How to Present Without PowerPoint: Creative Ways to Engage Any Audience
November 06, 2025
How do you present without PowerPoint? What makes a presentation creative and interesting? How do you capture attention without using slides?
Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball
Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London. Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page.
What’s the Big Problem with PowerPoint?
If you’ve ever sat through a boring presentation, you’ll know the feeling: too many slides, too few ideas and lots of words you forget as soon as they’re gone.
So here’s a thought: what if you could give an effective presentation without using any presentation software at all? Learning how to present without PowerPoint isn’t just possible, it’s often the best way to keep your audience’s attention and make a lasting impression.
Whether you’re a keynote speaker, a product evangelist or leading team meetings, presenting without slides gives you complete control of the room.
Remember, successful companies like Amazon & Google use less PowerPoint. Read how Jeff Bezos stopped PowerPoint being used in Amazon board meetings.
Let’s explore some creative presentation ideas that work brilliantly without PowerPoint. These are based on the Benjamin Ball Associates team’s 15+ years of experience coaching to help business leaders and executives look impressive – with and without PowerPoint.
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Present Without PowerPoint – Top Tips
Why Presenting Without PowerPoint Works
Many speakers rely on slides as a safety net. But when you remove them, something powerful happens: people listen to you, not your slides.
Here’s why this approach works:
- You hold the attention of the audience. Without a screen to hide behind, you naturally connect and make eye contact.
- You stay flexible. You can adapt in real time based on reactions or questions.
- You sound authentic. Without rehearsed slide transitions or a fixed number of slides, you sound more human and conversational.
- You create a lasting impression. People remember you, not your slide design.
Think of it as stepping away from a presentation and stepping into an important conversation with your listeners.
Common Problems with Slides
Slides aren’t always bad, but they can make public speaking and presenting harder when used badly. Here’s why:
- PowerPoint is a terrible planning tool. If used, it should be at the last stage of creating a presentation, not the first.
- You waste time making slides. We all spend too much time playing with PowerPoint.
- You distract your audience: Slides full of words distract from your message.
- You risk technical issues. Nothing kills a talk faster than a broken cable or missing file.
- You bore your audience. Slides make people zone out instead of joining in.
If you want to stand out, it helps to rethink what presentations can be, and how to make them more engaging.
Why You Should Ditch Your Slides and Be More Successful
Imagine a world without PowerPoint. It is so much more efficient and effective.
- You plan better – a proven presentation planning process makes you think harder
- You save hours every week – if you didn’t waste your time playing with PowerPoint.
- You get listened to – because your audience was not distracted by slides.
- You look more like a leader – leaders rarely use PowerPoint.
Once you start to present without PowerPoint you’ll never go back.
Creative Presentation Ideas (That Don’t Involve Slides)
Let’s explore a few creative ways to build captivating content without a single slide.
1. Tell a Story
Storytelling is one of the oldest and most effective public speaking techniques. A story turns facts into emotions and helps your audience remember your key messages.
For instance, rather than showing a chart about quarterly performance, tell a short story about how your team solved a challenge or delighted a client. Read more about how to tell stories in presentations.
2. Use Props or Visual Materials
Physical visual materials — like a prototype, chart or product sample — can bring your ideas to life. They also encourage interaction and make complex ideas easier to grasp.
Keep it simple: one or two strong props are far better than cluttering the meeting room.
3. Draw It Out
Using a whiteboard or flip chart gives you complete control of the pace and flow. You can sketch ideas, map out concepts or highlight key messages as you go.
This approach works especially well for analyst briefings, sales pitches or learning sessions where collaboration matters.
4. Get Interactive
Involve the room. Ask questions, invite opinions, or run a quick poll. These techniques keep the attention of the audience high and help you respond in real time.
This is a simple way to transform a talk into an important conversation.
5. Speak with Energy
When you speak without slides, your delivery becomes your visual aid. Use gestures, movement and your voice to add energy. This approach works beautifully for longer talks or more informal team meetings.
How to Prepare for a Talk Without PowerPoint
When you present without PowerPoint, you don’t need design skills to create a great talk — but you do need structure and practice. Here’s how:
- Outline your key messages. Know exactly what you want people to take away.
- Structure so it’s easier for your audience – a good presentation structure make life easier
- Plan transitions. Decide how to move smoothly from one point to the next.
- Practise out loud. This helps you find your rhythm and confidence.
- Rehearse timing. Without slides, it’s easy to run long.
- Use cues. Keep a few cards or notes handy if you need prompts.
When you’re prepared, you’ll sound confident and relaxed, and your audience will feel it.
When Slides Still Make Sense
Sometimes, using slides or visual aids is the best way to support your story — for example:
- When visuals genuinely clarify your message
- When you’re explaining research papers or complex data
- In large analyst briefings or corporate events
Even then, keep your slide design simple: one idea per single slide, minimal text and clear visual materials that reinforce your words rather than replace them.
As a rule of thumb, only use visual aids when it genuinely helps your audience.
CASE STUDY: No PowerPoint in Amazon Board Meetings
Surprisingly, at the most senior level, Amazon has banned PowerPoint. Instead they use memos.
Read what Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon says in a letter to shareholders when he addresses the question of PowerPoint and shares what they do at Amazon.
Perfect Handstands
A close friend recently decided to learn to do a perfect free-standing handstand. No leaning against a wall. Not for just a few seconds. Instagram good. She decided to start her journey by taking a handstand workshop at her yoga studio. She then practised for a while but wasn’t getting the results she wanted. So, she hired a handstand coach. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, but evidently this is an actual thing that exists.
In the very first lesson, the coach gave her some wonderful advice. “Most people,” he said, “think that if they work hard, they should be able to master a handstand in about two weeks. The reality is that it takes about six months of daily practice. If you think you should be able to do it in two weeks, you’re just going to end up quitting.” Unrealistic beliefs on scope – often hidden and undiscussed – kill high standards. To achieve high standards yourself or as part of a team, you need to form and proactively communicate realistic beliefs about how hard something is going to be – something this coach understood well.
Six-Page Narratives
We don’t do PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations at Amazon. Instead, we write narratively structured six-page memos. We silently read one at the beginning of each meeting in a kind of “study hall.” Not surprisingly, the quality of these memos varies widely. Some have the clarity of angels singing. They are brilliant and thoughtful and set up the meeting for high-quality discussion. Sometimes they come in at the other end of the spectrum.
In the handstand example, it’s pretty straightforward to recognize high standards. It wouldn’t be difficult to lay out in detail the requirements of a well-executed handstand, and then you’re either doing it or you’re not. The writing example is very different. The difference between a great memo and an average one is much squishier. It would be extremely hard to write down the detailed requirements that make up a great memo. Nevertheless, I find that much of the time, readers react to great memos very similarly. They know it when they see it. The standard is there, and it is real, even if it’s not easily describable.
Here’s what we’ve figured out. Often, when a memo isn’t great, it’s not the writer’s inability to recognize the high standard, but instead a wrong expectation on scope: they mistakenly believe a high-standards, six-page memo can be written in one or two days or even a few hours, when really it might take a week or more! They’re trying to perfect a handstand in just two weeks, and we’re not coaching them right. The great memos are written and re-written, shared with colleagues who are asked to improve the work, set aside for a couple of days, and then edited again with a fresh mind. They simply can’t be done in a day or two. The key point here is that you can improve results through the simple act of teaching scope – that a great memo probably should take a week or more.
Skill
Beyond recognizing the standard and having realistic expectations on scope, how about skill? Surely to write a world-class memo, you have to be an extremely skilled writer? Is it another required element? In my view, not so much, at least not for the individual in the context of teams. The football coach doesn’t need to be able to throw, and a film director doesn’t need to be able to act. But they both do need to recognize high standards for those things and teach realistic expectations on scope. Even in the example of writing a six-page memo, that’s teamwork. Someone on the team needs to have the skill, but it doesn’t have to be you. (As a side note, by tradition at Amazon, authors’ names never appear on the memos – the memo is from the whole team.)
Benefits of High Standards
Building a culture of high standards is well worth the effort, and there are many benefits. Naturally and most obviously, you’re going to build better products and services for customers – this would be reason enough! Perhaps a little less obvious: people are drawn to high standards – they help with recruiting and retention. More subtle: a culture of high standards is protective of all the “invisible” but crucial work that goes on in every company. I’m talking about the work that no one sees. The work that gets done when no one is watching. In a high standards culture, doing that work well is its own reward – it’s part of what it means to be a professional.
And finally, high standards are fun! Once you’ve tasted high standards, there’s no going back.
So, the four elements of high standards as we see it: they are teachable, they are domain specific, you must recognize them, and you must explicitly coach realistic scope. For us, these work at all levels of detail. Everything from writing memos to whole new, clean-sheet business initiatives. We hope they help you too.
You can read the full text of the shareholder letter here.
Learn to Present without PowerPoint
If you want to learn the skill of presenting without PowerPoint, get in touch.
We’d be delighted to help you become better at presenting your ideas. When we work with business leaders we have a favourite phrase: Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint. Learn what you can do as a leader to look impressive when you present.
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How to Present Without PowerPoint – Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re thinking about giving a talk without slides, you’re not alone. Many professionals are discovering that presenting without PowerPoint is often the best way to keep the audience’s attention and deliver effective presentations that truly land.
Below you’ll find answers to the most common questions we hear about going slide-free: from finding creative presentation ideas to preparing for your next public speaking opportunity.
FAQs: How to Present Without PowerPoint
1. Why should I present without PowerPoint?
Presenting without PowerPoint helps you connect directly with your audience. Instead of hiding behind slides, you hold their attention and create a more natural conversation. It’s also a great way to sound authentic, adapt in real time and leave a lasting impression.
2. What are some creative presentation ideas without slides?
You can use storytelling, props, whiteboards or audience interaction. For example, turn your talk into a Q&A, draw key messages on a flip chart or bring physical items to illustrate a point. These creative presentation ideas work brilliantly in sales pitches, team meetings and public speaking events.
3. Isn’t it risky to present without visual materials?
Not at all, as long as you prepare well. You can still use visual aids such as props, diagrams, or handouts. The key is to support your message, not replace it. Many keynote speakers find that skipping slides helps them keep complete control of the room.
4. What if my presentation needs data or visuals?
If your message depends on visuals, for example, in research papers or analyst briefings — you can still use simple materials like printed charts or a single slide with key data. The goal is to highlight your key messages without overwhelming people with lots of words or complex slide design.
5. How do I keep the audience’s attention without slides?
Engage them. Ask questions, tell stories, or invite short discussions. Movement, eye contact and strong examples all help. The best way to hold the attention of the audience is to make your message relevant, personal and easy to follow.
6. What are the advantages of a slide-free presentation?
You’ll sound more confident and authentic, your talk will feel fresher and your message will stand out. You’ll also avoid the technical issues and predictable presentation design that can make a session feel dull or corporate.
7. How do I prepare for a talk without PowerPoint?
Start with a clear outline of your key points. Practise your timing and transitions, and decide when to invite questions or audience interaction. You don’t need design skills or presentation software; just structure, rehearsal and a clear story.
8. When is it still useful to use PowerPoint?
Slides can still help in certain situations, for example, when presenting complex data, a process, longer talks that need structure, or large audiences who need to see visuals. Even then, stick to a minimal number of slides and keep your presentation design simple.
9. Can I use this approach in business presentations?
Absolutely. This approach works brilliantly for internal presentations, sales pitches, team meetings and analyst briefings. Many business leaders use it to encourage important conversations rather than one-way lectures. It’s also perfect for training & learning sessions where you want to make the whole thing engaging and interesting..
10. What if I’m asked to send my slides in advance
Don’t. Instead, send a well-structured memo or executive summary. It will be faster to write than a slide deck and will be easier for your colleagues to read.
11. What’s the best way to start practising presentations without PowerPoint?
Try delivering part of your next talk without slides. Start small, maybe one section of a meeting or pitch. As you get comfortable, drop more slides until you no longer need them. You’ll quickly discover that the simple way is often the most powerful.
If you’d like to learn how to present confidently without slides, get in touch. We’ll show you how to transform your ideas into presentations that make a lasting impression.
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