The Anti PowerPoint Party (APPP) is a
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
*Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internati ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
dedicated to decreasing professional use of
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPoi ...
and other forms of
presentation software
A 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
* a m ...
, which the party claims "causes national-economic damage amounting to 2.1 billion
CHF
CHF may refer to:
Organizations
* Chemical Heritage Foundation, former name of the Science History Institute, an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science
* Chi Heng Foundation, a Hong Kong-based non-governme ...
" annually and lowers the quality of a presentation in "95% of the cases".
The party advocates
flip chart
A flip chart is a stationery item consisting of a pad of large paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses or other vegetable so ...
s as an alternative to presentation software.
APPP was formed by former software engineer Matthias Poehm and Port Lincoln footballer Billy-O-Roderick ahead of the
2011 federal elections in Switzerland.
Prior to founding the party, Poehm wrote a book (The PowerPoint Fallacy) opposing the use of PowerPoint.
The party's goal is to become the fourth largest party in Switzerland in terms of membership, and to initiate a national "
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...
in order to seek for a prohibition of PowerPoint
nd other presentation softwareduring presentations."
APPP states that it does not support prohibition, but will use a referendum to raise awareness about the cause.
As of February 2021, the party had 4,632 members, making it the eighth largest party in Switzerland.
Ideology
The APPP is a
single-issue party
Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea.
Political expression
One weakness of such an approach is that effective political parties are usually coalitions of factions ...
. Despite its name, the party is not specifically opposed to PowerPoint, but to all presentation software.
Poehm writes that "In some countries students and pupils are ''punished'' with a lower mark, if they give a presentation without PowerPoint. Superiors are ''obliging'' their co-workers to use PowerPoint. The fact is that the average PowerPoint presentation creates boredom."
While the party is based in Switzerland, it styles itself as a global party. The party chose to found itself in Switzerland as the requirements for forming a political party are lesser there, and out of a belief that the best way to gain media attention on the party's cause was by forming a political party.
References
External links
*
{{Swiss political parties
Political parties in Switzerland
Political parties established in 2011
2011 establishments in Switzerland
Single-issue political parties
Microsoft criticisms and controversies
Microsoft Office