When you’re putting together a presentation, you want it to be engaging. Whether you’re presenting it live or embedding it on your website, you want to keep your audience entertained.
The best way to do that is by creating an interactive presentation that holds audience's attention and even allows them to participate.
Sitting in a boring presentation where the speaker simply talks at their audience can make eyes glaze over and cause the speaker to lose their listener.
Adding interactivity to your presentation is the best way to spice up your speech, engage your audience and stand out from other presenters. The best part is, it doesn't have to be more work!
With these 17 ways to create an interactive presentation, you’ll be sure to grab your audience’s attention and keep them entertained throughout the entire presentation.
Here’s a short selection of 10 easy-to-edit job presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
Before we jump right in, let’s explain what an interactive presentation is
An interactive presentation is a dynamic type of presentation that supports increased engagement and interactions with the audience. It involves using interactive elements to create a more personal and engaging experience with your audience.
Whether you’re doing a live or pre-recorded presentation, there are various interactive tools for presentations and interactive ways to present information. It could be as simple as embedding audio and video in your presentation. Or, it could take the form of using charts, surveys, navigation, transitions, hyperlinks, hotspots and other elements in your presentation.
If you ever wondered how to make a presentation interactive, this is your opportunity to try out a variety of techniques. Implement one or two ideas first and see how it fits with your brand guidelines.
Remember that any interactivity you add to your presentations must make sense with the rest of the content, otherwise, it could be distracting instead of engaging.
If using Monday.com, create and share your presentation and collaborate easily inside your workspace using our account integration. Also, take advantage of our wide range of integrations to boost productivity.
Here’s how to make an interactive presentation
The first step is creating a rapport with your audience. You can do this by helping them to get to know you a little better and get to know each other as well.
The way you go about this will depend on the size of your audience. If you’re presenting in a small group setting or workshop, you can easily go around the room and have everyone share a bit about themselves.
However, if you’re speaking with a crowd or at a conference with a larger audience, it would make more sense to simply have your audience introduce themselves to a neighbor or two before you dive in.
You could ask the audience to answer a question out loud or to their neighbor, ask them to prepare a few questions about your topic or a list of things they'd like to learn or put together a fun icebreaker game.
Visualize the icebreaker question on a slide using text animations. Your Visme editor offers a variety of eye-catching movements for your textual content. Choose from options like typewriter, rise up, ease in and more.
Here are just a few icebreaker games you can choose from for your next interactive presentation. Also, read this article on how to start your presentation and 12 ways to keep your audience hooked.
You don’t have to be the only one talking during your presentation. Videos are one of the most effective interactive learning tools for presentations.
Embed a video into one of your slides to switch up your audience’s focus. With Visme's animated presentation software, you can easily embed a YouTube or Vimeo video into your slide for your audience to view on their own or for you to feature during your interactive slideshow. Here's how you can do that.
Simply go to the Media tab in the left sidebar of your Visme editor and click on Insert Video.
Add a video from anywhere, your computer or your phone. Download the Visme iOS app and add videos to your presentations in minutes. Edit your presentation effectively by resizing, placing into shapes, trimming with the timeline editor and selecting playback settings.
Sharing video clips can be a great way to further emphasize your argument by bringing in other opinions or even to just add a break for your audience during longer presentations. You can also share a video of yourself demonstrating how to do something.
If you’re embedding the slideshow on your website, adding a video to a slide or two allows your audience to take a break from reading and jump into a different way of consuming your content.
There are so many other types of content you can embed into your presentation with Visme as well, like quizzes, surveys and more!
Create interactive slides with unique touches like animated icons. Using vibrant design elements like beautiful icons that move your audience’s attention to the areas you want them to notice. Also, using icons instead of text offers white space for the viewer to feel a sense of balance on the slide.
Here’s how to do it:
Choose a slide where you’d like to add an animated icon. In terms of options, you have two; use the native, animated icons or animate static icons with the animation tools.
On the left toolbar, click on graphics and select the icons you want. The animated ones are at the bottom next to the animated illustrations, customizable characters, avatars and 3D arrows.
Place the icon and click on the Animate button on the top right. Select the style of animation and duration for each icon and ensure everything is balanced and not overdone. You might not need more than one or two repetitions for each icon.
A great way to inspire your audience to interact with your presentation is to add popups with extra info using hotspots. This is how you can do it.
Click on a text, shape or object you’d like to add a popup and hotspot to and click on the Actions button on the top right. Add an action and choose the function; it can be another slide, or a popup that you can design from scratch.
Add visual hotspots as markers for the audience to know there is something special going on.
Watch this video to learn how to create interactive pop up effects in Visme
Make your popups more interesting by using AI-generated graphics prompted by your visual brand guidelines.
Not every slideshow you create needs to simply flow from slide to slide. Get creative with it and see if it makes sense to add in a non-linear flow. So, what exactly is a non-linear presentation?
When you create links between slides so you can click around different areas of your presentation, you’re putting together a non-linear presentation.
You’re not going from slide one to slide two to slide three, and so on. Instead, you’re creating an interactive way for you and your audience to jump around your presentation.
You can create a table of contents page and link it to the slides that start each section. If your presentation is embedded, this allows your audience to navigate in their own preferred order.
It also gives your presentation a different edge from the regular flow, and can keep readers intrigued about what’s coming next.
Want to get the audience involved? Ask them questions! This is a must-have interactive tool for presentations.
It’s also one of the most popular ideas for interactive presentations.
While many presenters always plan to host a Q&A at the end of their presentation for the audience to ask questions, it can go both ways.
You can easily put together a few slides where you’re asking your audience questions throughout your presentation. Before you move onto the next section, ask your listeners what they think first.
Don’t make it intimidating, like a pop quiz. A simple “What do you think about. ” can work wonders.
You can also take several breaks throughout your presentation to give the audience a chance to ask you questions. If you had them write down a few things they want to make sure they learn from you at the beginning of the presentation, this is a great time to ask.
Take it a step further and actually create a quiz in your interactive presentation. This engaging presentation idea works well for both live and embedded presentations.
In Visme, you can link elements in your slide together so that one element appears when another element is clicked. So ask your audience a question, gather their answers and then click to expose the correct answer.
If you’re embedding the presentation, make sure you include a button that says something like “Click to see if you’re right!” so that your viewer knows they’re able to interact with the slide.
While you don’t necessarily want to use this as a way to sneakily check if your audience has been paying attention, it can be a fun way to gauge expertise in your audience and understand how much information you should cover.
Struggling to generate content for your quiz? Use Visme’s AI writer to generate high-quality content for your presentation, quiz or other aspects of your presentation.
Add another dose of interactivity for the audience’s viewing experience by using Visme’s flipbook effect. Mixing a physical “flipping” action with a digital document or presentation makes it easy for the audience to swipe from slide to slide. It’ll also create an emotional association with magazines and books, these are generally positive associations.
All presentations made with Visme, when shared via a live Visme link, will be viewable as a flipbook. You can turn the option and off in the sharing settings.
Flipbook isn’t just available for presentations, any document and even whiteboard can be shared as a digital flipbook. All your audience has to do is swipe and the slides/pages will flip like a magazine.
Like Kimberly Barrett, Wellbeing Consultant at Ameritas says, “You can do everything within Visme, you don’t have to use multiple tools to get something completed and delivered. Everything is just in one place, and it’s all-encompassing.”
Want to really grab your audience’s attention? Want to really grab your audience’s attention? Props are also useful interactive tools for presentations.
Bringing props along with you to help you demonstrate and visually tell your story can be a great way to keep people watching and listening.
The first thing to keep in mind when deciding which props to help convey your story is that they need to be relevant. Don’t bring random props that are interesting but are a huge stretch to fit in with your content.
Instead, bring props that intrigue your audience but still make sense with the information you’re sharing.
Here’s a great example of a prop that definitely secured the audience’s full attention. Bill Gates released a swarm of live mosquitos into the audience during his TED Talk on Mosquitos, Malaria and Education.
Sanitary? Maybe not. Attention getting? You bet.
One of the most interactive ways to present information is storytelling. It’s an undeniable strategy for drawing your audience into your presentation. Even if your topic covers a lot of data, facts and statistics, your speech doesn’t have to be dry.
There are many different ways to incorporate stories into your presentation effectively.
A good story helps to create an immersive effect, bringing your audience in and making them feel like they’re a part of your presentation. It taps into their emotions, causing them to hang onto your words, making your presentation much more memorable in the long run.
Here's a great example of a presentation filled with data that still hooks the audience in with great storytelling.
You don’t have to speak the entire time. Much like videos, audio and sounds are helpful interactive tools for presentations.
In fact, sometimes, it can be nice to give yourself a break and pre-record some of your slides. This is also a great strategy to include for embedded presentations.
With Visme’s presentation maker, you are able to upload audio files that play in your slideshow. You can also record your own audio directly inside the Visme editor.
Some Visme users even create pre-recorded webinars using the software.
Adding audio into an embedded slideshow can be a great way to create an interactive presentation experience. You can add music or sound effects to slides to make them stand out. Or you can add an audio narrative that talks about your slide content in even more depth than your slide design allows.
Looking for other activities for presentations to keep your audience engaged? Get your audience involved in your presentation by polling them. Give them multiple choice options to see which one is the most popular. Ask them to raise hands.
You can even use a polling software and have your audience input their answers via their smartphone and watch the results come in live on your screen.
Have fun with it. Ask your audience about their favorite football team, which ice cream flavor they’d choose between vanilla and chocolate and more. This is a great way to do icebreakers, as well as break up your presentation with some mindless fun.
Of course, you can also have polls relevant to your presentation topic. Consider all of the ways you can use a poll in your next interactive presentation.
If you’re still searching for how to make a PowerPoint presentation interactive , consider adding discussion questions in. You can break your audience into small groups to discuss your questions or simply have them discuss it briefly with their neighbor.
Seminar presentations are the perfect setting for discussion questions, and this can also work well if you’re putting on a presentation to a group of people that are sitting at tables.
All you need to do is put a discussion question up on the board and ask your audience to go around their table with their answers. This creates an interactive environment with very little effort on your part.
Another way to create an interactive environment is by encouraging movement within your audience.
This can be as simple as taking an intermission during a longer presentation or giving your audience a few minutes to get up and stretch their legs.
Other methods include asking your audience yes or no questions and having them answer by raising their hands or standing up, having your audience move to different seats and introduce themselves to new neighbors, or calling people up on stage to participate.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, having your audience take time at the beginning of your presentation to list out their questions on your topic is a great idea.
It’s a proven technique to make your PowerPoint presentation interactive.
Several times throughout your presentation, take a pause to ask for audience questions. Allow your listeners to ask questions about the slides you’ve already covered and the ones that may be coming up.
Getting your audience to ask questions, and letting them know that there will be several opportunities to do so, is a great way to ensure they continue to pay attention, take notes and write down potential questions throughout. Make sure you set some time aside at the end of your presentation for the rest of their questions.
Worried that people won’t speak up? Have a few allies in your audience that start the question asking.
No, this is not sneaky or shady. Sometimes people need a bit of encouragement, and asking a friend that you know will be attending to start off the questions can help.
Again, your presentation doesn’t have to be linear. You can have a slide setup with your four (or however many you have) main points and ask your audience which one they want to hear first, second and so on.
This makes it fun for the audience because they actually get to participate in the order of your presentation.
While this means you need to be extra prepared for whatever route your presentation may take, it creates a fun, interactive setting that your audience will remember for years to come.
Try a unique presentation structure like this, or one of these seven that your audience is sure to love.
If you’re speaking at an event that already has a branded hashtag, encourage your audience to tweet about your presentation using that hashtag. If you’re hosting a standalone presentation, come up with your own hashtag for your audience to use.
Your viewers can then share tidbits from your presentation as well as use the hashtag to ask questions for you to monitor and answer throughout.
Not only does this help to get your audience engaged, but it even helps to get their audiences engaged, learning about who you are, and interested in your content and presentation.
Create a different ambiance by adding background music to your slides. Or get your audience pumped for new and exciting information with a pop song transition.
With Visme, you can easily upload audio files, including music clips, so that you can create an interactive experience for your audience. Your entire presentation doesn’t have to be centered around the sound of your voice. Adding in a music clip is a great way to refocus your audience on your content.
Plus, it can be a nice added touch in an embedded presentation.
There are so many different ways to animate your slides, each more exciting than the next. You can animate different elements in your slides, like in the animated slideshow below.
You can also create seamless transitions between your slides by having each one of your elements slide in on its own, like in the presentation example below. To see the effect in action, click on the arrow buttons to transition to the next slide.
You can even add animated graphs and charts to your presentation slides. Animation should be fun, and toying with different ideas can make for great interactivity.
This is actually a big mistake that most people make while creating a presentation. If you're using a software like PowerPoint, you might go overboard with all the different options you have. Use a tool like Visme so you can access handpicked, proven animation and transition styles, like in the examples shown above.
Just remember to be consistent with your animations and transitions. Keep the same look and feel throughout your entire presentation rather than a million different animation types.
Last, but certainly not least, use data visualization to showcase your information in an engaging and easy-to-understand format.
Whether you’re a data expert, business leader, or trainer, interactive data visualization is a staple. It’s one of the most interactive ways to present information, especially when detailing with figures and statistics.
Data visualization can be anything from a chart or graph that visually represent actual statistics and numbers to an icon or graphic that represents words.
Visualizing your points can be a great way to argue your point, and creating charts, graphs and other figures helps your audience digest your content that much quicker and more easily.
Plus, Visme offers tons of ways to visualize data within your presentation slides.
Choose from one of our many data visualization tools, such as animated charts, graphs and data widgets, to start visualizing your facts and figures in a more interactive format.
Once you’re satisfied with how your presentation looks, you can share it online using a live link or download it in multiple formats, such as PPTX, PDF, PNG, JPG, MP4 and more. Also you track the performance (views, unique visits, average time spent and completion) of your presentation using Visme analytics.
Interactive content is more effective because it grabs attention and provides an engaging and immersive experience that keeps users hooked on your content. This attribute makes it a brilliant strategy for educating your audience, increasing audience participation, boosting engagement, and improving their overall learning experience.
According to a DemandGen report, up to 90% of marketers admit interactive is effective in educating buyers but other marketers use it for lead generation (58%), brand awareness (57%) and conversion (49%).
There are many interactive presentation tools out there. Visme is the best, primarily because it offers a user-friendly interface, a full suite of animation and interactive tools, multiple customization options, an extensive library of templates and much more.
You can access animated 2D and 3D graphics, icons, illustrations and special effects that level up your visual content, as well as, animated enter and exit effects for your text and other design elements.
In addition, you can create a clickable menu or interactive table of contents, ink slides, pages or content blocks to objects on your canvas, and create hover effects or clickable pop-ups that reveal information when users take action.
The best part? Visme offers a variety of interactive templates and ready-to-use graphics that help users save time and create high-quality presentations quickly.
When it comes to interactive presentations, there are several types that can be quite effective.
However, one of the most interactive types of presentations is one that involves the audience directly in the discussion and allows for active participation.
This can be achieved by using interactive presentation examples and tools such as videos, live polls, quizzes, Q&A sessions, interactive games, and hands-on activities. By engaging with the audience in this way, presenters can create a memorable experience that not only educates but also entertains.
There are a few things you can do to make your presentation more memorable.
First, make sure you have a clear and concise message you want to convey to your audience. This will help you stay focused and avoid getting sidetracked during your presentation.
Next, use visuals like images, graphs, and charts to help illustrate your points and break up the text on your slides. Don't be afraid to use humor or storytelling as well, as these can help engage your audience and make your presentation more entertaining.
You can also consider adding animations and interactive elements to your presentation to make it more engaging. Interactive elements, such as quizzes, polls, or games, can also help to engage your audience and keep them interested in what you're saying.
Animations can be used to bring your content to life and keep your audience's attention focused on the screen. For example, you can use animations to highlight key points or to add a bit of visual interest to your slides.
Finally, practice your delivery and try to be confident and enthusiastic when you present. This will help you connect with your audience and leave a lasting impression.
Interactive presentations can be more effective than traditional, static presentations because they engage the audience and keep them interested throughout the presentation.
When the audience is hooked, they become active learners and are more likely to retain the information.
Interactive presentations can also be customized to meet the specific needs and interests of the audience, making them more relevant and impactful.
Overall, incorporating interactive elements into a presentation can help to create a more dynamic and memorable experience for the audience.
Yes, an interactive presentation and interactive content are two different things.
An interactive presentation is a type of content that conveys engaging information using multimedia elements such as videos, animations, and interactive graphics.
Interactive content, on the other hand, refers to any type of content—such as quizzes, polls, and games— that requires your audience to participate actively rather than consume the information passively.
Before now, you were probably thinking of which option you would use for your presentation to engage your audience. Before now, you were probably thinking of which option you will use for your presentation to engage your audience or how to make presentations interactive.
So now you see? Your next presentation doesn’t have to be boring and predictable. By incorporating these interactive presentation ideas, your audience will be engaged and their phones will be put away.
Visme offers tons of interactivity features right within our presentation software. Sign up and create a free account today to start trying them out. And if you’re running out of time, you can use AI Presentation Maker to create your presentation in minutes.
Beyond presentations, Visme offers an all-in-one visual content platform. You can use our infinite online whiteboard to brainstorm and build projects collaboratively, create marketing material, schedule and share it on social media right from the editor and access tons of design elements and tools to create powerful content.
Try Visme today and make your presentations interactive, entertaining and successful.
Did you find this article helpful? Which interactive presentation feature is your favorite? Let us know your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
