Best GIFs for Presentations: Keep Your Viewers Engaged (or Awake)

If you’ve ever sat through a long, dry slideshow, you know what “death by PowerPoint” is all about. But surviving the receiving end of a boring presentation doesn’t excuse you from putting your audience to sleep with your own slides. 

The good news is that a few strategically placed GIFs in your deck can keep your audience engaged. GIFs offer you a free and simple way of jazzing up your slides and breaking up long bits of content with merry intermissions. Furthermore, GIFs can help build suspense, inject much-needed humor, and make your presentation more memorable. 

But the GIFs you use should suit the context: You wouldn’t use the same one to share exciting news and empathize with your viewer’s slide fatigue. Below, we’ve found the best GIFs to help you keep your viewers engaged in various situations. We’ll also show you where to find the best GIFs, how to edit them, and ways to insert them into your slide deck. 

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Best GIFs for starting a presentation 

Best GIFs for sales presentations 

Best GIFs when presenting a dry topic

Best GIFs for confusing topics 

Best GIFs for introducing a problem

Best GIFs for introducing a solution 

Best GIFs for a bad solution 

Best GIFs for announcing exciting or unexpected news

Best GIFs for celebrating an achievement or milestone 

Best GIFs for breaking bad news 

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Best GIFs to insert before your most important slide 

Best GIFs before taking a lunch or coffee break 

Best GIFs to start a Q&A session 

Best GIFs for persuasive speeches

Consider using the GIFs below to lighten the mood while giving a persuasive speech:

Best GIFs for informative speeches 

These GIFs will help you keep your viewers engaged during an informative speech:  

Best GIFs to end a presentation

How to use GIFs effectively in a presentation 

In a presentation, GIFs should add a touch of levity without distracting from the subject matter or worse, causing your audience to roll their eyes or do a facepalm. The three steps below will help you make effective use of GIFs in your slideshow: 

• Know your audience: Not all GIFs are made the same, so consider your viewers’ maturity level and (crucially) purpose when choosing these playful interludes.
• Don’t overuse: The last thing you want is for the GIFs to distract from your message. To this end, avoid peppering your slide deck with them. One or two GIFs per presentation should suffice. 
• Choose the right place: Insert GIFs where they’re appropriate and will make the greatest impact. For example, a GIF emphasizing boredom would make for a lighthearted respite from the monotony of slide content when discussing particularly dry material. Likewise, you can insert suitable GIFs to introduce — or wrap up — ideas, problems, and solutions. Conversely, interrupting the flow of information with a GIF is bad practice — it’s distracting, and will make it harder for your viewers to maintain focus on the subject matter. 

Where to find the best GIFs? 

You will find a massive selection of GIFs on https://tenor.com/ and https://giphy.com/. The two sites offer a search feature, and straightforward functions for sharing and embedding the files you like. Whether one resource is better than the other is subject to dispute, although some users favor Tenor for a greater assortment of GIFs for various occasions. 

How to edit a GIF

Sometimes, you’ll want to touch up a GIF before inserting it into your slide deck, and it’s easier than you think. Ezgif.com is a free online tool that lets you edit GIFs. Here’s how you do it. 

1. Navigate to https://ezgif.com/optimize. 

2. Choose the GIF file. You can upload one from your desktop, or copy-paste the GIF URL into the field under “Or enter direct image URL” and click “Upload.”

3. Edit the GIF. Exgif gives you access to numerous editing options, including resizing, changing speed, creating overlays, adding text, and more. Click on the chosen function and configure it using the window below the GIF. 

How to insert GIFs into a presentation in Google Slides 

Inserting a GIF into a Google Slides presentation takes little effort. If you have the GIF saved on your desktop, you can drag-and-drop it from the source folder and onto the slide. 

If you haven’t saved the GIF yet, choose the slide, navigate to Insert > Image > By URL, and then copy-paste the GIF URL. The GIF will appear on the slide. 

How to insert GIFs into a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation  

To insert a GIF into a PowerPoint presentation, choose the target slide, then click on Pictures > Insert Picture From and choose the source location. At this point, you can find the file on your desktop or find a GIF online. When done, click Insert — the GIF should show up on the slide. 

Make your next presentation with Plus AI

Plus AI is an AI presentation maker that eliminates the burden of creating and editing slides manually. The app works as a Google Slides extension, and it lets you make a slide deck from a single prompt. It also speeds up editing and formatting through automation. With Plus AI, you’ll save time on making presentations so you can concentrate on content… or picking the perfect GIF!