With our Playful Presentation (Part 1), you will never see "long faces" in your audience. Perk up your slides and make the room light up with smiles in the classroom, public event or even, in the office. This deck allows you to break many typical PowerPoint presentation rules and flex your creative muscle. Next time you present, be someone whose every word is caught and remembered.
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Are you presenting to the toughest audience of them all – children? Then you need colorful, playful slides to grab and hold the attention of your mischievous stakeholders. Relate presentation topics to them in a fun, interactive manner.
A powerful quote is a good way to support your main message. Use this slide to insert a relevant meaningful or humorous phrase from an expert or historic figure to add credibility with lightness to your presentation.
Facts and figures can be pretty dry to talk about and to see, so they are especially in need of some spicing up. Use colors and fonts to make sure that the data on screen doesn't make your stakeholders yawn.
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If you are still not convinced that playful presentations are effective, here are some research findings from HubSpot, Prezi and Duarte on interactive presentations:
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Mark Twain said: "The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter." So, one way to make your presentation playful is by making it funny. Here is some advice from comedians shared with "Inc." on how to be funnier in your next presentation.
"This rule is a basic structure for jokes and ideas that capitalize on the way we process information," says former biologist turned comedian, Tim Lee. "We have become proficient at pattern recognition by necessity. Three is the smallest number of elements required to create a pattern. This combination of pattern and brevity results in memorable content."
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As the comedy legend Charlie Chaplin put it: "To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it."
"Making people laugh is only one type of humor; getting them to smile is another. When starting out, focus on making things fun as opposed to making things funny," says comedian Andrew Tarvin.
Reggie Steele expians: "Comedy is in the details, but you don't want to over do it. Just enough to set the scene. Talk to people as if you're talking to a blind person or you're doing something for the radio. Details matter."
According to Cody Woods: "The beautiful thing about a business presentation versus standup comedy is that the presentation audience can be misled into a funny line much easier. Due to the many boring presentations they have been subjected to, they are suspecting it less. Use this to your advantage."
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"There has to be tension for a punchline to land. Tension sets up the desire to see a problem–however big or small–get resolved. If you can identify what is making your audience restless, anxious, or uncomfortable, you can work backward to find the joke that chills them out," says Zahra Noorbakhsh.
A piece of advice from Matt Morales: "Speak with your hands in front of you, not flopped down to your side. Pretend your double fisting a couple of drinks that you're going to spill if you put your arms down. Or just double fist a couple of beers. Granted, that might not make your presentation better, but eventually you won't care anymore."
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Per Brandon Scott Wolf: "Your jokes are funny, so have confidence in them. Deliver your punch lines emphatically, and then give the audience a moment or two to process what you said so they can laugh."
As Steve Martin puts it: "Persistence is a great substitute for talent."
"Don't put something out there that bores you. If it bores you to tell it, you can bet it will bore your audience to hear it," says Sal Calanni.