We all have been there: sitting through a boring presentation, trying to pay attention and stay alert, and ending up doing things like deleting spam emails, talking to other people, and, worst of all, dozing off.
Death by PowerPoint is not a myth. A presentation can be as fun, interactive, and engaging as you make it, and the reverse is also true.
Nobody wants this scenario to be their reality, neither the presenter nor the audience.
But how do you do that?
How do you make your presentation so fun and engaging that people strive to sit through your sessions? Or they give you a standing ovation. Or there is an endless social media chatter after every presentation of yours.
Well, it’s doable. And that’s what we are here to tell you.
Why Should You Make Your Slides Fun?
- By adding fun to your presentation, you can prompt people to like it better, improving engagement. And engagement means sticking to something. People will remember your content more.
- Being fun will enhance your presentation skills, which are among the top sought-after corporate skills, regardless of the industry.
- If you are good at delivering fun and engaging presentations, you can have many career opportunities since presentations are very common and central at work.
- The audience will like and trust you better, which means positive feedback and enhanced professional reputation.
What Makes for a Boring Presentation?
Before moving on, let’s identify the items that are a no-no for us. These ingredients can kill your audience’s interest and your performance.
- Talking at people and not to them.
- Going too slow.
- There are a lot of filler words in the presentation.
- An unstructured presentation.
- Monotonous voice and lack of vocal variety.
- Outdated slides, lacking relevancy.
10 Tips to Make Your Presentation Fun
Now, some of you might feel that your topic is boring, you have to present a plethora of data, you always have to deliver online, and so on. In such scenarios, how can you add fun and engagement to your presentation?
These tips will help you avoid falling into that loop and deliver extremely fun presentations that are engaging for both you and the audience.
1. Icebreakers
Icebreakers are fun. Irrespective of the age group or background, these activities are engaging and can quickly get everyone’s attention to where it’s needed and establish a shared mood.
You can start with fun and interactive activities like asking icebreaker questions or having people introduce themselves to each other, play games, or reveal surprises.
Icebreakers are a powerful strategy for eliciting an emotional response and making the atmosphere warm, friendly, and filled with laughter. They help everyone let go of unfamiliarity, indifference, or neutrality and become more receptive to the speaker.
Once the foundation for effective communication is laid, the key is brevity – quickly transitioning to the presentation’s message to ensure ongoing receptivity.
2. Aim for a Quick and Short Presentation
The choice is easy – long sessions with a myriad of information or short ones with clear and crisp content.
All of us will unanimously choose the latter.
No one likes sitting through long, boring lessons that are not fun.
So, remember not to overstuff your slides with content, visuals, or anything else. Keep it short, fresh, and succinct. You can adapt the 10/20/30 PowerPoint rule – 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 font size.
If you can make something understandable in fewer words, choose that. Let people leave your presentation with a fresher mind and better energy.
3. If You Can Tell Stories, Leverage it
How many of you have experienced bedtime stories or read books later growing up?
Then you know the hold stories can have on people. Good stories even have the power to make a boring presentation fun, engaging, and, of course, memorable.
If possible, frame your presentation like a storyline, starting with the current situation and moving on to transitions and the future outlook.
A powerful storyline can evoke emotions and heighten the receptivity and impact of your presentation drastically.
4. Design Your Way to Engagement and Fun
Design elements can also make your slides catchy, fun, and engaging. Attractive graphics can hook people to the slides and make them want to see more.
Add interest, dynamism, and fun to your slides using vibrant and bold hues, gradients, neons, etc. Colors can evoke emotions and convey meanings.
Similarly, big, bold typography can be added to slides to make the message stand out. You can experiment with different font styles, shapes, sizes, and textures (for headings) to convey your message more interestingly.
Visuals like icons can help break texts into slides and improve comprehension. White space ensures slides are not overstuffed and thus readable.
Consistency is required to incorporate familiarity into your slides and improve the overall impact. Similarly, you can use other design principles, such as contrast and hierarchy, to enhance the effectiveness of your presentation.
5. Humor is the Best Medicine
What better way to lighten the atmosphere and make it engaging than humor? Jokes related to the subject can result in a light, funny environment, improving everyone’s focus. Jokes connected to the industry or situations also demonstrate expertise and are more relatable.
Natural or self-deprecating humor also can build rapport and connect people. Especially for dry topics, it’s a good strategy for adding charm and interest to the presentation.
However, remember to consider factors such as audience demographics and sensitivities when including humor to make it more appropriate and receptive.
Also, practice delivery thoroughly to ensure smooth flow and timing.
Witty observations, analogies, anecdotes, etc., are good ways to reinforce points, enthrall the audience, and keep the presentation engaging. However, don’t overshadow your presentation with them.
6. Play Music
Music can make your presentations more versatile, captivate people, and aid information retention.
However, to achieve the desired positive effects, it needs to be chosen carefully, with the right selection of music. Strategically incorporating music into your presentation can make it lively and fun, set a positive mood, and convey a vibrant side of the speaker’s personality.
Happy beats can energize the audience, enhance engagement, reinforce the message, and evoke emotions. Choose music that aligns with the presentation atmosphere and style.
Keep the volume moderate so that it complements your message and does not overshadow it.
7. Let People Feel the Energy
If you want your presentation to be fun, you are the one who has to deliver it. Bring energy to your presentation to elevate the energy of the room.
If you are having fun with your content, delivery, and the entire presentational setup, the energy will also transfer to people around you.
So, build that emotion by playing with facial expressions, body language, movement, gestures, and vocal variety.
Don’t speak in a monotone or stand like a statue while delivering. Excitement in your body and words will make people more receptive to the information you want to convey.
8. Keep it Interactive
Another way to engage people is to keep your presentation interactive. Ask for a show of hands or pop an emoji on Zoom to let people participate in your talk. Ask rhetorical questions to make people think and engage verbally.
Let them participate in your speech by inviting them to share their thoughts or insights. Audience polls, interactive quizzes, and other interactive elements are other ways to make your presentation fun and engaging.
9. Fill it with Variety
Bring in variety by using different types of mediums to relay your message. One type of media can become dull and monotonous, making people lose interest.
So, try including elements like video, infographics, images, whiteboard, texts, media clips, illustrations, props, short sketches, GIFs, animation, graphs, diagrams and charts, live demos, etc., to add variety to your content and keep people engaged.
10. Use the Element of Surprise
Inculcate some fun and an element of surprise and suspense in your presentation by starting with, let’s say, a question that doesn’t get answered till the end. You can offer people breadcrumbs throughout the presentation – giving them a little peak, asking them to solve the issue, adding input, etc.
You can also surprise people by keeping something under the seat, having dramatic lights-out moments, or doing anything that intrigues them.
When used correctly, these methods can deliver great success and leave people engaged and delighted.
In a Nutshell
Keeping people interested in your presentation is quite challenging, especially when attention spans are becoming shorter at an alarming rate. One of the ways to engage the audience is to add a fun element to your slides.
And it’s not even difficult. Just add fun in a way you would relish when sitting as an audience member.
Include everything you think improves the engagement and interest in your content and delivery, and you’ll be good to go.
Also, go for post-presentation surveys to understand people’s receptivity to your message and improvise for future presentations.
