How can I make my powerpoint presentation interesting to people who aren't interested?

Question

For history I have to give an hour long powerpoint presentation on Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. I'm second to go, and the guy that went before me had everyone sleeping.
I tried to make my powerpoint interesting, using lots of pictures, colour and effects (but not too many.) is that enough to make people interested? Or do I just talk really loudly and confidently? I would feel like an idiot if I'm talking to 30 kids for an hour tomorrow but they fall asleep on me...

Answer 1

try to make it like you're telling a story from a story book with characters and plot and setting, etc. use pictures and video clips. play music of the era, pictures of her as well as of the way the towns looked during that time, what they did for fun, how they worked, what they ate, what weapons were used, how they engaged in battle, give them a good feel for the setting and the people. you could bring in items to pass around like a costume or painting, or whatever artifacts if you can get them. you could have some of them act out a little scene/role-playing scenario to demonstrate an idea. anything you can find to supplement your words and keep kids interested is good.

Answer 2

There's nothing more boring in a PowerPoint presentation than having all your info written on the slides and reading it word for word - your audience could do that :P Make it more interesting by putting the keywords, diagrams, pictures, and animations on each slide, and speaking from it, gesture at the display as appropriate but talk to the people, not to the PowerPoint, it is there just to make your spoken points stronger and to keep everybody on track of what you're on about. Depending on the topic, try and get in personal examples or funny stories to demonstrate the points you are making to try and get the audience to connect to your topic.

Answer 3

To make the presentation interesting (at least less boring) you have to:

a) make the information short and straight-to-the-point. So cut all kinds of information you don't really need.

b) put some shocking pictures like the wigs of Marie Antoinette, which were shaped like a ship http://fuchsias18thcdress.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/independence-perruque.jpg

c) write shocking and interesting information.





Just to let you know it is almost impossible to make other kids get interested in an hour long presentation, but you can still make it less boring. Don't worry too much about it.

Answer 4

Hi Samantha,



Marie Antoinette sounds like a great topic!



To learn about all the features of Microsoft PowerPoint, you should visit http://office.microsoft.com/powerpoint.

For even more helpful hints, you can search Facebook for Microsoft PowerPoint to interact with other PowerPoint users. You can ask questions and look through past responses to get advice from other users!



Good luck with your presentation!



Isabella

MSFT Office Outreach Team

Answer 5

I teach music and I always tell me students, no matter what, the audience is going to clap anyway. It's the same with presentations. The bottom line is, not everyone is going to want to be there. You can make it less painful by the way you speak. If you act nervous or bored with the material, the kids pick up on that. The bottom line is, the person you need to impress is the educator. Put some humor or sarcasm in it and get the students involved. Make real world comparisons and it all seems to go together.

Answer 6

Do them naked? LOL