online class presentation ideas

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75 Unique School Presentation Ideas and Topics Plus Templates

Are you tired of seeing the same PowerPoints repeating overused and unoriginal school presentation ideas covering repeated topics in your classes?

You know what I’m talking about; we’ve all been there, and sat through yawn-worthy demonstrations, slides, or presentation videos covering everything from the solar system, someone’s favorite pet, past presidents of a country, to why E=mC squared.

From grade school to university, first graders to college students, we are obligated to create, perform, and observe academic presentations across a plethora of curriculums and classes, and not all of these public speaking opportunities fall into the category of an ‘interesting topic’.

Yet, have no fear! Here at Piktochart, we are here to help you and your classmates. From giving examples of creative and even interactive presentation ideas, providing presentation videos , and suggesting interactive activities to give your five minutes of fame the ‘wow’ factor that it deserves, this article is your guide!

Our massive collection of unique school and college presentation ideas and templates applies if you’re:

• A teacher looking to make your class more engaging and fun with student presentations.
• A student who wants to impress your teacher and the rest of the class with a thought-provoking, interesting topic.

A Curated List of Interesting Topics for School Presentations

Did you know that when it comes to presentations , the more students involved improves retention? The more you know! Yet sometimes, you need a little help to get the wheels moving in your head for your next school presentation .

The great thing about these ideas and topics is you can present them either in face-to-face classes or virtual learning sessions.

Each school presentation idea or topic below also comes with a template that you can use. Create a free Piktochart account to try our presentation maker and get access to the high-quality version of the templates. You can also check out our Piktochart for Education plan .

Want to watch this blog post in video format? The video below is for you!

The templates are further divided into the following categories covering the most popular and best presentation topics. Click the links below to skip to a specific section.

• Unique science presentation topics to cultivate curiosity in class
• Engaging culture and history presentation ideas to draw inspiration from
• Health class presentation topics to help students make healthy lifestyle decisions
• Data visualization ideas to help students present an overwhelming amount of data and information into clear, engaging visuals
• First day of school activity ideas to foster classroom camaraderie
• Communication and media topics to teach students the importance of effective communication
• Topics to help students prepare for life after school

We hope this list will inspire you and help you nail your next school presentation activity.

Unique Science Presentation Topics to Cultivate Curiosity in Class

Science is a broad field and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with too many topics to choose for your next presentation.

Cultivate curiosity in the science classroom with the following unique and creative presentation ideas and topics:

1. Can life survive in space?

2. Do plants scream when they’re in pain?

3. What are the traits of successful inventors?

4. How vaccines work

5. Massive destruction of the Koala’s habitat in Australia

6. Left brain versus right brain

7. What are great sources of calcium?

8. Recycling facts you need to know

9. Do you have what it takes to be a NASA astronaut?

10. The rise of robots and AI: Should we be afraid of them?

11. How far down does the sea go?

12. The stages of sleep

13. Will Mars be our home in 2028?

14. A quick look at laboratory safety rules

15. The first person in history to break the sound barrier

Engaging Culture and History Presentation Ideas to Draw Inspiration From

History is filled with equally inspiring and terrifying stories, and there are lessons that students can learn from the events of the past. Meanwhile, interactive presentations about culture help students learn and embrace diversity. 

16. Women in history: A conversation through time

17. The sweet story of chocolate 

18. A history lesson with a twist 

19. The history of basketball 

20. The origin of the Halloween celebration 

21. AI History 

22. What you need to know about New Zealand 

23. 1883 volcanic eruption of Krakatoa 

24. Roman structures: 2000 years of strength

25. The most famous art heists in history 

26. Elmo: The story behind a child icon 

27. 10 things you should know before you visit South Korea 

28. 8 things you didn’t know about these 8 countries 

Health Class Presentation Topics to Help Students Make Healthy Lifestyle Decisions

Want to learn how to engage students with healthcare topic ideas? Then consider using these templates for your next interactive presentation.

According to the CDC , school-based health education contributes to the development of functional health knowledge among students. It also helps them adapt and maintain health-promoting behaviors throughout their lives. 

Not only will your presentation help with keeping students engaged, but you’ll also increase class involvement with the right slides.

The following examples of health and wellness interactive presentations include fun ideas and topics that are a good start. 

29. How to look after your mental health?

30. The eradication of Polio

31. How to have a healthy lifestyle 

32. 10 handwashing facts 

33. Myths and facts about depression

34. Hacks for making fresh food last longer 

35. Ways to avoid spreading the coronavirus

36. Mask protection in 5 simple steps 

37. Everything you need to know about the flu

38. All about stress: Prevention, tips, and how to cope 

39. The importance of sleep 

40. Is milk tea bad for you?

41. How to boost happiness in 10 minutes

42. How dirty are debit and credit cards 

43. Why do you need sunscreen protection

Data Visualization Ideas to Help Students Present Overwhelming Amounts of Data in Creative Ways

Data visualization is all about using visuals to make sense of data. Students need to pull the main points from their extensive research, and present them by story telling while being mindful of their classmates’ collective attention span.

As far as student assignments go, storytelling with data is a daunting task for students and teachers alike. To keep your audience interested, consider using a non linear presentation that presents key concepts in creative ways.

Inspire your class to be master data storytellers with the following data visualization ideas:

44. Are we slowly losing the Borneo rainforest?

45. Skateboard deck design over the years

46. Food waste during the Super Bowl

47. The weight of the tallest building in the world

48. Infographic about data and statistics

49. Stats about cyberbullying

50. How whales combat climate change

First Day of School Interactive Activity Ideas to Foster Whole-class-Camaraderie

Calling all teachers! Welcome your new students and start the school year with the following back-to-school creative presentation ideas and relevant templates for first-day-of-school activities.

These interactive presentations grab the attention of your students and are remarkably easy to execute (which is the main educator’s goal after all)!

51. Meet the teacher

52. Example: all about me

53. Self-introduction

54. Tips on how to focus on schoolwork

55. Course plan and schedule

Give our class schedule maker a try to access more templates for free. You can also access our presentation-maker , poster-maker , timeline-maker , and more by simply signing up .

56. Interpreting a student’s report card (for parents)

57. Introduction of classroom rules

58. Assignment schedule

59. Daily planner

60. Course syllabus presentation

61. How to write a class presentation

Topics to Teach Students the Importance of Effective Communication

Visual media  helps students retain more of the concepts  taught in the classroom. The following media topics and infographic templates can help you showcase complex concepts in a short amount of time. 

In addition, interactive presentation activities using these templates also encourage the development of a holistic learning process in the classroom because they help focus on the  three domains of learning:  cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. 

62. Interactive presentation do’s and don’ts 

63. How to create an infographic 

Recommended reading : How to Make an Infographic in 30 Minutes

64. How to improve your internet security and privacy

65. What is design thinking?

66. What are your favorite software tools to use in the classroom? 

Presentation Topic Ideas to Help Students Prepare for Life After School

One of the things that makes teaching a rewarding career is seeing your students take the learning and knowledge you’ve instilled in them, and become successful, productive adults.

From pitching a business idea to starting your podcast, the following topics are good starting points to prepare students for the challenges after graduation (aka adulting 101):

67. How to make a resume

68. How to start a startup

69. Credit card vs. debit card

70. Pros and cons of cryptocurrency

71. How to save on travel

72. How to do a SWOT analysis

73. How to pitch a business idea

74. Habits of successful people

75. Starting your own podcast: A checklist

Find out how a high school teacher like Jamie Barkin uses Piktochart to improve learning in the classroom for her students.

Pro tip: make your presentation as interactive as possible. Students have an attention span of two to three minutes per year of age. To keep minds from wandering off, include some interactive games or activities in the lesson. For example, if you conducted a lesson on the respiratory system, you could ask them to practice breathing techniques.

Maintain eye contact with your students, and you’ll get instant feedback on how interested they are in the interactive presentation.

Make School Presentation Visuals Without the Hassle of Making Them From Scratch

School presentations, when done right, can help teachers engage their classes and improve students’ education effectively by presenting information using the right presentation topic. 

If you’re pressed for time and resources to make your school presentation visuals , choose a template from Piktochart’s template gallery . Aside from the easy customization options, you can also print and download these templates to your preferred format. 

Piktochart also professional templates to create infographics , posters , brochures , reports , and more.

Creating school-focused, engaging, and interactive presentations can be tedious at first, but with a little bit of research and Piktochart’s handy templates, you’re going to do a great job!

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Create Engaging Presentations for Your Online Classroom

Teachers of the world, we are here to help you!   Due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools worldwide are transitioning to a completely new model of education: in-person classes are out, distance learning is in. As schools adjust to this new normal, teachers everywhere are scrambling to find the resources they need.   Slidesgo can help. Check out our free templates for education and create presentations that are effective , engaging and interactive. They are free, fully-customizable, available in Google Slides and PowerPoint formats and easy to integrate into platforms such as Google Classroom.   Of course, creating engaging presentations can be a difficult and time-consuming process. So here are some tips for making more effective presentations for distance learning. 

Find a great template that fits your age group and subject

Make one presentation per subject, don’t overload your slides with unnecessary text, enrich your presentations with audio and video, use mind maps, try more graphic organizers, make flashcards, make your presentations engaging and interactive, turn your presentations into stories.

Don’t start from scratch. Find a template! This one simple action will save you an enormous amount of time and effort. Once you have the right template, customize it to suit your needs. At Slidesgo we have made the searching process easy for you, allowing to search by keywords and filter your searches by topic, style, color and more

Online teachers are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of documents and messages that they have to deal with every day. But don’t overload yourself by creating a separate presentation for every class session or topic. The key here is simplicity.   Try a different strategy: make just ONE presentation per school subject and add to it as you go. Share it with your students and update it as needed, so it serves as both a teaching tool and a record of what has been learned. And as your presentation gets longer, make it easy to navigate by adding a simple table of contents with links to individual slides or sections. 

Using links to go to specific slides

Forget long sentences. Get straight to the point with concise sentences that express key concepts. This is a basic principle for all presentations but it’s even more important for distance learning, where visual learning is key. Students don’t pay attention to slides that are full of lengthy texts. Their attention goes straight to the images and the way the information is presented graphically. But be careful -- don’t overload your slides with images either, or else it will end up looking overcrowded and confusing. Great presentations focus on presenting key ideas with minimal text, concise messages and clear visual organization.

Reducing the text to concise messages 

First-time presentation makers usually focus just on text and images. But slides have evolved and expert teachers take advantage of new features to enrich their presentations. Try using an animated gif instead of a still image and you’ll find that conveys your idea much better. Don’t be afraid to use super-short audio and video clips: they are just as easy to insert as a still image and they can add a whole new dimension to your presentations.  

Using videos or images  

Mind maps are a great way to organize and present content and concepts. They are great to use at the both beginning and end of a unit, when you’re introducing a topic and also when you’re summarizing what’s been learned. They give students an idea of the “big picture” and help them remember key ideas. Mind maps organize information into a logical hierarchy, allowing you to move from a general topic, to key concepts and then to examples. Finally, mind maps give a graphic representation of the relationships between ideas, which promotes deeper understanding. If you’ve never used mind maps before, check out the examples at Slidesgo and get started! 

Adding a mind map to organize concepts

Graphic organizers are extremely powerful tools for online learning. If you are a beginner, start by inserting a simple table into your slides to organize information or label images. Next, try using an organizational chart or a graph. Get familiar with the tools from templates to add text fields, bubbles and arrows to connect the parts. You’re off and running!  There’s such a wide range of graphic organizers, from flow charts to concept maps, timelines to Venn diagrams. There’s no end to the ways that you can present information visually. At Slidesgo you’ll find presentations and slides with special features for education to make it easier for you to add mind maps and other graphic organizers to your presentations.  

Using graphic organizers

Now here’s a simple but effective idea. Flashcards are a great way to present information in bite-sized chunks for students to learn and study. Slide presentations are the perfect way to make flashcards, for any subject at any level. Why not use a slide presentation to make a glossary of new vocabulary? You can include the written word, a picture, audio, video or even have your students collaborate to make their own.  

Adding flashcards as means of interaction

Remember that presentations are more than just presenting! To take your presentations to the next level, they should make your students think and encourage them to do something with the material. One simple way to do this is by using links. You can connect your presentation to external websites where your students can do online activities or games and practice what they are learning. Or link your presentation to another document where you test their learning. Finally, remember that your presentations are a great place for you to showcase your students’ work. They will love it if you incorporate what they have done into a presentation for the entire class. 

We all love stories! When students feel that there is a story behind what they are learning, it gives them a narrative that connects the parts to the whole and makes their learning more personal and motivating. Include pictures of people in your presentations. Give them names and personalities and bring them to life by animating them. If you think this is impossible, try using Stories by Freepik to choose and animate personalized images. It will add a touch of storytelling to your presentations that your students will love.  

Turning your presentation into an actual story

Distance learning places great demands on teachers and requires new tools and solutions. Slidesgo aims to help you by providing presentations that are free, customizable and easy to use.   Teachers of the world, thank you! 

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7 Educational Presentation Ideas and Templates for Online Classes

As the world gets increasingly digitized, the move to online classes is becoming extremely common. To ensure e-learning is carried out effectively and constructively, educators need to arm themselves with educational presentations that can encourage and inspire.

One of the biggest challenges teachers today face is maintaining students’ attention. This is particularly difficult when teaching Gen Z, a generation of digital natives—especially when teachers themselves aren’t.

To help students stay focused during online classes, lessons need to be as informative and learning-optimized as they are visually stimulating. In this article, we’ll present to you seven of the best educational presentations you can use to facilitate this all-important teacher-student communication and make distance learning fun.

e-Learning Presentation

This e-learning presentation template is perfect for preparing webinars and online classes. It offers much versatility, which makes it extremely easy to adapt.

It includes pre-prepared slides with infographics and charts and is designed to offer quality and high-level training—be it webinars, online seminars, postgraduate courses, online higher courses, etc.

The color used for the text and graphics also provide a good contrast with the background, making it more eye-catching and thus helping students focus.

Furthermore, everything in this template is 100 percent editable and it’s a wonderful choice for creating a customized education presentation.

#StayAtHome Games

At first glance, it’s pretty clear that this next educational presentation is intended for children . Encompassing a fun design aimed at entertaining kids, this template allows them to learn and play at the same time while at home.

It even takes education to the next level by incorporating gamification elements, whereby game playing is used to encourage learning and skill development.

The template is completely interactive and structured like a contest. For you, the teacher, that means you can create and personalize your own questions and answers according to the subject.

It’s also very enjoyable for the kids as it is equipped with audio files for sound effects and buttons they can click to answer the questions.

To help fuel the wild imagination of kids, cute and creative illustrations are used throughout the template. Coupled with the striking and vivid colors, this template will not only attract but also retain the student’s attention.

As an added kick, the template even offers a surprise ending: an adorable, personalized diploma for the brave superheroes who participated in the contest! By likening the kids to victorious heroes, it rewards them with a sense of achievement and keeps them motivated.

Math Workshop

This illustrative educational presentation is the ideal template for an online Math workshop . It’s designed with icons and isometric illustrations that are relevant to the subject and comes with a schedule to keep learning on track.

Graphic Design Lesson

This next educational presentation is the perfect template to inspire design students—be it for a graphic design lesson, art education, or an art class.

Practice makes perfect and homework is a vital part of any learning process. This template also includes ready-made slides for class exercises and assignments that you can easily edit.

Telling Stories

What makes this next educational presentation great for online classes is the adaptability and the flexibility it offers. It’s a superb multi-purpose template for stories —particularly for narratives involving a storytelling element.  It has as many as 40 different slides designed with versatile flat-style illustrations that you can use and modify according to the subject at hand.

This template is created with functionality in mind. It consists of everything from charts and infographics to bullet points and columns for you to select the ones that best fit your intended narrative.

Want to get a message across to your students? Give this template a try and see for yourself just how effective it can be!

Spelling Workshop

Need an educational presentation for primary school learners? This fun spelling workshop template is surely the way to go, especially considering the importance of schools place on spelling activities.

Plus, it’s a great resource to motivate students to improve their spelling skills while at home, which increases their chances of winning the next school spelling bee!

With its vibrant and colorful slides, it provides students with an enjoyable learning experience that can even be extended to parents!

The above slide’s design even reflects that of a school schedule. This makes it easy for students to relate to as it allows them to follow their regular class schedules while at home. This is key to understanding what needs to be done and what is expected of them, not to mention it puts them in a studying mood!

Above all, it helps with staying organized. It’s estimated that up to 30 percent of class time can be lost to administrative tasks. So, being organized, albeit seemingly trivial, is extremely important to uphold a certain level of efficiency in class.

This template also includes cartoon illustrations of adorable, friendly little monsters to appeal to the young learners and keep them entertained. These are found across the template, from slides that you can fill with motivational words to exercises for practice.

Plus, its layout is so straightforward and simple that it makes the content easy to absorb. Your students will be learning without even realizing it and soon be yearning for new knowledge!

So, ready to organize your own spelling bee at home? Y-E-S!

Revolution – History Lesson

Teaching a history class online and need an educational template to turn the boring subject into a lesson that entices and thrills? This history lesson presentation will get the job done!

Its design is fittingly based on constructivism and other similar artistic movements of the 20th century. It also includes slides for assignments and exercises that are ready for you to adapt to your lesson plan.

The visual component of this presentation is also extremely prominent and distinctive, guaranteeing that your students stay focused and attentive at all times.

Need more inspiration or templates? Discover our range of free and fully customizable Google Slides and PowerPoint education presentations you can use for your online classes.

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105+ Creative Presentation Ideas to Engage Your Audience

Written by: Orana Velarde

With most people tuning out of a PowerPoint presentation within the first 10 minutes , developing engaging slide show presentation ideas that keep your audience hooked till the end can be a challenge.

This is why we've created this post with 105+ creative presentation ideas to help you put together exciting presentations that don't put your audience to sleep. You can use these presentation ideas for business meetings, webinars, classrooms, online courses, pitch decks and more.

Here are some of the ideas we’re covering:

• Use neon colors and duotones
• Unify transitions horizontally
• Use a monochrome palette
• Tell a personal story
• Use isometric illustrations

In this article, you'll find unique slide examples, templates, designs and more. Put these slide show presentation ideas to practice using our presentation maker and create your own presentation in minutes.

Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit Presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more below:

• Add bright and bold colors to make your presentation stand out and grab your audience's attention. Create a vibrant and dynamic look by using neon colors and duotones.
• Instead of using different transitions for each slide, use the same transition horizontally throughout your presentation. This creates a cohesive and visually pleasing flow.
• To create a sophisticated, minimalist look, limit your color choices to shades of a single color.
• Connect with your audience and make your message more relatable by incorporating personal anecdotes or stories into your presentation.
• Add depth and dimension to your presentation with isometric illustrations, which can be a fun and engaging way to present complex information.
• Sign up for Visme’s presentation software to start applying these creative presentation ideas.

105+ Creative Presentation Ideas

The ideas we've shared cut across various design concepts, industries and use cases. We've also sprinkled presentation design ideas from Visme's template library.  If you're running out of creative steam, you can use these templates to jumpstart your designs.

And if you're running out of time, consider using Visme's AI presentation maker to bring these 100 creative presentation ideas to life. It's a user-friendly tool that effortlessly transforms your ideas into visually stunning presentations.

Now, let's jump into the creative presentation design ideas.

1 Use Neon Colors

Neon colors will give your presentation enough color kick to keep the viewer’s attention. Use neon colors either as the background, as specific elements or as details inside the slides. The trick with neon is to not go overboard with the contrasts. Instead of using a neon rainbow, think more along the lines of neon accents.

2 Be Minimal

Using a minimal design composition is one of the unique presentation ideas. The trick is to have just enough information and visual details for the viewer to feel comfortable seeing the slides. A minimal design can instill calm and awe in your audience when done right. The trick with minimalism is to know when enough is enough, you wouldn’t want to be boring instead of minimal.

RELATED:  20+ Examples of Minimalist Design to Inspire Your Own Creations

3 Use all caps

Another creative presentation idea is using all caps when you feel like the topic of your presentation can be delivered with few words. Using all capitals in your slides will give the message importance. This design might not be suited for a text-heavy presentation but maybe one with an audio narrative that goes along with it or bullet points.

Also, this kind of presentation design is suitable for captivating introduction slide ideas.

Image Source

4 Go vertical

Rectangular presentations are definitely the norm, but with the rise of Instagram Stories, this might be starting to change. This shift introduces a unique opportunity for those looking for ideas for presentation styles that stand out. Now that we can put archived stories into Highlights, why not publish vertical presentations there? Going vertical is just one idea. Along with that, you can add any other design technique.

5  Use duotones

Duotone doesn’t exactly mean “two colors,” it actually means “two tones.” The idea behind this design angle is to use two contrasting tonalities which can have different shades. The difference between duotone and two colors is that it has a more edgy look. Depending on what two tonalities you choose, it can be subtle or very powerful. The photos used in the design also need to be customized to the duotone color you chose.

6 Add a video in different shapes or snippets

Videos can be a powerful tool in your arsenal for engaging your audience during a presentation. Not only do they help to break up the monotony of a lecture-style presentation, but they can also help to explain complex concepts, add visual interest, and evoke emotions.

One way to make your videos stand out is by using different shapes or snippets. Rather than presenting a standard rectangular video, consider incorporating shapes such as circles, triangles or diamonds. These shapes can add a unique and visually appealing element to your presentation.

Another way to incorporate video snippets is by breaking up a longer video into smaller, bite-sized pieces. This can be particularly useful if you have a lengthy video that you want to show but don't want to lose your audience's attention. By breaking it up into smaller segments, you can keep your audience engaged and prevent them from losing interest.

Don’t worry about the design complexity. If you create your presentation in Visme, you can resize your videos instantly and turn them into any shape you want.

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7  Unify transitions horizontally

Unifying the transitions between slides is always a great idea, but doing it horizontally is especially effective. By keeping all the movements going in one direction, it's both easy to follow and will look great. You don’t need to just apply horizontal transitions to the switch between slides, you can also apply animation to the titles and images. As long as they all go in the same direction, you are gold.

Create a slide deck like this in minutes.

• Search for the exact slides you need from a library of 900+ layouts
• Choose a classic or modern style
• Create automatically animated presentations

8  Black and white + spot of bright color

This presentation design idea is highly effective if you're looking for a creative way to present information.

Adding a bright color to a black and white scheme can add just the right amount of attention-grabbing detail to your presentation. Try choosing a powerful color so that it’s really noticeable and pops visually. You can use the color in small amounts or in large sections. Up to you, just remember to maintain a balance throughout.

9 Use a color theme

A cohesive color theme throughout your presentation can engage your audience and create a more visually appealing experience.

To start, consider the overall tone of your presentation and what emotions you want to evoke in your audience. Are you presenting on a serious topic, such as healthcare or finance, where a more subdued color palette may be appropriate?

Or are you presenting on a more lighthearted topic, such as creativity or innovation, where bright and bold colors can help to capture your audience's attention?

Once you have a general idea of your color palette, try to use it consistently throughout your slides. This means using the same background, font and accent colors for headings and graphics– like the presentation template below.

Visme's presentation templates offer a wide range of professionally designed themes with 300+ slides in 20+ different categories, making it the best choice for exploring creative presentation ideas without PowerPoint. You can create visually stunning slides with our carefully curated color schemes and stylish designs.

Read this article about 25 free presentation themes in Visme and find the perfect one.

Visme's presentation maker and branded presentation templates have been helping businesses create impactful presentations while saving them time and money. That's why many businesses choose Visme over other tools.

But don't just take it for word. Here's what one of our satisfied customers has to say about Visme.

"Previously we were using PowerPoint, which is fine, but the interactivity you can get with Visme is so much more robust that we've all steered away from PowerPoint."

"PowerPoint templates are plain and boring, and we want to create more fun and engaging content. Visme has multiple slide templates to choose from, which makes this so much easier."

"I just made a deck recently and it took me about 15-20 minutes. I found a template I really liked and tweaked it and put it in our brand colors. In PowerPoint, it would take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half."

- Kendra Bradley, Graphic Content Developer at WOW!

10  Add full-screen videos

The use of full-screen video in your slides can have a big impact on your storytelling. There’s a catch though. The wrong video will be detrimental to your message, be mindful of the videos you chose to grace the background of your slides. The video should either tell your story without words or be a complement that won’t interfere. The wrong video will confuse your viewers and it will be hard to get their undivided attention back.

If you’re looking for quick idea inspiration, check out our YouTube video where Mike shares 30 of our favorite presentation ideas at a glance.

11  Use an 80’s visual style

If looking for a unique design style, why not try an 80’s style for a change. Neon graffiti writing, disco balls, and brightly colored shapes might go well with your presentation’s topic. You can use 80’s visuals as small complementary elements or as the entirety of the presentation style. Nevertheless, if your presentation is about something quite serious then maybe you should try another style.

All you have to do is provide a text prompt, choose your preferred template style and the tool will generate text, images and icons and prepare a ready-to-use presentation within seconds. 

The flexibility to customize these presentations in the Visme editor adds the perfect finishing touches to your visual storytelling journey.

12  Go vintage

Another creative presentation idea is the vintage look. This could work really well with a history-themed presentation or anything to do with recuperating old traditions. When we say “vintage” we mean sepia-toned photos, intricate picture frames, bold fonts which look like they came out of old posters.

A vintage color palette is usually pastel turquoise green, ochre yellow and washed out blue and orange. You could consider using vintage mockup sets to create scenes for your slides, or use vintage style fonts, and old photographs as backgrounds.

13  Use a monochrome palette

A monochrome palette is one that maintains a single tonality in different strengths. For example, you can create a presentation in shades of blue, or in shades of orange. Use the palest shade for the background and a stronger shade for the titles and decorative shapes. Try doing it the opposite way as well. You can even use photos with a bit of a filter effect in the chosen color by adding a color filter.

14  Tell a personal story

Telling stories from your own life—whether those stories are deeply moving, humorous tales, or just little snippets that allow someone to look into your history—can be a great way to make a presentation more meaningful.

Colin Stokes uses this to his advantage in his TED talk. He begins by talking about the movies he watches with his daughter and what she likes, and then moving into watching a movie with his son, and wondering how it has affected him, allowing him to move seamlessly into his actual points.

Watch the video below to learn how Colin Stokes did it

Choose a relevant story from your past, and tell it with all the honesty that you can. Your audience will feel that, sympathize, and therefore connect more with your message.

15  Creative photo crops

The photos in your presentations can be cropped hundreds of different ways. From simple circles or rectangles to more elaborate triangles, polygons, letter shapes or even a brushstroke. Analyze the message of your presentation to know which shape to use for the cropping of your photos. You can also create a collage with the shapes as long as they don’t distract from the information being presented.

16 Add fun illustrations

Adding fun illustrations is a great idea to engage your audience during a presentation. They can help break up text-heavy slides, make your presentation more visually attractive and reinforce your message, making it one of the best fun presentation ideas.

Hand-drawn doodles, icons and graphics and animated GIFs are all illustrations you can use. To maximize the visual impact of your illustrations, you can use them in 3D.

With Visme, you can enhance your presentation by adding 3D objects that allow you to customize their colors, size and alignment. Additionally, you can add 3D animated graphics to take things to the next level.

When using illustrations, it's important to remember to use them sparingly to avoid overwhelming your audience. Less is more when it comes to adding graphics to your slides. Remember to match the illustrations with your theme and color scheme to keep things consistent.

17  Thick and bold fonts

Huge chunky fonts are a great way to call attention to titles on slides. You could even try making the letters bleed over the edges or place the words vertical along the side. The best thick and bold fonts are the ones with minimal decorations. Try using fonts that have strong corners or the opposite, extreme rounded terminals. It will also work best if the title is short and sweet.

18 Go with nature

Freshen up your presentation with some natural elements around the edges or as a background. You could use full-screen background photos of leaves or palm fronds coming in from the sides of the slides.

Another presentation idea would be to use nature-related photography along with other design ideas like interesting photo crops. This technique could be used for presentations that relate to nature or natural topics, but also for a home decor proposal or creative direction pitch for a TV ad.

Integrating nature into your slides is a beautiful presentation example of how to connect with your audience on a different level. This technique could be used for presentations about environmental topics or even about home decoration.

19 Use circles

Circles represent wholeness and a natural sense of completion. They can signify eternity and constant movement. They can also make your presentation more friendly and emotionally accessible. You can try using circles as decorative elements or as the shape for cropping images and as backgrounds for illustrations.

20 Add some sparkle (glitter backgrounds)

Give your presentations a little bit of a festive feel with some glittery details. This PowerPoint idea can work great if you are presenting a creative proposal for a fashion label or clothing catalog. It can even work really well for holiday-themed pitches or products. There are different types of glittery graphics you can use, like a glitter texture, a glittering rain or even just a dash of glitter. You can find some great glitter backgrounds and textures over at Freepik .

21 Get crafty (ripped paper details)

Sometimes to tell a story, visual details can really help get a mood across. Ripped paper shapes and edges can give a presentation a special feel, almost as if it was done by hand. This visual technique works for any type of presentation except maybe in a corporate setting. Ripped paper can be found on creative graphics resource sites or you can do it yourself and take a photo.

22 Cut-out paper illustrations

Another crafty idea to design your slides is by using cut paper illustrations. This technique could look really crafty or quite elegant if done well. Cut paper can be used as an elaborate background, as the letters in titles or as decorative elements. There are some great cut paper bundles online to use as PNG files which can be uploaded to the Visme editor.

23  Pathway transitions

Create interesting transitions by designing scenes or pathways instead of just sliding them in one unified direction. By doing this, you can use a storytelling technique that will keep the audience’s attention throughout the presentation and information relay. You can find out how to do it in our free guide to creating captivating presentations .

Create an automatically animated presentation in minutes.

24  use isometric illustrations.

If you are looking for a different way to illustrate your slides, why not consider using isometric illustrations? This style of illustration is great for explaining things that can be separated into parts. The parts can be animated as well. An isometric illustration can work for any kind of presentation, from technology to corporate. It will give your presentation a modern edge and a professional look.

25  Use motion graphics

Motion graphics are a great way to illustrate an idea with animated objects . They don’t tell stories on their own, they support the context and illustrate the content.

For example, if your presentation is about travel, you could have flying airplanes across the slides or bags on a luggage conveyor belt. For something more abstract, you can use moving shapes and add effects to the titles. Your Visme editor has a variety of design tools to help you create all sorts of content with motion graphics.

Here’s what one of Visme’s satisfied customers Jessica L. | Small-Business Owner, has to say about Visme’s presentation tool:

"No need to go back to PowerPoint. Visme makes project presentations easy and fast. Lots of useful templates and excellent graphics. I enjoy the features they continue to add and update often. They make project work easy".

26  Add GIFs to your slides

GIFs can be fun, entertaining and humorous. They can also be informational. GIFs be sourced from sites like Giphy , where you can also create your own! Choosing to include a GIF in your presentation slide or a few different GIFs will depend on what message you want to send with your story. The theme and topic of your presentation will help you decide if you need a clip from a blockbuster movie or a quick representation of the process of your systems.

RELATED:  Everything You Need to Know About Using Cool GIFs in Your Marketing

27  Use quotes between slides

Quotes can be good breathers between a bunch of informative slides. You can either use them to separate ideas inside your presentation or to start new sections of information. It’s important that your quotes represent the topic of your presentation so that they make sense and not confuse the viewer.

28  Start with “once upon a time”

One of the most effective and engaging ways to present a presentation is by incorporating creative storytelling techniques.

If a presentation can be created as a story, then why not go all the way and start the presentation with a classic story opening? Using the “once upon a time” phrase will instantly grab the viewer’s attention because it will be out of the ordinary. Make a slide especially for it with a visual that matches the topic of your presentation.

29  Turn the slides into a scrolling infographic instead of a presentation

To showcase your content in a unique and engaging way, consider using creative slide ideas that break away from the traditional slide-by-slide approach. For instance, you can arrange your slides vertically to create a scrolling infographic instead of a classic slide-by-slide transition presentation.

This innovative format expands the types of presentations you can create, offering a fresh perspective on information delivery.

An added bonus to this presentation style is to add parallax scrolling or interaction animation. As the viewer scrolls down, the information fills each slide progressively. It doesn’t continue until the viewer scrolls again. This technique is best for displaying online slide show presentation ideas.

Create a scrolling presentation in minutes.

30  engage your audience.

What’s one of the best ways to make your presentations more interesting? Make the audience a part of them.

Regardless if you’re presenting in person to a room full of people or via Zoom to viewers around the world, there are a number of techniques to engage your audience with both your content and yourself. The trick is to make them feel connected somehow, like they can relate. You can achieve this with humor, storytelling, asking questions and inviting them to leave comments in the webinar chat window.

Take this speech by Donovan Livingston. He delivers a commencement speech in spoken word poetry, and specifically encourages the audience to take part, saying they should clap, throw their hands in the air, or otherwise participate if they feel so moved. While not seen, several people are heard cheering and clapping throughout the video.

Participation can also be accomplished through things such as games, posing questions or something as simple as asking participants to raise their hands.

31 Use a scrunched paper background

Give your presentation a laid-back and grunge feel by designing it with a scrunched paper background. It can be any kind of paper really, depending on your topic. It could be notebook paper, or printer paper, it could even be recycled paper. Try a few different types of paper until you find the one that suits your story.

32 Add interactive pop-ups

Adding interactive pop-ups is a game-changer when it comes to creative ways of presenting. These pop-ups allow you to go beyond the traditional approach, giving your audience a more dynamic and engaging experience.

Interactive pop-ups can take many forms, from quizzes and polls to clickable infographics and interactive timelines. With Visme, you can access various interactive features that can help you create engaging and effective presentations.

For example, you can create clickable icons or buttons that allow your audience to explore additional information or resources. You can also create interactive timelines that enable your audience to explore different events or milestones.

One of the most powerful interactive features of Visme is the ability to create quizzes and polls. You can make interactive questions and answer options that allow your audience to engage with your presentation on a deeper level.

You can also use this feature to gather feedback from your audience, allowing you to tailor your presentation to their needs and interests.

Watch the video below or read this article to learn how to create an interactive presentation .

33  Use a back-to-school theme

A back-to-school theme can make your presentation look like a lot of fun. This is a great technique for teachers and educators welcoming their students back to a new school year. The background can be a sheet of notebook paper, an open notebook, or a blackboard. The edges could be decorated with pencils and paperclips, maybe an eraser or sharpener. The back-to-school theme has lots of possibilities.

34  Use a billboard-inspired theme

Use billboard mockups to create slides which look like billboards. This could look interesting and quite unique.  You could use the same billboard for all the slides, or different ones for a more varied approach. This technique would work great with a pitch for an election or a local spot in a government office.  

35  Use black-and-white photography

Black and white photography is a classic design technique. They import elegance and sophistication to any design by providing a minimalistic approach to the visuals. The photos can either be desaturated from color photos or given an artistic flair with extra contrast and fewer grey tones.

36  Explain your reasons

What people really want to know is why you’re giving the presentation you’re giving. This is especially true if you’re pitching to investors or potential new clients. When you share your why with the audience using storytelling and body language, you make meaningful connections and lasting relationships

Simon Sinek explains quite well why this is so important—the greatest leaders, the ones who inspire the most people, understand why they do the things they do, rather than just what or how.

When it comes to explaining your reasons, one tool that can significantly improve your presentations is Visme's AI writer . This advanced feature helps you write your presentation copy, break down complex ideas and edit or improve your existing words. With Visme's AI writer, you can make sure your "why" is clear and easy to understand alongside your visuals.

37  Add an audio narrative

Your presentation doesn’t need to be silent, especially if you won’t be standing by it to tell the story yourself. Adding an audio narrative can turn a viewable presentation into an experience. You can either set it up as a video that runs on its own and the viewer looks and listens, or it can be triggered by arrows that are clicked on.

RELATED:  How to Create a Narrated Presentation With Voice Over Using Visme

38 Follow a space theme with photography

Most of the photos from Nasa are labeled as public domain. Meaning that you can give your presentation a space theme quite easily. Choose images of astronauts in space or more abstract and colorful images like distant galaxies and nebulas. The latter can make great backgrounds behind content without the topic necessarily being about space.

39 Do a space theme with illustration

An illustrated space theme can be either colorful and whimsical or sober and elegant. By choosing the style of illustration you use, you can either use this technique for presentations related to children or scientists. Cartoon astronauts can be lots of fun, line illustration planets can be educational and data-driven drawings can be informational.

40  Include music

Sometimes, when listening to someone talk for long periods of time, it helps to have something else to draw your attention. While images are great, including music can really help stimulate an audience and set the mood.

Dean Burnett talks about why this happens: “[Music] provides non-invasive noise and pleasurable feelings, to effectively neutralize the unconscious attention system’s ability to distract us.” Essentially, music is entertaining enough that, when in the background, can keep us focused on otherwise un-entertaining things.

Take, for example, this valedictorian’s speech. While peppered with humor and stories of his time through high school, he uses background music to help keep people’s attention—in fact, this is specifically stated to be his reason for including music, humorously quipping about giving the audience something to listen to while they “zone out” of his speech.

Whether incorporated into individual slides, in a video, done live, or with a music-playing device nearby, this creative presentation idea can be a great way to enhance the quality of your speech or talk.

41  Graffiti photography backgrounds and details

Using colorful backgrounds like photos of urban graffiti can give your presentation a bit of an edge. There are lots of free photographs of graffiti on sites like Unsplash which you can use straight away. Apart from graffiti murals, you can also incorporate graffiti letterings in your titles and quotes. You can find graffiti style fonts online quite easily.

42  Stop-motion

The stop-motion technique can take time but it can also make your presentation unforgettable. There are lots of ways to use stop-motion, either with characters doing actions or objects that move around and create a scene. Stop-motion can also be used to create titles that move into place. What the title is written with can be anything, from toys to plants. The theme and topic of your presentation will ultimately be the driving point to what kind of stop-motion can be used. But be sure that it works from educational to promotional to corporate.

43  Claymation

Very similar to stop-motion, claymation is the animation of things created with clay or play-doh. Anything can be created with clay, so the possibilities really are endless about what can be achieved. This technique really does take a lot of time, you can source it out to a professional or buy some already created footage. The claymation can be just a decorative element in the background or it could also be the center of the presentation.

44  Color blocking

The color blocking technique is another creative presentation idea that entails using color in large sections and in contrasting tones. The idea is that the color blocks will be strong and colorful. The color blocks can either be the shapes that determine where the information goes or just a way to separate the slides in specific sections.

Any type of presentation can benefit from color blocking. Just make sure you use colors that go together and don’t clash. Explore this technique for different presentation slide ideas, especially when aiming for a bold and visually striking effect. Take a look at this sponsorship deck and how it uses bright and bold color blocking techniques.

45  Get surreal

Surrealism is an avant-garde movement from the 20th century which was meant to tap into subconscious creativity. This might not be the kind of design technique for any sort of presentation but it can work for one that is about art, or literature or other creative outlets. There are plenty of surrealist artworks in the public domain sector or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These can be used as subtle backgrounds or visual complements to the text.

Designing a presentation for an organization requires input from different stakeholders. However, when collaborating with others on a presentation design, keeping track of all the moving parts can be difficult.

That's where Visme's workflow management feature comes in. It helps organize roles, tasks, progress, deadlines and corrections all in one place to make your presentation design process efficient and smooth.

46  Polaroids

Polaroids, often a photography favorite, can inspire creative photography presentation ideas. The original Polaroids from the 70’s could be used as vintage polaroids that have been kept in a box for years. The newest Instamatic photographs, which are the new kind of polaroids, can be used for a fun way to show photos and visuals in presentation slides. You could either use one polaroid per slide or a collection of polaroids on a table or corkboard.

There are many topics that can work with Polaroid photography backgrounds and details in your slide show presentation ideas.

47  Use a Handwriting Font

Fonts come in all shapes and sizes, including lots of handwriting fonts. Handwritten fonts can be used for any type of presentation as long as the style matches the topic of the information. There are kid-style handwriting, calligraphy style handwriting, hand lettering, and novelty fonts as well. The options are wide and varied for this design technique. Creative Bloq has a great collection of handwritten fonts.

48  Use a geometric background

A geometric background can look really nice on any presentation. Geometric backgrounds can be tiled polygons or more abstract compositions of different size polygons. The decision to choose between tiled shapes and more creative compositions will depend on your creative angle and disposition. You can use these types of designs with any colors, so you can match the theme or your brand.

49 Coffee style design

Using a coffee-style design can work for any PowerPoint presentation idea, from office-related topics to digital nomads to anything or anyone who loves coffee. If the background is subtle, it can fit a more serious topic or data report. It can make a boring presentation just a bit more visually entertaining than the rest. Of course, it can also be perfect for a small coffee brewer pitching their company to investors.

50  Include memes

You’ve seen them everywhere by this point. You might be pretty sick of them. However, that doesn’t mean memes can’t be useful—in fact, using a couple strategically can surprise the audience and make them laugh.

The presentation " Memes, Memes Everywhere" focuses on, unsurprisingly, memes, and explains their purpose while using examples on every slide, which help support their points and add some humor to a very text-heavy presentation.

Choosing relevant memes and using them sparingly can really help add some personality to your presentation, without distracting from the work.

RELATED: 85+ Best Free Presentation Templates

51  Polka dots

Using a polka-dot background is suitable for various types of presentations. It can give your presentation a whimsical look or simply give it a subtle texture. The polka dots could be small and soft or big and punchy. A strong polka-dot background can work great in a creative setting or even boring data analysis. The style of polka dots will depend on the general topic of your presentation. You can use the polka-dot design as a full background or as a decorative section on the slide.

52  Metaphors

Visual metaphors can be useful in a similar manner; they can spice up your presentation, illustrate your point, and make your work far more entertaining. James Geary speaks about just how important metaphors are.

His presentation provides several examples of metaphors--such as the phrase “some jobs are jails”--and explains just how hard it is to ignore the lasting power of a well-used metaphor. Because of the connotations a metaphor can bring to the table, their use is an excellent way to imbue added meaning to your words.

53  Use timelines in your slides

Timelines can be used in lots of different ways inside a PowerPoint presentation, and the ideas are limitless. A timeline can either be inside one slide, or it can be connected between various slides. You can make a timeline with icons, connected shapes, or an inclined line. The timeline can be a visual way of explaining a chronological event or a plan of action that needs to be taken care of. Make sure the timeline fits the rest of the theme.

54  Use a comic book style

Comic books are a source of inspiration for many people. The visual aspect of a comic style composition can really make your presentation shine. There are a few ways you can use this technique. You could set up the slides as if they were snippets of a comic book, place the text in speech and thought bubbles and apply a background with a pointillist texture. If using characters, make sure the characters fit the theme of your presentation. For a perfect fit, hire a designer to create a comic book presentation just for your company.

55  Use a manga style

Looking for creative PowerPoint slide ideas that stand out? Consider taking inspiration from the Japanese art of Manga. Manga can give your presentation a distinct and eye-catching look, much like comic books.

It isn’t as versatile as a comic book because it has a more specific look, so it might not work for all topics. It can work for more creative outlets like fashion, art, and photography. Manga has a specific style for the atmosphere around the unique characters as well. They are more common in black and white and look very photographic.

56  Use psychedelic visuals

Psychedelia was a big part of the design world in the 60’s and 70’s. Music and creative event posters were so intricate and colorful that they took an important place in the design history books. This design style can be used for a unique visual approach in your presentations. Just like many other techniques we have mentioned, they can be used as a background in slides or as decorative elements. The swirly shapes and contrasting colors can call attention to the viewer in a positive way.

Create professional and engaging presentations online!

• Choose from hundreds of fully designed templates
• Align colors, fonts and images with your brand
• Add custom charts, timelines, icons, animations and more

57  Use neon lights

Neon lights are a great way to give your presentation some life when it’s otherwise visually bland. There are plenty of neon light fonts available online to choose from, from classic style neon tubing on a wall to a neon style given to a font to make it look like neon. Presentations of any topic can be given an additional visual with a bit of neon brightness.

58  Cinemagraph backgrounds

A cinemagraph is like a GIF loaded with elegance. The idea behind a cinemagraph is a photo with a moving section which makes it look cinematic. This kind of background can keep your viewers happily hypnotized while listening to your audio narrative or keep them on the slide longer to truly grasp the information being given. There are cinemagraphs available for all sorts of themes and topics. You can definitely find one that suits your needs.

59  Full-screen video backgrounds

A full-screen background can be really appealing. But just like other design ideas, the video you choose needs to match the theme and topic of your presentation. Your best bet is to have a video which is directly related to what your presentation is about. Videos can be created especially for your purpose, sourced with permission from YouTube or bought from a stock video site.

60  Visualize data

Staring at a large amount of numbers on screen can be overwhelming for most people, even if the realities of those numbers enforce your point. What’s the best way to avoid scaring your crowd? Put the data into easily understandable visualizations.

If you want to take this a step further, you can use illustrations or create infographics to make these data visualizations even more engaging.

61  Use a wild west theme

The wild west is not a very versatile theme but can work for a history project or a proposal for a wild west themed party or event. What entails a wild west theme? Brown sandy tones, horses, cowboys, and tumbleweeds. If the full-on wild west theme is too much, you can also take a cue from the era and be inspired by the color scheme. Another approach would be to use photography from the actual west of the United States, mountains and deserts and so on.

62 Use mind maps

Mind maps are great visual tools for explaining concepts easily. By including mind maps in your slides, you can relay complicated information visually and creatively. There are eight types of mind maps, the most common being bubble maps, the tree map, and flow map. Each one has a different purpose and you can learn all about this in our guide about mind maps in the Visual Learning Center.

63  Use interactive geographic maps

The difference between a static map and an interactive map will define how much attention your slides get. Regions can switch colors according to a change in data over time, making the map more into a chart. With Visme, you can make your maps interactive with live data . All you need to do is sync your data from a Google Sheets file and when your presentation is published online, your map will always be synchronized to that data.

Want to create your own interactive map?

• Create a color-coded map to visualize geographical data
• Choose either the entire world map, a continent or a country
• Enable feature to have data values appear on hover

64  Color contrasts

Using contrasting colors in your slides will make the information pop out of the screen in a positive way. The trick to using contrasting colors is to know how colors match together. Contrasting doesn’t mean they need to clash. Try using a color palette generator like Adobe Color to find great palettes that will make this technique your new best friend. You can learn more about how color works in our guide about color perception in the Visme Learning Center.

65  Live data graphs

Adding live data to a presentation can turn your slides into evergreen content in a flash. You can use any type of chart and populate it with live data such as bar graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, and more. You can add live data graphs to one or two slides in your presentation or have a series of them. Creating a live data graph is easy with the Visme editor.

66  Color fade transitions

Transitions come in lots of different styles. We have mentioned horizontal transitions, animated transitions, and pathway transitions. This particular technique involves color as the ruling factor.

A color-fade transition makes each slide connected to each other through color. This can be achieved with gradients, color blocks, or colored photo filters. Make your PowerPoint presentation ideas stand out with color fade transitions.

67  “Grow” your presentation so it looks like one animated slide

This creative PowerPoint idea is quite interesting as it really only uses one slide that grows upon itself. The practical way to do this is to create the final slide with all the parts and information set up like a finished puzzle. Once you have the completed slide, duplicate it as many times as you need and systematically take off a bit of information until you’ve reached the first title slide. Once you have all the slides, make sure they are in order before downloading the entire thing.

RELATED:  A Non-Designer’s Guide to Creating Memorable Visual Presentations [Free E-Book]

68  Use humor

Want a great way to connect with your audience and make a memorable, more engaging presentation? Be funny. When used strategically, this is a great way to capture attention. In fact, infusing humor into your talk is one of the most effective fun presentation ideas you can use.

Morgan Spurlock makes wonderful use of this in his TED talk. For example, in one of his earliest statements, he offered individuals the opportunity to buy the rights to name his TED talk—which he refers to again at the end, where he reveals the title. He peppers the entire presentation with humorous commentary that nonetheless supports his point.

Create relevant jokes or find a way to bring out the humor in your subject, and your audience will be much more engaged and more likely to remember your words.

69  Tree diagram transitions

A tree diagram is one of the eight thinking maps which help visualize idea and concepts. The purpose of a tree diagram is to classify and organize information. This map can help build a presentation by making sure each slide is a continuation of the one before. They might need to be grouped into sections so that all the information is relayed easily.

Want to create your own tree diagram?

• Get a head start with pre-made flowchart blocks
• Easily snap lines and objects together
• Dozens of shapes and lines styles to choose from

70  Journal style (with hand-drawn illustrations on the margins)

One creative presentation idea is to make your talk just a little bit different than the rest is to use a journal style. The general visual idea for this technique is to make your slides look like the pages of a journal. The style of the journal will depend on what your presentation topic is. It can be a whimsical bullet journal or an intricate botany journal. You could even consider handwriting on paper as a background.

71  Ink splatters

Use ink splatters to decorate your slides any way you like. They can be big and impressive behind the content, or they can be small and subtle like drops from a pen. An ink splatter can give your presentation a bit of an artistic flair and if done right, can make your slides look elegant and clean. Any style of presentation can benefit from some ink splatters as a decorative element.

If you're looking for fresh presentation slide ideas, why not experiment with ink splatters and see how they can enhance your next presentation?

72  Passport with stamps

Using travel stamps as a decorative element can work for a presentation with a travel-theme or a creative design proposal for a department store or airport mall. The stamps can be used as a background on a passport page or on their own around the content. A photo of a real passport page can be used for this technique but there are plenty of graphics available in this style on sites like Freepik .

73  Express your emotions

We can sometimes be afraid of expressing how we feel, even to those we’re close to, much less in front of a crowd. However, showing them makes your words more authentic and can generate compassion or excitement in your audience.

Take this TED talk by Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger , for example. While the two talk about their experiences, their voices break and crack. The emotional turmoil they went through is clearly heard, and viewers can clearly understand their pain.

This can take some getting used to, and some courage. However, the results are well worth the effort.

74  Use a video game theme

Video games come in all shapes and sizes. From kids' games to arcade games to car games. Each one has their own style, just like presentations do. If you think a video game visual style is good for your project, consider all the different kinds until you find the one that fits best. You can use game screenshots as backgrounds or infuse the entire design of the presentation with the video game style you chose.

75  Use postcards

One of the least-used creative presentation ideas is to turn your content inside slides into postcards which have been sent from around the world. They can be new postcards which could be used from either front or back sides. The back part would make a great text block for the content you need to display, the photo side can be on the sides or as a background. This design technique can work for presentations about literature, family connections, history or travel. There are postcard templates available on sites like Creative Market .

76  Incorporate robots in the design

Using robots in your slides can be a creative approach to visually elevate your presentation. There are different styles of robots you can add to your presentation design; realistic photography of anamorphic robots, cute illustrated robots, or robotic parts from factories. These visuals might only apply for technology-themed presentations or about robots themselves. Cute illustrations of robots can be great backgrounds for whimsical topics or other styles of storytelling presentations.

77  Chalk on blackboard

Looking for creative slides presentation ideas? Consider using a chalkboard design to add a unique and nostalgic touch to your presentation.

Writing on a chalkboard is not limited to a school setting or a bar menu. These two might be the most common yet they are not the only possibilities for using chalk on a blackboard. A good handwriting font is the best companion to a chalkboard design. Some of these fonts are already available with a chalky texture and others might need some professional tweaking to get the right texture.

78  Get inspired by a specific location

Even if the PowerPoint presentation ideas you are designing are not about a specific place in the world, you can be inspired by one to set up the color scheme and feel of the slides. For example, if you get inspired by Greece, you can use white and light blue hues or even photos of Greek islands. If you get inspired by Brazil, you can use photos of the beach, the texture of the boardwalk tiles or green, blue, and yellow color schemes.

79  Use props

Using props can quickly turn a run-of-the-mill presentation into a unique, interactive experience. Kenny Nguyen demonstrates this well. In his talk he often refers to the “sword of yes” and “shield of no.” Naturally he picks up a sword and shield from the table to help demonstrate his points.

Choosing similar props can help you really illustrate your points—and make it that much more entertaining, too.

80  Use hashtags as titles

In the age of social media, hashtags are used every day. They appear regularly on social media, in spoken and written conversations, and of course in content marketing. Why not include some hashtags as titles? This technique will work great in a presentation for a social media content management pitch, or an in an influencer marketing strategy. On another note, hashtag titles can even be used for any type of presentation geared at the digital generation.

81  Black background, white letters, and color accents

When you use a black background, the colors that you place on top will usually look brighter than if they were on a white background. When creating this kind of color palette, make sure the colors you use don’t clash with each other or with the black. Along with the bright colors, make sure you use white to make the composition pop! Neon colors or pastel tones are what will work best.

82  Vintage film edges

Even though we are used to taking photos with our phones, the classic nostalgia of film is still prevalent in the world of visuals and design. The graphic representation of a film negative is as recognizable as an envelope representing an email. Use a vintage film edge along the horizontal edges of your slides to give your visuals a cinematic feel. Even better if you make the edges animated so that it looks like it’s rolling along on a projector.

83 Adult coloring book inspired design

Using a coloring book design can be really creative. Practically anything can be turned into a coloring book style illustration. A great way to use this technique is to have the first slide with the un-colored illustration and then progressively color in the illustration as the slides progress. Furthermore, if the illustration is depictive of the information, the visuals can be even more engaging.

84  Stripes

A stripes design is as classic as it gets. From pinstripes to artistic colorful lines, you can use them as a subtle background or a powerful striped theme intertwined with text boxes. Stripes are the kind of design technique that can work for any type of presentation, from corporate to educational.

85  Make each slide look like a social media post

Just like postcards and polaroids, you could try a creative approach and use social media templates to put the content in. The most notorious social media visual channel is Instagram. It has been known to inspire offline events as well. Make your slides look like social media posts or social media pages. For this technique, you can either use screenshots or templates.

86  Ink in water

Dropping ink in water creates beautiful colorful bubbly designs which can be photographed at high speed. These images can be used as backgrounds for any type of creative theme presentations. Choose the color and thickness of the ink design to match the theme of your presentation. There are also animated versions of this effect which can be bought like video stock.

87  Lego bricks

Use lego bricks as inspiration to fill your presentation slides with color and fun. Use the bricks to create slide frames, letters or even charts. The best approach to a lego inspired presentation is to be creative. There are lots of things you can do with lego, you could go as far as using the legos to write the titles of the slides. Don’t use the Lego logo though unless you are specifically designing a presentation about lego.

88  Use classic storytelling techniques

A presentation is, in a way, like a story—you’re talking about your chosen subject and leading viewers on a journey to discover what that subject means. Moreover, stories hold an intrinsic interest for us. Therefore, you can easily use several storytelling techniques to help improve your presentation.

Alex Blinkoff  goes into this in great detail, examining things such as “The Hero’s Journey” and provides several examples of ways to use storytelling techniques in your presentations. Check them out, and decide what might work best for your subject.

Click on image to view interactive slide show created with Visme

89  Jigsaw puzzles

Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle can be used to make charts, infographic diagrams, or interlocking frames. The idea behind puzzle pieces is that things come together to form a whole and this concept can be used for any slide and any kind of presentation. Make sure to use a suitable color palette that matches your theme and the rest of the presentation.

90  Headlines coming in animated on boats/trains/airplane

Headlines or titles can be given a life of their own inside the slides. One interesting and creative approach would be to make the titles enter the slide on top of some kind of vehicle. The vehicle could be anything, from a train to a boat, to an airplane. Depending on the type of vehicle, this animated technique can be used for child-themed topics, transportation themes, travel ideas, or even about a corporate sales report.

91  Use a camouflage design

Camo doesn’t necessarily need to convey a sense of military, although it does carry a strong connection. Thankfully, camouflage comes in different styles, from jungle greens to desert browns. Other out of the box camouflage styles are the ones where the colors are completely off the charts, like pinks and blues. Camouflage designs are better used as backgrounds or small subtle sections.

92  Use unique novelty fonts for headers

There are so many novelty fonts to choose from out there these days! Using a unique novelty font for the titles and headers is a great way to add some visual pizzazz to your slides. Try looking for some really special fonts that carry personality. Once you have selected the font, add some color and texture to make it look even better.

93  Use a city skyline

Using a background of a city skyline can work great for a presentation related to business or corporate topics. It can also be perfect for an urban travel related theme or educational presentation. You can choose to use photography as a background or with the buildings cut out from the sky. Another choice is to find an illustrated city skyline and use it as a border on the slides.

94  Use a connected dots background

One of the design trends of the last few years is the connected dots visual. It’s used on websites and on printed flyers. It’s so versatile that it can be added to any kind of presentation in a heartbeat. The lines can be short or long between the dots and the composition can be tight or spread out. You can find connected dot visuals easily on sites like Freepik, in lots of different colors. If you can manage vector graphics , you can also change the composition of the dots quite easily yourself.

95  Use a bokeh background

Bokeh is a photography and light technique which turns dots of light into bright shiny spheres. With a bit of creativity, the lights can be turned into shapes, like hearts or stars. This design style is great for backgrounds since it’s mostly abstract. It works best as a complement to the content instead of an important visual aspect. You can find bokeh backgrounds in stock photo sites or make it yourself.

96  Use watercolor designs

The use of watercolor designs is an easy way of infusing some lively color into a presentation. Watercolors can be a splash on the background, shapes around the content, or colorful strokes intertwined with text boxes. Depending on the color of the paint used, the watercolor technique can be used for any type of presentation. A soft watercolor brushed background can work for a feminine theme and a deep intense splash can add visual creativity to an otherwise boring corporate presentation.

Just like watercolor graphics, paint can add a dose of creativity to any presentation. Different to watercolors though, paint is more intense. Paint based graphics come in all shapes and sizes, from thick brush strokes to paint drips. Digital paint compositions can also make great backgrounds for colorful and creative presentations.

98  Use bright fun colors

Why create a bland presentation when you can make it fun and colorful instead? Creative color palettes can include up to six different colors which look great together. Use shapes, cut-outs, color blocks, swashes, anything your heart desires. This technique is for letting go and being creatively free with color. Just make sure the colors go together by trying out some palettes first.

99  Use arrow graphics

Arrows symbolize direction. They can be a great addition to your charts, infographic visuals and slide sections. You could even do the entire presentation using arrows. According to their size, color, and thickness, they have different temperaments. Look for different styles of arrows and see if they fit your topic and theme. Freepik has some great arrow visuals and the Visme editor also has arrow icons and infographic visuals.

100  Use electronic visuals

Another great idea for a background visual is the inside of a computer system. The intricate details of a motherboard or a close up of a memory chip can make a great visual impact. Apart from using an electronic background image, little pieces of electronic devices can be placed around the slide as decoration. This technique is generally limited to electronic or computer theme topics.

101  Metaphors

Visual metaphors can be useful in a similar manner. They can spice up your presentation, illustrate your point, and make your work far more entertaining. James Geary speaks about just how important metaphors are.

102  Keep it feminine

A feminine style design can work for your presentation if your company makes products for women or if your targeted audience is women. By feminine design, we mean light and soft colors, subtle shapes and a general airy feeling to the composition. Feminine design can be minimal but it can also be decadent and full of style. Whichever you chose, make sure it fits with your audience.

103  Go futuristic

A futuristic style can fit any theme as long as the concept of the future depicted, fits the topic of the presentation. Futuristic design can be of many different styles; from spaceship driving controls to cosmos related atmospheres, to flying cars, and artificial intelligence. Even color palettes can look futuristic if you add some metallic tones.

104  Add a music background

A music soundtrack can be added to any presentation that doesn’t have any other sort of audio already. The best music for a presentation is one without lyrics, in other words, an instrumental track. A good track will accompany the content in a positive way and not interfere with the message. You can find audio tracks easily online.

105  Communicate with images

A picture can speak a thousand words. Naturally, they can be used to communicate concepts that, for the sake of space or time, you might not be able to include in the presentation itself. This slide deck  uses this strategy to its advantage.

The presentation includes many images as backgrounds and minimal text. The images used always either enhance what’s being said or, in some cases, provide the answer for viewers. For example, the second slide states “The Landscape Today,” and includes a bleak background with a broken, tilted picture frame, emphasizing the idea that the following slides (which describe the landscape) offer some pretty disheartening information.

Using images in a related fashion can help express your views and emphasize your message.

Harness the power of Visme's AI image edit tools in your toolkit. These advanced yet easy-to-use tools let you effortlessly edit, touch up, unblur and upscale your images using simple prompts. It's an incredibly convenient way to add extra polish and clarity to your pictures to make your presentations more impactful.

106  Include artsy data visualization

Data visualization is a way of showing data and information in a way that is visually expressive. Creative data analysts can make some really beautiful creations and you can hire them to make them for you. If you haven’t seen any creative data visualizations, take a look at our collection of the best of 2018 and get inspired. You can either make the whole presentation into a data viz or add them to some of the slides.

By Beyond Words Studio

RELATED:  The 25 Best Data Visualizations of 2018

107  Stay branded

This creative tip is a simple yet effective way to spark good presentation ideas. When creating your presentation, do your best to stay on brand. This, of course, will work only if you are creating a presentation for your own brand. If creating one for a client, then you should stay on brand with their own brand style guide. This means only use the brand colors and fonts, use photos, textures, and shapes that match the brand.

Use Visme's brand design tool to ensure your presentations perfectly reflect your brand personality. Just copy and paste your website URL, and the tool will automatically extract your branding assets, such as brand colors, brand fonts and company logo.

108 Ask questions

A great tip to make your PowerPoint presentations ideas more interactive is to ask questions from your audience.  Like the example below, you can display only your question on the slide. Once the audience has pitched in their opinions and answers, you can click to reveal the actual answer. You can enable this type of interactivity on click when making a presentation in Visme .

109 Replace boring bullet points with visuals

While adding bullet points in your slides might be better than adding walls of text, they're still not the most effective way to get your message across and engage your audience. Take things up a notch and replace boring bullets with visuals, such as photos and even icons. Here's an example of how you can use icons to add a creative twist to the plain ol' bullet points.

110 Share your slide deck

Downloading your slide deck and presenting in front of an audience is not the only way to use your presentation. Make the most of your slides by sharing your presentation online.

Add interactive elements, such as clickable buttons, links, hover effects, popups, embedded videos and more so your audience can view and engage with your slides on their own.

If you've created your presentation in Visme, you can share your presentation publicly or privately using a link, or embed it anywhere you like.

Start Using These Creative Presentation Ideas

Ready to start creating your own presentation after over 100 pieces of inspiration? Choose your favorite creative presentation ideas and incorporate them into your own presentation.

You can add interactivity, animation, visuals and all kinds of creative elements to your presentations when you design them in Visme's online presentation maker. With our Dynamic Field feature , you can automatically update key information in real-time across all your slides or multiple projects. Customize existing dynamic fields or create new ones and format them to maintain design consistency.

Create a free account with Visme to start building a presentation your audience will love.

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About the Author

Orana is a multi-faceted creative. She is a content writer, artist, and designer. She travels the world with her family and is currently in Istanbul. Find out more about her work at oranavelarde.com

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Blog Data Visualization 120+ Presentation Ideas, Topics & Example

120+ Presentation Ideas, Topics & Example

Written by: Ryan McCready May 08, 2023

Did you know that 46% of people can’t sit through a presentation without losing focus? 

That’s why I wanted to learn how to make a presentation that will captivate an audience. After looking at hundreds of different authors, topics and designs, I’ve assembled over 100 presentation ideas and tips on how to design a compelling presentation for:

• Social media
• Online courses
• Pitch decks
• Lead generation

In this blog, you’ll find 120+ presentation ideas, design tips and examples to help you create an awesome presentations slide deck for your next presentation.

To start off, here’s a video on the 10 essential presentation design tips to make sure that your presentations don’t fall under the YAWN category.

1. Use a minimalist presentation theme

CREATE THIS PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

The best designs can also be some of the simplest you see. In the Airbnb pitch deck below, they use a minimalist color scheme and font selection.

A minimalist design is sleek, organized and places the most important thing in focus: your information. There are no distracting stock images, icons, or content. Everything on this unique presentation feels like it belongs and works together perfectly. 

Learn how to customize this template:

2. Use a consistent design motif throughout your presentation

Here’s a go-to tip to for a cohesive presentation design: use a design motif. The motif could be a recurring shape (like circles, lines or arrows) or symbol (like a leaf for “growth” or a mountain for “goals”). For more ideas, check out our guide to common symbols and meanings used in design .

For example, this  presentation template uses circles as a design motif. The same circle icon is used in three different colors to add a bubbly touch to the design. The team photos are also incorporated using circle frames:

3. Use an eye-catching presentation background image

Like with any type of design work, you should want to catch the eye of your audience. In a presentation, this should be done from the beginning with a  compelling background image or a color gradient.

In this presentation template, the creators were able to do just that with a landscape photo. When a presentation like this is seen on social media, during a webinar or in person, your audience will definitely listen up.

4. Visualize your points with icons

Icons are the perfect visuals to include in presentations. They’re compact and can convey a concept to your audience at a glance. You can even combine multiple icons to create custom illustrations for your slides. 

Use the Icon Search in Venngage to find illustrated and flat icons:

5. Use a black & white color scheme for a corporate presentation design

In the presentation below there are only two colors used: black and white. Now, you might be worried that only using two colors is boring, but it all comes down to balance.

Playing off the ideas of classic minimalism, the designer made this presentation look sleek and professional. And now your content can be the main attraction of your presentation as well!

6. Repurpose your slide deck into an infographic 

Different types of presentations serve different purposes and sometimes it helps to work smarter, not harder when you are creating a unique presentation. In fact, the spacing, layout, and style used in this presentation makes it easy to repurpose the same images into an infographic.

This allows you to create two unique pieces of content from one idea!  Which is exactly what  Officevibe did .

Join Venngage’s CEO, Eugene Woo, to learn how you can design impactful infographics that will help maintain trust, increase productivity and inspire action in your team.

SIGN UP NOW

7. Break your genre mold for a fun presentation idea

When I first clicked on this creative presentation from SEMrush, I was not expecting to be transported into a comic book. I’m glad I clicked because it may be the most unique slide deck I have ever seen. Going this extreme with your presentation ideas may seem a bit risky, but to be able to break the mold in this age of cookie-cutter presentations is worth it.

To leave a lasting impression on your audience, consider transforming your slides into an interactive presentation. Here are 15  interactive presentation ideas  to enhance interactivity and engagement.

8. Make your presentation cover slide count

As I was scrolling through all of the presentations, this one made me stop in my tracks. It could be that I have a life-long love of Star Wars, or it could be that their presentation cover slide was designed to do just that: grab your attention. That’s why you should not stick with a boring, text-only title slide. Don’t be afraid to use icons and illustrations to make a statement.

9.  Alternate slide layouts to keep your presentation engaging

Keeping your audience engaged throughout an entire presentation is hard, even if you have been working on your presentation skills . No one wants to look at slides that look exactly the same for an hour. But on the other hand, you can’t create a unique masterpiece for each slide.

That’s why I’m very impressed with what the designers did in the presentation example above. They use a consistent visual theme on each slide, but alternate between vertical and horizontal orientations.

The swapping of orientations will show people that the presentation is progressing nicely. It can help you make a strong, almost physical, distinction between ideas, sections or topics.  

10. Make your audience laugh, or at least chuckle

Sometimes you need to not take your business presentations too seriously. Not sure what I mean? Go check out slide number 10 on this slide deck below.

If you did not actually laugh out loud, then I don’t know what to tell you. Small illustrated embellishments can be very powerful because they evoke an emotional response and to gain your audience’s trust.

Did you know 70% of employees think that giving a good presentation is an essential workplace skill? Check out the top qualities of awesome presentations and learn all about how to make a good presentation to help you nail that captivating delivery.

11. Supplement your presentation with printed materials

Printed takeaways (such as brochures and business cards ) give audience members a chance to take home the most important elements of your presentation in a format they can easily access without using a computer. Make sure you brand these materials in a way that’s visually consistent with your slide deck, with the same color scheme, icons, and other iconic features; otherwise, your recipients will just end up scratching their heads.

If you’re giving people multiple materials, try packaging them all into one convenient presentation folder. There are over 100 styles with a wide range of custom options, so feel free to get creative and make your folder stand out. Sometimes a unique die cut or an unusual stock is all you need to make something truly memorable. Here are some brochure templates to get you started.

12. Only use one chart or graphic per slide 

Having too much information on a slide is the easiest way to lose the focus of your audience. This is especially common when people are using graphs, charts or tables .

In this creative slide deck, the author made sure to only include one focal point per slide, and I applaud them for it. I know this may sound like a simple presentation tip, but I have seen many people lose their audience because the slides are too complex.

13. Keep your employee engagement presentations light   

Sometimes you need to get away from stuffy, professional presentation ideas to capture your audience’s attention. In this case, Officevibe used some very colorful and playful illustrations to stand out from the crowd.

I mean, who could not love the plant with a face on slide number 9? And if you want to see some more icons and illustrations like this, be sure to check out our article on how to tell a story with icons.

14.  Feature a map when talking about locations

Including a map in your creative presentations is a fantastic idea! Not only do they make an interesting focal point for your slide layout, they also make location-based information easier to understand.

This cool presentation example by our pro designers at Venngage uses maps to visualize information. This map both dominates the screen, and also displays all the locations being covered.

15. Use a font that is large and in charge 

If you are presenting to a small group or a packed stadium, make sure your audience can see your text! Use a large and in charge font that can be read from even the nosebleed seats. 

Honestly, you really never know where your unique presentation will be seen. It could be seen in a conference room or conference hall, and everything in between. Be ready to present almost anywhere with a bold and easy to read font.

16. Use pop culture references to build a fun presentation 

Using a meme or pop culture reference is another way that you can jive with your audience. It can be used to quickly get a point across without saying a word or create a moment that you can connect with the room. For example in this presentation, they used Napoleon Dynamite to give the audience feelings of nostalgia.

17. Use more than one font weight on your presentation cover slide

Just like you would never use one font on an infographic, you should never use just one font on your presentation (for more tips, read our guide on how to choose fonts ). In this presentation example from HubSpot, they use a bunch of different font weights to add emphasis to key words and ideas.

As you can see, they use a bold font on the presentation cover to bring attention to Steve Jobs name. This makes it easy for the audience to know what your presentation is going to be about from the beginning as well. 

18. Use a color theme for each idea 

Color is another extremely powerful nonverbal tool that you can use to guide your audience. By using a different color for each section of your creative presentation, Dell is able to clearly indicate when they are switching points or ideas.  Going from green to orange, and even red almost effortlessly.

This is a great way to design a list, guide, or a  how-to presentation as well. And each color can be assigned to a different step or number with ease. 

Need help picking the perfect color palette? Start here !

19. Use illustrations instead of pictures 

An easy way to keep your design consistent throughout your unique presentation is to use illustrations like in this slide deck by Domo.

They used illustrations instead of pictures to show off their subject on slide numbers 4-10 and it looks fantastic. This will ensure that the audience focuses on the content, instead of just the photo they could have used.

It also helps that illustrations are a top design trend for 2020 .

20. Use contrasting colors to compare two perspectives or sides of an argument 

Contrasting colors can be used to quickly show each side of topic or an argument. For example in this presentation, they use this trick to show the difference between their company and the competition.

They use color very effectively in this example to show their company is better, in a nonverbal way. With a lighter color and illustrated icons, the company is able to position them as the better choice. All without saying a word.  

Now if they would have used similar colors, or a single color the effect wouldn’t have been as strong or noticeable.

21. Include your own personal interests

This example is one of the most interesting and cool presentations I have seen in awhile, so I suggest checking out the entire thing. The creator inserts a bunch of his personal interests into the slide to make his presentation about education fun and relatable. And they even use a Super Mario Bros inspired presentation cover, so you know it has to be fantastic! 

22. Try to stick to groups of three 

How many major ideas should be present on your presentation aid? Never break your  presentation layout down into anything more than thirds. This means there should be at most three columns, three icons, three ideas and so on.  A great example of this idea starts on slide number 9 in this slide deck and continues throughout the rest of the presentation.

 Here is a great three columned slide template to get started with.

23. Add a timeline to help visualize ideas 

One of the best ways to visualize a complex process or historical event is to use a timeline presentation. A list of all the steps or events is just not going to cut it in a professional setting. You need to find an engaging way to visualize the information.

Take the presentation example above, where they outline the rise and fall of Athens in a visually stimulating way.

24. Label your graphs & charts 

If the people at Pollen VC had not added those annotations to the graphs on slide number 5, I would have definitely not known what to make of that graph.

But when you combine the visuals on a graph with descriptive text, the graph is able to paint a picture for your audience. So make your graphs easy to understand by annotating them (this is a chart design best practice ).

Create a free graph right here, right now!

25. White font over pictures just works 

There is a reason that you see so many quotes or sayings in a white font that are then overlaid on an image. That it is because it just works in so many situations and the text is very easy to read on any image.

If you do not believe me, look at the slide deck example above where they use a white font with a few different fonts and about 100 images. Plus the presentation template is chocked full of other tips on how to create a winning slideshow.

26. Color code your points across the whole presentation 

Here is another example of a presentation that uses color to keep their points organized. In this case, they use 10 different pastel colors to match the 10 different tips for employee engagement.

Check out our guide for how to pick the best colors for your visuals .

27.  Use a simple flow chart to break down a process

If you’re a fan of the movie Step Brothers , you may have heard of Prestige Worldwide before. In this fun presentation example they are back to sell you on their business model and growth plans.

This time, the presentation will be effective because it actually talks about what the business does.

Instead of making a music video, they use a helpful flowchart template to explain their business model. I would recommend following their lead and creating a dynamic flow chart to visually break down any process.  Try making your own flowchart  with Venngage.

28. Make your slide deck mobile friendly 

As more people move to mobile as their main device each year, making your presentations mobile-friendly is becoming increasingly important. This means that the text is large and there aren’t too many small details, so everything can scale down. Just like in this presentation example from the creators at Globoforce.

29. Don’t be afraid to include too many examples 

If you are presenting a complex idea to a group, especially a large audience, I would recommend having a ton of good examples. Now, I would try not to overdo it, but having too many it is better than having too few.

In this creative presentation, the people at With Company spend about 20 slides just giving great examples of prototyping. It doesn’t feel too repetitive because they all are useful and informative examples.

30.  Use consistent visual styles for an elegant presentation design

I have already written extensively about using icons in all of your design projects . I haven’t talked as much about matching icons to your presentation template.

But that’s just as important, especially if you want to create a professional presentation for your audience.

As you can see in the example above, the designer used minimalist icons that fit the slide designs. All of the other graphics, charts and visual elements fit together nicely as well.

Plus the icons don’t distract from the content, which could ruin a stellar presentation.

31. Use a consistent presentation layout 

In this example from Bannersnack, they use a consistent layout on each of their slides to help with the flow by using the same margins and text layout.

It’s a solid presentation example because they help the user know where to look immediately. It may seem like they are playing it safe, but anything that can speed up the time it takes for a user to read the content of the slides, the better.

32. Use loud colors as much as possible 

This is one of my favorite presentations because of the highlighter yellow they chose to use as their main color. It is actually very similar to one that I saw presented live a few years ago and I have used this same approach in a few presentations ideas of my own.

33. Pull your design motif from your content 

If you are talking about an interesting topic, why not use the topic as the main design motif in your creative slide deck? For example, in this presentation about sketchbooks, the creator uses a sketchy, handwritten motif. It is something simple that helps the audience connect with the topic. Plus, it allows you to include a ton of great examples.

34. Utilize a call & answer cadence

In this SlideShare about how to create a presentation, Peter Zvirinsky uses a two-step process to present a point. First, he presents the header presentation tip in a speech bubble. Then he shows a supporting point in a responding speech bubble. This gives the presentation a conversational flow.

35. Repurpose ebook content into a creative presentation

This slide deck was adapted perfectly from a Seth Godin ebook into the presentation example you see above. In the slide deck, they take a piece of content that would usually take a while to read and cut it down to a few minutes. Just remember to include only the most important ideas, and try to present them in a fresh way.

36. Add a timed outline to your presentation

We have already covered how important it is to have a table of contents in your slides but this takes it a bit further. On the second slide of the presentation below, the creator added how long each of the slides should take.

This is great because it helps your audience know the pace the presentation will take and will help keep them engaged. It also will help them identify the most important and in-depth parts of the presentation from the beginning.

37. Use a “next steps” slide to direct your audience

One of the worst things you can do as a presenter is to leave your audience without any idea of what to do next. A presentation should never just end because you ran out of slides.

Instead, use a conclusion or “next steps” slide like in the example above to finish your presentation. Sum up some of your main points, tell your audience where they can get more information, and push them to take action.

38. Go a bit crazy with the design 

Sometimes you need to throw convention to the wind to create something unforgettable. This presentation from Velocity Partners does just that, and I think it is one of my favorite ones from this entire roundup.

They use unconventional typography, quirky icons, and unusual presentation layout to make each slide surprising.

39. Make your slide deck easy to share 

If you are looking to get a lot of eyes on your presentation I would make sure people will want to share it on social media. How do you do that? By presenting new and interesting value. This means your content needs to answer a common question and your design needs to be clutter-free. For example, look at this very social media-friendly. The slides are simple and answer questions directly.

40.  Use shapes to integrate your photos into the slides

Want to include a bunch of images in your presentation? I say do it!

Now most of the time you would add a raw image directly to your slide. However, if you want to present images in a professional way I would recommend using an image frame .

Like in the example above, you can use these frame to create a collage of images almost instantly. Or provide a similar visual theme to all of your slides.  

Overall, I believe it’s a great way to add a new visual component to your presentation.

41. Hijack someone’s influence in your marketing slides

If you are stuck in the brainstorming phase of your presentation, focusing on a brand or influencer is a great place to start. It could be a case study, a collection of ideas or just some quotes from the influencer. But what makes it effective is that the audience knows the influencer and trusts them. And you are able to hijack their awareness or influence.

42. Put y our logo on every slide 

Whether you have a brand as powerful as Moz, or you are just getting started, you should always have your logo on each slide. You really never know where a presentation is going to end up–or what parts of it will! In this presentation template, Moz does a good job of including their branding and such to get others interested in Moz Local. Don’t have a logo yet? Our logo design tips will help you create a logo that’s iconic and will stand the test of time.

43. Lead your audience to it 

In this example, the creator uses something very similar to the call and answer approach I mentioned above, but with a little twist. Instead of just throwing all the info up at once, they use three slides to build to a particular point and include a subtle call to action in the third slide.

44. Make visuals the focal point of your presentation slides

If you haven’t noticed, illustrated icons are having a revival in 2020 and beyond. This is likely because minimalist icons dominated the design world for the past decade. And now people want something new.

Brands also like using illustrated icons because they are seen as genuine and fun.

And because they are so eye-catching you can use them as focal points in your presentation slides. Just like they did in the creative presentation example above.

Picking the perfect icon is tough, learn how you can use infographic icons like a pro.

45. Use a quirky presentation theme 

In this slide deck, the authors show you how to become an Animation Ninja…and they use ninja graphics and icons extensively. This caught my eye immediately because of the amount of work that I knew was behind this. It takes a lot of time and effort to line all of the content and graphic up to create a cohesive theme, but the payoff can be massively worth it.

46. Use a consistent background image 

I am a big fan of the way that Aleyda Solís uses only a single presentation background image throughout her presentation.

By using this tactic the audience is able to focus on what is happening in the foreground. Plus it gives the whole presentation a different feel than all the other ones I have looked at.

47. Summarize your points at the end

It’s a good idea to summarize your points before you end your presentation , especially if you’ve covered a lot of information. In this presentation example, Deanta summarizes exactly what they do on slide numbers 16-18. They also provide their contact information in case their audience has any more questions. I think that every presentation should use this same approach, especially the ones you are presenting outside of your company.

48. Use a minimalist presentation template

This slide deck from QuickBooks uses a minimalist theme to help the audience focus on what is important, the content.

There were only five colors used in the entire presentation and the graphics were simple line drawings. This made it easy to read and very pleasing to the eyes.

49. Split your slides length-wise 

Here is a simple template you can use to separate your headers, or main points, from your body text in a presentation.

Instead of using a solid presentation background, split the slide in half like Sequoia did in their slide deck. They used their brand color for the title portion and a neutral white for the supporting content.

Use this company report template to create a very similar slide right now!

50.  Embrace a bold color scheme throughout your presentation

My favorite part of the creative presentation example above is the use of complementary colors in each slide. As you can see, not one of the slides use the same color scheme but they all feel related connected.

This approach can be used to make your presentation visually unique, without abandoning a cohesive theme or idea.

51. Put text in the top left corner 

English speakers will instinctively try to read text from a top to bottom, left to right orientation. I would recommend using a left alignment for your text and adding additional things from top to bottom, just like Aaron Irizarry did in this presentation layout.

52. Break up your tables 

A plain table with a white background with black or gray lines are difficult to read on a computer screen, so why would you create one for viewing on a large presentation screen? You shouldn’t!

Instead, follow Intuit’s lead and break up the rows with a bit of color. This applies to data visualization in general , but think it is even more important when it comes to presentations.

53.  Present connected information in a visually similar way

In this startup pitch presentation example, they have a ton of information to get through. But they present their most important slides, the problem and solution, in a visually similar way.

By using a similar layout on each slide, the audience will be able to quickly make a connection. If you want to present two connected pieces of information, use this tactic.

From the font to the layout, it’s all basically the same. The main message they’re trying to impart is a lot more impactful to the reader.

If they would have used two wildly different presentation layouts, the message may have been lost.

54. Roundup expert tips into one presentation 

If you are looking for useful insights into the topic of your presentation, talk to some influencers in your niche. These are called “expert roundups” in the content marketing world and they are incredibly shareable.

Plus, they are pretty easy to create and have a great shelf life. In the example above, we talked to a gaggle of marketing experts about what makes a SlideShare great.

55. Use bold & brash colors throughout 

B old colors usually make your presentation template a lot easier to read and remember. Like at this slide deck made by our talented designers, which doesn’t shy away from bright, bold colors.

Want to pick a perfect color palette for your presentation? Read this blog on the do’s and don’ts of infographic color selection .

56. Make your graphs easy to read & interpret 

It should not require a Master’s degree in statistics to understand the graphs that someone uses in a presentation. Instead, the axis should be easy to read, the colors should enforce the point, and the data should be clearly plotted.

For example, in this presentation on slide numbers 14 and 25, the graphs nail all of those tips perfectly.

57. Condense your presentation into a memorable line 

If you can, try condensing your information into a simple one-liner to help the message stick with your audience. In slide number 36 of this presentation, Mika Aldaba does just that and shows that “Facts + Feelings = Data Storytelling.”

He does this again a few times throughout the presentation with other memorable one-liners.

58.  Bring attention to important figures with colorful icons

If you’re including a figure or number on your slides, I’m guessing you want the audience to actually see it.

That’s why I would recommend using an icon or graphic to highlight that figure. Maybe use a color or icon that isn’t used anywhere else in the presentation to make sure it really jumps off the screen.

In the presentation example above, all that’s used is a simple circle to make each figure a focal point. It’s really that easy, but many people leave it out of their presentations.

59. Anchor Your Text With Icons 

Having your text or content floating out in the white space of your presentation is not a good look.

Instead, you should use anchor icons to give the text something to hold onto and draw the audience’s eye. If you need some examples of good anchor icons, check out slide numbers 4, 7 and 9 in this presentation example.

60. Add semi-opaque lettering as a presentation background 

A neat way to keep your slide deck organized is to number your slides or points using semi-opaque lettering in the background.

Then, place your slide content on top of the opaque lettering. This helps your audience know that you are on the same point or idea, plus it just looks really good when done right.

61. Use simple or minimalist borders

An easy way to class up your slides is to put a border around your text. Take this presentation from Venngage that uses a couple of different types of borders to make their slides look professional.

Plus it helps keep all of your content contained on the slide!

62. Feature one idea per slide

Nothing is worse than a confusing, cluttered slide. Instead of trying to pack a bunch of ideas into one slide, focus on one core idea on each slide. If you need to flesh the idea out, just make another slide. 

Having trouble condensing your slides? Our presentation design guide can help you summarize your presentations and convey a singular idea with a clear focus.

63. Keep your style consistent with your brand 

You might be tempted to switch up the style of your creative presentations each time, but think again. If your brand is known for fun and lighthearted content, like Officevibe, let that be your style throughout all of the presentations you publish under that brand. This will make your slide decks recognizable and will enforce your brand’s message .

64. Use accent fonts to emphasize important numbers

Some people hate pie charts with a passion, but I think they are perfect for presentations. Especially if you want to bring attention to a figure or percentage point .

In this simple example, the pie charts are used to visualize each figure in an interesting way. Plus the pie charts fit the circular and fun theme of the rest of the presentation very well.

65. Use patterned and textured presentation backgrounds

Source  

Adding some subtle textures, icons or shapes to the presentation background can help make your slides more interesting. This is especially effective when you are only showing one point per slide, because it makes the slide design less sparse.

You can even switch up the colors on your shapes or textures to match the theme of the slide like DesignMantic did in this presentation.

66. Illustrate complex or confusing concepts with icons 

Ideally, you don’t want every slide in your deck to just be text. Instead, switch things up every few slides by using just pictures.

This slide deck by Gluwa uses icons to create little diagrams to illustrate their presentation ideas. Their slides still communicate concepts to the audience, but in a new way.

67. Overlay stock photos with color 

One problem many people encounter when creating a presentation or slide decks are finding photos with a consistent style. An easy way to edit photos to make them consistent is to add a transparent color overlay. In this example, Change Sciences uses a blue overlay on all of their photos. Plus, the color you choose can also help convey a particular mood.

68. Use black and white blocks 

An easy way to make your text pop, particularly on a photo background, is to use white font on a black blog background (and vise-versa). Check out this slide deck by Abhishek Shah, which uses this trick in an effective way.  

Now if you want to become a better leader this year, check out some of our favorite leadership infographics .

69. Use photos with similar filters 

Using a bunch of photos with wildly different filters can be jarring in a business presentation. To maintain a consistent flow, use photos with a similar filter and color saturation.

Take a look at this example from HubSpot across slide numbers 1-6 and you can see what I mean.

70. Visualize your points with diagrams 

Sometimes the best way to get your point across is to throw some diagrams into the presentation mix. But be sure to make is something that the audience can pick up on in three to five seconds tops.

For example, Jan Rezab uses a diagram to illustrate what takes up time in our lives on slide numbers 4, 5, 7 and 9!

71. Get experts to share tips

If you want to provide even more value to your audience than you can offer yourself, why not call in some expert reinforcement? See what experts in your field have to say on the topic of your presentation and include their tips and insights. Plus you can hijack their influence and expand your audience fairly quickly. 

72. Mimic a popular presentation style 

Uber’s pitch deck helped them raise millions of dollars in venture capital eventually leading to the glorious moment when they IPOed this year.

Aside from our sleek design upgrade (hey, we love good design!), this pitch deck template is the exact same one that Uber used to go from Idea to IPO.

And who knows? Maybe you might start the next Uber. But to raise money, you will need to create flawless business pitch decks to impress investors and raise those dollars.

73. Plan your presentation idea ahead of time

I know that minimalist designs are all the rage this year, but there is a big difference between a well-thought-out minimalist design and a lazy design without the finish touches. The same goes for a cluttered design with too many things going on at once.

That’s why it’s worth it to take the time to really plan out your presentation ideas and design concepts. Take this slide deck about storytelling by HighSpark. A quick glance will tell you that they put a lot of thought into designing their slides.

74.  Use tables to compare your brand to the competition in sales presentations/pitch decks

There are a lot of ways to visually compare similar things in this day and age. You could use a comparison infographic , or even a venn diagram!

However, when it comes to presentations I think that the simple table is best. Especially if you are comparing more than two things, like in this presentation example.

With a table, you can clearly lay out all the pros and cons of each idea, brand or topic without it being overwhelming to the audience. Plus, virtually everyone knows how to follow a table, so your information will be easy to consume.  

See more examples of the best pitch decks .

75. Blend icons & content effortlessly

Usually, icons are used as eye-catching objects detectors or anchors for text in a slideshow. But they can be used for so much more than that!

Like in this marketing presentation from Constant Contact they are very large but do not distract from the content.

76. Make your audience want more 

This tactic has been used by everyone since the idea of marketing was invented (or close to that). In this presentation example called “100 Growth Hacks, 100 Days” the creator only shows the audience the first 10 days of it and then uses a call to action at the end of the presentation to encourage them to seek out the rest.

The only risk with these kinds of presentation ideas is if your initial content is not great, you can’t expect your audience to seek out more information.

77. Use memes (for real, though) 

Usually, memes do not have a place in a serious business setting, so maybe don’t use them for formal presentations. But if you’re covering a lighter topic, or if you’re going for a fun presentation that will connect with your audience, don’t be afraid to throw a meme or two into the mix.

The audience immediately knows what you are trying to say when you use a popular meme in your presentation. For example, on slide number 7, the creator uses a meme to show that it will be hard to create great content

78.  Include a slide that introduces your team in pitch decks

In this presentation example, the creators decided to include their team on a slide. I think it’s a great gesture.

Showing your team can help the audience put a face to your brand and make the whole company feel more genuine. So if there is a team that has helped you get where you are today, give them some recognition!

79. Feature a complementary color palette

Even though I am not a formally trained designer, I still understand that proper color usage is the base of any good design. Although not all of the tenets of color theory work great for presentations, complementary colors are always a great pick.

Take a look at the color usage in this business presentation from Gary Vaynerchuk below . The purple and Snapchat yellow, which are complementary colors, look fantastic and the content jumps off the screen.

80. Use a heavy or bold font 

The very back of the room should be able to read your content if you are giving a group presentation. To ensure that your entire audience can read the slides I would not only use a large font, but also use a heavy font.  If you are confused by what I mean by a heavy font take a look at this unique presentation example by Slides That Rock.

81. Do the math for your audience

If you are going to use a graph in your presentation to compare data you should do the match for your audience. Do not make them do the calculations in their head because you will quickly lose their attention. For example, on slide number 5 the people at Sickweather lay out exactly what figures they want the audience to take from the slide.  

82. Use unique colors for different sections

The example below has 145 slides but it does not feel overwhelming or confusing.

That’s because each section has a different corresponding color, which makes it easier to flip through the slide deck and find a particular part.

83.  Give your presentation a catchy title that anyone can remember

What I really love about the presentation example above is that it features a catchy tagline on the second slide–“The 3S Framework.” It’s simple but it works!

This motto helps outline the structure of the presentation, and each slide referring back to it. Plus, the tagline will give the audience something to latch onto and remember from the presentation.

84. White backgrounds are not always bad 

A lot of people think that plain white background is a boring presentation faux pas. So the first thing they do is add color or image, which is not a bad thing at all.

But I also think that when used correctly, like in this example, plain white backgrounds can lead to beautiful presentations.

85. Split the header text from the body text

This idea is very similar to the one-two punch tactic that I talked about above, but it spreads the content over two slides as opposed to a single slide.

Use this design choice when you have fairly easy to follow presentations, like the one below from Steve Young. I know that this is effective because it allows the audience to focus on the main point before he drives it home with the supporting details.

86. Feature circle image frames 

I am a big fan of the design choices that Frank Delmelle uses in this slide deck about content strategy. He uses circles as his main design motif and frames his images in circles as well.

87. Talk directly to your audience 

This slideshow tops out at 70 slides but it’s a breeze to flip through. That’s because the creator, Ian Lurie, decided to present it in the form of a conversation instead of a classic slide deck.

While each slide only has one or two sentences, it flows just like a friendly chat. He also includes the necessary pauses, breaks and other conversational tics that helps make it even more convincing.

88. Illustrated icons are key this year 

Icons add a fun and functional element to your designs. In this presentation by Iryna Nezhynska, they use illustrated icons to make a potentially intimidating topic seem manageable.

89. Highlight key numbers and percentages 

Surprising percentages have the ability to excite and shock an audience. To make the percentages on your slides even more impactful, present them in a different color or font than the rest of the text.

In the presentation example above, Contently uses that exact tactic to bring more attention to key numbers.

90. Use a gradient as your presentation background 

Just like bold color schemes, gradients are a current social media graphic design trend . They may feel retro to some, but I believe they will be around well into the future.  

Gradients are perfect for presentation backgrounds because they are so versatile and eye-catching. I mean, you can literally create a gradient with any colors you can think of! And they look a lot more interesting than a simple flat background.

So embrace the future and use a gradient in your next presentation!

91. Track the steps in a process 

In this example, the creators from O.C. Tanner add a very interesting feature to their slides, starting on slide number 6. If you take a look at this business presentation template, you will see that they number the steps in a process and track which step they’re on at the bottom of the slides.

92. Use mind blowing font pairings 

The creator of this slide deck uses at least 10 different types of fonts. And it looks fantastic because they know that one font choice is boring. But this does not mean that you should use a bunch of random fonts–pick font pairs that play well together and keep your font choices for different types of information consistent throughout the presentation.

93. Make your ideas as obvious as possible 

Your audience shouldn’t be guessing at what you mean. That is why I think that this presentation example from In a Rocket is so powerful because they make the information easy to digest.

Learning to code can be challenging, but they break the information down with simple diagrams and clear examples. Heck, I have not touched CSS in a few years and I could still follow what they were instructing.

94. Use images that will actually scale 

A large mistake that you can make in your slide deck is using low-quality images. They may look great on your computer, but as soon as the slides are put up on a screen, the low quality will show. In this example by ThoughtWorks, all of their presentation background images look great and will scale well to a bigger screen. And that is even after the image compression that LinkedIn most likely does!

95. Take risks with your presentation layout

I honestly was blown away the first time I saw this presentation because it capitalized on such a risky design idea. The creators from Weekdone literally turned their presentation into an 8-Bit video game. A nd if you are looking for something that will stick with your audience, I would take a few creative cues from them!

96. Seriously, you better use memes 

In this day and age memes are mainstream, so why wouldn’t you use them in a creative presentation? These do not have to be the coolest meme that all the hip kids are sharing, they can be some of the classics. Like the one that Dana DiTomaso uses on slide 16 to emphasize that it’s a trap!

97. Follow a clear design rhythm

I really like how this presentation introduced each new point in three or four steps, using the same design. It gave the presentation a rhythm that flowed almost like a song!

I would recommend using this approach if you have to introduce multiple points per slide.

98. Use LOTS of icons

If you have made it this far in the list you have already probably seen how effective icons are in presentations. They are the perfect way to support your ideas and make your presentation more pleasing to the eyes.

For example, take a look at all the icons SlideShop uses in this presentation. Almost every slide has at least one icon and a few have more than ten!

99. Give each slide its own spark

I know this goes against earlier points I had about creating a cohesive theme in your presentation layout, but everyone knows that rules are made to be broken (if you can do it better)!

In this slide deck, the team at Officevibe literally created different designs for all 27 of their slides. And to top it off, each of the designs fit the quotes they used extremely well.

100. Use LARGE header cards 

An easy way to stick to that “one piece of content on each slide rule” is to use header cards. They are basically the header that you would normally use in a blog post or article, but it gets is own slide before the content. Here is an example of that idea in the real world in this presentation from Brian Downard.

101. Ask your audience questions 

I think one of the most common elements I saw in all the slide decks was that they asked the audience questions. You can use questions to engage with your audience and get them thinking a bit harder about the topic. The Site By Norex team did an exceptional job of this when they explored what the topic of what makes up a brand.

Need some more info about creating a memorable brand? Check out some of the best branding stats for 2020 and beyond!

102. Introduce yourself and your brand 

I would say that a majority of presentations that I looked at in this list just jumped right into the content without an introduction to the author or brand in the actual slide deck.

This introduction is very important because it establishes your credentials from the beginning, especially if someone is just reading the slide deck. In this example from Losant, they do just that by spending the first few slides telling the audience who they are.

103. Mix up your mediums 

Finally, this slide deck effectively marries two very distinct content forms together: digital images and hand-drawn illustrations. In this example, Freshdesk uses the timeless classic of a comic strip, Calvin & Hobbes, in something so modern to inform the audience in a fun way.

104. Show off your credentials 

Just like with any piece of content, people are more likely to believe what you are saying if they know what your company does. That is why I really like when people insert their qualifications right into the presentation slides. Just like Andreas von der Heydt, from Amazon, did at the beginning of this presentation about thinking big.  

105. Highlight key data points 

If you are presenting a chart or graph on a dry topic, I would recommend using a single color to highlight the most important data point. For example, the investment firm a16z uses orange to highlight the data points they want their audience to focus on in each of their charts.

Check out some examples of how to highlight your key information in bar charts .

106. Show your audience where to find more information 

A lot of people end their presentations by literally just running out of slides, and that is the wrong way to do it. Instead, CBInsights consistently pushes their readers towards another piece of content at the end. This is also where you can insert a call to action!

107. Tell your origin story

  Source

This idea is kinda similar to showing off your company qualifications at the beginning of your presentation. But with this approach, you are trying to make an emotional connection with your audience instead of just showing off accolades.

And Rand from Moz does this extremely well in the presentation example above.

108. Use one focused visual 

This presentation uses a central visual of a structure, with each slide moving down the levels of the structure. This is incredibly powerful because the entire presentation is about sinking your company, and the visual they designed mirrors that idea perfectly. Using one focus visual also makes your slide deck design cohesive.

109. Don’t take presentation design too seriously

Sometimes we get caught up trying to make the perfect presentation and it ends up making us crazy!

But in this presentation example, Jesse Desjardins uses a mix of wit and hilarious retro images to create a memorable and light-hearted presentation.

110. Use size to your advantage 

I am a big fan of using bubble charts and other charts that use size to compare two pieces of data. That is why I like this pitch deck from the ShearShare team that utilizes a size-based chart on slide number 9. The chart is used to illustrate the massive growth potential in their industry.

111. Split section headers from the main content with different background colors 

In this presentation, Seth Familian uses alternating colors in a very interesting way. For each of the title slides, he uses a black color background, but for the content slides he uses a white background.

This helped the readers follow along and comprehend what was on the page even faster. And when you are presenting to hundreds of different types of people, this can make or break your presentation.  

112.  Have a conversation with your audience 

Take a conversational tone in your presentation is a great way to encourage your audience to participate.

In this slide deck example, we presented a simple storyline and use questions to engage with the audience throughout. And it helped create a flow throughout the  presentation template  that is easy to follow.

113.  Include your branding throughout your presentation ideas

Another thing that people seem to forget when they are working on a presentation is to include their business’s branding. You honestly never know where your work is going to be shared, so it is important to make sure people know it’s yours. HubSpot does an outstanding job of this on all their presentations, as you can see in the bottom left corner of each slide.

Plus you have spent a ton of time creating your  brand guidelines , might as well use them.

114.  Include multiple slides to build to your main point

Try using multiple slides to build to your main point. This helps you walk through the components of one overarching point while also building suspense. In this slide deck, the creator uses 6 slides to build up to one main point, adding a new illustration to the diagram on each slide.

115.  Split the difference 

Use either the left or right side of the slide to hold your text and the opposite to display an image. If you are using a photo or graphic as the main background in your slides, this is a great way to keep things organized. 

116. There are millions of fonts out there…use them

Hey, I love simple fonts just as much as the next guy, but sometimes you need to step up your font game to stand out. For example, WebVisions uses a very gritty, probably custom font in their unique presentation that fits the topic extremely well. Take a look!

117.  Build your presentation content around icons 

Try using icons as the focal points of your presentation layout. This example from Omer Hameed  uses icons to draw the audience’s eyes  right to the middle of the presentation, where the main points and headers are located.  

118.  Mix up font style to emphasize important points

If you would like to draw some extra attention to a certain word or idea,  switch up the font  to one that is bolder. For example, in this oldie but goodie presentation from HubSpot they use a heavy sans-serif font to highlight ideas, as opposed to the serif font for the other text.

119.  Add personal touches to your presentation

If you want to create a truly unique presentation, add personal touches. In the slide numbers 6-13 from this presentation, the creator adds something to their design that no one else could ever have: they use original drawings they did themselves.

120.  Harness the power of your own brand colors

Sometimes people forget that they already have a battle-tested color palette that they can use in their  brand colors . I try to incorporate one of our brand colors in most of my designs and it makes so much easier to choose colors.

In this simple presentation example, Spitfire Creative used a palette that had both of their brand colors throughout the slideshow.

121.  Used dark-colored blocks to highlight words

I have seen this trick used in a lot of presentations and it works well. Highlight certain words or phrases by laying them overtop a colored rectangle. Take slide number 7 in this presentation example as a great guide. Use it to bring attention to a saying or idea you really want your audience to remember.

122.  Show the audience your mug 

This presentation example comes from the same presentation as a previous one, but it was too good not to share. Throughout the slides, you will see Rand from Moz pop up to add a human element to the design. Using an image of your team or yourself can put the audience at ease and make it easier to connect with the presenter.

123.  Include a helpful table of contents 

I only saw this presentation idea used a few times throughout my research, but I believe it should be used a lot more. A table of contents will help the audience know what to expect and keep their focus throughout. Especially if you are creating a presentation that is a bit longer than normal.

124.  Do not post just screenshots, do more

Screenshots of a program or app are very common in any blog post, but I think you can do a little better when it comes to presentations.

So instead of just posting a boring screenshot, add a little more to the slide by using illustrations and product shots. If you are not sure what I am talking about, just check out how great the screenshots look at slide numbers 7 and 8 in this presentation.

125. Highlight keywords using BOLD color 

Here’s another slide deck that uses different colors and blocks to highlight keywords. If you are going to use text-heavy slides, then make sure the key points are easy to pick out. Take this slide deck: starting in slide number 4, they highlight exactly what they want you to take away from the text on each slide!

Enough presentation ideas for you?

You made it! I applaud you for making it through all those presentations. Hopefully, now you have a few nifty presentation ideas ready for when you need them.

The next step is to create a presentation that will captivate a meeting room, an amphitheater, and even the world (hey, it doesn’t hurt to dream big).

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8+ Interactive Presentation Ideas for Students | 2024 Reveals | Online and Offline Solutions

Lakshmi Puthanveedu • 31 July, 2024 • 13 min read

Here, we’ll show you six interactive presentation ideas for students that will help you improve their retention and attention span!

If you look at the evolution of education and teaching methods in the last few decades, you can see how technology has played a significant part in it.

Interactive presentations are about how teachers can make their students feel involved by making learning fun and exciting. Traditional teaching methods like storytelling, examples, visual and audio aids, etc., are still indispensable, but the question is, how do you make these interactive?

Table of Contents

#1 - story telling, #2 - interactive games, #3 - quizzes, #4 - brainstorming, #5 - q&as, #6. sing a song.

• #7. Host a Short Play
• #8 - Debates and Discussions

More Tips from AhaSlides

Besides interactive presentation ideas for students , let's check out the following:

• Ultimate Guide to Interactive Presentation
• interactive presentation software for Mac
• Types of presentation software

Start in seconds.

Still need ways to present information to a class? Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

4 Tools to Generate Interactive Presentations Ideas for Students

Here are the top 4 pieces of software you can use to make school presentation ideas interactive:

• Interactive Presentation Software: Make your classroom interactive with free live quizzes , polls , live Q&As , and brainstorming sessions . Get real-time results and feedback from your students who only need a phone to contribute.
• Interactive Whiteboards: Create, share, and make visually appealing frameworks with students. Idea boards let you do everything that you would normally do in a live classroom.
• Interactive Video Software: Seamlessly create lessons from existing videos on the internet or scratch. Some edtech video software also lets your students respond with their videos.
• Interactive Learning Management Systems: Organise, collaborate and store your teaching materials in one place with an interactive learning management system .

💡 Need more tools? Check out 20 digital classroom tools to help you craft engaging and exceptional lessons.

6 Interactive Presentation Ideas for Students

You've done your research and prepared excellent learning materials for your students, went over the topics to teach in a day, over and over again, to perfection. Add a little sprinkle of "interactive activities" to the recipe, and you are all in to make the classroom experience memorable and engaging for your students.

Here are six interactive activities you can try online and offline to engage your students.

One of the best ways to grab your student’s attention is to tell stories. This could be a great icebreaker activity on a Monday to beat the blues, or you can use it as a filler activity after a complex class of maths, science or history.

You might wonder, what’s so interactive about this? Here’s how you could make this exciting and interactive for your students. 

Tell Your Story

Suitable for middle and high schoolers

Divide the class into groups. Ask each team to make an online presentation on a book, a movie, or a story they know of. The story could be left on a cliffhanger, and you could ask the audience how they think the story would end.

For this activity, you could use the open-ended slides on AhaSlides where the students could write their entries and display them in real time on the screen.

Once everyone has put in their answers, the narrating team could reveal the ending, and the person who guessed the correct answer, or came closest to the right one, would get a prize.

Irrespective of which grade you are teaching, everyone loves to play games. Merging interactive games into your lesson plan can motivate your students to pay better attention in class and engage them.

You can either link the games to the topics you teach in the class or simply have them as fillers or as an icebreaker activity.

Here are three fun games you can play virtually or in class with your students.

🎉 Icebreaker games are a fantastic way to  break the ice  and  connect people  in any setting, from classrooms and meetings to casual gatherings."

Suitable for all ages

There’s rarely anyone who doesn’t get excited hearing about this classic game. The game can be played in pairs of two, or you can divide the whole class into groups, depending on the class size and grade you are teaching.

If you are hosting a virtual class, you can play Pictionary on Zoom using its whiteboard feature. Otherwise, you can use an online Pictionary platform like Drawasaurus , which can host up to 16 participants simultaneously.

Ambassadors

Ambassadors is a great game for teaching geography lessons. The players are assigned a country each, which they would represent. They are then asked to describe the country with facts about it, the flag, the currency, the food, etc.

The audience is given a specific time limit to guess the country. Instead of simply asking them to guess the answer, you can use a live word cloud to showcase everyone’s responses. The most guessed word would be highlighted largest in the centre of the cloud, with the rest descending in size depending on how many times your players submitted them.

Show and Tell

Suitable for primary students

Teaching complex vocabulary can be pretty tricky, especially with young learners. This is a perfect game to teach them new words, what category they belong to, their meaning and their uses.

Give the students a category - for example, stationery - and ask them to pick one item that belongs to the category and share something about it. It can be either a memory, a story or something they know about that item.

💡 Take a look at 100s more fun games you can play with your students in class!

Whether you want to teach something new, give the students a surprise test to see if they remember what they’ve learned till now, or have a fun activity, quizzes are the best way to go about it.

From multiple-choice and audio questions to picture quiz rounds and matching pairs, there are many interactive quizzes you can play in class to engage your students.

Along with hard skills the students learn with practice and learning techniques, it is essential for them to have specific soft skills too. Most often, when there’s any interactive activity in the class, students think of getting the ‘ correct answer’.

This kind of restricts their thinking, but when you have brainstorming activities, there’s a free flow of ideas. They can write any statement that comes to their head, which helps to improve their interpersonal skills and also their retention span.

Brainstorming can be either based on the presentation topic, or you could have a random game of your student's choice. Let's look at two brainstorming activities you can play with your students.

If you are looking for a simple game with little preparation, Tick-Tock is the one. The game is played in groups and each group will be given 1 topic.

• The students of each group are seated in a circle for this activity
• Give each team a theme or a topic, say Cartoons
• Every student in the team should name one cartoon within a set time limit and continue the game for the next two rounds.
• You can have one topic per round and eliminate students who didn't answer within the time limit.
• The last one standing wins
• This can be played both as a filler or can be played according to the subject you are teaching.

Bridge the Words

Teaching English can be fun and exciting if you know how to use the right tools and activities at the right time. 'Bridge the words' can be used to teach compound words and vocabulary to students.

The complexity of the words can be decided based on the grade you are teaching.

• The game can be played individually or in groups.
• Give your students a list of words and ask them to choose one from it
• The students then have to come up with as many compound words as possible within a particular time

If you want to play this game with young learners, you could use a "match the pair" slide on AhaSlides.

💡 Check out some more tips and tricks to host a successful brainstorming session for your students.

Irrespective of what grade or subject you teach, your students will have some questions about the material.

But most of the time, students hesitate to ask questions because they are not confident enough or they fear that others might think the questions are silly. So how can you tackle this problem? 

A live Q&A can be a fun and interactive experience for your students with the help of online interactive platforms like AhaSlides.

• Students can send in their questions anonymously or with their names, depending on their choice.
• The questions will appear from newest to oldest, and you can mark the questions that are answered.
• Your students can upvote the popular questions, and you can answer them based on priority, as well as skip the ones that are less relevant or repetitive.

🎊 Learn more: Best Q&A Apps to Engage With Your Audience | 5+ Platforms For Free in 2024

Singing is a powerful tool for crowd engagement for several reasons

Creates a Shared Experience: Singing together fosters a sense of community and togetherness. It allows everyone to participate in a shared activity, regardless of musical ability. This creates a positive and energetic atmosphere.

Boosts Mood and Energy: Singing releases endorphins, the body's natural feel-good chemicals. This can uplift the mood of the crowd and create a more positive and energetic environment.

Improves Focus and Memory: Singing requires focus and coordination, which can improve alertness and concentration in the crowd. Additionally, singing along to familiar songs can help people remember the event more vividly.

Breaks Down Barriers: Singing can be a disarming and social activity. It can help people loosen up, break down social barriers, and feel more comfortable interacting with each other.

Interactive and Fun: Singing allows for call-and-response, participation in choruses, or even group choreography. This interactive element keeps the crowd engaged and adds a layer of fun to the event.

🎉 Random Song Generator Wheel | 101+ Best Songs Ever | 2024 Reveals

#7. Host A Short Play

Check out the top 7 benefits hosting a short play to improve engagement in classes!

• Boosts Creativity and Confidence: Students involved in the writing, acting, or directing of a play get to tap into their creative sides. They learn to express themselves through different mediums and gain confidence in public speaking and performance.
• Improves Collaboration and Communication: Putting on a play is a collaborative effort. Students learn to work together, communicate effectively, and solve problems as a team.
• Enhances Literary Analysis: By delving into a short play, students gain a deeper understanding of character development, plot structure, and dramatic elements. They practice critical thinking skills as they analyze the play's message and themes.
• Makes Learning Fun and Engaging: Short plays can be a refreshing break from traditional classroom activities. They can make learning more interactive and enjoyable for students of all learning styles.
• Develops Public Speaking Skills: Even small roles in a play require students to project their voices and speak clearly in front of an audience. This practice improves their public speaking skills, which can benefit them throughout their lives.
• Builds Empathy and Understanding: Stepping into the shoes of a character allows students to explore different perspectives and develop empathy for others. Short plays can touch on a variety of topics, promoting social-emotional learning.
• Memorable Learning Experience: The process of creating and performing a play can be a memorable learning experience. Students will likely retain the lessons learned and the play's themes long after the performance.

Not only classroom lectures, training and development programs also need to be more interactive. Check out our engaging training games to increase trainees’ engagement and satisfaction.🙌

#8 - Debates and Discussions - Focus Groups

Guided debates and discussions are an excellent way to get students engaged. They give students an organised way to explore and express thoughts on topics they might already have strong opinions about.  

They are interactive by nature, boost your students' confidence and teach them how to accept constructive criticism and respect the viewpoints of others.

Discussion topics can be selected either based on your lesson plan or you can have general discussions that could be an additional activity in class.

📌 140 Conversation Topics That Work In Every Situation | 2024 Reveals

Government and Citizens

Getting your students excited about general knowledge can be a daunting task. 'Government and Citizens' is a multi-player game best suited for an offline classroom activity.

The game is pretty simple. The whole class is given a country to represent. You can ask the students to research the country and make relevant notes for the activity.

• Divide the class into different groups
• Each group is given a category to represent - citizens, office of the Mayor, Bank etc.
• Select a problem area - say, for example, "How can we make the country more sustainable?" and ask each group to raise their opinions.
• Each group can present their opinion on the same and have cross-discussions as well.

Debate Cards

Add a little spice to the classic debate game with customised index cards. These cards can be made out of regular paper, or you can buy plain index cards that can be customised later.

This game can help students think before an argument or rebuttal and use the resources they have to the maximum benefit.

• Make index cards (just a little more than the total number of students)
• On half of them, write "comment" and "question" on the other half
• Give one card to each student
• Choose a debate topic, and the students need to use their index cards if they want to comment on the topic or raise a question
• The students will use their cards only when they think it is necessary
• You can reward them with extra cards if they make a strong point or raise an excellent question that keeps the debate moving

💡 For interactive presentation ideas for students, let's check out 13 online debate games you can play with students of all ages.

Lakshmi Puthanveedu

A small-town girl enthralled by culture, languages, and sunsets. Casual artist and musician looking to make memories every step of the way. Now changing the way humans live and have virtual interactions with AhaSlides.

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🗣️ Active participation An interactive slide deck gives your audience cool things to click on and discover, boosting learning and engagement.

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Genially in a nutshell

How do I make a presentation interactive and how does Genially work? Find the answers to all of your slide-related questions here!

What’s an interactive presentation?

Interactive slides contain clickable hotspots, links, buttons, and animations that are activated at the touch of a button. Instead of reading or watching passively, your audience can actively interact with the content.  

Genially’s interaction presentation software allows you to combine text, photos, video clips, audio and other content in one deck. It’s a great way to condense more information into fewer slides. 

If you’re a teacher, you can share multiple materials in one single learning resource. Students can create their own projects using digital media and online maps. For business or training, try embedding spreadsheet data, PDFs, and online content directly in your slides. 

An interactive slide deck is more user-friendly than a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides document. That’s because you can break information down into chunks with pop-ups, labels, voiceovers and annotated infographics.  

The other benefit of interactive content is increased engagement. It’s easier to keep your audience’s attention when they’re actively participating. Try Genially’s presentation software and free slideshow maker to see how it’s better than other presentation websites. You won’t go back to standard presentation apps!

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14 Fun & Interactive Presentation Games for Teams and Students

So you've got an audience to energize, students to engage, or a team that needs a little extra fun — playing an interactive presentation game is an easy way to do just that.

We've done the research and found the best of these games for you: we looked specifically for games that are simple to set up, fun to play, and flexible enough to be used with a variety of presentations and audiences. Most of these activities work virtually with Zoom/PowerPoint and can also be used in person.

Which of these 14 presentation games do you like best? Take a look and let us know your favorites:

1. Live Trivia Competition

A great way to ramp up the excitement and engagement is to enable a little bit of friendly competition. Trivia is an easy way to do this—plus, it can be whole-group inclusive and large-audience friendly (if you use the right tools).

Here's a great trivia game you can run with your team, students, or any large audience. It's already created for you with questions and scoring built in to make it even easier:

Here's how to play:

• Make a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the slide deck and copy it. 
• Launch the trivia game by clicking "Start Event."
• Invite your group to join in and submit answers using their mobile devices (show the winners automatically).
• Interact and play during your presentation!

This trivia game has questions on many topics to keep your audience's attention and appeal to everyone. It only takes 10-15 minutes to play, so it's a great game for long discussions! Also, this interactive activity is free for up to ten participants and is totally customizable.

2. Sing and Swing 

To really liven up your group, encourage your listeners to play Sing and Swing. This activity is best for long presentations because it boosts energy, creates a fun, light-hearted environment, and makes people laugh a lot. 

Here's how to play: 

• Before your presentation, pick a well-known song and rewrite the chorus (replace parts of it with words and phrases from your presentation) 
• When you're ready to play, show the song on your screen. 
• Invite your audience to sing it with you!

If you have a fun group or a class of energetic students, consider adding choreography to engage your audience even more. 

3. 20 Questions

If you want a presentation game that requires your listeners to talk more than you, 20 Questions is the one to play! A classic and simple activity, this game immediately boosts engagement and gets people laughing. 

Here's how to play: Have someone put an appropriate image or word on the screen behind you (this can be an audience member you trust or a colleague or co-presenter). To make things more fun, put on a blindfold so that everyone knows you can't cheat. From there, ask 20 "yes or no" questions to guess what's displayed on the screen. Your group should respond "yes" or "no" to guide you to the correct answer. 

4. Scavenger Hunt Challenge

To get your audience out of their seats, a scavenger hunt challenge is one of the best interactive games for presentations. It'll immediately energize your audience , team, or students while giving them a fun way to learn.  

There are tons of in-person and virtual scavenger hunt ideas you can use to dive deeper into your topic or help everyone learn about one another. But if you want a ready-to-play game that you can instantly launch without having any tech skills, here's a fun one to play: 

• Use an email address and password to create a free account here: https://slideswith.com/ (a free account guarantees up to ten people can play at no charge). 
• Click the game and press "Copy and use this slide deck." 
• In the top right corner, click "Start Event."
• Ask listeners to join the game by using their mobile devices to scan the QR code. Players should continue using their mobile devices to submit answers to questions.
• Have everyone start hunting for items! 

This activity is a particularly fun game because it's a photo-hunt, show-and-tell challenge! That means your audience will not only get out of their seats to find items, but they'll also get to take pictures and share and discuss photos of what they find. This conversational element will help engage your group! 

5. Group Word Clouds

Whether you're speaking to team members, students, or conference-goers, this activity lets you ask questions and get your listeners' thoughts on specific topics. 

This game is the perfect way to start your presentation, especially if you're discussing something with a wide range of opinions or are unsure how much your listeners know about a certain subject. Group Word Clouds is also beneficial if you want to do a quick meeting pulse or know how your listeners feel going into your presentation—understanding their energy levels and mood can help you adjust (if necessary) to get maximum engagement and excitement.

To enjoy this activity, keep things simple by using a tool that already offers a ready-to-play Group Word Clouds game. Here's a popular one you can launch immediately: 

• Create a free account by entering an email and password here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the game and then copy it (the button to do so is right underneath the slide deck).
• Press "Start Event" in the top right corner. 
• Tell participants to play by scanning the QR code. 
• Create word clouds and have fun!

This interactive game only takes 5-10 minutes to play, so it's a fast, fun way to engage your audience and feel out the room. Players can use their mobile devices to answer questions. This activity is also free for up to 10 people and is easy to personalize.

6. The Get to Know You Game

This activity is one of the best presentation games if you have a small group that doesn't really know each other. The Get to Know You Game is a creative way to do introductions, and it's really simple.

Here's how to play the game: Before the event, ask group members to bring a favorite song or item to the presentation (you can do this by emailing them). When you're ready to play, ask each person to introduce themself, present their song or item, and explain why they picked it. For those sharing a song, have them play it on their phones before they explain why it's their favorite. 

7. Live Poll Questions 

When you have a large group, it's not easy to find ways to boost engagement—but poll questions are the solutions, especially when they're live and interactive. With this unique setup, large groups engage by answering questions and seeing their answers displayed in a fun way. 

Your job is to make sure you actually find a game that showcases responses uniquely to captivate your group. For a quick and great option, here's a popular icebreaker activity that promises to display responses using fun formats like word clouds, donut charts, live graphs, and per-player: 

• Create an account for free to access the game:  https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the slide deck and press the button to copy it. 
• Look in the top right corner of the deck and press "Start Event."
• Invite your group to play the game. They only need to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code. 
• Start polling your audience!

This activity is one of those fun presentation games everyone will want to enjoy, so invite all of your team members and students to participate. This game can accommodate up to 250 players and takes 5-10 minutes to complete. Tell your group to use their mobile devices to submit their responses. 

8. Assumptions 

This interactive game is a great way to break up your presentation to see who's paying attention and who can answer questions pertaining to your topic. 

• Ask your audience to stand up (for virtual presentations, make sure everyone's video is on). 
• Show true or false statements on the screen one by one. 
• Tell people to raise a hand if they think the statement is correct and sit down if they think it's incorrect.
• Continue until one person is left standing.
• Award the winner. 

This activity can be as short and challenging as you want. Also, if your presentation is long, you can play multiple rounds to break up your speaking time and test your audience throughout your discussion.  

9. Controversial Questions 

Want to see where your audience, students, or team lands on controversial topics? Then, energize your presentation with a fun, creative game called Controversial Questions. This activity has prompts that inspire lively debates, so it's a great way to get your group excited and chatty. 

However, to maintain a positive environment, make sure to find a tool that offers an office-friendly, classroom-friendly, and conference-friendly game. You don't want to sour the mood by creating uncomfortable division during your presentation. To make sure this game is fun and light-hearted, here's a popular one that's suitable for all audiences and ages: 

• Sign up for a free account by inputting an email address and password here:  https://slideswith.com/pricing  
• Click the game and press the button that says, "Copy and use this deck." 
• Press "Start Event" (the button is in the top right corner). 
• Have participants join the fun by asking them to scan the QR code with their mobile devices. 
• Get controversial and play! 

This interactive game for presentations asks fun (but appropriate) questions like:

• Does pineapple belong on pizza?
• Does the person flying in the middle seat get both armrests?
• Should the toilet roll go over or under? 

Players should use their mobile devices to submit answers. Up to ten people can play for free, and you can customize the game by updating the questions!

10. Word of the Day 

With this activity, you can keep your audience, team, or students engaged throughout your entire presentation. This  game requires listeners to be alert and recognize whenever you say the word of the day. 

Here's how to play: At the beginning of your presentation, tell your group the word of the day (it can also be a phrase if you'd prefer). Say that you'll weave the word into your presentation and that your audience must shout it out whenever you mention it. 

11. Mini Activity: Group Icebreaker

Whether you're doing an in-person or virtual presentation, you need to warm up your audience to get things started on a positive note. The best way to do that is with a quick icebreaker game. 

However, make sure your questions are fun, positive, and engaging. You can easily do this by finding a game that already has the best icebreaker questions included. Here's one that's ready to play (and requiring no tech skills to launch): 

• Input an email address and password to make a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the deck and copy it (press "Copy and use this deck). 
• Click the button in the top right corner that says "Start Event."
• Invite participants to play by asking them to scan the QR code. 
• Break the ice to warm up your audience!

Your group should use their mobile devices to submit responses to poll questions. Also, this game accommodates up to 250 players, but only ten people can join for free.

12. Process of Elimination 

This activity is one of the best games for presentations because it's simple yet fun and great at helping listeners get to know each other. You can play it at the beginning of your presentation or in the middle to give your group a chance to stretch their legs. 

• Before your event, create a list of "yes or no" questions. 
• Once you're ready to play, tell your group to stand up (if you're doing a virtual presentation, make sure everyone's video is on). 
• Ask each question one by one. 
• Tell attendees to stand if their answer is "yes" and sit if their answer is "no." 

The questions can relate to your topic or be totally random. Also, if you'd prefer to thin out the number of people standing, you can take a creative twist and ask your questions by saying something like this: "Stay standing if (insert scenario)." When phrasing each question this way, the game will end with one person standing. To acknowledge the winner, you can give them a round of applause or award them a prize. 

13. Conference Opener Icebreaker 

If you're speaking at a big conference, you need an interactive game for presentations that can get everyone involved and ensure every voice is heard. To achieve these goals, you should create an icebreaker game that works for large groups . 

Using an easy, intuitive template is the best step to take. That way, you don't have to start from scratch or spend hours making your game. For a template that requires no code or tech-savviness to build on, here's the best option: 

• Sign up by making a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click on the game. On the next page, click the button to copy and use the deck. 
• Customize the template using the instructions HERE . 
• During your presentation, press "Start Event" in the top right corner. 
• Ask the group to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code and join the fun. (Also, make sure participants use their mobile devices to submit answers.) 
• Play and engage your audience!  

This template has fun, interactive features built in to keep your large audience engaged. Those features include polls, word clouds, and ratings. Just make sure you sign up for a paid plan to accommodate the large number of people in your group—the free account only works for up to ten players. 

14. Two Truths and a Lie 

This classic game is a fun, energizing way to help your listeners get to know one another. It's perfect for small in-person or virtual groups and is an ideal activity for the beginning of your presentation. 

Here's how to play: Pick any topic (for the purposes of this article, the topic will be "movies"). In no particular order, say two movies you've really watched and one you haven't watched. Ask your audience to guess which statement is the lie. The winner picks the next topic and says two truths and a lie. 

Be Memorable With Presentation Games

Oftentimes, people forget presentations within a week or even days, and that's because the discussions are boring. But you don't work hard preparing a presentation for it to be forgotten. If you want your message to stick, all you have to do is make it enjoyable without being corny.  

If you want to be remembered and actually get people engaged, you need to make your presentation fun and enjoyable, without coming off as corny or desperate to please. Ivan Dimitrijevic, 10 Secrets of Making Every Presentation Fun, Engaging, and Enjoyable

Luckily, the interactive presentation games in this article are unique and exciting—they're far from corny. So, use them for your upcoming presentations to make your messages compelling and memorable. 

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100+ Creative Presentation Ideas You Can Steal Today

Renderforest Staff

20 Aug 2023

11 min read  

Have you ever struggled with forcing yourself to stay awake during a presentation? Don’t worry, you are not alone. 

In essence, a presentation is nothing but sharing ideas with others. Whether you intrigue and interest your audience or not depends on how interesting the topic is and how well you present it. 

Whether you plan on making a PowerPoint presentation with neatly designed slides or a video presentation with dynamic transitions, you first  need creative presentation ideas. 

That’s why we’ve created a comprehensive list of the most captivating and creative presentation ideas you can put to use. We have separated them into three main categories to make things easier for you.

Let’s dive right in!

Business and Management Presentation Ideas

Education presentation ideas, general presentation ideas.

In business, presenting information and complex ideas in an easy-to-digest manner is crucial. If you already have a presentation idea, you only need to find a presentation template to bring it to life. But if you’re still looking for creative presentation ideas, read the list we’ve prepared below.

• Corporate Presentation : Have you ever wondered what the best way is to build and communicate your company’s identity? Corporate presentations are great for promoting your brand, services, and products by simply talking about them.
• Company Profiling : Introduce your team. Who are you? What are you passionate about? Your audience is interested to know more about your team members.
• Company Story : What can strengthen the ties between you and your audience better than a compelling success story told through creative presentations?

Use Template

• Product Promos : Create a buzz around your new product with an engaging promo presentation.
• Sales Pitch : Close that sale you’ve worked so hard for with a well-built sales presentation.
• Office Tour : Present the cool interior design of your office. Show your favorite spots where you like to wind down with a cup of coffee or, hey, maybe a beer.
• Product Features : Does your product have interesting features that not everyone knows about? Make a detailed presentation on all the hidden features of your product. Use images and videos to explain how everything functions.
• Fundamental Principles : Choose a general topic in Business and Management and discuss it through your creative presentation. Here’s an idea: “Fundamental Principles of Strategic Planning.” Could be a great prompt to start with, right?
• Best Strategies: Be it marketing, financial, or any other type of strategy, an overview of the best strategies can make for informative and useful presentation content.
• Industry Introduction : Make a presentation about the industry your business operates. Use strong visuals to complement your content and introduce your industry in the best light possible.
• Comparing Tactics : Make a presentation reflecting on and comparing various tactics.
• Calculated Risks : We are all worried about possible risks when taking action. Risks are unavoidable. It’s a great idea to prepare your audience for the risks before they come across them. There is a multitude of ways to do it through creative presentations. Cover “Risks in Investing,” “Risks Associated With Trading Derivatives,” and so forth.
• Advantages and Disadvantages : One never comes without the other. Introduce your team to the pros and cons of your plans, actions, and anything else you consider important.

USE TEMPLATE

• Debates : Make your presentation even more interactive by involving the audience in debates. Plus, debates and discussions are always helpful in establishing a better understanding of a topic.
• SWOT Analysis : You can never go wrong with a proper analysis of business strategies, marketing plans, and more. So consider making an analysis presentation to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a specific business strategy.
• Portfolio Presentation : Showcase your best projects and works. Why should anyone be interested in you if they haven’t seen your work? Presenting your best projects in a compelling and attractive format will increase your reputation quickly.
• Current Trends : What are the current trends in business and management.  Always keep an eye on them to stay one step ahead of your competitors.
• Challenges : Who doesn’t agree that challenges are tough? Making a creative presentation on challenges and the ways that you have overcome them will help you keep track of your development and also prepare for the future.
• Reporting Progress : Why don’t you make weekly or monthly presentations on your performance, such as financial statements? Measuring and reporting your performance will smooth your path toward your goals.
• Customer Testimonials : Present your customers’ responses and feedback on your product/service to see what steps you need to take to improve your offerings.
• Profiles of Successful People : Encourage your team by introducing them to the experiences and achievements of successful people.
• Tips and Tricks : If you want to cheer your audience up, provide them with hacks and tricks to deal with certain issues. This can include technical tricks and some tips on teamwork, for example.

• Rules and Regulations : What are some of the rules that your company never breaks? Discuss the rules and regulations that apply to your team.
• Top Criteria : Selecting a new quality management system is not easy, is it? Introducing the top criteria for a specific task can be a great presentation topic. How about making a presentation on “Top Criteria for Selecting a New Quality Management System?”
• Product Development Process : Sometimes, we are interested to see how a product was created. Showcase the development process of your product through a presentation.
• Most Effective Ways : It’s always good to be introduced not only to what to do but also to how to do it. So make a presentation on the best ways of conducting surveys, research, or anything else.

• Success Factors : This is something all of us are interested in. Introduce the success factors in different areas such as managing successful teams or product design tips.
• Cause and Effect : This simple and informative presentation structure will be ideal to dive deeper into the intricate world of cause and effect.
• Past vs. Present vs. Future : Growth will become more visible and obvious once you start comparing what you had before to what you have now. This can turn into a great summary of the major changes within a certain time period.
• Comparisons : Compare different products/services. It’s a good strategy that will help you emphasize the good and the bad sides of a particular thing.
• Positive and Negative Effects : It’s always important to show the two sides of a coin. Consider presenting the positive and negative effects of a certain thing. For example, the positive and negative effects of social media is a debated topic nowadays. Pick your topic and reveal it from both perspectives.
• Problem-Solution Presentation : Identify a relevant problem. A great presentation format would be to introduce not only the complicated problem but its solution as well.
• Training : Your presentation can become a training session. You can organize a theoretical part and add a practical portion too, like quizzes and discussions.
• Graphs and Charts : One of the best ways to introduce your info is through statistical graphs and charts, combining survey and observational data. You can use visual animated scenes and infographics.

• Popular Misconceptions : People are often mistakenly drawn from one end to another due to inaccurate data. Help your audience avoid misunderstandings about entrepreneurs, investors, and business management in general. Your presentation will guide them in the right direction, drawing the line between truth and lie.
• Introduction to Business Topics : No matter the topic, it’s always useful to present basic ideas. Keep it short and clear. This can include an introduction to income statements, or any other important business concept.
• Stages of a Process : Don’t leave your audience confused with theory but let them see the practical stages of how things are accomplished. (e.g., “The Stages of User Journey”)

• Management : How do you efficiently manage a business? You can prepare dozens of presentations on management: be it resources, public relations, time, money, or anything else.
• Competitor Analysis : Know your enemy! You’ve probably heard the famous saying, haven’t you? Track down your competitors and share the info with your team.
• Appreciation : This presentation should be devoted to the team members who have done an exceptional job.
• Unknown Facts : Pick a topic and reveal facts that are unknown to most people. What are some of the interesting and truthful facts that they don’t know about branding?

• Restrictions : No matter what business you have, restrictions are guaranteed. Make a presentation on the restrictions and limitations you face. (e.g. “Restrictions in Integrated Web Design”)
• Big Breakthroughs : Want to feel proud of yourself and your team? Here is how you can do it: Reveal some cases when you have successfully overcome the toughest of obstacles and learned lessons as a result. Talk about the long path you have been on with your company.
• Partners and Investors : Tell about your partners. Give info about investors. Cooperation is way more successful when team members are acquainted with the investors. Your presentation can have a strong influence on the performance of your team.
• Business Ethics : As a significant part of business, it’s important to understand ethics. How about “Ethics in Marketing Research?” There are countless ethical issues.
• Theories : Gather some of the most important theories that you find useful and prepare a good presentation with examples and visuals.
• Product/Service Improvement : A briefing like this might include a recap of your product or service or a discussion of any possible improvement before the product is ready for the market.
• The Rise and Fall of Brands : Don’t avoid talking about the failures and successes of other brands. Doing so can help you with your own journey.
• Upcoming or Recent Events : Talk about exciting events that you are planning to organize or already have. For upcoming events, you can make a welcoming presentation, announcing the date and venue. Check out an example below:

• Inspiration : Get ready to give a professional and motivational talk to inspire your audience to take action towards targeted goals.
• Explain Business Concepts : How does a certain idea or concept work? Give a specific and clear presentation on the concepts that not everyone is familiar with. How does a franchise work? How do partnerships work?
• QA Presentation : Assure that your audience knows that your product/service is of the best quality.
• Announcements : Is there a cool and intriguing event that’s coming? Give an announcement through your presentation. It can be short and clear, covering all the key points.
• Discovery, Invention, Innovation : Share the most interesting discoveries and recent innovations in the business world.
• How-to Presentations : If you are skilled at something, then you can make a presentation to guide others. Present a step-by-step guide for a specific task, such as conducting surveys or managing conflicts.

Whether it’s a school project or an online class presentation, you need to make it attractive and engaging. So, choose the topic wisely. Below are some education presentation ideas you can use for your next project.

• Academic Presentation : If you want to educate and share info, then academic presentations with supporting visuals, presentation slides, and videos are what you need.
• Explainer : Explainers are a powerful way of sharing essential information. You can make short and engaging  explainer videos  to include in your presentations.

• Pros and Cons : Make a presentation explaining both pros and cons of a certain issue at stake.
• Best Methods : Talk about various effective methods, be it methods of teaching, learning, or preparing for an exam.
• Dos and Don’ts of Making Presentations : You can make a whole presentation just talking about presentation best practices . Separate what’s recommended and what’s not and then present those to your audience in a simple way.
• Guidelines : Present the most effective guidelines for teaching, studying, and co-working.
• Personal Experience : What can be more helpful for an audience than to learn from someone’s real-life experience? Make a presentation on your personal experience and share your most valuable insights.
• Quiz-Presentation : Test your students. Make a presentation quizzing their knowledge and competence in a certain field. Why presentation? Because it’s both visually and technically effective.
• Research : An attractive slideshow is one of the best ways to present your research. Try working on a visual and multimedia presentation to showcase the whole potential of your research in a visually appealing format.
• Problem-Solving : Decide on an issue and prepare a set of solutions to offer. Don’t leave any questions uncovered. If a problem exists, so does its solution.
• Project Proposal : How are you planning to get approval for your projects if you don’t propose the main idea and expected outcomes in a professional way? Give your project a classy presentation with this Minimal Titles Pack . 

• Listing Presentation : Lists always work when you have big sorted data to introduce to your audience.
• Controversial Topics : Attract your audience’s attention and keep them engaged with a controversial slide deck. Bring forward debatable issues such as euthanasia, AI, and more. Let your audience join you or argue against you.
• Textbook Presentation : Introduce a textbook in a creative way through interesting visuals and supporting multimedia.
• Curriculum : What if presentations are the best way of getting your audience acquainted with a curriculum. Alternatively, you can make your next presentation about how to develop a well-organized curriculum.
• Dissertation : Prepare a presentation for your dissertation. But keep in mind that it has to be accompanied by proper supportive media.
• Predictions Presentation : What will happen next? It’s fun to predict, isn’t it?
• Instructions : Do you like giving instructions? Sometimes that’s what you need to do. Structure your presentation in a how-to format, giving instructions for certain actions, like “How to Work Out the Best Schedule?”
• Precautions : Prepare your audience for the worst and hope for the best. Make a presentation on a set of warnings.
• Case Studies : What’s the best way of demonstrating your case study? A multimedia presentation can be the answer.
• Tricks and Hacks : Tips and tricks are always appreciated by your audience. Create an informative presentation on studying tips, time management tips, or anything else you might find interesting.
• Success Stories : We are always eager to hear success stories. Why? Because they motivate us to move forward with hope for what’s to come. So, make a presentation, telling success stories to motivate teachers, learners, and everyone else.
• Fact or Fiction : Draw a line between truth and lie, fact and fiction. Bust some myths about a topic of your choice to educate your listeners.
• Data Analysis : Is a presentation the right place to start with data analysis? Not really. But once you have analyzed your data, showcase it in your presentation, demonstrating your analysis through charts and graphs.
• Techniques : What kind of techniques can you cover? How about “Techniques for Memory Improvement,” or “ Teaching Techniques ?” You can make up a number of similar topics to share.
• Recent Advancements : Share the recent advancement in the field of education. What are some of the newest teaching methods? What advanced methods do we need to implement to make the learning process more effective?
• Steps in the Process : What are the best steps to take towards certain goals? Each path is different and thus requires different steps.
• Interesting Facts : Gather a set of creative ideas and facts to cover in your presentations.

Recommended Reading

• 35+ Best Presentation Software: Ultimate List 2023
• The Art of Consulting Presentations
• Timeline Presentations: Extensive Guide to Creating Visual Narratives

Here we have random presentation ideas that can inspire you. Make your next presentation a blast by introducing a new creative topic through a unique presentation design.

• Introduction to a Topic : Often, we don’t really want to go deep into complex concepts but just need a short and clear intro to get a grasp of them. Make a presentation on the basics of the most intriguing and puzzling themes.
• Ethics of a Certain Field : There are a number of important fields that need to be discussed in terms of ethics. For example, ethics in journalism is a very trendy and essential topic to discuss nowadays.
• The Future : We are always interested in the future, aren’t we? We make plans for it. We carry hopes for it. Let’s make a compelling presentation that discusses the future of various fields, such as AI or the Internet.
• Benefits : What are the benefits of a bilingual brain? Try to cover the benefits of a number of issues, such as digital transformation, or a healthy diet.
• Risks : Discuss the risks of taking certain steps. When we know the risks we can circumvent them, can’t we?
• Evolution : How do things evolve? It’s super important to present the ways that certain things unfold and change. How did artificial intelligence grow and evolve to such degrees?
• Components: Pick some topics to discuss the components of. How about making a presentation on “Components of Web Applications?” Pretty interesting, isn’t it?
• Alternatives : We always feel a need for alternatives. Make a presentation offering alternatives for different tools and objects. One example could be a presentation covering “The Best Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office.”
• Memoir : Tell the stories of influential people or your own in a value-packed presentation.
• Video Games : You can reveal the pros and cons of a game or just talk about the trendiest games as of now. You could also reveal statistics about the influence they have on gamers.
• Music Album Presentation : Present a music album, composers, and musicians. You can talk about their tours, also including videos and audio files of the tracks.
• Reviews and Reports : Do a book or a film review. Present your criticism and reflections on a book or movie of interest.

• Scientific Presentation : What are the recent scientific discoveries? Not all people are aware, right? Bring forward some intriguing info about the latest discoveries.
• Job Interview Presentation : Impress your potential employers with a structured and clean job interview presentation.
• Important Skills : What are the top skills needed in your industry? Create your list and share it.
• Requirements and Qualifications : What are some requirements for a specific job position or a field in general? Share your experience and knowledge on this topic.
• “Best of ” Compilation : Gather a list of the best movies, games, books, tools, meals, and anything else, really.
• News : Sometimes, people don’t care to sit and listen to an hour-long news report. So, how about making a brief and informative summary of the most noteworthy news?
• Experiments : Make a scientific or social experiment and reveal your results; they might be different from what you expected.
• Life Story : Use presentation slides to tell about the life of a famous or personal story of an influential person. Use images, videos, and any other visual elements to make your story more vivid.

Making a compelling presentation doesn’t purely depend on presentation software , even though that’s also very important. To make an impactful presentation, one has to first figure out how to approach the topic and decide on the presentation design. 

We hope you found your topic on the list of creative presentation ideas presented above. Best of luck with creating presentations!

Ready to create your video presentation? Find hundreds of slideshow video template options, browse stock images to find a background image, use hand-drawn illustrations, add your color palette, customize your entire presentation the way you want, and share your creative presentation idea in an interesting way. Click the button to get started:

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13 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Engage Students in Class

If you’re a teacher, you’ll know that there’s a lot to think about when you’re in class. It’s important to ensure that what you’re teaching the children is as educational and as interesting as possible - with the aim of engaging the students in the subject and hopefully even enabling them to enjoy learning! 

This can be a very difficult balance to strike. However, it’s made easier by these interactive presentation ideas listed in this article, which can engage even the most distracted of students!

How to display presentations

The best classroom gadget to show these presentations on is an interactive display. These are large devices that are mounted to the wall and can connect seamlessly with any video collaboration applications. You can connect interactive displays to the internet and further use them as a powerful classroom teaching tool, to help students learn in a fully interactive and efficient way. We sell interactive displays for classrooms  here at Avocor.

Interactive class presentation ideas 

Ice breakers.

Many work-related presentations start with an icebreaker, and there’s no reason why a presentation to a class of students should be any different. 

The icebreaker question will depend on the class and age of students, but could be something like the following: 

• If you could be an animal, what would it be and why? 
• What would be your dream place to go on holiday? 
• If you could have dinner with three historical characters, who would they be and why? 
• If you could make any kind of potion, what would it do? 

Incorporating video is one of the best interactive presentation ideas for students. Even if the video is about the same topic as the presentation, the fact that it’s a different type of media will interest the class. 

You can either find a suitable video on YouTube or another video software or, if you have a file saved, paste it directly into the presentation . 

Questions and answers

Questions and answers are a great way to get the whole class involved. You could invite one student to ask a hypothetical question about the topic, and another could answer. 

For example, if you’re learning about Henry VIII and his six wives , you could ask a student to ask a question about them. Their question could be “what was Henry VIII’s favourite food?” or something similar. 

When another student answers, you could ask them to explain their answer - for example, if they say “meat and bread”, they might carry on to explain that that was the main diet for royalty at the time. 

Songs are a good way to interest younger kids in a topic. You can find songs about all sorts of subjects on YouTube. For example, this seven continents song could be suitable for a Geography song. 

Many songs on YouTube have lyrics, so you could encourage your class to practice their reading as they sing along. 

Some presentations are made more interactive by external objects - and if you want to engage younger kids, bringing some props can really help the lesson to come alive. 

For example, if you’re doing a history lesson about the Ancient Egyptians , you could bring some figures of Tutankhamun, the Sphinx and the ancient pyramids for everybody to see. 

Class involvement

Asking for direct class involvement throughout the presentation is a good way to ensure that students stay engaged. For instance, if you’re doing a presentation about animals, you could ask students to make a noise every time you mention a certain animal.

You could ask them to roar each time you mention lions, or make a monkey noise each time you talk about monkeys. This is a great way to ensure that the students are paying attention! 

Transitions and animations

A simple way to ensure that your students are paying attention is to use different transitions and animations throughout your presentation. 

If you’re teaching older kids or teenagers, you might not want to have too many of these, but younger kids will love seeing every item bounce onto the screen. It’s a wonderful way to get them interested in technology in the classroom !

Quizzes are an effective way to engage students of any age. You can include these at the end of the presentation and they can include questions that you’ve covered in the session. 

If your students know that there will be a quiz at the end of the class, they may be more likely to pay attention throughout it! You could also ensure maximum engagement by telling students that there will be prizes for the winner of the quiz - such as stickers or sweets. 

Interactive games

Interactive games for class presentations are always a popular way to ensure that students stay engaged! Some examples include: 

• noughts and crosses or tic tac toe
• pictionary 
• hangman or an alternative like spaceman
• 21 questions

It’s best to make these games related to the subject. For example, the game “21 questions” involves you thinking of a character and students asking questions with a yes or no answer about what character you are. 

If you’re teaching a history class, the character could be somebody from history (such as Florence Nightingale or Queen Victoria), or if you’re instructing a science lesson, the character could be a famous scientist (like Einstein or Steven Hawking). 

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is another great way to get the class involved. You can use an interactive display to create the brainstorm diagram on. Students can take turns writing on the board, and it  can securely connect to any external devices, so any remote class members can join in. 

With an interactive display, you can also immediately share the diagram to the rest of the class once it’s finished, so they can keep it to refresh their knowledge of a topic. 

For example, if you’re teaching your class about Australia in geography , you could ask their students what they may already know about Australia. They could come up with some items like the following: 

• Sydney Opera House
• Aboriginal art
• outback 

You could then create a spider diagram with different legs depending on the topic. For this list, there could be an “animals” leg for kangaroos and koalas, an “architecture” leg for the Sydney Opera House, a “landscapes” leg for the rainforest and outback, a “culture” leg for Aboriginal art and a “food” leg for BBQ.

Make a story

Making a story about the topics covered can encourage creativity around the topic. To do this, write down a couple of opening lines to a story related to the topic that you’re teaching. 

For example, if you’re teaching students about the Ancient Roman Empire, you could start by saying “Ronald the Roman lived in the British City of Bath, where the Romans had arrived 20 years before. He spent most of his time at work, where he built houses for the rest of the Romans”. 

Then, you could invite a student to continue the story, encouraging them to stay as on-topic as possible. You could even give out a prize to the student with the best part of the story. Depending on the size of the class, you could ask every student to contribute. 

Stories also work well for English lessons. In these classes, the topic of the story doesn’t matter as much, but you could encourage students to use whatever language they’ve been learning. 

For example, if your class has been focused on adjectives, you could ask students to put as many adjectives as possible in each part of their story. 

Have a short play 

You could take your stories to the next level by creating a short play on one of your slides. This could be based on whatever topic you’re learning about, and you could select a few students to come to the front of the class and read out the lines. 

You may wish to create this personally, find a relevant play online or you could even turn a well-known story into a play!

Virtual field trip

One of the most creative interactive school presentation ideas is to take the class on a virtual field trip. This is particularly valuable for geography lessons, where you may learn about places that students might not be able to visit in person, like the Amazon rainforest or even under the sea!

You could link to Google maps, where you could use Google Earth to explore a particular area. Alternatively, there are some YouTube channels that specialise in virtual tours and field trips, such as this one which details all you need to know about rainforests .

If you have a classroom full of students and want to keep them as engaged as possible while teaching them new material, try some of these interactive games for classroom presentations and other ideas! 

By incorporating some of these interactive ideas into your presentation, you’ll have the students’ full undivided attention and ensure that they not only enjoy the class but retain the information.

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Education  |  Sep 21 2019

5 Interactive Presentations Ideas that will Engage Students

Interactive presentations should always be an educator’s goal. Dry, teacher-centered lectures lose students’ interest, while interactive presentations grab and hold attention. Getting students involved improves retention, understanding, and enjoyment. And it’s remarkably easy to involve the audience with just a few easy principles (especially with the right technology at your disposal).

Start creating interactive presentations with the tips and tricks below or get more insights on modern education technology.

Students today expect the classroom to be both educational and enjoyable at the same time. Interactive presentations help engage students by having them participate in the lessons instead of passively listening to lectures. This reduces boredom and gives students a sense of responsibility to be attentive.

A Gallup Poll  of about 3,000 schools shows that around the 5 th  grade 74% of students feel they are engaged in school, but by the 10 th , 11 th , and 12 th grade those numbers fall to the 30% range. It is important for educators from K-12 and on to higher education to recognize that keeping students engaged in the classroom is important and the adoption of interactive learning environments can be a key driver.

Millennials and Generation Y students are especially accustomed to being a part of the lessons and not just a spectator. Students are encouraged to talk and offer their ideas to create a collaborative atmosphere where both teachers and students are sources of knowledge and insight. The teacher plays more of a facilitator role in moving the lesson along and encouraging students to participate in their own learning outcomes. Students offer their own input, additional information, and give examples of how they would apply the key concepts.

The learning task is the central aspect of the interactive presentations (instead of the teacher’s energy level and hold on the students’ attention spans) and the lessons evolve around it. Even though the teacher is normally, the ‘presenter’ in most cases the ‘interaction’ part comes in a variety of ways to get students participating in the lesson. Many activities, games, role-plays, quizzes, and discussions  can be integrated into the presentation flow and the lessons will take different directions from there. We will discuss later many examples of tools and techniques to encourage collaborations.

Technological Aid in Interactive Presentations

Although interactive presentations can be done without technology, it is greatly aided with the adoption of tools designed to facilitate the learning process. For example, a quiz is given in the middle of the presentation. On one side, traditionally a teacher can write the quiz before the lesson starts, print out copies for all students, pass out the quiz, and collect answers. To provide feedback for the exercise the teacher will also need to grade and start a discussion on the results before moving on to the next topic. This process is time-consuming and restrictive.

With technological aid such as an interactive digital whiteboard or a classroom quizzing application on individual devices, the students and teacher can come up with the quiz questions on the spot. This digital quiz can be administrated wirelessly to all students and within seconds, the results can be shared with all participants to discuss. This greatly increases spontaneity, variability, and class involvement.       

5 Interactive Presentations Ideas and Corresponding Technology Aids

1. Storytelling

The teacher does not have to be the only star. The glory of the presentation can go to all participants who have a story to tell. The main concepts can be discussed and students should be given time to come up with a personal example. This exercise helps students relate to the subject matter and getting to listen to other students’ examples will drive home the concepts further. The need for the teacher to plan extensive examples and be the only one talking during the presentation is reduced. Teachers can also judge by the stories shared how much the students are understanding.

Storytelling with technology: Many digital whiteboards have Cast and Throw functions that will allow students to work on their own examples on their devices and send this to the whiteboard when sharing. This allows students to quickly go up and share their stories without sending files by email, wires, or USBs.

2. Non-linear presentation

Presentations that do not follow a strict order but organically flow from topic to topic based on the audience’s feedback are a great way to engage participants. Once prepared, the presenter can flow from one topic to the next by asking questions, polling, or receiving requests at the end of each key point. This allows the audience to ‘build’ their own presentation on what they want to hear not in a rigid manner as with traditional slide-based presentations.

Non-linear presentation with technology : There are non-linear presentation applications like  Prezi which helps presenters build presentations on easy-to-customize templates. They offer a zoomable canvas (not slides) to help people share knowledge, stories and inspire audiences to act. The canvas shows relationships between points and offers a recommended flow but not a set path to follow.

3. Polls, surveys, and quizzes

One of the most recognizable and used tools in the classroom to get a fast reaction from students are polls, surveys & quizzes. For polls, simple questions that have limited answers are used to gather a consensus. This could be in the form of a raise of hands, ballots, or having students form groups. Surveys would require printed paper sheets with multiple choices, scales, or short answers to gather opinions. Quizzes are used to quickly test a student’s knowledge on what was just covered, so the class can identify weak areas and crystalize main concepts.

Polls, surveys, and quizzes can be anonymous or not. Openly requiring students to share their ideas on results such as a debate or open discussion would increase the interactives of the activity. Students can also be tasked to create questions and grade their own surveys and quizzes for an added layer of participation within the presentation.

Polls, surveys, and quizzes with technology : Many classroom management software such as  Google Classroom has built-in tools to create polls, surveys, and quizzes along with assignments, communication, and other educational features. Once submitted, the collection and grading are instantaneous. The results can be shared easily with students both individually or as a group. 

Is there a student – of any age – who does not like a good game, contest, or competition? Adding a small game into a presentation breaks up the normal lecture format and gets the audience to think critically to help their team win. There are many versions and adaptions of basic educational games . Teachers can take games such as Pictionary, Jeopardy, Casino, and Bingo then adapt them to their needs. 

ViewSonic Originals

Free interactive teaching materials

Gamifying your interactive presentation : By integrating into the presentation links to applications like  ClassCraft  or  Kahoot a teacher can quickly launch an interactive digital game. These applications help teachers tailor their own games by adding their questions, facts, and materials for individuals, small teams, or the whole class to participate.

5. Discussions and groups breakout sessions

Having the class only listen to a lecture marks the end of any interactive presentation. Adding sections where students can have an open discussion or breakout sessions can help students learn from each other, share insights, and have an opportunity to ask questions to their peers. It is also an opportunity for the teacher to take a break from talking and help small groups or students individually as the rest of the class converse.

Taking the discussion online for interactive presentations : Live discussion applications like  NowComment  allow students to markup and discuss a text in real-time which is great for peer-review activities and gather student input into one place quickly. Alternatively, Yo Tech is great for teachers to create and moderate real-time chat rooms. Students can send text-like messages, reply to other messages, and share pictures and drawings. Online chat groups are a great way for large groups of students to collaborate and interact in one place while keeping the noise level down in a classroom.

Tips for Creating Interactive Presentations

Here are some tips when creating a presentation that has interactive components:

Add in places within your lecture notes or presentation slides reminders for you to engage the audience. This could be a small image or phrase. When using digital whiteboards or other display technology you could also use a sound, empty slide, or pop-up link to prompt you to start.

Time Limits

It is great to keep going a good game or discussion in the class where everyone is really engaged. However, keep the maximum amount of time you can dedicate to these activities in mind. Have a watch or a timer on hand and keep things moving. Give enough time for students to get engaged without overdoing it. Spread out chances for students to talk and share. When it is time to move on to the next topic prepare a transition to the next part of the presentation.

Think of ways to let all students have a chance to share. You can select students randomly or have them take turns in some kind of order. Remind students that this is a learning activity and not everyone will get it right the first time. The interactive activity should be open and inclusive. Students who are introverted may be given activities that can be done without going to the front of the class or public speaking.

Benefits of Having Interactive Components in Your Presentation

• Retention:  Actively having students engage with the concepts of the presentation in different ways and hearing it from different people (besides the teacher) helps with long-term retention.
• Personalization:  Students are given the choice of where the presentation is heading and participate in their own learning outcomes.
• Fun:  Having a break from the routine, getting a chance to move around, developing teams, and sharing are all much better than sitting silently and taking notes. 
• Feedback:  Adding interactive activities into a presentation gives you instant feedback about students’ comprehension.
• Vocalization: Having students actually vocalize their ideas helps them internalize the concepts.
• Summarization: Students review and summarize their own main points while doing the activities so there is less need for repetition.

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Learning Solutions For the Future

Build Your Own Version of Interactive Presentations for Your Next Lesson

Bringing in the interactive components and increasing the engagement of your presentations will both help you – a teacher – and your students. Make presentations both educational and entertaining with Edutainment! With or without technology, consider incorporating some new ideas into your next interactive presentation.

If you liked reading this article, you might also want to explore our complete guide to technology in the classroom or gain more insights on engaging lessons with ViewSonic’s education solutions.  

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Like what you're reading?

Need a good presentation topic? Here are hundreds of them.

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera November 04, 2022

If you’re looking for good topics for presentations, you’ve landed on the right page. In this article, you’ll find plenty of good presentation topics, tips on choosing the most suitable presentation topic for you, and essential design elements to make your presentation a success. 

Many factors go into an excellent presentation. You need to have confident body language and engage your audience to hold their attention. You also need eye-catching visual aids like images, data visualizations, GIFs, and others (all of which you can find in Prezi ), not to mention a great opening to grab attention and a strong closing line to stay memorable. However, the most essential aspect of your presentation is the topic. It’s the core of your presentation, so it has to be strong, insightful, attention-grabbing, and appealing to yourself and your audience in order to evolve into a successful presentation everyone will love. 

How to choose a good presentation topic

There are millions of topics you could create a presentation on, but what defines a good presentation topic? If you’re struggling to either come up with a good topic for a presentation or you can’t decide between multiple ones, here are a few questions you should ask yourself before choosing a topic. 

What’s the goal of your presentation? 

When you’re choosing a presentation topic, consider the meaning behind it. Ask yourself what the purpose of talking about this topic is, and what you want to say about it. Whatever topic you choose to present, the conclusion needs to provide a takeaway or lesson you want to communicate to your audience. A meaningful goal will make your presentation more memorable.  

Are you interested in the topic?

If you’re not interested in the presentation topic, others won’t be curious either. Interest, enthusiasm, and passion enrich your presentation and are noticeable when presenting. Interest shines through and inspires others to find the topic as fascinating as you do. Think about the last time you saw someone sharing something they were passionate about – their excitement drew people in to pay closer attention to what they were saying. 

When choosing a topic, you need to find it or a particular angle of it interesting for yourself. For example, perhaps you’re not a pop music enthusiast, but you’re passionate about studying cultural phenomena. In this case, you can talk about pop music’s influence on early 2000s youth culture. 

Will your audience find this topic relatable? 

While you have to find the topic you’re presenting interesting, you also have to think about your audience. When choosing a subject, consider your audience’s background in terms of demographics, interests, culture, and knowledge level about the topic. Think about what others will find fascinating and relevant, so they’re not bored or confused during your presentation.

Do you have prior experience or knowledge about this topic?

Personal experiences are always great to share in a presentation, providing your unique perspective for anyone listening. While you can easily prepare your presentation based on a quick Google search, it won’t make the same lasting impact on your audience. Choose a presentation topic you have some prior knowledge about, or have an interesting opinion you can share with others. It’ll make your presentation more engaging and memorable.

Ideas for good presentation topics

It’s not easy to come up with a good presentation topic from scratch. It’s much easier to get inspired from other good presentation topics to build your topic on. Whether you’re looking for presentation ideas for work, about me presentation ideas, unique or easy presentation topics, you’ll find them all here.

Without further ado, here are some good presentation topics to choose from or get inspired by.

Presentation topics about social media

• The role of social media in portraying gender stereotypes
• How social media impacts our body image
• How social media shaped Gen Z 
• The most significant differences between the Facebook and TikTok generations
• The negative effects of social media
• The positive impacts of social media 
• The effects of social media on behavior 
• How social media impacts our physical (or mental) health
• How social media has shaped our understanding of mass media
• Should we teach about social media in schools?
• The rise of social media influencers
• How AR Instagram filters impact our self-image
• How to go viral on social media?
• The origins of social media echo chambers
• Social media as a news outlet

Author: Ish Verduzco

Presentation topics about movies

• How movies influence our understanding of good and evil
• Beauty standards represented in movies
• How female characters are depicted in Hollywood movies
• How horror movies and global fears have developed through time
• The adverse effects of romance movies
• How movies have changed our understanding of the Western culture
• Charlie Chaplin and the silent movie era
• The globalization of culture: Hollywood vs. Bollywood
• The psychology behind the music in films
• The ethics of using animals in movies
• Social media’s influence on the film industry
• The history of filmmaking
• The role of color in movies
• The cultural impact of romance movies
• How are gender stereotypes depicted in Hollywood movies?

Author: Cinto Marti

Presentation topics about music

• The impact of pop music on beauty standards
• Should digital music be free for everyone?
• The psychology behind the music in advertisements 
• The effectiveness of sound therapy
• Can music inspire criminal behavior?
• The psychological effects of metal music
• The origins of K-pop
• How does music influence our understanding of the world?
• Can music help in the learning process?
• The positive effects of classical music
• The history of hip hop
• Why is music education essential in schools?
• The psychological benefits of playing piano
• Can anyone become a famous musician?
• The role of music in fashion

Author: Prezi Editorial

Presentation topics about health

• The link between food and mental health
• Inequality in the healthcare system
• Myths about healthy practices
• Simple practices that help you stay healthy
• Health education in schools: Should it change?  
• Toxic positivity and mental health
• The impact of superfoods on our health
• The psychology behind unhealthy eating habits
• Sex education in schools: Why should we have it?
• How to trick yourself into getting better: The placebo effect
• How to strengthen your immune system
• How to tell if someone is depressed
• The health benefits of regular exercise
• The impact of junk food on mental health
• Stress-caused diseases

Author: Prezi Education Team

Presentation topics about human psychology

• What is social depression?
• What triggers panic attacks?
• The impact of testosterone on aggressive behavior
• How to overcome social anxiety
• Differences in the functioning of the brain of a child and adult
• The impact of violent video games on children’s brain development
• How does the use of social media influence our attention span?
• How to overcome childhood trauma
• The influence of marijuana on the human brain
• How does behavioral therapy work
• The psychology behind fame
• The causes of personality disorders
• The differences in brain functioning between men and women
• What happens in therapy sessions?
• The psychology of substance abuse 

Presentation topics about self-development

• The impact of exercise on productivity
• How to deal with stress
• How to deal with procrastination
• The positive effects of meditation
• Why new–year’s resolutions don’t work
• How to overcome bad habits
• The impact of negative thoughts
• The negative effects of self-criticism
• The role of creativity in self-development
• Benefits of journaling
• How to learn something fast
• How to be mindful
• The importance of curiosity 
• How to become more self-aware
• Why it’s essential to spend time with yourself

Author: Nir Eyal

Presentation topics about education

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of online education?
• The positive effects of a gap year
• Should university education be free?
• Inequality in education access
• How language learning benefits brain development
• Emerging gender issues in education
• The importance of socialization in school
• School bullying and student development
• The benefits of reading 
• Is the education system broken?
• What you don’t learn in college
• The link between education and brain development
• The history of schools
• The gender gap in STEM
• The connection between equality in education and economic growth

Presentation topics about culture

• Is graffiti a form of art or street vandalism? 
• Cultural diversity in the workplace
• The impact of culture on gender roles
• The issue with orientalism
• Are humans the only species that has culture?
• How do different cultures view death? 
• The ethical issues of pop culture
• The impact of culture on personal development
• Sexism in different cultures
• The impact of globalization on local cultures
• The viral spread of the #metoo movement
• The history of subcultures
• The problem with romanticizing toxic relationships in movies
• 90s pop-culture influence on fashion trends
• The evolution of cultural psychology 

Author: Devin Banerjee

Presentation ideas for work

• What it’s like to be a digital nomad?
• How to deal with workplace conflicts
• The secret to a productive day
• How to set achievable goals
• The importance of diversity in a workplace
• The positive effects of creative thinking at work
• How to give constructive feedback
• The characteristics of a valuable team member
• Inequality and the glass ceiling
• Racial discrimination in the workplace
• Work habits of different cultures
• How is work perceived in various countries?
• Technological development and the future of work
• The importance of a healthy work/life balance
• The rise of health problems in office work

Author: Charles Huang

Presentation topics about hybrid work

• The positive effects of hybrid work on work/life balance
• Is hybrid work the future work model? 
• How to stay connected in a hybrid work model
• The challenges of hybrid work nobody talks about
• How to stay productive when working from home
• The social effects of hybrid work
• The economic impacts of hybrid work
• Case study: Hybrid work model in [company]
• What causes Zoom fatigue?
• The problem with online meetings
• Is hybrid work better than remote work?
• How to develop a close relationship with colleagues in a hybrid work model
• What kind of company culture is best for a hybrid work model?
• Is hybrid work sustainable?
• Cybersecurity consideration for hybrid working

Author: Barbie Brewer

Presentation topics about public speaking

• The importance of body language in public speeches
• How to appear confident when you’re not
• How to become a better orator
• The use of eye contact in public speaking
• Breathing exercises that will calm you down before public speaking
• The benefits of public speaking
• Ways to improve public speaking skills
• How to leave a great first impression on stage
• How to engage your audience during a public speech
• How to best structure your public speech
• How to end your presentation speech
• Can anyone learn to be good at public speaking?
• How to prepare for a public speech
• What not to do right before a public speech
• How to address a controversial topic in a public speech  

Author: Prezi Team

Presentation topics about entrepreneurship and leadership

• The main principles of a good leader
• The impact of leadership skills on professional performance
• The mistake every entrepreneur makes
• How to successfully lead a cross-cultural team
• How to celebrate inclusivity in a diverse team
• What are the common personality traits of a successful entrepreneur?
• The impact of entrepreneurship on the global economy
• The characteristics of a leader
• The most common challenges of entrepreneurship
• Can anyone learn to become a successful leader? 
• What affects new venture growth?
• The psychology of leadership
• What is crowdsourcing? 
• The benefits of being an entrepreneur
• Common mistakes leaders make

Author: Jill Sinclair

Presentation topics about technology

• The rise of technological development
• Is technology addictive?
• Should we use drones for military and non-military purposes?
• The sustainability of electric cars
• What are deepfakes?
• Limitations of AI machines
• The future of programming
• Ethical issues of AI
• The future of AR in business
• How VR can be used in the medical field

Author: David Vandegrift

Sales presentation topics

• How to make a cold email intro
• What is sales enablement?
• How to build better relationships with customers
• The best way to improve pipeline management
• Coaching via verbal and written role-play
• How to plan cold calls
• What’s a deal-breaker for most customers? 
• All about personalized coaching
• How to manage objections
• How to close more deals
• How to keep your prospects engaged
• Effective sales communication strategies
• How to conduct a competitor analysis
• The most valuable sales skills
• What soft skills do you need to become a successful sales rep?

Author: Cindy McGovern

Easy presentation topics

• Benefits of daily exercise and how to incorporate it into your routine
• Simple and nutritious meal recipes
• Tips for improving time management and productivity
• The importance of recycling
• The history of a local landmark or festival
• Ways to reduce stress
• Exploring different types of renewable energy sources and their impact on the environment
• The basics of budgeting and saving money for future goals
• The benefits of social media for professional use
• Tips for overcoming stage fright
• How to start a meditation practice
• The impact of technology on modern society
• The basics of personal finance
• The health benefits of a plant-based diet
• The history of Earth Day

Good how to presentation topics

• How to create a successful social media marketing strategy
• How to give a persuasive presentation
• How to create effective and engaging content for your blog
• How to discover your strengths and weaknesses
• How to use project management tools to increase productivity
• How to make the most out of boring meetings
• How to build a personal brand
• How to conduct effective market research
• How to use data analytics to improve decision-making
• How to improve your decision-making process
• How to write a winning proposal
• How to create a visually stunning presentation
• How to manage stressful situations at work
• How to make friends as an adult
• How to network at work events

About me presentation ideas

• My journey to becoming who I am today
• My passion for [insert topic or activity]
• My career aspirations and goals
• My travels and adventures around the world
• My hobbies and interests outside of work/school
• My role models and influences
• My strengths and weaknesses
• My favorite books, movies, and TV shows
• My proudest achievements and accomplishments
• My favorite childhood memories
• My family and friends
• My education and academic background
• My volunteer and community service experience
• My personality traits and values
• My vision for the future and how I plan to achieve it

Author: Adam Grant

Student presentation ideas

• The history and evolution of video games
• The history and cultural impact of tattoos
• The impact of social media on body image and self-esteem
• The effects of globalization on local cultures and economies
• The role of education in promoting social justice and equity
• The ethical implications of autonomous weapons in warfare
• The impact of mass media on society and culture
• The causes and effects of deforestation on biodiversity and climate change
• The history and cultural significance of dance in different parts of the world
• The psychology of addiction and recovery
• The impact of the gig economy on labor rights and job security
• The history and impact of feminism on gender equality
• The benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy sources
• The impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures and identities
• The role of technology in promoting global connectivity and intercultural understanding

Author: Edward Quinn

Informative presentation topics

• The science of sleep: How to get a restful night and improve your wellbeing
• A journey through the history of the internet
• Exploring the potential of AI in our world
• Climate change: Understanding the challenge, seeking solutions for a sustainable future
• How new technologies are shaping the future of food
• Understanding the psychology of money for financial success
• The power of a story: How storytelling captures hearts and minds
• Mastering the art of negotiation in every interaction
• The science of happiness: Unlocking the secrets to a more fulfilling life
• The power of mindfulness for a more present and peaceful YOU
• Understanding cybersecurity threats and protecting yourself online
• Exploring the potential of virtual reality for a more immersive future

Author: Andrew Davis

How to create a good presentation 

If you know what you want to present on, it’s time to create an impactful presentation that grabs everyone’s attention. Presentation design plays a crucial role in how your presentation is received and remembered. To stand out and leave a memorable impact on your audience, create a Prezi presentation. Instead of a linear, slide-based presentation, offer an engaging and dynamic storytelling experience to your audience. Breathe life into your presentation with motion, zoom, and spatial relationships. When creating your presentation, consider the following three essential elements: 

Visuals play a significant part in presentation design. They evoke emotions, make a memorable impact, and give more context to the story. Not to mention, 65% of people are visual learners , so visual aids are helpful when explaining a complex topic. 

In your presentation, include different types of visuals, such as images, videos, GIFs, and stickers, all of which you can find in Prezi’s content library. When selecting your visuals, consider what’s relevant and brings additional value to the story. Only add what’s meaningful and necessary. A video or image at the right place and time will enrich the viewing experience and make your presentation more memorable. 

The layout of your presentation is the structure of your story. It’ll help you introduce the topic, intrigue your audience, and unfold the layers of your topic one by one until you disclose your main arguments and summarize the presentation. A good presentation layout has a hierarchical, chronological, or logical flow that leads the viewer from start to finish. 

If you’re creating a Prezi presentation, you can create a dynamic storytelling experience by experimenting with your layout. Instead of going from slide to slide, you can zoom in and out of topics and experiment with different shapes, animations, and effects that draw the viewer into your story world. Here’s an example of a Prezi presentation with a great storytelling layout:

Author: Lydia Antonatos

Data visualizations can elevate your presentation from being a good one to a great one. By providing data behind your arguments, you’ll appear more trustworthy and confident in your audience’s eyes. 

Add charts, graphs, interactive maps, and more to your presentations with Prezi Design. You can choose from a wide selection of charts and maps to illustrate your data. With interactive elements, you’ll be able to engage your audience and make a memorable impact. 

Engaging visuals, a well-structured layout, and relevant data visualizations will provide a great starting base to create a memorable presentation. Discover other tips and tricks that make your presentation effective and capture people’s attention. 

Prezi AI for presentation success

If you already have a clear presentation style in mind or plenty of time for creation, fantastic! But what if you only have a day or less or you don’t know where to start? Enter Prezi AI . It’s your assistant for streamlining the presentation creation process. Here’s how Prezi AI leverages the power of artificial intelligence to turn you into a presentation pro:

Effortless design from scratch

Ditch the blank page anxiety with the AI presentation maker . Simply provide a title or outline, and Prezi AI will generate a visually appealing draft presentation in seconds. It’s like having a built-in design assistant ready to brainstorm with you.

Smarter text, stronger impact

Prezi’s AI text-editing tool helps you perfect your message in seconds. It analyzes your content, suggesting improvements for readability and conciseness.

From bullet points to animations

Let’s face it, static bullet points can put even the most dynamic presenter to sleep. Prezi’s AI animated slides maker transforms your text into captivating visual stories. Choose from formats like flowcharts, animated lists, or zoom reveals to keep your audience engaged.

Perfect for busy presenters

We all know the struggle – a million tasks on your plate, and a looming presentation deadline. Prezi AI can help you save valuable time! With AI assistance, you can generate presentations faster, focus on refining your content, and present with the confidence that comes from knowing your presentation looks polished and professional.

Design help

Don’t worry if you don’t have an eye for design. Prezi AI provides the tools and guidance to create presentations that impress visually.

With Prezi AI, crafting presentations is easy, allowing you to focus on delivering your message with impact and leaving your audience engaged and inspired. Explore what’s possible with Prezi A I today!

Learn more on how to turn your presentation topic into a stunning presentation with AI:

Final thoughts on selecting good presentation topics

Choosing a topic for a presentation isn’t easy. When selecting a topic, think about the goal of your presentation, your interests, and knowledge about the topic, and whether or not your audience will find it relevant and interesting for them. Also, get inspired by other topics that’ll help you figure out what you want to talk about. Lastly, when creating your presentation, consider the impact of visuals, layout, and data visualizations. To simplify the creation process, try Prezi AI or follow the step-by-step process of making a presentation with helpful tips and resources.

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Best Classroom Tools for Presentations and Slideshows

Many students dread presenting or struggle to structure and communicate their ideas successfully. These interactive presentation and slideshow apps and websites give them tools to make their work fun, engaging, and interesting. Students can create screencasts to teach a topic to the class, use a design tool to craft sleek graphics, or record entertaining videos and animations. Whether it's for practice or to reach an authentic audience, students can demonstrate their learning and gain valuable skills for college and career. There are also some great options for teachers to create and present lessons with live whiteboard instruction or slick multimedia and interactive elements like videos or embedded assessments. 

Want to know what we think are the best interactive presentation tools? Check out The Best Interactive Presentation and Lesson Tools for Classrooms .

Slideshow and Lesson Delivery Tools

Flexible interactive presentation tool engages kids at school and home

Bottom Line : It's great for creating customized and differentiated lessons, but it might not be accessible for every student.

Engage and assess students with media, videos, and interactive slides

Bottom Line : The teacher- or student-paced learning can improve 1-to-1 environments and the learning activities are top notch.

User-friendly slideshow tool offers customization, promotes creativity

Bottom Line : The robust design and accessibility features make creating dynamic presentations a breeze.

Live presentation tool adds interactivity to stale slide decks

Bottom Line : This easy-to-use tool gets students more involved in presentations, but a lot of teachers might use similar tools already.

Interactive slideshows offer a variety of ways to engage and assess

Bottom Line : It’s an appealing platform that can improve formative assessment, particularly for teachers using Google Classroom.

Versatile polling/presentation tool boasts great question variety

Bottom Line : This tool supports student-centered teaching by pushing real-time participation/feedback beyond simple polls and multiple-choice questions.

Robust lesson creation and delivery tool aids assessment

Bottom Line : With some creativity, this interactive platform can support instruction and assessment.

Simple, elegant tool for creating presentations on mobile devices

Bottom Line : Provides a solid mobile version of Apple's presentation app.

Multimedia presentation tool features useful templates and 3D zoom

Bottom Line : With its zoom in and out capabilities, Prezi helps teachers and students go beyond traditional presentations to put important content front and center.

Limited text and high-impact visuals help focus presentations

Bottom Line : Haiku Deck doesn't teach the essentials of good presentations, but it's great for users who already know the basics.

Screencasting Tools

Create, present, and assess with effortless interactive screencasts

Bottom Line : This intuitive tool is excellent for recording and responding to screencasts of any length.

Screencast-O-Matic

Create and edit sophisticated screencasts without breaking the bank

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Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

23 Best Presentation Ideas, Tips & Examples

Amanda Green was born in a small town in the west of Scotland, where everyone knows everyone. I joined the Toastmasters 15 years ago, and I served in nearly every office in the club since then. I love helping others gain confidence and skills they can apply in every day life.

Are you getting ready to give a presentation? Whether you’re a first-time presenter or an experienced pro, getting some ideas and tips can be helpful. As an author, I’ve prepared and given dozens of presentations over the years, and I learned a few things.

This list will share some of my favorite presentation ideas, plus examples from real-world presentations. I hope you find these tips helpful as you prepare for your next presentation!

Presentations in a Nutshell

Make sure your slide presentation is well-organized and visually appealing. Avoid using too much text or overcrowding your slides. Instead, use graphics, images, and other creative elements to break up the text and add interest.

Practice your public speaking . This will help you to become more comfortable with the material and reduce the risk of nervousness or mistakes. Make eye contact, vary your vocal delivery, and use gestures to keep people interested.

Pro Tips for Making a Winning Presentation

These 23 tips are sure to help you make a winning presentation.

Use a Minimalist Presentation Theme

When preparing an engaging presentation, choosing a theme that will appeal to your audience and help you communicate your key points effectively is important.

Minimalist themes can be great for nice presentations as they help create a clean and professional look. Here are some of my tips for creating a winning minimalist presentation:

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• Use a limited color palette: Stick to two or three colors throughout your presentation to create a cohesive look.
• Use simple fonts: Choose fonts that are easy to read and avoid using too many different font styles.
• Use plenty of white space: Use negative space to break up text and make the slides easy on the eye.
• Keep it concise: Edit your slides down to the essential information and avoid adding unnecessary text or images.
• Use bold fonts to underline key ideas: Highlight important information your audience should remember.
• Use a white background: It doesn’t distract people from the text.

Use an Eye-Catching Presentation Background Image

A presentation is only as good as its content and delivery. However, the background image is often overlooked as an important presentation element. The right image can help to set the tone, convey information, and grab the audience’s attention. Here are a few tips for selecting an eye-catching background image:

First, consider the overall theme and message of your presentation. The background image should support the central ideas of your talk. For example, if you’re giving a presentation on environmental sustainability, an image of a pristine forest would be more appropriate than an urban skyline.

Second, pay attention to color and contrast. The background image should be high-contrast so it’s easy to see on a projector screen. Use complementary colors.

Finally, choose an image with interesting details. A busy or complex image can be distracting, but an image with interesting textures or patterns can help to add visual interest to your presentation.

Alternate the Slide Layouts and Keep Your Presentation Engaging

The slide layout is a key component of an engaging presentation. When deciding on a slide layout, it is important to consider the overall tone and message of the presentation. For example, a more serious presentation may benefit from a traditional layout with bullet points and concise text.

On the other hand, a more creative presentation may benefit from an unconventional layout that includes images and meaningful quotes.

Regardless of the chosen layout, it is important to use white space effectively and to limit the number of bullet points on each slide.

Supplement Your Presentation With Printed Materials

No matter how well you know your material, there’s always a risk that you’ll freeze up or blank out during a presentation. That’s why it’s good to have a backup plan. One way to do this is to supplement your presentation with printed materials.

This way, even if you get tongue-tied, you’ll still be able to provide your audience with the information they need. Plus, having printed materials on hand can help to add an element of professionalism to your presentation.

Use Just One Chart or Graphic Per Slide

When giving a presentation, remember that less is more. One way is by using only one chart or graphic per slide. Too often, presentations are cluttered with too much information, making it difficult for the audience to process everything.

Focusing on one key point per slide can help ensure your audience understands your message. In addition, using a limited number of visuals can also make your presentation more visually appealing and easier to follow.

Use Contrasting Colors When Comparing Two Perspectives or Sides of an Argument

It is essential to use colors effectively when designing a presentation. The wrong colors can make text difficult to read or cause slides to appear cluttered and busy. However, the right colors can help improve a presentation’s clarity and overall impact.

One effective way to use color is to contrast two different perspectives or sides of an argument. For example, suppose you presented a new policy’s benefits and drawbacks. In that case, you could use blue to represent the benefits and red to represent the drawbacks.

This color contrast would help to visually highlight the key points of each side of the argument. In addition, it would also create a more engaging and visually-appealing presentation.

Use Simple Shapes to Integrate Your Photos Into the Slides

An image is worth a million words, and this is definitely true when it comes to presentations. To really capture your audience’s attention, it is important to integrate photos into your slides effectively.

One pro tip is to use shapes to do this. By placing a photo inside of a shape, you can create a more visually appealing slide that will also help to focus the viewer’s attention on the key elements of the image. In addition, using shapes can also help to add interest and variety to your presentation.

So next time you need a way to make your photos pop, consider using shapes to integrate them into your slides.

Make Visuals the Main Point of Your Presentation Slides

No matter how well-written or well-rehearsed your presentation is, if your slides are cluttered, confusing, or just plain boring, you will not get the reaction from your audience that you want.

So, what makes a great visual presentation? First and foremost, your slides should be visually appealing.

Use high-quality images, visual elements, and graphics, and limit how much text is on each slide. Secondly, your visuals should be clear and easy to understand. Avoid using jargon or acronyms that your audience might not be familiar with.

Finally, make sure your visuals are properly aligned with your presentation content. Each slide should have a specific purpose and shouldn’t veer too far off-topic. By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your next presentation will wow your audience.

Summarize Your Points at the End

After hours of brainstorming, you’ve finally got your presentation nailed down. You know exactly what points you want to make, and you’re confident you can deliver a killer presentation. But before you get up in front of your audience, one more pro tip to keep in mind: always summarize your points at the end.

This will help to drive home the key takeaways from your presentation and ensure that your audience leaves with a clear understanding of your message.

To summarize effectively:

• Start by briefly restating your main points.
• Provide a brief overview of the evidence you presented supporting those points.
• Finish with a call to action or a statement of what your audience will remember.

Present Any Connected Information in a Visually Similar Way

A successful presentation is engaging, informative, and visually appealing. To achieve this, it is important to connect related information in a visually similar way. Use colors to create associations between ideas. For example, you could use the same color for all the points in a particular section of your presentation.

This will help the audience to see the relationship between the points and remember the information more easily. Another way to connect related information is to use consistent font styles and imagery throughout your presentation. This will create a cohesive visual design that will help the audience to follow your argument more easily.

Condense Your Presentation Into a Memorable Line

While many factors contribute to a successful presentation, one of the most important is condensing your key points into a single, memorable line. A memorable line should be easy to understand and recall and capture the essence of your presentation in just a few words.

To create a memorable line for your next presentation, start by identifying the main point you want to communicate. Then, distill that point down to its essentials and express it in the clearest, simplest terms possible.

By crafting a well-designed and concise statement, you can ensure that your audience will remember your key points long after your presentation.

Use Simple or Minimalist Borders

Good design is about creating an impact with the least effort. The same principle applies to presentations. When it comes to borders, less is more (even with image frames).

Using simple or minimalist borders, you can create a clean and professional look that will effectively frame your content without overshadowing it. In addition, using fewer borders will give your presentation a more streamlined look, which can help to keep your audience focused on the most important elements.

Illustrate Complex or Confusing Concepts With Icons

In a fast-paced, constantly-connected world, getting your message across quickly and effectively can be difficult. That’s where icons come in. An icon is a simple image that conveys complex ideas or starts a difficult conversation.

Icons can be used in email marketing, website design, infographics, and pretty much anywhere else you need to communicate with your audience. And because they’re so easy to understand, they’re an ideal way to illustrate complex or confusing concepts.

Plan Your Presentation Idea Ahead of Time

Any good presentation starts with a solid plan. Knowing your audience, understanding your goal, and having a clear structure are all essential elements of a successful presentation. But before you can start planning, you need to come up with a great idea.

You might be tempted to wing it, but trust me – it’s worth taking the time to brainstorm ahead of time. By sitting down and coming up with a few different ideas, you’re more likely to find an approach that’s both creative and effective. And if you’re stuck, plenty of resources are out there to help you get started.

Use Memes (for Real, Though)

To make a winning presentation, you must engage your audience and speak to their interests. One of the best ways to do that is by using memes. Memes are a highly effective tool for emotional response and provide fun ways to present information; they’re like visual metaphors.

Just ensure that the memes you use are relevant to your topic and audience and that they don’t come across as too forced or unnatural. Done right, memes can help you connect with your audience and deliver a winning presentation.

Do the Math for Your Audience

When you’re crafting a presentation, it’s important to remember that not everyone in your audience will be an expert on your topic. Many people will likely be interested only in what you have to say. As a result, it’s important to ensure that your presentation is accessible to everyone.

One way is to use numbers and statistics sparingly. Instead of bombarding your audience with data, focus on providing key information that can be easily understood. You should also avoid using industry jargon or technical terms unless you’re certain everyone in the room will know what you’re talking about.

Give Your Presentation a Catchy Title That Anyone Can Remember

Beautiful presentations are only as good as their title. The title of your presentation is the very first thing that your audience will see, so it’s important to make sure that it’s catchy and memorable. Here are some of my tips to help you choose a winning title:

Keep it short and sweet

A title that’s too long or complicated will only confuse your audience and make them less likely to remember it. Stick to something simple and easy to remember.

Make it relevant

Your title should be directly related to the topic of your presentation. This will help people understand your presentation and make it more likely that they’ll recall it later.

Use keywords

Choose keywords that accurately describe your presentation and that people are likely to search for online. This will help make your presentation more visible and easier to find.

Be creative

Don’t hesitate to get creative with your title! A catchy, unique title is more likely to stick in people’s minds than a boring presentation title.

Split the Header Text From the Body Text

Keep in mind to split the header text from the body text. This will help to keep your audience focused on the most important information and make it easier for them to follow along.

Another helpful tip is to use high-contrast colors for your text and background. That’ll make it easier for people to read your slides, even if they are sitting in the back of the room. Finally, be sure to use simple, clear fonts that are easy to read.

Talk Directly to Your Audience

Rather than looking at the slides or reading from a script, make eye contact with individual members of the audience. This will help to engage them and hold their attention. Another important tip is to keep your presentation concise. No one wants to sit through a long, drawn-out speech, so focus on efficiently delivering the most important information.

Track the Steps in a Process

Making a winning presentation requires careful planning and execution. To start, you need to identify the goal of your presentation clearly. Are you selling a product, trying to raise awareness for a cause, or educating your audience about a certain topic?

Once you know the goal, you can start tracking the process steps. Creating an outline of your presentation will help you to organize your thoughts and ensure that your presentation flows smoothly.

Ask Your Audience Questions

Have you ever given a presentation that left your audience bored and unengaged? If so, you’re not alone. Many people need help to give effective presentations. However, there are some simple ways to make your presentations more engaging and memorable.

One pro tip is to ask your audience questions. This helps get them involved in the presentation and ensures that they pay attention. Asking questions also gives you a chance to gauge the audience’s level of understanding and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Show Off Your Credentials

Don’t just show off your presentation skills; brag about everything else, too! Whether you’re giving a presentation to potential clients or delivering a keynote speech, it’s important to establish your credibility upfront. One way to do this is by highlighting your relevant experience and expertise.

If you’re an experienced speaker, make sure to mention any previous talks or workshops you’ve given. If you have any relevant publications, list them as well. Any awards or recognition you’ve received can also help to boost your credibility.

Include Your Branding Throughout Your Presentation Ideas

Whether you’re giving a presentation to potential clients or your boss, you want to ensure that your presentation is on point. That means having great content and making sure that your branding is front and center.

Make sure your branding is included from the start. Your title slide should feature your company logo and colors. This helps to set the tone for the rest of the presentation and helps people to remember who you are.

Use branded templates. If you’re using PowerPoint or another presentation software, there’s no reason not to use templates that feature your company’s branding. This will help to keep your presentation looking professional and consistent throughout.

Incorporate your branding into the visuals you use. Whether you’re using photos, diagrams, or charts, try incorporating your company’s colors or logo in each visual. This will help people to associate your brand with the information they see.

Use branded giveaways. Consider giving away branded items like pens, notepads, or water bottles at the end of your presentation. This ensures people leave with something that will remind them of your company long after the presentation.

What Makes a Great Presentation?

It doesn’t matter what type of presentation you’re working with; captivating presentations all have the same formula. Whether you’re delivering a business presentation or teaching a class, certain elements can make your presentation more effective. A good presentation should be well-organized, clear, and concise.

It’s important to have a strong opening that grabs the audience’s attention and a clear structure they can follow.

You should also use appropriate language for your audience and avoid jargon or acronyms they might need help understanding.

Visuals are another key element of a great presentation, whether using PowerPoint slides or physical props. They can help to break up the text, highlight important points, and make the presentation more engaging.

What Are the Best Fonts Used by Most Graphic Designers?

Some of the fonts that are found in the arsenal of every graphic designer are:

• Proxima Nova
• Bickham Script Pro
• Garamond Pro

Benefits of Having Interactive Components in Your Presentation

Making sure the entire presentation is engaging and interactive is sure to keep them hanging around until the end. Whether it’s a corporate presentation, an educational presentation, or just something simple for a small event, always keep these tips in mind. 

More Engaging

One of the primary benefits of having interactive elements in your presentation is that it will be more engaging for your audience. Suppose your audience can participate in your presentation actively. In that case, they will be more likely to pay attention and retain the information you are presenting.

Additionally, interactive components can help to break up a long or dry presentation, keeping your audience interested and engaged.

Encourages Participation

Another benefit of having interactive components in your presentation is that it encourages participation from your audience. When people are actively involved in a presentation, they’re likely to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. This can help create a more dynamic and informative presentation as people are more likely to share their ideas and experiences.

Builds Rapport

Interactive components can also help you to build rapport with your audience. When you involve people in your presentation, they will feel you value their input and opinion. This can help to create a more positive relationship between you and your audience, making them listen and be receptive to your message.

Increases understanding

If done correctly, interactive components can also help increase understanding of the material you are presenting. When people are actively involved in learning, they are more likely to pay attention and retain information. Additionally, if people can apply what they are learning, they will be more likely to remember it in the future.

Helps People Connect

Interactive components can also help people connect during your presentation. People who work together on an activity or task will be more likely to interact and form connections. This can be beneficial if you are trying to promote networking or collaboration among your audience members.

The Bottom Line

I hope my creative presentation ideas helped you out! You can do so tons of things to make the best presentation design out there. Choose an eye-catching background image that supports the central ideas of the presentation. Alternate slide layouts to keep the presentation engaging. Supplement the presentation with printed materials. Wow, your audience with cool facts, stats, memes, charts, and branded giveaways.

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• Presentation Ideas for Students: Easy and Unique Topics

Presentations at school are not just an everyday task: they are your chance to show you are a bright student and demonstrate your vision. Adding some creativity and your personal touch to your presentations will provide an extra level of interest and help your presentation remain in people’s memories.

You don’t need to be a techie, either. Software packages such as PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Canva are easy to use and provide many colorful devices to make your ideas visually striking.

To create this article, we invited experienced presentation designers and effective presenters to share tips and original ideas for presentations that will help students succeed. So, choose an interesting topic from our list and create a presentation using the tips from our experts!

List of Topic Ideas for Different Categories

As you already know, the right topic needs to appeal to you, fit the occasion, and hold the interest of your audience. Here's a more detailed checklist of the characteristics of the best presentation topics:

• Engaging: Captures and holds the audience’s interest throughout the presentation.
• Relevant: Relates to trends and topics in your field of study or work.
• Researchable: Information and resources are available to support your claims and arguments.
• Brief and Concise: Easily understood by the target audience with no convoluted ideas or overused terminology.
• Original: Offers a fresh perspective or approach, distinguishing it from common topics.
• Appropriately Scoped: Well-suited for the allotted presentation time; not too broad or too narrow.

Thus, when selecting presentation topics for students, consider these factors to create an excellent presentation. You can also explore what a good essay topic looks like to get more inspiration and ideas for your presentation.

So, check out our list of 100 PowerPoint presentation topics for students, which has been thoroughly structured to make it easier for a school or university student to choose a topic!

10-Minute Presentation Ideas

You must pick your subject carefully if you have 10 minutes to make an impression. It has to be brief and compelling. Here are ten short and memorable ideas for presentation topics:

• The Future of Renewable Energy Sources
• The Psychology Behind First Impressions
• The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life
• Minimalism: More Than Just Decluttering
• The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
• Brief History of the Internet
• How to Start a Small Business
• The Basics of Personal Financial Management
• The Importance of Voting in Democratic Societies
• The Benefits of Daily Physical Activity

If you need help creating a great topic, consider consulting expert writers. The PowerPoint presentation writing service can provide engaging presentation examples for students. Moreover, experienced authors will help you with any part of your presentation if required.

Good Higher School Presentation Ideas

School presentations for high school students can be a perfect way to introduce exciting topics and help them broaden their educational horizons. Here are ten PowerPoint presentation topics for higher school students:

• The Effects of Global Warming on Our Planet
• The Evolution of Pop Music
• Understanding the Stock Market
• The Science of Habit Formation
• Exploring Career Options in Technology
• The Role of the United Nations in World Peace
• The Influence of Advertising on Consumer Behavior
• Teenage Mental Health: Understanding and Support
• The History and Impact of Comic Books
• Cybersecurity: Protecting Yourself Online

Business Topics for Presentation at University

Business presentations must be informative, explaining industry trends, strategies, and innovations. Here are the ten most impressive business slideshow ideas for students:

• The Impact of E-commerce on Traditional Retail
• The Role of Social Media in Modern Marketing Strategies
• Startup Culture: Evolution and Impact
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Examples and Outcomes
• The Future of Work: Remote vs. In-Office
• Blockchain Technology in Business
• Global Economic Trends and Their Impact on Local Businesses
• Customer Relationship Management: Best Practices
• Business Ethics in the Age of Technology
• Mergers and Acquisitions: Strategy and Outcomes

>> Find more business research paper topics  for presentation  at StateOfWriting!

Medical and Nursing Topics for Presentation

Medical and nursing presentations usually focus on today's issues, innovations, and new or best practices. This list covers ten interesting topics for presentation for healthcare professionals and students:

• The Role of Telemedicine in Modern Healthcare
• Advances in Robotic Surgery
• The Impact of Mental Health on Physical Well-being
• Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing Practice
• The Importance of Patient Education in Chronic Disease Management
• Breakthroughs in Alzheimer's Disease Research
• Handling Medical Emergencies in Remote Areas
• The Evolution of Nursing Roles in Healthcare
• Strategies to Combat Antibiotic Resistance
• Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Hospitals

Unique Management Topics for Presentation

Good management is at the heart of a successful enterprise. The following ten creative presentation ideas explore leadership, strategy, and operational effectiveness:

• Leadership Styles and Organizational Impact
• Change Management: Strategies for Successful Implementation
• The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
• Project Management Techniques for Efficient Workflow
• Cross-Cultural Management and Its Challenges
• Corporate Governance and Accountability
• Managing Remote Teams: Tools and Tips
• Innovation Management in Companies
• Crisis Management: Case Studies and Lessons Learned
• Performance Management and Employee Development

Interesting Psychology Topics for Presentation

Psychology is a human science that seeks to understand the mechanics of our minds and behaviour. Here are ten topics to do a presentation on psychology that are sure to captivate and educate any audience:

• The Psychology of Motivation and its Impact on Success
• Cognitive Biases and Decision-Making
• The Effects of Stress on Mental and Physical Health
• Child Development: The Role of Nature vs. Nurture
• The Influence of Personality on Lifestyle Choices
• Psychological Techniques in Pain Management
• The Impact of Social Media on Teen Self-Esteem
• Memory Formation and the Mechanisms of Forgetting
• The Role of Therapy in Treating Anxiety Disorders
• The Psychological Effects of Color on Mood and Behavior

Best Biology Topics for Presentation

Life comes in many forms, and biology is the science that explores them all. Here are ten easy topics for presentation on biology:

• The Genetic Basis of Inherited Diseases
• The Role of Microbiomes in Human Health
• Conservation Strategies for Endangered Species
• The Process and Implications of CRISPR and Gene Editing
• Plant-Animal Interactions and Their Ecological Impact
• Marine Biology: Deep Sea Ecosystems and Their Mysteries
• The Biology of Aging and Longevity
• Biotechnology in Agriculture: Innovations and Ethics
• Behavioral Ecology and Animal Communication

Good Physics Topics for Presentation

Physics helps people understand the general laws of the Universe. Here are ten unique topics for presentation in college:

• The Theory of Relativity and Its Applications
• Quantum Mechanics: Principles and Paradoxes
• The Physics of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
• Advances in Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider
• The Role of Physics in Renewable Energy Technologies
• Nuclear Fusion: The Future of Energy?
• The Science of Thermodynamics and Its Modern Applications
• Astrophysics: Exploring the Composition of the Universe
• The Physics of Sound and Music
• Fluid Dynamics in Nature and Technology

Chemistry-Related Topics for Presentation

Chemistry is central to many innovations around us and our daily experiences. Let’s explore ten presentation topic ideas explaining chemistry from practical applications and theoretical research:

• The Chemistry of Everyday Life: Soaps and Detergents
• Organic Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Development
• Nanotechnology in Chemistry: Materials and Applications
• The Role of Chemistry in Environmental Conservation
• Catalysis and Its Importance in Industrial Processes
• The Future of Materials Science with Polymers and Composites
• Biochemistry: Proteins and Enzymes at Work
• The Chemistry of Food and Flavor
• Electrochemistry and Its Applications in Energy Storage
• Chemical Safety and Toxicology in the Modern World

Tips for Creating Powerful Presentations

Shaping the perfect presentation is vital to persuade the audience to listen. Mastering the art of presentation can impact your success. Our experts have kindly provided basic advices for a successful presentation:

• Know your Audience: Match the content to your audience's interests, level of knowledge, and expectations.
• Lead with a Hook: The story or compelling start that helps you capture attention and achieve the tone you want for your presentation.
• Use Visuals Wisely: Relevant visuals can support and enhance your message – but must never overshadow it.
• Practise Makes Perfect: Rehearse your speech beforehand many times to deliver it more fluently and confidently.
• Make Your Presentation Interactive: Add questions, interactions, and active engagement with your audience to keep them interested.

To be effective with presentations, you must know your audience, have a killer beginning, use stage-appropriate visuals, practice, and use a strong engagement hook.

Elevate Your Presentation to Leave a Lasting Impression

To sum up, picking interesting presentation ideas for students and adding a touch of creativity to them can turn school assignments into memorable experiences. You can also use visual aids or UK writing service to make your presentation eye-catching and showcase your unique perspectives and insights. Your efforts will impress and inspire those who listen.

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21 Free Fun IceBreakers for Online Teaching, Students & Virtual and Remote Teams

Last updated June 2, 2024

Here are 21 free-to-use icebreakers for online teaching that you can use. Icebreakers are an important part of any training, as they encourage people to participate from the start of a session, to get to know each other and feel comfortable working with others.

There are many icebreakers you can do in face-to-face training sessions and some of them are classics that corporate trainers worldwide have been using for quite a while.

In this guide, we have put together some icebreakers specifically designed to be done online and others that are normally done in traditional classrooms and we explain how to adapt them for the online environment.

So whether you are looking for online icebreakers for Zoom meetings, or icebreakers for online classes, here are 21 activities for you.

Page Contents

Icebreakers for Online Teaching

1. ‘two truths and a lie’ icebreaker.

This is a classic icebreaker, which can be adapted to an online class.

Instructions

• Ask one participant to write three statements about themselves: 2 true and 1 false.
• Ask the other participants to vote on which statements are true and which is false.
• After the first person has shared their statement and the group has decided which statement is false, the first person will reveal which statements were true and which one was false.
• Move on until each person in the group has shared their statements.
• The person who manages to correctly guess the most lies wins. Alternatively, you can play this game in a non-competitive way just for participants to get to know each other.

This is intended as a fun icebreaker so it’s a nice activity for very early in any training or teaching.

Online tools you can use

• Poll Everywhere
• Google Forms
• Survey Monkey

2. Table Topics

Table topics are a set of cards, which you can find for sale online, on sites such as Amazon. Each card has a question on it to start a conversation and every pack of cards contains just over one hundred questions.

They are a great way to start a conversation for participants to get to know each other or to start a discussion on a specific topic. You can choose questions pertinent to the topic of your workshop

You can type some of the questions from the card on a chat board and ask participants to write down their thoughts.

Alternatively, you could separate the participants into breakout rooms and assign each group one or two questions so that each person in the group can answer.

Some examples of questions include:

• Is there such a thing as perfect?
• Where would you most like to go and why?
• Who’s the funniest person you know?
• Would you rather live for a week in the past or the future?
• What is the meaning of ‘peace’ to you?
• Who do you trust and why?
• How would you describe your future in three words?
• If you could go back in time to your 15-year-old self, what advice would you give your 15-year-old self?
• What is your definition of being wealthy and why?
• What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

For this activity, you can use the following tools:

• Breakout rooms (which are available in many web conferencing platforms, such as Zoom ).
• Online whiteboards and chats.

If you are providing training or teaching online, make sure also to check these guides:

• Digital wellness & Well-being training materials
• Managing Virtual Teams course materials
• Working from Home Mental Wellbeing training materials 🙂

3. ‘Three Words’ Ice Breaker

This is a good warm-up activity and it can also be useful to discuss the importance of adapting to changing situations and thinking on one’s feet.

• Ask participants to agree on a random topic. It can be anything from food to dogs, to rugby.
• Explain that each person should contribute with three words to the story (and three words only at a time) and they will take turns to contribute.
• Encourage the participants to say the first three words that come to their mind. It does not matter if they make sense or not.
• Try to move from one person to the other quickly.
• Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino .

4. ‘Same and Different’ Team Building Game

The aim is to learn information about other people.

This is one of my favourite icebreakers for online classes. This activity can be either a great icebreaker or a way for people within an established team to know each other better and communicate.

• Split your participants into groups of 3 or more and allocate them to breakout rooms.
• Ask each group to write down as a list on an online whiteboard or virtual sticky note all the interesting things that they all have in common (ask them to avoid obvious things, such as all being men or women) and something unique to each participant. They will have 5 minutes for this task.
• At the end of the 5 minutes, ask each group to share their list to the rest of the class via an online whiteboard.

Handy Tools for this activity

• Breakout rooms
• Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

5. ‘Big Lottery Win’ Warm-Up Activity

This game is good as a warm-up, for participants to familiarize themselves with each other and also to think creatively.

Participants can discuss together or be separated into breakout rooms, depending on the number of participants.

• Explain to the participants to imagine that they have just won the lottery. They have won 25 million Euros, GBP, dollars, or any big amount in the local currency of the country they are in.
• Give participants 5 minutes to list all the things they would do with the money. There is no limit to the number of things they can put down, as long as they can write them within 5 minutes.
• After 5 minutes are up, ask everyone to talk about their list and discuss.
• Material items
• Friends and family
• Travel and luxury
• Some other categories may also emerge
• Allow 5 minutes for the group to discuss the list. This normally will occur very easily.

For this activity consider using an online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

6. ‘Storytelling’ Icebreaker | Team-Building Activity

Because of the creative and cooperative nature of this game, it is a good activity to use either as an icebreaker or as a team-building activity. It can also be useful for a training session on creativity.

• In advance of the training session, prepare some documents or boards (you can use MS Word or create boards with an image manipulation program) with a set of 4 pictures on each.
• On the training day, separate the participants into groups of 4 people in breakout rooms and assign each group one of the files with the photos.
• Give the groups 10 minutes to look at the photos and to create their narrative that creates a story that connects the four images.
• When the 10 minutes are up, ask each group to share their story onto a virtual board and to spend up to three minutes telling the story of their images. Allow other groups to then suggest how they might have developed the story and if they would have used the images differently.

Useful Tools

• Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

7. ‘Introducing Each Other’ – Ice Breaker

This is a good activity to get participants to get to know each other so that they find themselves in a familiar environment.

Participants can do this activity either before the session, in their own time, or during the session.

• Pair up participants in twos.
• Give them a list of questions to ask each other.
• Ask each pair to interview each other, either via email or in breakout rooms.
• When all the participants convene together in the same virtual room, each participant will introduce the participant they interviewed.

8. ‘Hope and Fears’ Icebreaker

This is a classic icebreaker, which is good as a reflection tool or to assess what the participants’ expectations are from the training.

• Ask participants to write down their greatest hope (for example, for the session, for the current year or for a specific project) and then their greatest fear.
• In a face-to-face class, the participants differentiate the answers by, for example, writing each answer on a sticky note of a different color. Online, you need to find another way to differentiate them. For example, you could use Padlet or Lino, which allow you to create virtual sticky notes of various colors.
• Read all the hopes first and then the fears and discuss.

In this activity use :

• Online whiteboards, chatboard, and other collaboration tools like Padlet or Lino.

9. ‘Childhood Dream’ Ice-breaker

This icebreaker is useful to start a discussion on how priorities and goals can change throughout a person’s life.

• Ask participants to post on a virtual board what their childhood dream was and to relate it to their present aspirations.
• You can either have participants discuss this as a whole class or have groups of participants in breakout rooms.
• End with a summary of all the contributions from all participants and a whole-class discussion.

Tool to Use

10. ‘Take a Picture of Something’ Class Activity

This is a fun activity, which is good to get people to know each other using visuals and creativity.

• Ask participants to take a picture of something. Typically, you choose a specific theme. For example, ask participants to take a picture of their shoes or a picture of something that is on their workstation or the view outside their window. Remember to ask participants to take a picture and upload it before the training session starts, as otherwise, it might take too much time out of the training session if they were to do it in real time.
• Ask participants to share the picture on a virtual board.
• Start a discussion. For example, you could ask why they chose that particular item on their desk, or what they like the most about the view they can see from the window, etc.

How do you run icebreakers for online sessions though? We have written a separate post on ‘ How to run group activities in virtual classrooms for your students here . 🙂

• Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

11. ‘Asking Questions’ Icebreaker

This is a good way for participants to get to know each other in a relaxed manner.

Remember to ask questions that are light-hearted though, as you want to start on a positive note.

• Ask your participants a list of questions. For example, what is your favourite meal, your favourite place to travel, where were you born etc.?
• They could just write an answer on the chat board or post a picture or a link.
• Share the answers with all the participants and get them to guess who gave each answer.

Tools to do this activity:

• Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.
• Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

12. ‘Show a Map’ Fun Teaching Activity

This is a good activity if your participants are located in many different geographical locations.

• Show a map on the screen (it can be a map of the world, if participants are located all over the world, or the map of a country, if they are all in the same country but in different parts of it).
• Ask participants where they are.
• Ask your participants questions, such as how long they have been living there or other light-hearted questions.

Activity tools you’ll need

13. ‘Lost in Space’ Online Training Activity

This is a good activity to get to know participants in a way other than just asking the usual questions. This is one of the first online icebreakers for Zoom that I used and still use for giving online training.

• Ask the participants to imagine that they are living in a space station. All of a sudden, the space station malfunctions and they have to evacuate. They are only allowed to take 5 items with them. Which items would they choose?
• Ask participants to share their answers in the chatbox, explaining why they chose those five items.

14. One Word (or One Image) Activity

This is another activity suitable for participants to share information about themselves creatively.

• Ask participants to choose one word that best describes them or their life and to explain why. Alternatively, you can ask them to choose an image (they can download it from the Internet or take a picture with their smartphone, for example).
• Ask them to share their answers via the chat feature or on a virtual whiteboard.

15. ‘One Random Object’ Virtual Training Activity

This icebreaker is a fun game, aimed at making participants feel relaxed and creating a sense of community. You could also use it as an energizer, if needed, when you sense that your participants are losing focus.

• Ask a participant to pick one random object that is in their room and not tell anyone what it is.
• Explain that the other participants will have to guess what it is, by asking questions that require a yes or no answer.
• You could use a chat board for this, but it is not necessary. You could just run the activity by speaking and maybe use a virtual board to record the scores. You can also, if you wish to, make it a competition, whereby the participant who correctly guesses the most objects wins.

16. ‘Accomplished Goals’ Online Group Activity

This is a good activity to focus on positive things (i.e. people’s achievements). It is also a networking tool, as participants could be interested in achieving the same goal that another person in the group has achieved and whom they might ask for advice from.

Instructions:

• Ask participants to say what goal they have achieved in the last year (it does not matter how small)
• Discuss. You could facilitate the discussion by asking a question such as how they felt when they achieved the goal or what skills do they think were important in achieving the goal.
• You could post a list of achievements on a chat or virtual board.

Online tools you can use:

• You could use a chat board for this, but it is not necessary. You could just run the activity by speaking and maybe use a virtual board to summarize the discussion at the end and highlight what can be learnt from each person’s experience.

17. ‘Describe Yourself in a Tweet’ Activity

This activity is different from the traditional introduce yourself type activities, in that it has an additional challenge.

That is, participants have to manage to communicate as effectively as they can using a very limited number of characters.

There is a limitation to this activity though, as participants will need to have a Twitter account and not worry about their tweets being seen by everyone as tweets are public (direct messages used to be limited to 140 characters but, in 2015, the limit was extended to 10,000 characters).

• Ask participants to describe themselves in a tweet.
• You could do this activity before the training session and then take screenshots of the Tweets to show during the online class.
• Twitter social media account for you and the participants.

In terms of icebreakers for online classes, this is not the quickest to run but participants can find it very engaging.

18. ‘Bingo’ Icebreaker

This is a classic icebreaker that can be adapted for online teaching.

In a traditional face-to-face session, you would prepare a table with a series of interesting facts and then give each participant a copy of the sheet so they can move around the room trying to find somebody to whom that fact applies.

1. Getting started

To run the activity online, create a 5 by 5 table with interesting facts, one for each box of the table.

For example, you could write things such as: speaks more than two languages, has been to Argentina, etc. Or, it would be a good idea to tie the facts with the topic of the class.

2. Sharing the File

Share the file with the table with your participants, either in advance or during the session.

You can share by email, through the file-sharing feature of the web conferencing system, or with an online sharing tool such as Google Docs, Dropbox, or Evernote.

Alternatively, you could do the activity in real-time using a tool such as Padlet or Lino.

• Ask participants to write their name under each of the statements that apply to them.
• Ask participants to share the answers and discuss.

19. ‘Interests and Hobbies’ Activity Online

This activity helps participants to get to know each other but with an element of fun that gets participants easily engaged. Furthermore, it’s one of the easiest icebreakers for online classes to run.

• Ask participants to post three links that reflect their hobbies.
• The other participants have to guess what their hobbies are.

O nline tools you can use

20. ‘Time Machine’ Virtual Training Activity

This activity is suitable for those who like history and as a trainer, it can help you to introduce a bit of imagination to your icebreaker.

• Ask your participants: ‘If you could go back or forward in time, where would you go?’ ‘Why?’ You can then follow up with questions such as ‘Is there a person you would like to meet?’
• Ask participants to share their answers.

21. ‘Where in the World’ Icebreaker for Online Training

This is another game that allows participants to know each other in a fun way.

• Ask participants to pick a place in the world where they would like to go or that suits their personality.
• Ask them to post three clues for that place.
• Explain that the other participants have to guess which place the other participants have chosen.
• Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, or Lino.

Other Icebreakers for Online Classes

We also provide a range of other online icebreakers for Zoom, MS Teams, and other online teaching platforms, with activities included in every one of the training course materials packages you can buy

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60 Comments

There are some great ideas here that I will definitely be incorporating this into my classroom this August!

Hi Jess. Great to hear that you will use the classroom training activities. All the best :). Let us know how it goes.

Thank you so much for superb ideas

You’re welcome Pratibha.

Very interesting activities. They are innovative too. I’ll use these with the children. I think they’ll enjoy them. I expect that many activities will be in demand repeatedly. Thanks a lot for sharing these wonderful ideas.

Participants know each other already. What would be another activity that can be done to get them tuned to the session

If the participants already know each other then there are several options for ice breakers. I have got lots more on the ice breakers main page .

Wonderful ideas. Keep it up. Looking forward for more online teaching ideas. I’ve already taken up new ideas from here for my next class. I would love to know, for example, how to keep students engaged throughout the 30-minute session and they remain active throughout and not disappear halfway through the session.

Hi Shalini, I am glad to know that you find these ideas useful. I know, it is harder to keep students engaged online! A way to keep their attention is to keep asking them questions and to engage them throughout the training session with activities and discussions, even more so than you would do for a face-to-face training session.

Some great ideas here. Will definitely keep these bookmarked for my next virtual session!

Thank you so much! Wonderful ideas and I will surely incorporate these in my virtual new session.

Hi Gagan. Yes, those activities are great for making virtual lessons more interactive. Thank you for visiting our site. All the best with your online teaching.

The new academic year starts on Monday. We are still going to go on with virtual lessons. I’m here because I am looking for ice breakers for my new classes. Thank you so much because I have found some!

I’m really looking forward to getting up and running and using virtual icebreakers. Great post.

Thanks Brittany

Thanks for all these suggestions! Hi, I’m going to use your storytelling idea and tweak it a bit. I’m going to use the same story for each group and let them see how stories change with each telling. We are studying myths and trickster stories to gain background knowledge in anticipation of reading “The Lightening Thief”.

Thank you so much…such fun ideas! I was worried about bonding with my students on the online platform. Not anymore!

Great ideas! I’m going to use these with my university students (teaching credential students at the elementary school level). It will help with keeping them engaged in my class as well as give them some ideas to use when they start their own teaching.

Hi Whitney, That’s great to hear. Yes, these icebreakers can be good for teaching at all levels and ages.

I am going back to a blended in-person/ virtual classroom. Students have the option to come to school or log in from home. Do you have some suggestions on how to incorporate groups in this way? I’m thinking with 15- 20 students in the same room, although socially distanced, it will be difficult to facilitate breakout groups due to the volume of the students and everyone talking at once in the same room.

Any thoughts?

I’m not sure if you’re classroom-based students will be logged-in individually however I suggest everyone is so everyone is equal and it’s easier for you to manage.

Zoom Break Out rooms allow you to split your meeting into up to 50 separate sessions. You can choose to split your students into these separate sessions automatically or manually.

If you need to visit each room to monitor progress, you may wish to put more students in each room so you have fewer rooms to visit.

Hope that helps, Jon.

These are beautiful activities. Will surely be helpful in making training fun. In the First activity, any specific reason why the participant with the most incorrect wins is the winner. Thank you so much.

Hi Sabahat. With the first activity, the more votes you get the more successful you were at tricking the others. I will add a sentence or two to explain this to update it as I can see I can make this clearer. Thanks for pointing this out. Thanks Sabahat.

I agree so grateful you share these activities with us. I am looking forward to trying them next week with my students especially the storytelling icebreaker. I can’t wait to hear the stories the students create. Thank you!

Hi Lisa. Yes, I’d love to know how it goes with your students. Please let us know 🙂 all the best.

Very use full activity.. this will help trainers very well..

Amazing ideas and very helpful for new teachers as well.

Thanks for sharing! I will do the same and share with my team at work. I also love how you have transformed some of the classic icebreakers,into online icebreakers.

Excellent collection room of ice-breakers for Virtual sessions. Thank you.

I am super thankful for this post. Great ideas, and I like that many are tried and true and will be familiar. The number of these is really setting me up for my 1st two weeks!

Great post!

Having attended a few online icebreakers recently and not being inspired by them, I decided to go away and create my own 🙂 Hopefully it will be helpful to some.

This list is awesome! I will definitely use a few of these thank you!

I so appreciate these creative and fun ideas. They are not only interactive, but they promote a fun and relaxed environment as the students get to know each other online. Thank you for sharing these games…they will be a life saver for me as a teacher who is very new at using the computer 🙂 and teaching online!

I totally loved every suggested activity, thanks so much!

Brilliant ideas! Thank you so much for sharing!

This was so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to share these!

I made notes for icebreakers that are appropriate for second graders. I especially like “Two truths and one lie”.

Love these! Just got idea to put in my modules online. Thank you!

Thank you, This is very helpful.

Thank you for these awesome online activities. I can use some of these in the homeroom guidance period.

Thank you very much for sharing these ideas. They are indeed very helpful. With your permission, will be using some for my online teaching. Thank you very much. God bless!

I am delighted that I came across this post. It is so comprehensive. Activities are simple and will help to promote the community. Great job!

Thank you so much for compiling these activities; it saved me from reinventing the wheel.

Thank you for sharing . I will use these ice breakers.

Great. I will be introducing some of these great icebreakers right this week in my training. Thank you

A nice set of ice breakers. School education is not easy to handle in the online mode. There is a big gap, and students do miss the kind of interaction that takes place in a real classroom environment within a conducive space and customised furniture. The teachers are eager to get back to the normal classroom teaching model.

Dear Ms Valeria Lo Iacono, Thank you for valuable icebreakers . I will use one of them with students of medicine school in my online class tomorrow. Thanks for your efforts.

Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing these activities… They would be very useful in my teaching.

Thank you for these really fun Icebreakers ! They were extremely helpful!

Thanks! This list is very helpful and fun! I’m excited to try these soon.

All the ideas are great. More than using it as an icebreaker i used it as an activity in between my classes, since its an hour class students find it difficult ti sit in a stagnant place and listen to the class. These ideas helped a lot for the students to keep them active and alert. Thank you.

These activities are really interesting. Your creative ideas help us to inspire the students. Thank you so much.

Excellent ideas! Loved the activities

Very good ideas for engaging the participants. I found these quite thought provoking as well. Thank you for sharing.

Super ideas for ice-breaking! Thanks for sharing, very inspired.

Icebreakers are really good, they create friendship, teamwork, and easy completion of work as a team. It is the best method,it inspires students and there is sharing of ideas.

Loved the ideas, particularly ‘One Random Object’, ‘Childhood Dream’ and (modified) ‘Bingo’. Will definitely use them in my upcoming session. Thank you.

Thank you ,very helpful activity.

These are amazing ideas for my online training sessions. Thank you so much.

I really like the ‘Where in the World’ icebreaker. Thank you for sharing!

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More From Forbes

15 presentation tips for captivating your audience and commanding the room.

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Person speaking in front of audience

Public speaking can be a daunting task, especially when addressing a large audience. Whether you're giving a presentation in the boardroom or delivering a keynote speech at a conference, holding your audience's attention and maintaining command of the room is paramount. The ability to captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression not only enhances your message's impact but also builds your reputation as a confident and effective speaker.

Here, Forbes Coaches Council members share invaluable tips and strategies to help you conquer your fear of public speaking and ensure that your next presentation or speech is a resounding success.

1. Be Confident

Be grounded and confident to be yourself and then tell great stories. Use your voice and the stage to bring the stories alive. Your audience will connect to the emotion of the story but make sure that it is relevant for your audience and related to the topic. - Cath Daley , Cath Daley Ltd

2. Find A Way To Actively Engage The Audience

Be prepared with ways to get your audience engaged and keep their focus. Whether that's relating to your audience, telling a joke or asking questions, actively driving engagement will make for a more effective presentation or speech. - Luke Feldmeier , Online Leadership Training - Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers

3. Create An Emotional Connection

Creating an emotional connection with the audience and involving them in your session fosters active participation, and ensures your audience stays engaged throughout. This also serves to enhance your presence and to create memories that stay with them long after your presentation ends. - Kristin Andree , Andree Group

4. Put Your Unique Take Front And Center

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5. Remember That The Audience Doesn't Know Your Planned Speech

No one wants to see you fail as a speaker. Remember that the focus shouldn't be on whether or not you can recall verbatim every word of your planned speech. The focus should be on how to connect to your audience with a few key points using a combination of storytelling and facts. - Sheri Nasim , Center for Executive Excellence

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7. Try To Incorporate An Element Of Surprise

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8. Know Your Audience

Doing research ahead of time to ensure you're providing the subject matter in a personalized manner will keep their attention. The topic will dictate the necessary vibe. Based on that, providing opportunities for the group to engage, such as shouting out a word, raising a hand, etc., will also help maintain their interest. - Lindsay Miller , Reverie Organizational Development Specialists

9. Use The Problem-Agitation-Solution Approach

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13. Be Authentic

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12 Fun Ways to Use An Interactive Digital Whiteboard in the Classroom (With Actionable Use Cases!)

Ausbert Generoso

In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, the interactive digital whiteboard has become a cornerstone of modern classrooms. These innovative tools not only enhance traditional teaching methods but also engage students in ways that were previously unimaginable. By integrating technology with education , teachers can create dynamic, interactive lessons that cater to diverse learning styles.

Whether you’re looking to boost student participation, streamline lesson delivery, manage classroom effectively , or foster collaborative learning, a single interactive digital whiteboard can offer countless possibilities. In this blog, we will explore a variety of creative and effective ways to use these tools in your classroom, with a special focus on how ClassPoint can help make it interactive and fun for both you and your students!

Why Use an Interactive Digital Whiteboard

Interactive digital whiteboards (IWBs) have revolutionized the classroom, providing substantial benefits that enhance both teaching and learning experiences.  Research highlights their positive impact on student achievement :

• Overall Improvement : A study involving 85 teachers and 170 classrooms found that using an interactive digital whiteboard led to a 16 percentile point gain in student achievement. For example, a student initially at the 50th percentile could move up to the 66th percentile.
• Visuals and Interactive Applications : Incorporating graphics, visuals, and interactive applications with the help of an interactive digital whiteboard resulted in 26-31 percentile point gains.

Beyond these impressive success rates, there are several other compelling reasons to integrate interactive digital whiteboards into your classroom:

✨ Enhanced Engagement : IWBs make lessons dynamic and engaging, encouraging student participation and maintaining focus through visual and interactive elements.

🤝 Collaborative Learning : These whiteboards facilitate group activities and brainstorming sessions, helping students develop teamwork and communication skills.

🎨 Versatile Teaching Tool : Suitable for various subjects and teaching styles, digital whiteboards support multimedia presentations, live annotations, and interactive problem-solving.

⏱️ Efficient Lesson Delivery : Streamline lesson preparation and delivery with integrated content, instant feedback, and the ability to save and share lessons for future use.

12 Smart Ways to Use An Interactive Digital Whiteboard in the Classroom

Interactive Digital Whiteboards (IWBs) have transformed modern classrooms by offering a dynamic and engaging way to present lessons. However, the true potential of IWBs is unlocked when paired with powerful tools that enhance their interactive capabilities. This is where ClassPoint comes into play.

ClassPoint is an intuitive add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint that seamlessly integrates with IWBs to create an interactive and engaging learning environment. It turns your regular slides into interactive quizzes , polls, games, and more, allowing you to fully utilize the features of your interactive digital whiteboard. By combining the visual and interactive strengths of IWBs with ClassPoint’s rich feature set, you can create lessons that are not only informative but also highly engaging and tailored to your students’ needs.

800,000+ educators and professionals use ClassPoint to boost audience engagement right inside PowerPoint.

In the following sections, we’ll explore specific ways to use ClassPoint with your interactive digital whiteboard to enhance classroom interaction, assessment, and participation. From customizable quizzes to real-time feedback, each method is designed to maximize student engagement and learning outcomes.

1. Interactive Quizzes and Polls

• What They’re For : To assess student comprehension in real-time and make lessons more engaging. Interactive quizzes and polls break the monotony of traditional teaching methods and encourage active student participation.
• Conduct quick polls to gauge student opinions or understanding of a topic.
• Use entrance quizzes to assess prior knowledge before starting a new lesson.
• Host competitive quiz sessions to review material in a fun and engaging way.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : ClassPoint has in-built interactive quiz questions that help you run quizzes right inside PowerPoint. Paired with your interactive digital whiteboard, run multimedia assessments like Video Upload or Slide Drawing so you can share real-time student responses on screen and review them together with your students.

2. Live Annotations

• What They’re For : To dynamically demonstrate concepts and emphasize key points during lessons. Live annotations help make abstract concepts more concrete and visually accessible.
• Annotate directly on slides to highlight important information and key takeaways.
• Draw diagrams or solve equations in real-time to visually explain complex topics.
• Encourage students to annotate on the board, fostering active participation and peer learning.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : ClassPoint has made it unbelievably easy to do live inking with its compact and user-friendly annotation toolkit. Without having to leave your live presentation, you access all the annotation tools you need like Shapes, Pens, Spotlight, and even Text Boxes right during slide show.

3. Group Activities

• What They’re For : To promote collaboration and teamwork among students. Group activities encourage peer learning and help develop critical social skills.
• Break students into groups to solve problems or discuss topics, using the whiteboard to compile ideas.
• Use the whiteboard for group brainstorming sessions, allowing each group to present their findings.
• Rotate groups to different stations, each with a different task or topic, encouraging diverse learning experiences.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : Aside from ClassPoint’s collaborative features that encourages group work and collaboration, it also has a dedicated Grouping feature available to help facilitate group activities easier. An interactive digital whiteboard particularly makes this even more fun as you can involve your students in the grouping process, keeping them on their toes!

4. Interactive Brainstorming

• What They’re For : To facilitate the generation and organization of ideas. Interactive brainstorming sessions can spark creativity and encourage students to think critically and collaboratively.
• Use mind maps to explore different aspects of a topic, encouraging students to connect ideas.
• Collect and organize student ideas during brainstorming sessions, creating a visual representation of their thoughts.
• Create sticky note boards where students can contribute their ideas anonymously, promoting inclusivity.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : Brainstorming sessions are at the very heart of ClassPoint’s interacting quizzing part. Specifically for text-based question types like Word Cloud and Short Answer , collect student thoughts in a fun, engaging way as their submissions go up your interactive digital whiteboard in real time. Cherry on top? You can review them live with the entire class and leave annotations using ClassPoint’s live slide show tools to make the review process more inclusive and interactive.

5. Multimedia Presentations

• What They’re For : To enhance lessons with videos, images, and audio. Multimedia elements can make lessons more engaging and cater to various learning styles.
• Embed educational videos to illustrate concepts or provide visual examples that complement the lesson.
• Use images to support explanations, making abstract concepts more tangible and relatable.
• Include audio clips for language lessons or to add another sensory dimension to the learning experience.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : With the new generation of learners , multimedia is king. And while making use of media formats and incorporating those into PowerPoint presentations is no longer news, pulling up an in-built browser right inside PowerPoint where you can access live educational medium is a total game-changer. ClassPoint’s Embedded Browser lets you surf the web without leaving slide show as if it’s a part of your presentation! Conveniently open streaming sites, articles, and resources while your students follow through without interrupting your live presentation.

6. Real-Time Feedback

• What They’re For : To provide immediate feedback on student responses and adjust lessons accordingly. Real-time feedback helps identify areas of misunderstanding and keeps students on track.
• Use instant polling to check student understanding during the lesson and adjust your teaching on the fly.
• Provide feedback on quiz answers in real-time to reinforce learning and correct misconceptions immediately.
• Implement exit tickets to gather quick feedback on what students have learned and what needs further explanation.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : With 4 different polling modes, ClassPoint’s Quick Poll makes it quick and interactive to gather student feedback. The best part? With an interactive digital whiteboard, watch as your poll come alive with real-time responses filling your screen as each student submit right from the very convenience of their devices.

7. Educational Games

• What They’re For : To make learning fun and interactive, reinforcing concepts through play. Educational games can motivate students and make difficult subjects more approachable.
• Create quiz-based games to review content in a fun and engaging manner.
• Use interactive whiteboard tools to design educational puzzles that challenge students’ problem-solving skills.
• Incorporate game elements like points, rewards, and timers to motivate students and encourage participation.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : Educational discussions need not to be uptight and boring. Make it insightful yet digestible with the help of ClassPoint’s gamification features . While your presentation is running, award stars to students so they can rank up to different levels that help them earn badges. Pair these with ClassPoint’s handy Wheel of Names , Timer & Stopwatch , and Draggable Objects !

8. Leaderboards

• What They’re For : To foster a competitive spirit and motivate students to participate. Leaderboards can encourage healthy competition and keep students engaged.
• Display leaderboards after quizzes or games to show student rankings and encourage a competitive atmosphere.
• Use leaderboards to track participation and reward top contributors, boosting motivation.
• Update leaderboards regularly to maintain student engagement and recognize consistent effort.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : The next step after gamifying your PowerPoint presentations? Showcasing a visual scoreboard. Leave it to ClassPoint to create an automated Leader Board that features a podium and a list of ranking students based on their performance. Shown in an interactive digital whiteboard, this makes it even more fun!

9. Formative Assessments

• What They’re For : To conduct quick assessments that inform instruction and help identify student needs. Formative assessments help teachers adjust their teaching strategies to meet students’ needs.
• Use short quizzes at the end of each lesson to gauge understanding and retention.
• Implement exit tickets where students provide feedback on what they’ve learned and what they’re struggling with.
• Conduct regular formative assessments to track progress and adapt instruction accordingly.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : ClassPoint’s Multiple Choice quiz question type allows you to enable Quiz Mode , an automated assessment mechanism that helps you set difficulty levels, auto-award stars, and have access to a downloadable Excel report for reviewing. This particularly makes it easier for you to conduct formative assessments with objective questions to facilitate instruction and active learning .

10. Individualized Feedback

• What They’re For : To provide personalized feedback that addresses each student’s unique needs. Individualized feedback helps students understand their strengths and areas for improvement.
• Review quiz results individually with students and provide targeted feedback to guide their learning.
• Use annotations to give specific guidance on student work, highlighting areas for improvement.
• Track student progress and adjust instruction based on individual performance, ensuring personalized learning experiences.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : A good report is the baseline of giving personalized feedback. With ClassPoint’s web app , ready-made class insights are provided right after every session ends. This gives you a bird’s eye view of how the entire class had performed and of course, an individual deep dive into each student’s performance.

11. Customizable Quizzes

• What They’re For : To create tailored assessments that meet the specific needs of your students and curriculum. Customizable quizzes displayed on the whiteboard allow teachers to address diverse learning levels and objectives in a visual and interactive manner.
• Design quizzes that cater to different learning levels, ensuring all students are appropriately challenged, and display them on the whiteboard for a clear and engaging presentation.
• Create themed quizzes that align with current topics or units, making assessments more relevant and engaging by utilizing the whiteboard’s visual capabilities.
• Adjust quiz settings to match learning objectives and desired difficulty, providing a tailored assessment experience that can be easily followed on the whiteboard.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : What’s a an interactive quiz without customization? All 8 of ClassPoint’s interactive quiz questions allow you to set different play options to help you set up the right question setting for each activity, tailored to different learning styles of students. Upon embedding of a quiz question type, hover over the Play Options side panel to customize your quiz depending on you and your students’ needs.

12. Digital Attendance and Participation Tracking

• What They’re For : To efficiently track student attendance and participation in a digital format. Displaying attendance and participation tracking on the whiteboard helps maintain accurate records and ensures all students are engaged and accounted for.
• Use digital sign-in sheets displayed on the whiteboard to record attendance quickly and efficiently at the start of class.
• Track student participation during interactive activities displayed on the whiteboard, ensuring all students are engaged and contributing.
• Monitor engagement levels and adjust instruction accordingly, using the whiteboard to provide a visual representation of participation trends.
• How ClassPoint Can Help : Creating a saved class is one, running it is another. When you enter slide show, you’ll see a class code right up top your PowerPoint slide instantly. Expanding this will give you a presenter view of all the students who already joined your class, as well as those still joining which tracks them live as they enter. This makes it easier to display attendance with the whole class being involved.

Best Practices for Using ClassPoint with Your Interactive Digital Whiteboard

To maximize the effectiveness of ClassPoint and your interactive digital whiteboard, it’s important to follow some key practices. These strategies will help you create a more engaging, interactive, and seamless learning experience for your students.

1. Prepare Ahead

Plan your interactive elements, like quizzes or polls, and embed them directly into your slides. Test everything on the interactive digital whiteboard before class to avoid any technical hiccups.

2. Engage Early

Start with a quick poll or quiz to capture students’ attention. Keep them involved by using interactive activities consistently throughout the lesson.

3. Use Visuals Effectively

Incorporate images, videos, and diagrams to clarify concepts. Utilize live annotations to highlight key points as you teach.

4. Encourage Collaboration

Invite students to interact directly with the interactive digital whiteboard. Foster teamwork through group activities and collaborative quizzes.

5. Provide Immediate Feedback

Use ClassPoint’s live tracking for real-time feedback. Display this feedback on the interactive digital whiteboard so all students can see their progress.

6. Balance Tech and Teaching

Use the interactive digital whiteboard and ClassPoint to enhance, not replace, traditional teaching methods. Blend interactive elements with direct instruction and discussion.

7. Empower Students

Let students lead activities on the interactive digital whiteboard, whether it’s solving problems, conducting quizzes, or guiding discussions. This boosts their engagement and ownership of learning.

Food for Thought

As we embrace educational technology in the classroom, it’s important to remember that the tools we use should serve the learning objectives, not overshadow them. The real power of interactive digital whiteboards and tools like ClassPoint lies in their ability to facilitate deeper connections between students and the material. Reflecting on this balance can help you use these tools more effectively, fostering an environment where technology complements the learning process.

Moreover, consider the potential for these technologies to bridge gaps in learning, whether due to different learning styles, language barriers, or accessibility needs. By thoughtfully integrating these tools, you have the opportunity to create a more inclusive and adaptable classroom that meets the diverse needs of all students.

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• Getting Started with Breaking the Ice

Engaging Students in Class Discussions

Class discussions can be enjoyable, challenging, uncomfortable, stimulating, complex, and enlightening. Facilitating discussions is among the most important of all teaching methods because it encourages students to apply, test, and extend their learning in dialogue. Discussion is essentially structured application with immediate feedback, with rapid iteration. It is the place where novices take steps towards speaking with the facility of experts, where students can begin to think of themselves as invited into the discipline.

It is also perhaps the most challenging art for the teacher to master. Facilitating a discussion with all it entails – asking the right questions, listening and responding fully to participants while simultaneously fitting each comment into your overall plan and also thinking of how to connect it to the next step or idea, all while keeping it related it to the essential learning of the course but also allowing for the organic emergence of fresh ideas – requires concentration and creativity.

Below, we offer some guidance and suggestions to consider when incorporating discussion into your teaching strategy. 

Benefits of Discussion as a Teaching Strategy

When deciding when and how to use discussions, consider some of the benefits and types of learning that can occur and how discussions might support student learning in your course. Discussions can help students to:

• practice using vocabulary, frameworks, or theories of a discipline
• use evidence and examples to support an argument 
• connect and engage intellectually with a subject
• encounter, consider, and analyze a diverse range of perspectives
• build a learning community where students are co-creating knowledge

Short, medium, and long discussions and class size considerations  Depending on your course, you may want to plan class discussions regularly or only on certain days for key topics. Some discussions may take an entire class period, for example, within a small seminar class; however you can also include short or medium-length discussions within your course, alternating with periods of lecturing. For medium and large sized classes, pair or small group discussions can work especially well, since it can be challenging to hold a discussion with the entire class.

Short discussion: Turn to your neighbor (1-5 minutes) . Students turn to a person sitting next to them to discuss a question prompt. Sometimes this technique can be paired with answering a polling question or raising hands. This works in any class size, but is especially a good option for large classes in rooms with fixed seating.

Medium-length discussion: Think-Pair-Share (10-20 minutes) . Students first think or work on a problem individually, then pair up or form small groups for discussion. At the end, you can ask students to share what they discussed with the whole class. Note that the larger the group size, the more time they will need to discuss. For example, in a group of four, if everyone talks for two minutes, they will need at least eight minutes to discuss. This strategy can work in all class sizes, but pairs may be best in classrooms with fixed seating in rows.

Long discussion (20-60 minutes). This type of discussion allows for more in-depth and nuanced consideration of a complex topic. These types of discussions tend to work well in smaller classes and need more active facilitation by the instructor . You may consider starting class with a warm-up strategy . Other techniques such as gallery walks, concept mapping, or case studies are well suited for these longer discussions . To prepare for a long discussion we suggest writing a list of main question prompts or activity directions and sharing them ahead of time to allow students who may want extra time to prepare or think about the questions. Follow-up questions and further discussion can emerge from the main prompts. Preparing a handout or slide with questions can create structure.

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Preparing the Students and Environment for Discussion

Build rapport: Spend time early in the semester building connections within the classroom, learning about your students, and helping them learn about each other. Icebreakers and structured activities can help with this. Give students several low-stakes practice opportunities to express themselves, develop confidence, and build interpersonal skills and familiarity with the rest of the class before graded discussions even start. This also works to develop a supportive and welcoming environment full of sharing, listening, and showing respect. Their regular comments and contributions need to feel valued and honored by you and their classmates. In small and medium sized classes, using name tents or name tags can help people refer to each other by name during discussions.

Communicate guidelines and structure : Discussion structure might look different in various courses so clarify the format of your discussions. Share guidelines for discussions, explaining their purpose. Outline your goals for these discussions and how students can succeed.

• Build community agreements together : Your learning community can create a shared  contribution of outlined behaviors to maintain respect and decrease instances of incivility.
• Communicate expectations and grading criteria : It can help to provide accountability for students to prepare for discussion, participate in the discussion itself, as well as reflect at the end of the discussion. Accountability could be in the form of a pre-class reading quiz on Canvas , annotating the readings before class using social annotation tools, posting questions or reflections on an online discussion board , completing in-class handouts, taking a photo of individual or group work in class, and uploading it to Canvas, or filling out an index card at the end of class with the answer to a reflection question.
• As the instructor, you should also plan how you will grade this work. You might grade some work as complete/incomplete or if your participation grading is more complex, providing a detailed rubric with success criteria is essential. Here is one example of a discussion rubric .

Model effective discussion : Depending on the course level or major, you might have students who haven’t really experienced or witnessed college-level discussions before. You can describe the difference between conversation in class and academic conversation which involves students using specific vocabulary, phrases, and statements in your discipline that allow them to articulate and practice critical thinking. To demonstrate and practice what effective discussions look like before going into a graded experience you can participate in frequent academic discussion activities, such as energizer activities that share values or opinions, scenarios, and case studies that generate perspectives, conversational starter activities that practice generating questions, listening activities, or pre-class activities such as social annotation or discussion boards on the reading.

Practice foundational skills : Use these low-stakes practice opportunities to develop several pre-skills before diving into the full discussions.

Foundational skills with activities to practice :

• Active listening : Peer summaries, listening circles, note-taking challenges, paraphrasing exercises
• Asking good questions : conversational starter activities
• Recognizing assumptions : Case study analysis, assumption checklists, role reversal, debate prep, media literacy exercises
• Backing up claims with credible evidence : evidence-based writing prompts, fact-checking assignments, annotated bibliographies, research competitions, source evaluation tasks. The Cornell Library has guides on evaluating sources and media literacy or could work with you on developing guides or activities specifically for your course.
• Assessing other people’s claims : peer review workshops, logical fallacy hunts, claim analysis discussions, critical reading exercises, mock trials
• Sharing purposefully with an audience in mind : audience-specific writing, oral presentations with feedback, role-play scenarios, creative projects, audience analysis
• Building upon a conversation : structured group discussions, dialogue journals, collaborative storytelling
• Challenging each other with respect : debate sessions, conflict resolution role-play, critique guidelines, and reflection exercises.

Build students’ content knowledge : When entering your course, students might have little context or prior knowledge on the topic. How much do students need to know before engaging in your critical discussion? You can decide, based on your learning outcomes, how much content knowledge you’d like them to develop. Consider giving them guidance on how to read and evaluate academic or other sources or provide reading questions. Communicate to students if you want readings or outside material referenced in the discussion. Social annotation can be a great pedagogical tool for getting students to engage in critical reading.

Assess and adjust the physical space : Is the physical space conducive to hosting effective discussions? Visit the classroom ahead of time to see how the space will work for your intended discussions – you may need to see if you can make adjustments to the room, adjust your teaching plan, or look into requesting a different room. For example, in a room with fixed seats in rows, you might use paired discussions (talk to your neighbor) as a strategy. Consider the following:

• Acoustics : can they hear others in the class? Is the room echoey? Would it help for you to use a microphone?
• Orientation : choosing a U-shape or circle layout that supports the type of discussion if it is possible to move the furniture.
• Distractions : consider lighting, movement outside of windows, temperature, air quality, scent, uncomfortable seating or tables in the way, and distractions from other students. Some of these will not be under your control, but you can check in with students if there are factors that can be adjusted that would make them more comfortable.

For more on engaging students with class discussion, visit Facilitating Discussion and Encouraging Student Participation in Discussions.

References and Further Reading:

Eberly Center, Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation (2024) Discussions. Carnegie Mellon.

Davis, B. G. (1993) Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Brookfield, S. D. and S. Preskill. (1999). Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Flip students’ presentations for more in-depth learning

Ask students to record presentations ahead of class, in order to free up time for in-depth questions, discussion and feedback when together in person, and enable fairer assessment

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What is flipped learning? 

It is a pedagogical approach in which “direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space”, according to the Flipped Learning Network . What this means in practice is, typically, students engage with recorded lectures or other learning materials to build their knowledge on a topic ahead of their live class.

This changes the classroom into “a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter”. 

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Traditionally, flipped learning activities have included students playing pre-recorded lectures, completing allocated reading or other preparatory materials, participating in online discussions and peer-to-peer sharing outside class time. However, one underexplored activity in flipped learning is student presentations.

Presentations are often used as an effective way for students to demonstrate their mastery of concepts and principles. This can include articulating what they already know, applying learned theories to solve real-world problems, and demonstrating their ability to ask more in-depth questions, a key element of Socratic learning – learning by asking questions in a cascading fashion .

But staging student presentations during classes can be difficult, owing to constraints on time. Typically, a project team comprises four to five students. Each student presents one aspect of a project and is individually assessed. Assuming the teacher allocates one three-hour session for this activity, for a class size of 40 to 50 students, each student has only two to three minutes for their presentation. A whole team’s presentation, including Q&A, discussion and teacher feedback, can last up to 20 minutes. This is hardly sufficient time for the teacher to ask in-depth questions, offer feedback for improvement or for students to respond comprehensively.

Students waiting to present are too focused on their own impending performance to properly learn from their peers. 

Plus, with the advancement of artificial intelligence tools , teachers need to determine if a student’s presentation slides have been partially or wholly generated by AI and, if so, judge what the student has actually learned. 

At PolyU, we have been experimenting with flipping student presentations. Many subjects include assessed projects, and we apply flipped learning to project team presentations.

How do flipped presentations work?

We ask students to pre-record their project presentations in their teams before presentation day. The teacher watches the recorded presentations beforehand. During the class presentation time, students do not need to present the whole project but can be asked to:

• Re-present selective slides
• Clarify various parts of their presentation
• Elaborate on specific issues that may or may not have been highlighted in their presentation
• Respond to hypothetical questions, such as “what-if” scenarios, about their project.

Our experience, informed by feedback from teachers and students, has shown that this flipped learning approach to student presentations frees up a lot of time for teachers to ask in-depth questions, further discuss specific issues with students and provide feedback to teams as well as the whole class. 

Reviewing the recorded presentations prior to presentation day means the teacher arrives better informed about the overall performance, common mistakes and areas for improvement. This leads to fairer assessments for all students and highlights areas of focus for future teaching. Marks are not allocated until the project presentation session is over.

Other benefits of this approach include:

• Students are able to review or rate peer presentations
• Students can refine their work before they formally submit
• It facilitates active learning  
• It provides a digital record of all deliverables
• It results in a repository of representative student work.

As the teacher often sets a maximum recording duration for each video, students have to practise time management in their presentations.

In terms of technology, we use Flip.com, a free educational tool for gathering and managing videos. Videos can be grouped, copied and remixed with different user access privileges. The tool also comes with a badging system to decorate users at various levels of contributions. Microsoft has announced the migration of Flip into MS Teams from Q4 2024.

Eric Tsui is a professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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