8 Interactive Ideas for Impactful Sales Presentations

If you want your sales presentations to have an impact, interactivity is the holy grail.

91% of B2B buyers prefer interactive, visual content to something that’s static and stood still. Similarly, 93% of marketers say that interactive content is very effective or somewhat effective when educating buyers.

This last stat is particularly prominent in advanced manufacturing and engineering, when you’re not just presenting your products – you’re educating buyers about how they work, their potential benefits, and the value in terms of solving their problems.

So, how do you make it happen? In truth, there are lots of interactive ideas for presentations thanks to modern technology. Long gone are the days when you were limited to pen, paper and PowerPoint presentations!

Read on for eight exciting interactive presentation ideas that help brands stand out from the crowd, enable sales teams and find out about the interactive presentation software you need to make the magic happen.

What is an interactive presentation?

An interactive presentation goes above and beyond what you may have seen in your typical PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. This technique works to keep your audience engaged, encourages audience participation and helps overall with delivering your pitch.

Interactive presentations turn your presentation slides into intuitive, dynamic content through the power of technology. Touchscreen experiences can make interactive elements pop, whether you’re including video clips, images or even 3D models that your audience can explore.

Below, we’ll be exploring the different interactive elements you can use to create interactive presentations, where static presentations fall short and how making your presentations interactive can deliver an abundance of benefits.

1. Navigation around a central visual

All too often, presentations are rigidly linear. We’ve all seen the PowerPoints where presenters must scroll past irrelevant slides if they want to skip to something more pertinent for a particular audience. Crucially, the audience can see this linearity. They know that they’re most likely going to be taken from A all the way to Z when it comes to the product in question.

At best, it’s frustrating seeing someone skip slides or skim over information when they realize it’s not important. At worst, it leaves your buyers completely disengaged and disinterested.

What if there was a better way? Enter non-linear presentations where a visual is used as a central navigation portal. This allows the audience to see right from the start that there are several relevant areas to the product.

Most importantly, it enables sellers to present in a more dynamic way. That could be changing the order of their presentation to prioritize information that’s more relevant to a particular audience. Or maybe you need to jump between different sections to illustrate a specific point. Not to mention those times when skipping entire sections altogether is necessary due to limited time or a certain type of audience. 

A great example of this is Fujitsu’s interactive presentation, which displays all the key areas of the presentation from a central visual that represents a customer’s environment. This includes the six key challenges faced by its customers – cyber, big data, compliance, mobility, connected citizens and supply chain.

This interactive navigation allows sales reps to drill down into different areas of the presentation. Having the different areas on show also encourages customers to prompt and ask questions, guiding the presentation in a direction that works for them.

2. Customer environments

It’s only natural that buyers are more interested in something when it’s relevant to them, their life and their pain points. It’s not narcissism – people just find it harder to engage with and understand things when they’re not in a familiar context. However, it’s tricky for standard presentations to display something that truly resonates with any given audience.

This is another area where modern technology meets the grade. One of the best interactive ideas for presentations is to recreate an environment that’s familiar to the customer. This allows you to demonstrate how your products or services fit into their day-to-day life – and add value along the way.

As an example, you might display a typical office environment to show how smart technology can improve productivity in several different areas. Similar to the previous point, you could then navigate to the different facets like lighting, climate control, access control and smart booking systems.

This is something we implemented very effectively for Isotrak, creating a ‘day in the life’ scenario which was familiar to their drivers and logistics staff. The scenario starts at 7am, showing how the system tracks initial checks at the start of a journey. It then moves through a typical day, displaying the value Isotrak adds in several familiar scenarios like incorrect directions and geofencing for expected delivery times.

Throughout the journey, it displays five business metrics – profitability, service delivery, productivity, sustainability and risk management. As these metrics change, buyers can see the value the system has and how that’s intrinsically linked to its different functions. 

3. Audience-specific content

Of course, it’s not practical for all presentations to show the same scenario to every buyer. Many manufacturing companies have more diverse audiences, which could include different stakeholders from a business or different types of businesses altogether. As a food manufacturer, for example, you might deal with supermarkets, independent retailers and restaurants – all of which have their own unique requirements.

In this case, the best interactive presentation ideas let you tailor your presentation in the moment depending on who you’re speaking to. This is achieved using intuitive navigation, providing instant access to an arsenal of information that essentially covers all bases.

Consider Bacardi’s sales enablement tool, for example, which has a customer-centric approach. It starts with a simple contents page, allowing sales reps to quickly navigate to all the different content from one place. That includes everything from their brand portfolio and market research to popular cocktail recipes and different occasions.

Everything can be retrieved in a couple of clicks and in a matter of seconds, ensuring they make the most of every interaction. This is invaluable when they have limited time and such a diverse customer base, which includes not only bars, restaurants and clubs, but also a variety of roles like bartenders, managers and owners with different levels of familiarity with Bacardi products.

4. Interactive touchscreens

When it comes to fun interactive presentation ideas, it’s hard to beat interactive touchscreens – the clue is in the name! To begin with, touchscreens are one of the most enticing features that encourage potential customers to find out more. They’re a talking point that catches people’s eyes and gets them excited. This makes them ideal at customer experience centers, trade shows, and other events.

Large touchscreens are a flexible interactive presentation tool as they can be used by both sales reps and buyers. Reps can guide buyers through different products and their features. Equally, buyers can use them to self-serve and do their own research. This includes swiping through different products, manipulating 3D models, and viewing demonstrations with the tap of a finger.

Laurus Homes uses a touchscreen to give prospective buyers the wow factor and bring their dream home to life. To start with, homebuyers can see all the different house types at a given plot, then find out more about each property’s specifications. Additionally, properties can be filtered by price, number of bedrooms, location, style and availability.

When customers self-serve, their experience isn’t overlooked. Even without a sales rep present, the system tracks every property they view or brochure they download, giving Laurus instrumental market intelligence for future builds. 

5. Product catalogues and configurations

Interactive presentation ideas are ideal for businesses with a large product portfolio. Presentations need to be engaging and well organized if you want to guide buyers through your diverse product range, or just drill down into the different options. Interactive sales tools can help with both engagement and organization.

Having the ability to search for and filter down products means that sales teams can inform and educate buyers on the products that are most suitable for them. Alternatively, they are better placed to demonstrate the breadth of solutions available for buyers with diverse requirements.

As well as having a vast array of products, many manufacturers can often have different configurations for each product they offer. In this instance, a product configurator is a very useful interactive tool. Users can scroll through different options for products and see how they change in real time. That could be a buyer self-serving or a sales rep guiding them through the different possibilities.

Both of these functions are demonstrated by JSP’s DigiHUB. With over 300 products, they benefit massively from a tool which organizes all their specifications, images, videos and product models. The tool is complete with a configurator, where users can adjust the color and add their logo to PPE items, all while viewing them as 3D models.

6. Interactive diagrams

Diagrams are a common feature in presentations – showing the structure of workings of a product or idea in graphic form. They work well even with basic methods, whether that’s on a screen at the front of the room or printed out on paper documents.

Diagrams simplify complex products, providing a visual aid as you explain the different components and functions. This is taken to the next level when your diagrams are interactive.

Being able to touch, move and manipulate a graphic representation allows buyers to connect with your product on a much deeper level. They can understand how it really looks, what it does and the many different features and benefits. 

Crucially, an interactive diagram lets you incorporate much more content to really drill down into unique selling points. You’re not limited to a single, two-dimensional image. Each part of the diagram can reveal more about a product – that could be immersive multimedia elements like videos and zoomed-in models 3D models or informative data about customers’ pain points.

Ebbsfleet Development Corporation used an interactive diagram to showcase their Ebbsfleet Garden City development. Clicking on different parts of the city, users could see video flythroughs, aerial footage, interviews and key information about schools, parkland, transport links and housing developments.

This fun interactive presentation idea shows how presentations can use more interesting formats. You don’t have to stand at the front of a room with a slideshow and your audience looking forward. Interactive touchscreens and diagrams create a more relaxed atmosphere, where buyers can discover your products with sales reps on hand to talk through them and answer any questions.

7. Gamification

Gamification and presentations are a match made in heaven. It’s been proven to improve engagement and information retention – two of the most important aspects of any good presentation.

With the right technology on your side, you can create a gamified experience based on your product or portfolio. Ideas include:

• Letting users build one of your products to better understand the different components, functions and possibilities.
• Creating a branded world where buyers can roam around and discover your different products along the way.
• Including an interactive quiz with a leaderboard, which could be about your product range or customers’ pain points, for example.

This interactive presentation idea was chosen by Arm for their exhibitions and trade shows. One of the experiences challenged users to build an internet-connected device. It helped them understand the complexities of the development process with different configuration options – plus a scoreboard for a competitive edge.

8. Conversational presenting

While many of our interactive ideas for presentations revolve around specific content or tools, the final point on our list is a little broader. Conversational presenting is a technique that lets the audience guide your presentation. Interactivity is at the heart of this method, as you need to interact with your audience to put them in control.

Rather than going through the motions with every potential customer, you can adapt what you say and show them based on what they tell you. That could be a specific pain point that they need help with or the sector they work in and the corresponding services you offer.

While this isn’t a type of technology per se, it does rely on more flexible tools that let you customize your presentation as you go. Weinerberger’s Showpad experience is a case in point. From the get-go, it allows them to go in different directions depending on who they’re talking to, what their role is and what they’re interested in.

Content can be filtered depending on whether a buyer is in construction, housebuilding or landscaping, for example. Sales reps can then navigate to relevant projects, such as apartments, education, healthcare or retail – revealing the different products within those categories.

What are the different ways to use interactive elements in a presentation?

There is a wide range of uses for interactive features in presentations. Here are just a few ideas on how these elements can keep your audience members involved.

🗳️ Live polls

Adding live polls into your interactive presentation can be a great way to capture an audience’s attention and actively involve them. This not only allows you to collect real-time feedback but also makes your presentation feel more collaborative.

💬 Q&A sessions

If you’re pitching a great idea, making your presentation interactive is crucial for engaging your audience. One of the best ways to do this is through Q&A sessions. This not only allows you to offer answers in real time, but also creates an interactive atmosphere for two-way communication.

Unlike a PowerPoint presentation, interactive presentations work to engage your audience and keep their attention through interactive elements. The more questions your audience has, the greater the communication and feedback too.

📊 Interactive charts and graphs

In your typical Google slides or PowerPoint, graphics and charts can be incredibly hard to interact with. When data is difficult to engage with, your audience can quickly switch off – no matter how important the topic may be. Creating visual interest with interactive charts and graphs can allow your audience to actively click into your data for more detailed information, without an overwhelming amount of information on each slide.

These interactive elements can help viewers to get to grips with difficult information better, for greater understanding. With that comes more opportunities for sales or investment from your pitches.

🖼️ Animated infographics

One of the best interactive ideas for presentations lies with the use of animated infographics and interactive elements, these work to present data and in-depth information in a way that captures the audience’s attention and encourages questions.

This is especially important where hard-hitting data – that could easily be left in a graph or chart in a boring presentation – comes alive. This not only makes the data more digestible, but also more engaging and interesting to the audience.

🛍️ Immersive shopping experiences

Not every presentation is packed with data, flowcharts or graphs. Interactive presentation software can also solve challenging retail experiences – like our work with Harding+ onboard a luxury cruise.

Interactive presentation FAQs

How is an interactive presentation different to a PowerPoint presentation?

PowerPoint presentations are very flat and linear, with room for clunkiness or audience boredom since there is little to be engaged with.

While tools such as PowerPoint still have their place, there are some huge limitations worth highlighting:

• PowerPoint is linear and static by nature, which doesn’t result in an engaging presentation
• Design capabilities are very limited, making it difficult to produce a visually compelling presentation, unless you are a PowerPoint expert
• It’s very time consuming to create presentation slides that have little appeal and no interactive content
• A lack of advanced analytics poses a huge challenge when it comes to understanding audience engagement

Interactive presentations work well for audience engagement for a variety of reasons. Creating a strong, impactful presentation with multimedia elements will not only make your presentation more visually appealing, but it can also create a narrative around your topic.

When your audience feels involved in your story, you’ll capture their attention and encourage greater participation.

Can I use interactivity in a standard presentation?

A conventional presentation won’t include interactive elements. But some interactivity features can be seen in Q&A live sessions, polls or even as a fun icebreaker game. Where traditional presentations see just a few clicks of key points as ‘interactive slides’, this linear presentation style leaves very little room for active participation.

Here at POP, our interactive presentations go beyond creating charts or adding transitions between otherwise static slides. Our no-code software is designed to create immersive experiences for viewers, whether as a sales tool, demonstration or pitch.

What are the biggest benefits of no-code interactive presentation software?

The best interactive presentation ideas require the right software, which results in the following benefits for both audience members and sellers:

Time efficiency

Creating an interactive presentation with a tool such as POP allows you to save time when creating your presentation, through no-code templates, interactive features and drag and drop components. With everything you need in one place, creating interactive presentations becomes faster, sleeker and more streamlined.

Plus, with information presented in a way that gets the audience involved, participants no longer feel bogged down by a lengthy, static presentation they cannot engage with.

User-friendly design

Where traditional presentations fall short is often in their interface and flexibility. For those seeking something more intuitive, interactive presentation software – such as POP – makes it easy to create a visually stunning presentation.

With no coding and no irritating restrictions you’d find with PowerPoint, these integrated features make presentations a breeze.

Advanced analytics

Never be unsure about audience engagement again. With the right software for your interactive presentation, advanced analytics are a must. POP offers analytics that go beyond the capabilities of your typical presentation tool, allowing you to track key parts of your presentation for more targeted follow-ups.

Bring your interactive presentation ideas to life with POP

From bespoke navigation to gamified experiences, there are plenty of fun interactive presentation ideas to choose from. All that’s standing in your way is finding the right technology and figuring out how everything works. POP is on hand to fast-track the process with our interactive presentation software and onboarding with our tried and tested Customer Success Blueprint.

Our versatile platform can turn your vision into a reality, giving you impressive interactive presentations that are adaptable, engaging and always up to date. On top of that, our expert professional services team will be by your side to help you design and create the right content for yours and your customers’ needs. Our Customer Success Blueprint covers discovery, onboarding and ongoing success to ensure you get the most out of your interactive presentations.

If you’d like more information, don’t hesitate to contact us on 0117 329 1712, email hello@popcomms.com or arrange a demo.