7 Creative Presentation Ideas
We’ve all been there before. A deadline is looming, yet brilliant ideas are not coming as quickly as they need to be. Instead, a blank screen is a constant reminder of the current lack of great ideas.
Writer’s block is often especially bad for presenters because presentations are typically an assigned task; presentations are rarely the result of an epiphany or other moment of transformative inspiration.
Presentations are typically a requirement of your professional position. Even self-employed presenters often struggle to be inspired before every presentation because inspiration typically doesn’t strike according to the conference calendar; inspiration is on it’s own schedule.
If you have the writer’s block blues and you’re struggling to come up with fresh ideas to take your presentation up a notch, steal some of these innovative ideas for presentations, included below. Not all of these ideas will be a good fit for you or your presentation, but don’t dismiss daring ideas at first glance. Be open to experimentation. After all, an open mind and a daring approach to life are two of the keys to success for public speakers.
1. Ask Questions
Most people think a presentation is a monologue. The presenter gets up on stage, talks for an hour or so, and then walks off stage. Maybe the presenter hosts a quick Q&A after they have completed their presentation but often even the Q&A is avoided by presenters.
To take your presentation up a notch, skip the traditional monologue format and ask the audience questions at unexpected times. I am not talking about rhetorical questions; ask real questions that spark a genuine interest for you and the audience.
As I mentioned in a recent post, Why Public Speakers Should Create Interactive Presentations: Harvard neuroscientists found that talking about ourselves gives us the same signals of pleasure in the brain as food or money. If you ask attendees to share some of their personal insights or experiences, you are not only enhancing your presentation by providing a wealth of new information via the Q&A moments, but you are also enhancing the experience by giving attendees the opportunity to talk about themselves. Since talking about ourselves feels good, your audience will love you for giving them such a pleasurable presentation experience.
In addition, the extroverts in the audience will appreciate the opportunity to talk instead of just listen. Since you will undoubtedly also have some introverts in the audience, don’t call out attendees if they don’t volunteer; only ask attendees to contribute if they expressed an interest in doing so.
2. Share Something Funny
According to a study by the Bell Leadership Institute, the two most desirable traits in leaders are a strong work ethic and a good sense of humor. Since you have probably already demonstrated your work ethic (or else you would be in the audience and not on the stage), use your presentation to demonstrate your sense of humor.
If you don’t think you can effectively insert humor into your presentation, consider working with a comedy coach to improve your comedic capabilities. Or, just go for it. As long as the joke is not offensive, take the risk and try to be funny. If you practice enough to get rid of the nervous jitters, your joke will probably be well received.
If your joke results in crickets instead of chuckles, be prepared with a follow-up joke that is mildly self-depreciating. Self-depreciating humor can show your vulnerability and warmth, which are also key traits of successful leaders. In addition, self-deprecating humor, the type of humor that good naturedly pokes fun at one’s self, is the most effective style of humor when it comes to persuading people.
If you’re terrified of using comedy in your presentation, share a funny and relevant video during your presentation. This will take the pressure off of you. You can also use a comic strip on one of your slides to illustrate one of your main ideas. Whatever you do – find a way to be funny during your presentation.
3. Kill Consistency
Let me get one thing straight – you want some consistency in your presentation. You want to use a consistent color scheme for your slide design. In addition, you want to use the same fonts throughout your presentation. You want your audience to be able to relax and follow you on the journey through your presentation material. If your presentation is not structured by at least a few unchanging standards or structure, your audience will doubt your credibility, and also struggle to follow along with you.
Now that we’ve established that some consistency is key, let’s also acknowledge that most rules should be broken – at least some of the time. You should break the consistency is key rule in a few ways throughout your presentation to add an element of surprise and excitement to your presentation. (I still think color scheme and font choices should stay the same throughout your presentation because altering those elements will be surprising – but not in a good way.)
Instead, change elements that exist within the consistent design style of your presentation. For example, if the beginning of your presentation is all lecture and slides, then make the middle of your presentation more interactive by showing a few videos and asking volunteers to participate in an exercise that demonstrates one of your main points. Or, consider turning off your slides at the end of your presentation and present the last few minutes with nothing but you and your microphone – this big adjustment will jolt any sleepy attendees awake and also bring all of the focus back to you.
Consistency is key, but too much consistency is boring.
4. Play Music
Music embedded throughout a PowerPoint presentation can sustain attention, while slipping the content into long-term memory, according to Ronald A. Berk’s study Research on PowerPoint: From Basic Features to Multimedia.
Yes, you read that correctly. Playing music during your presentation can help your audience be more attentive, and also retain the points of your presentation.
This tip is often overlooked because it is so unusual, however it is not as hard as it might seem.
If you want to play music throughout your entire presentation, try classical music that fits the mood of your presentation. In addition, play the music at a low volume so it doesn’t compete with your voice. Lastly, don’t just play music without preparing your audience for this unusual presentation experience. Get your audience pumped up for a presentation with music accompaniment. Explain the benefits, and also point out the excitement factor of watching a presentation that is somewhat unexpected. Tell your audience that they will now have something to talk about at dinner even if the presentation itself does not interest them. This comment might even get a few chuckles from attendees, and if so – you get bonus points for being funny.
Playing music throughout the entire presentation will not be appropriate for many presentations, so instead, consider playing music at various points throughout your presentation. Perhaps you decide to play exciting songs during the high points of your presentation. Or, perhaps you decide to play background music when you tell stories during your talk. In addition, you might experiment with this idea by only playing music at segues between sections of your presentation.
TED plays with this style of presenting during the Pop-Up Magazine sessions at the TED conference. Talks that take place during the Pop-Up Magazine session are typically accompanied by some type of music. If TED is already doing it, you can expect to see this style of presentation in the mainstream in the near future.
5. Or…Play Musical Chairs
If playing music during your presentation is not your thing, then perhaps you can handle playing musical chairs during your presentation. The concept is simple – at some point during your presentation, tell everyone to find a new seat on the opposite side of the room. Or tell everyone to switch seats with one of their neighbors. You can come up with the rules for the game as long as it results in everyone getting up, moving around, and changing perspectives.
So often during presentations, attendees get sleepy not because the material is boring but because they have been sitting too long in the same seat with no movement for a long period of time. Get attendees up and moving by playing an easy game of musical chairs. The silly but simple game will get attendees interacting with one another without asking too much out of the attendees. All they really need to do is get up, walk a few steps, and then sit down again. The game is easy but it is also a natural conversation starter, and will undoubtedly bring smiles to many faces.
6. Get Emotional
If your presentation is all fun and no games, then break the ice by sharing a personal or emotional story or project. One of the most memorable presentations I have seen was delivered by Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life Is Good. In his presentation, Bert talked about the day of the Boston Marathon bombing. Since Life Is Good is headquartered in Boston, Bert’s story was both personal and emotional. When Bert was sharing his story, I looked around the room and there were very few dry eyes.
In addition, Bert also shared a video that talked about the Life Is Good non-profit project. The video was moving and again brought tears to many eyes.
Bert’s emotional angle was authentic, not forced, and that is why it worked. If his story and non-profit efforts felt fake in any way, the audience would have rejected him as a speaker.
You also need to be authentic when being emotional on stage. However if you can find a way to truly show your softer side, go for it. The audience will feel personally connected to you and your presentation will be memorable in the best way possible.
7. Walk Off Stage
If you stayed on the stage during your entire presentation, consider taking a note from many rockstars’ playbooks and take the microphone with you as you roam through the audience at the end of your performance. The audience will appreciate the change of pace and scenery.
Before you tackle this technique in front of a live audience, practice at the presentation venue to familiarize yourself with the layout of the venue as well as the location of the stairs and other critical points that you will need to know to get on and off stage gracefully. In addition, let the AV team know that you plan to leave the stage at some point, and be as specific in your performance notes so the AV team can plan ahead and be prepared for your unusual presentation style.
When you walk through the audience, make eye contact with attendees, and pause occasionally for effect. In addition, maintain a conversational tone and volume. Don’t let the additional movement knock you off your pacing. The audience needs to be able to hear you and understand you for this technique to be effective. When rockstars go off stage, the bar is not lowered for their performance standards, and the same goes for you as well. If you cannot maintain the same quality off stage as on stage, then increase your aerobic exercise regime before giving this tip a whirl.
Conclusion
Being creative during a presentation is hard work, and that is why many presenters opt for the same-old style they we have all seen too many times. Break the mold, and break a few rules to deliver a truly creative, memorable, and impactful presentation. Most attendees need something special to jolt them awake during business presentations. Rise to the challenge by trying some of the tips included above.
What are your favorite tips for creative presentations? Tell us by tweeting to us at @Ethos3!
