PowerPoint Party
A PowerPoint Party is a social event in which each participant prepares and presents a short, deliberately light-hearted slide deck on a topic they care about or find funny. It is a social trend with no known originator that teams have adopted as a remote and hybrid social format; teambuilding.com describes it in its list of virtual team-building activities. Colleagues get to show interests and humour that their daily work rarely reveals.
Facilitation script
- 1
Welcome everyone, repeat the rules on time limit and tone, and show the running order.
5 min - 2
First block of talks, five minutes each with a minute of reactions in between. The host presents first.
30 min - 3
Short break.
5 min - 4
Second block of talks, same rhythm.
30 min - 5
Audience votes on a few light-hearted awards, followed by thanks to all presenters and open chat.
10 min
Tips
Make presenting voluntary and say so in the invitation; people who only want to watch are a good audience.
Enforce the time limit kindly but firmly, because one 15-minute talk unbalances the evening.
Present first yourself with something plainly silly, which sets the bar for effort and polish lower than people fear.
Check the titles in advance, not to censor them but to avoid two people covering the same topic.
Common pitfalls
No time limit or no timekeeper, so early talks overrun and the last presenters face a tired audience or get cut
Making a presentation compulsory, which turns a social event into unpaid homework and breeds resentment
No guidance on tone, leading to a deck that mocks a colleague or a customer and sours the event for everyone
Scheduling it with short notice, so that only the most confident two or three people prepare anything
Judging the talks seriously; when awards reward polish, people over-prepare next time and the low-pressure character is gone
Variations
Awards: the audience votes in categories such as funniest, most persuasive or best use of charts; this is common practice rather than part of the source write-up. Series: one or two talks at the start of each weekly team meeting instead of a single long event. Themed: all talks answer one prompt, for example a ranking nobody asked for or a hill the presenter is prepared to defend. In person: run it with a projector at an offsite evening. It should not be confused with PowerPoint Karaoke, where presenters improvise on slides they have never seen.
Where it fits
When to use it
A remote team wants a social event with more substance than a quiz and less awkwardness than open small talk
Team members know each other's work but little about each other's interests
People want to practise presenting where nothing depends on the result
An offsite needs an evening programme that the team produces itself
A team has a week or more of notice, so that preparation does not land on anyone as a surprise
When not to use it
You need an activity today; the format depends on preparation, so use PowerPoint Karaoke, which needs none from participants
The team is under heavy workload and extra preparation in private time would be resented; pick a zero-preparation social such as Fun Facts
The group is larger than about 20 and all talks must fit one sitting; split it into a series or run Shift and Share with parallel stations
The purpose is to transfer practical knowledge; a Skill Swap session is designed for teaching rather than entertainment
Presenting in front of others is a real fear for several team members and attendance is expected; choose a format without a stage
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is PowerPoint Party?▾
A PowerPoint Party is a social gathering in which each participant gives a short, humorous slide presentation on a topic of their own choice. The topics are usually personal passions, strong opinions or absurd analyses. Teams use it as a remote or in-person social because it lets colleagues show sides of themselves that work does not.
How long should each presentation be?▾
Give each presenter at least five minutes, plus a minute for reactions. Set an upper limit as well, for example seven minutes, and keep a visible timer so that every presenter gets the same attention.
What topics work well?▾
Anything the presenter cares about and can make entertaining: a ranking of something trivial, a defence of an unpopular opinion, a hobby explained to beginners, or a mock analysis with charts. Share a few example titles with the invitation and state that content must be suitable for work.
How is a PowerPoint Party different from PowerPoint Karaoke?▾
At a PowerPoint Party people present slides they prepared themselves on a topic they chose. In PowerPoint Karaoke presenters improvise a talk over slides they have never seen. The party shows who people are; the karaoke is an improvisation game.
How many people can take part?▾
Between about 3 and 20. With up to ten presenters the talks fit a single session of 60 to 90 minutes. With more, spread the talks across several meetings rather than extending one event.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Social format of unknown origin, write-up by teambuilding.com.