interactive video presentation means

Everything you need to know about interactive video

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Interactive videos create an immersive environment for viewers that is proven to increase engagement.

These videos are used in various industries, from marketing to entertainment to education and training. In this blog post, we explore the world of interactivity, looking at:

• What are interactive videos, and why are they useful?
• How is an interactive video different from video interactivity?
• How to create interactive videos.

What is interactive video?

An interactive video combines video with clickable graphics that change the storyline or next scene. They're usually built using gamification principles and are effective at improving engagement. 

Unlike traditional videos limited to only basic playback controls, interactive videos offer:

• Clickable hotspots that reveal hidden information
• Multiple-choice questions that lead to different scenarios
• Clickable links to web pages
• 360-degree environments
• Automatic quizzes and polls at checkpoints

Interactive videos can be just what you need. Like anything from product demos, training, and educational videos to simulation and augmented reality videos. Interacting with the content in an immersive VR environment makes the experience all the more powerful. Even Netflix's Choose Love is an interactive production, as you can see in this trailer:

These videos' engagement elements create an active viewing experience that is more fun and likely to be remembered.

What is the difference between interactive and interactivity videos?

"Interactive" and "interactivity" are used interchangeably in the context of videos and refer to the same underlying concept — videos that allow user interaction beyond playing, pausing, and skipping through the content. However, there's a subtle difference:

Interactive video requires and responds to user inputs, altering the viewing experience. So, the focus here is on direct interaction and viewer engagement. 

Interactivity is a broader concept. It discusses the feature set of interactivity within videos or a video platform. It includes the various tools, technologies, and design principles that make interactive videos possible.

Any video can become interactive if you: 

1) Add interaction features, like branching techniques, quizzes, or clickable hotspots.

2) Ask viewers to make choices that influence the video's storyline or reveal additional information.

What are the elements of an interactive video?

Decision-making options, quizzes, and polls are the most common in interactive videos. Entertainment interactive videos often use branching storylines, clickable hotspots, and drag-to-look-around environments. 

In contrast, training and educational interactive videos mostly rely on quizzes, polls, forms, input fields, hotspots, and interactive timelines. 

To create an interactive video, you need one or more of the following elements:

• Decision-making options: These branching scenarios or multiple content pathways allow viewers to influence the storyline with their choices.
• Quizzes: Interactive questions and tests provide immediate feedback on the viewer's understanding or information retention.
• Polls: As an engagement instrument, polls collect viewers' opinions or preferences during the video and gather data on views.
• Clickable hotspots: When clicked, the interactive areas within a video can reveal additional information, play a video, or redirect to a website. 
• Drag-to-look-around environments: 360-degree videos are ideal for creating a video tour or various experiences on a team's training grounds. This type of interactive video lets viewers click or drag the environment to explore it in all directions.
• Links to external pages: A lower form of interaction, embedding hyperlinks within a video is a simple way for viewers to access additional information or resources. These links are called on YouTube annotations and on Google display ads.
• Forms or data inputs fields: These are useful for surveys, feedback, or registration purposes. They collect information from viewers directly through the video.
• Interactive timelines: Present a chronological sequence of events or steps, like in a traditional linear video, but let viewers navigate by clicking or hovering to access various information formats. This walkthrough of a custom interactive timeline for litigation lawyers is an example.

Are interactive videos effective?

Interactive videos produce some excellent results. Digital marketers who include interactive videos improve conversion rates by 25% and lead generation by 18%. 

Interactive videos are highly effective in education, marketing, and training. In the learning and development industry, adopting game-based learning scenarios has been shown to increase engagement by 50%.

Interactivity feels, to some extent, like playing a game. As viewers make choices or discover hidden elements in the video, they get more curious and involved. This approach works very well even when teaching at scale.

By observing how viewers interact with the video, you can better understand viewer behavior and preferences. These details will help you further refine and tailor your interactive content strategy.

Marketers often use these videos as a marketing tool to showcase products. Then, they extract user data to guide their future video creation and marketing strategy. The same applies to L&D practitioners who rely on interactivity to make their learning programs more effective.

Zoom needed to train over 1,000 salespeople and used the AI video maker Synthesia to create 200+ micro videos 90% faster. Then, they produced highly interactive and engaging training modules at scale by customizing the AI footage in interactive video tools like Rise 360 and Storyline. Now, instead of relying on lengthy PDF files, their sales teams participate in realistic simulations with interactive sales courses like "Deal Detective," illustrated below:

10 examples of interactive videos

After all this information, it's time to watch some of the best interactive video examples for inspiration. That way, you'll know what to aim for once you create your own interactive videos. 

For many of these examples, the interactive element can only be accessed by taking the course or going to the website directly. You can find the website link between these 👉 two emojis.👈

Interactive video example 1: Video quiz

This interactive video quiz focuses on real-life scenarios instead of theoretical grade concepts. It even includes a friendly AI avatar to guide learners, making you feel more engaged.

The goal is to walk participants through a series of questions with multiple choices. You must select the most fitting answer, and if you're right, you unlock the next question. 

This type of interactive video makes learning simple, practical, and stress-free. It encourages you to apply knowledge to real situations and learn from mistakes. And the best part? There are no grades! It's straightforward, and it works.

👉 Watch the full interactive video quiz here .👈 

Interactive video example 2: A dating experience

"A Date with Markiplier" is a unique but great interactive video. It simulates a date from a first-person point of view, with viewers joining Mark at a restaurant. But as soon as the bill comes, things complicate.

The interactive nature of the series is given by YouTube's "next action prompts." At specific points, you get options to choose what happens next. These choices lead to different scenarios, ranging from comedic to thrilling. 

Want to discover all the possible outcomes? Watch the video multiple times and select a different branching storyline every time. This strategy creates a branching path narrative. But more importantly, it shows the creative options within interactive video content.

Interactive video example 3: Culture fit evaluation

This interactive video by Deloitte takes you through realistic job scenarios. It challenges you to make decisions, and every choice suggests the answer to the big question, " Will you fit into Deloitte? " By the way, that's the actual name of the video. 

After a short intro, the script moves on to an elevator incident. Coffee gets spilled on a manager's coat, and you must say how you'll react. Other choices arise, evaluating your fit with the company culture and role expectations. 

The video content differs from traditional productions in that it involves decision-making tasks. It offers a dynamic workplace experience and insights into the company's values.

👉 Watch the full interactive video here .👈 

Interactive video example 4: Customer service training

Think of this example as a tool to teach your people how to communicate. It's critical to developing great customer relationships.

The script involves engaging scenarios with a customer called Joseph. He's facing a difficult situation. Participants must select from various response strategies that lead to different results. 

Notice how concise, interactive, and focused the video is on personalized learning. It makes the experience direct and relatable. And it shows how we're supposed to train staff to handle real-life interactions with empathy.

👉 Watch the full interactive video quiz here. 👈 

Interactive video example 5: Product demonstration

LaCantina shows us how interactivity can be used to demo even a product like doors. But what's so special about this video that shows you how folding door systems work?

First of all, it's like a choose-your-own-adventure for doors. You have different exploration segments: Operation, Configuration, and Materials. Based on your choice, you get a real sense of how luxurious and versatile these products can be for your home. 

Then, there's also the special "switch view" feature. This one adds a ton of dynamic visual engagement. And the entire interactive video doesn't just educate on the product's complexity but tailors the demo to the varied users' interests.

This example video provides an immersive experience. It's an excellent way to highlight design and features, especially for luxury products.

👉 Watch the full interactive video demo here. 👈 

Interactive video example 6: Diversity training

Creating diversity training can be challenging, especially if you seek a unique approach. But this interactive video transforms it into an engaging detective game. Employees tackle a problem as if solving a mystery, which makes it so much fun.

The task involves examining various perspectives and researching laws. By judging the facts, learners have to reach a verdict. This is "learning through play" in action. It brings an entertaining approach to understanding diversity.

Besides the entertaining delivery, the video shows robust learning tools and covers many topics. Use it as inspiration to discuss sensitive topics in a way viewers resonate with.

Interactive video example 7: A zombie romance

Aardman Studios created a unique production with this interactive zombie romance video. "Dead Lonely" introduces the story of Fred, a lonely zombie searching for his lost love.

The narrative explores love, loss, and survival in a post-apocalyptic world. It combines choice-driven storytelling with immersive animations in a choose-your-own-adventure romance. The branching technique lets you change the plot and enjoy a personalized experience.

Fans of Aardman Studios can recognize their signature animation style. This video uses high-quality visuals and an engaging storyline. It explores human emotions in unexpected circumstances, keeping the viewer on their toes.

Interactive video example 8: Customer testimonials

Who said exploring customer desires and feedback is hard? This engaging, interactive video centered on testimonials certainly seems doable. In this example, users can choose from different customer testimonials. It's a brief experience that keeps you paying attention.

The format is perfect for helping employees grasp customer service nuances. All it takes is a few clicks. It leverages relatable content and introduces a friendly interface. And its success lies in the quick, natural way of exploring the testimonials. The warm atmosphere and appealing visual design also help but are complementary.

Interactive video example 9: Cars collection ad

Ready to dive into the wild with "Built Wild"? This interactive video features the Ford Bronco Family. The presenter and main character is renowned adventurer and filmmaker Jimmy Chin. And the experience takes you on an adventure to see the car's capabilities.

Demonstrations are made on various terrains. You can explore Bronco's features through active engagement with the video or learn more about Chin. All while his expert insights and thrilling narratives weigh in. 

This isn't your typical interactive video production. It's a unique presentation that connects viewers with the essence of exploration and helps increase brand awareness. Subtly, it also highlights the vehicle's rugged appeal.

👉 Watch the full interactive video ad here .👈 

Interactive video example 10: Conflict of interest course

In this video example, you'll discover a different way to teach conflict of interest. The cool part is that you can use it with any other similar theoretical topic. 

As a course, it balances informative content and engaging interactivity. The narrative makes the concept of conflict of interest more accessible and memorable. And the interactive experience caters to diverse learning styles.

The visuals include a mix of video, graphics, and text. And together with the script and interactive elements, they create a fresh approach. Few courses can make learning so intuitive, educational, and entertaining!

How do I make my video interactive?

To make a video interactive, you have to use interactive video elements that allow viewer participation and influence the content or outcome. Below is a four-step overview of how to do this.

Step 1: Choose an interactive video platform

To start, experiment with AI video makers like Synthesia . With text-to-video tools, a user-friendly interface, and lots of templates, you can create videos in minutes rather than hours. Integration with authoring tools like Easygenerator or Articulate 360 means you can add interactions without the hassle of exporting and importing video files. 

Step 2: Conceptualize your video's interactive elements

Decide which interactive elements best serve your goals. Here are some common interaction points to help you get started: 

• Offer viewers choices that lead to different paths/endings with branching storylines.
• Create clickable elements and areas that perform a specific action.
• Embed questions or polls to test knowledge or collect feedback.
• Allow viewers to control the viewpoint and explore the video from every angle.
• Add a timeline for users to navigate and jump to different paths and video sections.
• Enable content changes based on user input.
• Add interactive AI avatars to keep your storyline more engaging.

Step 3: Integrate and synchronize the interactive elements

Upload your video into the chosen interactive video platform and use the interactive elements available on that platform.

As you add interactions to your video, make sure each element is well-timed and programmed to show up at the right moment.

Here's a short video that shows how to add interactive elements to your video with Easygenerator:

Step 4: Test and publish your interactive video

Test the interactive video to ensure it performs as intended and provides an error-free experience. Check that it adapts to different screen sizes and that all interactive controls work correctly.

When done, simply export and publish your video on multiple channels, as established in your marketing strategy.

Leverage AI videos to create interactive learning experiences 

Are you ready to create a video and add interactivity elements to it?

The AI video maker Synthesia will turn your text into videos in minutes, using AI avatars and readymade video templates. It can even write the whole script from some inputs and integrates with various platforms that allow you to make your videos interactive.

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Guide to interactive content

How to create interactive content: A practical guide

How to create awe-inspiring interactive documents, what is interactive content plus 6 examples, what is an interactive presentation and how is it different.

If you haven’t heard, interactive content is all the rage. It can provide context and clarity, cutting through the noise of the modern digital environment. It can also provide a repository of material for many departments across the enterprise: sales, marketing, HR, and creative.

How do you create interactive content? We’ll tell you.

Step 1: Decide what you want to say and how you want to say it.

Easy enough? Well… You see, interactive content requires you to think differently about the traditional content creation process. When pulling open that Word doc and typing away, you typically construct your thoughts linearly: one word after another.

However, interactive content forces us to think about two things: the multimedia we can use to develop our thoughts, and the ways in which users will, ahem, interact with that media. That is, a book reader will go from one line to the next, beginning at the top left and reading down to the bottom right, page after page. But if there’s a navigable table of contents, she may just skip right over that one amazing insight you had on page 4. You need to account for that behavior.

So, while this first step may seem simple enough, trust us, it just isn’t.

Here are a few more tangible ways to break down this ominous step.

Understand how users consume digital content.

Over the last several decades, the leading firm researching the digital user experience has been Nielsen Norman Group. The NN Group has developed many studies and experiments to test everything you can think of on the web and how people respond.

For example, in one of their most famous studies tracking eye movements, they were able to determine that people on the web read in F-shaped patterns . That is, they read the first headline and a paragraph, and then scan mostly headlines from there down. NN Group has many ( many ) articles like this gathered in categories like “ Writing for the Web .” For the uninitiated, this is a great place to start getting inside the minds of your viewers.

Create content dynamically, not linearly.

Along similar lines, users in a digital environment click around from page to page by what interests them (using what NN Group and others call “ information scent ”). This means you have to think about your content as a system and not as a linear, logical program. Of course, knowledge is stackable — you have to learn algebra before calculus — but not everything is built that way.

Take this piece of content as an example. You really don’t need to read the content in Step 1 to understand Step 2, nor even Step 1A before 1B. If you’re familiar with how users read on the web, skip right on over to the next thing.

More tactically, imagine if the user you’re trying to reach watched the video you placed on one slide before reading what you wrote. How would that change your content? What about if they watched it after? These are important questions to ask yourself before finalizing your content.

Guide the user with clear actions.

Our brains are like machines. They need fuel to function. Sometimes they get overwhelmed with too many operations or too many inputs. That’s why when you’re talking to someone while you’re driving, you usually turn down the music or stop talking while making a left-hand turn in a busy intersection. Your brain focuses its attention, diverting resources to ensure its survival.

A reader on the web is no different. Their brains get overwhelmed with big blocks of text or too many buttons. But clear, simple text and cues help alleviate this strain to focus on what you want them to. There’s even research to suggest that a certain line length or height can put readers at ease .

Let’s say you want the user to read this paragraph before watching the video or listening to the audio track. Why not say, “Read this first” in big, bold letters? Similarly, using animations, descriptive links, and clear calls-to-action (CTAs) can reduce the cognitive load of your users.

Step 2: Use the right media to help convey your ideas.

With linear, traditional content like a PDF or Word document, you have only words and pictures at your disposal. Yet with interactive content, you can use animated graphs, videos, audio clips, and more to further develop your arguments. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities, but also a whole new world of challenges with arranging your ideas.

Know the context of the content.

In the science of hermeneutics , you learn that you read an email differently than you read a poem. You expect certain things within an academic essay that you wouldn’t expect in a podcast. And so on. The context of the medium has a lot to do with the content itself. This is what Marshall McLuhan meant when he wrote, “ The medium is the message .” 

Consider what your readers will have seen first. Are they coming to your piece after they’ve seen some introductory video, or an email, or is it part of a larger series of blog posts or some other content? This informs how you want to build the content and how to use which medium.

For example, let’s think of how to use a video in your interactive content. A video can help illuminate a vivid point of your writing, or it can summarize a lot of written material in a short space. This is the best use of video within interactive content. Say you want to use a video as an aside, nestled beside a scroll function of 300 words of text. A two-minute video in this case is much better than a 15-minute video — the former can illuminate or summarize while the latter is long enough to be its own piece of content. Viewers may forget what you’re writing and focus only on the video content.

That’s why this is the first rule in choosing media: Know the context of where your content lives, which will determine how you express yourself.

Use multimedia like salt: sparingly.

To continue the point above, you’ll want to use multimedia that’s on the shorter side, depending on what you’re trying to get across. Longer media begin to take on a life of their own, which users can easily view in another format, like on YouTube or on Spotify as they drive to work.

Putting an even finer point on it, you’ll also want to use multimedia very sparingly, to expand on a topic that can’t be adequately covered with text alone. This could be a short video or audio clip, a gif, or an image. It should enhance the content, not distract the viewer from it. We’ve seen some interactive content authors throw in all the media they can find that’s relevant to their topic. But, as the saying goes, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Find multimedia assets with the right permissions.

Not all content can be used as you find it on the web. Much of it is copyrighted, while other content is in the wrong format. Copyright infringement is a big deal for content creators, and it’s critical that you respect and cite their work. After all, that’s how they earn a living. We’ve seen too many people simply Google the image they’re looking for and slap it into their content, but that can violate copyright laws.

However, you can Google an image you’re looking for as long as you filter for usage rights. After you search on Google and click on Images, click on Tools just below the search bar. Then you can filter using Creative Commons licenses. This allows you to use the media within the Creative Commons framework.

You can also Google “license-free stock photos or videos.” You’ll find results like Unsplash , Pixabay , and Storyblocks . The latter allows you to pay a subscription for licensed images, videos, and audio assets for your interactive content. There are plenty of other sources out there — just make sure you’re using content that you’re actually allowed to use!

Step 3: Design the content with your favorite design tool.

Once you know what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, with the right media to support it, now you have to bring it to life. Use Adobe, Sketch, or Figma to create your layouts and graphics for the piece. Sound intimidating? You can also use Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides to create interactive experiences.

View guides, Resources, and the Tiled University to get started.

Creating interactive experiences can be really tough if you’re just starting. That’s why we publish resources to help you get started, from the big picture to the tiny details. So, before you get started on your next project, take a scroll through our Resources page to see webinars, tips, and other content that will help you take your content to the next level.

If that doesn’t have what you’re looking for, dive deeper into Tiled University to see courses, lessons, webinars, and more to build your own content.

Additionally, each design tool has its own resources for helpful hints if you get stuck:

From there, the only limit is your imagination.

Start with a template.

If you’re like most people, you’ve stared at a blank canvas or document for far too long wondering where to begin. We get it. Creating interactive content is hard. But the good news is that you can start with a template! You may not know what to say, but at least it’ll look nice.

Kidding aside, a good template does more than just look nice. It can also give you a structure for arranging your ideas. Many of the resource pages listed in the previous point have similar structures given your setting.

For example, most presentation templates start with a title slide, then an agenda, team members, and problem and solution slides. Whether you need a pitch deck, a quarterly update, newsletter, brand guide, or something else, starting with a template from the resources pages of each design tool is the best way to get started quickly.

And the best part? You can integrate your design files with Tiled’s interactive content editor.

Export, share, and revise.

Once you’ve viewed the resources, picked a template, and composed your piece, you’re ready to export and share your interactive document. There are a few ways to do this. You can either export the file as is to be read in your favorite design or presentation tool, you can send a shareable link to your team, you can broadcast the presentation with specific people, or you can embed the file into a web page.

After sharing your creation, you may need to edit it. It’s the worst feeling when you’ve completed a beautiful PDF document only to realize there’s a major typo on page 3. Oh well. What’s done is done. Similarly, a PowerPoint is editable, but if you’ve already emailed the file over to your boss, that’s the version they have, not the one you’re editing. You need a way to edit the master file that everyone sees. With interactive content platforms, you can do just that, and every edit you make will be live for the rest of the team to see in real time.

Finally, analytics and insights based on users’ behavior with the content can be even more important than your research before you started (see Step 1). You may think that theoretical users will behave one way, but your actual users may behave completely differently based on your actual content. It’s crucial for content creators to adapt to their audience, not the other way around. Editing in real time with shareable links gives you the ability to adapt your content to produce the most engagement over time.

Give your ideas the tools they’ve been waiting for.

The old ways of communicating limit your imagination with flat text and boring slides. Your storytelling craves a more innovative, engaging experience that amplifies the power of every medium at your fingertips. Your audience, whether for sales and marketing, creative directing, or employee empowering, demands something fresh. Reimagine what content can be with Tiled, an interactive content platform built for the new age of communication. Our no-code story builder lets teams create, share, and edit their content anywhere, anytime, with actionable analytics to scale their impact. Leave behind the static past and rewrite the future.

At Tiled, we help enterprises create engaging experiences easily.

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What is an interactive presentation and how is it different? ‍

In the world of work and education, presentations are a way of life. As the learning landscape continues to grow into one that leans into digital and touchscreen experiences, the need for more dynamic and engaging presentations is expanding with it. However, with these changes also come higher content expectations from audiences.

The days of sitting in a classroom or conference room and learning through a well-designed PowerPoint or PDF are long gone. Well, they’re long gone if you actually want to keep your audience engaged and actively learning from your content. Though there’s a difference between interactive presentations and interactive content, which we’ll explain more later, you’ll see that there is some overlap.

These days, if you want to really reach your audience, you have to go beyond a PowerPoint. Cognitive research shows that to be truly effective, you’ll need to take a multimedia approach . That is, tailor the content to your target audience, source high-quality imagery, develop a compelling story, and implement high-quality design . Traditionally, presentations have included a speaker moving around a whiteboard or slide deck, drawing on the board or using a pointer for the deck, keeping the audience’s attention. 

Yet the world has changed. Now presenters are talking heads on the other side of a screen, using static text and images to communicate to a dulled audience who’s been staring at a screen for hours already. 

Your audience expectations have elevated thanks to high-quality, immersive presentations and consumer content, the likes of which you’d find in a TED talk or Apple keynote. Thankfully, however, content and presentation tools have risen to the occasion. Enter the era of the interactive presentation.

What is an interactive presentation?

In the simplest terms, an interactive presentation is precisely what it sounds like: a presentation you can interact with, complete with multi-dimensional media. They often incorporate web-style functionalities like navigation, hyperlinks, and hotspots. For example, in an interactive presentation, you have the freedom to click on content and have an action occur, such as a video, animation, or popup box.

However, as simple as that may sound, it’s just the beginning of what an interactive presentation can do. Interaction fundamentally changes the way you can engage with your audience. It turns a passive experience into an authentic conversation that benefits everyone involved.

Is an interactive presentation different from interactive content?

Interactive content includes videos, image sliders, animations, polls, and more. An interactive presentation is the means used to combine and bundle multiple types of interactive content all in one place to present to an audience, often in real time. With an interactive presentation, you can combine interactive content with storytelling and questions to engage your audience.

Why do we need interactive presentations?

Preferences and expectations have changed: Today, viewers simply expect innovative companies to present information in a highly engaging, multimedia style no matter the device, location, or time. But there are other benefits to interactive presentations.

Interactive presentations increase engagement.

Interactive presentations allow you to go from talking to your audience to talking with them. Neuroscience research shows that by using interactive presentations, your audience immediately has the motivation to stay engaged and participate . That is, an interactive presentation allows you to navigate in a nonlinear fashion : You can ask the audience what they want to talk about, and the navigation options enable you to jump directly to the content that is most interesting to the audience without disrupting the natural flow of the presentation.

Additionally, asking audience members to participate helps them tune in and bring back those whose attention may have drifted off. Interactive presentations will allow you to include audio and video files. Through an interactive presentation, you can include deeper content within each section and create a greater understanding of what you want to convey.

Interactive presentations encourage team building.

Making a presentation interactive adds surprise, delight, and fun. Getting interactive also makes it easy for team members to break the ice, connect, and work together. Getting away from a traditional lecture is also a welcome break from the monotony of a regular workday. Interactive presentations can contain video, audio, polls, and even games. Using these types of interactive content makes the presentation fun, encourages team-building, and fosters innovation. Not only will your audience absorb and retain more of your information, but they’ll also enjoy doing it. It’s a win-win. 

Interactive presentations make learning easier. 

Distraction is common in presentations. Even the most compelling speaker can struggle to try to keep a large group engaged with just slides and images. It’s easier to remember the content of a presentation when you’re actively participating in the experience. Imagine the difference between reading about communication versus working through an exercise. You’re much more likely to feel comfortable with the tools and information you’ve learned after putting them into practice in a safe space.

Furthermore, better engagement leads to better information retention. No matter what kind of presentation you’re delivering, interactivity brings concepts off the screen and into real life.

Interactive presentations allow for personalized delivery. 

Adding interactive elements to a presentation makes it feel more thoughtful and personalized to your audience. Creating that personalized connection is vital to keeping audiences engaged and informed. You can also add interactive elements into an existing presentation for a customized feel. It also empowers your audience to ask questions, offer feedback, and actively participate.

Ways to use interactive presentations

Elevating your training programs through touchscreens, animations, games, and other interactive elements helps teams onboard or learn information and take action for sustained behavior change.

Conferences

Conferences are often filled with multiple days of boring PowerPoint, PDF, and Google Slides presentations. Can you imagine how refreshing it would be to walk into a conference session and have a chance to move, speak, and participate? As we’ve said before, not only will an interactive presentation make your content more engaging, your session attendees will retain what they’ve learned better as well. 

Website or microsite

Websites need interactivity to lead the user around the page and into the other pages. By providing interactive content throughout, you’ll more deeply engage your audience than with static texts and images.

Leave-behinds

This is a bit of a misnomer, but a “leave-behind” we’re thinking of is an interactive asset you can add to your follow-up email after a conversation with a prospect, customer, or new employee. Imagine the context and clarity you can create by using interactive content to keep the conversation going.

Internal communications

Employees are inundated with communications from every level of the organization. Interactive content can help internal leaders drive adoption for an initiative, take an action, or provide further information.

How can I make my presentation interactive?

With the rapid growth of interactive presentations comes a multitude of new technologies to help you create them. Today’s interactive presentation software offerings make it easy to create an interactive presentation yourself with no need for development skills.

How can interactive presentation software help make my presentations easier?

Much of the media you encounter today comprises various media types, like audio, video, gifs, and more. However, including these media in traditional presentation software is often clunky and unintuitive. Interactive presentation software, on the other hand, makes adding these to your presentations easy and effective.

Professional visual aids

According to a study by venngage.com , 65% of professionals at 2018 Marcom conferences designed their own presentations and relied heavily on imagery. Additionally, over 90% of a person’s daily processed information comes from visual receptors . Interactive presentation software makes it easier to get to a professional and well-designed visual experience that goes far beyond bullet points.

Editable templates

If you’ve ever used PowerPoint or Google Slides before, you know that they provide users with some limited themes and templates. However, today’s interactive presentation software often includes dozens of templates with customizable features built to make interaction easy without having to learn to code. And these aren’t just for PowerPoint users but also for Adobe XD, Sketch, and more, making designers’ lives easier than ever. That way you already have the right formats and media — all you need to add is your branding and company voice.

Intuitive tools

Learning new technology can feel like a daunting addition to your presentation planning. However, editing tools for interactive presentation software are intuitive and straightforward to use. Content creators have less of a learning curve because most of their time will remain in their design tool of choice, from Adobe XD, InDesign, and Photoshop, to Sketch, Figma, PowerPoint, Google Slides, and more. When you combine this with the extensive collection of templates available, you’ll end up with something personalized and professional, and feel ready to drive the results you’re looking for.

Interactive scrolling

Another great feature to add to your content experience is to scroll through other content within the page. Users don’t have to leave the experience. Instead, they can just continue to scroll and explore the content at their own pace. 

Interactive functionality also lends itself well to infographics and animation, and it’s definitely more engaging than a static image or PDF. An in-page scrolling feature also lets you build multi-dimensional components. Elements like scrolling make your presentation feel more like touchscreens and social media feeds that audiences already use and enjoy. 

Data and analytics

Data-driven insights have become a crucial part of how organizations innovate and optimize the work experience. Interactive presentation software is not only an excellent tool for creating engaging content quickly, but it’s also excellent at collecting data and helping you develop and evolve both your content and your presentation style.

While it’s impossible to measure how long a group of people listen in a conference room or open a PowerPoint or PDF attachment, interactive presentations let you collect data on this and more. You can measure clicks, scrolls, and other metrics that can help you continually craft better and more effective presentations. Depending on what software you use, you can even gather all of that information without leaving the platform. 

Now that you’ve seen all the advantages of an interactive presentation and how easily interactive presentation software can help you bring them to life (without any code!), the only limitation to your presentation is your imagination.

What is Interactive Content? Plus 6 Examples 

You have likely heard the phrase “content is king.” This sentiment still holds true. However, there have been a lot of advancements and innovations in the content space. As more and more brands look to engage with their customers through storytelling, “interactive content is king” feels like a more apt phrase to describe the state of content marketing in 2021.

Brands have continually raised the bar for quality content while customers simultaneously expect more and more from their branded interactions. This has led to a rapid increase in the creation of quality interactive content across the marketplace. At this point, just 5% of produced content creates 90% of engagement . That means all content is not equal: Supercharging your top 5% of assets can supercharge your engagement.

What is interactive content?

Interactive content is content that audiences actively engage with. Rather than just passively digesting a video, website, or white paper, interactive content elevates the content experience with personalized interactions. This dynamic content keeps audiences focused on your message while also becoming immersed in your brand.

What are some examples of interactive content?

There is a wide variety of interactive content types. A few examples of interactive content can include e-books, sales decks, onboarding materials, and more. Interactive elements like surveys, infographics, and more also improve the experience and provide meaningful context. There are many different options, so selecting the right one for your organization takes some thought. That’s why it’s important to think through your business needs and goals, and then choose the type of content that will work best to help you achieve those goals. Here’s a closer look at a few different kinds of interactive content:

E-books are publications specifically built for the web. It’s like an interactive PDF but has fewer limitations and usually operates more smoothly across browsers and platforms. An e-book can contain myriad impressive interactive elements like video links, case studies, or animation. On top of all that, e-book technology can improve reports, studies, and white papers by increasing engagement and allowing users to explore information as they choose. In short, why use an interactive e-book rather than a PDF? Because customers and prospects are evaluating lots of different solutions, and you want to have differentiated content that leaves a lasting impression.

See an example of a microapp e-book.

Video has long been the best way to get a viewer’s undivided attention on the internet. Even as new technologies emerge, video remains a tried-and-true way to create high-engagement media. The key is to craft a compelling story that viewers will want to follow until the end. Sparking that curiosity is a mix of finding the best hook, appropriate production, and a strong sense of your audience. Additionally, adding a video within an interactive document can provide context, summarize surrounding material, or simply engage the viewer with another medium.

See an example of using video in a microapp.

Quizzes and polls

Surveys and polls have been a key piece of audience engagement ever since the days of paper magazines. Quizzes and polls feel fun to users as they acquire useful or entertaining information in exchange for sharing data. That’s part of why quizzes are a tried-and-true method for engaging with audiences. This style of content works best as a way to facilitate feedback and capture new user data while keeping the audience engaged. It’s much easier (and more effective!) than methods like email surveys or follow-up calls. 

See an example of a microapp quiz.

Interactive infographics

Infographics combine illustrations, icons, and graphics to create compelling and thematic visualizations of facts and data. Infographics make complicated facts and figures more digestible by using animation, typography, and story to bring data to life. Currently, 60% of B2B companies are already using this format, and similar trends are visible in HR departments, education, non-profits, and more. Interactive infographics are usually single, long-scroll web pages commonly developed in HTML5. Interactive infographics take the clarity of a data visualization a step further. As a result, the reader can better understand the story behind your data and is much more likely to engage with any content.

See an example of data brought to life in this microapp.

Landing pages

Landing pages are a lead generation and conversion staple. However, you can increase their effectiveness by taking an interactive approach to the content on the page. From animation to video, the right content at the right time can trigger audiences to type their information into a form field to become a lead.

See an example of a landing page with a microapp here.

Why is interactive content important?

E-books, infographics, and blog posts are already valuable tools for educating and communicating with your audiences. Adding interactive components make these tools more attractive to your customers through the power of delight and entertainment. And that’s just the beginning. Here are a few reasons that leaning into interactive content is worth it.

Interactive content increases leads and fosters loyalty from customers.

Creating interactive content leads to an overall better customer experience and boosts feelings of brand loyalty across the board. From increasing trust around sharing information, to feeling truly educated, and even being entertained — interactive content just resonates better with consumers. 

Interactive content increases engagement.

Even basic interactive pieces tend to have high engagement levels, simply due to their dynamic nature. When done exceptionally well, research has shown that on average, interactive content receives double the engagement that static content does. While the content may dictate how the user interacts with it, the consumer has a sense of discovery and control that keeps them attentive and interested. Rather than your content acting as a billboard that displays information consumers may or may not see, interactive content acts more like a conversation between you and your audience. Once you give them something of value, they’ll be more likely to continue their customer journey with you. Which brings us to our next point.

Interactive content makes collecting data easier.

Personalized marketing campaigns are quickly becoming the status quo, but to create a robust and targeted plan, you need relevant data. Interactive content is a great tool that makes it easier to capture key information from customers, such as demographic and firmographic information through lead capture forms. Today’s consumers can also be nervous about handing over personal information like email addresses. But by offering a rich, interactive content experience, you’re providing something of value to the customer that makes submitting personal information feel worth it. It feels less risky to share your email address with a company that has created something truly engaging.

Interactive content sets you up for successful testing.

Metrics from passive content can reveal information around scroll depth or bounce rates, but it can’t tell you how much of the content the consumer is actually viewed. Interactive content, on the other hand, works by collecting data while the content is in use. This allows you to measure views, clicks, and interactions with individual elements of your interactive pieces. From there you can test, analyze, and optimize your content around the goals you’re trying to achieve.

Interactive content makes your content better.

As you gather data through your content, you’ll begin to learn about your audience’s content preferences. This makes it easier to refine your content strategy and lean into the tactics that work best for your consumers. This approach to highly targeted content marketing is fantastic at helping you establish trust and authority as well as expand your audience by serving up effective and informative content they’ll want to come back to time and time again. 

How can I start creating interactive content?

Although interactive content creation may seem daunting at first, platforms like this one can do the heavy lifting by offering simple, customizable tools that don’t require development skills. And it’s absolutely worth it. Having a partner or tool that can make your content look and function the way you want is invaluable. 

As you can see, interactive content holds so much potential. It pulls consumers directly into your story, offers them something valuable, and provides you with better insights. If you do it correctly, it can be a catalyst for your business or brand. After you’re done, just take a look at your data, get creative, and watch as your consumers start engaging more and building bonds with your brand.

Communication is tricky. How do you get your message across in a fun and engaging way to ensure readers, customers, clients, or whoever your target audience is retains it long after they hear or read it? It’s time to rethink those flat, two-dimensional resources, switch up your communication game, and look beyond the traditional PowerPoint and Microsoft Word document. How exactly? Two words, my friend: interactive documents. 

What Is an Interactive Document?

Traditional documents and marketing materials have limited space for information and engagement, but interactive documents take it to another level. Let’s start by talking about what makes a document interactive. An interactive document is chock-full of features like video, audio, buttons, page transitions, GIFs, and even podcasts, all neatly tucked inside like a Mary Poppins bag of wonders. It doesn’t stop there. You can even incorporate Google Docs and file sharing so users have a direct connection with the material at hand. The sky’s the limit when it comes to interactive pieces, and depending on which category below you want to address, there’s more than a few documents to consider:

• White papers
• Data sheets
• Research and analyst reports
• Infographics
• Case studies 
• Buyer’s guides
• ROI calculators
• Onboarding and training guides
• Pitch presentations
• Industry/professional best practice guides
• Competitive and cost comparisons
• Sales decks
• Finalist presentations

Employee Experience

• Training playbooks
• Onboarding materials
• Benefits/compensation resources
• Newsletters

You’re probably thinking, great — but how exactly do you make these interactive? Simply put, these six features are what make immersive, engaging content:

• Fillable forms: Especially useful in business, these make the reader an active participant, help collect user data, and contribute to future analytics.  
• Video files: Add life to content and engage readers right off the bat.
• Audio files: Great for samples and a refreshing change from text.
• Buttons: Help you navigate easily and allow users to go at their own pace when reading content like brochures or portfolios.
• Hyperlinks: Direct readers to another section of the document, another document altogether, or separate web address for additional information. ‍
• Photo galleries: Pick images that capture your audience, such as employees in action, relaxing or engaging pictures that evoke emotion, and images that help the reader identify with the content.

Which of these features appeals to you? Now think of your audience. How can you incorporate one or more of these to inspire and engage them? Next up, let’s explore the deeper benefits of interactive documents. 

Why Interactive Documents Are a Must for Your Success

Consider this: 88% of marketing professionals reportedly agree that interactive content separates them from their competitors. Furthermore, another 93% from this same Business2Community survey agree that interactive content is effective when it comes to educating buyers. So they give you a leg up on your competition, educate and engage your staff, and depending on your industry, bring the people to you. What’s not to like? If that’s not enough to convince you, consider these additional top 10 reasons why you need interactive documents, like, yesterday:

• They supercharge your marketing strategy: Take the guesswork out of learning your audience’s wants and needs, and then use interactive documents to generate more leads based on what you find.
• User friendly and more bang for your buck: There’s only so much content you can fit into a traditional PDF, but interactive documents allow you to take a deep dive into data and immerse readers in your content in an engaging and inspiring way.
• Create a lasting impression on readers long after they read it: In the words of the great Maya Angelou, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” What do you ultimately want people to remember and take away after reading?
• Convenience, convenience, convenience: Most attention spans are short. While some readers want all the information, some just want to quickly and easily jump to the information they need. Interactive documents allow you to do both. 
• Take a different approach to feedback: Interactive documents offer an alternative approach to gathering feedback with surveys or just by allowing you to understand where people click, spend the most time, what they ignore, and where they leave. You can then use this data to adapt your content to best meet the customer’s needs. 
• Set the tone for future interaction: Whether it’s a brochure, culture handbook, or quarterly review, when you set the precedent with interactive, engaging, fun content, you pull your audience in from the get-go and keep them coming back for more.
• Boost retention and conversion rates: You heard right. Happy, satisfied readers are not only more likely to keep coming back for more but also move through the sales process.
• Pique their interest and capture the attention of readers: Even the driest subject can be made interesting with the right format if you appeal to your audience and clearly show them what’s in it for them.  
• Increase interaction: Use fillable forms to your advantage and identify prospective client needs and preferences so you’re catering to them right from the start.
• Add an innovative approach to professional documents: Take otherwise dry content and make it engaging and memorable.

Now that you know what exactly interactive documents are and why you need them, let’s take a look at some examples to inspire you.

10 Interactive Document Examples to Bring Down the House

• This Seismic Media Kit captures you from the moment you start watching the intro video. It only gets better from there as users navigate through a series of slides, sure to engage and captivate even the toughest crowd.
• Do you have a culture book? Could it use some updates? Paycor’s culture book is a prime example of how you can bring your company culture to life and leave a lasting impression on your employees from the very first day they start.
• What comes to mind when you hear quarterly reviews? Fun? Engaging? A delight to the eye? Probably not. But what if they could be? Compass Development’s Quarterly Review is sleek, smart, and a refreshing change from the traditional approach to sharing market insights. 
• Say sayonara to boring newsletters and check out this eye-pleasing, interactive, and engaging Paycor newsletter that incorporates videos, GIFs, and audio to engage and inspire staff as they read along.
• Recruit the right people and attract talent with this innovative job recruiting template . With crisp, clear, and easy-to-read content, it will leave your prospects scrolling for more.
• Make onboarding new staff a fun and easy experience with this self-paced, customizable resource guide .
• Revamp your product guide with video, scrolling pictures, and a contact form at the end to help you easily gather user info.  
• Does your presentation need a modern update? Take a look at this webinar template . It’s simple and visually appealing with video, key takeaways, and highlights.
• Case studies are tricky. They can be really good or really boring. Many are text heavy and they’re not exactly the crowd pleasers of marketing. But what if you could change that and engage readers from the onset with a structured and easy-to-read format that makes them want to click through to the very end? Look no further and download this case study template .
• User guides don’t have to be lame. This user guide template does all the work for you with its bright, colorful, and easy-to-follow format.

Still craving more? Check out even more examples in our showcase .

How to Create Interactive Documents That Make You Stand Out From the Crowd

The answer is simple: microapps. It sounds complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Not sure what a microapp is? Microapps are interactive digital assets that enable immersive experiences. Ultimately, they connect your brand with your customers, prospects, and employees so everyone can be part of your story. Sure, you could take a stab at it on your own, or perhaps you’ve already downloaded one of the templates previously mentioned. The thing is, microapps allow you to build interactive documents effortlessly so you have more time to invest in your content — and ultimately your people. Consider Tiled’s seven steps as you go about creating:

• Think like your audience: What are the deeper benefits for them? How do you address their struggles? And speak to them in a format that they identify with? Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
• Establish the outcome: What’s your intent? Educate? Train? Buy? And what’s the ultimate end goal? Are you assessing their comprehension if it’s training material or convincing them to take the next step, whatever that may be?
• Create your structure: Think back to the interactive features you can include: videos, graphics, statistics, quotes. What will speak to your audience?
• Be dynamic by default: What interactive features attract people and which ones will you incorporate into your interactive document? Maybe it’s simple, with navigation and galleries, or perhaps you want more videos and/or surveys.
• Make actions obvious: Ensure the next step is clear so it’s easy for the reader to take action. For example, watch this video, click here to continue, etc.
• Improve with analytics: Remember that it’s a team effort. Work with your team to ensure the flow, visuals, words, interactive content, and call to action are obvious. 
• Measure engagement: With microapps, you can track KPIs like open rates and engagement easily and remove the guesswork. 

Learn More and Get Started Today

The idea of creating interactive documents may sound daunting at first, but now that you know how to go about it the right way and have come to realize just how simple the process can be, it’s time to say goodbye to static content. Join the interactive document revolution. Make your people an active part of your story, inspire, and engage them with meaningful content. 

For more resources including webinars, e-books, and other inspiration, check out Tiled’s Resource Library .

Are blogs more your thing? Read up on the latest and greatest food for thought on our blog .

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What is interactive video? Plus, game-changing examples we love

Think you know interactive video? Here's a primer.

When you think about the term “interactive video”, what do you picture in your head? My first thought was a memory of playing the Monopoly Tropical Tycoon game that required a DVD player (that makes me feel a little old). 

You’d go along the physical Monopoly board and you’d have to use the DVD to generate events (like landing on Chance) in the game.

This was, technically, an interactive video. However, technology in the interactive video space has advanced a lot since those early 2000’s DVD ROM games. 

Now, marketers can use interactive video in marketing strategies to help drive more engagement with online content and stand out from the competition.

Learn more about Vimeo’s interactive video platform

In this guide, we’ll be going over:

What is interactive video?

What makes a video interactive, types of interactive video.

• Why you should include interactive video in your marketing strategy

How do you make an interactive video?

Game-changing examples of interactive video.

Without further ado, let’s define what interactive video actually is.

An interactive video is a form of media that allows users to interact with content within the video itself. Interactivity in videos can come from lots of different types of functions (more on that later), and what sets it apart from “normal” videos is its nonlinear nature.

With linear videos, you press play and watch the video in its entirety (unless you don’t want to continue watching and press stop). With an interactive video, you may create different paths for the viewer to take through the video, or include clickable links to other web pages—i.e., there are more ways than pressing play/pause to engage with the video.

In short, what makes a video interactive is the ability to let a viewer manipulate the direction or method of engaging with the video in the way they want to. Do that, there are a few techniques you can use to help them. 

• Hotspots . If you want to direct the viewer towards another piece of related content (as an example), you can use Hotspots. A Hotspot is a point in the video that is clickable/touchable, hyperlinked to where you want the viewer to go, such as a product page—creating a shoppable video.
• Overlays . If you want the viewer to have an impactful experience with your interactions, you can use overlays to add contextual media after clicking on a hotspot or reaching a time trigger. Overlays can include text, images, call-to-action (CTA), maps, audio/visual prompts, and more.
• Time Triggers. If you’d rather not leave potential interactions to chance, you can trigger events to happen in the video at a specific time without the viewer needing to click or hover over the content. The most common use for this is opening overlays.
• Branching . Arguably the coolest method of interactive video, the branching technique allows viewers to jump around the video in a “build your own adventure” style. You can take viewers down different paths of watching the video depending on what choices they make with your interaction options. 

The use of these techniques, either standalone or using more than one in the same video, is what makes videos interactive. They give the viewer the choice to take the video in a new direction compared to just watching the video from start to finish.

The DVD ROM game I mentioned earlier is one type of interactive video. However, there are quite a few more. Here we’ll just summarize the types that are likely to be of interest to marketers and business owners. 

If you want to entertain (and potentially reward) your audience, creating a fun quiz can be the way to go. 

An interactive video quiz can use animated or real-life footage in the background of your quiz, or even interact with the quiz elements. 

”Build your adventure”

Remember the hype around Black Mirror’s “Bandersnatch” episode ? If not, it was a feature-length Netflix show where viewers could make decisions for the main character at key moments that lead to a specific ending based on those choices.

As a marketer, you can recreate (albeit on a smaller scale) this level of engagement with a “build your adventure” type interactive video. 

Shoppable videos

A little easier on the technical side, creating a shoppable video can be just what your marketing strategy needs to promote new (or resurrect old) products. 

Shoppable videos use the Hotspot technique mentioned earlier to create a clickable element in the video that leads to a product page for people to check out.

Educational

Using the same techniques as the shoppable videos, you can also create educational interactive videos about your brand or wider industry.

These types of videos can be great for tutorials, “About Us” pages or if your business does any non-profit work.

Why you should include interactive videos in your marketing strategy

According to data from a State of Video Marketing Report, only 17% of marketers intend to include interactive video in their marketing strategies. Most (82%) are relying on YouTube to build out their video content. Why? It’s just easier.

But this section is here to tell you why the extra effort of making an interactive video is worth it:

• Better data collection. With various interactive video tools, you’re able to track exactly how and when people interact with your video elements (rather than simply seeing watch-time).
• Higher conversion rates. According to recent research, interactive video has a click-through rate of 11%. That compares to less than 1% of click-throughs on YouTube annotations and Google Ads.
• More engaging. Linear videos by nature encourage a passive viewing experience. Interactive videos on the other hand create an active viewing experience. Viewers are less likely to get distracted if they have to interact with the video.
• More memorable. There’s a little novelty preference factor at play with interactive videos. Even if a viewer doesn’t necessarily like the interactive video, the novelty alone (remember only 17% of marketers plan on using it) would likely make it at least memorable.

So now you know what interactive video is and how using it can benefit your marketing strategy, how do you make one? The next section provides a step-by-step tutorial.

There are a number of tools available on the market that help you create an interactive video. However, if you want an all-in-one video creation, sharing, and storing platform, Vimeo is hard to beat. This tutorial will show you how to create an interactive video using the Vimeo video editing suite.

At the moment, these tools are only available to Enterprise users, but will soon be making its way over to self-serve customers.

• Log into Vimeo or create a new account. Once logged in, head over to your video library where you can either upload a new video or open up an existing video in the editor.
• Once you have opened the editor, you’ll see the Interactivity button under the Advanced settings option on the right-hand side of the editor.
• Clicking on the Interactivity button takes you to the new Interactive studio where you can insert the interactive elements we explained earlier.
• You can add a Hotspot or Time Trigger element to the video by using either the pane on the right of the video preview or by using the timeline editor below the preview. You can upload your own images or choose from a selection in the Vimeo library.
• When adding a new element, you can have it “stick” to an object or open on a particular segment of the screen.
• You can also use Time Triggers to build on the “branching” technique we mentioned earlier by giving the viewers the option to skip to a relevant segment of the video with the click of a button.
• With each element you add, you can preview the animation before adding them to the video. Once you’re happy, you can click the blue check/tick mark in the side-panel editor.

That’s it! Once you’ve added all the interactive elements you want, you can preview the whole video before leaving the interactive studio. Once back in the main editor, you can choose to share the video to social media, copy the video link, or get the embed code to place on a webpage.

So now you know just how easy it can be to create an interactive video with Vimeo, how about some inspiration? Here we’ll show you some awesome examples of interactive videos with a little explainer of why they’re so great.

Nespresso is a world-famous coffee brand. It produced the above interactive video to promote its Nespresso Vertuo range of coffee machines and associated products. 

The video has both Hotspots and Time Triggers that help create this “build your adventure” style of navigation. What makes this particular example great is how easy Nespresso makes it to choose a path by making the interactive elements very large.

The next example is from the tech support company Asurion. In an interactive video, the host takes you through another “build your adventure” type video in the style of a quiz, that takes you through to a shoppable end page.

There are a ton of interactive elements in this video, and what makes it special is how engaging it is without being overwhelming (you don’t have to click on everything to keep going). 

Both of these examples show you how you can use interactive video in creative, yet on-brand ways to help liven up your marketing efforts.

What’s the definition of interactive video?

Interactive video is a type of video that allows the user to actively engage with the content they see. They contain clickable elements that either take the user to another part of the video or to another webpage altogether.

What are examples of interactive videos? 

Some examples of interactive videos include quizzes, “build your own adventure”, shoppable videos, and educational videos. These types of videos use interactive elements like Hotspots and Time Triggers to create an interactive experience.

What is a shoppable video? 

A shoppable video is a type of interactive video that allows the viewer to click on a highlighted product in the video, which takes them straight to the product page.

Is Vimeo interactive?

Vimeo Enterprise customers are able to create interactive videos with the all-new interactive studio. The interactive studio is planned to come to self-serve customers before the end of the year.

Want more engagement? Go interactive

Making video interactive is ultimately an easy method of getting viewers to engage more with your content. However, in the right hands, they can also be a powerful lead generation tool—think targeted product recommendations based on information the viewer has chosen to click through.

Interactive videos might have seemed like science-fiction a few decades ago. But now creating interactive videos is easier than ever thanks to tools like Vimeo. What’s more, your marketing team can put one together in mere minutes.

Ready to give it a try?

Get started with interactive video today

Join Vimeo's super cool newsletter

Alexander Boswell

Alex is a freelance writer specializing in B2B SaaS and eCommerce marketing, as well as a business Ph.D. candidate. When he's not typing away, he's (slowly) learning Japanese and having a blast playing for the local baseball team.

Alex is a contributing writer. Vimeo commissions pieces from a variety of experts to provide a range of insights to our readers, and the views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author. All content and any external links are provided for informational purposes only.

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Blog Marketing 15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

Written by: Krystle Wong Aug 04, 2023

As attention spans continue to shrink, the challenge of engaging audiences in a short timeframe has never been more significant. Let’s face it — grabbing and keeping your audience’s attention can be quite the challenge, especially when time is ticking away. But fear not, I’ve got the perfect solution: interactive presentations!

Believe it or not, creating an interactive presentation is easier than you might think. In this guide, I’ll show you how to effortlessly turn ordinary slides into captivating experiences with 15 interactive presentation ideas that will leave your audience begging for more. From quirky polls and fun games to storytelling adventures and multimedia magic, these ideas will take your presentation game to the next level.

Venngage is a game-changer when it comes to empowering interactive presentations. With just a few clicks, users can customize their favorite presentation templates , add multimedia content and create immersive experiences that leave a lasting impact. Whether you’re a seasoned presenter or a newcomer, get started with Venngage to elevate your presentation game to new heights of engagement and creativity.

Click to jump ahead:

What is an interactive presentation?

15 ways to make a presentation interactive, 7 best interactive presentation software, what are some common mistakes to avoid when creating interactive presentations, interactive presentation faqs, how to create an interactive presentation with venngage.

An interactive presentation is a dynamic and engaging communication format that involves active participation and collaboration between the presenter and the audience. Unlike traditional presentations where information is delivered in a one-way manner, interactive presentations invite the audience to interact, respond and contribute throughout the session.

Think of it as a two-way street where you and your audience have a friendly chat. It’s like playing a fun game where you ask questions, get live feedback and encourage people to share their thoughts. 

To make a good presentation , you can utilize various tools and techniques such as clickable buttons, polls, quizzes, discussions and multimedia elements to transform your slides into an interactive presentation. Whether you’re presenting in-person or giving a virtual presentation — when people are actively participating, they’re more likely to remember the stuff you’re talking about.

Interactive presentations leave a lasting impression on the audience. By encouraging active participation and feedback, interactive presentations facilitate better understanding and knowledge retention. Here are 15 innovative 5-minute interactive presentation ideas to captivate your audience from start to finish:

1. Ice-breaker questions

Start your presentation with intriguing and thought-provoking questions or a fun icebreaker game. These questions should be designed to pique the audience’s curiosity and encourage them to think about the topic you’ll be covering. By doing so, you create an immediate connection with your audience and set the stage for a more engaged and attentive audience.

For example, if you’re giving a business presentation about management and leadership training, you could ask audience questions such as “What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received, and how has it impacted your career?”

2. Live polling

Incorporate live polls during your presentation using audience response systems or polling apps . This allows you to collect real-time feedback, opinions and insights from active participants. Live polling encourages active participation and involvement, making your presentation feel like a collaborative and interactive experience.

3. Q&A sessions

Encourage the audience to ask questions throughout your presentation, especially for pitch deck presentations . Address these questions in real-time, which fosters a more interactive and dynamic atmosphere. This approach shows that you value the audience’s input and promotes a two-way communication flow.

4. Clickable buttons

Add clickable buttons to your slides, allowing the audience to navigate to specific sections or external resources at their own pace. For example, you could include links to your social media accounts or extra reading materials in your education presentation to give further information about the topic and get your students engaged.

By providing this autonomy, you empower the audience to explore areas of particular interest, creating a more personalized and engaging experience through your interactive slideshow.

5. Storytelling

Incorporate anecdotes or personal stories related to your topic. Storytelling is a powerful way to emotionally connect with your audience, making your presentation more relatable and memorable. A little storytelling along with a set of creative slides draws the audience in and keeps them engaged as they follow the narrative.

6. Interactive charts and graphs

Use interactive charts and graphs that respond to user input to make your presentation interactive. For instance, allow the audience to click on data points to view more detailed information or to change the displayed data series. Creating charts with interactive visuals help the audience interact with the data, fostering better understanding and engagement.

7. Animated infographics

Add animations to your infographics, making them visually dynamic and progressive. Animated infographics reveal information gradually, keeping the audience curious and attentive. This transforms complex data into an easily digestible and engaging format.

Venngage’s extensive library of infographic templates is a powerful tool to visualize data and elevate the interactivity of your presentations. Personalizing the visuals ensures a cohesive and professional look throughout your interactive presentation. The templates are highly customizable, allowing you to adjust colors, fonts, and styles to match your presentation’s theme and branding. 

8. Gamification

Introduce an interactive quiz, puzzles, or challenges related to your presentation content. Gamification adds an element of fun and competition, motivating the audience to participate actively and boosting their learning experience. Here are some gaming presentation templates you could use. 

9. Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR)

If applicable, leverage VR or AR technologies to provide immersive experiences. These interactive presentation tools transport the audience into a virtual or augmented environment, making your presentation more captivating and memorable.

10. Collaborative whiteboarding

Get your audience involved in your presentation by utilizing digital whiteboards or collaborative tools to brainstorm ideas collectively. This fosters teamwork and creativity, enabling the audience to actively contribute and feel a sense of involvement in the presentation.

11. Hyperlinked text

Keep the information in your slides minimal with a simple presentation and incorporate hyperlinks to direct viewers to relevant websites or blogs , resources, or additional information. This encourages self-exploration and gives the audience the opportunity to delve deeper into topics of interest.

12. Role-playing

Engage the audience in role-playing scenarios to explore different perspectives. Role-playing promotes active learning and helps the audience relate the content to real-life situations, enhancing their understanding and retention.

13. Embedded videos

Include video clips in your slides to provide visual explanations, demonstrations, or interviews. Videos add a dynamic element to your presentation, enriching the content and keeping the audience engaged.

14. Audience-generated content

Encourage the audience to contribute ideas, stories or examples related to your professional presentation . Audience-generated content fosters a sense of ownership and involvement, making the presentation more interactive and personalized.

15. Slide transitions

Use slide transitions to create smooth animations between slides. Well-planned transitions maintain the audience’s interest and keep the presentation slides flowing seamlessly.

Interactive elements aside, enhance your presentation with these guides on how to summarize information for a captivating presentation and how to make a persuasive presentation to captivate your audience. 

If you’re looking to create engaging and interactive presentation slides that captivate your audience, these presentation software options are sure to elevate your game:

Prezi is renowned for its dynamic and non-linear presentation style, enabling users to craft visually stunning and interactive presentations. With an array of templates and animation effects, Prezi enhances audience engagement, making your presentations more captivating and memorable.

2. Mentimeter

Mentimeter serves as an audience response system, empowering real-time interaction during presentations. Users can create interactive polls, quizzes, word clouds and more, allowing the audience to respond using their smartphones or other devices. This fosters active participation and provides valuable feedback instantly.

3. Google Slides

Google Slides is a free cloud-based presentation software that not only offers collaboration features but also enables real-time interactions. It includes add-ons and third-party integrations to further enhance interactivity, making it an excellent choice for collaborative and engaging presentations.

4. Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint, a classic presentation software, has evolved to incorporate more interactive features like live captions, real-time collaboration and interactive elements such as quizzes and forms. With its familiar interface and versatile functionalities, PowerPoint remains a reliable choice for interactive presentations.

5. Prezentor

Prezentor caters to sales-oriented presentations focusing on interactive storytelling and data-driven content. It offers analytics to track audience engagement and behavior during presentations, allowing you to fine-tune your approach and keep your audience hooked.

6. Opinion Stage

Opinion Stage is a visual and interactive data collection tool designed to engage and excite audiences whether sitting in a lecture hall, participating in a live Zoom, or watching an on-demand webinar. The Opinion Stage tools are simple and intuitive, making it easy to create attention-grabbing quizzes, surveys, and polls in minutes. A great way to spice up any presentation, encourage audience participation, and collect authentic feedback.

7 . Venngage

Venngage stands out as a versatile design tool that facilitates the creation of interactive infographics, data visualizations and presentations with ease. Offering various interactive elements and animations, Venngage empowers you to craft visually appealing and engaging presentations effortlessly.

With these interactive presentation software options at your disposal, you can unleash your creativity and deliver presentations that leave a lasting impact on your audience. So, go ahead and make your presentations interactive, captivating and memorable!

For more presentation software options, check out this blog on the 12 best presentation software for 2023.

Creating interactive presentations can be a game-changer for engaging your audience and enhancing your presentation skills, but steering clear of common pitfalls is essential. Here are some key mistakes to avoid when crafting your interactive presentations:

1. Overloading with interactivity

While interactivity is fantastic, bombarding your audience with too many interactive elements can backfire. Strive for a balanced approach that enhances engagement without overwhelming your listeners.

2. Ignoring audience relevance

Failing to tailor interactive elements to your audience’s interests and preferences can lead to disconnection. Make sure your interactions resonate with your specific audience for a more meaningful experience.

3. Not testing interactive elements

Skipping thorough testing of interactive features before showtime can spell disaster. Avoid technical glitches by diligently testing all interactive components in advance.

4. Poor timing and pace

Timing is everything, especially with interactive activities. Ensure seamless integration by planning your key points and the timing of your interactive elements carefully.

5. Lack of clear purpose

Every interactive element should serve a purpose and contribute to your presentation’s objectives. Don’t add interactions just for the sake of it — ensure they add value and align with your message.

6. Failing to engage beyond interactivity

While interactive elements are powerful tools, remember that content is king. Combine your interactive features with compelling storytelling and valuable insights to create an immersive and impactful presentation.

Incorporating animated slides into your interactive presentations enhances the overall appeal and interaction, turning an ordinary presentation into an engaging experience. Try it out with one of our animated presentation templates to get started. 

How do you start an interactive presentation?

Begin by grabbing the audience’s attention with an intriguing question or a surprising fact, setting the tone for a dynamic and engaging session.

Which type of presentation is the most interactive?

Workshops and seminars are often the most interactive types of presentations as they encourage active participation, discussions and hands-on activities.

How can interactive presentations enhance audience engagement?

Interactive presentations foster a two-way communication flow, involving the audience through polls, quizzes, discussions and multimedia elements, leading to increased interest, attentiveness and better retention of information.

What are some common interactive elements to include in a presentation?

Common interactive elements include clickable buttons, hyperlinked text, polls, quizzes, interactive charts, multimedia content and audience participation activities.

Can interactive presentations be used for educational purposes?

Absolutely! Interactive presentations are highly effective for educational purposes as they promote active learning, encourage critical thinking, and provide real-time feedback and knowledge exchange opportunities.

Need inspiration on how to give an engaging presentation ? Here are 120+ presentation ideas you could use. 

Venngage makes it easy for anyone to infuse interactivity into their presentations. From clickable buttons and hyperlinked text to interactive infographics and dynamic charts, Venngage offers a diverse range of interactive elements to captivate and engage the audience. Here’s how you can make your presentation more fun and interesting with Venngage:

• Sign up or log in to Venngage to access the platform.
• Choose a presentation template or start with a blank canvas to begin designing your interactive presentation.
• Add and edit slides in the Venngage editor to structure your presentation content effectively.
• Customize the design by selecting themes, fonts, colors and backgrounds to match your style and branding.
• Use interactive elements like buttons, links, pop-ups and hover effects to engage the audience during the presentation.
• Enhance engagement by incorporating interactive media such as videos and audio clips.
• Preview and test your entire presentation to ensure everything works smoothly before presenting it to your audience.
• Save your interactive presentation on Venngage and share it online or download it in various formats for presenting purposes.

Well, I hope these 15 5-minute interactive presentation examples can help unlock a new level of audience engagement for your next presentation. From fun quizzes and interactive storytelling to multimedia magic and gamified challenges, the possibilities are endless. So, don’t be afraid to experiment, tailor the ideas to suit your audience members and let your creativity shine.  

That said, remember to strike a balance and keep the interactivity purposeful and relevant. Some common mistakes to avoid when creating interactive slides include overloading the presentation with too many interactive elements and failing to align the interactive elements with the overall presentation goals and content. 

Got it? Great. Now let’s turn that boring presentation around!

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How to Make a Presentation Interactive | 7 Great Ways

Lakshmi Puthanveedu • 29 July, 2024 • 11 min read

Are your presentations putting people to sleep faster than a bedtime story? It’s time to shock some life back into your lessons with interactivity🚀

Let's defibrillate “Death by PowerPoint” and show you lightning-quick ways how to make a presentation interactive .

With these tips, you'll be able to activate that dopamine drip and get butts in seats leaning in - not delving deep into the chairs!

Table of Contents

What is an interactive presentation.

• Why Use an Interactive Presentation?

#1. Create icebreaker games🧊

• #2. Make use of props 📝

#3. Create interactive presentation games and quizzes 🎲

#4. tell a compelling story, #5. organise a brainstorming session, #6. make a word cloud for the topic, #7. bring out the poll express, easy interactive activities for presentations, more presentation examples you could learn from.

Keeping your audience engaged is the most critical and challenging part, regardless of the topic or how casual or formal the presentation is. 

An interactive presentation is a presentation that works two ways. The presenter asks questions during the production, and the audience responds directly to those questions.

Let's take an example of an interactive poll .

The presenter displays a poll question on the screen. The audience can then submit their answers live through their mobile phones, and the results are immediately displayed on the screen, as shown in the image below. Yay, it's an interactive slide presentation .

Making an interactive presentation does not have to be complex or stressful. It’s all about letting go of the static, linear presentation format and using some tools and techniques to create a personal, more involved experience for the audience.

With software like AhaSlides , you can easily create interactive presentations with tons of interactive quizzes, polls, and live Q&A sessions for your audience. Keep reading to find out fired tips on how to make a presentation interactive 👇

Why Interactive Presentation?

Presentations are still one of the commonly used methods to pass on information. Still, no one likes to sit through long, monotonous presentations where the host doesn’t stop talking.

Interactive presentations can help. They...

• Increase audience engagement , allowing them to connect with you and the purpose of the presentation. 64% of people believe a flexible presentation with two-way interaction is more engaging than a linear one.
• Improve retention capacity . 68% say that it’s easier to remember the information when the presentation is interactive.
• Tips: Use a rating scale to gather feedback !
• Act as a break from the routine and allow participants to have an enjoyable experience.

How to Make a Presentation Interactive

Whether you are hosting a virtual or offline presentation, there are many ways to make presentations interactive, exciting and two-way for your audience.

Starting a presentation is always one of the most challenging parts. You are nervous; the audience might still be settling, there might be people not familiar with the topic - the list could go on. Get to know your audience, ask them questions about how they are feeling and how their day was, or maybe share a funny story to get them hooked and excited.

🎊 Here are 180 Fun General Knowledge Quiz Questions and Answers to gain better engagement.

#2. Make use of Props 📝

Making a presentation interactive does not mean you have to let go of traditional tricks of engaging the audience. You could bring a lighting stick or a ball to pass around to the audience when they want to ask a question or share something.

Games and quizzes will always remain the star of the show, no matter how complex the presentation is. You don’t necessarily have to create them related to the topic; these could also be introduced into the presentation as fillers or as a fun activity.

💡 Want more? Get 10 interactive presentation techniques here!

Stories work like a charm in any situation. Introducing a complex physics topic? You could tell a story about Nicola Tesla or Albert Einstein. Want to beat the Monday blues in the classroom? Tell a story! Want to break the ice ? 

Well, you know… ask the audience to tell a story! 

There are many ways you could use storytelling in a presentation. In a marketing presentation , for instance, you can create empathy with your audience by telling an engaging story or asking them if they have any interesting marketing stories or situations to share. If you're a teacher, you could pitch an outline to the students and ask them to build the rest of the story. 

Or, you could tell a story till just before the ending and ask the audience how they think the story ended.

You’ve created a stellar presentation. You’ve introduced the topic and are mid-way through the exhibition. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit back, take a break and see how your students put some effort into taking the presentation forward?

Brainstorming helps get the students excited about the topic and allows them to think creatively and critically.

💡 Get an engaged class with 6 more interactive presentation ideas

Want to make sure your audience gets the concept or topic of the presentation without making it feel like an interrogation? 

Live word clouds are fun and interactive and ensure the main topic is not lost in the presentation. Using a word cloud free , you can ask the audience what they think is the main topic for the production.

How do you feel about using visual aids in your presentation? It's not anything new, right? 

But what if you can merge funny pictures with an interactive poll? That's got to be interesting! 

“How do you feel right now?” 

This simple question could be turned into an interactive fun activity with the help of images and GIFs describing your mood. Present it to the audience in a poll, and you could display the results on the screen for everyone to see.

This is a great, super simple icebreaker activity that can help revitalise team meetings, especially when some folks are working remotely.

💡 We've got more - 10 interactive presentation ideas for work .

Whether you’re hosting something for your colleagues, students or friends, retaining their attention for a while can be a daunting task.

Games such as What Would You Do? and 4 Corners are easy interactive activities to help the audience get back on track with your presentation …

What Would You Do?

Isn’t it interesting to know what someone would do in a particular situation or how they would handle it? In this game, you give the audience a scenario and ask how they would deal with it.

Say, for example, you are having a fun night with your friends and family. You could ask questions like, “What would you do if you could be invisible to the human eye?” and see how they handle the given situation.

If you've got remote players, this is a great interactive Zoom game .

This is a perfect game for anyone with an opinion. It’s a great way to start a conversation on your presentation's topic before diving into the meat of it.

You announce a statement and see how everyone feels about it. Each participant shows how they think by moving to one corner of the room. The corners are labelled ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘strongly disagree’, and ‘disagree’. 

Once everyone has taken their place in the corners, you could have a debate or discussion between the teams.

🎲 Looking for more? Check out 11 interactive presentation games !

The 5 Best Interactive Presentation Software

Making a presentation interactive is so much easier with the right tool.

Many interactive presentation websites let your audience respond directly to the content of your presentation and see the results on the big screen. You ask them a question in the form of a poll, word cloud, brainstorming or even a live quiz, and they respond with their phones.

#1 - AhaSlides

AhaSlides presentation platform will let you host fun, interactive presentations for all your needs, with quizzes, live Q&As, word clouds, brainstorming slides, and such.

The audience can join the presentation from their phones and interact with it live. Whether you are presenting to your students, a businessman who wants to hold team-building activities, or someone who wants to have a fun quiz game for your friends and family, this is a great tool you can use, with a ton of fun interactive options.

If you are looking for ways to boost your team’s creativity at your workplace, then Prezi is an excellent tool.

It is a bit similar to how a standard linear presentation would be but more imaginative and creative. With a huge template library and many animated elements, Prezi lets you create a cool, interactive display in no time.

Although the free version does not come with many features, spending a little on the tool is worth it to create content for any occasion.

🎊 Learn more: Top 5+ Prezi Alternatives | 2024 Reveal From AhaSlides

NearPod is a good tool that most educators would get a kick out of. It is specifically designed to cater to educational needs, and the free basic version lets you host a presentation for up to 40 students.

Teachers can build lessons, share them with students and monitor their results. One of the best features of NearPod is the Zoom integration, where you can merge your ongoing Zoom lesson with the interactive presentation.

The tool also has various interactive features such as memory tests, polls, quizzes and video embedding features.

Canva is an easy-to-use kit that even a person with no design experience could master in a few minutes.

With the drag-and-drop feature of Canva, you can create your slides in no time and that too with copyright-free images and a ton of design templates to choose from.

🎉 Learn more: Canva Alternatives | 2024 Reveal | Updated 12 Free and Paid Plans

Keynote for Mac

Keynote is one of the most popular bits of presentation software for Mac . It comes pre-installed and can be easily synced to iCloud, making it accessible across all Apple devices. Along with creating engaging presentations, you can also add a little bit of creativity by adding doodles and illustrations to your presentation.

Keynote presentations can also be exported to PowerPoint, allowing flexibility for the presenter.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i make my presentation more interactive.

You can make a presentation more interactive with these 7 simple strategies: 1. Create icebreaker games 2. Make use of props 3. Create interactive presentation games and quizzes 4. Tell a compelling story 5. Organise a session using a brainstorming tool 6. Make a word cloud for the topic 7. Bring out the Poll Express

Can I make my PowerPoint interactive?

Yes, you can use PowerPoint's AhaSlides add-in to save time and effort while still being able to create interactive activities like polls, Q&A or quizzes.

How can you make presentations interactive to get students involved?

Here are some effective ways to make presentations more interactive and get students involved: 1. Use polls/surveys 2. Use quizzes, leaderboards, and points to make the content feel more game-like and fun. 3. Pose questions and cold call on students to answer and discuss their thinking. 4. Insert relevant videos and have students analyse or reflect on what they saw.

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To help you craft an impactful presentation, let's explore some common pitfalls and how to overcome them

• Bad speeches
• Bad presentation at work
• Death by PowerPoint

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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Interactive presentation: What it is & how to use it

An interactive presentation includes components that the spectators can examine and entitles them to feel belonging through participation. Prevent your dialogues from being predictable; with an interactive presentation, there is always something overlooked waiting to be noticed.

Workplaces, schools, and organizations have turned to remote working and learning models in response to the ongoing global crisis. We’ve been challenged to communicate through screens without proper preparation, leaving plenty of room for miscommunication. 

Clear and effective communication strategies are vital for the proper development of society from learning centers to the workplace, and presentations are often the perfect tool to acquire the wanted effect on our audience.

The success of a presentation depends on the ability to organize and present it well; having a clear idea of your presentation options and how to get the most out of each of them will be the decisive factor.

What is an interactive presentation?

An interactive presentation is a more dynamic way of presenting than the traditional way, by connecting with an audience through sounds and visual tools that amplify the chances for the topic to impact the participants and gain audience engagement significantly.

These presentations allow communication between an audience and their expositor in a dynamic way, enabling interaction through real-time mutual communication. Dynamics of this type are helpful to connect with clients, students, co-workers, or even remote family members.

The importance of audience engagement

The obvious goal whenever preparing a presentation is to successfully engage our audience by delivering the topic in a clear and significant way, as it’s known that the attention span of a standard audience lasts approximately 7 minutes. If the subject is particularly intriguing, it might take up to 10 minutes.

The lack of interaction with the public is the main reason why audience engagement is not acquired in a traditional presentation setting. If the participants don’t identify themselves as relevant to the topic or the experience, the chances are they won’t pay enough attention.

Interactive presentation Tips for audience engagement

We witness an interactive presentation when the presenter can interact with the audience in a back and forth conversation. Whenever you’re the one in front of a stated audience, you can for sure use some of these ideas and tips we’ve gathered for you.

• Create interactive custom content. Build a trivia game with topics of interest to your audience and start with a competitive game to activate the mind.
• Use visuals in your favor. Audiovisual resources aim to facilitate the communication of the message and the retention of the information presented. We must select them appropriately depending on the audience and the theme.
• Ask direct questions to the audience. When the audience members feel they’re part of the presentation and know there is an opportunity to participate directly, they tend to pay more attention and retain data.
• Set moments for discussion sessions. Moderate the conversation in crucial moments of the presentation to avoid blank spaces between bullet points.
• Use interactive games wisely. There are several ways to implement interactive games within a presentation to keep the audience engaged, such as trivia games and fun quizzes.
• Share study cases. A personal story that exemplifies the topic can be engaging when used correctly.

In addition to keeping your audience engaged during a presentation by following these tips, it’s crucial to have the right tools.

Let audience distraction become a thing of the past with QuestionPro LivePolls! Create presentations that look and feel like the best experience for your audience to stay engaged. Stop them from getting glassy-eyed by breaking the monotony.

LivePolls 2.0 is entirely FREE, and we have tons of new features coming your way. Claim your Free account now!

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Interactive Presentation 101: Tips, Templates & Tools

Learn how to create an interactive presentation online. See examples of ready-to-use interactive presentation slides that are optimized for engagement.

Dominika Krukowska

7 minute read

Short answer

How can I make a presentation interactive?

• Add a video on the cover slide
• Use narrated scrollytelling design
• Add multimedia (videos, animations, and text-to-speech readers)
• Visualize your data using live graphs and charts
• Group your content in tabs
• Add input options such as embedded apps, surveys, or calculators
• Hide additional data under “read more”
• Incorporate a chatbot
• End with an interactive next step

Interactivity is a core experience, not just cosmetics

These days, everyone's trying to add a touch of flair to their decks. A fancy transition here, a clickable element there. But let's be honest: it won’t transform the core experience.

It's like putting racing stripes on a family car; sure, it looks faster, but under the hood, it's the same old engine.

If you're settling for these surface-level enhancements, you're missing out on the chance to truly engage your audience.

Instead of leaving them with a memorable experience, you're giving them just another presentation they'll forget by the next coffee break.

By using tools that provide interactivity as the core experience rather than cosmetics, you can transform your presentations from passive viewings into immersive experiences.

It's about creating a two-way conversation, where your audience doesn't just watch but participates.

If you want to elevate your content from being just another slide deck to something that resonates and inspires action you’ll wanna stick around.

This post will give you world-leading interactive presentation examples to learn from and templates you can use immediately.

Let’s go!

Why static presentations are bad for business

Let's face it: static presentations are like that dreaded homework from school. Remember the feeling of slogging through pages of text, eyes glazing over, wishing to be done with it and go do something actually interesting?

That's what your audience feels when they read your static slide deck.

Static presentations just dump information. They're a one-way street, and they expect the audience to passively absorb everything. It's a pain, and honestly, no one's a fan.

Now, imagine a presentation that's interactive. It's like stepping into a playground of information.

Your audience isn't just sitting there; they're involved. They can choose their path, delve deeper into what intrigues them, and skip what doesn't. It's a two-way journey, tailored to each viewer's pace and interest.

Here’s what the difference between static and interactive looks like:

Why more interactivity will NOT get you more engagement

When it comes to presentations, there's a clear divide: they're either interactive or they're not. It's like coffee; it's either decaf or it's not. There's no semi-caffeinated middle ground.

As long as you remain within the bounds of the legacy PowerPoint slide format, no amount of interactivity you add to it will make your presentation worth engaging with.

Now, you might be thinking, "But what about those Canva-like solutions? They add some flair, right?" Yes, they can jazz up your slides with a bit of motion and some shiny effects.

But let's be real: a sprinkle of glitter doesn't turn a rock into a diamond. Beneath the surface bling, the core experience remains static, limited, and boring. A bit of animation doesn’t change that.

These tools might give the illusion of interactivity, but it's just that—an illusion. True interactivity means giving your audience the reins and letting them navigate, explore, and engage with your content on their terms.

Anything less is just a dressed-up version of the same old static PowerPoint.

9 tips for making a truly powerful interactive presentation

Creating a presentation that stands out in today's digital overload is no small feat. But with the right tools and approach, you can turn passive viewers into active participants.

Here's how to make a truly powerful interactive presentation:

1) Add a video on the cover slide

Think of a time-lapse of a bustling city or a heartwarming clip from a community event. Such visual hooks not only captivate but also set the context for your narrative.

Here's an example of a deck with a video on the cover slide:

2) Use narrated design

A narrated design means structuring your slides to unfold like a story, guiding the viewer from one point to the next seamlessly. Letting your audience explore at their own pace increases engagement.

Here's a great example of narrated design:

3) Add multimedia elements

Go beyond text. Integrate images, sound bites, and short clips to highlight points, break up the flow, and cater to different learning preferences.

Here's an example of a multimedia deck:

4) Visualize your data using live graphs and charts

Numbers tell a tale, but in chunks, they're snooze-worthy. Use live graphs and charts to represent data in a digestible, visually appealing manner.

Here ' s an example of a presentation with dataviz elements:

5) Group your content in tabs

Think of this as chapters in a book. Tabs help segment and organize your content, allowing viewers to jump to sections that interest them most.

Here's an example of a tabs slide:

6) Add input options such as embedded apps, surveys, or calculators

Embedded apps can provide tailored experiences, surveys gather immediate audience feedback, and calculators allow for real-time data manipulation.

By including them, you invite your audience to actively engage, making the content more memorable and the experience more dynamic.

7) Hide additional data under “read more”

Offer a teaser, then dive deep. This approach ensures you cater to both the skim-readers and the deep-divers in your audience.

8) Incorporate a chatbot

It's like having a 24/7 assistant. Chatbots can provide instant answers, clarify doubts and keep viewers on track.

Here's an example of a deck with a chatbot:

9) End with an interactive next step

Ditch the generic "Thank You" slide. Instead, wrap up with a call to action, a thought-provoking question, or a personalized video message. It's about leaving a lasting impression and sparking action.

Here's an example of a presentation with a smart CTA:

How to create an interactive presentation with AI

As screens around us buzz with endless streams of content, the main challenge is creating presentations that rise above the noise.

Thankfully, with the help of AI, you can create an impactful interactive presentation in 6 easy steps.

1) Define your presentation’s purpose with AI

Start by letting the AI know the goal of your presentation. Whether you're pitching a solution to prospects, explaining a concept during a workshop, or showcasing quarterly results to stakeholders, AI can generate content that's both relevant and engaging.

2) Introduce your context

Provide the AI with a brief overview of who you are, your company's mission, the product or service you're highlighting, and the industry landscape. This helps the AI tailor the presentation to your unique narrative.

3) Choose a design template

No need to build from the ground up. Platforms like Storydoc offer a variety of design templates optimized for real-world performance. Pick one that resonates with your brand's voice and aesthetic.

4) Customize and add interactivity

This is where the magic happens. Integrate your content, adjust the design, and watch as the template adapts to fit your narrative. Spice things up with clickable tabs, real-time data charts, or other interactive elements.

And if you're feeling a bit unsure about your multimedia choices, you can also let the AI suggest some for you.

5) Add dynamic personalization

Modern tools allow for dynamic content adjustments. You can connect to your CRM, fetch relevant data, and use it to create presentations that feel tailor-made for each viewer in a matter of seconds.

This trick will make your audience feel more connected to your content and boost overall engagement.

6) Review, refine, and stay in control

Before hitting send, give your presentation a once-over. Make sure it flows seamlessly and your message shines through.

And here's the best part: since platforms like Storydoc are online-based, you can make on-the-fly adjustments even after sharing your presentation. No more “Did I just share the old draft?” panic.

7) Advanced: Use analytics to make continuous improvements

Every presentation you create with Storydoc comes with access to a robust analytics suite. This gives you a bird's-eye view of how your content performs, from viewer engagement metrics to slide-by-slide analysis.

Use this data to refine, tweak, and perfect your presentations over time.

Here's a short video explaining how our AI presentation maker works:

Best interactive presentation examples to inspire your own

Dive into our gallery and let these interactive presentation examples spark your inspiration and guide your next presentation journey.

Remember those captivating story books from childhood? The ones where you could choose your own adventure, turning to different pages based on your choices, and every read felt fresh and new?

That's the magic interactive presentation templates bring to the table.

While traditional presentations often feel like a boring lecture, we flip the script. These templates don't just present; they engage. Every element, every interaction, is optimized to ensure your audience isn't just watching—they're participating.

And it's not just about aesthetics. These templates have been in the trenches, battle-tested in real-world scenarios, and have come out as champions, driving results and making lasting impressions.

Best tools for making interactive presentations

While tools like Canva might add a touch of sparkle, they often fall short of creating a truly interactive experience.

So, if you're looking to elevate your presentations from static to dynamic, here's a list of the best tools that genuinely make a difference:

Storydoc is leading the charge in creating AI-powered interactive business presentations for sales, marketing, and reporting. It transforms traditional business decks into dynamic, immersive stories. With AI-driven design, content suggestions, and built-in deck analytics, it brings a storytelling experience into business communications.

Genially offers educational presentations used to enrich learning materials inside and outside the classroom. From dynamic infographics to gamification and thousands of classroom-ready templates, it comes with a range of tools to make your content interactive and engaging.

Foleon is an intuitive all-in-one platform that focuses on creating mini-sites that provide immersive content experiences that work across devices, packed with rich media and interactive elements.

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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Interactive Videos: The Definitive Guide (With 15 of the Best Examples)

This is a complete guide to interactive video in 2023.

It will show you:

• How to create stunning interactive videos.
• How to promote your interactive videos to boost conversions and sales.
• How to save time, money .....and loads more!

So, if you're serious about 'getting ahead' with interactive video....and leaving your competition in the dust....then this guide is for you!

Let's jump straight in!

Interactive videos are exploding in 2023.

But why should you bother with them? Why not just stick to the standard video format?

The short answer is that they are proven to generate greater engagement than traditional linear videos. This is because they allow your viewer to immerse more deeply in the experience by having more control over it.

But don’t just take my word for it. Let’s have a look the facts:

According to Mobile Marketer, interactive videos boost viewing time by a whopping 47%.

Not only this, they according to Mobile Marketer increase purchaser intent by a massive 9 times!

And having produced numerous interactive videos here at Spiel, we have noticed a significant increase in conversion rates when comparing interactive videos to more traditional linear ones.

So if you’re interested in a new way to boost engagement and grow your sales…..keep reading!

What does interactive video mean?

An interactive video allows the viewer to interact with the content. This is done through the use of hotspots and branching. Hotspots are clickable areas which lead to more information being revealed whilst branching allows the viewer to choose the direction of the narrative.

Interactive Videos: The Statistics

To find out exactly how effective interactive videos can be, we carried out two detailed surveys.

The first survey involved interviewing a total of 73 business professionals who had already created at least one interactive video to understand how it had impacted their businesses.

The second survey involved interviewing a total of 100 consumers learn what they thought about interactive videos.

You can check out all the results of our interactive video survey here .

Check out the video below that we created that also summaries the results of our interactive video survey:

Key Interactive Video Statistics

Below are some of the key finding of our interactive video survey that involved interviewing a total of 170 participants:

Key Features Of Interactive Videos Explained

So as I mentioned above, there are certain distinct features that result in a video being interactive. Let’s now go through each one in more detail:

Clickable Hotspots: These are basically areas on the video which can be clicked on to reveal more information. There are two distinct types of hotspots.

• Static Hotspots: These are hotspots that appear statically on the screen in a fixed area.
• Sticky Hotspots: These are hotspots that appear attached to an object on the screen. For example, this type of hotspot could appear near an item of clothing or a person in the video. So when the person moves on the screen, the hotspot ‘sticks’ close to the specified object.

According to the interactive software platform WireWax, sticky hotspots can generate as much as 9 times more engagement than static hotspots. So whenever possible, you should try and use sticky hotspots over static ones in your videos. Later in the article, I will show you how you can do this.

Below are three examples of great ways that you can use hotspots in your videos:

• Branching: This is the term used to describe when the viewer can click on a hotspot to jump to a scene of their choice. For example, your video could give the viewer the option to choose to view ‘men’s clothing’ or ‘women’s clothing’ and the video would then ‘branch’ on to the next scene as per the viewer’s choice.
• Provide additional information: When a hotspot is clicked on, an overlay can appear which provides additional information. For example, if you have a hotspot next to a pair on sunglasses in a video, when it is clicked on, it could display more information about the item such as its brand, price, delivery time etc.
• Diverting traffic to specific URL: Hotspots are also great for diverting traffic from your video to a webpage that you eventually want your viewers to end up on.

Overlays: This is basically the additional information that appears on the screen once a hotspot is clicked on. Sky is really the limit as to what you can include in your overlay. This includes data capture forms, detailed information on the concerned scene or product, downloadable content, URL’s, contact forms and more.

360 Degree Experiences: Merging 360 degree video visuals with hotspots and overlays to give a more immersive experience is a another common feature of interactive videos.

To learn more about all the features I’ve just mentioned above, check out the video below. In this video that we created here at Spiel, you’ll see real life examples of hotspots and overlays which will give you a clearer understanding of exactly what they are and how to use them.

“Research by Mobile Marketer shows that interactive videos can increase viewing time by a massive 47%”

What Can I Use Interactive Videos For?

So now I’ve successfully convinced you of the benefits of using interactive video, and you’re keen to try it out….but what will be the best way to do so for your business?

In other words, how can you use your interactive video in a way that will deliver the best return on your investment?

• Boost your online sales
• Product demos
• Education & Training
• Recruitment
• Customer feedback

Social Media

Boost your online sales.

Do you want people to buy more of your products once they land on your website?

Most people are still relying on the standard approach of relying on text and images alone to showcase their products.

In comparison, have a look at Ted Bakers’ interactive video .

Rather than just relying on the conventional approach, Ted Bakers’ interactive video allows viewers to shop directly for clothes that they see the models wearing in the video.

Through seamlessly combining video with the ability to purchase clothing using cool, trendy footage, Ted Baker really bring the shopping experience to life.

And gain an edge through creating a much stronger connection between their viewers and their clothing.

And the result…..you guessed it…..a boost in sales!

Looking at the video….you may be thinking that it looks great…but that you simply don’t have the budget to create such high quality footage.

So how could you make this work for your business?

Well, the short answer is that you don’t necessarily have to spend big to get great results.

Simple videos of your products being displayed or used combined with interactive features can in most occasions deliver a significant boost in sales. So don’t be disheartened.

Interactive Sales Video Tips

• Use sticky hotspots over static ones – If you don’t know what these are, this was explained in the previous section.
• Tell a story – Don’t just display your product and add the option for your prospects to purchase. Rather, tell a story which makes the viewer understand why your product is right for them. You’ll see a big difference in sales.
• Generate emotion – Bold videos that stand out and really capture your viewers attention perform better than dry factual ones. If in doubt, lean towards a bolder approach that makes your video stand out rather over trying to play it safe.
• Don’t delay asking your viewers to purchase – you don’t want your viewers to watch your interactive video and then move on. You want to do everything possible to make them purchase whilst they are engaging with your interactive video. So add incentives for them to purchase from you on the spot. Offering a limited time discount offer or highlighting how many of the items are left in stock to generate a feeling of scarcity are two ways in which you can do this.
• Manage objections through overlays – know what are the main objections that your viewers may have to purchasing your product and aim to address them in your interactive video itself. This is important so that your viewers don’t leave your video to find answers to their objections. Two great ways that you can do this are through the overlays that appear in your video and through the content of the video itself.
• Capture leads – Unfortunately, not everyone who views your video will make that all important purchase. So make sure you’re capturing their information. That way, you can continue with the sales process after they have watched your video.

Interactive Demo Videos

It goes without saying that interactive videos are a much more immersive way of showcasing your product compared to standard linear videos.

Below are some actionable tips to take into consideration when producing an interactive demo video:

Interactive Demo Video Tips

• Prioritise Interactivity: A common mistake people make when producing their interactive demo videos is ramble on too much. Instead, keep your script short and sweet, whilst getting the viewer to interact as much as possible with your product. The more your viewer interacts with your product, the higher the chances of them buying!
• Add Feature Based Scenarios: A great advantage of interactive video is that you can create multiple scenarios. For example, if you sell mountain bikes, you can create one branching pathway in your video that shows your bike against a nice clear background. When different hotspots on the bike are clicked on, this would then lead to information on that particular feature being revealed. Adding ‘feature based branches’ will greatly boost sales from prospects who are feature orientated.
• Add Benefits Based Scenarios: These are often neglected but just as important. Create scenarios which showcase the benefits of your product. For instance, in the mountain bike example, you could create a scenario where the bike is being ridden across rough terrain. You could immerse the viewer by asking them choose the path of the terrain, e.g. through mud, steep climbs, rain etc where they can then see how the bike performs.
• Generate Emotion: To generate sales you need to win both the hearts and minds of your customers. So make sure your interactive video takes your viewers on an emotional journey. Interactive videos are great for creating scenarios which involve surprise, humour, cuteness etc. So take advantage of this.
• Be Creative With Your CTA’s: Try getting more creative with your CTA’s than just adding a ‘buy now’ tab in your video. Instead think how you can add CTA’s which are more relevant to a particular scene in your demo video. For example, in the mountain bike scenario, right after a scene where your mountain bike is ridden down a steep hill, you could add a CTA asking your viewer to get in touch with you to learn which of your bike models is best for this particular type of trek for their budget. You get the idea!

Interactive Educational Videos

Interactive videos are rapidly growing in popularity as an educational tool as the number of distinct benefits over stand linear videos.

These include:

• Interactive videos proactively engage their viewers compared to linear videos that involve passively watching content. This means better retention of the information that you are aiming to get across.
• By including tests and challenges in your interactive video, your audience will be able to actively assess their learning as they go through your content.
• With interactive video, your audience will have much greater flexibility to select the content they want to watch and engage. This is because interactive videos can be more easily divided into chapters and subjects through the use of ‘branching’. Meaning interactive video is more likely to retain your audience’s interest when compared to a standard video.

Interactive Educational Video Tips

• Create Clear Chapters: This will help your viewers better navigate your content and understand how they are progressing with their learning.
• Use Quizzes: Good approaches include adding your quiz at the end of each chapter or as ‘challenges’ which occur as part of your video’s narrative.
• Reward Success: this works because of that sweet dopamine rush that rewards give us that make us want to keep coming back for more! The reward in your video can be something as simple as gaining numerical points which appear on your personal score sheet. If you want to get more creative, unlocking special content which only appears when you achieve a certain target can be a great strategy.
• Let Your Audience Take Control: Letting your audience have control over the narrative of your video can massively increase their learning. For example, let’s say you were creating an educational video for medical students which discusses different approaches that can be taken for a specific procedure. Rather than just having a presenter talk through the different approaches in front of a camera, you could ask the audience to make decisions which lead to different outcomes. Your viewers are much more likely to learn from seeing the outcomes of the decisions that ‘they make’ compared with passively listening to someone talking to them.
• Make Use of All Senses: as you already know, video is great for engaging both the visual and auditory senses. But interactive videos take this a step further by making the viewer engage with hotspots and overlays which activate both the touch sense and kinaesthetic memory. And as countless studies show, the more senses you involve in your learning, the greater will be your comprehension and memory recall. So make sure your interactive video includes plenty of hotspots which the viewer can engage with. In addition, try to vary the locations of the hotspots to magnify the use of kinaesthetic memory.
• Add Summary Sections: Adding summary sections at the end of each chapter of your video is a great way to consolidate the key information that you want your viewers to take away. Also, don’t forget to make sure that your viewers easily access these summary sections via a well structured contents menu at the start of your video. This will significantly increase the number of viewers that keep returning to your video.

Gathering Customer Feedback

Gathering customer feedback and engaging in consumer research is more important than ever if you want your business to succeed. Interactive videos are one of the best ways of getting this feedback, as it’s easy, fun and far less dry (or irritating!) than a standard survey.

Think of clever ways of building computer game-like stories around your product that includes customer feedback in a natural way. For example, let them choose where they want to focus their attention in order to see where their interests lie so that you can focus on those areas in the future.

But the possibilities are endless!

Customer Feedback Video Tips

• Gather data on the customer first: consider asking the user some questions about themselves – for instance, their gender and age range – at the start of the video. This will allow you to analyse your results according to their demographic.
• Take the user back through their consumer journey: Interactive videos are a great way to remind your customer of their experience with you. Walk them through their consumer journey, from what drew them to your product all the way to the point of sale and beyond. Ask them to rate each moment in the journey. As they go along, they’ll remember all the things they liked (or didn’t like) about the experience.
• Engage as many senses as possible: If you’re doing market research and would like to test out a new product, product name, or branding, an interactive video is the perfect way to test out your ideas on your customer base. Take full advantage of the medium by immersing the user into the video and capturing their attention – use sound, movement and exciting visuals to fully share your vision.
• Don’t give too many options (but don’t give too few!): You want to provide the user with enough options to gauge their opinions, but not so many that they become overwhelmed. Around 7 questions with 3 to 5 choices each tends to be the sweet spot!
• Don’t guide the user’s hand too much: think about what feedback your customer will want to give – not just the feedback you’re hoping to receive! Allow for a range of feedback, and give the user the opportunity to provide their own comments if they wish.

Interactive Recruitment Videos

As a recruitment tool, interactive videos can save a lot of time, hassle and worry.

For instance, you could simulate a first-person ‘day in the life’ of someone working in the position advertised. This would give potential recruits a chance to see what some of the work would entail and give them an idea of the company environment.

You could also use your video as a tool to ask some preliminary pre-interview questions. This could help you select which applicants you’re going to progress to the interview stage.

With the right video, by the time you’re sitting down at the interview both you and the interviewee can be confident that they would be a good potential fit for your team.

Interactive Recruitment Video Tips

• Ask the user questions: This is a great first opportunity to get to know the applicant, so take advantage of it! Think about what you’ll need from the person filling the role and base your questions around that. Don’t make the questions too easy – asking them ‘yes/no’ questions about the basic requirements stated on the ad won’t tell you anything you can’t gauge from their CV. Don’t be afraid to be creative!
• Consider filming in and around your actual office space: If possible, use your actual office and colleagues in the film. This will give the applicant an idea of what to expect!
• Provide information about the company: Throughout the video, add interactive elements that provide some information about the company or team. Not only will it be useful for the applicant, but you’ll also be able to ask them about these to check they were paying attention…!
• Make it fun! This isn’t your average recruitment tool, so make it stand out. The experience should be as enjoyable as it is useful, and should make the applicant want to join your team.

Social media is a great platform for interactive videos. Whatever your business, websites like Twitter and YouTube are perfect places to post your

• Spark a conversation
• Gain more followers
• Boost brand awareness
• Create something fun and new for your users

Social Media Video Tips

• Take the user on a journey: As with all the examples above, the key here is to spark emotion in the user. If they feel like they have a say in where your video is going, they will be more engaged in the virtual journey you’re taking them on. This will help your followers feel closer to you.
• Ask them what they want to see: If you use social media regularly, an interactive video is a great way to find out what kind of content your users would like to see next.
• Use humour: One great way to make your video stand out is to use humour and subvert expectations.
• Encourage conversation in the comments: Don’t forget the ‘social’ in social media – your video is sure to spark some comments, so join in the conversation!

How Can I Produce An Interactive Video That Works?

Let’s take a look at the steps you’ll need to take in order to make a great interactive video.

Set Your Goals

Before you start, outline what you’re expecting to achieve from your video.

Be as specific as possible: if you want to increase your sales, what figures are you (realistically!) hoping for, and over what time frame? If you’re looking to improve brand awareness, how do you intend to measure this?

Having a clear goal will help your team stay on the same page, and you’ll know how to measure the performance of your video once it goes live.

Decide on Your Creative Vision

You should have a clear vision of what you want your video to look like. What makes your idea stand out, and how do you want to incorporate i nteractive elements into your video?

Create Your Map

Next, create an outline of the interactive features you want to include in your video.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What story (or stories) is your video going to tell?
• How many interactive moments do you want to include?
• If you’re using branching, how will the storyline change depending on what the user selects?

If you’re using branching in your video, creating a map is essential. The more options you include, the more branches you’ll create. Having a clear map to refer back to will help you keep track!

Here’s an example of an interactive flow map that I created recently:

“Don’t make your script too lengthy – you want the viewer to interact as much as possible with your video.”

Write Your Script

Now that you have an outline, you’re ready to start writing your script.

Remember that the basic principles of creating a video still apply. You want your video to be engaging and memorable for your audience. If you only focus on the interactive elements and forget about the actual content, your video will appear gimmicky, which is definitely not what you want!

Consider all the possible pathways a user may take. Each option should be equally strong – think of what you’re writing as several standalone scripts.

Make Your Storyboard

This stage will bring all the parts of your vision together.

Combine your initial map with your script so that you can easily read through each version of your story.

You also need to decide where the interactive elements will appear on the screen. Do you want them to be static, or move along with the image? Do they all lead to different parts of the story, or do some serve a different function (e.g. further information or the ability to click and purchase an item within the ad)?

Create Your Video

Now it’s time to shoot your video! Whether your film is live action or animated, make sure you’re happy with each of the branches of the story and that you haven’t left any key elements out. Unless you have the resources to shoot your own video, you may wish to commission an agency – I’ll tell you more about what you should be looking out for below.

Add Your Interactive Elements

The final – and arguably most important! – step is to edit your video and add the interactive elements to the footage. If you plan on doing this yourself, you’ll need an interactive video software. There are a number of options available at different price points – in Chapter 6, I’ll guide you through some of the best tools on the market today.

Test Out Every Option

Before you upload your video, make sure you’ve tested out each of the different branches on your storyboard, and clicked on every interactive element to check it’s working correctly. Once you’re sure you’re happy with all of them, your ad is ready to go live!

• Remember: you want to create an ad that will stand out on its own merit, not just because it’s interactive
• Each branch of your storyline should be equally punchy and engaging
• Think about when the interactive elements appear in your video: does it make sense from the user’s perspective? How does it guide the user toward what you want to achieve?
• Consider who would be more likely to click on a certain option. Are you targeting a different demographic in each branch of your storyline? Will the option the user chooses change what action you want them to take?

Should I Commission the Work to an Agency?

If you or a member of your team have the technical know-how required to produce an interactive video, you may wish to invest in a subscription for interactive video software. However, it may be far more time and cost-effective to commission an agency.

Before you take the plunge, make sure you do your research. Look for a company that has a proven track record of producing high-quality interactive content. Take a look at some of the videos they have made for other clients to see if you like the quality of their work.

The agency should take time to listen to your needs and make sure you’re on the same page creatively. They should also be transparent about cost and timing, and shouldn’t pressure you into a quick sale.

Interactive Video Software Options

With the rise of the technique, new and better interactive video software tools are constantly coming onto the market. So, now more than ever it’s easier for non-professionals to make their own high-quality videos and publish them on popular interactive video platforms.

Here are three of my favourite interactive video software packages and platforms currently available:

1. Rapt Interactive Video Software

Rapt Media’s cloud-based software is a great all-round tool that allows you to build interactive experiences with their ‘composer’, publish videos to their ‘player’ platform and measure them with their ‘analytics dashboard’.

No need for computer coding, you can simply drag-and-drop clickable hotspots and story branches into the video.

Prices available upon contact to suit your requirements.

2. Wirewax Interactive Video Software

WIREWAX is the most comprehensive and capable interactive video software available anywhere today. Their self-serve Studio platform allows you to add hotspots (static or motion-tracking) to your videos along with a host of other features including branching, pulling in live data feeds and even connecting your video to your site via their iframe API.

They offer different tiers of pricing based on user requirements, ranging from $999 / month for a Small Brand through to Enterprise levels for their most robust offering. You can see their complete pricing here .

3. Verse Interactive Video Tool

Verse is a full-service multimedia platform that leverages the latest adaptive streaming, video compression and CDN optimization technologies to deliver great interactive experiences.

Unlike many other interactive video technologies, which include limited navigation features to seek through a single video file, Verse allows truly seamless navigation between any number of individual video assets, offering greater freedom for both viewers and content creators.

Users can upload media assets to their accounts and construct interactive experiences with their videos and images using the platform’s interactive video editor.

Key features within the editor include:

• Interactive hotspot editing to generate clickable hit areas within videos, which can be used to create links to other media assets or external websites.
• Looping-video decision points, which can be used in conjunction with hotspots to create branching video narratives and interactive games.
• Chapter-based organization tools, which can be used to manage and customize relationships between videos or groups of videos within a project.

Other features include support for vertical and 360-degree video; multi-lingual closed captioning; third-party analytics integrations; developer APIs; offline project delivery; white-labeling services; ad delivery; and custom player styling options.

Completed Verse experiences can be published and embedded on third-party websites and apps through the platform’s interactive media player application.

“86.2% of businesses that have used interactive videos say they are looking to create more in the future.”

Interactive Videos On YouTube & Vimeo

Here is a demonstration of how YouTube’s built-in tools can be used to make videos with alternative story branches:

And here is an example of a creative 360-degree interactive video hosted by Vimeo:

As well as the biggest video platforms, some of the world’s biggest social media companies are also getting in on the action.

For instance, in June 2018, Facebook announced ‘a set of new tools — polling for Live and on-demand video and gamification for Live — that will give creators the power to create fun, unique and interactive content for their fans.’

So, there’s no doubt that interactive video is destined to be a hugely popular and important tool for marketers in the coming years.

If you would like a simple guide to shooting video by yourself, take a look at my infographic on the topic here .

Enough detail!

How Much Will My Interactive Video Cost?

The cost of your interactive video will depend on a number of factors.

But basically, it can be split into two categories:

• Firstly, the cost of producing the video itself.
• Secondly, the cost of adding the interactive features afterwards.

The cost of producing your video will really depend on the kind of video you have in mind: will your video be animated or live action? How ambitious do you want to be – will it require special effects or shooting in multiple locations?

In order to add the interactive elements, you’ll need to purchase an interactive software package. Most providers charge an annual fee to use their platform and prices can vary significantly from provider to provider…..from a few hundred dollars to thousands annually. So you’ll need to shop around!

Another thing to consider is that  good interactive agencies should already have an interactive video software platform that they regularly use to build create their videos.

So, they should be able to help you avoid purchasing an interactive software platform just for your video…saving you thousands! And this is exactly what we do here at Spiel.

Also, before setting your budget, it’s a good idea to work out your potential return on investment (ROI) that you can achieve from your video.

We’ve created an in-house ROI calculator to help you do this  – check it out below:

So in a nutshell, pricing will vary greatly depending on the agency you choose to work with, the type of video you want to create and how you wish to include your interactive elements.

However, to give you an a more tangible idea of cost, as a ballpark, our interactive video prices start from around $3,000.

So feel free to get in touch if you would like our help!

Here Are 15 Of The World’s Best Examples Of Interactive Videos Anywhere Online:

Mended little hearts – interactive video.

Children’s congenital heart disease charity Mended Little Hearts created this moving interactive video titled Give a Fuller Life. The video follows a day in the life of a boy called Max with a heart condition.

Interact with the video

The purpose of the interaction in this video is all about getting people to donate. The more you pledge to give, the fuller the world around Max becomes, transforming from empty and white to full of colour and life.

It is a great metaphor for the charity’s work and is used to powerful effect with beautiful 3D animation.

By sincerely depicting how your work can make a difference in people’s lives is a far more effective way of encouraging viewers to donate than with a passionate plea.

Jeff Buckley – Interactive Video

This interactive animated music video is for late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley’s heartfelt cover of Bob Dylan’s Just Like a Woman . With 73 different clickable cells, it gives the audience (literally) countless ways to change the narrative of the love story.

The viewer’s selections can also influence the music itself. While it begins with just Buckley’s voice and guitar, it has the potential to end with an entire choir and orchestra arrangement – 16,000 musical combinations in total.

The 4-and-a-half-minute clip shows the enormous possibilities of interactive video. If your art reflects something as complicated as the highs and lows of human relationships, perhaps it’s the perfect format to present it through.

Deloitte – Interactive Video

Multinational professional services network Deloitte created this gamified interactive recruitment video for their office in New Zealand. Titled ‘Will You Fit into Deloitte?’, it’s a first-person experience introducing the viewer to the company culture as well as educating them about what is expected of employees.

This interactive video is so great because it removes the stress of entering a new environment by portraying just how welcoming and supportive it is.

Through a number of real-life office dilemmas, like a printer breakdown, the audience can choose what course of action to take and see the consequences of those actions play out. The video has been widely shared on social media and the average viewing time is over 5 minutes.

When it comes to recruitment, interactive video would certainly make the decision to apply for a role at your company a lot easier.

Ted Baker – Interactive Video

British luxury clothing brand Ted Baker created this interactive video for their website landing page.

It depicts a fashionable man and woman strolling through the woods with ‘click to shop’ tags pointing at their various items of clothing and accessories. When the viewer clicks on one, a pop-up appears with a description of the item, its price and a link to purchase it.

This is a great example of modern interactive marketing video. It makes it infinitely less effort for customers to find the items they see advertised on screen, guaranteeing more sales.

Interactive video advertising is an easy way to take people straight to the products they want without even having to pause the ad.

The Jungle Book – Interactive Video

For the launch of the 2016 remake of the classic Jungle Book movie, Disney released this stunning interactive video to show how it was made.

The clip has a movable split screen that plays shots from the actual movie alongside the pre-CGI behind the scenes filming of the same shots. As well as that, there are multiple clickable hotspots revealing hidden information about the story and interviews with the cast.

This is an amazing example of an exciting big budget interactive video made to build anticipation and excitement around a major animated feature film.

It may not be feasible for the average interactive video customer, but it really does demonstrate that even major companies in the entertainment industry are seeing the entertainment value of it.

Maybelline – Interactive Video

Major American makeup brand Maybelline New York made this interactive tutorial video to educate their customers about achieving signature looks tailored to their individual mascara preferences and needs.

Narrated by stylist Kelly Framel, the video goes through some of the biggest mascara fashion trends by asking the viewer to select between things like day and night, modern mod and avant garde, club tropicana and rebel chic.

Maybelline knew their customer base was increasingly purchasing online on mobile devices and needed a new way of launching their products specifically for them. Interactive video was the perfect solution and made their click-through rate 14 times higher than the industry average.

Before making your interactive video, know exactly how your audience wants to consume your content.

The Resuscitation Council (UK) – Interactive Video

The Resuscitation Council, the body responsible for setting central standards for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and related disciplines, released this ground-breaking scenario-based interactive video.

It throws the viewer into 4 intense situations in which crucial decisions must be made in order to save a person’s life. The aim is to teach people essential life-saving skills in the most engaging manner possible.

The high production value, dramatic sound design and convincing dialogue and acting really make it feel like you’re in a movie. And with the clock ticking, the pressure is on to react to the situation at hand.

This is a perfect example of an interactive educational video, scenario-based interactive video that makes people take notice. If you have important information for public consumption, gamified interactive videos are the best way to get it across.

Samsung – Interactive Video

For the launch of their Gear VR, Samsung created this interactive 3D surfing video that immerses the viewer in the heart of the action. Narrated by professional surfer Ian Walsh, it gives us a realistic, slow-motion perspective of what it feels like to be inside the barrel of a wave and live a day in the life a pro surfer.

Given the extraordinary setting of this video, the 360-degree perspective makes people want to watch it multiple times in order to see every detail and angle. And, by telling the story of someone who’s job places them in such unique positions, it does what all great advertisements should: make us forget we’re watching an advertisement.

Tell a fascinating first-person story using 360-degree virtual reality to engage an audience with your interactive video.

Alfredo Gonzalez

The world’s first lifestyle sock brand Alfredo Gonzalez created this interactive video as a demo and not as part of a campaign. However, it is still a great example of how interactive video can be used to gather customer data and teach viewers about your brand.

It uses a series of questions and images interposed between video clips to allow the audience to input various information about their personal style preferences and contact details.

Knowing as much about your customers as possible is vital for any business strategy, but forcing surveys and questionnaires on them can be a nuisance. That’s why interactive video is such a great new tool for gathering data in a way that, when done right, can actually be fun.

Nicky Case – Interactive Video

Game developer Nicky Case makes animated interactive games and videos to educate people about complex issues in an easy to understand way.

This video is a basic 2D visualisation of how neural connections can lead to anxiety (Hebbian Learning) and how we can go about unlearning those connections (Anti-Hebbian Learning). By allowing the viewer to interact with individual neurons, they can get an idea of how the pathways are formed and unformed.

Interactive video is a great tool for educating people of all ages on complex subjects, because, instead of turning them off with difficult-to-follow text, it gives them a simple visual representation they can play as if it were a game, actually making the experience enjoyable.

“Compared to static hotspots, sticky hotspots generate up to 9 times more engagement.”

LaCantina – Interactive Video

Folding glass door manufacturer LaCantina created these interactive product demonstrations to show off their various doors for indoor/outdoor living in many different environments and from many different angles.

It allows viewers to choose a video based on individual features, such as configuration, glass, operation, etc., and each helps them to find the option best suited to their specific environment. As well as that, the audience can flick between different views of the same scene in order to get a thorough picture.

This is a perfect example of how to demonstrate a customisable product with an interactive video. It breaks the many features into small, easily-digestible parts that go a long way towards driving sales.

IAB – Interactive Video

Advertising organisation The Interactive Advertising Bureau made this interactive video to help explain the digital advertising ecosystem.

This is a great example of an interactive marketing video using basic 2D animation. It creates a simplified view of the marketplace with 6 rings, from ‘brand’ in the centre to ‘business intelligence’ on the outside, that the viewer can explore in their own time.

If describing a complex system, it’s far more effective to break it up into its main components and explain each of them separately than trying to cram it all into 1 linear video. Interactive video is definitely the best way of achieving this.

Asos – Interactive Video

British online fashion and cosmetic retailer Asos created this interactive YouTube video example back in 2014.

Featuring a track by the band Juce titled The Heat , it portrays Asos as a fun and fashionable brand and shows off their ranges by allowing the viewer to toggle between 5 different colour themes. If yellow is selected, for example, the entire scene, from clothes to instruments to props, changes to that colour.

This is an excellent example of a creative interactive marketing video made to build a certain image around a company. It’s fun and it’s not forcing their product and service on the audience.

How could you build your brand’s image in an effortlessly fun way?

Special Broadcasting Service – Interactive Video

Australian multicultural and multilingual broadcaster SBS made this brilliant, multi-award-winning voice-activated animated interactive video titled ‘My Grandmother’s Lingo’.

It follows an Aboriginal woman, Angelina, fighting to save Marra, a dying language in remote Northern Australia. After the deaths of her grandparents, there are only 3 people left who can speak it and, with time running out, Angelica is determined to learn.

With an estimated 1 language lost every 2 weeks and with 90% of Australian languages critically endangered, the message couldn’t be more poignant. Interacting through the computer microphone is just another creative example of how you can engage your audience.

Portugal. The Man. – Interactive Video

Alaskan rock band Portugal. The Man created this politically charged interactive video for their Grammy Award-winning song Feel It Still .

It encourages viewers to click on pop-up hotspots inside the video that add ‘resistant tools’ to your toolkit. They include things like elect women, combat climate change, fund planned parenthood and understand your protest rights, all with links for further information.

This is another good example, not only of how interactive video can be used for entertainment, but also how it can transform regular videos into something completely different.

In the digital world, there might be no more effective way of communicating your agenda than with interactive videos.

• I hope this article has been a useful introduction to interactive video and maybe even got you thinking about creating your own.
• While watching these 15 examples, are there any that speak to your video needs? Be sure to save them for future reference.
• Remember that, as well as being unbelievable versatile, interactive video is proven to be more effective and engaging than almost any other online format, making it well worth the investment.
• Please leave any questions or comments below. I’d be happy to reply to them!

If you would like to learn about explainer videos , another amazingly engaging video style, you can take a look at my definitive guide here.

If you would like to discuss an interactive video for your business, you can get in touch with our interactive videos company on 0208 798 2507.

11 Comments

This is a worth reading blog. Thanks a lot for sharing a detailed blog.

Extremely intetresting. What you seem to imply, though, is that there is no software available for private use yet (or, if there is, it is extremely expensive)

Extremely interesting. What you seem to imply, though, is that there is no software to make such videos on your own so far (or, if so, they are damn expensive…)

This article explained so many things that I didn’t know at all. Thanks Darren for such in-depth information.

Thanks Shalaka

Thanks Shalaka. You’re welcome!

Thanks for sharing.

It’s really a nice and helpful piece of info interactive videos.I’m happy that you shared this helpful information with us.Please keep us up to date like this.Thanks for sharing.

Great article, thanks! I’m a teacher trainer on multimedia applied to the teaching of English as a foreign language, and I found your post really useful.

Glad you found the post useful.

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Interactive Videos: Definition, Types, Benefits, and How to Create

by Hai Yen Vu | Sep 25, 2020

In the previous article, you’ve already known the importance of video content in marketing strategy . However, do you know that the eLearning industry has also been shifting towards digital video content? Using videos in eLearning courses helps to reduce the huge reading load for learners by presenting content as engaging visuals. As videos contain both visual and auditory elements, they become intriguing resources for training activities. If you are wondering how to create high-quality video content that is both informative and stimulating for your learners, interactive videos may be the key that you are looking for. Including interactive elements such as click-to-reveal actions, hotspots, quizzes, etc., interactive videos can transform learning experiences from passive to active learning, and from one-way to two-way communication.

Photo by Julia M Cameron from Pexels

In this blog post, let’s explore all necessary information about interactive videos.

What is Interactive Video?

As you may know, with a traditional or linear video, learners can start, pause, rewind, fast forward, and replay it. However, there is nothing they can do to interact with its content. 

Meanwhile, an interactive video goes beyond the “Play” and “Pause” buttons. It allows learners to hover, click, drag, and perform other actions as set by content creators. Instead of consuming the video content passively, learners can actively involve in the content and even become the main character of it.

For example, while watching a video, learners can click on a pop-up button. The button will redirect them to a new web page or give them easy access to helpful resources. In another scenario, knowledge-check questions will appear at several predefined points in a video. Through these questions, you can make sure that learners are getting the most of its content. 

3 Types of Interactive Videos in eLearning and its Benefits

There are many types of interactive videos . However, when it comes to eLearning, it would be an omission without mentioning branching, interactive quizzes, and hotspot videos.

Branching Videos

Branching videos are also known as choose-your-own-adventure videos or learner-led videos. As its name implies, branching videos often include different paths or scenarios. Among these, learners can choose one that they want to go on. With each choice that learners make, it will shift them to a different path to show consequences of their decision.

While watching traditional videos, learners are put in a position of sustained and passive viewers. They just simply watch the video and try to collect as much information as possible. Meanwhile, branching videos help to turn even the most passive learners into engaged, motivated, and active ones. 

Having the ability to let learners decide what happens next, branching videos can draw learners in its content. They can even let learners become a part of creating their own story.

Interactive Video Quizzes

Long videos often lead to the cognitive overload because there is much information presented to learners. It results in the inability of identifying key learning objectives of the video. Apart from that, it also affects learner’s power of concentration as they may easily lose focus along the way. That’s where interactive video quizzes come in.

In case of long videos, you can add breaks to them by inserting quizzes at specific points. Thanks to that, videos will be automatically paused at a key decision point, then a question will arise. Learners need to respond to the question to make the video continue playing. Such interactive video quizzes with knowledge-check questions will keep learners paying attention to the video content. As they know they need to answer questions which may appear any time in the video, they will try to focus on it.

By structuring your information into bite-sized chunks and adding quizzes at specific points of videos, you can test learners on what they have been watching. This greatly relieves learners’ brains, enhances their power of concentration, and helps them to retain information better.

Hotspot Videos

Hotspot is a clickable object. A hotspot video is a video that contain one or more clickable objects, for example, clickable links, buttons or callouts. When learners click on these interactive elements, they will redirect them to external resources such as a web page, another video, a pdf file, etc. This kind of interactive video allows learners to interact with its content without breaking its flow. 

A recently published study found that our collective attention span is narrowing due to the negative effects of social media and a hectic news cycle. The evolution of social media has brought us more things to focus on, but for very short periods of time. That’s why if learners just sit in front of a device and watch a video passively, it is easy for them to get distracted. By adding hotspots to a video, you can create interactive elements that help to capture learners’ attention. Thanks to that, the effectiveness and learner’s engagement will be greatly boosted.

How to Make it?

So, haven’t you been convinced to leverage interactive video content in your eLearning courses? If you’re thinking about complicated steps to create this kind of video, no worries! It’s not that difficult as you are imaging. There’s no need to produce any new video content because you can make use of your old videos or free stock videos . Then, you can use ActivePresenter 8 – a powerful eLearning software – to add layers of interactivity and bring the learning environment to videos that will encourage a variety of responses from learners. 

Take a look at this article to know how to create interactive video quizzes with ActivePresenter 8. 

Besides, to know how to create different types of interactive videos as well as other kinds of eLearning content, keep following our website , YouTube channel, Twitter and Facebook page for more interesting information everyday.

What is Interactive Video?

Last updated on 9th August 2023

Interactive video is a form of media many top brands are using to engage consumers and reach their digital marketing goals. While new, this media is exciting viewers and marketers alike.

According to our State of Video Marketing report , 17% of video marketers plan to include interactive video in their 2022 video marketing strategy.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

Just what exactly is interactive video? If you’ve heard of this new form of video media but don’t know exactly what it is or how you can use it, we’ve put together this simple guide to understanding it.

Interactive video vs linear video

Traditional video, or linear video, is the type of video you’re probably most used to. When you view a linear video, you click “play” to start the content, with the options to pause, rewind, fast forward and restart the video during the experience. Aside from those limited functions, there isn’t much you can do to interact with a linear video.

An interactive video gives the viewer the ability to interact with the video content itself through a variety of tools. Users can click, drag, scroll, hover, gesture and complete other digital actions to interact with the video’s content, similar to the way they’d interact with web content.

There are several different functionalities you can build into an interactive video, but the most commonly used options include:

• Hotspots : clickable areas within a video; these buttons can take a viewer to a separate web page or reveal content directly within the video, like merchandise pricing
• 360 views : the ability for a user to drag the screen within a video frame to see in all directions
• Branches : different paths a user can take to control and customise the content they see
• Data inputs: form fields through which a user can enter information like their name, age, etc.
• Quizzes : combining buttons and branching to deliver an assessment and reveal a personalised result at the end of the video  

These tools create a more fun and engaging experience for the viewer and turn a potentially static video into something more memorable, enjoyable and interactive.

Why use interactive video?

Interactive video has quickly become a well-established and widely used marketing tool. According to a study by Spiel Creative , almost 90% of marketers surveyed noted a growth in their online sales after incorporating interactive video , and over 85% said that they would create more interactive videos in the future .

Those numbers will likely increase further as brands explore different tactics and figure out which resonate most with their target audience.

As you contemplate whether interactive video is right for your brand , consider the main reasons many companies are adding it to their digital media toolbox.

It’s popular

The best marketing strategies incorporate media that consumers want to interface with – and right now, that’s interactive video. Its popularity is shown by both brand and consumer behaviour. Brands are producing interactive videos at an astonishing rate; in fact, it already accounts for 36% of all video content that’s produced. On the other side, consumers are responding to interactive video with increased engagement rates. According to DemandGen , i nteractive content gains two times more engagement than static content.

It’s trackable

For a long time, the only way marketers could track a video’s success was through view rates. This was a problem for many people who found it difficult to prove the value of their video efforts; without data to show a correlation between video activity and conversions, it can be hard to prove a video’s impact.

Interactive video has enabled much more powerful video metric tracking. You can now track clicks within a video, analyse different paths taken with branching, collect data with video form fields, and much more. There are several tools you can use to track these metrics. Some well-known tools include:

• WIREWAX , a leading interactive video creation platform that tracks a wide range of metrics from the moment a video is published, including dwell time, interactions, shares and ‘add to carts’
• Rapt , a cloud-based interactive video creation and publishing tool with a built-in analytics dashboard to track user demographics information, plays, user paths and more
• DilogR , a video hosting platform that integrates with CRM and email marketing platforms to analyse how interactive video impacts the end-to-end user experience

It’s more engaging

When a user is watching a linear video, it can be easy to get distracted. 87% of viewers use more than one device at a time, meaning you’re already vying for your audience’s attention. Interactive video makes viewing active instead of passive, creating a game-like experience that grabs and keeps a user’s attention and results in a 591% lift in user activity – a huge increase most marketers can’t afford to pass up.  

It converts

Interactive videos convert at significantly higher rates than many other types of digital video ads . Specifically, banner ads, Google display ads and Youtube Annotations convert at rates of less than 1%. Interactive video blows all of those out of the water, converting at a rate of more than 11% .

It’s more memorable

It turns out the sheer ability to engage with content in an interactive video makes a user more likely to remember your brand. Even if a viewer doesn’t interact with the video itself, interactive video ads are 32% more memorable than linear video ads.

It delights the user

On top of the hard data points above, interactive video is simply more enjoyable than linear video. It’s a great way to add a moment of delight to the user experience as your viewers explore an interactive story and learn more about your brand, all while having fun.

What makes a great interactive video?

While there are lots of things you can do with interactive video, there are several qualities that the best examples all share. As you consider how to add this media to your marketing mix, take into account these best practices.

They use interaction thoughtfully

First and foremost, great interactive videos are intentionally designed. Just like you strategically design a user interface so that a digital product or website is easy to use, an interactive video must also be designed with the end-user in mind. A great video isn’t interactive for the sake of it. It uses interactivity to enhance the user experience, not show off.

Paymentshield is a great example of a brand that’s designing this media thoughtfully. Through their research, they found there were many different reasons that financial advisers didn’t speak to their customers about general insurance (GI). Not every adviser had the same reason – which is why interactive video became a perfect fit.

This video asks the audience what specific reason is giving them pause before talking about GI. Viewers can then click on this reason to be taken down a curated path that can help to quell their doubts. Click here to interact with the video .

They use gamification

Interactive video gives marketers the ability to gamify a video experience in a way linear video could never do. This technique is called branching or creating multiple content pathways for a user to create a unique experience they select themselves. The Paymentshield video above used branching to create different content paths based on the user’s own situation. Paymentshield’s video may have been more corporate , but this technique can also be used for fun.

Buzzfeed showed how interactive video can create a choose-your-adventure style experience for audiences. This fun fashion quiz asks users different questions about themselves to find the perfect outfit to match their personality. Check it out here .

They’re engaging and entertaining

Great marketing doesn’t just sell products – it’s enjoyable and entertaining for the audience. This is true for most media; think about the best social media campaigns and Super Bowl ads. The ones that come to your mind likely have an entertainment factor built into the campaign. Interactive video takes video marketing entertainment to a whole new level.

One brand that did this well was Honda. The automotive giant wanted to showcase the diversity of the Civic Type R as part family car, part performance vehicle.

In their video , users could toggle between two parallel yet completely different stories by literally typing “R” on their keyboard. One story positions the Civic as a family car; the protagonist in the story picks up his daughters from school and completes other fatherly duties. Meanwhile, if you type “R,” you’ll see the same man, still in a Civic, living a much more intense and dangerous life as an undercover agent busting a major robbery. Honda shows how interactive video can be a nearly cinematic experience if you weave in an entertaining plot line.

They let the user be part of the story

Perhaps one of the greatest values of video is its ability to tell a strong story. Interactive video takes storytelling to new heights , letting your viewers become characters in your brand story who make decisions on how the plot unfolds.

One great example of this is a video by popular rock artist Coldplay, who released an interactive music video for their single “Ink.” In the video, the viewer plays the role of the main character and makes decisions about his choices throughout the video, truly becoming part of the character’s quest to find his long lost love. All in all, there are 300 different paths the video could take based on the various branching options. The video went on to win a Webby for Best Use of Interactive Video because of its original approach to a traditional music video.

Final thoughts on interactive video

Interactive video is a non-linear, gamified media that lets users click, drag, scroll and interact with video content. It’s a popular, trackable and highly effective way to convert users and help you reach your marketing goals. As you’re working on the concept for your interactive video, remember to follow these best practices:

• Use interaction thoughtfully: Design the user experience of the video as carefully as you would a website or app.
• Gamify the user experience: Use the interactive tools available to you to create a game-like experience where the viewer can choose their own destiny.
• Be entertaining: Don’t just talk about your brand. Add value and create a fun experience for your viewers.
• Let the user play a part: Craft a powerful plot and make your viewer feel like they have a role in your brand’s story.

If you’re planning to use interactive video in your marketing strategy this year then we’d love to help you. We’ve created thousands of videos for happy clients all over the world , and we can handle everything from scripting to giving you access to analytics that help you measure the interactivity of your video.

Visit our interactive video page to find out more.

Written by Sam Parker

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How To Make Presentations Interactive: Our Top 10 Tips

Table of contents.

Feeling like your presentations have reached a plateau? Are you looking to incorporate something which brings a spark back into your presentation and ignites the excitement in your audience?

If so, you probably need to make your presentations more interactive. In a recent study on evaluating the effect of interactive digital presentations on students’ performance during technology class , interactive presentations not only made learning more enjoyable but it actually helped students.

With interactive presentations having proven positive results, why wouldn’t you make your next presentation interactive?

Adding interactivity in your slide design will create a more engaging experience for the audience allowing you to share important points easier. Interactivity will help make a longer presentation more enjoyable and will create social interaction amongst a larger audience.

In today’s article, we will share with you different ideas on how to make a presentation interactive that will take into account audience input and get your audience involved.

What Is An Interactive Presentation?

An interactive presentation is the accumulation and usage of various engagement methods combined into a format used to share with an audience in an effort to persuade, act or make the audience feel a certain way.

An interactive presentation takes the idea of a presentation one step further by incorporating elements to get them engaged both mentally and physically. Understanding the basics of presentation psychology , the more senses of your audience that you can target, the more memorable your presentation will be.

This is exactly what an interactive presentation manages to do. By having your presentation be interactive, you are able to target more senses of your audience and as a result make your presentation and the contents of your presentation more memorable.

What Makes A Presentation Interactive?

Now that we know what an interactive presentation is, we need to know what makes a presentation interactive.

To make your presentation interactive, you need to foster an interactive environment. This means an environment in which your audience is engaged. This can be achieved through interactive elements such as videos, games or questions. Essentially anything you add to your presentation which engages the audience more than just having them sit and listen will transform your presentation into an interactive one.

Why Your Presentation Should Be Interactive

Interactive presentations connect with your audience members more:

Whether it’s a fun icebreaker game or a personal anecdote, interactive presentations make it easier for your audience to connect with you.

If you are trying to influence or persuade your audience, you need to find a way to connect with them. Without the personal connection and your presentation won’t serve your end goal.

Interactive presentations help your audience members remember more:

Similar to visual aids or presentation aids , adding different elements to your presentation encourages people to constantly be engaged with your presentation. The more your audience is actively engaged with your presentation, the more likely they will remember the main points of your presentation. The following tips specifically refers to traditional, in-person presentations, however it is still possible to engage with your audience in a virtual event engagement as well if you are looking for some advice.

10 Ways To Make Your Presentation Interactive

Now that we understand the basics of why your presentation slides should be interactive presentation slides, we’ll go over 10 key points we implement in our own presentation designs and share with you interactive presentation ideas.

1 – Add A Video

One of the first ways you can make your presentation interactive is a method you are probably familiar with and have already incorporated into your own past presentations.

Adding a video is an easy yet impactful way to make your presentation interactive. Videos are interactive and impactful because they take the audience’s attention from the current present somewhere else. It is like a time-traveling machine. Also, it doesn’t take much presentation design skill to insert video elements throughout your presentation.

Videos are also great to use because there is often a lot more time and production value that goes into creating them. You can feature guests who are not currently there in-person and you can even have them address the audience. Think of Cameo for example where celebrities can record short video clips of themselves reading a message of your choosing. If you had a Cameo created for your audience, you can have it embedded in the presentation.

2 – Incorporate A Quiz

If the desired end result of your presentation is to have your audience remember as much of what you presented as possible, then one of the best ways to do so is by incorporating a quiz. We as a society and people tend to best remember things when we know we are required to. We are required to remember things when we know we will be asked to recall them.

So, at the beginning of your presentation you should inform your audience there will be a quiz at the end. Alternatively, you can sprinkle small quizzes throughout your presentation. This will encourage your audience to mentally take notes in order to be able to recall them later on.

But, be careful in using this tactic.

It works great if you have a cooperative audience but it will backfire if you don’t.

Imagine you told your audience to take a quiz and they all answered incorrectly, even when you warned them ahead of time that there would be a quiz. If even then your audience fails to recall key information, it will reflect badly on you because you either did not have an engaging enough presentation or you delivered the information poorly.

3 – Use A Poll

Similar to a quiz, live polls allow you to get your audience’s feedback in real-time.

Depending on the polling software you use, you can create instant data visualization elements like creating charts of how your audience has responded. This works great if you’re asking a question and want to see the audience’s answer.

If you are starting out fresh and don’t have the means to incorporate polling software in your presentation then don’t worry – the old-fashioned method of simply asking your audience to raise their hands is sufficient. Although it is limited to binary questions which can be answered with a yes or a no, it is still effective as an interactive element.

4 – Turn To Social Media & Use A Hashtag

Your presentation won’t always be limited to the live audience you have physically in front of you. At times, you might have a virtual presentation where your audience is tuning in from across the world. In instances like this, turning to social media is a great tool to keep your presentation interactive.

Turning to social media to engage your audience is great as it incorporates several of the tactics on this list into one. Social media can be used like a real-time forum or discussion group where your audience can be active participants in the discussion by asking questions, discussing amongst one another or even contributing to the ideas you are presenting.

If executed properly, you may even use social media and a branded hashtag as a public relations tactic. This will allow you to reach new audiences which is critical if you’re trying to sell things or establish yourself as a thought-leader in a specific industry.

5 – Use Your Entire Venue Space

Body language is a critical presentation skill you need to master in order to create great presentations. One way to almost guarantee you will have a boring presentation and one the audience will surely forget is by staying in one spot the entire presentation.

Instead, you want to maximize the space you are given and walk around.

Walking around will allow you to get up close and personal with your audience entering their space. If you keep the room divided between “the stage” and “the audience”, then you will have a disconnect. Once you enter the audience’s space, you are creating a new area of interaction.

6 – Use Props

Think back to when you were a kid and you were sitting at school assemblies or listening to presentations. I don’t know about you, but personally, the ones that come to mind easily are the ones that had props!

What might be seen as a gimmick, props are great tools to use especially when you are making a presentation interactive.

Props are tools that you as the presenter can use which can tie the audience in. Think of props as a link. If your presentation is using props that your audience can also use, it breaks down the third-wall of presenting by connecting your audience to you. There doesn’t feel like there are these two, completely separate sections between the audience and the presenter. Everything feels unified.

7 – Do A Demonstration

Depending on the presentation you are engaging in, for example a sales presentation, a demonstration is a great way to get the audience involved.

A demonstration allows you to highlight the real-world benefits of a product or a service. Rather than simply explaining what you or your product can do, show it – especially if it gives you an opportunity to engage your audience.

People don’t want to know they are being sold on something. Oftentimes, they want to be entertained. Try and make your demonstration as entertaining as possible while highlighting the benefits of your product or service.

8 – Let Your Presentation Be Directed By The Audience

A unique way your presentation can be interactive is by having your audience decide how the whole presentation will progress. This is a fun way to get the audience engaged because even you as the presenter will be kept on your toes not knowing 100% how the presentation will unfold.

It will encourage people to get emotionally invested in the presentation and give them a sense of risk or reward. It will also give the audience a sense of autonomy. Unlike other presenters who have a pre-cut presentation like a Ted Talk, having the progression of your slide deck be decided in real-time by the audience in an undeniable strategy on how to make your presentation more interactive.

9 – Add Effects Like Music & Transitions

Presentation effects are a great way to keep your audience’s senses engaged. From visual effects to sound effects, all these small and unique elements can help keep your audience engaged.

You can use music clips, audio files, user-generated content and more to have your audience engaged. These elements work extremely well during live events as it turns the presentation into more of a spectacle rather than a “boring” presentation.

10 – Incorporate Your Audience In Your Presentation

What might seem like the most obvious option to make a presentation interactive is one which is not executed often enough. To make your presentation more interactive, you need to incorporate your audience.

Whether you use audience questions, sharing video clips like user-generated content or even having a guest speaker, incorporating your audience is the literal definition of having an interactive presentation.

Our Final Thoughts On How To Make Presentations Interactive

If you are looking for a way to grab your audience’s attention in a digital age where our attention spans are decreasing at alarming rates, making an interactive presentation is your best option.

What might seem daunting can actually be done quite easily if you are open to engaging help of expert presentation designers and consultants . Make a presentation interactive with the help of Presentation Geeks. From adding background music, videos or even self-guided presentations, the experts at Presentation Geeks can do it all.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you’re looking for more great resources on crafting presentations or looking for presentation design support, contact our team at Presentation Geeks to learn more.

Author:  Content Team

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Here’s How to Give the Best Video Presentation of Your Life

Your video presentation doesn’t need to bore your attendees to tears. Here are seven strategies to keep participants engaged and awake.

You’ve been asked to give a video presentation at a virtual conference. You’re excited about the opportunity to share your expertise, but you’re also worried about how you’ll manage to hold interest. 

Let’s face it: It’s notoriously tough to keep people focused during virtual presentations. 

In fact, 67% of workers say they find it easier to be distracted during virtual meetings compared to in-person ones. Even worse? 55% of respondents admit that they’ve checked their emails during those virtual sessions. 

7 tips for video presentations that don’t make eyes glaze over

So, are you doomed to spend an hour talking to a bunch of people who’d rather be elsewhere? Will all of your time spent preparing be wasted as you watch attendees turn off their cameras and do who knows what as you ramble on?

Not quite. Rest assured, there are some tips you can put into play to deliver a compelling video presentation that keeps your virtual event participants on the hook. 

1. Curate the right environment

If you want other people to be totally tuned into the topic you’re presenting, you need to start by creating a non-distracting environment – both for your benefit and your participants’. 

There are a number of different ways to ensure you have the right setting for your virtual presentation, including:

Finding a quiet space where you’ll be free from interruptions (like barking dogs or kids who choose the most inopportune time to come in and ask for fruit snacks).

Cleaning up your background so that you’re the main focus. Taking a few minutes to tidy up is better than turning on a virtual background, as the majority of people prefer to see the actual room behind the speaker. 

Ensuring you have appropriate lighting so that attendees can see your face without shadows and glares. 

Think about it this way: Would you want to deliver an in-person presentation in a dimly-lit room with laundry baskets in the background? We didn’t think so. 

While getting your space ready for a virtual or hybrid event will take a little more work than simply showing up to a well-prepped conference center, it’s well worth the effort to curate an environment that shows you’re ready to get down to business. 

2. Check your technology 

Can you see my screen? Hold on a second, I just need to click over to my slides. Is my audio echoing for anybody else? 

Nothing derails your presentation faster than frustrating technology glitches. They’re annoying for both you and your participants, and unfortunately those delays can mean that you lose the attention and trust of your attendees before you even get to the content of your presentation.

Plus, they immediately slow you down and shake your confidence. They’re tough to bounce back from, especially when you feel frazzled and like you need to rush through certain aspects of your talk in order to make up for that lost time.

For that reason, it’s crucial that you triple-check all of your technology during your presentation rehearsals. And, it’s smart to use a video meeting platform that’s simple and intuitive. Whereby Embedded makes it easy to embed your video meeting directly within the website or app for your virtual conference, so everybody can navigate right to your session without annoying passcodes, waiting rooms, or technology hiccups. 

3. Switch up your format

While there’s a lot of debate over what our actual attention span is (you’ll hear the range of five to 10 minutes cited a lot), there’s no denying that whatever it is, it’s short.

You could present a surefire method to win the lottery, and people are probably still going to start to zone out after a few minutes of you droning on and on. And we don’t blame them – it’s tough to stay focused, particularly in a virtual environment. 

That’s why it’s so helpful to keep switching up the format of your presentation by mixing in various elements like:

Breakout sessions (more on these a little later)

Exercises and games

Questions and open discussions

Videos or demonstrations

This array of formats keeps your content fresh and your attendees on their toes. And it’s far preferable to spending an hour reading from your slides.

4. Leverage storytelling 

Imagine that you’re attending a presentation about the importance of accurate record keeping. 

Do you want to hear a bunch of statistics about why it matters? Or do you want to hear about the time a single spreadsheet error led to a synchronized swimming event being oversold by 10,000 tickets at the 2012 London Olympics?

The latter is far more compelling, isn’t it? And it speaks to the power of incorporating storytelling into your presentations. In fact, researchers have found that stories can cause oxytocin synthesis in our brains. That not only gets us more engaged, but also inspires us to take action. 

So, look for places where you can incorporate anecdotes or real-world examples. Those will hit home with your attendees far more than endless facts and figures. 

5. Remember that your visual aids should be visual

We’ve all sat through presentations where the presenter’s slides were filled with walls of text or bullet points of what they wanted to cover.

Of course, you can (and should) have your own notes to guide you through all of the important points of your presentation – but that doesn’t mean your audience needs to read along with you. Not only is it boring, but one study found that showing audiences the exact same words that were being spoken reduces audience comprehension. 

Your visual aids should be, well, visual . Rather than filling your PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, or Google Slides with meaningless text, keep your slide deck interesting with:

Bite-sized statistics or facts

Graphs and charts

Relevant images

Even the occasional funny GIF or meme can keep your audience more engaged with your presentation (not to mention lighten the mood and inspire a little chuckle). 

6. Use breakout sessions to boost engagement 

If you have a particularly large group of attendees or a longer time slot for your virtual presentation, you’ll likely notice more participation and engagement if you break people into small groups – at least for a portion of your session.

There are a number of reasons for that, but much of it is owed to the fact that tighter groups reduce the potential for social loafing – a psychological concept that states that people put in less effort when they’re in groups than they do when they’re on their own, because they assume that other group members will help shoulder the burden.

Whereby makes it easy to start breakout sessions and groups , so you can give people the chance to connect more personally without interrupting the flow of your presentation.  

7. Invite active participation

Breakout groups certainly help people feel like they’re part of the discussion – rather than being preached to for an hour or so. But, there are a few other things you can do to fuel the feeling that virtual attendees are active participants: 

Encourage emoji reactions: Even if your attendees don’t have their own cameras on, emoji reactions give them the opportunity to share how they feel. Believe it or not, the same part of our brain that processes facial expressions also processes emojis. Whereby has live emoji reactions, by the way. 

Periodically stop for questions: While you don’t want tangents to throw your presentation off track, skipping any questions until the end of your talk can make attendees feel unheard and disconnected. Plus, stopping regularly to give people a chance to ask questions as they come up almost always leads to more productive, engaging, and insightful conversations.

Involve attendees in examples and demonstrations: This is tougher to do during a virtual event than an in-person one, but find ways to involve your audience members whenever you can. Have them act out an example scenario or ask them to share something with the group. The more you can work them into your presentation, the more alert they’ll be. 

Is everybody still awake out there?

When one in three people admit they’ve felt drowsy or even dozed off during a work meeting, the last thing you want is for the presentation you worked so hard on to quite literally lull people to sleep. 

While virtual conferences have their benefits, it can admittedly feel more challenging to keep the energy up. 

Fortunately, you can do more than accept the fact that some people will catch a much-needed snooze during your session. Use these strategies, and you’ll create a video presentation that keeps your participants engaged (and, you know, awake). 

Ready to give the best video presentation of your life? Learn how Whereby can help make it happen . 

Other articles you might like.

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18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

November 10, 2017 - Dom Barnard

It can be difficult to hold your audience’s attention for the entire presentation. According to a  Prezi study , half of the respondents said they did something other than listen during a co-worker’s presentation, including:

• Sending a text message (28%)
• Checking emails (27%)
• Falling asleep (17%)

An interactive presentation is much more likely to keep your audience’s attention and build rapport with them, and there are a few simple ways to achieve this, from live polling to asking questions throughout.

This article explores several different effective strategies for making the audience feel fully involved in your presentation and keeping your audience’s eyes away from their smartphones.

Why involve your audience?

Listening to a presentation for any length of time can be a difficult process. If you don’t involve the audience, they’ll start to play with their phones, talk to colleagues and generally lose track of what you are saying. Once this happens and you start seeing that the audience would rather be somewhere else, you’ll start feeling anxious and might try to speed up the presentation.

To engage a  large audience  fully, the presentation needs to be energetic, purposeful and staged, as if it is a direct conversation between both you and your audience. That way, they’ll absorb your ideas and insights and they’ll have learnt something in an enjoyable way.

1. Plan from the audience’s perspective

Before you start  writing your presentation , think about these points:

• What are the most interesting parts in my topic?
• How much will the audience know about my topic? What level do I target it at?
• Which members of the audience will most likely be disinterested?
• How can I help them learn and understand my topic?
• What is the size of the audience?

You can do this by researching the event or conference, investigating other speakers at the event and even contacting the organisers to find out more about the demographic.

By asking these questions about your audience and identifying answers, you are starting to think about your audience’s interests and needs. Remember, the aim is to give the impression that your presentation has been planned according to your audience’s specific interests.

2. Use an easy-to-follow structure

When building your presentation, focus on giving it a structure which people can easily follow. Start by introducing the core concepts and goals, then elaborate on the various points in a bit more detail, draw logical conclusions and leave your audience with a clear takeaway message. You want to flow naturally from one part to the next like you are telling a big story chapter by chapter.

3. Get the audience immediately involved

You audience will come to your presentation in a range of different moods. Try using a simple ice-breaker to re-energise them and get them focussed on your presentation.

For example, ask people to stand up and introduce themselves to their neighbours, or have them identify two or three questions they would like to hear addressed during your presentation. By starting with an ice-breaker, you show your audience that your talk will be interactive and require their participation.

4. Ask the audience questions during your presentation

The audience’s attention drops to zero after just 10-15 minutes of your presentation. To get their attention back, take a break from your presentation from time to time and interact with your audience. Ask for their questions and answer them during your presentation. This will help clear up any confusion the audience might have.

When planning your presentation, identify opportunities in your material for your audience to ask questions. If you’re not comfortable breaking the flow of your presentation, mention that you’ll be taking  questions at the end  so the audience can prepare some questions.

Asking rhetorical questions as you move through your presentation involves your audience by stimulating their own thought processes. This technique also helps move between sections of your presentation as it establishes a clear transition from one point to another.

If you’re comfortable with taking questions throughout your presentation, use a tools such as  Slido , which allows your audience to ask questions anonymously at any time, so even shy people can participate in the discussion.

Example of what can go wrong with audience interaction

Audience interaction:

Watch how the presenter tries but initially fails to get the audience to interact with the presentation. Notice how he encourages them to get involved and eventually they do join in.

5. Use storytelling to make it more memorable

Since our early ancestors, stories have always been a huge part of human culture and civilisation. Storytelling is the most universal way to captivate your audience’s attention, no matter where they are from or what they do for a living.

Stories are much more engaging and memorable than lists of facts and figures, but you wouldn’t think so looking at the majority of presentations (particularly academic ones).

People automatically tune in when you  start telling your story  because they want to know what happens next. A popular storytelling technique is when you present the status quo and then reveal an improved path to that end goal.

Think of your presentation as one arching narrative. As we mentioned earlier, give it the proper structure with a clear beginning, middle and end. Introduce conflict and provide a powerful resolution that reinforces your key messages.

6. Use non-linear presentation software

Instead of flipping through slide after slide, you can show the relationships between your ideas and give your audience the “big picture” view of your topic. Try letting your audience drive the presentation by laying out all of your main points, and then let them choose which topics they want to go to. Your audience will get a truly custom presentation based on their interests, which they will appreciate and more easily remember.

Prezi, shown above, is a popular non-linear presentation tool.

7. Add in a short video

Billions of hours of YouTube are consumed each month and advertisers have identified videos as having a high  retention rate  for users. However very few presentations ever use videos to engage with their audience.

Find a short video clip that reinforces your story or explains a concept better than words can. You can either embed the video directly into your presentation software or include a link to an external website. Just make sure you test your method on the day of the presentation and have a backup on a USB just in case you need it.

8. Invite people onto the stage

If you’re preparing a particularly long presentation, consider having other people to come on stage and talk for a bit. This will help you narrate the story and make the whole presentation more interactive.

Steve Jobs never pulled off the entire presentation by himself; he always invited several speakers, including designers, partners, and other executives, to help him introduce their latest product. Of course, this technique should always be arranged with your colleagues in advance.

9. Poll the audience

Polls are similar to quizzes in that they engage the audience during the presentation. Polls encourage participants to think not only about your questions but also about their answers. Moreover, live polls help create mental breaks, so your audience can regain attention and stay focused throughout your presentation.

By including everyone in answering the question, you also create a group experience that leaves the audience feeling like they all have been part your presentation.

10. Use (appropriate) humour

Some of the best speeches and presentations in the world feature plenty of humour. No matter the subject, a great speaker will use natural charisma, humour and language to convey their points and get the crowd excited about what they are saying.

A great example of building rapport with the audience through the use of humour is Barrack Obama talking about the government building Iron Man.

Another example is when  Morgan Spurlock  offers 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 humour in your subject, and your audience will be much more engaged and more likely to remember your words.

11. Practice your delivery, again and again

Practicing is the most important part of delivering an interactive presentation. You’ll need to practice where to use live quizzes, when to accept questions, which points to emphasise with body language and many more. There are several options for practicing:

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• In front of a mirror  – great for seeing and improving your body language, however it can be distracting to what you are saying.
• To friends or colleagues  – a useful way to get feedback on your presentation, try and action the feedback straight away to improve on it. You can also give the person some key areas to focus their feedback on if you believe you are weaker in those areas.
• Virtual reality  – practice in realistic  public speaking environments , whether it be in a virtual conference room or boardroom. Receive feedback on your speech with voice analysis technology.

With all three of these, you’ll want to work on your tone of voice, accent, pauses between sentences and facial expressions. The most important thing is to talk slowly and loudly enough to be heard and understood clearly.

A list of the best presentation skills courses you can practice with:

• Presentation Skills Training Courses

12. Try and relate to the audience

Make comparisons to events from everyday life that most people are more than familiar with. By making things look simple, not only will you help your audience get a better understanding of the subject by enabling them to visualize the information more clearly, you will also draw a connection between you.

After all, you are all just regular people with similar experience, you just happen to be performing different roles at the moment.

13. Strong body language (position, posture and gesture)

Non-verbal communication plays a large part in how we construct meaning, so it makes sense to consider how to use it in your presentation. You can make things more interesting for your audience by using  your body language  to enhance what you’re saying.

Body language goes beyond reinforcing your messaging – it’s useful from a biological standpoint. As discussed in her  body language TED talk , Amy Cuddy’s research found that using ‘assertive’ body language released testosterone and reduced cortisol in both men and women, thereby increasing confidence and decreasing stress.

An effective presenter pays close attention to the physical relationship with her/his audience. If you stand hidden behind an overhead projector or stand too far away from your audience, they will not develop a bond with you and this will limit the effectiveness of your presentation.

Your posture will also dictate levels of audience involvement. If you’re too relaxed and sit slumped in a chair to deliver your talk, the audience might drift away. Find a comfortable but purposeful position in relation to your audience and adopt an upright sitting or standing posture that allows for movement and gesture.

Audiences respond well to the physical energy and enthusiasm being conveyed by a presenter, and thus the use of clear and controlled gestures will greatly enhance your presentation. Gestures that are open and reach out to your audience serve to extend your presentation to them and thus help them feel more involved.

Examples of good body language:

• Use hand gestures when delivering key points
• Use calm, deliberate movements when highlighting certain information
• Keep arms and legs uncrossed

14. Maintain eye contact with all sections of the audience

Making eye contact is one of the most  powerful techniques  for involving your audience. If used well, eye contact can serve to make your address much more personal and thus more effective. If eye contact is avoided, the presenter can appear to be nervous and unconvincing.

It is important to share eye contact with all members of a small audience or all sections of a large audience. Avoid making eye contact with just the people you know, taking particular care not to deliver your entire presentation to the person who’s assessing your work. Remember that you will need to involve the whole audience if you are to make an effective presentation.

If you are nervous, eye contact can be very difficult to establish and maintain. Remember that some eye contact is better than none and that you should try to build your confidence over time.

15. Use live quizzes to better understand your audience

Live quizzes are a great way to understanding your audience better get them engaging with the material.

For example, if you’re giving a presentation on autonomous vehicles, you could ask questions such as:

• When do you think autonomous vehicles will become mainstream?
• Are you concerned by safety issues?
• If someone is injured or killed by the car, who is to blame?

These will surely create some interesting results which you, as the presenter, can talk about and discuss.

16. Use physical props if possible

You don’t need to be giving a product demo to use props during your presentation. Props are a great way to help the audience visually picture what you are talking about. While talking through your presentation, you can refer to the prop at certain points to highlight your point or make it clear to the audience.

Kenny Nguyen  does this will in his TEDx talk on ‘The Art of Saying No’. He 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.

Another great example is when  Jill Bolte Taylor  brings a real human brain on stage during her TED talk to explain to what happened to her when she had a stroke. She touched the audience with this demonstration and left the audience in complete awe.

17. Extend your usual vocal range

Your tone of voice, your volume, and other vocal aspects affect how people listen and hear your message.

Julian Treasure’s  TED talk on ‘How to speak so that people want to listen’ is all about this, and at the end offers several tips ‘in our toolbox’ for how to master the use of voice, from changing your speaking pace to speaking in a different pitch.

Get feedback from a friend or colleague to see what works best for you.

18. Use language and literary techniques

Your use of language has a huge influence on the way you engage your audience. It’s important to use language your audience understands and is familiar with.

Avoid using language that is too formal or informal, too technical or too simplistic depending upon the nature of your talk and the knowledge base of your audience. Pitching your presentation at the right level can be a challenge but it is very effective for making the audience feel involved.

There are various  literary techniques  you can use, such as the Power or Three, to give greater impact to your message.

Involving your audience is essential to making an impact. Your presentation should pull them in, get their attention and stimulate their thoughts and understanding. This can be done in a number of ways.

The way that you plan your presentation will be critical in terms of using language and ideas that your audience will understand. You must also ensure that there is sufficient time for questions and discussion. The way that you deliver your presentation should create a bond with your audience.

Your use of eye contact, body language, spoken words and energy should  communicate effectively  and enthusiastically with all areas of the room, thus ensuring that the audience receives positive messages about you and your material.

How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation: An Expert Guide (Free Downloadable Playbook)

Zhun Yee Chew

Are your PowerPoint presentations lacking impact and failing to engage your audience? You’re not alone. I experienced that before. I used to spend hours carefully crafting the perfect PowerPoint presentations only to be met with disinterested faces.

In a world where attention spans are getting shorter, traditional PowerPoint presentations often struggle to hold the interest of the audience. So here’s the hard truth: unless you adapt and embrace interactivity in your PowerPoint presentations, your valuable hard work and content run the risk of getting lost in presentations.

Fret not, as in this comprehensive guide, we will share with you expert tips on how to make an interactive PowerPoint presentation through interactive animations, transitions, hyperlinks, quizzes, games, and many more.

And perhaps the sweetest part of the deal is that you will also have access to a downloadable playbook of 60+ pages with a wealth of tutorials, templates, cheat sheets, resources and tools to elevate your PowerPoint skills from average to extraordinary through interactive PowerPoint presentations.

Are you prepared to impress those who once found your presentation dull? If your answer is a resounding ‘yes,’ then let’s begin.

What is an Interactive Presentation?

What is an interactive powerpoint presentation.

Interactive PowerPoint presentations are simply PowerPoint presentations that are made interactive to convey information in a more dynamic and engaging manner.

Creating an interactive PowerPoint presentation involves deciding if you want to make your slide content interactive or if you want your audience to interact with your slides. 

Interactive PowerPoint presentations can generally be divided into two main dimensions: interaction with slide content through interactive elements and fostering interaction with the audience.

Interaction with Slide Content:

In the first dimension, PowerPoint presentations are made interactive through enhancing the slides content with interactive elements, usually native to PowerPoint. 

We will cover interactive elements including:

• Transitions
• Interactive data visualization
• Annotations. 

They function to enhance slide interactivity through adding movement to static objects, enabling non-linear slides navigation, as well as adding a dynamic touch to data and information presentation. 

Audience Interaction:

In the second dimension, PowerPoint presentations are made interactive through interaction between the presenter and the audience, usually with the help of PowerPoint add-in tools. We will cover: 

• Assessments
• Brainstorming
• Collaborative multimedia uploading

Once you have decided which strategy you would like to use, you can then follow  these step-by-step guide  and the following expert tips to turn your PowerPoint slides into an interactive experience!

Benefits of an Interactive Presentation

The fact that you are still reading this suggests that you don’t need further convincing on the benefits of interactive PowerPoint presentations. 

However, if you do, here are some quick statistics:

68% of individuals hold the belief that interactive presentations have a greater potential for being remembered. Webinar Care

This means that a simple action of making your PowerPoint slides interactive has a profound impact on how your presentation is received by the audience. From our years of experience creating interactive PowerPoint presentations, they generally: 

• Increases  engagement , motivation and knowledge  retention . 
• Result in better  impression  and more impactful messaging being conveyed.
• Allow presenters to better tailor their content or offerings to the audience or clients because they can gather  real-time feedback .
• Open up room for  creative   storytelling  and showcases.

Interactive Puzzle PowerPoint Templates

Master the tricks to turn your PowerPoint into an interactive experience today!

Expert Tips on How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation – Before Presenting

1. add animations, but use them judiciously.

The first and most straightforward way of making your PowerPoint presentations interactive is through adding animations to your slides. However, so many people use PowerPoint animations the wrong way. PowerPoint animations are more than just making bullet points or images appear or fly in during your presentation.

Remember, using animations excessively in your PowerPoint presentation will only reduce the appeal and professionalism of your slides. The key is to use them judiciously and purposefully. Before you hit the “Animations” tab, ask yourself, “Does this animation enhance the message I want to convey to my audience?”  

2. Add 3D PowerPoint Animations Using PowerPoint Native 3D Stock Elements

Did you know that PowerPoint has free animated 3D elements you can use? We recommend you to try them up to instantly upgrade your presentation from ordinary to extraordinary. 

❓ How?  Simply go to Insert > 3D models > stock 3D models > animated models. And you will find a wide range of free 3D models ranging from food and animals to plants and characters, and many more. You can also select different animation scenes by heading to the Animations tab.

3. Add Animations With Triggers for Visual Excitement

You can take your PowerPoint animations up a notch by incorporating combining animations with triggers to create interactive pop-ups with extra information . These on-click pop-ups are valuable when presenting a map or when you want to explore specific aspects of an object or topic in more detail. You can also use these pop-ups as markers to alert the audience to exciting elements within different parts of the slide, as such: 

❓How? To create on-click pop-ups in your PowerPoint slides, first add shapes that will become clickable buttons, one to “open” the pop-up and the other to “close” the pop-up. Then, add text boxes with extra information you want to show, as well as entrance and exit animations. Combine the animations with “triggers” to activate the animations when the open or close buttons are clicked on. 

For a more detailed tutorial on this pop-up animation, download our Interactive PowerPoint Playbook  below. 👇

4. add non-linear slide transition.

A quick way to add interactivity to your PowerPoint slides is by using PowerPoint transitions. The first we want to discuss is PowerPoint Zoom. PowerPoint Zoom enables you to zoom in and out of and navigate to specific sections or slides on click, anytime during your presentation.

To  access the PowerPoint Zoom feature : click on Insert in the  PowerPoint ribbon  >  Zoom  > then choose  Slide ,  Section , or  Summary   Zoom . Each of these PowerPoint Zoom option serves slightly different functions:

• Slide Zoom: zooms into specific slides
• Section zoom: zooms into specific sections
• Summary Zoom: creates a summary slide for the different slides or sections in your PowerPoint presentation for easy navigation.

❓ How? To  set up PowerPoint slide zoom , select the starting slide where you wish to implement the Zoom effect. Next, click  Insert  >  Zoom  >  Slide Zoom . Here, you can pick the specific slide or slides you want to zoom in on. Click the Insert button, and thumbnails of the chosen slides will be added to your current slide.

Alternatively, for a more manual setup process, you can also set up a navigation menu at the beginning of your presentation that allows the audience to jump to different sections or slides using hyperlinks.  Read more in the Hyperlinks section below. 

5. Add PowerPoint Morph

Like PowerPoint Zoom, PowerPoint Morph empowers presenters to create dynamic transitions that elevate the visual storytelling in their presentations. But PowerPoint Morph brings storytelling to a whole new level and adds a layer of intrigue to your slides by simulating object transitions or evolution across slides. It functions similarly to animations but offers a smoother and more organic visual experience, without the need for complex setup steps. 

Personally, we think the outcomes generated by PowerPoint Morph are more professional and polished-looking as compared to traditional animations. And if you are looking for a more advanced-looking presentation, try this 3D morph animation In PowerPoint .

We’d also like to share with you the numerous applications of PowerPoint Morph contributed by our colleagues and PowerPoint professionals at ClassPoint:

• Moving background
• Rotating wheel
• Rotating cogs
• Photo gallery
• Slide Zoom with Morph
• Creative reveal
• Parallax effect
• Continuous slide transition
• Phone frame
• Movie frame

Gain access to free templates for all these PowerPoint Morph applications and effects by downloading our Interactive PowerPoint Playbook. 👇

6. add hyperlinks – they can link to so many more places than just websites.

Much like PowerPoint Zoom, hyperlinks enable presenters to create interactive menus and navigation structures, allowing audiences to jump to specific slides or sections effortlessly. However, while PowerPoint Zoom primarily focuses on creating a visual and interactive overview of content within a single presentation, hyperlinks extend this capability to connect with external resources, web content, or even additional PowerPoint files. 

There are a few ways you could add hyperlinks to your PowerPoint presentation to transform  it into an interactive experience effortlessly: 

4 Ways You Can Add Hyperlinks to PowerPoint: 

• Slide Transition : You can navigate to specific slides in a non-linear manner by simply inserting a hyperlink into your current slide. Head over to Insert > Link > This Document and select the slide you want to link to. You can apply hyperlinks to text, shapes, or pictures. 

• Interactive Navigation Menu : Adding an interactive navigation menu at the beginning of your presentation allows clear navigation between different slides and sections in your presentation. Head over to Insert > Link > This Document and select the slides you want to link to.

• Action Buttons : With hyperlinks, you can also create Action Buttons in your PowerPoint presentations to make your PowerPoint slides behave like interactive web pages, allowing users to navigate, explore, and engage with the content in a dynamic and user-friendly manner. Head over to Insert > Action Buttons and choose from the selection.

• Embedded Content : You can also hyperlink your PowerPoint slides to embedded content like PDFs, spreadsheets, and even web pages. Simply click Insert > Object and select the file you would like to embed in your PowerPoint slides. This way, you can remove the hassle of toggling between various files or windows during your presentation.

Expert Tips on How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation – When Presenting

1. turn your powerpoint slides into interactive quizzes.

The traditional way to add interactive quizzes to PowerPoint is through an unfavorable process of combining complex animations with triggers and hyperlinks. Let’s be honest, it takes an eternity! Even though PowerPoint offers an extensive range of presentation tools, it does not have audience interactivity built at its core. 

The good news is, audience interactivity can actually be effortlessly achieved with the various PowerPoint add-ins as listed below: 

We will get to polls and games in a bit. For now, let’s show you how you can turn your PowerPoint slides into an interactive quiz in a just a few clicks with PowerPoint add-ins like  ClassPoint , which offers a wide range of interactive quizzes from  Short Answer  and  Word Cloud , to Multiple Choice questions.

How to Create An Interactive Quiz in PowerPoint In A Few Clicks

Once you have downloaded ClassPoint, you will have a suite of additional interactive quiz features added to your PowerPoint ribbon. 

To turn  your PowerPoint slide  content into interactive  quizzes, simply  click on any of the interactive quiz features and add them to your slide. Enter PowerPoint Slideshow mode and you can start the quiz immediately. 

2. Run Gradable Assessments inside PowerPoint

With the versatile PowerPoint add-in,  ClassPoint , you can also create assessments and collect real-time responses right inside PowerPoint. This is wonderful news for teachers! All you have to do is set up  interactive Multiple Choice questions  and enable  Quiz Mode . 

ClassPoint’s Quiz Mode introduces an  automatic grading  feature to your Multiple Choice questions within PowerPoint presentations created with ClassPoint. This feature not only automates the grading process but also includes automatic star ratings, the option to select difficulty levels, and provides a quiz summary along with an exportable quiz report, making it the perfect tool for classroom formative assessments in PowerPoint!

3. Incorporate Annotations During Slideshow

Another unique way to interact with your PowerPoint slides is through the use of annotations. With annotations, you as the presenter can interact with your slides to draw your audience’s attention to specific details, highlight key points, and tell a more coherent story. 

There are 3 ways you could use annotations in PowerPoint: 

• PowerPoint Draw Tab:  To utilize the PowerPoint Draw Tab, click on the “Draw” tab in your PowerPoint ribbon and begin annotating anywhere on your slides using built-in features like the pen, highlighter, and Ink to Shape. However, please note that PowerPoint Draw only allows annotation in Edit mode.

• PowerPoint Pen Tools:  Another option for native PowerPoint annotation tools that permit annotation during slideshow mode can be found by clicking the pencil icon located in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen during a presentation. You can use the pen, highlighter, or laser tools to annotate any part of your slides during the presentation.

• ClassPoint  Toolbar:  The ClassPoint toolbar serves as an enhanced, free alternative to PowerPoint’s existing pen tools. It offers a broader range of additional annotation features, including text boxes, shapes, spotlight effects, fully customizable pens and highlighters, and more. This enables you to transform your PowerPoint slides into a creative canvas that will captivate your audience throughout your presentation.

4. Run Ice Breakers and Brainstorming Sessions in PowerPoint

The uses of interactive PowerPoint add-ins like  ClassPoint  are not only limited to teaching and learning. Give your PowerPoint meetings and presentations a strong start with a collaborative and dynamic brainstorming experience.

You can enhance your PowerPoint presentations and turn them into an interactive brainstorming experience by incorporating  Word Cloud  in PowerPoint, inviting participants to instantly contribute ideas, keywords, or concepts. This allows everyone to dynamically visualize emerging trends and interesting ideas.

❓ How? To start a brainstorming session in PowerPoint, click on the “Word Cloud”  button in your PowerPoint ribbon once you have downloaded ClassPoint to add the “Word Cloud” feature in your PowerPoint slides. Then enter PowerPoint slideshow mode to start brainstorming! 

5. Add Draggable Slide Objects (And Why It’s Better than Animations!)

Similar to animations, draggable objects allow you to interact with your slide objects freely during slideshow mode, except than you can do so with full control of where you want the slide elements to go!

This dynamic presentation feature adds an element of visual interest that captures your audience’s attention and can be a valuable tool for explaining complex ideas. Moreover, it has the potential to serve various purposes, such as revealing hidden information or acting as a movable marker to indicate your position on the slide content. You can also use it for group drag-and-drop activities, such as matching, categorizing, sorting, and more. You can either perform these actions yourself to provide a visual explanation or engage your audience by letting them instruct the movement of images and text on the slide.

❓ How? Draggable objects is a unique tool that is possible inside PowerPoint with the use of the add-in ClassPoint. Download ClassPoint, free PowerPoint add-in, the select any shape, image, illustration, or text on your slide to become draggable by clicking on “Draggable Objects” in your PowerPoint ribbon, and toggling “Drag enabled” on the side panel.

In slideshow mode, click on the draggable objects hand from the ClassPoint toolbar at the bottom of your screen to start dragging your slide objects around!

6. Create Playable Games In PowerPoint (Without Animations or Hyperlinks)

Much like interactive quizzes, PowerPoint games add a layer of interactivity and fun to PowerPoint presentations. However, what sets PowerPoint games apart is their ability to introduce competition through gamification. 

Here are  3 ways  you can instantly gamify your PowerPoint slides with  gamification elements :

• Set Up a Point and Reward System : Define how your participants can earn stars and points, and  award stars  to them when they have accomplished a goal during your presentation. 
• Add  Levels and Badges  to PowerPoint : Every game benefits from having levels and badges, and your PowerPoint game is no exception. You can create a simple game within PowerPoint by incorporating  questions  into your slides and defining the points and scores needed to progress to higher levels. When it comes to badges, you have the creative freedom to tailor them to your audience. For example, in an educational setting, badges can be skill-focused, while in a social gathering, they can take the form of fantasy characters that participants aspire to collect
• Add a  Leaderboard  to PowerPoint : Leaderboards are essential to keep track of scores or points during a PowerPoint game. You can of course create a manual leaderboard using PowerPoint’s tables and hyperlinks, but an easier and more straightforward way of implementing a leaderboard in your PowerPoint is using add-ins like  ClassPoint  and  Vevox .

With these fundamentals of gamification in place, you are now ready to create fun and exhilarating games in PowerPoint. 

Here is a full walk-through on  how you can create a PowerPoint game  in a few simple steps. 

If you are an educator, this  free trivia PowerPoint template and these 5 interactive PowerPoint game templates tailored for the classroom will be useful for you.

Expert Tips on How to Make an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation – After Presenting

1. run real-time polls in powerpoint.

Think of a memorable presentation you have attended? Did it use live polls? We bet it did! Live polling are especially helpful after a PowerPoint presentation to gather feedback for future improvement.

Traditional poll tools require presenters to switch between tabs during presentation. Thanks to PowerPoint add-ins such as  ClassPoint ,  Mentimeter  and  Poll Everywhere , this is no longer the case. And by eliminating the need to switch between different applications or tabs, the presentation experience becomes more fluid and engaging.

2. From Static to Interactive Data Visualisation

Incorporating interactivity through data visualization after a presentation concludes is a potent strategy for enhancing audience engagement and comprehension. Once the primary content delivery is complete, you can transition into a dynamic display of data or feedback you have gathered from your audience using interactive charts, graphs, or infographics.

This approach empowers your audience to explore the information at their own pace, dig deeper into specific data points, and ensure a two-way communication between the presenter and the audience. Whether it’s zooming in on specific trends, toggling between different data sets, or going through feedback, interactive data visualization encourages active participation and a deeper connection with the presented information. 

We recommend the following 2 ways to display data into your presentation:

• Insert tables, charts and graphs, and add a touch of interactivity through animations.

Below is a list of 10 PowerPoint animations most suitable for different kinds of graphs and charts: 

• Embed a website with data you want to go over. I’m not talking about a link that leaves PowerPoint for your default browser, but an actual embedded browser that loads your websites without leaving PowerPoint! Plus you can insert the page as a picture into your slide and start annotating on it!

Now that you have a collection of strategies and tips at your disposal, you are better prepared to leave your old and dusty PowerPoint toolkit behind and embrace these refreshing ideas. Whether your ultimate aim is to create a captivating classroom experience, deliver a memorable business pitch, or simply wow your friends and peers during  PowerPoint nights , don’t forget to: 

• Add animations, but use them sparingly.
• Make use of non-linear transitions and storytelling. 
• Turn simple transitions into stunning visual experience with PowerPoint Morph.
• Make creative use of polls, quizzes and games. 
• Make your presentation human with Bitmoji.
• Build anticipation with interactive presentation tools like annotations and drag and drop.
• Try out these 160 fun PowerPoint ideas for your next presentation!

To read more about Interactive PowerPoint Presentations, you can download our Interactive PowerPoint Playbook, which includes comprehensive guides, tutorials on various interactive PowerPoint presentation methods, cheat sheets, and a wide range of resources for mastering the art of creating interactive PowerPoint presentations.

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Training Industry

Four benefits of interactive video for learning.

Published in July/Aug 2017

“Sit back, relax and enjoy the show,” goes the old movie trailer maxim. But, like learning professionals, creators of visual media have long struggled to eliminate the passivity of the viewing experience. Sitting back can lead to disinterest, distraction and a desire for something more immersive. To combat this, we’ve seen a history of 3D, Imax, surround sound and other attempts to engage and involve the viewer in what’s displaying on-screen. In 1977, the QUBE interactive cable TV system offered subscribers, “a chance to shout back at the world” through a push-button remote control. The “ability to interact with what is happening on the screen is why QUBE marks the beginning of the era of participatory as opposed to passive television,” claimed the  short-lived operation .

The challenge for producers of visual media has become more pronounced recently with the emergence of mobile games, ubiquitous broadband and 4G, social media, and on-demand user experiences. People expect to be in control and to touch screens. They want to view media anywhere and on any device, to “lean forward” and participate, to engage with (or create) the story and decide what comes next.

Enter interactive video. For the sake of simplicity, we can define interactive video as an online visual experience that permits the user to click or touch the image to trigger an action. That action can be loading a pop-up screen, opening a web page, or, more interestingly for visual storytellers, causing the video to jump to a predefined spot, or to immediately and seamlessly start playing a new video.

Interactive video can allow viewers to control “what to do next,” and watch the characters in the video respond to their decisions. This permits branching, playing out consequences of making choices, jumping to what interests you, and watching events unfold through the eyes of different characters. It puts you in the middle of the action and engages you to drive the experience.

Interactive video has several different uses. It is used extensively in online promotional/marketing (trailers for upcoming TV series and movies are popular). Recruiters and customer service providers have been quick to exploit the medium. Some of the most creative and innovative uses have been in music videos and the visual arts. The opportunities to create engaging learning experiences are starting to be realized by training content providers and L&D organizations.

There are four primary benefits to interactive video that make it very attractive to those of in learning and development (L&D).

1. Cross-device

With a few limitations, interactive video works well on most modern browsers and any device: PC, phone or tablet. And, if you follow a few basic guidelines, the same video(s) can provide a consistent, powerful experience regardless of whether the learner is in front of a laptop in the office, or viewing a mobile device (with ear buds) on the bus. This makes the production process easier for you. You don’t need to worry about multiple versions or tweaking for different operating systems. Cell signals and Wi-Fi are generally strong enough nowadays to support full-screen mobile video (most interactive video platforms still actually push media clips and commands to the user, instead of using real-time streaming media servers). And your learners will relish the freedom.

2. Personalized

Interactive video permits user-driven decision-making and a sense of user control. This can enable a more personalized learning experience and greater choice for the learner. Videos can be structured to permit learners to select based on their role, staff level or knowledge gaps. According to the Brandon Hall Group, video learning is one of the top five critical items for effective personalized learning. In true self-directed fashion, viewers of interactive video can choose how deep they want to go with the content: stick to the main message or peruse side topics.

3. Engaging

Interactive video is immersive and can involve the learner in the content. Our busy learners are fickle, and will bail on your learning if it feels slow, uninteresting or passive. Industry  statistics  verify that interactive video experiences reduce user drop-off when compared to regular “flat” video. Story-driven approaches encourage exploration: branching, learning more in “layers” of content, or collecting knowledge items that are interspersed across the entirety of the journey. If done properly and effectively, you can get the best of both worlds – engaging characters and narrative, with opportunities to embed high-touch experiential learning through decision-based consequences and outputs.

4. Fast and Flexible

Out of all our learning modalities, video is very versatile. Video can stand on its own online as a microlearning asset. You can embed it in a classroom experience or a broader digital learning course.  Your videos can serve as mini-simulations, or performance support aids. You’ll also find that most of the interactive video platforms provide cloud-based authoring tools that are user-friendly and require short ramp-up times. Interactive videos can be elaborate, but they don’t need to be. Armed with a camera (or camera phone), basic video editing software, some hotspot icons and a decent design, you can DIY an interactive video in an afternoon.

The benefits to training professionals extend beyond these four. Some platforms support social features (such as sharing, commenting or rating) that provide a secondary, user-generated knowledge channel for learners. Most platforms generate robust, real-time viewer analytics that can provide fascinating insights and metrics into your learners’ behaviors and choices. A core benefit for marketers is conversion: to use interactive video to entice viewers to take an additional action (sign up, read more, purchase). Training professionals can use a similar technique to encourage learners to continue their learning experience beyond the video (through downloads, follow-up activities, targeted recommendations, etc.).

Given all these advantages, is interactive video the answer to all your training needs? Not exactly.  Depending on your organization and approach, there may be important budget and access considerations to consider. For instance, does your organization cover mobile data package costs? Video files can be very big, and many interactive video platforms use a method that pushes video files to the viewing device, instead of streaming it. “Choose your own path” videos can be very engaging, but they can require you to produce three or more times as much edited video as a traditional linear format. For these reasons and more, the format lends itself well to shorter experiences that contain very visual content, clear characters and well-defined choice/consequence situations. It’s especially effective for hybrid learning/messaging campaigns: recruiting trailers and new hire “organizational culture” pieces; externally-facing products and services overviews; or, strategy announcements and mindset shifting around change initiatives.

If you determine that interactive video meets your training needs, there are some typical traps to avoid:

• Resist format temptation.  Stay on track with your main message and avoid unnecessary tangents and distractions. Just because you  can , doesn’t mean you  should .
• Keep it brief.  Today’s viewers welcome brevity. Going longer means more production for you, and higher attrition rates. Even interactive video faces rising viewer drop-off over time.
• Think small.  Remember that your video (and hotspots) should play nicely on a small screen for people with big fingers.

The historical divisions between “watch” and “do,” messaging and learning, and formal and informal training have broken down. Passive is out, experiential and participatory are in. Interactive video represents an exciting, evolving new format that can connect directly with learners on an emotional level, and engage them in their own growth and development.

• #Content Development
• #Engagement
• #experiential learning
• #Learning Technologies

Matthew Murray

Matthew Murray is the U.S. Digital Learning Leader at PwC.

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