PowerPoint shows are one of the vital widespread academic sources these days. Having been so for fairly a while, they may look a bit old school and never as participating as we want. Nonetheless, there’s a surefire strategy to make them rather more dynamic – create interactive slides.
On this article, you’ll be taught what interactive components you possibly can add to your PPT presentation, how to do that in PowerPoint step-by-step, and the right way to maintain the viewers’s consideration by making the training expertise much more thrilling and interactive with iSpring Suite. Let’s get began.
Contents
What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Interactive?
3 Concepts for Interactive PowerPoint Shows
An Simpler Method to Create Interactive Studying Supplies
What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Interactive?
There are a lot of methods to make your presentation interactive. Some require solely PowerPoint functionalities, whereas others require a unique instrument or a PPT add-in. Listed here are a few of the commonest methods so as to add interactivity to your PPT slides:
- PowerPoint triggers and animations
- Multimedia: visible content material, audio information, net pages, and movies
- Interactive software program simulations
- Mini video games
- eLearning interactions
- Interactive quizzes
- Interactive role-play simulations
3 Concepts for Making Shows Interactive with PowerPoint
PowerPoint allows you to create a lot of studying content material that can maintain your viewers engaged, by utilizing functionalities like on-click interactions, pop-up menus, and exams with branching situations. Right here we’ll present you ways to try this and methods to make this course of even simpler and simpler.
Take a look at a demo that features a few of these content material sorts:
Observe our step-by-step guides to create one among these content material sorts on your interactive presentation.
Thought #1: PowerPoint triggers for on-click interactions
One of many methods to make your slide interactive is so as to add a clickable button (set off) that prompts one thing. For instance, it may possibly launch a number of animations concurrently. See the way it works beneath:

To construct such on-click interplay, you’ll want so as to add animations. Observe these steps:
1. Decide a background picture, insert it into your PPT slide, and stretch it in order that it fills the slide utterly.
2. Add an object that can grow to be the clickable button. This may be a picture or a easy form.
3. Choose this object on the slide and click on on Format → Choice Pane. Double-click the highlighted object and rename it to Open button.

4. Create two new slide objects (and rename them): a textual content field and one other button. This button will shut the pop-up.
5. Open the Choice Pane and choose the Open and Shut buttons, together with the textbox. Merely maintain down the Left Ctrl key and click on every of the wanted gadgets:

Now go to Animations → Add Animation → Entrance: Fade after which Add Animation → Exit: Fade.

7. To see the complete listing of animations on this slide, click on on Animation Pane. Right here’s the way it ought to look:

8. Now it’s time to arrange triggers. Choose the Entrance animations for the Shut button and the textbox, then click on on Set off → On Click on of and choose the Open button form. What this may do: when the Open button is clicked, the textbox and the Shut button will seem.

9. Now repeat the earlier step however set off the exit animations of the identical objects by clicking on Shut button. As soon as this has been performed, you need to see the next within the Animation Pane:

10. There’s one minor factor left to do: while you click on the Open button, it ought to disappear, and while you hit the Shut button, it ought to seem once more. How do you make this occur? Merely transfer the Open button animations underneath corresponding triggers like this:

And that’s it, your interplay is prepared. If you wish to improve the pop-up with visuals, like a picture or one other textbox, observe the identical course of and add their animations to the present triggers.
Thought #2: Single-slide interplay with pop-ups
This second concept expands on the earlier one: you possibly can add a number of slide buttons that can activate pop-ups on the display screen. Right here’s what it appears like:

To design this sort of interplay, you’ll must create the interplay from the earlier concept (or construct a brand new one by following our information) after which observe the steps beneath:
1. Create a set of objects for the second pop-up. In the event you want the identical buttons, merely choose an object you created earlier, then maintain down Left Ctrl and drag it to a unique place on the slide – and also you’ll get an an identical copy. It’s also possible to repeat this step with different objects.

2. Then, open Choice Pane and rename the brand new objects.
3. Now, animate the second pop-up. Press and maintain Left Ctrl, then choose objects in Choice Pane and add two units of Fade animations:

4. Set off the brand new animations utilizing the identical logic from the earlier concept. As soon as completed, Animation Pane ought to seem like this:

5. Your interplay is sort of prepared. All you continue to must do is repair this challenge:

As you possibly can see, two pop-ups can now be opened on the identical time and it doesn’t look good. To repair this, that you must set your animations in order that while you click on on “Open button 1,” the second pop-up button disappears, and vice versa. And make them seem once more when both of the “Shut buttons” is clicked. Right here’s what your animation pane ought to seem like:

Now, your interplay ought to work like this:

And that’s it, your interplay with a number of pop-up menus is prepared!
Thought #3: A quiz with branching situations
One other strategy to make your slides interactive is so as to add a quiz with clickable reply choices. It’s also possible to make the check progress in another way for every scholar, relying on the choice they choose: if the reply is right, they proceed to the subsequent query; if not, they go to the information slide to dive deeper into the subject. Or you can also make it so {that a} learner receives suggestions after every answered query.
Beneath, you’ll be taught the fundamentals of constructing quizzes and branching situations in PowerPoint, which you’ll be able to additional use for creating all kinds of exams – the necessities are the identical.
1. Create the title web page of the quiz. Add a background picture, then kind the title of your quiz and its description.

2. Transfer on to the subsequent slide so as to add a query and reply choices. For the reply choices, you possibly can merely use textual content blocks (Insert → Textual content Field) or shapes (Insert → Shapes). It’s also possible to add a picture if you want.

Add different query and reply slides on your check in the identical manner.
3. Create the right reply slide after your first query. Add a congratulatory message, comparable to: “Nicely performed!” or “That’s right!” or “Appropriate!” Beneath the message, add a button that can take the learner to the subsequent query.

4. Create the inaccurate reply slide. Repeat the identical course of as within the earlier step however add a unique textual content (and a picture, in the event you use them).

If you wish to make information checks much more insightful for learners, you possibly can present them with suggestions on every incorrect reply.

Add right and incorrect reply slides after every query slide.
5. Set navigation on your quiz. Hyperlink the right and incorrect reply choices to the related suggestions slides. Click on on the reply textual content field, then go to the Insert tab and choose Hyperlink. Within the opened window, choose Place in This Doc and choose the mandatory slide.

Then add a hyperlink to the button on the suggestions slides. You’ll must do the identical for every slide as a result of suggestions slides ought to result in a brand new query each time.

When you’ve completed establishing navigation, your quiz is prepared. If you wish to be taught extra about this subject, learn our article on the right way to make a quiz in PowerPoint.
An Simpler Method to Create Interactive Studying Supplies
PowerPoint isn’t designed for creating interactive slides. Sure, it’s potential to do that, but it surely requires quite a lot of effort and time. So in the event you’re planning to develop such academic content material recurrently, think about using one of many 23 finest PowerPoint add-ins. A few of them, like iSpring Suite, are constructed for this form of activity and empower you to create higher content material in much less time.
iSpring Suite works as a PowerPoint add-in and gives you with templates and sensible features for designing superior studying content material rapidly and simply. You’ll be able to design interactions, quizzes, academic simulations, and lots of different content material sorts. Then, you possibly can add them to your studying administration system (LMS) or your on-line storage (iSpring House) and share them along with your learners.
Let’s see the right way to make your slides interactive utilizing iSpring Suite. Obtain a 14-day free iSpring Suite trial and observe the steps beneath to place idea into observe.
Interactions
Open the iSpring Suite tab and go to Interactions. There are 14 interplay templates, comparable to an FAQ, a timeline, and a diagram. Choose one among them, fill it with texts and multimedia, and that’s it – your interplay is prepared!

Watch this video to see the interplay improvement course of from A-Z.
And right here’s an instance of an interplay created in iSpring Suite. It took us solely 2 minutes to design it, whereas an analogous interplay in PowerPoint took us a minimum of an hour to create as a result of we needed to arrange all the triggers, animations, and so forth.
Quizzes
Simply as with interactions, iSpring Suite has 14 ready-made query templates that you simply solely must fill with textual content and multimedia.

Right here’s how. Open iSpring Suite, then go to Quizzes and click on on Graded Quiz. Then, choose a query kind and fill it with info. If you want, you may also add superior settings, like cut-off dates, the variety of makes an attempt allowed, and others.
See the complete routine in our tutorial video:
There’s no want so as to add separate suggestions slides as a result of suggestions is already constructed into every query slide. You’ll be able to customise it and add reinforcement info.
By the way in which, even in the event you don’t have an LMS, you possibly can nonetheless share the check along with your learners and observe their progress – iSpring Suite has a particular on-line space for storing for that and the instrument will e mail you the quiz outcomes of your learners.
Right here’s an instance of a quiz created with iSpring Suite:
Function-play simulations
Function-plays aka situations or academic simulations are one of the vital participating academic actions in on-line studying. Whereas most interactive instruments require programming to create this content material kind, iSpring Suite lets you create academic sims simply – even in case you have no IT background.
Merely go to Function-Play and click on on New Function-Play. Choose New Scene. Decide a personality and a background picture from the library of ready-made content material. Add texts. Then repeat the method with different scenes, join them by dragging an arrow from one scene to a different, and that’s it! Your sim is prepared.

If you wish to dive deeper into this subject, learn our in-depth article on role-plays, their sorts with examples, and a information and tips about creating them. It’s written by Clark Aldrich, the world’s most skilled designer of academic simulations.
And right here’s an instance of a role-play created with iSpring Suite:
In Abstract
Now, let’s recap some highlights from this text. Listed here are the important thing takeaways.
Are you able to make a PowerPoint presentation interactive?
Sure, you possibly can add interactive components to your PPT presentation both by utilizing PowerPoint alone or with extra instruments, like iSpring Suite.
What are the interactive options of PowerPoint?
PowerPoint allows you to create triggers and animations that make your presentation extra interactive.
How do I make my PowerPoint presentation extra participating?
Take into account including interactions, quizzes, triggers, and animations to your presentation to make it extra dynamic, participating, and participatory.
Endnote
So, these are a number of methods you possibly can create participating shows with PowerPoint solely and with different instruments (take a look at this listing of the 12 finest interactive presentation software program instruments). If you wish to save effort and time whereas creating rather more participating and interactive shows, programs, and assessments, take a look at iSpring Suite.
Get began with iSpring Suite totally free throughout a 14-day trial interval.