How to Make Your PowerPoint Presentation More Interactive

Hey there, it’s Chad Littlefield, and in this video, I’m going to share some techniques to make your PowerPoint presentations more interactive. I hope to kill the phrase “death by PowerPoint” by sharing some really cool examples that I have used with clients like Crayola, Johnson and Johnson, and a university to make their presentations more engaging. Stick around to the end, and I’ll share a bonus optical illusion that might blow your mind.

Insert a Blank Slide Every Seven Slides

The first technique is simple but effective. When working with a client like Crayola, I noticed that their quality assurance group had a slide deck that was 54 slides long, with lots of technical information that was not easy to digest. To make the presentation more interactive, I inserted a blank slide every seven slides and asked the audience to contribute before or after that slide. This technique invites contribution instead of just consumption and helps to keep the audience engaged. Here are some examples of how to make those blank slides more interactive:

Collaborative journaling: Give everyone designated time to write in the chat or on a sticky note and reflect on what they’ve got so far or what is sticking out to them about the slide. Then, pair up and share in breakouts or read through the chat together.

Quick thermometer or likert scale: Assess the audience’s energy and interest in the content by asking them to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10.

Invite a group to Google: Before telling the audience anything about the topic, ask them to spend two minutes Googling it and try to learn a fact or something interesting that they think nobody else will find. Then, share some of those facts together, ensuring that the sources are reliable. 

The Wikipedia game: Search YouTube for more information about this fun game that mixes things up.

Go 3D

The second technique comes from Johnson and Johnson, where I delivered a captivating communications course. One of the stories we told was about an Imagineer at Disney named Joe Road, who had gone on a safari and was so inspired that he wanted to create Animal Kingdom. Instead of using a PowerPoint presentation to share his experience, he brought a 400-pound Bengal tiger into the conference room and had it lying on the table when the other executives walked in. This technique of going 3D by bringing something physically into the space creates a more immersive experience that engages the audience. When using PowerPoint, try using slides as wallpaper, not the hubs of information.

Translations Technique

The third technique I learned during a workshop with faculty at a university on how to make engagement easy. When one of the faculty members shared their content, we used the translations technique to make the course objectives more engaging. Instead of presenting the objectives academically, we asked the audience to translate them into their own language. This technique converts technical info into English, which will allow it to stick better in the audience’s brain. You can use this technique to put any content that you have up on a screen and invite people to translate it, reframe it, or rephrase it.

Bonus Round – Optical Illusions

For the bonus round, I suggest sticking something on a PowerPoint slide that will blow somebody’s mind. One idea is to use optical illusions, which can be a great brain break to mix up and re-engage the audience’s brain. Google optical illusions to find some fun examples that you can use in your next presentation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, PowerPoint presentations don’t have to be dull or boring. By using these techniques and being creative, you can make your presentations more, you can use techniques like inserting a blank slide every seven slides, going 3D, using translations, and adding optical illusions. Remember to take a little pause in your content to do something that invites contribution and participation from your audience. These techniques, you can keep your audience engaged, enhance their learning experience, and make your presentations more memorable.

If you’re a teacher, trainer, educator, or anyone who wants to learn more about designing interactive and engaging presentations, I invite you to join me in a remote retreat. You’ll surround yourself with brilliant people who can help you learn all the best behind-the-scenes techniques to make your presentations more interactive and engaging.