It’s time to make your presentations more interactive

When’s the last time you sat and listened to someone speak for a full hour, uninterrupted, without losing focus? It’s likely been a while in the era of smartphones and goldfish-esque attention spans (8 seconds according to Microsoft). One of the primary reasons speakers put their audiences to sleep is because they don’t involve them in their presentations.

In the second blog post in a series on how to make presentations more engaging, I’ll discuss tactics to make your presentations more interactive. (see our first blog in this series here).

You may be wondering, why should one make presentations interactive? Isn’t the content all that matters? Interactivity is required for attention these days, and more importantly, paying attention is a prerequisite for learning and behavior change.

People are more likely to retain information when they’re involved versus when they’re talked at. In other words: no activities = no action.

People are more likely to retain information when they’re involved versus when they’re talked at. In other words: no activities = no action.

The good news is that there are simple tactics to incorporate into presentations - live or virtual, small or big audience - to boost their interactivity and in turn engage the participants. 

Polls. Simply ask the audience questions and record their responses. “Show of hands, how many of you consider yourself a confident public speaker?” “How comfortable are you asking difficult questions, scale of 1 to 5.” This can be done analog (with hands), or through smartphones with apps like (Slido and Mentimeter). Polling serves two purposes 1) it forces attendees to reflect and 2) it creates insightful data points. 

Individual Writing Exercises: One of the best ways to retain and recall information is to write it down on paper with a pen (or pencil for primary school nostalgia) - it forces one’s brain to be engaged and focused. Speakers ought to prompt participants to write down key points or personal takeaways so they don’t forget them, e.g. “everybody write down one thing you’ll do differently.” An added benefit of the individual writing exercise is that it forces the audience to reflect and it breaks up the monotony of a lecture. This tactic can also be used for a exercises that apply the learnings, e.g. “Now write down a powerful discovery question using the tactics discussed.”

Trivia/Brain Teasers: Humans love a challenge! Brain teasers and trivia can serve as an icebreaker to kick off the presentation, an energizer after lunch, or even part of the learning objectives if you select the right ones! They could be part of a cold open as well. Some of the best presentations I’ve witnessed have started with a thinking exercise that is then linked to the learning objectives of the presentation - right off the bat the audience is intrigued about what’s to come. 

Competitions: Humans also love competing - it’s in our blood! Individual and team/table competitions are a surefire way to boost the energy. The competition could consist of the first team to successfully complete an activity, the individual with the most correct answers to a quiz on the key lessons, or perhaps the team with the most most powerful/creative/interesting submission to a prompt, judged by managers in the room. Prizes - or even simply recognition always make competitions more fun (and cutthroat). Kahoot is an excellent platform for creating simple quizzes.

Talk to the person next to you: This tactic is simple, quick and effective. Ask a provocative question then say "discuss with the person next to you for 60 seconds." (this can be done in breakout rooms of 2 over Zoom) There's nowhere to hide during this brief, controlled discussion - everybody must contribute their thoughts, which undoubtedly boosts the energy and engagement.

Fewer Slides/Text, More Discussion: A common flaw in live and virtual presentations these days is focusing too much on slides and not enough on provocative discussion and insightful storytelling. More slides and more details on slides (think full paragraphs) are negatively correlated with participant engagement. Reading slides is boring and distracting! Discussion is more interesting. Focus instead on creating materials that support discussion and activities and don’t cause the audience to zone out reading a novel. One trick: place a single picture on a slide when leading a discussion or telling a story - that way the participants will focus on the presenter not the text. 

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