The Most Inspiring Presentations of All Time: Our Top 4 Picks

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Most people don’t have strong emotional reactions to presentations at school or work. If they have an emotional reaction at all, it’s often one of boredom. Boredom not only for members of the audience but also for those delivering presentations. That doesn’t need to be the case. In fact, it shouldn’t.

One of the benefits of delivering a presentation is that it allows you to express ideas and information visually. As research shows, visual content yields high levels of engagement online. That’s because visual content taps into our senses and communicates in a way that words alone may be unable to achieve.

Keep this in mind the next time you need to generate and deliver any type of presentation, whether it’s an onboarding presentation for new hires at your company or a school presentation in which you describe difficult concepts. It is possible for a presentation to trigger a response beyond sighs and toe-tapping from audience members. Some presentations can even be genuinely inspiring! Consider the following examples:

Apple Presentations

This isn’t just one item. That’s because various Apple product presentations have gone down in tech history for their ability to generate enthusiasm and loyalty among audience members. That’s an important point to keep in mind if you’re developing presentations to pitch products and services to others. Those in the room may be so inspired by your presentations that they share their enthusiasm with others, helping you create a loyal fan base.

Apple presentations have been particularly effective because they combine two very basic strengths. First, they naturally demonstrate how products are used, focusing specifically on the features that are newest and most impressive. By impressing an audience from the start, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, and anyone else who may have delivered these types of presentations in the past found ways to hook audiences early. In addition, there’s no denying that Steve Jobs himself was quite enthusiastic when delivering presentations. His emotion transferred to the audience members.

Tony Robbins Presentations

Tony Robbins has been an iconic figure in the realm of personal development and achievement for decades now. His products and services take a wide range of forms. It’s entirely acceptable to be skeptical about some of his claims. Still, you don’t need to buy into all the self-help hype to appreciate the fact that Tony Robbins is a master at delivering presentations that inspire audiences.

To some extent, this is because, like Steve Jobs, he is also very enthusiastic on stage. However, that’s not the only secret to his success when presenting ideas to an audience.

If you watch his presentations, you’ll find that he often includes interactive elements. Keep this in mind when designing your own presentations. Making the experience interactive naturally makes it more appealing for everyone participating. If the content of a presentation is naturally inspirational, involving audience members can also help cultivate the positive emotions you’re attempting to generate.

‘How Google Works’ by Eric Schmidt

This is a unique entry on this list. The above two entries are definitely the types of inspiring presentations that benefit from a live audience and a live speaker. Still, it’s important to understand that it may be possible to deliver an inspiring presentation that’s pre-recorded.

Consider this example. It’s inspiring precisely because it shows the power of the presentation and slideshow format to communicate effectively even when there isn’t a live speaker in the room.

Delivering presentations in this way may become increasingly common in the near future. Surveys routinely indicate that remote work and hybrid work arrangements aren’t just fads. Perhaps because of the pandemic, today’s workers demand the opportunity to work from home. With more and more businesses adopting remote work policies, it may be more and more common to deliver business presentations in digital formats.

This example proves that such a format doesn’t need to be a limitation. On the contrary, by creating one version of a presentation that you can distribute to people throughout the world, you can cast a wider net while also ensuring that the quality of the presentation remains consistent every time audiences view the presentation. In addition, a digital presentation may be accessible whenever a viewer wants to see it. That’s helpful when a presentation includes factual information or describes processes with practical applications in an audience member’s work.

TEDTalks

It would be impossible to choose just one example of an inspiring TEDTalk. Figures ranging from pro athletes to individuals born and raised in poverty have delivered these presentations on topics ranging from how to use body language to improve your confidence to the role of fear as a motivator.

If you are trying to learn how to put together and deliver an inspiring presentation, just review some TEDTalks to find out what the most effective speakers do. Although every presenter has their own style, you may find that the most successful combine all elements of a presentation with the singular goal of generating a strong emotional reaction in an audience.

Bonus Tip: Use the Right Presentation Maker

You may struggle to put together an inspiring presentation because you have to spend so much time on the practical details of putting one together that you don’t have the opportunity to focus on the emotional content. That’s why it’s important to experiment with different presentation makers. For example, by using a presentation maker that offers templates and AI features to streamline the presentation making process, you could generate presentations much more efficiently than you otherwise would. The extra time you have to work on a presentation could be used to determine how you may make it more inspirational. Use the examples here as, well, inspiration!

Use Powtoon’s Presentation Maker to Generate Presentations That Impress

Powtoon is an online video maker that simplifies the video and slideshow production processes. With Powtoon Imagine, you can also leverage the power of AI to quickly create video content for your presentations. Learn more about what these tools can do for you by signing up for free today!

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Hanna Abitbul

Hanna is Powtoon's Content Marketing Strategist. She joined Powtoon as a copywriter in 2019, after graduating from university with a specialized degree in marketing and business. She continues to inspire people to create incredible video content with blog posts, videos, guides, and more. Hanna's passions include reading, singing, and caring for animals (#proudvegan). Nothing makes her happier than waking up to her two black kitties who, contrary to popular belief, are good luck!