PowerPoint karaoke, also known as battledecks or battle decks, is an improvisational activity in which a participant must deliver a presentation based on a set of slides that they have never seen before. Its name is derived from

Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, developed by Microsoft. It was originally created by Robert Gaskins, Tom Rudkin, and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially ...

, a popular

presentation software In computing, a presentation program (also called presentation software) is a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It has three major functions: * an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted * ...

, and

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

, an activity in which a performer sings along with a pre-recorded backing track (although there is usually no music or singing involved in PowerPoint karaoke). The effect is intended to be comical, and PowerPoint karaoke can be considered a form of

improvisational theatre Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

, or a type of

Theatresports Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges. Developed by di ...

game. The presentation can either be a real slideshow on an arcane topic, or a set of real slides from different presentations that are nonsensical when assembled together, or slides that are nonsensical on their own (in some cases created by randomly downloading images from the internet and adding unrelated text). In some cases, the presenter is given a theme beforehand that they must attempt to tie all the slides into.

History

PowerPoint karaoke originated in October 2005 in Karlsruhe where engineering students would download a random slide deck and present it during a party. It then spread to students of the Zentrale Intelligenz Agentur, a collective of writers and artists in Berlin. A variation of this game called That Talk's Today?! was invented by an improv troupe known as Senseless Death in 1995, where a performer was asked to leave the room, while an MC and the audience quickly constructed slides, including graphs and acronyms. The performer was then given a topic on which to speak, using the never-seen slides.

Other uses

The term "PowerPoint karaoke" is also sometimes derisively used to refer to presenters who face the screen where their PowerPoint slides are being projected and proceed to read them, boring and effectively ignoring their audience. Spanish conceptual artist

Rubén Grilo Rubén Grilo (born 1981 in Lugo, Spain) is a Spanish contemporary artist based in Berlin. His practice includes sculpture, animation, sound installation and digital media. Education He studied Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona and is an ...

used "PowerPoint Karaoke" as a title for a show at

MARCO Marco may refer to: People Given name * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor Surname * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Jindřich Marco (1921–2000), Czechoslovak photographer and numismat ...

in June 2011. British philanthropist and raconteur Senor Cucumber used Power Point Karaoke as a tool to convey his economic principles during The Impossible Lecture in Skipton, England in July 2012. The video game ''Talking Points'' in ''The Jackbox Party Pack 7'' is based on PowerPoint karaoke. One player presents a slideshow presentation created in real time by a second "assistant" player, using a user-generated title and provided transition phrases and pictures. A form of PowerPoint karaoke is frequently played in teams of two on ''

Impractical Jokers ''Impractical Jokers'' is an American hidden camera comedy and reality show with improvisational elements. Produced by NorthSouth Productions, ''Impractical Jokers'' premiered on truTV on December 15, 2011, starring the members of The Tenderlo ...

''. The Jokers have to deliver often nonsensical PowerPoints to rooms full of professionals, whilst attempting to maintain both a sense of order as well as composure. In 2023, the first World Championship of PowerPoint Karaoke took place at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam.{{Cite web , last=Verhoeven , first=Verena , date=17 March 2023 , title=Andries Tunru doet mee aan het WK Powerpoint Karaoke: 'Eigenlijk ben ik kansloos' , url=https://www.parool.nl/ps/andries-tunru-doet-mee-aan-het-wk-powerpoint-karaoke-eigenlijk-ben-ik-kansloos~beb3b2b3/ , access-date=2023-12-14 , website=Parool Dutch comedian and improv artist Andries Tunru won the first title. Wildcard contestant Franklin Maduro took the title in 2024. In 2025, Minna Taylor and Nathan de Groot will host Slide Slam: The World Championship of PowerPoint Karaoke in Amsterdam on April 7.

References

External links

Powerpoint Karaoke with unlimited slides

(in German).
Play PowerPoint Karaoke online KAPOPO.com
(in english).

(in German).

PowerPoint Karaoke at MARCO

Sample decks in many languages and Deck Generator at DeckDazzle
Party games Microsoft Office 2005 introductions German inventions

History

Other uses

See also

References

External links