How can I make a chess exhibition exciting for 'laypeople'? I've been asked recently to try to put on a few chess exhibitions for some local kids and their parents in a mostly urban setting, and one thing that I'm keenly aware of is the basic 'uncoolness' that surrounds the game for some people.  I'm trying to fight that tooth and nail, and doing that means figuring out how to make the game Fun with a capital F.

One idea revolves around 'slam chess', which one of my acquaintances from DC introduced me to.  Basically it involves allowing extravagant moves (such as tossing your queen up in the air and catching it before moving her) and allowing mild smack talk if someone falls for a trap or something.  Doing some research, it turns out Maurice Ashley learned chess this way.  I've never been introduced to this before so I have no idea how people will react to it.

Another idea is to get deconstructionist and to not worry about the overall game as much as putting up a bunch of tactical problems that people can engage and solve, with people giving hints if need be, with the ultimate goal having people solve 3-5 tactical problems to frame chess as a bunch of little victories instead of one longer game.

The big goal is to make the game exciting and get the human element involved in it; the two big pieces of feedback I heard when asking around were after the fashion 'nobody plays chess' or 'it's too much work to learn'.  The solution as I see it is to just make the game fun, then people play and it's not work to mess with it (it's fun).  I'm decently familiar with programming, video editing, etc so if anyone has a particular idea for websites or media production to help a presentation I'm all ears as well.

PS: I saw this question, but it more related to talking to individual people than putting on a show for a group.
I've been to a lot of events that have featured the live-action chess game. It's usually a big hit with people not normally into chess. Make a giant chess board with paper or tape or whatever and bring costumes along for people to act as the pieces. You'll want to run quick games that way so the people don't get bored. And be prepared for the kids to get antsy and run off. Having some backup players on the wings to take over can be helpful.

Try to work up a crowd with a couple "main events", and steer people around to the shorter things like your tactical idea on the side-lines. More often than not, a big crowd in one part will create interest for others, even if they wouldn't be interested normally.