Focus on Interactivity

Based on feedback we received from our recent conference design study, attendees want more interactivity in session presentations to help reinforce their learning.

Posing questions and including activities in your session can make an enormous difference. Involving your audience helps the ideas and thoughts you present be more memorable and make attendees feel like part of the conversation. Consider working one (or more) of the suggestions below into your presentation:

• Incorporate a live poll into your slide deck to get audience feedback, help guide your presentation, or as a quiz tool
• Use a few slides as quick “quizzes,” ask the audience to answer, or fill in the blanks in your slides
• Perform a demo with an audience member participating
• Divide your audience into small groups to discuss the topic among themselves and share it with the larger group afterward
• Ask your audience to share their experience about the topic 
• Place Q&A opportunities in the middle of a presentation to wake up your audience and invite participation. Even if you don’t answer questions right away, the unexpected invitation to ask a question can act as a trigger to encourage audience members to speak up.