Games to Play With an Audience During a Presentation

One game a presenter can run from the front, with steps, minutes and what it needs.

Games to Play With an Audience During a Presentation

  1. One Question per Pair, Passed to the Aisle1. Ask each pair of neighbors to agree on the one question it most wants answered. 2. One of them writes it on a sheet. 3. Sheets are passed along the row to the aisle and collected. 4. The presenter picks from the pile, so no one has to stand at a microphone. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 4 min. Needs: paper and a pen each. Good for: an opener, a closer.
All 36

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How it works

These games to play with an audience during a presentation are run by one speaker for a seated room of 20 to 500. Nobody leaves a seat or comes on stage. Each press deals one game with steps.

Read the full guide

Games to play during a presentation, by moment

After the first press an Any point in the talk box appears under the button. Choose An opener, The slot after lunch or A closer, and only games that fit that moment are dealt. The whole list is printed under the tool, in four kinds.

What each game needs

More filters, the last entry in that box, opens three choices. Nothing keeps the games that run on voices and hands, One slide the guess-and-reveal games a presenter prepares ahead, and Paper the ones that use a sheet and a pen at each seat or the printed handout.

Tips
  • Make the reveal slide before the talk: a guess-and-reveal game needs its answer on the screen.

Questions and answers

How do you get an audience to take part without calling on anyone?

Ask the whole room at once. In Applause Meter the audience claps for one of three options, and in Draw the Line in the Air everyone traces a chart's next move with a finger. No game here brings anyone on stage.

What is a good game for the slot after lunch?

Choose The slot after lunch. Everyone Faces the Back Row takes one minute and gets the room standing, and Convince Your Neighbor gives neighbors a minute to argue for their answer before a second show of hands.

How long should an audience game take in a talk?

The ones here take one to four minutes, and the minutes are planning estimates. A poll or an energizer is the shortest; the pair games and the guess-and-reveal slides take two to four.

Do these work for 300 people?

Yes. Every game is written for 20 to 500 seated people and is run from the front. Polls answered by hands, lights or handouts can be read from a stage, and the pair games need only a neighbor.

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All 36 games

Show of hands and stand-up polls 9

  • Applause Meter 1. Put three options to the room, one at a time. 2. The audience claps for the one it prefers, and may clap only once. 3. Sweep an arm like the needle of a meter to show how loud each one was. 4. Call the winner, and say how the talk will follow it. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • Handout Up: Front for Yes, Back for No 1. Every seat has a printed handout. 2. Ask a yes-or-no question about your topic. 3. On "three", everyone holds the handout up with the front facing the stage for yes and the back for no. 4. Read the room from the front, and ask three more. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: a printed handout on each seat. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Hold Up What You Write With 1. Ask everyone to hold up whatever they take notes with: a pen, a phone, a laptop, or an empty hand. 2. Call each one in turn, and ask those people to wave it. 3. Say which group is the biggest. 4. Tell each group the one part of the talk it will most want to write down. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener.
Show all 36 games (33 more)

Show of hands and stand-up polls, continued

  • Lights On for Yes 1. Dim the room lights a little. 2. Ask a yes-or-no question about your topic. 3. Everyone who answers yes holds up a phone with its flashlight on. 4. Count the lights aloud by section, then ask the opposite question so the others get a turn. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • On Your Feet for the First Answer 1. Give the room two answers to a question about your topic. 2. Everyone who picks the first stands at their seat. Everyone who picks the second stays seated. 3. Ask each group to look around at the other. 4. Say "swap" for a second question, so that the people who stood get to sit. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • One to Four Fingers 1. Show or read a question with four numbered answers. 2. Give the room ten seconds to think in silence. 3. On "three", everyone holds up one to four fingers. 4. Say which number you see most, and then give the answer you would choose and why. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Only the Presenter Looks 1. Ask everyone to close their eyes. 2. Ask a question people might not answer truthfully with their neighbors watching: who has never read the manual for your topic? 3. Hands go up, and only the presenter looks. 4. Tell the room roughly how many hands there were, and then ask everyone to open their eyes. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • Two Walls, Two Answers 1. Name the left wall for one answer and the right wall for the other. 2. Ask an either-or question about your topic. 3. On "three", everyone points at a wall. 4. Ask five questions quickly, and end on the one the talk is about. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • Zero to Five, Before and After 1. At the start, ask how sure people feel about your topic. 2. On "three", everyone holds up zero to five fingers. 3. Say what you see: mostly ones and twos, a few fives. 4. Ask the same question at the end of the talk, and say what changed. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, a closer.

Guess-and-reveal games on one slide 9

  • Draw the Line in the Air 1. Show a chart whose line stops halfway across. 2. Ask everyone to trace with a finger in the air where the line goes next. 3. Look across the room and say what most arms did. 4. Show the rest of the line. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • The Earlier of the Two 1. Show two things from your topic side by side: two inventions, two events, two versions. 2. Ask which came first. 3. The room points at one side. 4. Show the two dates. Play three pairs, each one closer than the last. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • Four on a Slide, Sorted 1. Show four things from your topic on one slide, lettered A to D. 2. Say what to order them by: age, size, cost or time taken. 3. Neighbors agree on an order in one minute. 4. Show the order one place at a time, starting from the bottom. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 4 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Here Is the Answer, Guess the Question 1. Show one number or one word on the slide, as large as it will go. 2. Tell the room it is the answer to a question about your topic. 3. Neighbors have thirty seconds to agree on what the question is. 4. Take three guesses from the room, and then show the question. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: an opener, a closer.
  • Name This Chart 1. Show a chart from your talk with its title and its labels covered. 2. Ask neighbors what they think it measures. 3. Take three guesses from the room by a show of hands for each. 4. Uncover the title, then the labels. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: an opener.
  • One Mistake on This Slide 1. Show a slide from your topic with one mistake put in on purpose: a wrong label, a swapped step, a figure that cannot be right. 2. The room looks in silence for twenty seconds. 3. Anyone who has found it raises a hand, and nobody calls out. 4. When about half the hands are up, ask the room to say it together. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Ten Seconds With the Slide 1. Tell the room it has ten seconds to study the next slide. 2. Show a busy slide from your topic, count down aloud, and blank the screen. 3. Ask three questions about what was on it, and take answers called from the seats. 4. Show the slide again, and start the talk from it. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: an opener.
  • Within Ten Percent 1. Put one question on the slide whose answer is a number from your talk. 2. Everyone decides on a guess and tells a neighbor, so that nobody can change it. 3. Show the number. 4. Ask everyone whose guess was within ten percent to stand at their seat, and give them a round of applause. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Would It Fit in This Room? 1. Name something from your topic that has a size: a machine, a ship, a file printed on paper. 2. Ask whether it is bigger or smaller than the room everyone is sitting in. 3. Arms stretched wide mean bigger. Hands held close together mean smaller. 4. Show a slide that puts the thing and the room side by side. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: one slide. Good for: an opener.

Pair-and-share games with a neighbor 10

  • Convince Your Neighbor 1. Ask a question with two or three possible answers, and give everyone ten seconds to choose alone. 2. Take a show of hands for each answer. 3. Neighbors who disagree have one minute to convince each other. 4. Take the show of hands again, and say what moved. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 4 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch.
  • The Last Time This Happened to Me 1. Name the problem your talk is about in one sentence. 2. Each person has thirty seconds to tell a neighbor about the last time they met it. 3. Swap over. 4. Ask for a show of hands: was it this week, this month, or longer ago? Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • The Morning in Two Words 1. After lunch, ask everyone to sum up one session from the morning in two words. 2. Say the two words to a neighbor, who guesses which session it was. 3. Swap over. 4. Ask the room to call out two-word summaries of your own session, and build on the best one. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch.
  • One Question per Pair, Passed to the Aisle 1. Ask each pair of neighbors to agree on the one question it most wants answered. 2. One of them writes it on a sheet. 3. Sheets are passed along the row to the aisle and collected. 4. The presenter picks from the pile, so no one has to stand at a microphone. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 4 min. Needs: paper and a pen each. Good for: an opener, a closer.
  • One Thing I Will Do on Monday 1. At the end, ask everyone to think of one thing from the talk they will try first. 2. Tell a neighbor what it is and when. 3. The neighbor repeats it back in their own words. 4. Ask a few rows to call out a single word for theirs, all at once. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: a closer.
  • Quiz Your Neighbor on the Last Ten Minutes 1. Stop after ten minutes. 2. Each person thinks of one question that the last ten minutes answered. 3. Ask it of a neighbor, then answer theirs. 4. Take a show of hands for questions that nobody could answer, and answer two of them. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Star Something in Your Neighbor's Notes 1. Near the end, ask neighbors to swap notes for one minute. 2. Each reader puts a star beside one thing the other wrote down that they missed. 3. Swap back, and look at what was starred. 4. Anyone who took no notes tells the neighbor the one thing they would have written. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: paper and a pen each. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Teach It Back to Your Neighbor 1. After a key point, stop. 2. The neighbor nearer the aisle has thirty seconds to explain the point to the other in their own words. 3. The listener adds anything that was left out. 4. Ask what was hardest to explain, and say that part again. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch.
  • Turn and Say What You Came For 1. Before the first slide, ask everyone to turn to a neighbor. 2. Each has thirty seconds to say the one thing they came to find out. 3. Ask for a show of hands: whose neighbor said something they had not thought of? 4. Promise to say at the end which of the usual hopes the talk covered. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener.
  • Twenty-Second Sketch for Your Neighbor 1. Name one idea from your topic. 2. Everyone has twenty seconds to draw it on paper with no words. 3. Show the sketch to a neighbor and compare. 4. Put your own sketch on the screen, and say what the room's versions had that yours did not. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 3 min. Needs: paper and a pen each. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.

Whole-room energizers that stay at the seat 8

  • Clap Up to Five and Back Down 1. The presenter counts "one", and the room claps once, together. 2. On "two", clap twice, and so on up to five. 3. Come back down to one without the presenter counting aloud. 4. A clap out of place gets a cheer, and the room starts again from the top. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • Drum Roll on the Table 1. Before the first big number in your talk, ask for a drum roll. 2. Everyone taps fast on the table or on their knees with both hands. 3. Stop the roll with a raised hand, and show the number. 4. Ask for the roll again before each number that follows, and before the last slide. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 1 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Everyone Faces the Back Row 1. Ask everyone to stand at their seats and turn to face the back of the room. 2. For twenty seconds the back row is the front row, and it takes a bow. 3. The room gives the back row a round of applause. 4. Turn around and sit down. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 1 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch.
  • Rehearse the Standing Ovation 1. Tell the room that you would like to have the ovation ready, in case the talk earns it. 2. On "three", everyone stands at their seats and claps for five seconds. 3. Ask the room to sit, and thank it. 4. Say that the real one is optional. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 1 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.
  • Row by Row, the Wave 1. Ask the back row to stand, raise both arms and sit down again. 2. Each row does the same as the row behind it sits. 3. When the wave reaches the front, send it back. 4. For the last pass, run it from one side of the room to the other. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch, a closer.
  • Strike the Pose for the Last Slide 1. Tell the room that the last slide of the talk needs a picture of it. 2. Name a pose that fits your topic and can be done in a seat. 3. Count to three and take the picture from the stage. Anyone who would rather not be in it looks down. 4. Put the picture up as the closing slide. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, a closer.
  • Three Stretches by Number 1. Teach three stretches that can be done in a seat: one is both arms up, two is both arms forward, three is a slow turn to look behind. 2. Call the numbers in order, and the room does each one. 3. Call them out of order, a little faster. 4. Finish on one, and hold it while you put up the next slide. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 2 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: the slot after lunch.
  • The Word of the Day Gets a Knock 1. At the start, choose one word that your talk will use often. 2. Every time the presenter says it, the audience knocks twice on the table or the armrest. 3. Say it once to practice. 4. Use the word on purpose a few times after lunch, when the room is quiet. Audience: 20 to 500. Time: 1 min. Needs: nothing. Good for: an opener, the slot after lunch.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for one presenter in front of a seated audience of 20 to 500: a conference talk, a lecture, a training day or a town meeting. Every game is run from the front, and nobody leaves a seat, is brought on stage or is singled out; where a game asks people to stand, they stand at their seats, and anyone may sit it out. Each set of steps is our own wording. Where a step says "your topic" or "a number from your talk", the presenter supplies it, and the answer is the presenter's to check. Read on 2026-10-03 at Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_(audience) (successive groups of a seated crowd briefly stand, raise their arms and sit again) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_instruction (each person commits to an answer alone, discusses it with neighbors and answers again), which is the pattern behind Convince Your Neighbor. The other games have no rule book. "Needs: one slide" means a single slide the presenter makes ahead of time; "paper" means a sheet and a pen at each seat, or the printed handout. Audience sizes and minutes are planning estimates, not measurements. No game repeats one from the party games for large groups or the icebreaker lists on this site. Licence: own work