slides. This will help draw the attention of your audience back to your slides, while giving them something interesting to focus on. You can also use animation effects, in addition to charts, graphs, transitions, and other visually appealing elements in your presentation. Apart from this, it’s also a good idea to use sound effects or music that can perk the audience up naturally.
#4: Make use of your storytelling skills
Storytelling is one of the most interactive and effective ways of presenting the information. It draws your audience into what you’re presenting and keeps them entertained, even if it’s a lot of information for them to process in one go. Not only that, it can make you appear more relatable to the audience, thereby making it easier to engage them further.
#5: Allow your audience to ask questions
Let your audience feel free to ask any questions they may have whenever they arise. This will help resolve their queries and also make them feel that their presence and participation are valued.
#6: Use humour to lighten the mood
Some presentations can be too informative or rich in content. By using your sense of humour effectively during your presentation, you can lighten the mood of your audience, help them focus better for the next section of your presentation, and also build a nice rapport with them.
#7: Make use of props
Using props in your presentation may seem a bit old-school, but it simply works, especially when it comes to helping your audience visualise what you’re presenting! It can grab the audience’s attention and also make things more interesting for them.
#8: Poll your audience
Polling your audience is another interactive way to get your audience engaged by raising their curiousity. Simply give them multiple-choice questions to answer, gather their responses, and show them the results in the end. It’s also a good idea to make them share their responses by raising their hands. All this can also be done in a virtual setting.
#9: Make use of effective language
By simply adjusting your tone of voice and using inspiring language, you can influence your audience and leave a lasting impression on them. Keep in mind the audience demographics and match the tone to suit your presentation style. It’s also important to simplify complex concepts and avoid using jargon, while making sure your core message gets through.
#10: Include a game of trivia
Quizzing your audience is a nice way to have fun with your audience, while getting to know how much they have learnt about a certain topic. They will get a break from the presentation and also get to recall what they have just learned.
#11: Consider creating non-linear presentation
Most presentations are designed in a linear manner, i.e. from slide to slide (in a straight sequence), but it doesn’t always have to be that way! Get creative with your presentation design and see if you would like to have a non-linear flow in your presentation. Not only will this give your presentation an edge and make it stand out, but will also keep your audience intrigued and curious about what’s coming next.
If you were wondering what a non-linear presentation is, it’s when you create jump links between the slides, allowing you to click through and switch to a different section of your presentation. So, instead of going from the first slide to the second, third, and so on, you will be making the presentation dynamic, allowing you to jump around your presentation and switch to different sections, in no particular order.
In order to do this, create a ‘Table of Contents’ page towards the beginning of the presentation and link it to the start of each section. If you’re sharing the presentation with your audience, this will allow them to navigate the content in the order they prefer.
Final Thoughts
We hope that the tips shared in this article will help you create interactive presentations and engage your audience like never before. With that being said, the more you work on your presentation skills and presentation design, the better outcomes you can expect from your presentations.
If you want to improve your presentation skills or need assistance with presentation design, feel free to contact our team of presentation experts!
