AhaSlides Wins Training Magazine Network Award

AhaSlides has won the 2026 Training Magazine Network Choice Award for Gamification & Game-Based Learning. The interactive presentation platform reports use by more than 4 million presenters at over 142,000 organizations, reaching more than 24 million participants. The award was voted on by Learning and Development professionals, with 2,207 voters casting 11,692 votes for 296 companies across seven categories. For trainers and business managers, the recognition highlights a platform built around live participation, ready-made activities and reporting tools.

Award Voted By Training Professionals

The Training Magazine Network Choice Awards are crowd-sourced solution provider awards for Learning and Development. Training Magazine Network’s more than 100,000 members, including trainers, instructional designers, learners and L&D leaders, chose the winners. Results were announced September 29, 2026, and were based on total votes and a weighted effectiveness score. The full list of 2026 winners and Training magazine’s announcement are available online.

The platform lets participants answer, compete, vote and react during a live session from their phones, while trainers can see responses in real time. AhaSlides reports that 80.9% of audiences actively engage with presentations and that 44.6% engage with every interactive slide, based on platform data.

Activities For Facilitated Training

AhaSlides now offers more than 30 ready-made interactive activities that trainers can add to a session. Options include Duck Race for a short break between learning blocks, Calm for a guided breathing pause with ambient sound, and Draw on Image, which can allow a medical trainer to share an ultrasound image and ask nurses to mark what they see.

Its Escape Room training game is scheduled to ship to all AhaSlides users in October 2026. Teams race to find clues in a scene and solve their way out. The activity was the winning entry in AhaSlides’ September 2026 hackathon, taking first place and Most Loved.

Dave Bui, CEO at AhaSlides, said:

“We're grateful for this one, because trainers voted for it. Our job is to make engagement easy: a trainer shouldn't have to design a game from scratch to get a room involved. That's why we've spent this year building ready-made ways to play and compete. Escape Room, which our own team built and voted their favourite at our September hackathon, launches this month. And because learning doesn't stop when the session ends, self-paced learning is next.”

Reports And Self Paced Learning

Alongside live activities, AhaSlides has updated its reporting tools so trainers can review how learners performed and what content landed after a session. The company also introduced surveys for gathering feedback before and after training.

Self-paced e-learning is next on the platform’s roadmap, intended to let learners continue between live sessions.

Kassy LaBorie, keynote speaker, author and engagement expert, and recipient of ATD’s 2026 Talent Development Outstanding Professional Award, said:

“Game-based learning works when the game isn't the point. Participation is. AhaSlides gives me incredibly creative ways to invite people into the experience, and every time I use it, the crowd goes wild.”

What Businesses Can Use

For companies running internal training, AhaSlides offers quizzes, polls, word clouds and training games that can be used in facilitated sessions. The company’s latest releases focus on reducing preparation work for trainers while adding ways to gather learner feedback and measure participation.