How to Use Google Slides to Create Interactive Presentations?

Every presenter wants their presentation to stand out. They want to put on a great presentation for their audience. A well-designed presentation slide alone is not enough to make your presentation stand out.

You can have a better Google Slide presentation if you make an outstanding interactive presentation instead. A presentation with interactive features is an excellent way to convey information to your audience and keep them engaged until the end.

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An interactive Google Slides presentation allows users to have control over the presentation. They decide which parts of the presentation they want to view. This allows them to digest the information at their own pace.

If you are wondering how to use Google Slides to create interactive presentations, you have come to the right place. This article will discuss the necessity of creating interactive Google Slides presentations, steps on creating interactive slides, and more tips.

Why create interactive presentations?

Interactive presentations are presentations that encourage audience participation and include quiz slides. Interactive presentations are much more than that. 

An interactive presentation is a clickable presentation that contains hyperlinks. Presentations with hyperlinks allow viewers to choose which information they want to see first.

Steps in Making Interactive Google Slides Presentation

Now that you understand what an interactive presentation is. It is time to look at how you can create Google Slides interactive presentations by following the steps below.

Step 1: Open a Google Slides Homepage

Opening a new Google Slides presentation is the first step in making an interactive presentation. Choose a blank slate.

Step 2: Work on Your Title Slide

Once you open a new (blank) presentation slide, Google Slides inserts the title slide. Add your presentation title by clicking on the title text box.

Creating a clear, straight-to-the-point, and interesting title is advisable. As you continue creating your presentation, you may want to delete a slide on Google Slides. Deleting a slide is fast and easy. You can delete a slide by pressing right-click on the selected slide and pressing delete.

Step 3: Create the Menu Slide and Clickable Buttons

The next step is to be able to create the main menu slide with clickable buttons. You may use different shapes for the buttons. However, using the most button-like shape, a rectangle with rounded corners, is more advisable.

In the toolbar, look for the shape button. Double-clicking on the slide will make the shape appear. You may click and drag the shape using the nodes along its edges to adjust its size.

You may also add labels or descriptions to the shape by typing the label directly or clicking the text box button and positioning it near the shape. Aside from shapes, you may use images as clickable buttons.

Use image buttons that are relevant. For instance, if you want to hyperlink the image to the homepage, use an image of a house. Do not use random images that don’t make any sense.

Use familiar images that users can easily associate with. This will help make navigation a lot easier. You can add a border around the image or a drop shadow to make the images look clickable.

Step 4: Create Header Slides

You will also need to create header slides for all sections of your PowerPoint file. At the top left section of the toolbar, click on the new slide. You can do this repeatedly as necessary. You may create many clickable buttons for each section by following step 3.

Step 5: Add Information

Your slides need details, so you must add important information to your presentation slides. Add a text box for your text. Refrain from typing very long sentences or making your slides overly wordy. Keep your text clear and straight to the point.

Step 6: Check your Presentation

You must go through all your slides and check your presentation. Your slides should be in the proper order. Each section of your presentation should have header slides and clickable buttons.

Step 7: Create Hyperlinks

It is time to add hyperlinks to your presentation slides. Transform your clickable buttons into transparent shapes so users can easily navigate your interactive deck.

You can create transparent shapes by clicking on shapes, choosing the same shape, and applying the transparent fill color. Place the transparent shapes over your clickable buttons. This process makes editing hyperlinks easier, allowing users to spot the clickable button.

To create a hyperlink, right-click the transparent shape button, and select Link. After which, choose slides in the presentation to link them to a particular slide in your presentation.

Do this for all clickable buttons so they can link to a specific slide in your presentation. Also, remember to create a clickable button that can hyperlink to your main menu slide.

5 Tips on How to Create Interactive Presentations in Google Slides

Here are additional tips to help you create an interactive Google Slides presentation.

  1. Menu Slide Should Be Effective

Your interactive presentation can succeed with an effective main menu slide. An effective main menu slide is visually attractive, with a proper layout, and is easy to navigate.

Your main menu should indicate the different sections of your presentation. The overall structure of your presentation and the arrangement of clickable buttons are understandable and positioned logically.

  1. Visually Engaging Presentation

Audiences are generally visual. This means that they are easily attracted to anything that looks pleasing. Your presentation needs to be visually attractive and engaging for them to appreciate your presentation.

It would be best if you put a lot of effort into making each of your slides aesthetically beautiful and engaging.

  1. Simple Navigation

An effective presentation has organized content, making it easier to hyperlink into your presentation’s different slides or sections. Avoid going through all the slides just to get back to slide 1.

It is best to create clickable section buttons on all your slides. One necessary clickable button to add to each of your slides is a link to your home page or main menu page. From the main menu slide, you can then jump to another section of your interactive presentation without boring your audience.

  1. Provide Signposts

A signpost helps you and your audience track where you are currently in the presentation. A signpost can be clickable buttons on both sides of each slide indicating a link to return to the previous slide or move forward to the next slide.

  1. Positioning Buttons Strategically

You may follow the Western convention of reading from left to right. This means you position the forward or next button at the bottom right side of the slide.

You may also position the back or previous button at the lower left side of the slide. Be consistent when applying these conventions all over your presentation to avoid confusion.

Conclusion

If you have been so used to creating read-only slide presentations, you should level up and try making interactive Google Slides presentations. Discussed above are the steps and best practices for creating interactive presentations that you can apply to your next presentation.

Keep practicing how to create interactive presentations. It will make your presentation stand out and be memorable for you and your audience.

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Raj Singh
Raj Singh is a highly experienced digital marketer, SEO consultant, and content writer with over 8 years of experience in the industry.
As a content writer, Raj has a talent for crafting engaging and informative content that resonates with audiences. He has a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of SEO best practices.

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